Employment opportunities ...

Pic stolen from El Comandante.

Ve like de schwarzer ...

Crooks and Liars:

Remember all that talk about Senator Obama’s "problem with Jewish voters"? Well, just like his problem with women, Latinos and blue collar whites, it doesn’t exist. And if the 34 percent who view him unfavorably does constitute a problem, then Lieberman has a lot more to worry about.

Saturday whorage

Another chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press. Check out the new layout while you're there (Kenneth let me dick with it to make the page more readable).

And I can't believe I missed a couple good posts on one of my own blogs. Been a while since I been to F & G. Gord went to a show (great pics) and Nucks found cheap transport.

I been working too hard but the house is starting to take shape.

See yas in the afternoon. Drywall waits for no man. Heh ...

Leave your links in 'comments'.

A Bear in your backyard ...

Or, Taking the High Road?

A couple days ago, this caught my eye:

The media has been abuzz today at the prospect of Russian nuclear bombers being stationed in Cuba if the US goes ahead with plans for missile defence bases in Eastern Europe.

The story has riled the US enough that a US general has been wheeled out to tell the world’s press that any Russian attempt to build another nuclear base in Cuba would cross US "red line".

...

Then today I see this:

Russia's defence ministry on Thursday denied a report it was considering basing bomber aircraft in Cuba in retaliation for US missile defence plans in Eastern Europe, a news agency reported.

"We regard these sorts of reports from anonymous sources as disinformation," RIA Novosti quoted defence ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin as saying.

...

Russian disinformation probably, allowing them to take the high road while wagging a finger at the U.S. for planning to put anti-missile installations in former Eastern Bloc nations. They're sending the Chimp a message though, unfortunately, he's too obtuse to get it.

Don't wake the Bear.

Oh, the irony!

Since Gord is off, acting like he and the Mrs. are 18 again (don't throw out yer back, old man; heh ...), I figured I'd 'appropriate' his weekly feature for a day to bring you this:

Porter Goss on ethics committee?

Larisa can't believe it either:

...

Let me see if I understand this:

1. A man who is alleged to have been involved in funneling large amounts of money in contracts to dubious "defense contractor" Brent Wilkes (whose companies were mostly on paper) knows something about ethics does he?

...

I guess, if you've been skirting the law all your life, you know exactly where the line is.

Quote of the Day

The Rude One:

...

You know, if John McCain was Al Gore at this point, the mainstream media would have crucified him, sent razor-taloned birds to pluck out his eyes, and pointed and laughed as he screamed and bled and pissed himself.

...

Do they give courses ...

On 'packing it' or is that what Graham is there for? Heh ...

Skepticism ...

After 8 years of Bush, the Germans naturally have questions about Obama. We might not like the answers:

...

How is this in our, German, interest?

That candidate by the way is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs. Since he got that job in January 2007 he held no policy hearing and never visited Europe. His real interests seem to be elsewhere.

What does he want from us?

Oh, I see, Afghanistan. He wants more of our boys and girls to protect (and get killed for) that TAPI pipeline, a major U.S. colonial project. TAPI will connect Turkmenian gas fields with consumers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Hmm - couldn't we use that gas? I am quite sure Gazprom could deliver it at a my home for a decent price.

What could this guy possibly give us?

Maybe he can take those U.S. troops home who still take up valuable real estate here 63 years after the last war. Hey, why don't they go to Afghanistan and replace our troops there?

...

I touched on this when I got back from Germany at the beginning of the year:

...

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. If anyone can make a difference in Afghanistan, it's the Marines, though Lurch finds the political corollary to moving the Marine force from Iraq to Afghanistan:

...

Because you're over here ...

And Obama is over there, the Rethug Noise Machine thinks they can make any shit up about him and you'll believe it:

...

These press organizations spend big bucks to send reporters along on trips like these and yet their world still revolves around some schmuck in Florida who serves as a conduit for right wing propaganda. After all these years, they still believe him. And the funny thing about it is that while they rely heavily on a guy who's only relationship to real journalism is the fact that he wears a Walter Winchell fedora, they spend an inordinate amount of time denigrating bloggers, among whose ranks he more logically belongs.

...

You know, as I think about it, probably half a progressive blogger's posts are spent refuting and debunking all the crap the RWNM* spews out.

*Right Wing Noise Machine

Headin' out...

We're off today to the Central Coast to attend Mrs. G's 45th High School reunion, so probly light blogging 'til next Wednesday. See yas.

Robot killers ...

I betcha all the ground attack guys are pissed, but unmanned aerial vehicles are coming of age. It's just a matter of time until humans in the battle space become a thing of the past. Scares the shit out of me.

Going to work ...

A thought ...

Before I leave for work from Mr. Aravosis:

...

I just find it odd that we're "not an occupying force," but at the same time, the government in power, that we're supposedly there to help, has to "negotiate" our withdrawal, rather than just being able to tell their friend that it's time to go ...

A '62 Valiant, a Maserati roadster ...

And a crashing Darell Waltrip walk into a bar ...

With that intro, I can be sending you to no one else but Nucks:

...

And before someone gets their panties in a twist of gigantic proportions here, no, I am not accusing McCain of drinking, just of having the personality of Otis down at the Mayberry jail on a Saturday night.

...

Heh ...

And just a note: Were I the President, bump-drafting would be legal on the highway. Autobahn rules at the least ...

Shorter Novakula:

Was that a speedbump?*

*Or something like that. Heh ...

Schmuck Schumer proves ...

He's still a schmuck:

WASHINGTON — When President Bush tapped Michael B. Mukasey to lead the scandal-plagued Justice Department nine months ago, Senator Charles E. Schumer could not say enough good things about his fellow New Yorker. Mr. Schumer ran out of time in ticking off Mr. Mukasey’s accomplishments at his Senate hearing, and the senator’s vote of support ensured his confirmation as attorney general.

Yet at a hearing this month, face to face with his pick for attorney general, Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, did not hide his disappointment in what he saw as Mr. Mukasey’s reluctance to move more aggressively in investigating accusations that the Justice Department had brought politically inspired prosecutions against Democratic politicians.

...

Ain't like I didn't tell you so, putz.

The stupid ... more

Let's see: Obama will be in Berlin. He would like to speak to as many Berliners, and Germans in general, as he can while he's there. He had flyers printed up in German to let Germans know he'll be there. Oh, the humanity!!!!

This is pretty extraordinary. A candidate for the American Presidency is using flyers printed in German to turn people out for his campaign rally in Berlin on Thursday. This flyer can be found on a bilingual page on BarackObama.com advertising the event:

...

STFU, dumbass.

Senator McCain, this is called an 'on-off switch'...

Mark Morford on McCain's computer illiteracy:

The crusty ol' Repub says he has no clue how to use a computer. Isn't that cute?

So then, the valid question: Is it a big deal? Should you care? Because McCain's I'm-just-a-clueless-old-guy comment has caused a bit a stir, with anyone with a functioning DSL line calling it a bit of an embarrassment, a bit like running for captain of the swim team while admitting all you know how to do is splash around in the bathtub. Gosh, Senator, don't you think you need just a passing understanding of the culture in which you live to qualify you to oversee the damnable place? Doesn't it help?

Maybe not. Maybe McCain's apologists are right, the POTUS really doesn't need to have a working knowledge of what hundreds of millions of people use every day to live, work, communicate, shop and blog and breed and porn and tube and book. Hell, just look at President Bush — still giggles every time Laura plugs in the air popcorn popper, has an Irish drinking song as a ringtone, enjoys a working grasp of the English language that borders on infantile. Really, who says a president has to be even modestly versed in the culture of his or her day? Or even passably competent?

'Competence' was defenestrated as a requisite for Repug politicians in 1980.

[...]To not use or comprehend computers and the Net in 2008 is to basically confess to your own cultural irrelevance.

Maybe a short lesson, then? Shall we offer a bit of help to McCain and his hapless crew? Couldn't hurt.

Look here, Senator, this is a link. You click it to take you somewhere else on the Web. Here's an example: When we click this link we see this page of — oh I'm sorry, this appears to be a big list of your most significant and appalling flip-flops, major issues you've reversed yourself on over weeks, months, years. Goodness, there sure are a lot of them.

Maybe we should stop the lesson now. I think I'm beginning to see just why you don't want to know how to use these hateful little gizmos. Damn things have a painful ability to tell the truth, to keep a dynamic, revealing record of your general inability to understand not just what's really going on in the world, but what's going on in your own muddled, fuzzy, increasingly dangerous mind. Ah, modern technology. Ain't it a bitch?

Please read the rest.

Some gave all...

...for war profiteers. Mission accomplished.

Click it

BC Bud

Interesting story at The Beeb on one of Western Canuckistan's major exports to the U.S.

McCain's 99 Problems

Well, OK, it's just a partial list. Go see at HuffPo. Here's just a couple:

77. His bff, Joe Lieberman.

58. His "Frankenstein on barbiturates" oratory skill.

2. John McCain.
1. George W. Bush.

Morphing ...

For those who don't know, Mrs. F is Jewish. Thing is, she has a fetish for old churches and cathedrals. We're always visiting them whenever we're in Europe (she's like a kid in a candy store in Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame). The running joke in the house is that she's slowly turning into a Catholic.

That said, Joe Liberman is turning into an Evangelical:

...

That [Right-wing Pastor John] Hagee holds views that even John McCain eventually described as "deeply offensive and indefensible" isn't impeding Joe Lieberman's close association with Hagee. This week, Hagee's group is holding its Third Annual Convention in Washington, and here is the line-up for the final night, with the event's keynote speakers listed:

...

Joe Lieberman cares not for Israel, nor the Jewish people. Joe Lieberman cares only about Joe Lieberman.

Quote of the Day

Maru:

Senile old crock John McCain insisted on Monday that he has been consistently right on both Iraq and Afghanistan, which share a border with Czechoslovakia, and disparaged Senator Obama as "someone who has no military experience whatsoever" of being shot down and being held prisoner by Karl Ro the Cong.

...

John McCain wants you to get off his lawn!

Wrongness ...

Professor Cole*:

...

Look, it is more important that McCain was consistently wrong. He was wrong about the desirability of going to war against Iraq. He was wrong about it being a cakewalk. He was wrong about there being WMD there. He was wrong about everything. And he was wrong about the troop escalation making things better. The casualty figures dropped in al-Anbar, where few extra US troops were ever sent. They dropped in Basra, from which the British withdrew. Something happened. Putting it all on 30,000 extra troops seems a stretch. And what about all the ethnic cleansing and displacing of persons that took place under the nose of the "surge?" McCain has been wrong about everything to do with Iraq. And he is boasting about his wisdom on it!

...

The only thing I disagree with, though McCain's making it an issue so it has to be discussed, is that we are debating the effects of the 'surge' to begin with. there should be no debate about 'winning' and 'losing' in Iraq. Listen to me: We should never have been in Iraq to begin with. There is no point discussing tactics (right or wrong) when the overall strategy was flawed from the get-go.

It boils down to this. Barry had the sense to know this war, and resultant occupation, would be a bad thing from the start and voted against it. McLame just follwed the party line, and continues to do so, voting for the war and pledging to continue the occupation through his presidency.

It's time to send the old fool to 'the home', not give him another job for the next four years.

Update:

Creature has video of more Iraq wrongness.

*Tip o' the Brain to Dr. Attaturk (Podiatrist to the Stars) for the link.

Too much ...

Even for Ol' Joke Line:

...

This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.

...

Great thanks to dday for the link.

A little less drivel ...

To assault your eyes:

... the New York Times had rejected a draft op-ed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ...

Like he woulda said anything new. He's taken every position on every subject already.

Picture it ...

Sicily, 1948 ... I loved that old broad:

Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

...

And, according to Spudnik, I'm a closeted gay man:

... I know several dozen gay men that are going to be very distraught ...

Ah well, never too old to learn new tricks. Heh ...

Conservative Lawyers Urge Bush To Issue ‘Pre-Emptive Pardons’ To Officials Involved In Illegal Programs

Well, of course they are...

Think Progress

[...] Bush “has made little use of his clemency power” compared to past presidents.

Except perhaps if you participated in any illegal activity involving the Bush administration’s controversial counterterrorism programs. According to the Times, “several members of the conservative legal community” in Washington D.C. are urging Bush to issue “pre-emptive pardons” to those involved so as to “not be exposed even to the risk of an investigation and expensive legal bills”:

It isn't the 'investigation and expensive legal bills' they're worried about. It's the prison sentences.

Bush might do this and he might not. His dad preemptively pardoned a bunch of the Iran-Contra criminals, and Bush doesn't like to do anything like his daddy did.

Joseph Dwyer, KIA

This is one of the grimmest articles I've yet read about a problem that is only going to get worse. Please read it. I want you to stay angry about a completely failed system that needs to get changed. Whatever it takes.

Raw Story

A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero.

But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work.

This broken, frightened man had once been the embodiment of American might and compassion. If the military couldn't save him, Knapp thought, what hope was there for the thousands suffering in anonymity?

In July 2007, Dwyer checked into an inpatient program at New York's Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He stayed for six months.

He came home in March with more than a dozen prescriptions. He was so medicated that his feet flopped when he walked, as if he were wearing oversized clown shoes.

The VA's solution was a "pharmaceutical lobotomy," his father thought.

"And so it's a dance between the clinicians and the patient."

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, feels the VA is a lousy dance partner.

Rieckhoff said the VA's is a "passive system" whose arcane rules and regulations make it hard for veterans to find help. And when they do get help, he said, it is often inadequate.

"I consider (Dwyer) a battlefield casualty," he said, "because he was still fighting the war in his head."

There are tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of cases out there like Specialist Dwyer's, and more to come. We don't hear about them until someone investigates and reports on them, and not all of them will end like that, of course, but even one is too many.

Until more than lip service is given to fixing the problems in the military and VA mental health care systems, the problem will exist until all the Iraq Vets are dead.

It's going to take more than yellow ribbons on cars. It's going to take guilt and anger by millions of people to fix the aftermath of a warmongering imperialistic ideology that is still sending Americans to a criminal war and then throwing them away in repayment for their service.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Lost in Translation

Click to embiggen

The key to victory ...

For McCain. Looks like the Chimp is doing his best (not much to work with, on many levels) to give McSame a boost into the White House:

...

When Escobar pushes the issue the well connected Rubin acknowledges that there is an intelligence and special operations 'surge' in an attempt to capture Bin Laden before the election. The intelligence agencies, as Rubin heard from them, are not very happy to be part of electoral campaign, but will the issue give a new try.

...

Catching Bin Laden, for real or pretended, would be a perfect October surprise.

...

Catching bin Laden ain't hard. He's either at the Hay - Adams or the Greenbrier.

One can dream ...

That the same thing will happen here:

BELGRADE, Serbia - Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres and the politician considered most responsible for the deadly siege of Sarajevo, was arrested Monday evening in a Serbian police raid ending his 13 years as the world’s most-wanted war crimes fugitive.

His alleged partner in the persecution and “cleansing” of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, remained at large.

...

Wouldn't mind seeing the Chimp in handcuffs, being led into the ICC. What we've done in Iraq make Karadzic look like a chiorboy.

Quote of the Day

Pravda:

...

Ms. Rice has earned the reputation of the Bush’s family friend. She became close to President Bush mainly because of the fact that she is the only person who finds a common language with Bush to teach him wisdom of foreign politics. [my em]

...

Translation: She's the only one who can put things in terms a simpleton can understand.

What you mean article is bullshit gossip? Is from trusted government newspaper! [/phony Russian accent] Heh ...

Great thanks to my neighbor Bolndie for the link.

Presidential ...

Pic thanks to Mr. Soto.

I know looks don't matter but perceptions do. This is a man who's sure of himself and confident. Barry looks quite at home meeting with foreign leaders while McSame always looks worried he's about to crap his pants.

And just an aside: I don't know about you but that coffee table looks like a coffin to me. Wonder who's inside? Heh ...

The stupid...deux

The Carpetbagger Report, with actual clown video!

For those of you who can’t watch clips online, McCain appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” a few hours ago, and Diane Sawyer asked if he believed “the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.” McCain, carefully avoiding Sawyer’s adjectives, responded, “It’s a serious situation, but there’s a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I’m afraid that it’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” (my em)

Yeah, the bad guys are holed up in the northwestern province of Czechoslovakiastan.

And if McCain were generally coherent on matters of foreign policy, it’d be easier to overlook minor errors like talking about borders that don’t exist. But the real problem here is that McCain’s constant confusion seems to be part of a pattern.

Hence followeth 13 examples.

And this only covers McCain’s obvious incoherence on his signature issue.

Lemme guess - foreign policy expertise.

Johnny me boy, give in on the senility deal and go relax on your deck in Sedona up there on the Arizona-Montana border.

The stupid ...

It burns ...

"I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we'd had a Republican president at the time."

Bush for should do life

Larisa

Buckle up kiddies. I am cranky and this is not making things better:

Family Security Matters a neo-conservative based think tank has published an article advocating that George W. Bush should be a dictator for life. The organization has since taken the article down, but is still viewable via this cached link. (Oh no it's not - G)

Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy: By Philip Atkinson

The article written by Philip Atkinson states that Bush would fail his country by becoming an ex-President or can achieve greatness by becoming President-for-Life Bush in order to bring sense to Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Atkinson is bluntly advocating that Bush should become dictator for life with these outrageously anti-American statements.

From the article:

Read it if you must.

Removing the article was clearly a means of damage control and it shows how rabid and insane the neo-conservative base has become. This article shows that today's neo-conservative is nothing more than the 21st century equivalent of a Nazi in pre World War II Germany.

This is what comes of aligning with fascists in order to fight the Commies. Both should have been the enemy.

And Fixer says he doesn't like Mondays. Yeesh.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

BUSH ACKNOWLEDGES WE’RE “GOING THROUGH A TOUGH TIME”
His presidency.

Administration Calls Iraqi Demand That U.S. Troops Leave “Great Progress”
But hardly a reason to leave.

Elizabeth Dole Wants to Name HIV/AIDS Relief Bill After Jesse Helms
Calling it Helms Homophobia Protection Act.

Congressman Wants All American Flags Made in America
By undocumented seamstresses.

Vocabulary Builders

defense expert n. any military analyst in the media who has been so consistently wrong about Iraq for so long that other qualified media experts have accepted the analyst as a colleague.

All the news that's fit we're told to print...

ABC News

White House Accidentally E-Mails to Reporters Story That Maliki Supports Obama Iraq Withdrawal Plan

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

That must be the reason we heard about it at all.

You're all anti-Semites ...

Greenwald looks at why 'evenhandedness' with regard to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict is political suicide:

...

It's pretty extraordinary that in a democracy, the political elite is able to render completely off-limits a view that the vast majority of Americans support. They actually render majority-held views unspeakable and then remove the issue entirely from what is debated. No matter what one's views are, there is no denying that our policy towards Israel is immensely consequential for our country. Yet, by virtue of the fact that presidential candidates are required to affirm essentially the same orthodoxies, there's very little difference in their positions towards Israel and therefore our current policy approach towards Israel will simply not be part of anything that is debated, even though most Americans overwhelmingly oppose that course.

Indeed, as soon as he secured the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama made a pilgrimage to AIPAC in order to avoid the "Howard Dean mistake" and to vow that there would be no such debate over Israel in this election: [em in original]

...

Most reality-based folks know that our 'terrorist threat' is a direct result of letting Israel do basically what it pleases with regard to the Palestinians. Protecting Israel from it's neighbors, many of whom would like to see it destroyed, is one thing. To give them carte blanche to run roughshod over the human rights of a race of people who have every right to live where they do is another.

How quickly they forget, on their 60th Birthday, that the people who founded the State of Israel were once on the other side of the fence.

I'm going to work. I hate Mondays ...

40 years ago ...

I was full of hope as I sat in front of my parents' TV, watching history being made. I thought it was the beginning of a time when anything would be possible. It's gone downhill from there.

Guardian Angels ...

PC found a great cartoon.

Quote of the Day

Howard Fineman:

...

If you’re in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don’t want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way ...

With the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.

...

No shit. There's a lot of evidence just sitting there; too much for the Office of the Vice President to shred before Inauguration Day.

Yes you do ...

In response to Gord's post earlier:

Don't need no stinkin' Philharmonic Orchestra to play Beethoven...

Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic - Ludwig van Beethoven - Ode to Joy finale.

Heh ...

The Wailin' Jennys

Sometimes I like a group but either there aren't any pro-fesh-un-al videos or there are but they're not what I want to show you. Sometimes ya gotta go with an amateur, or in this case maybe semi-pro, 'people's video' and thank the stars for them. Enjoy.



Lyrics to 'Avila'.

Here's The Wailin' Jennys' website and their wiki.

It’s the Economic Stupidity, Stupid

Daddy Frank

The best thing to happen to John McCain was for the three network anchors to leave him in the dust this week while they chase Barack Obama on his global Lollapalooza tour. Were voters forced to actually focus on Mr. McCain’s response to our spiraling economic crisis at home, the prospect of his ascension to the Oval Office could set off a panic that would make the IndyMac Bank bust in Pasadena look as merry as the Rose Bowl.

Given that Mr. McCain’s sole private-sector job was a fleeting stint in public relations at his father-in-law’s beer distributorship, he comes by his economic ignorance honestly. [...]

How much work could a PR job for beer be? Yeesh. And then ya get to go home and screw the boss's daughter. Nice work if you can get it.

Headline of the Day

At Raw Story:

McCain adviser on Iraqi PM's Obama endorsement: 'We're f**ked'