Big Oil holding back production. Imagine that!

[A big Brain welcome to CNN.com readers. - F]

Professor Smartass whose motto is "Blind obedience and leader worship is patriotic....(if you live in North Korea)."

Congress finds Big Oil holding back fields that could DOUBLE US output

Rush Limbaugh and other right wing commentators have blamed high oil prices on limits on off-shore drilling near the US and in ANWR, but what makes people think big oil will pump more if we give them more oil fields?

Right now, they hold leases to federal land that they AREN'T DRILLING ON that could DOUBLE US oil output according to the House Committee on Natural Resources. They have introduced a bill to make them use those fields or lose them:

Oil and gas companies, however, are not required to demonstrate diligent development. Because of this, oil and gas companies have been allowed to stockpile leases in a non-producing status, while leaving millions of acres of leased land untouched. The Rahall legislation directs the Secretary of the Interior to define what constitutes diligent development for oil and gas leases.

They are holding those fields back to control the price and keep it high, just as they aren't shedding too many tears over the violence in Iraq or war talk about Iran since that drives up the price of oil too.

In fact, before the Iraq War, OIL & GAS JOURNAL fretted that when the sanctions came off, Saddam would pump too much oil and drive down prices--unless there was a war. We gave them the war, and they rewarded our sacrifice of tax dollars and soldiers lives by gouging us at the pump.

If they didn't charge us less for giving them Iraq, why would they for ANWR?

Tell your congressman and senators to support the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008 (H.R. 6251).

When you've got something that people need, the key to big profit is just let them have barely enough of it. The difference in this respect between the oil companies and high-priced hookers is that I like hookers. At least when they put you over a barrel, you asked for it.

Here's a little personal note on how much profit there is in oil right now. In the far dim mists of time before I was born, my mother was an executive secretary for the Barnsdall Oil Co., a Bush family-related outfit that had interests in Middle Eastern oil as well as in the U.S. Later known as Sun Oil and then Sunray Oil, they were later conglomerated into Standard Oil of California and so on and so on until now. One thing you learn from studying the history of oil companies is that they all sprang from just a few people and they're all in cahoots.

Just as an aside, I have in my possession an actual shell fragment from this.

My Mom passed away in 1948. She left me an oil royalty that pays me to this day. I think it's 2% of 6% or 6% of 2% or something like that on a tract in Southern California somewhere. This thing has paid me like clockwork, usually quarterly or semi-annually for sixty years. I'm not exactly sure what the money's for, oil production, gas storage, or what. I just cash the checks.

I'm not exactly in the same league with the Oil Sheikhs, which includes the Bushes. For all these years, my checks have been worth at most a coupla hunnert bucks a year. They've gone up and they've gone down. A big one would buy me'n Mrs. G a dinner out.

Until this year. So far in '08 I've been getting a check every month and they've averaged about $375. The company that administers my payout offered me $5100 a month or so ago to buy me out. Fat chance! Even at $4+ per gallon, my piddling 'oil holdings' are paying for every drop of gas we use and then some. Thanks, Mom.

We need a President who's not in the awl bidness (thank you, Molly. You tried to warn us.) who will actively promote and adequately fund research into the dozens of alternative energy possibilities, from hydrogen to hemp oil. We're not going to drill ourselves out of this mess, and we need to change our lifestyles and ways of thinking about all kinds of energy use, but a little relief at the pump could make a big difference in people's lives right now. With all the profit in oil at present, I'll repeat myself: Fat Chance.

Bush In Close Race For No. 1!

Reuters

US President George W. Bush is ranked only slightly above the rulers of Pakistan and Iran as one of the least-trusted leaders in the world, a survey released on Monday showed.

Only 23 percent of people outside the United States had "a lot or some" confidence in Bush, compared to 22 percent for Ahmadinejad and 18 percent for Musharraf.

I'm sure it took a great effort for him to beat out the leaders of Burma, several -Stans, and half the nations in Africa.

Don't fret - I'm sure we'll gain the top spot in least-trusted leaders in Bush's third term.

The Republican Party of the 21st Century ...

Same as the Republican Party of the 19th Century. UL:

...

Well smack my ass and call me Sally, Larry Craig, David Vitter, or any other hypocritical rethug, what a shock. Betcha the funny little pins were made in China. Why wouldn't we still call it the White House? Smirky O'Stutters has been there 8 years and we don't call it the ShitHouse, do we?
And another thing, if John McSame is President will we call the White house a nursing home?
Redefining pathetic, heckuva job.

...

Names ...

Who knew it would still be considered outre? Mr. Philadelphia:

While Mrs. Atrios obviously shares a pseudonym with me, she didn't share a last name. We didn't think much about this when we got married - there were a few purely practical reasons it was easier for her to keep her name - but it seems perfectly normal. Normal, at least, until we realize that for a lot of people it's a freaking weird thing to do.

...

Mrs. F and I have different last names too. Back in 1990, when we got married, we got the 20 questions routine all the time. For the record, the Mrs. was well-known in business circles before she met me and it would have been a hassle for everyone concerned to make the change. I personally didn't care one way or the other; she's my wife, I know it, she knows it, and that's all that counts. I think it's more fitting anyway (she's an independent woman in her own right and doesn't need to reflect my 'light'* to shine) and I really don't see the logic of changing a woman's name beside the fact it signifies 'ownership' of the woman by the man. I don't see many men taking their woman's last name, do you?

I figured that by now (close to 20 years later) different last names for spouses was common enough where it didn't raise an eyebrow anymore. Guess not.

*Yeah, yeah, I know. Leave the smart ass remarks in comments. Heh ...

Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

ABC News

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found.

If the WT is involved, it means even the wingnuts are pissed-off at this one. Good. This kinda shit crosses party lines.

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.

As much as I've been helped by the VA, and they helped me save my own life, it's getting harder and harder for me to respect them. One unconscionable stupid fuck-up after another and so on and so on will do that.

Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames on Chantix.

"They never told me that I was going to be suicidal, that I would cease sleeping. They never told me anything except this will help me quit smoking," Elliott told ABC News and The Washington Times.

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.

Go read the rest of this.

Pfizer maintains that "the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks" and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.

The FAA has prohibited commercial airline pilots from using Chantix because of its possible side effects.

Just...swear words.

Note to the next President: Barry, you fix this first thing. Clean house over there and get some Veterans in charge of it.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

The Abramoff bomb drops in September

Dengre at Kos:

John McCain pretends to be a reformer when a teevee camera is near. In reality has lived to protect the status quo with cover-ups and misdirection—and that is the extent of his record.

Like 2006, corruption is a big issue in 2008. It is impacting the Main Event and many Senate and House races.

And in September a corruption bomb will drop on the GOP.

Let’s jump...

Jump...

A Few Words From Vidal

From a NYTimes interview with Gore Vidal:

And what about Mr. McCain?

Disaster. Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?

Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

That’s what he tells us.

Why would you doubt him? He’s a graduate of Annapolis.

I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there.

So what does that have to do with the U.S. Naval Academy down in Annapolis?

The service universities keep track of each other, that’s all. They have views about each other. And they are very aware of social class and eventually money, since they usually marry it.

How, exactly, is your cousin Al Gore related to you?

They keep explaining it to me, and I keep forgetting.

What about your grandfather, Thomas Gore of Oklahoma ?

He invented the whole state. It was Indian territory. There was no state until Senator Gore.

How did you feel when you heard that Buckley died this year?

I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred.

As irascible an old fart as ever at 82. There's hope for me yet.

McCain's Playbook: Hate, Fear and Caveman Politics

Matt Taibbi on McCain and he's not happy. A 'recommended read'.

[...] The reality is that the once independent-thinking McCain has by now completely remade himself into a prototypical, dumbed-down Republican Party stooge - one who plans to rely on the same GOP strategy that has been winning elections ever since Pat Buchanan and Dick Nixon cooked up a plan for cleaving the South back in 1968. Rather than serving up the "straight talk" he promises, McCain is enthusiastically jumping aboard with every low-rent, fearmongering, cock-sucking presidential aspirant who's ever traveled the Lee Atwater/William Safire highway.

Like Hillary Clinton, an erstwhile vilified liberal who remade herself as a flag-waving, Sixties-bashing champion of "hardworking Americans, white Americans" once the remarkable candidacy of Barack Obama forced her off her old turf, the one-time "insurgent" McCain has finally decided to sail with the wind at his back by going dumb and courting the same talk-radio demographic that used to despise him. What enables him to do so is a key insight: that while George W. Bush may be unpopular as an individual, fear and hatred in this country have never gone out of style.

Never mind that Iraq isn't exactly Vietnam, or that Barack Obama isn't Jane Fonda - what matters is that the Republicans nominated a wounded old soldier who now gets to spend the next five months trying to exorcise his personal demons, and this serendipitous circumstance fits nicely with the party's national strategy, despite the fact that pinning these old hurts on the likes of Obama makes no sense at all. Still, it's not hard to hear, in McCain's quasi-coherent rants, his bitterness at being abandoned to years of savage tortures while millions of little Hillarys and Bills and Obamas-in-training were getting high and balling each other during the Country Joe and the Fish set at Woodstock, instead of standing up and saluting the "winnable" war effort that got McCain sent to Vietnam in the first place.

Then as now, the crime of the Obama class in the eyes of a wronged veteran like McCain wasn't that they caused these wartime sufferings; it was that they didn't cheer them as righteous and necessary, and unhesitatingly support the sending of more soldiers to the same fate. In the present day, it is George Bush who got us into this new Vietnam-like mess and revived the specter of tortured prisoners, but McCain's anger isn't focused in that direction. He's not mad that it's happening again, not looking to blame the people who actually started the fire. Instead he seems re-energized by the fact that we are all back in that same hell, back to living the PTSD-inducing nightmare that McCain himself never got to leave - and if it takes dumbing down his act and playing to the Rush and Hannity crowd to give his story a happy ending this time around, he won't hesitate. So if you thought Hillary was bad, buckle your seat belts: The really dumb stuff is just beginning.

I certainly hope that the dumb fuck Americans Matt quotes in the article are in the minority. Yeah, there are a lot of them, but I pray there aren't enough this time.

Winning ...

At least, when I was in, when we went somewhere to kick a place over, we did it right. We have the biggest defense budget in the world, supposedly the best trained military in the world, yet we can't seem to deal with guys on horseback with AKs and RPGs.

THE outgoing top US military commander in Afghanistan has described the Taliban as "resurgent" after a week when 890 prisoners — including nearly 400 Taliban fighters — were freed in a jailbreak in Kandahar.

In the worst single attack on coalition forces in Afghanistan this year, four US marines were killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday. A fifth marine was wounded in the attack.

In a sober assessment, General Dan McNeill, who departed on June 3 after 16 months commanding NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, said although record levels of foreign and Afghan troops had constrained repeated Taliban offensives, stabilising Afghanistan would be impossible without a more robust military campaign against insurgent havens in Pakistan.

...

Of course, this has nothing to do with the commitment and professionalism of our troops. This has everything to do with the leadership from 1600 and the politics of keeping them in power.

Of course, we should never have 'gone in' to Afghanistan to begin with. I wrote this a few months back:

...

According to the narrative we've heard since 11 September 2001, the nation of Afghanistan harbored Osama bin Laden and facilitated the attacks on the US. Fine. Why did we go in there saying 'we'll take out the Taliban, but we're gonna go over there and win hearts and minds'?

Let me explain something. You don't go to war worrying about winning hearts and minds. You go to war to break the enemy, pound him far enough so he surrenders. War is ugly, dirty, and a last resort but if you're gonna go, you have to go ugly and dirty. Why in Hell do you think they call it 'war'?

We should have blown Afghanistan to shit, period. Fuck the innocents, fuck everything and kill 'em all. Worry about building hearts and minds later. There should have been a horrible price exacted from them for attacking America. Instead, we have the mess we do now. We have guys in Hindu Kush getting killed using the same tactics the Mujaheddin used against the Russians. You don't go in to a war worrying about offending sensibilities. It's war for crying out loud.

...

As I said then, the Brits and the Russians learned the same lessons we're learning now. No one can occupy Afghanistan and no outsider can expect to operate like the people who were born and raised there. These people have been living this way for thousands of years and there is no way to bend them to our will, regardless of the puppet government we install, regardless of the amount of troops we have stationed there.

They have not paid the price for attacking the U.S. (or the Taliban would not have been able to pull off this jailbreak) and now we're footing the bill, monetarily (in both Afghanistan and Pakistan), in American lives, and in American prestige. In addition to the Iraq mess, we now have another quagmire on our hands. Ineptitude, ignorance, and delusion have been the watchwords of our military policy since 2001 and it will only get worse before 20 Jan 2009. We should have been out of Afghanistan by now and should have never gone into Iraq. I'm certain we will learn many more hard lessons before we wise up and go.

John McCain will continue this fiasco, and the one in Iraq, and America can't afford to pay the price. Afghanistan should be given the commitment it deserves, if we actually do want success there, or we should leave. Iraq was lost before it began. We cannot maintain the status quo and expect the American military, and the American economy, to survive.

See yas!

Pic stolen from our pal UL.

Quote of the Day

Al Gore via Creature:

... After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter ...

Indeed, sir.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

MIDWEST HIT WITH FLOODS OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS
Bush promises to fly over region.

GOP Tries to Energize Base
Blocks windfall profits tax for oil companies.

Obama Embarks on 50 State Strategy
McCain embarks on 5 judge strategy.

Bush Says He'll Abide by Supreme Court Decision
Will spell out compliance in signing statement.

Bush Doesn't Want to Be Remembered as “Guy Really Anxious For War” in Iraq
Rather as “guy really anxious for war” in Iran.

Jump in Monthly Jobless Rate Highest in 22 Years
Bush: unemployed should tap into their trust funds.

Way too many good ones today. Go see.

FYI

Good site: Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain

Bad Cow Disease

Paul Krugman

“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken / She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”

Lately, however, there always seems to be at least one food-safety crisis in the headlines — tainted spinach, poisonous peanut butter and, currently, the attack of the killer tomatoes. The declining credibility of U.S. food regulation has even led to a foreign-policy crisis: there have been mass demonstrations in South Korea protesting the pro-American prime minister’s decision to allow imports of U.S. beef, banned after mad cow disease was detected in 2003.

How did America find itself back in The Jungle?

It started with ideology. Hard-core American conservatives have long idealized the Gilded Age, regarding everything that followed — not just the New Deal, but even the Progressive Era — as a great diversion from the true path of capitalism.

'The True Path of Capitalism' - kill as many as you want, there's more where those came from, just get the money!

Such hard-core opponents of regulation were once part of the political fringe, but with the rise of modern movement conservatism they moved into the corridors of power. They never had enough votes to abolish the F.D.A. or eliminate meat inspections, but they could and did set about making the agencies charged with ensuring food safety ineffective.

Perhaps even more important, however, was the systematic appointment of foxes to guard henhouses.

Ah, the True Path! Of Fascism as well as Capitalism.

But then, the same thing can be said of other cases in which the administration stood in the way of effective regulation. Most notably, the administration’s refusal to countenance any restraints on predatory lending helped prepare the ground for the subprime crisis, which has cost the financial industry far more than it ever made on overpriced loans.

The moral of this story is that failure to regulate effectively isn’t just bad for consumers, it’s bad for business.

The Predators couldn't care less about the future of 'business'. They want their profit now and the hell with tomorrow. It's shortsighted and fucks us all, but they're rich. End of story.

McCain 'Town Hall' A Staged Farce

Davefromqueens on one of McCain's so-called 'town hall meetings':

McCain's so called town halls are actually rallies hosted by the local Republican Party. The host, Chris Myers, identified himself as a local leader and claimed that New Jersey is going to go red because of the 2000 people in the gym. (About 1% of us were Obama supporters, someone held a sign up at the end, no one interrupted McCain's speech.) However if McCain can't fill a small gym in his only trip to New Jersey this month, his candidacy is in trouble.

The seating was staged. There were about 20 people with Veteran's hats and all were seated directly in line with McCain's podium in the front and back. Your cameras from home would make it appear that half the people there were veterans. In reality it was about 1%. Mixed into the Veterans was one angry woman who had a sign claiming she was a Hillary supporter voting McCain. This one sign was placed directly in the spot where the cameras were most likely to pick it up. She was planted there. It also appears that there was one singular woman who pulled the same stunt Thursday night at the so called Fox News McCain town hall meeting in New York. These people aren't real Clinton supporters, this too is staged.

Then Joe Lieberman took the stage claiming he was a Democrat (should have been a period there, I think - G) supporting John McCain while taking pot shots at Obama in vague terms. Joe is no Democrat. Then it was Tom Kean, the whitewasher of the 9/11 committee, trying to give McCain credit for the commission which McCain and Republicans have sandbagged the American people with. Then John McCain took the stage.

[...] Joe Lieberman and John McCain have been big reasons why Washington has failed the American people for the past 30 years so the more irrelevant they are, the better off the American people are.

You could see the veins in McCain starting to burst, he got very uncomfortable that his scripted rally just got derailed by this gentleman and then he ended the rally by thanking everyone and saying God Bless America.

Again, this was not a town hall meeting. If McCain wants tough questions he can come to Netroots Nation and be asked tough but fair questions for an hour.

I was disappointed I couldn't ask my two questions because I know I can inform people more about John MCCain in 10 minutes than the national media has in 10 years.

I can't wait 'til he tries this shit up against Obama! I'm layin' in a supply of popcorn and butter!

Cheer up, Fixer

Politico has some heartening news:

Historians see little chance for McCain

One week into the general election, the polls show a dead heat. But many presidential scholars doubt that John McCain stands much of a chance, if any.

Historians belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to the Republican. Several saw Barack Obama’s prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.

The article goes into a lot of whys and wherefors, but that's the happy gist of it.

Blood on the streets as Bush enters via Brown's back passage.

Lordy, what a title! Sounds like a movie ya see in a machine with one hand free to put in 25¢ at a time. Heh. Thank the stars for Indymedia UK's coverage of Bush's visit! Photos and Comments.

As demonstrators clashed on the barricades to Whitehall today, George W Bush snuck into Downing Street via the St James Park entrance. Riot police blocked the road from Parliament Square to the park, but few realised what had happened anyway.

As the predictable speeches poured out of the pa one 'Socialist Party' stand even had a stab at flogging silkscreens of Che Guevara at a fiver a pop. Knocked out no doubt in some south asian sweatshop for pennies this surely wins a coconut for global capitalism.

No matter. At 6.45 celebs led a pre-arranged token march the fifty yards to the Whitehall barricade. Constables smirked, Stop the War having briefed them of their limited intent.

Others turned out to have different ideas. As placards and sticks flew, a determined mass pushed at the centre. Police jumped to secure the barriers but to no avail. Soon they were in the air flying over the police line's heads.

Cops responded with vicious baton blows. Fingers and heads bled, stabs were made to the stomachs, people fell to the floor but the crowd pushed on. A senior officer ran the line shouting "No Arrests, No Arrests, orders from the top".

Stop the War stewards now pushed to the front to try and calm matters. Ill briefed cops, not realising they were on the same side walloped them with sticks.

As dusk fell the TSG riot cops took the front line. The crowd responded with a sit down, punctuated with the odd punch up and, relative calm having being restored, the introduction of the usual snatch squads.

Bush came, Bush went, Brown probably got bitch slapped - hell, who knows how the Queen managed at tea.

The only thing we can positively relish it that it's the farewell tour and if we're lucky enough he'll stay alive 'till the end and we won't get 'Old Dick' Cheney in charge.

I got nothin' much to add to that except I'm hopin' B&C'll bunch up and get got with one round.

"The Liberals finally have their own Bill O'Reilly"

Good article about Keith Olbermann at Truthout.

[...] Phil Griffin, the senior vice-president in charge of MSNBC ("Phil thinks he's my boss," Olbermann says), raised the matter of tone. Why did Olbermann need to end his commentary by telling the President of the United States to "shut the hell up"?

"Because I can't say, 'Shut the fuck up,' that's why, frankly," Olbermann responded. The line stayed in.

"Bill O'Reilly made Keith Olbermann," Phil Griffin says. Olbermann concurs, saying, "I really do owe him a percentage of my salary."

His bosses loved it. "I think we're onto something," the president of NBC News, Steve Capus, told me. "That's what we keep hearing from the audience, more and more, is that they appreciate that we have people who are actually speaking truth to power, or being transparent in their own personal viewpoints." That's another way of saying that liberals, after many failed attempts, seem finally to have found their own Bill O'Reilly. [...]

It's nice that ours isn't an out-and-out asshole, and has more brains to boot!

Griffin added that a certain level of stress is part of the job of managing Keith Olbermann. "You ride the horse, and you start winning, and then all of a sudden you're off. And we're just riding, full speed. And it can be a dangerous ride."

Some advice about 'dangerous rides' from one who knows: stay sober, crank it full bore, look where you want to go, and don't let go of the handlebars.

Nooooooo!

I'm turning into a relic:

Once a staple in the workplace and the quintessential Father's Day gift, the necktie has seen its popularity wane as many men have opted to ditch the decorative collar accessory in favor of a more laid-back look.

...

The sentiment is vastly different from the attitude of the 1950s where neckties were common workplace attire, and even Ward Cleaver wore a necktie at home as the father that always knows best on the television show "Leave It To Beaver."

...

I am a big fan of the necktie and dressing for dinner. It's the way I was brought up, dad was a businessman and my parents used to have dinner parties here (in the 60s and 70s) for his clients and contacts. Looking back at it, it was very Ricky and Lucy (though without the schtick), drinks and cigarettes (everybody smoked back then) before dinner, gathering around the table, and then more drinks and cigarettes after dessert.

The men aways wore jackets and ties and the ladies wore dresses. I, as a little kid, was also dressed, usually in a bowtie and jacket. I guess it stuck. You won't catch me out in a restaurant without a jacket and tie on. My tie collection grows bigger yearly (I have a thing for wild ties and whenever I see one I get it) and must number around a hundred. Another part of it is, I think, that I wear shitty clothes to work (I'm a mechanic, for those who don't know) every day and it's a refreshing change to dress humanly on the weekends.

It's a shame to hear people are not wearing them anymore but that won't change anything (except maybe make a good tie more expensive). I got my own style and I don't change for trends.

Great thanks to El Comandante for the link.

Can I buy a franchise?

Heh ...

Pic stolen from Father Tyme. Click to embiggen.

Heh ...

This should be fun:

... So I’m thinking, I bet if we crank up our gray matter, we could come up with a song that fits McCain ...

Go help POP out.

How come?

Digby:

This op-ed in the Boston Globe says that surveys show citizens today are more stupid about politics than their 6th grade educated grandparents were. How can that possibly be?

...

Because we're fed bullshit by the dump truck load.

Quote of the Day

From a good piece at Vanity Fair:

In less than a year, the Bush administration will strut out of office, leaving the country in roughly the same condition a toddler leaves a diaper.

Late Nite TV is good for something sometimes

This is from Letterman on May 31, posted at YouTube yesterday.



Go see Times Online:

At 61, Emmylou Harris is still the drop-dead-gorgeous queen of country rock. But behind closed doors the singer has sad secrets to reveal

I love and respect Ms. Harris enough that I ain't even gonna make a cheap joke about 'Emmylou' and 'behind closed doors' in the same sentence. Some things are too sacred and even a dirty ol' man like me won't do.

Update:

The Times Online article is excellent. Don't miss it. I've said it before and I'll say it again - thank the stars for the foreign press.

Russert Still Doing His Thing

SPR on what must be a very remote interview:

"OK God, let me put up on the screen one of the key Commandments you handed down: 'Thou Shalt Not Kill.' But how do you square that with all the hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters that you yourself have created?"

One can only imagine God's answer to a typical seemingly-hardball-yet-really-softball trademark Timmeh question. Here's a couple I came up with:

"Do as I say and not as I do." (Maybe God's a Repuglican after all! If there really is a God, we're screwed. Heh.)

"I made you as toys and I can play with you any way I want to. So there!"

"I changed my mind, asshole. So sue me."

"I don't even really exist. You idiots made me up in your own likeness to give power over yourselves to others in hope of giving meaning to your worthless little lives and have a fantasy that you'll live on after the worms are done with you. Morons!"

I could go on and on. It's too easy. We have some truly twisted minds out there, valued readers all, whom I ask to please add your own in 'comments'. Let 'er rip!

Yanquis get gas in Mexico

Besides from the yummy food!

Yahoo! News

If there's pain at the pump in the U.S., Mexico may just have a remedy. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in San Diego retails for an average price of $4.61 a gallon. A few miles south, in Tijuana, it's about $2.54 — even less if you pay in pesos.

The lower prices mean a U.S. motorist could save almost $54 filling up a two-year-old Ford F150 pickup with a 26-gallon fuel tank in Mexico.

The differential in diesel is even greater, selling at $5.04 a gallon in San Diego County and $2.20 in Tijuana.

Gas is cheaper in Mexico because of a government subsidy intended to keep inflationary forces in check. (my em)

That would never happen here, of course. Our subsidies are designed to profit the oil companies twice - at the pump as well as from our tax money. Fuck us. Besides, we as taxpayers and consumers are expected to fund both sides in Bush's War On Terror to perpetuate it.

A word of caution about Mexican gas: I have replaced more than one set of pistons in motorcycles because of that stuff. Bikes are more highly tuned for performance than cars, and modern engine management systems can probably handle it just fine (Fixer? 'Nucks?), but I would say if your engine starts sounding like gravel rattlin' around in a tin can, put in some American gas quick. It's cheaper than an engine job.

W Ne Regrette Rien, Le Prick

MoDo likes French:

In the French imagination, Barack Obama is already the president.

To the French, the Democratic primary was the general election.

The word “elite” is not a pejorative here; it’s a compliment. It does not occur to Parisians that Americans will choose the old, white-haired one if they can have the cool, skinny one with the Ray-Bans, John le Carré novels, chic wife and secret cigarettes.

In Old Europe, they’ve moved on, assuming that the American president has done all the damage that he can do. The blazing hostility toward W. has faded to indifference and a sort of fatigued perplexity about how les imbeciles de regime cowboy got into office, and how America could have put the world through all this craziness.

Ze Grenouilles, zey are, how you say, wrongamundo. Bush has plenty of time left to fuck things up even more and no doubt intends to do so.

Paris responded with a yawn. (Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to say.) A Bush organizer asked people sitting in the back of the hall to move to the front, so the empty seats would not be visible on TV. The image of the U.S. abroad has improved slightly, according to a new Pew poll, but only in anticipation of seeing the back of this president.

Ainsi soit-il!

It's nice to see MoDo come out of her petty snarkiness now that the Dem primary is over. Or at least direct it to better effect. Maybe the hot flashes have passed...

Angry Clinton Women ♥ McCain?

Here's the last paragraph of a positively bubbly piece by Daddy Frank:

The ludicrous idea that votes from Clinton supporters would somehow make up for McCain defectors is merely the latest fairy tale brought to you by those same Washington soothsayers who said Fred Thompson was the man to beat and that young people don’t turn up to vote.

Also those who say the Earth is flat and don't sail off the edge.

Happy Father's Day to Daddy Frank and all you otha fathas out there.

When the levee breaks ...

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break, [X2]
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, [X2]
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned, [X2]
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

- Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks

I wonder how bad the federal government is gonna fuck the folks in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri? I hope they fare better than the citizens of NOLA did.





I did 6 weeks at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois when I was cross-training. We had 3 tornadoes. You'd never get me to live anywhere in the Midwest, let alone near a river. Fuck that shit. I'll deal with a hurricane any day.

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks

Sunday Saturday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

Mrs. G is going to retire in a few weeks, and since she never gets sick she's got a lot of sick time to scrub off or lose it. She took yesterday afternoon off for a "doctor's appointment" (with a wink and a nod from her boss) and we hit a half a dozen motorcycle shops in Reno and Carson looking for stuff, some of which we found, capped by an early dinner at El Charro Avitia. Anyway, I woke up this morning thinking it was Sunday and all the Russert goobledegook would be over as soon as her NASCAR race got going. I'm a little confused, but you should only enjoy this John Hiatt tune more because of it...

From a Singer/Songwriter showcase tour in 1989 with John Prine, Joe Ely and Guy Clark. Great lyrics - "Is it bigger than a breadbox..."

Classic ...

You'll recognize it as soon as you hear it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21

Saturday whorage

Once again I'm late with this but I had contractors here this morning. Construction continues apace.

The next chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.

And I got a couple things to say about the '08 Escape, a year on.

Hey, Timmeh ...

How's that soul you sold? See ya in Hell ...

Touchy subject ...

We've lived in this house (my childhood home) for 12 years now. The ice cream man, every fucking summer, plays the same song, over and over again as he goes up and down the blocks in my neighborhood. The same fucking song, all day long, all summer long, the same fucking song for 12 years. Only Mrs. F is standing between me (armed with a Russian RPG-7) and him dying in a flaming wreck of a vehicle (after the RPG detonates when it hits the Softee machine). Yeah, so I got a couple issues.

So I can totally understand this. Heh ...

Update:

Just to make clear, I don't want the ice cream man to leave. I just want him to change the fucking song once a year.

Good. God.

Looks like we're back to "which candidate would you rather have a beer with" stories. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

Whiner-in-Chief

From Mustang Bobby:

President Bush on the Supreme Court ruling against the administration's attempt to strip terror suspects of their Constitutional rights:

We’ll abide by the court’s decision — that doesn’t mean I have to agree with it ... it was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented.

The man has no sense of irony. If it wasn't for a "deeply divided court," George W. Bush would still be the governor of Texas.

Fuckin' A you abide by it, Bush. We've been living with a Supreme Court decision we don't exactly agree with for seven and a half years. Now it's your turn to suck it, bitch.

And Chuck Norris is a sissy...

I was looking for some Marine stuff that might relate to General Pace getting the "Heckuva Job" Award Medal of Freedom from the Chimp, but fuck that, I found this (Please go see. Mucho fun!):

THE UPPER RANKS AS SEEN BY THE LOWER RANKS

THE GENERAL
Leaps tall buildings with a single bound.
Is more powerful than a locomotive.
Is faster than a speeding bullet.
Walks on water.
Gives policy to GOD.

THE COLONEL
Leaps short buildings with a single bound.
Is more powerful than a switch engine.
Is just as fast as a speeding bullet.
Walks on water if the sea is calm.
Talks with GOD.

THE LIEUTENANT COLONEL
Leaps short buildings with a running start and favorable winds.
Is almost as powerful as a switch engine.
Is faster than a speeding BB.
Walks on water in indoor swimming pool.
Talks with GOD if special request is approved.

THE MAJOR
Barely clears Quonset hut.
Looses tug of war with switch engine.
Can fire a speeding bullet.
Swims well.
Is occasionally addressed by GOD.

THE CAPTAIN
Makes high marks when trying to leap building.
Gets run over by locomotive.
Can sometimes handle a gun without inflicting self injury.
Dog paddles.
Talks to animals.

THE FIRST LIEUTENANT
Runs into buildings.
Recognizes locomotives two out of three times.
Is not issued ammunition.
Can stay afloat if properly instructed in the use of Mae West.
Talks to walls.

THE SECOND LIEUTENANT
Falls over doorstep when trying to enter building.
Bays “Look at the Choo-Choo.”
Wets himself with a water pistol.
Plays in mud puddles.
Mumbles to himself.

THE NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER
Lifts buildings and walks under them.
Kicks locomotives off the tracks.
Catches speeding bullets in his teeth and eats them.
Freezes water with a single glance.
HE IS GOD.

Original author unknown.

Speaking as a Non-Commissioned Officer of the exalted and august rank of Corporal with 42 years in grade, I heartily concur.

Gitmo gear

Think Progress, comments.

The Washington Post’s Sleuth reports that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has a gift shop advertising its detainee operations that sells windbreakers, baseball caps, and t-shirts. According to the Post, “military base officials were thrilled to have reporters buying up goodies at the gift shop for their loved ones back home”:

Guantanamo Bay is a naval base, so I can see buying t-shirts and stuff as memorabilia of a port call or tour there, but who the hell wants souvenirs of the biggest blot on American character since the internment camps for American citizens?

Holy shit.

Clydesdale v. Belgian Draft Beer

Brooklyn Supreme

Raw Story

Belgian brewer InBev is offering a big payday to shareholders of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., but its bid to create the world's largest beer company is already facing a major obstacle — U.S. election-year politics.

Political considerations aside (go read), I think this deal could possibly be a plus for the American corporate beer consumer.

Nothing against Clydesdales, but the, er, beer that comes out of them is rather overly well-hydrated as evidenced by its light color.

Belgian Draft beer, on the other hand, is noted for its deep color and good flavor, possibly attributable to less emphasis by the brewing companies on mass production with an attendant reduction in time spent at the watering trough.

It is difficult to predict, however, whether average Americans can be weaned from the weak, tasteless, profitable corporate beverage known to them by the misnomer "beer".

Shown below: A corporate giant and a micro-brewery.



Update:

I am told that consuming either type of brew directly from the horse's tap is considered somewhat gauche. Use a glass, mug, or stein. Just sayin'...

McJudgment ...

Even Fred the Cat knows McCain's judgment is severely lacking.

The money ...

... Simply irresistible shes so fine, theres no tellin' where the money went ...

Auntie Beeb knows*, but they can't tell because of gag orders by Chimp & Co:

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.

A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.

...

Ya think they'll eventually be held accountable? Me neither.

...

While Presdient George W Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

...

They're all war criminals.

Since it's Friday, we might as well start the day off correctly. Here's the video:

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistable

And the lyrics.

Off to work ... TGIF!

*Great thanks to the folks at Danger Room for the link.

Is there a brotha in the house?

In New York City ... the most diverse city in the world ... a city where 173 languages are spoken in one zip code ... you can't find a black person?

McSenile ...

Maru:

...

McCain showcases his foreign policy expertise.

By telling a crowd that he’s superqualified to be President due to his extensive foreign policy experience dealing with Vladimir Putin… the President of Germany.

...

Update:

More McStupid from Digby:

Just in case anyone still doubted whether John McCain was an unprincipled, slick Republican hack just like the rest of them, you can't find a better example than this:

Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized to the Supreme Court’s ruling granting Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts:

...

Maverick, straight-shooter ... bleedin' fool.

Federal judge gives smackdown to McCain and Bush

Stolen in toto from Badtux:

Federal Judge Samuel Conti accepts into evidence an email suggesting that it was official Bushevik strategy to deny veterans' PTSD claims.

If he'd already made up his mind to believe the Busheviks, he wouldn't have done this. Which leads me to believe that he is about to lay down a major smackdown in the fraud trial where the Busheviks are accused of denying care to PTSD patients by deliberately misdiagnosing them...

-- Badtux the Veterans Penguin

Thanks, bud.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Later, 'bator

I'm off to get the windshield replaced in my old Dakota. Man, having a driver's license is expensive!

Update:

Windshield appointment at 9AM at Auto Glass Express, home by 10. "Don't get it washed or go 4-wheelin' fer a coupla days. Gotta let the glue dry." They did a nice job.

Made a coupla discoveries in the 45 minutes the glass job took.

First, they directed me to the Full Belly Deli, which will have a site at fbdtruckee.com pretty soon. Very nice sandwich & coffee shop/internet cafe for being in an industrial park out here in Shit's Creek. It's the first time I've seen a Cuban sandwich on a menu, so I tried one. On jalapeño cheddar bread, actually a little loaf of it. Excellent. First time in history I've had to take the second half of a sandwich home, to Mrs. G's lunchtime benefit. That joint will rate future visits.

Second, I went across the street to visit my pal John, who in a spirit of cameraderie clapped me on the shoulder. Right on the tattoo I got on Tuesday. Lesson? Ouch! John's comment, "I thought ya wuz tougher'n that..."

89%

MSNBC Live Vote

Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment?

698518 responses

Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial. 89%

No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors." 4.2%

No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching. 4.5%

I don't know. 2%

I find it encouraging that the percentage of brain dead seems to be down to 11%. Still too high, but even a mule will pay attention if ya smack him between the runnin' lights with a 2x4.

A comment on this informal survey:

89% voted for impeachment. But probably only because this poll did not include choices for tarring and feathering, jailing, burning at the stake, drawing and quartering, etc...

My choice is E - All of the above.

Surprise from SCOTUS: Gitmo detainees have Constitutional rights!

Lead-in to a NYTimes piece at BuzzFlash:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts. A big win for the Constitution. "The vote was 5-4, with the court's liberal justices in the majority." Kennedy was, of course, the swing vote. All the more reason a Democrat needs to win the White House. We are one vote away from disaster at SCOTUS.

Yep. The most important man in the United States right now is Justice Stevens' doctor. He's gotta keep the old gent pumpin' 'til late January or we're screwed.

Qui tam log jam

Truthout

A backlog of whistleblower lawsuits against military contractors has been swelling and festering since the early days of the so-called war on terror.

According to critics, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has blocked the progress of these lawsuits to spare the Bush administration a major political black eye should the truth about ongoing war profiteering be revealed, a charge the DOJ denies.

Not a single qui tam case against war contractors has been joined by the Bush administration DOJ despite the possibility of recovering billions of dollars for the US taxpayer and reigning in war profiteers, who continue to cheat and defraud the government and the US troops mired in battle.

"The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious," Congressman Henry Waxman (D- California) told the BBC, adding, "It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

Critics charge that the DOJ is misusing its power to keep the qui tam cases sealed in order to prevent a massive and unprecedented level of war profiteering from becoming public.

"The administration is protecting its donor base - big pharmaceutical companies, big defense contractors, and they don't care about the little guy, the tax payer," Warren said when asked why he thought the Bush administration would deliberately underfund white collar crime investigations.

That's what they hired him to do. Mission accomplished, huh, Georgie?

My kind of regulation ...

Chris:

Listening to anyone on Wall Street get on their high horse and complain about regulation really shows why that bunch needs to be firmly swatted on the back of the head ...

After close to thirty years since Regain told us 'deregulation' was a good thing, I hope every thinking person understands, now, that big business cannot be allowed to 'regulate themselves'. When money and power is at stake any rules that might exist are the first things to go out the window. Give 'em a set of rules to follow and make the consequences dire if they are broken.

Listen to me. Cutting taxes on the rich and corporations does not trickle down to the rest of us. Letting businesses police themselves is never good for the 'average American'. The people who run the show could give a shit less about us.

Off to work ...

Progress?

I still don't think anything will come of it, but it's nice to see Dennis Kucinich's resolution moving forward in the House:

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to send articles of impeachment against President Bush to the Judiciary Committee for review.

The impeachment resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, requested a recorded vote on the motion around 3 p.m. Wednesday, and 24 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in voting to send the impeachment measure to the committee.

...

Great thanks to Avedon for the link.

Rhetoric ...

The Misfit parses the Chimp's dumbassery in Europe:

...

Let's be clear on this, Mr. McFuckwit: It wasn't just your "gun-slinging rhetoric," it was the fact that your rhetoric was supported by the facts and by the statements of numerous of your former aides that you were focused on ginning up the reasons to go to war with Iraq as soon as the dust started to settle from 9/11. As history is showing, the Afghan War, to you, was a distraction, a sideshow, from the war you wanted and which you got. You and your henchmen lied about the facts, lied about the intelligence, fabricated incidents and took this country into an unnecessary war against a nation that posed no discernible threat.

That is called "aggression." That is, in point a fact, a war crime.

...

Can't we just get the EU to arrest him while he's there? The Hague isn't far from Germany.

The meme ...

This is how McSame is playing for disenchanted Hillary voters with the help of the media:

The Democratic primary is just over and we can already see two ways in which McCain's media base is helping him. First, they are obsessing about how much the Republican base is "rejecting" him. This is supposed to be a terrible thing, but in a year in which Republicanism is more toxic than expired dog food, it actually gives many people a reason to vote for him. No doctrinaire Republican could win in this environment and his fanboys in the media are happy to make sure that everyone sees him as they do --- a macho, go-to-hell, Teddy Roosevelt reformer type.

...

Unfortunately, too many people will believe his drivel.

Oh, McCain

From Lunatics and Liars.

"There's only two things that money can't buy..."

If yer cheeseburger is missin' somethin' lately due to the the Repugs' most recent attempt to poison us in the pursuit of profit, here's the solution. I got no idea who this gal is other than her name's Alesa and she's purty and sings this Guy Clark tune real good.



You can plant tomatoes real easy. Tomato seeds pass right through your system, so just get some privately grown safe ones, eat 'em, crap in yer flower bed, and jump outta the way. A note of caution to apartment dwellers: if you live above the third floor, take the flower box off the window sill first!

Mad Skills

From an excellent recommended article on Jim Webb in The New Republic:

The interesting thing about the angry-Webb mythology, though, is that it fascinates just as much as it frightens. Fellow Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill adoringly described Webb as a "street brawler," capturing the way some Democrats--call them the Jim Webb Orientalists--romanticize Webb's aggressive, exotically redneck roots and, by extension, his capacity to hormonally invigorate a party sick of its effete, wine-sipping image. Why promote aristocratic Democrats like Al Gore or John Kerry when there's Webb, who hangs out not with actresses or New York bankers but with the likes of his friend "Mac" McGarvey, a rough-hewn, ex-Marine honky-tonk manager with a nipple ring and only one arm?

My kinda guy! Let's have him for Veep!

I like this passage too:

Webb came to believe in anger not during his childhood, nor at war, but at Georgetown Law School. Landing there in the early '70s after Vietnam, he found himself thrust into a den of upper-crust snobs who relentlessly mocked the soldiers who had served with him. He describes the type in his novel A Country Such as This:

The students, the people of books and pep clubs and prom committees, who had from their childhood feared the simple power and brutality of the blue collar kids, the red-necks, the bowling alley kings, the hot-rodding, ducktailed greasers who once mocked their studies and their lack of manliness ... [now] unloaded on the soldiers, cursing them, daring them, under the accepted guise of hating Army, Pentagon and War.

I think Webb gets it. Not bad for an officer.

Iraqi MPs give HFAC an earful

Truthout

Last week, for the first time, two Iraqi members of Parliament (MPs) testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They spoke bluntly.

"The anarchy and chaos in Iraq is linked to the presence of the occupation, not withdrawal from Iraq," Nadeem Al-Jaberi, an MP and co-founder of the Al-Fadhila party, testified.
Under questioning by Republican Congress members, Al-Jaberi repeatedly renounced the "success of the surge," and added, "What we strive for is establishing a balanced relationship between the two countries. But nothing of this could be made possible until the troops withdraw from Iraq."

"The majority of Iraqi MPs, and more than 70 percent of the Iraqi people, are against signing any agreements or treaties with the US while Iraq is under the occupation," Al-Jaberi said.

According to a letter to Congress signed by Iraqi Parliament members representing the majority parties, "The Iraqi Council of Representatives is looking to ratify agreements that end every form of American intervention in Iraq's internal affairs and restore Iraq's independence and sovereignty over its land."

The letter requests not only the removal of all soldiers and military bases, but also of "hired fighters," pointing to another aspect of withdrawal that the Iraqi Parliament has its eye on, although previous drafts of US withdrawal legislation - and much of the presidential debate - have overlooked it: the use of private military contractors in Iraq.

"US mercenaries are viewed by Iraqis as criminal gangs protected by the occupation," Al-Ulayyan told Truthout.

The MPs' overarching message: They're eager for a partnership with US Congress members that will help them work toward shared goals, but they're not interested in conforming to the demands of any American bosses, be they Republican or Democrat. The key to achieving Iraqi sovereignty, they say, will be allowing Iraq to determine what that sovereignty looks like.

"We think that the American people and Congress are misinformed about what the Iraqis want," Al-Ulayyan said, adding, "We hope we will have more chances to bring the voices of the majority of Iraqis to America."

All well and good, Iraqis, but here's the bottom line:

Bush doesn't give a shit what you want, and he's not going to leave Iraq without your oil. That's it in a nutshell.

May I suggest you have Bush's puppet your government ask us, very publicly and officially, to leave? Then we'll see what Bush does. You probably won't be surprised to hear that you're just a bunch of oil-bearing brown savages who don't know what's best for you and the all-knowing white men are just looking out for your interests and will continue to do so.

No, Johnny, no

Ya gotta go read this one! Maybe even a 'liquid alert'.

The Independent (UK)

The Republican hopeful John McCain may be pushing 72, but his "town hall" events can be as noisy as the stadiums where Barack Obama appears on stage to the strains of U2's "Beautiful Day." But the McCain camp is having trouble settling on a suitable campaign anthem. After searching for months, it finally picked "Johnny B Goode" – Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll classic from 1958. The high-power guitar licks and "Go, Johnny, go" chorus put a spring in Mr McCain's step. When asked why he chose it, he quipped: "It might be because it is the only one [the artist] hasn't complained about us using."

Berry, known as the "father of rock 'n' roll", recounted: "In the Fifties there were certain places we couldn't ride on the bus, and now there is a possibility of a black man being in White House." "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last," he added, quoting Martin Luther King.

There was a groan at McCain headquarters as it suffered yet another musical derailment. An attempt to use Abba's "Take A Chance On Me" also bombed. "We played it a couple times and it's my understanding [Abba] went berserk," Mr McCain said.

Shoulda used 'Dancing Queen', Johnny, given the Repugs' odd propensities. Moral values, you know...

Much more.

Quote of the Day

Mr. Aravosis:

... Joe Lieberman isn't crossing party lines to show how he puts principle above party. He's crossing party lines because today it's the move that pays him the most benefit. That doesn't make him principled, it makes him a whore ...

Ink Day

So much for blogging today. I got an appointment. Later.

Update:

When I unveiled the tattoo for Mrs. G, this was her reaction:

"Oh. it's beautiful! It's so big!"

Natcherly, I checked to see if my fly was open...

(rimshot)

Trojan horses, land mines, and Manchurian Candidates

Following up on Fixer's earlier post, things appear to be not going so peachy for Bush's 'permanent occupation of Iraq' plans:

AP

The Bush administration is conceding for the first time that the United States may not finish a complex security agreement with Iraq before President Bush leaves office.

Faced with stiff Iraqi opposition, it is "very possible" the U.S. may have to extend an existing U.N. mandate, said a senior administration official close to the talks. That would mean major decisions about how U.S. forces operate in Iraq could be left to the next president, including how much authority the U.S. must give Iraqis over military operations and how quickly the handover takes place.

Much more.

Related, from Froomkin:

Do we really expect the Bushies to go quietly?

No.

Reporters should be keeping a sharp eye out for things Bush officials are doing to make their policies stay in effect after they leave office. In the first of a five-part series: Putting Iraq on autopilot, risking war with Iran, and purging the military.

What are the Bushies doing to lock in their current course – even if it’s Barack Obama in the Oval Office on inauguration day? What agreements and contracts are they committing the country to? What rules, line-items, and executive orders will live on beyond their creators? What Trojan horses, landmines and Manchurian Candidates have they put in place throughout government?

[...] “By naming Petraeus to a job that lasts into the next administration, Bush ensures that the new president will confront the military's strongest voice for maintaining a big force in Iraq.”

Civilians are technically in charge of the U.S. military, but recalcitrant generals can make change hard to achieve. [...]

Lemme 'splain to our Nation's next leader how an old Corporal of Marines would handle the 'recalcitrant generals' from the standpoint of outranking them: "General, STFU and do what I tell you or have your resignation on my desk in one minute. This is not a discussion. One more fucking word outta you other than 'aye aye, sir' and the Gunny here slaps the cuffs on you."

See? Easy.

Much, much more at Froomkin's.

Oil, Israel, Iran, America

Dave Lindorff on what might happen if Bush or some crazy Air Force brass attack Iran:

One remark by a minor Israeli cabinet officer hinting at a possible U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran sent oil prices up by a record $11/barrel to a record $139 per barrel Friday. That should tell us what would happen if the Bush Administration were crazy enough to attack Iran, or to let its vassal state of Israel do it.

America, which runs on oil, would grind to a halt. Gasoline and home heating oil would double or triple in price, leading to desperation in the coming winter for those living north of the Mason-Dixon line, and to a mass exodus of the elderly from Florida and Arizona, where air-conditioning would no longer be affordable.

It makes you wonder what is going on in the higher reaches of the U.S. bureaucracy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has in the past intimated that he's no fan of war with Iran, just sacked the two top men in the Air Force -- the most gung-ho of the service branches in terms of Iran war mongering. The unprecedent surprise firing of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and the Air Force's top officer, Gen. T Michael "Buzz" Moseley, was officially blamed on their poor handling of the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal, in the wake of last year's unauthorized and improper removal from storage and cross-country aerial transfer of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles in launch position on a B-52 Stratofortress, and the discovery this year of an earlier "inadvertent" shipment of ICBM missile warhead nuclear triggers to Taiwan. While it is possible that those two incidents were the cause of the firings, there remain serious unanswered questions about both incidents, and particularly about the cruise missile flight.

As I reported earlier and in Counterpunch magazine and American Conservative magazine, there were a half dozen unexplained deaths of U.S. airmen, including two suicides, which occurred just before and after that flight last August 30, none of which were investigated at least publicly by the Pentagon or the FBI, according to local prosecutors and medical examiners contacted. A number of experts in nuclear weapons handling have said that it would be "impossible" for the six warheads to have been removed from guarded bunkers at Minot AFB in North Dakota, mounted on cruise missiles, loaded onto launch pylons under the wing of a B-52, and flown to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, all as a "mistake."

This leads inexorably to the question: What was being planned for those warheads, if they were not being removed from storage by mistake, and if they were being moved without the knowledge of the top brass, including Gates, at the Pentagon? Recall that the only reason anyone learned about the incident was that it was reported outside the military chain of command to a reporter at Military Times newspaper by several Air Force whistleblowers upset by what they were seeing.

We already witnessed the sudden resignation from the post of CentCom Command of Adm. William Fallon, whose outspoken opposition to the Bush/Cheney Administration's talk of attacking Iran led to his being pushed aside in favor of the more pliant Gen. David Petraeus. Fallon was pushed out by Iran war hawks because of his opposition to an attack. Were the Air Force Secretary and Chief of Staff forced out by Gates because of their pro-attack position?

Why do I keep thinking Cheney has the big hand in all of this? If there's a war between SecDef and OVP, I hope Gates wins.

How McCain can ruin your sex life

Blue Balled

Actually, sittin' alone in the dark drinkin' whiskey and jerkin' off is probably about what Repugs do on Saturday night anyway...

This little film has its basis in historical precedent.

A big tip o' the Brain to Truth Through Action.

Agreements ...

The Iranians don't want us next door for too much longer. Gord wrote about the 'treaty' the Chimp was trying to ram up the collective Iraqi ass and it seems the guy who really does pull the strings (it ain't Ahmedinejad we should be listening to) in Iran wants none of it:

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Iraq's visiting prime minister on Monday against signing an agreement with the United States keeping foreign troops in the country beyond 2008.

The continued presence of US troops was Iraq's "fundamental problem," Khamenei told Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, expressing confidence that Iran's western neighbour would dash the "dreams" of the United States.

...

Now I'm outta here ...

Quote of the Day

Our good friend 'Nucks on Snot McClellan appearing before Committee:

...

Scottie had better lay low until he can get some protection 24/7 so he can actually show up.
After that, GAME ON.

...

Even if nothing comes of it (sorry, but I have no faith in any of the Bush Cabal actually facing justice), you can bet the hearings will be entertaining.

Off to the shop. The weather twit says it's only gonna be in the 90s today instead of the 101 it was yesterday. By the way, all the people who I told months ago to get new batteries in their cars before summer comes, you learned why this weekend. Ha-ha. How much did that tow cost you on top of what you paid me for the battery? Pay me now or pay me later ...

Outstanding ...

An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.

Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House of Representatives late Monday evening, airing live on C-SPAN.

"The House is not in order," said Kucinich to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), upon which Pelosi pounded her gavel.

"Resolved," Kucinich then began, "that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate. [my em] ...

I wish this fucking guy could win a primary. Ya gotta love Dennis, a man out of the Wellstone/Feingold mold. Could you imagine what we could do with 40 of him in the Senate and 200 of him in the House?

Dear Earth People ...

This is what you look like from your closest neighbor. Can you imagine what you look like to the rest of the galaxy?



Get over yourselves.

Thanks to Jeff for the lead.

Bad feelings ...

I get a bad feeling for our guys and girls when I read something like this:

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defense cooperation.

The MoU was signed by visiting Iraqi Defense Minister Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi and his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar on Monday.

...

So what's that mean? If the Iraqis (the Iraqi government) ever decide the US is an 'occupying force', will the Iranians come to their aid?

...

The MoU has called for expansion of defense cooperation between the two countries in line with harmonizing all-out ties between Tehran and Baghdad to help further bolster peace and stability in the region.

...

Seems the biggest threat to peace and security in the region is us.

Great thanks to Gorilla's Guides for the link.

Quote of the Day

The Rude One:

... To be sure, there's a helluva lot of people who would rather dangle their balls over a bear trap than vote for a black man ...

And that's what worries me.

I thought he was a genius?

Isn't that what everybody said; Karl Rove is a genius? Well, not so much:

...

"Every Republican I know looks at the Bush administration as a total failure," said Matt Towery, chairman of Newt Gingrich's political organization.

"To do what he did politically to us is unforgivable," Rep. Tom Tancredo told Alexander. "It will take generations to recover. I don't know how long; maybe never."

...

Hopefully never.

Fair play is weakness

No more birthday-suit beach-going on Marine base

Marine Corps Times

Drop your — well, just grab your socks, and the rest of your clothes.

A portion of San Onofre State Beach, on the northern coast of Camp Pendleton, Calif., has long been a haven for free-spirited nudists, but because of the recent rise in popularity of the park, the California State Parks department will remove the clothing-optional option.

This may or may not disappoint Marine helicopter pilots and aircrew operating nearby, who generally deny flying over that particular stretch of sand.

I spent some time in the Infantry Training Regiment at San Onofre, and the only thing i ever saw nekkid was other Marines.

Asked if nearby Marines added to the problem, Stearns said: “How can I tell if they’re Marines, if they are not wearing a uniform?”

They're young, have no hair, and their tan lines end above their ears if they're new to the beach. Also, their private (or lance corporal or gunnery sergeant) parts are at attention most of the time.

Oldfartgate+

The Last Chance Democracy Cafe

John’s been looking kind of old lately, in a Great Wall of China sense of the word. Even given all of the specific political sins he committed during his awful speech on the night Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, what probably damaged him most in his presentation was his overall appearance. It wasn’t that he looked old, although certainly he did: it was that he looked befuddled.

And when you’re trying to convince the American people to elect a man who would become the oldest person ever to take office as president, befuddled isn’t exactly the look you’re going for.

Trust me on this one, 'befuddled' works! But then I ain't trying for President, just senior discounts and pity.

As the originator (and so far only user) of the term Oldfartgate in regard to John McCain’s age, I feel compelled to note the likelihood that one day soon Oldfartgate will merge with the current McCain mania of Constantlyfuckingupgate creating the new sensation of Oldfartconstantlyfuckingupgate (my em).

Again, it's fine if you're not running for President.

One thing I have to say in McCain's favor: as long as he's around, I don't feel quite so old or befuddled.

Make No Mistake: McCain's a Neocon

Robert Parry

Since clinching the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain has sought to hide the forest of his neoconservative alignment with George W. Bush amid the trees of details, such as stressing differences over military tactics used in

But the larger reality should be clear: McCain is a hard-line neoconservative who buys into Bush’s “preemptive war” theories abroad and his concept of an all-powerful “unitary executive” at home.

The irony is that when McCain and Bush talk about the danger of “rogue regimes” operating outside international law and threatening other nations, that is exactly what their neocon theories have made the United States: a country that – along with a few allies – becomes a law onto itself.

If a President McCain gets to replace one of the five other justices with another Alito or Roberts, the new court majority could, in effect, rewrite the rules of the American Republic to declare the imperial presidency “constitutional.”

But there should be no doubt that a McCain victory would give the neocons another four-year lease on the White House. And, after those four years, there might be no feasible way back for the great American Republic.

Scary shit. It's going to be hard enough for the great American Republic to come back after the damage Bush has done in any case.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Bush Close to Achieving Agenda Before Leaving Office
Nears goal of transforming country into corrupt, hated, third world rogue nation.

U.S. Accused of Holding Detainees on "Prison Ships"
"Argh," says official on condition of anonymity.

Senate Republicans: Climate Bill Would Cause High Energy Prices, Economic Turmoil
And such things must be avoided.

McCain Cites His Experience Over Obama's
Says opponent's never napalmed a village, married a beer heiress or been caught up in a savings and loan scandal.

Heavy Favorite Big Brown Fails at Belmont
Jockey is euthanized.

Have a day.

But, it wasn't a blowjob ...

Wolcott* looks at Greenwald's post and had a few words for David Broder:

...

Then with those two unindicted war racketeers [Chimpy n' Cheney] removed from office, we'd turn our keen sense of justice on The Washington Post and demand that they shitcan your sorry, energy-dependent ass too, along the equally flagrant tails belonging to Fred Hiatt, Richard Cohen, and Charles Krauthammer.

...

And John Amato has some helpful hints for the networks and print media to reclaim some of their former credibility:

...

1) Set up an Ombudsman with a staff for each network that isn’t an employee of their corporation and have a weekly segment devoted to policing the media. They will also be available to take complaints reported by individual citizens and investigate them thoroughly.

2) Replay clips of each pundit when they’ve been proven wrong and let them explain their positions and why they thought they were right and ask them how they will correct their mistakes in the future.

3) Keep track of their infractions and set up a benchmark, like a 3 strikes your out rule for pundits. When they hit the benchmark, suspend them for a period of time so they can reflect on their mistakes.

...

I'm all for it but pigs will fly before they decide to police themselves.

*Thanks to Sarah for the link.

Disability ...

I posted on this a while back and Mr. Aravosis does today.

McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. "Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired his disability," Salter said.

And that disability might be? Mental disability maybe? Why not? I'm fucked up and I never was tortured (if you discount the bores and assholes I've met in bars in the wee hours). Might this disqualify him from the Presidency?

Questions, questions ...

Update:

And no, I'm not being a callous bastid. Yes, I know McCain has some physical disabilities, but this clown is getting 100% when there are guys and girls coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan who'll be eating the rest of their meals through a straw and can't get the proper care, let alone 100%. In light of that, McCain is an able-bodied, thieving scumbag.

Take it to the limit

Just...WOW!

From the 2000 show for Breast Cancer awareness. Amazing performance of the Eagles classic by the worlds most renound (sic - NCLB? - G) female musicians.

Left to Right:Mary J Blige, Shea Seger, Pat Benatar, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Natalie Maines Martie Maguire and Emily Robison (the Dixie Chicks), Beth Nielsen Chapman, Nelly Furtado.

Silver Lining

Here's something I hope is a little inspirational to us all now that the damn Dem primary is over. To Bonnie Raitt's "Silver Lining".



Lyrics

A little jazz ...

For a Sunday morning.

Karrin Allyson - Moanin'