Dig it all up ...

Nieman Watchdog via Aravosis:

By now no one expects the Bush Administration to make itself accountable for its controversial and possibly illegal practices. But the next President will have a unique opportunity to reveal what has been kept hidden for the last seven years. Secrecy watchdog Steven Aftergood suggests a few questions for the presidential candidates about their willingness to disclose just what the current Administration has done.

...

That's right. Give the next batch of neocons (you know, the ones who will inevitably say "if we would have stayed in Iraq a little longer we would have won") nothing to hide behind when they make their next power play. Take away all their talking points on 'national security' and 'terrorism', on 'fiscal responsibility' and 'trickle down', on 'clear skies' and 'healthy forests'. Let everybody see not just how awful this philosophy is, but also how criminal it is as well.

What? Global warming? Puh!

One of Mrs. F's clients made the news last night (days like this are not good to be a troubleshooter for an insurance company). It's fucking February, people. Ain't supposed to have no damn tornadoes in February.

And, if you can help, check in with Monkeyfister, the "Scout Prime of the Mid-South".

Bye-bye, Mittster

Don't let it hit ya in the ass.

CNN is now reporting that 3 GOP sources tell them that Republican Mitt Romney will suspend his presidential campaign. Romney underperformed on Super Tuesday and it now appears he has no chance of beating Senator John McCain for the GOP nod. Goodbye, Mittens ...

Now it's time to beat up McCain.

Update:

And I just had to steal this from Jason, the Intern Gone Bad:

Did you hear Scary Plastic Mormon Dude just dropped out of the race? The republican game is over, and they're stuck with a candidate who the base hates. It's a good day to be an American! There's a general air of depression in the world of right wing punditry today and that is always a beautiful thing to see. Game over, fuckers! It doesn't matter who the dems choose. You lose. America wins. Sort of.

The Crux of the Biscuit

Robert Scheer on Bush's 'legacy':

The U.S. already spends more than the rest of the world combined on its military, without a sophisticated enemy in sight. The Bush budget cuts not a single weapons system, including the most expensive ones, those designed to combat a Soviet military that no longer exists. Those sophisticated weapons have nothing to do with combating terrorism and everything to do with jobs and profits that motivate both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. It is not known whether Osama bin Laden even possesses a rowboat in his naval arsenal, but that won't stop Joe Lieberman from pushing, as is his habit, for an increase in the defense budget to double the funding for the $3.4-billion submarines built in his home state of Connecticut. Nor does the collapse of the old Soviet Union—and with it the need for enormously expensive stealth aircraft to evade radar systems the Soviets never built—dissuade congressional supporters of those planes from pushing for more, not less, than Bush is requesting. Nor does wasting an additional $8.9 billion on ICBM missile defense have anything to do with stopping terrorists from smuggling a suitcase nuke into this country.

The centerpiece of the Bush legacy is a "war on terror" based on a vast disconnect between military expenditures and actual national security requirements that the presidential candidates all fully understand. The question is whether the voters and media will force them to face that contradiction or whether we're in for more of the same—no matter how much the candidates go on about change.

There you have it. Our country is being allowed to fall apart for the profit of the military-industrial complex.

Hey ...

I thought John McCain cared about veterans? Stolen from Dave Johnson:

The Republicans blocked the stimulus package from passing because it contained unemployment benefits, a small payment to seniors and some money for disabled veterans.

John McCain didn't show up to vote on this.

...

Guess not ...

Charlie Wilson's War ...

Unlike almost everybody I've read on the subject, I don't get all fuzzy about looking back on the time Charlie Wilson was conjuring his 'magic' in Afghanistan. I was serving at the time and knew some of the operators who risked (and lost) their lives in an adventure that was, for all intents and purposes, useless. The blowback from arming Osama's Mujaheddin in their effort against the Russians has hurt us almost as much as it did the Soviets, maybe more in some aspects.

At the time, the Soviet system was befouled, corrupt, and bankrupt. The fall had already begun (things move slowly in Russia) and it would have taken maybe a year or two (without our intervention) longer for the same result. The Soviets couldn't afford their Afghanistan expedition, just as we can't afford ours in Iraq, and would have had to leave regardless. All we did was train and arm the people who would eventually use their U.S.-acquired skills to kill 3000 of us.

There is, however, something to be learned from the machinations of the time and Lance Mannion highlights it very well. We can learn what a good Democratic leadership can do if they put their minds to it. Our two leaders look like amateurs compared to Tip O'Neill:

...

Tip O'Neill cut a deal with Charlie Wilson, "an implicit quid pro quo arrangement," Crile writes,"in which he'd agreed, in effect, to sell out the Contras in exchange for leading in the House when it came to funding the Afghan war."

Wilson felt bad about this. His conscience bothered him. But he knew, because O'Neill made it clear, it was either the mujahideen or the Contras, and if Charlie had chosen the Contras that would have pretty much ended any influence he had in Congress over anything. He'd stop being an effective representative of his district. His constituents, a conservative and religious bunch, would very likely stop forgiving him for the sins and indiscretions in his personal life if in his public life he wasn't bringing home the bacon.

All politics is local.

Coelho again:

Nicaragua was a bitter, bitter, vicious fight with State, CIA, the military, and the White House against us. If Charlie had gotten caught up in any of those battles he wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

Reading this stuff has made me nostalgic about Tip O'Neill. More nostalgic. It's often pointed out that Reagan didn't govern like the Right Wing idealogog he ran as and talked like. George W. Bush has out-Reaganed Reagan on most issues. Partly that was because Reagan had a pragmatic streak. He liked to get things done more than he liked to get his way. Mostly though it was because Tip O'Neill stood in his way.

Makes me wish O'Neill had left a manual on how to run a successful opposition for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

...

Our current congressional leadship are simpering cowards. Digby highlights that quite clearly this morning:

...

With republicans setting the world record for filibusters in one year (with absolutely no pushback) and the asinine "we need 60 votes for anything" suddenly becoming the new rule, who does Reid stick it to on a filibuster? His own damn party – brave folks and true leaders like Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold. When republican Senators put holds on bill after bill, Reid respects the hold. But when one of his own party does the same, he overrides it.

Sad, but true. The Democrats have adopted the "don't make trouble" strategy and this is the result. They got punk'd again today: [my ems]

...

I could just imagine what dire straits this nation would be in had Pelosi and Reid been the counterforce to Reagan.

Home sick today (I think I caught something from the little tramp Sam yesterday at work).

Update:

Speaking of our Afghan expedition, Meatball notes (link might not be safe for work) it's not going well either.

...

Afghans are disillusioned by the failure of real progress in securing and rebuilding their country, again a narco-state as half of the country's GDP is drug-related. The Bush administration promised a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan it never delivered. Compared to other recent post-conflict countries, Afghanistan receives minimal assistance. This despite the fact that Afghanistan remains the home to much of al Qaeda and has served as the largest terrorist haven in the world.

Like McDonald's dropped Kobe and Pepsi a Madonna, Jackson, and Ludacriss, some are now suggesting it's time to deconflict the GWOT matrix and save what can be saved of an Afghanistan critically foundering in the shadow of an embarrassing and debilitating controversy called Iraq.

...

If we don't get out of Iraq, we'll be leaving Afghanistan with our tail between our legs, just like the Russians ... just like the British ...

Gotta love the Vermonters ...

They've had enough and they ain't waiting until 1/20/09:

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — The tone has changed in e-mails this Vermont town has been receiving on its proposal to issue warrants for the arrests of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Now, more people are supporting the resolution.

Brattleboro's town offices have been flooded with 7,000 e-mails since its selectboard voted Jan. 25 to include the item on its Town Meeting Day agenda.

...

Why do I get the funny feeling our favorite Vermonters are in on this somehow? Damn subversives. Heh ...

Early Morning Irony

Tony Peyser

McCain, now the certain GOP frontrunner, will address a major gathering of conservatives in Washington later this week. He'll get as warm a reception as he did in Vietnam.

The real surprise Tuesday was Mike Huckabee making a bigger plash than Mitt Romney; he won Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Southern voters clearly responded to his homespun message essentially promising a squirrel in every pot and an old pickup without a carburetor on cinder blocks in every garage.

Ol' Hucktard sure got the ignoramus vote he was a-goin' fer!

Earl Butz, former Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon and Ford, died last Saturday. He was fired for making this comment: "The only thing the coloreds are looking for in life are tight pussy, loose shoes and a warm place to shit." In related news, Trent Lott by now has surely told reporters, "We're proud of Butz. If the rest of the country had followed his lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years."

There was actually a scene of Butz' line in a movie with Steve Martin. The music for it was in the style of Cab Calloway. I can't recall the name of the movie. Help me out here, you film buffs.

Commie Folkie Backs Osbama

I saw where Joan Baez is backing Barack Obama. Boy, that'll fire up the wingnuts! Fuck 'em.

Anyway, since I missed my usual Saturday Music Video Blogging, I'd like to offer what is still the most powerful song ever on the hypocrisy of the christofascistic religionists who want to master us. Applies to any fundies of any religion as well.

With God On Our Side

There's Been No Contest Like It

Excellent article by Michael Tomansky. From the Guardian UK via Truthout.

This is not just the most joyously unpredictable election in US history, writes Michael Tomasky. It is fundamentally about whether America is finally ready to give liberalism another chance.

The grand theme of this contest, to hear the candidates tell it, is "change." That's a shallow buzzword that doesn't say much, and to listen to the candidates strain to persuade the public that "I represent change too!" (Obama was first) is to be reminded of schoolchildren in pursuit of gold stars from teacher.

But amazingly enough, it's not entirely inapt. This election is fundamentally about whether a majority of Americans are prepared to give liberalism another chance. The story goes like this. The modern conservative movement in America was founded in the mid-1950s. We had conservatives before then, Lord knows. But this was something new. This was conservatism as a dedicated project.

Clarence "Pat" Manion, a dean at the University of Notre Dame and a founder of the movement, convened groups of conservatives to get together and start infiltrating (legally and above board - by winning elections) their local Republican parties. Rich conservatives in various walks of life started putting massive amounts of money into conservative-movement politics - financing candidates, starting ideological magazines, publishing rightwing books. If you drink Coors beer or have ever visited the California theme park called Knott's Berry Farm, you've pitched in yourself.

When I was a kid in L.A., Knott's Berry Farm was the only theme park. Disneyland didn't happen 'til '56. My aunt and uncle would sometimes take me there as a destination for their 'Sunday drive'. And a drive it was - there weren't any freeways in those days and it was about 30 miles of surface streets. Yes, I'm old enough to remember when the Arroyo Seco Parkway was what passed for a freeway in Southern California.

The park had an Old Western Town theme and a full-size train ride that got held up by robbers who would shoot off their pistols. That was big stuff to a 10-year-old kid. They also had terrific chicken dinners and boysenberry pie, which is why I think my uncle liked the joint. To this day, Knott's is my gold standard for boysenberry jam.

The former family-owned farm and theme park today is just another plastic fantastic, and the jelly and jam biz is owned by ConAgra. It's a statement of what the right-wing has wrought upon our country over the years. That is not a compliment.

And the beer? I've drunk my share of Coors (pronounced 'sewers') over the years, but it sucks.

Q: Why is Coors like making love at the beach?

A: Because it's fuckin' near water.

This actually happened - one time in a Mexican restaurant, the waiter brought me my Dos Equis, set it on the table with a flourish and said, "Por usted, amigo, una cerveza mas fina!". He sorta plunked my buddy's can of Coors down in front of him and said, "Y por usted, señor, un vaso de agua...". I got a good laugh out of seeing the egg on my pal's face from gettin' caught out as a nekulturny boob. So did the waiter.

Another right-wing transformation of a good old German-inspired lager into a weak, insipid, tasteless concoction for the masses, but it's a money-maker.

Note to Coors: It'd be better beer if you ran it through the horse one more time.

Knott's Berry Farm and Coors are perfect examples of how right-wing corporate culture, AKA 'greed', has fucked America all up.

The Republican party of the day, I should note, was a mostly moderate amalgam. Dwight Eisenhower as president embraced the New Deal. There is a quote of Ike's, famous now in the era of George Bush and Dick Cheney, and piquant enough in light of current circumstances to warrant reproducing here in full:

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labour laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible, and they are stupid."

Their number is no longer negligible, but they're still stupid. Actually, their ideas are stupid - to take, take, take to their own enrichment and fuck the rest of us, but they were smart enough to realize they could spread corruption and greed like a cancer, and do it quietly so no one would notice until it metastasized and threatened the nation.

Ah well. By 1964, this faction had taken over the Republican party. It nominated Barry Goldwater. But he was massacred that November by Lyndon Johnson, and the wise observers of the day declared this strange conservative thing, this malformed aberration, mercifully deceased.

But it turned out that that was liberalism's high-water mark. The changes, political and cultural, set in train that year - the House of Representatives passed the historic civil rights bill the very day after we Americans first saw the Beatles, on Ed Sullivan's TV show - had, within four or five years' time, unleashed uncontrollable forces.

So another interesting question: will the Democrats finally understand that a campaign isn't a college debate but is an obstacle course that must be negotiated with a velvet glove on one hand and a switchblade in the other?

I think the Dems are experts at taking a knife to a gunfight...

It's a good article. You should go read, and please pardon my ramble down memory lane.

The new Baseball ...

Jim Yeager:

... Politics as I now perceive it isn't merely a sport; it's our national pastime. I now understand why Vince Foster committed suicide...

You can thank the conservatives for that, my friend.

Lucky ...

I agree with Froggy (DBK):

... In any event, today is the day that Democrats pick the president for the next four years. The Democrats are lucky; they get to choose between people who are competent, sane, and mostly honest ...

Regardless of what you think of Barack or Hil, look at who the Rethugs have to choose from.

It doesn't matter ...

Lance Mannion put up a good post the other day that I meant to blog about. A lot of people won't vote for Hillary because of Bill's baggage and are afraid the Republican Noise Machine, The Mighty Wurlitzer, or whatever you want to call their propaganda apparatus, will be kicked into high gear and start dredging up the past. I suppose a vote for Obama might avert that eventuality but Lance doesn't think so:

...

This is not sour grapes. This is the way it's been going on for fifteen years now. And those of you who think that this is a good reason not to support her, so we can get away from this, those of you who think that Obama will somehow be able, through the sheer force of his personality or the beauty of his rhetoric or the wonderfulness that is him or through the plain fact that he is not a Clinton need to consider this very real possibility:

The reason he's a media darling now is because he's not a Clinton. He gives them a way to dump on the Clintons while congratulating themselves on how cool and post-partisan they are.

If and when Hillary's beaten and Obama's the nominee he becomes the Democrat running for President.

And you watch.

...

That's right. Be it Hillary or Barack, you need just think back to 1998. Be it an errant blowjob or a pic of him puffin' up a fattie, you can bet Drudge will have a flashing light alert up about it soon enough. Jesus couldn't escape it if he were running.

I voted for Hil, but it wouldn't bother me if Barack won. I just hope Barack is prepared for the tidal wave of bullshit coming his way if he does.

Word ...

Our pal Skippy:

super tuesday has come and gone, and about the only thing that has been decided is what a loser mitt romney is.

Personally, I'm glad we don't have an emergent winner from Super Tuesday. One, everybody who had to have their primaries earlier and earlier in an effort to be king makers all lost out. Good. Two, as many Americans as possible should have a voice in selecting their party's nominee and it looks like this year it will happen. Good.

And Mitt Romney is a loser. Heh ...

Until We Meet Again

Go see this audio-visual tribute to our troops. If you look close there's a coupla photos of what me 'n Fixer might look like on liberty in (hopefully) Kuwait.

Update:

When you get done watching that, hit 'Back to Semper' at the bottom and noodle around a little. I like this one by Tom Lehrer.

Some Advice for Obama:

Don Davis gets serious for once:

Pick Jim Webb for Veep — Now!

Fuckin' A!

The CIA operation that should have prevented the Iraq war

Yahoo!News

AMMAN (AFP) - When Saad Tawfiq watched Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on February 5 2003 he shed bitter tears as he realised he had risked his life and those of his loved ones for nothing.

As one of Saddam Hussein's most gifted engineers, Tawfiq knew that the Iraqi dictator had shut down his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes in 1995 -- and he had told his handlers in US intelligence just that.

As we suspected at the time and now know for certain, the Iraq clusterfuck came about, nay, was inflicted on the world because Cheney convinced Bush to do it. The truth was out there for all to see, had they looked. Or having known the truth, acted upon it.

The cowed and cowardly Congress and Media enabled this war and occupation. They could have stopped it and they didn't.

This criminal war, its casualties and expense and aftermath are issue #1 for me.

Do you have a voting ritual?

In answer to the question, yes I do.

Mrs. G picks me up after work and we go to our polling place at the Public Utility District building where we enter a cardboard-and-trash-bag booth and mark our ballots with a #2 pencil. Then I stick the 'I Voted' sticker on my forehead and we go to Safeway, after which we get take-out burritos from Jalapeño Joe's and go home and eat dinner.

You?

Morning Irony

Tony Peyser

Starting tonight, former top Bush aide Karl Rove will be a regular contributor on FOX News. In related news, Satan has been hired as a lifestyle reporter on "FOX & Friends" and his ongoing new segment is called "Ask Beelzebub."

Some people say they're against McCain because they don't want him picking the next three Supreme Court judges. I don't want him picking the next three "American Idol" judges.

In a move that surprised longtime political observers, the White House erased all videos related to the George W. Bush presidency.

A new book says the Sept. 11 commission's executive director, Philip Zelikow, had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed. He tried to influence the final report in ways that limited the Bush Administration's responsibility, You know those mobsters -- Santo Trafficante Jr. and Carlos Marcello -- who supposedly had JFK killed? This is like having one of them on the Warren Commission.

McCain? Bring him on...

This piece by Josh Holland will make you feel better:

Once you crack the media myths surrounding him, it's unlikely voters are going to go for an angry, unstable, hypocritical warmonger.

This means that Democrats are not so much running against McCain, the candidate, as McCain, the myth. The Republican Party will be a serious obstacle for the Democratic nominee, but ultimately election 2008 will be as much a battle to overturn the conventional wisdom as it will be a fight with the senator from Arizona. It should be a source of some encouragement then that the progressive movement, with its blogs, social-networking space and alternative media outlets, is far better prepared to fight and win that kind of battle than it has been at any other time in recent memory.

The popular "straight-talking" McCain? Bring him on. We have eight months to chip away at a leviathan of spin.

I still think, reinforced by McCain's temper and age, that he might just blow his head gasket before election day, although it would be fine with me if he just develops a leaky bottom end, as long as it's on camera. The eventual, er, outcome? Depends.

Financing the Common Good

Excellent article by Robert Reich:

Meanwhile, the fiscal demands facing a new Democratic president in 2009 are far greater than when Bill Clinton took office in 1993. Clinton's investment agenda in schools, job-training, health care, and infrastructure was badly needed then. Today, it's urgent. Inequality of income and wealth is wider and upward mobility has slowed. Our schools are worse than they were when Clinton became president, classrooms more overcrowded, and school buildings, falling apart. Job-training is almost nonexistent. At least 10 million more Americans lack health insurance than they did in 1993. Among the 13 wealthiest nations, America now ranks last or nearly last in infant mortality, low birth weight, and life expectancy. Some 5.3 million more Americans are living in poverty than when Bush became president. America's infrastructure is older and even more prone to breakage. From New Orleans levees to Minneapolis bridges to New York City's water lines, the nation is literally falling apart.

[...] The Bushies will vanish into history. But the stench they have created will remain.

In this way, the administration of George W. Bush has exploited the asymmetry in American politics. By trashing the institutions of government, the younger Bush personified his central thesis that government cannot be trusted to do anything well. He has shown that Republicans cannot lose at this game. There is no downside in treating government like a sewer. To the extent they have been careless or negligent with it, or crassly mendacious, illegally rewarding cronies and punishing opponents, splurging and plundering at every turn, they still come out on top. If, against all odds, a program or initiative somehow succeeds, they can show how wise they were all along. If programs or initiatives fail, as has been more likely, the failures only illustrate why citizens and taxpayers should not rely on government in the first place. Bush has thus enlarged upon the Reagan-era fiscal tactic of "starving the beast" of revenues into a more insidious strategy of starving the beast of public trust.

Common sense advice to the new President:

In everything you do, emphasize and illustrate competence. Appoint people who palpably take government seriously. Avoid even the suggestion of cronyism. Give the public specific benchmarks for how you, and the public, will be able to judge whether an initiative is succeeding and, hence, whether tax dollars are being spent wisely. If a program or an initiative fails to meet the benchmark, end it.

You won't raise nearly enough revenues merely by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Responding to all the deferred needs of the nation will cost several hundred-billion dollars more. Where to get the additional money? Three sources: The peace dividend from ending the Iraq War, a more progressive tax, and modest deficit spending. Because many of America's deferred needs are felt so directly by a large majority of citizens -- health care, early education, child care, training for good jobs, better public transit, and so on -- you can gain support for additional revenue if you educate the public about what you're doing and why.

What? Let the public in on what you're doing and educate them? What a concept! The public will never stand for being involved in their own fate!

On 'leadership', not a new concept, but sadly lacking under Bush:

Under the other model, presidents decide what's good for the public and then try to sell, cajole, intimidate, or lie their way toward gaining public support. George W. Bush didn't waiver in any of his beliefs, including the wisdom of his supply-side tax cuts for the rich and of invading Iraq. But leading by fiat isn't leading, either; it's bullying. It's also profoundly anti-democratic. Worse yet, it leads to large errors because a president who's dogged in pursuit of his goals is often incapable of hearing evidence that shows those beliefs to be mistaken. If you choose this model of leadership, you subject the nation to grave danger.

[...] In other words, enter into an ongoing dialogue with your public. Educate them, but be humble enough to be educated in turn. That's the only way to preserve and build the trust in your leadership.

Given the difficult hand you've been dealt, it's your only hope for success.

It's more than a 'difficult hand', it's a stacked deck. I remember from Westerns how the locals dealt with crooked cardsharps. Dealt 'em a pair o' fours, as in .44...

Lots more. Go read.

The Campaign Speech I'd Like to Hear

Somebody should make all the candidates go read this piece by John Cory:

These have been dark days for American democracy and the American dream. We have lost trust in one another, trust in our inalienable rights and trust in the principles upon which this nation was founded.

Where once we dreamed beyond the boundaries of oceans and stars, we now huddle in apprehension and frame our fears within fences and borders and walls that limit our imagination and our compassion. Where once we embraced the magic of diversity, we now seek shelter in the mold of sameness, hesitant to break that mold. Where once we embraced the right to assemble and dissent, we now corral and censor. We now legislate corporate protection, regardless of the crimes of those corporations against our citizens. Where once we understood that freedom of religion also included freedom from religion, we now administer spirituality litmus tests for any and all citizens and political candidates. Where once we understood that majority rule must be balanced with inclusion and protection of the minority, we now seek to empower select elite minorities to override the rights and well-being of the majority. And that was never the American way.

In America, we dream; not from gluttony and greed, but from our natural-born desire for betterment, from the longing to improve our lot in life and that of our children and neighbors and fellow citizens. Ours is not a dream of empire, but of empathy for those who suffer and those who struggle to provide even the barest of necessities; a dream not of wealth, but of health for every child and adult so that they may live their American dream. It is a dream of inclusion, not exclusion. Ours is the dream of the angels.

I fear that to return to the dream of America is gonna require some major ass-kicking. Not by angels, either.

Question of the Day

From Pissed Off Patricia:

What will you do if we wake up in November to find our next president is John McCain?

I'll tell ya, my timetable for moving to Europe will be moved up by a lot.

5 Years ...

Since Colon Colin Powell tried to do his Adlai Stevenson impersonation:

...

On February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations to rally support for an invasion of Iraq.

...

This year’s fifth anniversary coincides with a Super Tuesday primary like no other. As Americans across the country go to the polls, a couple of hundred thousand American troops, contractors, and mercenaries are still stewing in America’s longest and most ill-conceived war.

...

Thing is, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a credible threat to the United States. Iraq was just an attempt to pilfer a sovereign nation's oil.

Quote of the Day

Our buddy UL:

... If you want to see a REAL weapon of mass destruction, watch me light a fart!

Decisions, decisions...

Since this is Extra Special Super Bitchin' Double-Throw-Down Typhoon Tuesday, I figgered I'd toss in maybe 2¢ worth.

The other day, Fixer wrote a great post about his decision as to which candidate to vote for today, and the next day he did a follow-on likening the President (Damn, it'll be good to put a capital 'P' on President again, God willing!) to a mechanic.

The Chimp took this nation apart and it barely runs. You gonna give your tools to the C-mechanic to fix it or to the A-guy?

I'm gonna take this analogy a step farther and compare the President to the guy who makes the A- or C-guy decision: the service writer.

The service writer is the face of the repair shop to the customer. He greets the customer and listens to his tale of automotive woe. He writes down the complaint as to what the car is or isn't doing, and then assigns the work to a mechanic, who does the actual diagnosis, and then figures out an estimate of time and cost and relays this to the customer for his approval.

The service writer always tries to match the mechanic to the job as best he can. Some mechanics (like me 'n Fixer, ahem...) can do it all, but sometimes they can't. You don't necessarily want the large bozo who R&Rs Cummins engines doing an exacting electronic diagnosis, just as an example.

Most service writers have mechanical experience, but it is only really necessary that they are conversant with theory and practice. They don't have to be master mechanics to assign a job to one. Hell, you don't want mechanics talking with the customers either. Shudder!

One of the big skills in being a good service writer is the ability to put the customer at ease and make his upcoming expense palatable to him. Call it a sales job, or maybe tact and diplomacy, which are about the same thing. Nobody likes to get their car fixed (or pay taxes) but sometimes it's necessary.

The main thing is that they are honest and can communicate clearly to and from the customer. What you don't want is a rip-off who takes your money and your car still doesn't work right. As Presidents go, we already have one of those. Bush could fuck up a junkyard with a rubber hammer and charge for a precision repair.

Which brings up that the service writer is also the complaint department if there's a problem with the customer's car after the repair. He didn't do the work, but he gets the blame. It is his responsibilty to ensure the finished product is up to snuff. Mechanics will tell you it doesn't matter what happens in the shop, but when that car goes out, it has to be right. If it's not, it's the service writer who catches the initial heat, which will be passed along in due course.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that our President doesn't have to do the actual work himself. What he is, is the face of our government. As long as he has an idea of what it is that he wants to do, he has 'mechanics', such as SecState, SecDef, AG, etc., to carry out the actual work. He has to have honest people whom he can trust, since the work goes out with first his name on it as President of the United States and then in our name as Americans.

Like a mechanic, though, he should be smart, know what he's doing, take pride in his work, admit his mistakes and clean up the rare comeback with a public smile, no matter what might pass between him and the guy who did the job in the first place.

In light of the president we have now, the next one should also have good judgment and a sense of shame so he doesn't commit criminal acts and poor policy decisions that benefit the few at the expense of the many. I always get the feeling that Bush is laughing at us for being suckers for lettin' him get away with all his shit and for not coming for him with pitchforks like we should have.

From my standpoint on 'experience' not being the main quality I'm looking for in a President, I'll bet you've already guessed that I'm going to vote for Barack Obama. Sometimes you need to vote with your head, and sometimes with your heart. I'm old enough to remember the promise of John Kennedy, even though he never really got the chance to pull off very much of it. We believed in him and felt good about the future.

I'm also old enough that there aren't many years left to me to see a better America. The old ways don't work. A new one might, and that's the way I'm going. With hope in my heart.

Congress ...

moar funny pictures

Pic stolen from the Cheezburger.

Football is a Republican game ...

Who knew? Carl has an excellent post up at Michael's place about the similarities between football and Republicans:

...

Like Republicans, football coaches can demand a "recount" (video review) if things don't go their way, rather than rely on the fact that people make mistakes, life is unfair, and you have to deal with the consequences when luck breaks against you.

...

Football is about possession, too, so there's another parallel to Republicanism. The more time you "have," the more time they are the "have-nots," and Lord knows, the Republicans are all about the "haves"! I imagine interceptions and fumbles are a liberal Robin Hood plot in football to Republicans.

...

Like I said, who knew? Heh ...

Bourdain in NOLA

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is in New Orleans tonight to see what changes have been wrought since Katrina. Should be good. 10 and 11PM on the Travel Channel.

The neocon candidate

If there's a better reason than this to wish for McCain's defeat, I haven't seen it.

Middle East Internet cable cut

Jerusalem Post

No ships were present when two marine cables carrying much of the Middle East's internet traffic were severed, announced Egypt's Ministry of Communications Sunday, contrary to earlier speculation about the causes of the cut.

The ministry had originally stated that a ship dropping its anchor on the two key cables was most likely responsible for Wednesday's cut in service that robbed Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India of much of their internet.

"A marine transport committee investigated the traffic of ships in the area, 12 hours before and after the malfunction, where the cables are located to figure out the possibility of being cut by a passing vessel and found out there were no passing ships at that time," said the statement.

The ministry added that the location, 8.3 kilometers (5 miles) from the port of Alexandria, was in a restricted area so ships would not have been allowed there to begin with.

Submarines can do that. But whose? And why?

Ours used to fuck with Soviet undersea cables all the time to include tapping into them to listen in.

Bush: As Valuable As Whale Shit?

Gore Vidal

While contemplating the ill-starred presidency of G.W. Bush, I looked about for some sort of divine analogy. As usual, when in need of enlightenment, I fell upon the Holy Bible, authorized King James version of 1611; turning by chance to the Book of Jonah, I read that Jonah, who, like Bush, chats with God, had suffered a falling out with the Almighty and thus became himself a jinx dogged by luck so bad that when a Stone Age cruise liner, thanks to his presence aboard, was about to sink in a storm at sea, the crew for safety’s sake threw him overboard and—Lo!—the storm abated. The three days and nights he subsequently spent in the belly of a nauseous whale must have seemed like a serious jinx to the digestion-challenged mammal who extruded him much as the decent opinion of mankind has done to Bush.

The word 'ambergris' popped into my head, so I did a little research:

According to the ancients, parfumeurs and Arab royalty, the old saying might as well go: "Worth its weight in whale waste"

But don't refer to it as "whale vomit"; scientists postulate that whales do not expel ambergris through their mouths. No one has ever seen a sperm whale excrete ambergris, although sperm whale expert Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, admits that it is assumed the voiding takes place as fecal excretion, because when first cast out, he says, "Well, it smells more like the back end than the front."

A piece o' shit, worth a lot of money, and can't get any lower because it's already at the bottom of the ocean. Yep, that's Bush all right.

Just as an afterthought, the Arabic word for whale shit, also the root of the word for the similar vegetal substance 'amber', is anbar. As in Anbar Province. Take it for what it's worth, which if it were whale shit would be a lot more than it is now.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Report: Military Unprepared for Attack on U.S. Soil
A small force, like one shown, could overwhelm our defenses.

The Mouse That Roared is still funny!

McCain Suggests Timetable For Iraq Withdrawal
Plan would have troops out by February, 2108.

Training Begun for 103 Secret Service Agents for Bush's Retirement
Not counting prison guards.

I hope great care is taken in choosing Bush's cellie as well. A 300lb transvestite biker rump ranger named Barbie would be about right.

China Chasing Down Dissidents in Preparation for Olympics
Those they can't catch make team.

Oy!

Super Duper, Holy Shit, Tsunami Tuesday can't come fast enough. God, I'm sick of the constant political ads.

Off to the shop ...

Wow!

I don't know about you guys, but I'd have to say Skippy and Jon Swift's Blogroll Amnesty Day was a great success. Congrats to those guys for setting it up. Last night (while watching the game) I began stealing links from Skippy's pages (I got more to do tonight and I'm gonna glom the links from Jon too) and found a whole buncha great new blogs (I increased the size of our blogrolls by about 120 so far).

You know, the strength of Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) is in the number and diversity of voices we have, not only Americans, but people from around the world who are aware enough to know that fortunes in their nations are directly tied to ours. It's a shame those of us who have the loudest voices turn their backs on the little guys but that's their problem. It's nice to see that most of us understand the meaning of the phrase "hang together or hang separately".

Thanks again to Skippy and Jon and the others who spearheaded Blogroll Amnesty Day.

And just a note: If I didn't get you up there last night, leave a link in comments on this post and I'll add you.

Michelle Obama

I caught her interview with Soledad yesterday. I don't know about you, but after listening to her, I wish she were running for President instead of her husband.

Champs!

Eli!

Contrary to what most believed would happen, the New York Football Giants are the Super Bowl Champions.

GLENDALE, Arizona (Reuters) - The New York Giants achieved one of the biggest upsets in NFL history with a 17-14 victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Quarterback Eli Manning engineered a 12-play, 83-yard drive for the game-winner, connecting with Plaxico Burress in the left corner of the end zone just 35 seconds from time and triggered wild celebration on the Giants' sideline. [my em]

...

So, as we say here: "Yo, how 'bout dem Jints?"

Nein!

A couple weeks back, I put up a post about the Marines leaving Iraq for Afghanistan. One of the reasons was because NATO was reluctant to send more troops to Afghanistan:

... Being just back from Europe, public opinion (anecdotal) is clearly against getting involved (or further involved) in anything American when it comes to foreign adventures, at least until we have a new President. We won't see any more European troops over there for a year at least ...

Well, it looks like the German politicians actually listen* to their constituents:

A bitter diplomatic row between Germany and the United States deepened yesterday after Berlin flatly rejected demands from Washington that it deploy troops in war-torn southern Afghanistan and angrily dismissed the request as "impertinent" and a "fantastic cheek".

...

Details of what was described as an "unusually stern" letter written by Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, to Franz Josef Jung, his German counterpart, were leaked to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper yesterday.

...

Mr Jung later justified the German position insisting that there were "clear regional divisions" regarding troop deployment in Afghanistan. "Our current mandate only allows for German soldiers to be sent to the south in emergencies," he said. The issue is expected to come to a head next week when Nato defence ministers meet in Lithuania to discuss Afghanistan. Social Democrat MPs in Ms Merkel's conservative-led grand coalition government also argued strongly against the idea of sending troops south. Rainer Arnold, the party's defence spokesman, warned that the idea risked undermining the already shaky public support for Germany's entire Afghanistan mission. [my ems]

...

We'll hear more of this from the other NATO nations involved with our Afghanistan expedition as public opinion of the U.S. circles the bowl. The Chimp can't leave too soon at this point.

*Link thanks to Maru.

"The hills are alive...

...with the sound of single-cylinder engines!"

This is what I've been up to today. So has everyone else in the 'hood. I counted eight of these things runnin' all at once this morning:

Clicking will make it huge!

I am dedicating this post to that little machine, which makes it possible (just barely, sometimes!) for me to live here. All the snow in my driveway is since yesterday afternoon.

Except for one winter when the thing was broke down, it has been clearing snow for 15 years. It is powered by 8 tired horses and one smelly ol' goat.

Kindly notice a unique feature, the crank-operated wind direction changer, nominally known as the 'discharge chute'. No matter which direction you want to throw the snow, a few turns of the crank will automatically change the wind direction so it is always discharged into the wind and thence onto the operator.

Should I ever move to the tropics, I think I'll take it with me. I think I've figured out how to harvest coconuts with it. Should be able to shoot 'em right into the bed of a pickup. I just gotta figure out how to climb a palm tree with it...

Somebody has kindly been removing my berms for me and today I caught him at it: it's Dave, who's a huntin' buddy of my next door neighbor Clancy. I may have blown the whole deal when I asked him, "Are you my berm fairy?". I gotta remember to put my brain in gear before engaging my mouth...

Go Jints!

Pic thanks to the New York Football Giants.

Update:

If you're not into football, I just put up a post on my travel blog about family-friendly Disney cruises. Also on the blog, a heads up on a trip you might be interested in.

On Hillary*

Yesterday, in my post endorsing Mrs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination and the Presidency, I wrote a line I received several emails on basically saying I wasn't giving Obama enough credit:

... With the moron named Bush, we saw it doesn't take much to fuck up a country but it takes an experienced hand to repair the damage ...

Look at it this way. I can wheel my toolbox over to any idiot (not that I'm likening Obama to an idiot, no emails please) on the street, point him to a car, and say "have at it". That person will probably figure out how to take the car apart, using the large assortment of tools I just placed at his disposal, in a modicum of time.

Now, once it's a pile of parts on the floor, who are you gonna ask to put it back together so it runs like it did before? Me? (A mechanic with 35 years of experience, the majority of which came in the race engine field) Or him? (The poor schmuck who's looking at my tools for the first ... second time)

The Chimp took this nation apart and it barely runs. You gonna give your tools to the C-mechanic to fix it or to the A-guy?

Well back to work. I'm in the same situation Gord was last week, though without the company.

*No pun intended but I don't think it would be a bad position to be in. Heh ...

American Classics

I'd have to say my favorite American composer is Aaron Copland. I got three from him today.

Appalachian Spring via the DePauw University Symphony Orchestra
David Matthies, Conducting

Hoedown via Symphonic Orchestra of Poznan's music high-school

Fanfare for the Common Man via Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

And a note about the ELP offering: You classical purists might consider it drivel (in the same light as you consider the Bond girls) but I ask you to open your minds. Personally, I find it amazing the works of the old masters can translate so well into the modern era. It says a lot for the timeless nature of the classics.

Sounds about right ...

Mixter has a premonition:

...

McCain wins the GOP nomination. Clinton wins the Dem nomination.

Clinton wins the election; Gee Dubs starts WWIII before she takes office.

That's my call.

...

I've said for a while now, Bush and the neocons won't leave quietly.

Update:

I was reading a post at the Swedish Meatballs (not work-safe) during my regular flyby through there and realized our brother Lurch did a treatment on it the other day and I forgot to blog about it (pothead). I'm stealing some quotes from Meatball but I'm going to send you to it through Lurch's page because I believe both posts should be read. This is so related to the snip I took from Mixter this morning:

...

What happened in Millennium Challenge is that the Navy brass picked a prickly retired USMC vet named Paul van Ripen to play the Iranian commander facing a naval incursion--and van Riper, with nothing but small speedboats, civilian prop planes, and low-tech surface-to-surface missiles, managed to sink two-thirds of the US force by buzzing them with annoying but not openly hostile civilian craft, then attacking simultaneously with everything he had.

...

Of course Cheney or whoever else ordered the fleet into a shallow deathtrap like the Gulf was playing the same sleazy game, just with a bigger budget. The only possible reason to send a US fleet close to the Iranian coastline right now is that Cheney and his friends are desperate to provoke a war with Iran fast, before they have to leave office.

...

Look for more little 'incidents' the closer we get to Election Day. I don't put it past Bush to try and pull a 'Giuliani' and try to overstay his term if this 'Cold War' we're fighting with Iran heats up.

Blogroll Amnesty Day*

Our good pal Skippy the Bush Kangaroo has been doing yeoman's work bringing smaller blogs to the fore; hell, I update our blogrolls by stealing links from him. That said, I got too much shit to do today to individually list the good small blogs I've run across over the past year, but Skippy has a great list of them for you to visit. This evening, I'll be adding all the blogs he's highlighted to our blogroll (if they're not on it already). If you want to make sure you get on our blogroll, leave me a link in comments on this post and I'll add you. Unlike some of the major blogs who look at us the same way politicians do, no names but you know who you are, we here at the Brain have an extensive blogroll rivaling Skippy's and we're always happy to add new blogs. We're all in this together, ain't we?

*Yes! Skippy coined that phrase!

Update:

See Jon Swift too.

A decision ...

Which I haven't made lightly. Now that the field of Democratic candidates for the party's nomination is down to two (and my first, second, and third choices have left the race), it is time for me to choose one of them. Had John Edwards stayed in, I would have voted for him, same with Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson, before I cast a ballot for Clinton or Obama. Things about both of them rub me the wrong way. There are things about both of them I like as well.

I even resorted to making a list of the pros and cons of each, as I see them, and neither outshone the other, neither had something that put them head and shoulders above the other. It came down to two things for me. Obama's appeal lying in the fact he is a new face and would bring new blood to the White House. Hillary's in the fact she's been there and has the experience of being 'intimate' (take that as you will) with the Presidency for eight years (it is also a negative in my book). It began to clear up for me when I wrote the Nader post yesterday.

It was the question I asked of Nader:

...

The reality is that the American people have to stand behind the candidate who has the best chance of righting the wrongs that have been committed in our name over the past 8 years. That would be the Democratic nominee. My apologies to Ralph and his supporters, and he has every right to get his name on the ballot if he can, but he must realize the prevailing situation. He must realize how precarious our position on the world stage, as well as domestically, is. He must realize how torn and tattered our Constitution is having weathered 8 years of Bush. If he loves America as much as he says he does, if he cares for the American people as much as his activism leads us to believe, he will see that his candidacy at this point could push this nation over the precipice we're balanced on. Why would he possibly take the chance at this dangerous time?

...

I am sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but just as we don't need a pretender at this dangerous time, neither do we need a neophyte. On 5 February 2008, in the New York State Democratic Primary, I will cast my vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I believe Mrs. Clinton has the tools, the experience, and the understanding of the Presidency to be effective in the least amount of time. She has been there, from Kosovo to Northern Ireland, she was involved in the diplomacy and the negotiations. She's been working on universal health care for sixteen years, I have to believe her plan is more refined and 'ready-to-go' than Mr. Obama's. Mrs. Clinton was in Washington during Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War (when Mr. Obama was in grade school) and that experience counts for a lot.

For the same reason I cannot support an idealist at this time (though I wonder if that's what Nader is at this point), I cannot vote for a man whose experience pales in comparison to Mrs. Clinton's. This is not the time to try new things, to try and reform the system, it is the time for someone who knows the system and is able to get things done within it. The time to reform our political system is after this nation is put back on the correct course.

Some might say we've had too much of 'the system' and without reform we will never be able to correct our course. I disagree. I say Bill Clinton worked within the system and America did well. The first order of business in 2009 will be to undo the damage George Bush has wrought on the world. Political reform can come after we get our financial house in order and return this nation to its former position in the world. With the moron named Bush, we saw it doesn't take much to fuck up a country but it takes an experienced hand to repair the damage.

I believe Mr. Obama can continue to be an effective progressive voice in the Senate, there is time for him in 2016 when I will give him my vote, or as Mrs. Clinton's vice president. He will grow, learn, and understand what it takes to run and represent a nation of three hundred million people. These times are too dangerous, too critical for on-the-job training.

I hope Mrs. Clinton will take heed of the wishes of the American people, not her corporate connections, when she makes her decisions and understands the severity of the damage the Bush administration has done to this country. I hope she understands the crimes they and their cronies have committed and will at least attempt to exact a price from them for it. I hope she grasps the blow our international reputation has been dealt and how urgent it is to recover from it. I hope she can empathize with the fifty million Americans without health insurance and get them help before they are ruined financially or succumb to a disease easily treated but for the money. I hope she wants to take responsibility for our nation's part in global warming and the destruction of the environment and sign on to the Kyoto Accords. I hope she realizes how many people are counting on her, not just here but in Iraq and Afghanistan, and around the world.

With that hope I give you my vote, Mrs. Clinton. Don't disappoint me.

Beautiful ...

The ladies, the music, and Spain ...

Bond - Fuego

Shoppin'n'Shovellin'...

Light blogging today, although I've got some stuff lined up for later that will wow ya.

Me'n Mrs. G have to go shopping in the big city, that's Carson City, folks. It's been snowing for ten days, and today is our window between storms that lets us go do that. Our mountain roads and high passes are nothing to fuck with during storms if you don't absolutely have to and we're savvy enough to arrange our schedules so we don't have to. Yeah, like it was our planning that brought the break on a Saturday!

Also over the next coupla days, I got a little honey-do project involving a 'cordless' snowthrower. Heh.

Click to embiggen

Later.

Housekeeping ...

I'm trying out this Haloscan rating system for people to rate the posts here. Don't know if it'll stay around, but I figured I'd mess with it for a bit.

Fuck it, ain't working the way I want it to.

I did, however, manage to get the comments to display on the individual post pages.

Saturday whorage

Over at The Practical Press, the next chapter of Thirty Days at Zeta has been posted.

What's happening with you? Leave links in comments ... or not. Heh ...

Update:

I finally wrote the post on shore excursions I promised last week.

Quote of the Day, sort of

After reading all the comments at Fixer's post about Ralph Nader, I remembered this paraphrased e-mail to Jack Cafferty the other day:

If voting really made a difference, it would be illegal.

Funny how that works...

Click to embiggen

The New McAxis of Evil

Hot Off The Trail

It's an understatement to say that conservatives are not happy that John McCain has emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

"The Republican Party has been hijacked," says the article.

What, again? Put some locks on that thing, guys.

"Over the past month a new Axis of Evil has emerged - not one based in Damascus, Tehran or Pyongyang - but instead in Cedar Rapids, Charleston, South Carolina, Derry, New Hampshire and Boca Raton, Florida. It is the liberal and “independent” voters in these 4 states that have nearly completed a deed that makes Kim Jong Il envious -the near crippling of the American Electoral System.

"These four states have combined their native liberal populism with an imported liberal electorate and have forced the GOP to accept a nominee so distasteful that in more than one poll -- the numbers of voters choosing not to vote and those choosing to vote third party actually exceed those who will hold their nose and vote for Maverick, War Hero, Amnesty Supporter, John McCain."

My advice to those who think McCain is too liberal - just stay home on election day.

Heh. I said "McCain is too liberal"! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Update:

From News Hounds, who watch FOX so we don't have to:

“Boombox” Ann Coulter joined Sean Hannity for a fit of John McCain-bashing on Hannity & Colmes last night (1/31/08). With her garish make-up and tight sweater, the middle-aged Coulter was childishly agog with hyperactive anticipation for all the attention she calculated she’d garner from her latest ploy: an announcement that she’d vote for Hillary Clinton if McCain gets the nomination. One of her reasons? “He led the fight against – you say interrogations, I say torture!” With video.

Of course, it assumes that Coulter would manage to vote lawfully in the first place, something she has had trouble with in the past.

Damn! My sides hurt and I'm having trouble catchin' my breath!

So a guarantee it's got?

Checkpoint Jerusalem

The secret to avoiding Gaza rockets...

Last year, more than 1,000 crude Qassam rockets fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel. Despite all the strikes, only two people were killed.

But ultra-religious leaders in Israel suspect there may be other, or other-worldly, reasons why some homes are hit and others are not.

Maariv reported this week that religious leaders have discovered that many of the homes hit by Qassam rockets had "defective" mezuzahs. (Mezuzahs are parchments with Biblical passages placed in special cases and affixed to the doors of Jewish homes for protection.)

Now on the agenda: repairing mezuzahs.

Religious officials in the city claim that examinations of mezuzahs there located many that were defective, and many of the defective ones were found in homes that had been hit.

They said that in places where the Qassam rockets fell in the street and did not enter the yards of houses, kosher mezuzahs were found.

So now I got questions:

Were these defective mezuzahs by any chance from China?

Is there a possible correlative implication that my dashboard plastic Jesus might be defective?

Oy.

On Nader ...

So, I put up the 'Quote of the Day' post yesterday evening and sure enough, like moths to the light or flies to shit, I attracted someone from the Nader campaign. She proceeded to list all the campaign's talking points and 'Democratic Myths' regarding the two Nader candidacies previous. Fine, I'll allow she's telling the truth.

Let me first say that I respect Nader's activism. What he's done in the arena of consumer safety is legendary and should be applauded, but I respect that in the same way I respect John McCain's military service. But, this is the here and now, not 1967. I'm sure the young lady who left a comment wasn't alive in '67 and probably never rode in a Corvair, but that's irrelevant.

What is relevant is that in 2008, we have the choice between two parties and a member of one of those parties, Democrat or Republican, will be the next President of the United States. Ralph Nader has zero chance to win. Snowballs have a better chance in Hell.

That said, I want the next President to be a Democrat, not a Republican who will continue the policies and criminality of George W. Bush and his henchmen. John McCain has already stated that he wouldn't mind "being in Iraq for a hundred years". Mitt Romney sees the same thing for our future. Both Republican candidates are unacceptable on many levels.

Our best chance is a Dem, be it Hillary or Barack, and Nader stands, with his candidacy, more likely to take votes from a Dem than a Republican (That is a proven fact, Ms. Vyas). With the hurdles the Republicans have erected in the political process (co-opting the media, Diebold, the Christian 'voice from the pulpit', illegal gerrymandering) for Dems, do they really need the complication of overcoming the 'Nader vote' too? Whether he was or wasn't the reason Al Gore lost in 2000, do we really need to take the chance of another 8 years of Bush-esque policy this time?

In 2000, things were different. The economy was strong, we weren't in an endless occupation that is siphoning off American money and lives, and we didn't have a President who wiped his ass with the Constitution. We hadn't lived through the Bush Presidency and I actually gave Nader credit for running on principle (regardless of where his financing came from), even considered voting for him, but it's 8 years down the road now.

2008 sees this nation in shambles, a pariah in the international arena and a government run by criminals. A change has to be made and while I admit, Hillary or Barack are not my first or second choices to do the job, either is far better that McCain and Romney. The country will be bankrupt and defenseless by the time they're done.

Being an idealist, and anyone who's read my books knows I'm a big one, I wholeheartedly support campaigns based on an idealistic platform. I've told Mrs. F many times that if I won a couple hundred million in the Power Ball, I'd run myself. This is not the time for idealism. This is the time for pragmatic reality.

The reality is that the American people have to stand behind the candidate who has the best chance of righting the wrongs that have been committed in our name over the past 8 years. That would be the Democratic nominee. My apologies to Ralph and his supporters, and he has every right to get his name on the ballot if he can, but he must realize the prevailing situation. He must realize how precarious our position on the world stage, as well as domestically, is. He must realize how torn and tattered our Constitution is having weathered 8 years of Bush. If he loves America as much as he says he does, if he cares for the American people as much as his activism leads us to believe, he will see that his candidacy at this point could push this nation over the precipice we're balanced on. Why would he possibly take the chance at this dangerous time?

The time for playing around is over, Ralph. If your potential candidacy is anything more than an attempt to garner attention, if your plans have any connection to reality, you will see America does not need the complication of you. If you want to do something for America, get the hell out of the way and support the Democrat. If we get through the next 4 years, have at it, but in 2008 it'd be best for all concerned if you stayed home and shut the fuck up*.

And just a note, Ralph: Keep your trolls at home. If I see more campaign drivel in my comments they'll be deleted forthwith. Even the Republicans know better than to pull that shit here.

*Link, thanks to Maru, added after the fact. Off to the shop ... It's FRIDAY!