Republicans

I just finished wasting an hour replying to some Republican propaganda and probably losing Mrs. F a friend in the process. It's a guy she deals with through work who lives out in Ohio and she's friends with this guy's whole family. So he's been sending Republican and Christian bullshit to the house for months. Up until now I've just ignored it and deleted it. But yesterday I had a tough day and he sent a cartoon entitled "Where Religion and Politics Mix". It's got Kerry standing on books that say 'Abortion' and 'Gay Marriage' and Bush standing on a book that says 'Word of God'. Kerry is labled 'Religion' and Bush is labeled 'Christianity'.

Like I said, yesterday is was a tough day. So I replied. Didn't say anything but forwarded that 'A day in the life of Joe Republican' thing. You know, all the things you can thank liberals for.

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

[. . .]

I figured, hey, have one of mine for once. I didn't think anything of it anymore. Went to work today and when I came home, there's a reply to mine. This guy took each point and rebutted them. He actually took the time to dissect a junk email. Blew my fucking mind. Needless to say, I took offense. I re-rebutted. A sample. Original in bold, his in normal, mine in italic:

[. . .]

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

If they are contributing so much, then why are they still taking so much from my check to pay for all the freebie seeking liberals and the afirmative action Democrats in Congress. Atta boy

As opposed to that tax cut? Gee, thanks for the $300. That'll make up for the 40% increase in my property taxes because the President wants 'No Child Left Behind' but refuses to fund it. Oh, I'm sorry, was that a big government program? Oh, and did I forget, George Bush increased the size of the federal government 10% over Bill Clinton? Yup, gotta watch them tax and spend liberals and their programs.

[. . .]

And it went on through about 10 or 11 points. Incredible. Thing is, this last one pissed me off:

[. . .]

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

The truth is the conservative is working hard to pay all of the things listed above and because we believe everyone that works hard should be allowed to say what happens to the money we make, the liberals say they should be getting the same amount as me even though I don't want their money, they just want mine. I'll take care of my family, you take care of yours. I won't tell you what you can spend and you don't tell me. the problem is, you can't do for yourself and I can. If you can, then why do you have to have the government do it all for you. Atta boy.

Yup, 'cause I'm a liberal, I don't work hard, can't do for myself, and I'm knocking on your door with my hand out. Hope you don't come to me if you have some catastrophic illness and your savings is wiped out and you're evicted from your home because you can't pay your rent. I'll just tell you that you should have saved more and to get off my land or I'll put a load of buckshot in your ass. You forgot to say that liberals like me want to take away your guns too. Yeah right. This liberal is a marksman.

[. . .]

Lastly, never forget. If you want to live like a Republican, vote for a Democrat. Please, don't send me any more of your politcal crap, I didn't ask for it and I don't tell you how to vote or how to worship. While my wife doesn't take offense, I do. I don't need to be insulted.

I have to show it to the Mrs. and prepare her for my mouth (or words) losing her a friend. At least is wasn't her job (did that once). I'll let you know if I'm scratchin' fleas in the morning.

Update: 16:45:

Thinking about it now, I should have used better judgment and deleted it without replying, but I'm fucking tired of the Repubs and trying to shove their faith-based world down my throat. I'd love to shove my Godless, baby-killing, Commie-pinko, gay-loving, Liberal foot up his ass.

Might As Well Post The Whole Damn Thing

But I won't. Fixer would blow me off the planet with all that RDX he doesn't have. OK, I'll just link you to all the good shit on today's Working For Change.

"Clueless People Love Bush" by Molly Ivins

"Bush Mobilizes The Base" by E.J.Dionne Jr

"The Man Behind The Oval Office Curtain" by Robert Scheer

Read 'em all, especially the last one. Report back when done. There might be a quiz.

De Shadow Know....

One of the premier incisive and plain-speaking journalists in these times when there aren't near enough of them, Paul Krugman, has something to say about the administration's "culture of cover-ups" and the "shroud of secrecy" in a NYTimes editorial:

Informed sources quoted by the influential Nelson Report say explosives from Al Qaqaa are the "primary source" of the roadside and car bombs that have killed and wounded so many U.S. soldiers. And thanks to the huge amount looted - "in a highly organized operation using heavy equipment" - the insurgents and whoever else have access to the Qaqaa material have enough explosives for tens of thousands of future bombs.

If the administration had had its way, the public would never have heard anything about this. Administration officials have known about the looting of Al Qaqaa for at least six months, and probably much longer. But they didn't let the I.A.E.A. inspect the site after the war, and pressured the Iraqis not to inform the agency about the loss. They now say that they didn't want our enemies - that is, the people who stole the stuff - to know it was missing. The real reason, obviously, was that they wanted the news kept under wraps until after Nov. 2.

This isn't speculation: Mr. Goss is already involved in a new cover-up. Last week Robert Scheer of The Los Angeles Times revealed the existence of a devastating but suppressed report by the C.I.A.'s inspector general on 9/11 intelligence failures. Newsweek has now confirmed the gist of Mr. Scheer's column.

The report, the magazine says, "identifies a host of current and former officials who could be candidates for possible disciplinary procedures." But although the report was completed in June, Mr. Goss has refused to release it to Congress. "Everyone feels it will be better if this hits the fan after the election," an official told the magazine. Better for whom?

What really happened on 9/11, or in Iraq? Next week's election may determine whether we ever find out.

Let's make sure Senator Kerry becomes President so we have a chance to bring these traitors to judgment if not to justice. I'm still hoping for a twelve-roper.

Yada, Yada

The New Yorker endorses a presidential candidate for the first time in 80 years. It takes almost that long to read the article and find out which candidate! They must get paid by the word. Or by the pound.

Turn Out The Vote

I think voter turnout will likely set records. See this site.

By the way, "turnout" has a whole different meaning to bikers. I think Dubya is a good candidate.

TV's Top 10 Pundits

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. You'll never guess who came in first. I like it.

America, take heart. The last week of the turbulent presidential campaign is upon us.

This also means our TV screens will be bursting with pontificators, prognosticators, prevaricators, punch lines and overall punch-drunk love for the climactic final rounds between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry

How did that turd Hannity make it onto the list? Or any of the Faux News wingnuts? That does not speak well of our national IQ.

On the electronic voting machines

From the computer geeks:

[. . .]

In particular, many electronic voting systems have been evaluated by independent, generally-recognized experts and have been found to be poorly designed; developed using inferior software engineering processes; designed without (or with very limited) external audit capabilities; intended for operation without obvious protective measures; and deployed without rigorous, scientifically-designed testing.

[. . .]

Science? We don't need no steenking science! We have Faith! Assholes.

Thanks to are you effin' kidding me? for the link.

Whatever it takes

Glen:

Bush is appealing to Democrats on national security grounds, citing FDR and Truman. Had either of them fought a war as incompetently as this one, we'd be speaking German on the East Coast and Japanese on the West. Or Russian from sea to shining sea.

FDR and Truman? The man who got us through the Great Depression and the largest conflict in human history? The man who set the bar for Presidential responsibility, coining the phrase 'The Buck Stops Here'? I thought I had an overdeveloped ego.

I guess that's what happens when you have fucked up everything you've touched. You have to wrap yourself in different cloaks. Reagan? FDR? Truman? Like Lloyd Bentsen said to Dan 'Dickhead' Quayle: "I knew Jack Kennedy; he was a friend of mine. You're NO Jack Kennedy." Well, President Limp Weenie, you're no FDR or Truman, you're just another Dan Quayle.

Addendum

To my partner's (who is in a blind rage about this, just as I am) two posts (here and here) on the missing HE. White House Propaganda Stooge Snot 'Lyin Muthafucka' McClellan today:

[. . .]

Q But after Iraqi Freedom, there were those caches all around, wasn't the multinational force -- who was responsible for keeping track --

MR. McCLELLAN: At the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom there were a number of priorities. It was a priority to make sure that the oil fields were secure, so that there wasn't massive destruction of the oil fields, which we thought would occur. It was a priority to get the reconstruction office up and running. It was a priority to secure the various ministries, so that we could get those ministries working on their priorities, whether it was --

Q So it was the multinational force's responsibility --

MR. McCLELLAN: There were a number of -- well, the coalition forces, there were a number of priorities at the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. And munitions, as I said, were literally spread throughout the country. And we have gone in and destroyed, as I pointed out, more than 243,000 tons --

Q Was it the coalition's responsibility to take care of that --

Q This morning, in Senator Kerry's remarks, he calls this one of the greatest blunders in the Iraq mission and this presidency. How do you respond to that? [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Well they didn't do a good job keeping the oil fields secure either. What a clusterfuck. Thanks to Kos for the link.

More On Missing Explosives

The administration knew these explosives had been missing for a year according to this article from Josh Marshall:

It is apparently widely believed within the US government that those looted explosives are what in many, perhaps most, cases is being used in car bombs and suicide attacks against US troops. That is, according to TPM sources and sources quoted in this evening's Nelson Report, where the story first broke.

One administration official told Nelson, "This is the stuff the bad guys have been using to kill our troops, so you can’t ignore the political implications of this, and you would be correct to suspect that politics, or the fear of politics, played a major role in delaying the release of this information."

What's clear in Nelson's and TPM's reporting is that the administration has known about this for at least a year. But they've gone to great lengths to hide the facts both from monitoring organizations like the IAEA but also, by extension, from the American public.

As another administration source told Nelson, "What the hell were WE doing in the year and a half from the time we knew the stuff was gone, is obviously a huge question, and you can imagine why no one [in the Administration] wants to face up to it, certainly not before the election."

Another told Nelson, "You would be correct to suspect that politics, or the fear of politics, played a major role in delaying the release of this information."

It's a story that really brings together the adminstration's two cardinal sins: dishonesty and incompetence.

And what other stories are they trying to push back until after November 2nd?

Please go read the article. Losing the explosives through Bush and Rumsfeld's world class incompetence is bad enough, but the cover-up is almost worse than I thought the bastards were capable of.

Fear

From Josh Marshall:

On Good Morning America, President Bush pushes the idea of a pre-election or an election day terrorist attack: "I am worried about it and we should be worried about it. On the other hand, I don't want people to say, that he knows something I don't know and therefore, something is imminent."

'I really don't have any idea what I'm talking about, so don't take my word for it, but be scared anyway.'

I hate this little chimp-ass, lowlife, lying sack of shit, cocksucking, spoiled brat. If you don't vote on 2 Nov, I'm gonna come looking for ya. This is just intolerable.

Not good

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MSNBC Breaking News
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Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist hospitalized with thyroid cancer -

Bush has 4 months at least to appoint a replacement.

Don't Worry, It'll Turn Up

I am angrier with this administration than I have ever been. From today's NYTimes:

The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. (my emphasis)

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

After the invasion, when widespread looting began in Iraq, the international weapons experts grew concerned that the Qaqaa stockpile could fall into unfriendly hands. In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history."

760,000 pounds of high explosive. It took less than one pound of the same stuff to bring down Pan Am 103. If one pound of this shit went off under your ass, you'd be lucky if they found your belt buckle.

This is not unexpected news.The media has been going on about unprotected weapons caches and ammo dumps for months. Some of the dumps are miles on a side.

Our soldiers would have guarded or destroyed these dumps gladly if there were enough troops in theater to do it and if someone had told them to.

Our so-called leadership was asleep at the switch - again. This time it's more serious than ever and they should be held accountable, but don't bet on it.

Don't worry, Bush. Our soldiers will find the explosives. Oh, yes. They'll find them the same way they found missing or "dud" explosives in Vietnam - one piece at a time. Each time they find a little of it, one or more of them will die or be horribly maimed, just like Vietnam. Each soldier, and his family, can thank Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld for his death or lifetime as a cripple.

These explosives may turn up anywhere in the world for many years to come. We won't know where until it's too late to do anything except police up the carnage.

This could have been prevented, but Bush didn't do it. There is absolutely no excuse or reason for not securing these caches. Incompetence doesn't begin to cover it. Criminal negligence is closer to the truth.

Bush, if anything you've ever done consigns you to Hell, this is it. You motherfucker.

Remember this

For all you nitwits who are undecided. Think about this for the next week. From Sadly, No!:

Who let the Dog out?

The Big Dog will be in Philly today, stumping for Big John. Yeah!

Update: 15:00:

From WTF Is It Now??

Village Idiots

No, not Gordon and me. Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge about the Republicans in the Oklahoma Senate race:

[. . .]

As Andrew noted, Dobson is "one of the most influential people in the Republican Party." On November 2nd, it's not just possibly electing George: he brings with him a passel of village idiots from all over the country. Does anyone want to keep this one in Washington?

[. . .]

More on the OK race from Kos.

The American Conservative Is Endorsing WHO?

The American Conservative, a magazine for "traditional" conservatives and the employer of Pat "Genghis Khan Was A Liberal" Buchanan, will endorse John Kerry for President in the November 8 issue. Here is a sneak peek:

George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism. His international policies have been based on the hopelessly naïve belief that foreign peoples are eager to be liberated by American armies—a notion more grounded in Leon Trotsky’s concept of global revolution than any sort of conservative statecraft. His immigration policies—temporarily put on hold while he runs for re-election—are just as extreme. A re-elected President Bush would be committed to bringing in millions of low-wage immigrants to do jobs Americans “won’t do.” This election is all about George W. Bush, and those issues are enough to render him unworthy of any conservative support

To read the whole article by Scott McConnell go here.

Will wonders never cease? Besides calling Bush a Commie Rat Bastard, I mean.I understand why they are pissed at Bush, but I am, for once, rendered speechless. (Wild cheering in the background. Yes, dear.)

Gazette-Urinal Rolls Dice* For Kerry

The Reno Gazette-Journal, a newspaper oft scorned for its pro-casino-owner positions came out on Saturday for Big John.

That conflict manifests itself in the Gazette-Journal’s Editorial Board, which found itself split on the choice for president. The choice came down to which candidate best represented the values that Americans hold most dear: compassion for the have-nots and those who feel they have been left out, a dedication to the principles set forth in the Bill of Rights, and a commitment to open government as well as free and open debate. That candidate is Sen. John Kerry.

That the administration of George W. Bush largely has been a failure is difficult to deny.

As to Kerry’s leadership abilities and honesty, Northern Nevadans should take the word of Sen. Harry Reid. Nevadans have entrusted Reid with their state’s position on the national stage for 18 years. He has known Kerry for 20 years and has seen him in action close up. When Kerry says that he will not allow Yucca Mountain to be used as a nuclear waste repository, Reid says that Nevadans can believe him. And when Reid says that Kerry is a superb leader who will make this nation proud again, Nevadans can believe him.

Thanks for doing the right thing, RGJ.

*The RGJ has 'come out' for Kerry. The first roll in craps is the 'come-out' roll. Reference is to legal gaming in Nevada for our many readers in convents.

WaPo For Kerry

Below is the last paragraph of a long editorial, well worth reading, in today's WaPo:

We do not view a vote for Mr. Kerry as a vote without risks. But the risks on the other side are well known, and the strengths Mr. Kerry brings are considerable. He pledges both to fight in Iraq and to reach out to allies; to hunt down terrorists, and to engage without arrogance the Islamic world. These are the right goals, and we think Mr. Kerry is the better bet to achieve them.

Hear, hear.

Master Blaster Award Denied

This article from today's Washington Post:

Army Badge Of Honor Now In Contention
Award Denied to GIs Retrained for Infantry

The Army retrained thousands of soldiers -- tankers, engineers, artillerymen -- to perform as infantry in Iraq's urban hot spots. But part of the fallout is an intense internal debate over who qualifies for the Combat Infantryman Badge, or CIB, and, more broadly, what constitutes an infantryman in a rapidly changing Army.

"There isn't anything that equals the Combat Infantryman's Badge," said retired Army Col. John M. Collins, a military historian. "That is the prize on top of the prize. It says, 'I did it. I was there and I came back.' " Only soldiers whose formal "occupational specialty" is infantry are eligible for the award "regardless of the circumstances," the requirements state.

Morning said he regrets that not only Brown but the entire company is ineligible for the badge. "In my opinion, my soldiers have earned it as much as anyone else in the theater," he said. "A lot of guys aren't going to admit it, but it would mean a lot to them. It shows that they fought as infantrymen, on the ground."

Brown himself is philosophical, but he said the criteria make little sense. "The excuses they're using aren't really legitimate excuses," he said. "This is my second deployment and I haven't been in a tank yet."

The Army has so much decoration on its uniforms that I certainly can't tell what all the stuff is, and they all look kinda like South American generals to me, but even I know a Combat Infantryman (aka Master Blaster) Badge when I see it. It means the guy has been shot at, up close and personal, and maybe even shot back. It's prestigious.

Look, if it walks like a duck.....as far as I am concerned if a guy is on an infantry mission with a rifle in his hands, walking on his own two feet, and with only his shirt for protection from enemy bullets, he's an infantryman, period, and should get the pretty little blue ribbon that "real" infantryman get.

My Marine Corps eliminated the extra expense of this kind of award and unit designation patches decades ago, the cheap bastards. They feel that every Marine is a rifleman FIRST and that the shared pride of being a Marine comes before public display of unit differences.It's a lot smaller outfit than the Army and they're probably right.

Besides, whatever outfit you're in is better than any of those other rag-tag mobs of uniformed civilians and diddy-boppers that call themselves Marines but are just stealing the money, right?

Marines keep their weapons clean because they know they may very likely be called upon to use them, and ad hoc, cobbled-together outfits made up of clerks, cooks, mechanics, etc., have turned the tide in many a fight.

The Marine Corps and Navy have a ribbon called the "Combat Action Ribbon". It makes sense. You get it for being in an active combat zone if you come under fire, even if your only action was to grab the company diary and dive into the shitter to protect it. I think that's the right approach. Every man stands the same chance of getting blown away as anyone else.

In the overall scheme of the Iraq mission, the CIB flap is small potatoes, but in politics it would be called a "wedge issue": it has the potential to divide one group from another instead of promoting unity in the ranks. Gee, that sounds familiar. I hope they come to some equitable solution.