Update:
Buncha potty-mouths in comments too. Tsk, tsk ...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Language ...
People have informed me that I use ... colorful language frequently here at the Brain, as do my cohorts, and were a bit taken aback. Listen, I write the way I speak and when I get pissed, and that's why I blog, because I am pissed off to the core, the expletives come forth. The good thing about blogging is I actually get to see what comes out of my mouth before the rest of the world. I'm a lot more delicate, sympathetic, understanding ... let's just say I tone my language down when I write here, as opposed to when I'm speaking; I make Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy sound like altar boys. Consider yourselves lucky. Heh ...
Update:
Buncha potty-mouths in comments too. Tsk, tsk ...
Update:
Buncha potty-mouths in comments too. Tsk, tsk ...
The list grows ...
We got another big al-Qaeda guy and John adds his name to the list.
I started keeping track of this list in September 2005 after noticing our frequent success at catching top lieutenants/associates/#2’s/etc. of al Qaeda in Iraq’s then leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi ...
It's about time...
Somebody woke up. Pensito Review:
Let's hope USA Toady changes its tune a bit to point out what we have since this fucking idiot took office.
Speaking of delusional idiots, Rethugs and Joe Lieberman voted to quash discussion of the war in the Senate today. I hope you CT Dems who voted for Lieberman are shitting blood right now. You helped the Rethugs keep their man in the Senate, idiots.
I hope Senate, and House, Dems realize the time for Mr. Nice Guy is over. It's time to end this war and the only way to do it is to cut off funding for it, period.
In his President’s Day commentary, USA Today founder Al Neuharth says that he once disputed the idea the George W. Bush was America’s Worst President Ever - but now he has seen the light ...
Let's hope USA Toady changes its tune a bit to point out what we have since this fucking idiot took office.
Speaking of delusional idiots, Rethugs and Joe Lieberman voted to quash discussion of the war in the Senate today. I hope you CT Dems who voted for Lieberman are shitting blood right now. You helped the Rethugs keep their man in the Senate, idiots.
I hope Senate, and House, Dems realize the time for Mr. Nice Guy is over. It's time to end this war and the only way to do it is to cut off funding for it, period.
God save the Queen
Harry's going to Basra.
Jenna: (crickets)
Not Jenna: (crickets)
Just sayin'.
Jenna: (crickets)
Not Jenna: (crickets)
Just sayin'.
Tip o' the Brain to Oliver Willis.
Who gives a fuck ...
If Britney Spears' head finally matches her box (definitely not work safe, though your kid probly seen it)?
The whore ...
If it's Saturday, another chapter of my novel The Captains is up at The Practical Press.
Black and White
From Fred the Cat. I'm wondering if the catnip line was directed at yours truly. Heh ...
No shit ...
It's not like we didn't tell you so:
This 'surge' has already gone to Hell and it hasn't even cleared the gate yet. If they're not going to reach strength until May, yet already the COs are calling for more, what the fuck is gonna happen in June? Where the fuck are we gonna get the troops? Oh yeah, that's right; we're stop-lossing you and sending you back, Sarge. Fith tour? Ol' Lady's had it and left with the kids and your brother? Family back home having to go on welfare and food stamps? Who gives a fuck? You're fighting them over there so we don't have to over here. This is what you signed up for. Suck it up and keep firing.
House Minority Leader JohnBoner Boehner (R-Idiot): "What we're doing in Iraq is worth any sacrifice."
Yeah, don't see you or your kids in BDUs riding through Baghdad in an unarmored Humvee.
Update:
Might not be about the Iraq surge after all. Colonel Gardiner:
Upon reading the last sentence I thought "that's not our style", and then I read on.
The last sentence here means the Iranians are kicking the tension up a notch. Their force readiness levels have just gone up and the guys at the pointy end are just a little more nervous ... more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later. More inclined to take a shot at a U.S. ship or aircraft coming just a bit too close. This could get ugly soon.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. general commanding the security crackdown in Baghdad said Friday that he has asked for reinforcements beyond the 17,000 U.S. combat troops already committed to the Iraqi capital as part of President Bush's emergency build-up.
...
The final number of reinforcements will be determined by the Pentagon - and possibly by Bush - as part of plans to expand the number of U.S. soldiers in Baghdad.
...
This 'surge' has already gone to Hell and it hasn't even cleared the gate yet. If they're not going to reach strength until May, yet already the COs are calling for more, what the fuck is gonna happen in June? Where the fuck are we gonna get the troops? Oh yeah, that's right; we're stop-lossing you and sending you back, Sarge. Fith tour? Ol' Lady's had it and left with the kids and your brother? Family back home having to go on welfare and food stamps? Who gives a fuck? You're fighting them over there so we don't have to over here. This is what you signed up for. Suck it up and keep firing.
House Minority Leader John
Yeah, don't see you or your kids in BDUs riding through Baghdad in an unarmored Humvee.
Update:
Might not be about the Iraq surge after all. Colonel Gardiner:
...
Although the devices were not IED’s like those found in Iraq, the explosions were in the area a group sponsored by the United States may be operating. The area in Iran is Sistan-Baluchestan near the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sy Hersh and a number of other reporters have said this is the area in which the MEK (or the mouthful name Mujahedin-e Khalq) have been operating.
This morning a Chinese newswire is reporting that the Iranians have evidence linking the attacks to the United States.
...
Upon reading the last sentence I thought "that's not our style", and then I read on.
...
Even if the United States were behind the operation, it is unlikely the Iranians would find weapons and materials that would be identifiable as American. US organizations that are involved in covert operations are very good about not leaving signatures that can be traced.
That is even more of a concern. The Iranians are choosing to make an issue.
...
The last sentence here means the Iranians are kicking the tension up a notch. Their force readiness levels have just gone up and the guys at the pointy end are just a little more nervous ... more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later. More inclined to take a shot at a U.S. ship or aircraft coming just a bit too close. This could get ugly soon.
The Lesson The Dems Haven't Learned
"Politics is like football. If you see daylight, go through the hole." --John F. Kennedy
R.
They did it in Germany ...
Greenwald [sub or watch short vid] beats up on ubertwerp and Likudnik Frank Gaffney [video]:
I wish my mom were still alive to recount the stories she told me of how the Nazis slowly but surely stifled any dissent. Many of the citizenry not trusting their neighbors by the time the war started, all wondering who was in the employ, either monetarily or ideologically, of the Gestapo. My grandfather was elected mayor of the little town that is my ancestral home just after the war and told of the time it took to heal the wounds of Nazism, the suspicion and distrust of the townspeople toward each other and authority.
So, can we revisit the question of whether Bush and Cheney let 9/11 happen, if not facilitated it, now?
...
That is why they are so eager to equate criticism of them with treason and to stifle debate. They have not only lost the debate over Iraq and general Middle East militarism, but their continuous extremism and deceit is being exposed, and they fear being held accountable. It is only natural that they want to render criticism of their war and their conduct impermissible.
...
I wish my mom were still alive to recount the stories she told me of how the Nazis slowly but surely stifled any dissent. Many of the citizenry not trusting their neighbors by the time the war started, all wondering who was in the employ, either monetarily or ideologically, of the Gestapo. My grandfather was elected mayor of the little town that is my ancestral home just after the war and told of the time it took to heal the wounds of Nazism, the suspicion and distrust of the townspeople toward each other and authority.
...
And that was the point of Gaffney's column as well -- that it should be considered not only un-American, but actually criminal, to criticize the war and the people such as Frank Gaffney and Doug Feith who concocted it and sold it to the country. But ultimately, that tactic will get them nowhere. Americans are not going to be persuaded by the idea that they are obligated to refrain from criticizing Doug Feith, Bill Kristol and the wars they have spawned, to say nothing of the new ones they are attempting to foist on the country.
It is insufficient simply to have persuaded Americans that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. It was not merely a mistake. It was the by-product of extremely deceitful ideologues who exploited the 9/11 attacks to implement a very destructive agenda that long pre-dated 9/11 and that has nothing to do with combating terrorism other than the fact that terrorism is the pretense used to justify that agenda.
...
So, can we revisit the question of whether Bush and Cheney let 9/11 happen, if not facilitated it, now?
Just guess ...
Via our pal Lambert, WaPo has a short aticle about the red tape keeping our wounded (seriously) vets from getting the care they need once they get back home.
Yup, supporting our troops. Heaven forbid you want to bring them all home though, then you're 'undermining them'. I don't know how more 'undrmined' you can get when you come home with a serious brain injury and your treating neurosurgeon can't get your records because of some inter-agency prick-waving contest. Support the troops? Yeah, as long as they can carry a rifle and shoot straight.
Department of Veterans Affairs doctors are furious over a recent decision by the Pentagon to block their access to medical information needed to treat severely injured troops arriving at VA hospitals from Iraq and Afghanistan.
...
"My JPTA account has been disabled within last few days," [Dr. Shane] McNamee wrote. "I called the hotline and was told that all VA accounts have been locked. Could not get a good answer why. Anyhow -- I have 4 [Iraq/Afghanistan] service members to arrive within the next 2 days. This information is terribly important," the doctor wrote.
...
Yup, supporting our troops. Heaven forbid you want to bring them all home though, then you're 'undermining them'. I don't know how more 'undrmined' you can get when you come home with a serious brain injury and your treating neurosurgeon can't get your records because of some inter-agency prick-waving contest. Support the troops? Yeah, as long as they can carry a rifle and shoot straight.
Journorwellianism ...
And no, I don't want to be known for coining that phrase, but that's what we got. And they bitch and moan about blogger ethics. Personally, I think we're a far more ethical bunch than the 'journalists' who bring us the news. We're a damn sight quicker to correct ourselves when we fuck up than they are. Cdr. Huber sums it up nicely:
The first casualty of the 'neocon era' was the truth. Let's hope we can save it before they put it to rest in Arlington next to the Consitution.
...
The greatest threat America faces is not Iran or the terrorists or weapons of mass destruction or Russia or China. It is the purposeful and focused internal campaign, being conducted by right wing ideologues, to destroy the citizenry's capacity for critical thinking.
To make us so confused and so afraid that at the end of the day, we have no choice but to believe what Big Brother tells us, even if we know he's contradicting himself and making no sense whatsoever.
The first casualty of the 'neocon era' was the truth. Let's hope we can save it before they put it to rest in Arlington next to the Consitution.
Friday, February 16, 2007
A little lighter fare for Emmylou fans
I need to get away from the political bullshit for a while. There are finer things in life that we need to be reminded of once in a while.
Normally, I stay away from "Best of" albums, but every now and again there's a good one, and rarer still an outstanding one.
One such, and I'm listening to it right now, skin and senses all a-tingle, is "Heartaches and Highways". Go see. You can listen to it. Guest artists include Gram Parsons, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton*, and Linda Ronstadt.
This album gets a thumbs-and-everything-else-that'll-point up from this Olde Farte. If you only own one Emmylou Harris album, (o you poor thing!) make it this one.
Just an aside, but Ms. Harris' album "Quarter Moon in a Ten-Cent Town" is the only album (well, OK, 8-track!) that I could leave on all night in a camp of a coupla hunnert drunk, stoned, partying, rock fan desert riders without having my battery cable cut. A true testimonial to the lady's talent to create music with the power to soothe savage beasts.
Bonus Emmylou Alert:
Looking up all these links for you while listening to sweet, sweet music has been very therapeutic. I feel lots better now. Thanks.
Normally, I stay away from "Best of" albums, but every now and again there's a good one, and rarer still an outstanding one.
One such, and I'm listening to it right now, skin and senses all a-tingle, is "Heartaches and Highways". Go see. You can listen to it. Guest artists include Gram Parsons, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton*, and Linda Ronstadt.
This album gets a thumbs-and-everything-else-that'll-point up from this Olde Farte. If you only own one Emmylou Harris album, (o you poor thing!) make it this one.
Just an aside, but Ms. Harris' album "Quarter Moon in a Ten-Cent Town" is the only album (well, OK, 8-track!) that I could leave on all night in a camp of a coupla hunnert drunk, stoned, partying, rock fan desert riders without having my battery cable cut. A true testimonial to the lady's talent to create music with the power to soothe savage beasts.
Bonus Emmylou Alert:
PBS Soundstage is airing Real Live Roadrunning March 1, 2007 at 10:00 PM ET (check local listings). (Emmylou and Mark Knopfler live in concert, from LA's Gibson Amphitheater, performing favorites from their album All the Roadrunning, such as "This is Us," "Right Now" and "All The Roadrunning," as well as favorites from each of their respective solo catalogs, like "Red Dirt Girl" from Emmylou and "Romeo and Juliet" from Mark)
Looking up all these links for you while listening to sweet, sweet music has been very therapeutic. I feel lots better now. Thanks.
*Ms. Parton's website is a construction zone today.
New York Archdiocese Slams City's Condom Distribution Program
From NY1
No, Cardinal Egan and Bishop DiMarzio, not the program, it is your attitudes that are tragic and misguided. Stop living in the Dark Ages. Programs like this save lives. Attitudes like yours cost them.
R.
"The Catholic Church is ripping the city's condom giveaway.
New York Archdiocese Cardinal Edward Egan and Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio released a joint statement calling the condom distribution program “tragic” and “misguided,” saying it promotes an "anything goes attitude."
The city began handing out free subway themed condoms on Valentine's Day - and plans to hand out some 26 million."
No, Cardinal Egan and Bishop DiMarzio, not the program, it is your attitudes that are tragic and misguided. Stop living in the Dark Ages. Programs like this save lives. Attitudes like yours cost them.
R.
Undermining U.S. troops
From the International Herald Tribune:
R.
Not only is the administration sending them to risk their lives in a war that shouldn't have been fought in the first place. It sends them without appropriate equipment for the job they are being asked to do. How many more deaths in this illegal war is it going to take before Congress finds the spine to pass binding resolutions? Binding resolutions of impeachment. Bush and Cheney (and a few more) in shackles. They are nothing more than murderers and should be treated that way."How do you explain to the thousands of American troops now being poured into Baghdad that they will have to wait until the summer for the protective armor that could easily mean the difference between life and death?
It's bad enough that these soldiers are being asked to risk their lives without President George W. Bush demanding that Iraq's leaders take any political risks that might give the military mission at least an outside chance of success. But according to an article in The Washington Post this week, at least some of the troops will be sent out in Humvees not yet equipped with FRAG Kit 5 armor. That's an advanced version designed to reduce deaths from roadside bombs, which now account for about 70 percent of United States casualties in Iraq." [more . . .]
R.
A First Step
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday denounced President George W. Bush's Iraq troop buildup in a symbolic but politically potent challenge to his unpopular war strategy.
The Democratic-controlled House voted in favor of a resolution opposing the Republican president's decision to send another 21,500 troops to Iraq. The measure does not force Bush to act, but supporters hope to pressure him to reverse course and start bringing troops home."
Honest, It Wasn't Abe
WaPo
Then there's this.
I think it would be of great benefit to our nation to hang the bastards who got us into this criminal war and occupation, all those who support it, and every last fuckin' Moonie we can get our hands on. Dibs on Blankley's suits.
During House floor debate on the Iraq War resolution Thursday, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) fell into a trap that's caught plenty of other Iraq war supporters -- misquoting Abraham Lincoln as advocating the hanging of lawmakers who undermine military morale during wartime.
"Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged," Young quoted the 16th president as saying.
The only problem: Lincoln never said such a thing. It was actually J. Michael Waller in a piece he wrote for Insight magazine in December of 2003. Waller later told Annenberg's FactCheck.org that the "supposed quote in question is not a quote at all, and I never intended it to be construed as one."
Annenberg counted 18,000 subsequent references to the Lincoln "quote" by people who typically support Bush's war policy and, moreover, oppose critics of the president's war policy.
Shortly after he left the House floor Thursday, Young found out that -- woops -- he had mistakenly put words in Abe's mouth. Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, said the congressman took the quote directly from an article he read in The Washington Times on Tuesday, which as of Thursday had not been corrected.
Then there's this.
I think it would be of great benefit to our nation to hang the bastards who got us into this criminal war and occupation, all those who support it, and every last fuckin' Moonie we can get our hands on. Dibs on Blankley's suits.
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