Too little, too late...

Why I don't like John Kerry:

john kerry, apparently waking up from a two-year coma, has called the swift-boat veterans liars and wants to set the record straight, now that it doesn't matter to anyone except him.

...

You had your chance in '04, John. Go back to Boston and shut the fuck up.

Quote of the Day

From Atrios:

The willingness to send others off to die for a misguided war because you wet your pants after 9/11 is called "cowardice" not courage.

No boom?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's plan for a massive detonation of conventional high explosives in Nevada to test the effectiveness of weapons against deeply buried targets has been postponed indefinitely, officials said on Thursday.

...

No boom.

Great thanks to Xan for the link.

That's Comforting...

From BBC News

Speaking to cadets at West Point military academy in New York state, Mr Bush said the US would not rest until the threat of terror had been removed.

The 861 new graduates must fight a war against terror that knew no boundaries, the president told them.

"The war began on my watch but it's going to end on your watch," he said.

Boy, that's a relief! The new officers are mostly about 22 years of age. They have to retire from the Army at 62.

"Dope"-sniffing dog does its job

This image is dedicated to Fixer and Gordon, two of my fave veterans and dog whisperers. And it's dedicated to "the pups" and Princess Shayna, all of whom would no doubt conduct themselves with equal dignity, honour and pride when facing the Master of Murdering Meanace, George W Bush. I wonder if Our Fearless Leader felt as terrified and humiliated, at least for a moment (I hope he flinched), as the prisoners in Abu Ghraib were when unmuzzled dogs were used during the "interrogations" in which such useful intelligence to stop the insurgency was supposed to have been gathered. And I can't let this post end without mentioning Tony Blair.

[I did a little editing of the HTML so it fit better on the page. - Fixer]

In Memoriam

Dear Comcast,

You suck.Big giant rabid wolverine penises.

I pay you WAY too much money every month.For what?Let's see...

Last night was a Saturday night,and what do I find?

TEN channels,yes ,TEN channels with stories of murdered white women.One of the ten switched over to a story about a murdered banker in Italy from the 80's.

Or,I could have watched reruns on the major networks.Or more stories of murdered and raped women.

Since it's Memorial Day Weekend,on the science and history channels it's all war all the time.I'd like to hope this country has more history to offer than war and it's machinery,but hey,I'm just a girl,what do I know?

Oh and enough of this fucking"It's Comcastic!"advertising.Jesus Christ on a plate of noodles,what brain trust did you hire to come up with THAT? If anything,it makes me want to pick up the phone and cancel my service.

I know,I know,you don't decide what programs are on a particular channel.I get that.Dish Network,Direct TV, and other cable companies are no different than Comcast,you aren't special or"comcastic".But for the lousy 100 bucks a month I pay you people just to even HAVE TV reception,the least you could do is use your clout to pressure the TV industry to provide something of substance and interest.

If it weren't for my husband and his tech weenie self,I'd throw all your equipment,along with our home theater system out in my driveway and back over it repeatedly with my car.After which I'd set the whole mess on fire.

I'm going to go read a book now.

Sincerely,
A Disgruntled Customer(and maybe not a customer for much longer)

I don't give a fuck

About Brad and Angelina's baby. Our President and his henchmen are fucking this country to hell and the big news is the fact two shallow, morally-challenged, IQ-deficient actors figured out how to procreate? Give me a fucking break.

My Lai '06

I'm saddened and appalled that some of my Marines stand accused of murdering civilians. I also know how close to the edge they've been living. It's one small step over the line. A quote from Vietnam came to mind. Words to the effect, anyway:

"The most brutal person in the world is a 19-year-old American with a gun who has just seen his buddy blown to hell by an unseen enemy."

Maureen Dowd says it better than I ever could:

The investigation indicates that members of the Third Battalion, First Marines, lost it after one of their men was killed by a roadside bomb, going on a vengeful killing spree over about five hours, shooting five men who had been riding in a taxi and mowing down the residents of two nearby houses.

They blew off the Geneva Conventions, following the lead of the president's lawyer.

It was inevitable. Marines are trained to take the hill and destroy the enemy. It is not their forte to be policemen while battling a ghostly foe, suicide bombers, ever more ingenious explosive devices, insurgents embedded among civilians, and rifle blasts fired from behind closed doors and minarets. They don't know who the enemy is. Is it a pregnant woman? A child? An Iraqi policeman? They don't know how to win, or what a win would entail.

Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste, one of those who called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, told Chris Matthews that blame for Haditha and Abu Ghraib lay with "the incredible strain bad decisions and bad judgment is putting on our incredible military."

By ignoring predictions of an insurgency and refusing to do homework before charging into Iraq on trumped-up pretenses, W. left our troops undermanned, inadequately armored and psychologically unprepared.

There's no excuse for what these Marines are accused of doing, but I understand what happened. PTSD doesn't have to take years to occur. For these Marines, it's never going to end, either.

Thanks to Rozius.

It made me feel like I'm actually doing something...

Sometimes this bloggin' shit really pays off. Please go read the Comment at this post.

Roll 'em!

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.

...

Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes marijuana is potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects appear to be of less concern than previously thought.

Earlier work established that marijuana does contain cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, he said. However, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous.

...

Q: F-man, what are you doing?

A: Killing aging cells. (cough, cough)

Link via Jersey Cynic.

Wrong Way Bush

Larry Johnson

It is becoming increasingly clear that when it comes to Iraq, President George W. Bush is the Wrong Way Riegels of the 21st Century. Wrong Way Riegels was a football player who became infamous for running the wrong way and scoring a safety for the opposing team. During the 1929 Rose Bowl game between Georgia Tech and California, Riegels, the center of the California Bears, grabbed a fumble, was hit and spun around, and proceeded to run 64 yards to the wrong end zone. Riegels' mistake gave the championship to Georgia Tech.

Like Riegels, George Bush is an amiable, enthusiastic player. Unlike Riegels, however, Bush's actions have weakened the military, damaged our nation's prestige, and unleashed forces in the Middle East that pose long term threats to the United States. Let's face it: Bush has scored a touchdown for Iran, our nemesis.

Memorial Day 2004 was commemorated when almost 1100 American soldiers and sailors had died in Iraq. Two years later, the number is rapidly approaching 2600. It is time for the president and Congress to get serious about how long we will continue to sacrifice our young men and women in a cause that will ultimately strengthen Iran's control of critical Middle East oil reserves. That, in my view, is not a policy worth dying for.

I quote something a Veteran of my acquaintance said a couple of years ago that holds true:

Yes, I am one pissed off motherfucker this Memorial Day. 800 of my brothers and sisters are dead, close to 5000 wounded, for NOTHING. They say Bush went to war to avenge his daddy. Well, I want vengeance for our honored dead this past year. Getting Bush out in November is not good enough. I want him in jail.

Rest in peace, my young Vet brothers. We'll get him. Somehow, some way, some day, the bastard is going to pay for throwing your lives away for a lie.

Memorial Day

[I wrote this 2 years ago and I reposted it last year too. Still works.]

You're probably saying to yourself. "Boy, the old Fixer-man is a bigger idiot than usual, bitching about this Memorial Day thing, and Americans forgetting what this weekend is all about."

You know why? Because I dodged bullets for four years in Asia, drug interdiction in South America, and killing a few Cuban Communists in Grenada. I've lost friends over the years, guys (and gals, you politically-correct busybodies) who had the same things to live for that I did, families, hopes and dreams to make something of themselves and a better life for their kids. In short, I hate war.

I am a child of war, but call me the silver lining in the dark cloud of World War II. My mom was a German Army nurse during that war, and my dad was a British paratrooper. They met in Jamaica, Queens in 1953, after dad came back from the Korean Conflict. Yes, the poor bastard moved to the U.S. after WWII and was promptly drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. They met and married and gave birth to one child, yours truly. In my family, on both sides, going back five hundred years, military service was understood.

I had to be coaxed, at age 17, to enlist (It was either enlist or serve 6 months on a Grand Theft Auto charge). And I'm grateful that my dad convinced the judge to give me a chance to redeem myself. I served eight years total (6 regular AF, 2 active reserve), and I'm proud of the part I played in protecting the country. I'd go again if they'd take this broken down old carcass, and there are many who would also go to protect this country without question. Old bastards like me who love America and would gladly lay down our lives to protect what we have. There are many like me, a couple million of them serving on active duty right now.

They go, without question, to where our leaders send them. They lay their lives on the line every day to do what our leaders say is a noble job. They will do it again and again because they made the commitment, officers and enlisted, generals to privates, they all made their commitments to the noble ideals of the United States of America. It is our leaders' responsiblity to assure the correctness of their sacrifice. People with such commitment do not deserve to have their lives wasted by those who have never looked into the business end of an enemy rifle. Unfortunately, I feel the lives of our boys and girls are being wasted in Iraq, and that pisses me off.

We have a bunch of guys in Washington who've never served in the military. Yes, I include President No Nuts because the only reason he went into the Guard was that there was no other way out. To these guys, the lives of our military personnel are just numbers on a ledger sheet, not exeptionally trained, valuable resources who should not be squandered in pursuit of imperialistic dreams.

Solders hate war. Anybody who enjoys killing, even in wartime, is a psychopath, period. Ask any general if he wants to put his people in harm's way. he'll tell you that a reality of war is that he has to, but he doesn't want to, and he doesn't want to do it frivolously. The glib frivoloity with which the Bush Administration went to war in Iraq is criminal, and the lack of planning for the aftermath is treasonous. I'm sorry, to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have perished in Iraq, to the families who will have an empty chair at future holiday gatherings, to all those who have suffered because of this fiasco, but 800 lives have been lost for NOTHING. You have not sacrificed your lives to protect this great nation and the Constitution, you were murdered by people who only see your lives as a means to an end. Hopefully, some time soon, they will be forced to pay.

Yes, I am one pissed off motherfucker this Memorial Day. 800 of my brothers and sisters are dead, close to 5000 wounded, for NOTHING. They say Bush went to war to avenge his daddy. Well, I want vengeance for our honored dead this past year. Getting Bush out in November is not good enough. I want him in jail.

[If you would have told me, 2 years ago, that I'd be able to post this for the third time, I'd have told you the American people can't be stupid enough to reelect the Chimp. I want a Democratic majority in November. I don't want to repost this next year.]

Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

But mom, I want to see what the neighbor is doing.

Runnin' around like a chicken with its head cut off...

Light-to-zilch blogging today. Mrs. G has to karmically pay for her birthday bash with a regularly scheduled dental appointment in Reno. It's been rescheduled once, cancelled as of yesterday, and suddenly back on today. I have to make an errand and shopping list, etc., in the spirit of conservation (read: $3.00+ gas) so we can combine things to make just one trip instead of also going on our normal shopping trip tomorrow.

I'll just leave you with a short reading list. There may be a quiz! Oh, what's the use? You all pass!

Paul Krugman on Al Gore's movie and the potential test of our national character that it may help pose.

Thanks, Tennessee Guerilla Women.

Robert Parry fingers the unindicted co-conspirator in the Enron case. You'll never guess who it is!


William Rivers Pitt on impeachment and how the Republicans are using it to try and not lose the November elections. Don't miss this one!

What's left? Vote for us, or else we'll be held accountable! That's just funny.

See ya later.

Morning question

So, now that the Chimp's biggest campaign contributor, and a member of Dick Cheney's secretive Energy Task Force, is a convicted felon, do you think anyone (Congress, the press) will demand accountabilty from the White House? Do you think someone will demand to know if the rape of California, during it's energy crisis that brought down a governor, was planned and orchestrated in the office of the Vice President?

Damn right

I want all these politically active TV preachers to have their tax exemptions revoked.

Mrs. G's B'Day - and Free Food too!

Today is my lovely young bride's birthday. To make it complete, we're going out to dinner at our town's finest restaurant, O.B.'s Pub, and to make it perfect, we're going courtesy of Chris and Phoebe at Truckee Realty.

They send out a quarterly newsletter telling us how things are going, real estate-wise, and they always have a coupon for a drawing to win dinner at a nice restaurant. They do this mostly to see who reads the newsletter. Since we won one of these two years ago and had Mrs. G's birthday dinner at Cottonwood, I asked Chris how many people respond. Her answer was "Oh, sometimes as many as 20". A smokin' good chance to win, if you ask me!

As far as how old Mrs. G might be, well, she ain't tellin' and I ain't askin', but she got a card from one of her co-workers today that read, "I can't remember how old you are, but your cake last year had 29 candles - on my piece!"

I hope that gal ducked!

Not Ready To Make Nice? Good For Them!

Since we're at Time anyway, go read the cover story about The Dixie Chicks.

Shorter:

Natalie Maines is one of those people born middle finger first.

Stick it waaay high in the air, Honey. And wave it.

Keep Gitmo Open

Time has a real good article by a reporter who spent a week with the Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, in Ramadi, Iraq. These are "my" Marines, cuz I was in 3/8 for a coupla years in the '60s.

A real good look at a day in the life of a rifle squad, but the last few paragraphs really tell the story of the bigger picture.

So why does Ramadi remain beyond the U.S.'s control? Part of the problem, many officers say, is that the troops' authority to act is constrained by politics. Soldiers cannot lock up suspected insurgents without first getting an arrest warrant and a sworn statement from two witnesses. And those who are convicted often receive jail sentences that are shorter than a grunt's tour of Iraq. "We keep seeing guys we arrested coming back out, and things get worse again," says an intelligence officer.

The bigger problem, though, is one that few in the military command want to hear: there aren't enough troops to do the job. "There's a realization, as every military commander knows, that you cannot be strong everywhere," says Gronski of Ramadi. "In the outlying areas, we think in terms of an economy of force where we are willing to accept risk by not placing as many troops." But while Gronski says his fighting strength is "appropriate," other commanders bristle at the limitations. "I can't believe it each time the Secretary of Defense talks about reducing force," says a senior U.S. officer. War planners in Iraq say just getting a handle on Ramadi demands three times as many soldiers as are there now. Several U.S. commanders say they won't ask superiors for more troops or plan large-scale operations because doing so would expose problems in the U.S.'s strategy that no one wants to acknowledge. "It's what I call the Big Lie," a high-ranking U.S. commander told TIME.

There it is: the Big Lie.

Bush starts an illegal unnecessary war by lying, Rumsfeld then goes against the advice of his military advisers and turns a bad plan into a worse plan by not sending enough troops to commit the original crime. The American public has started to see through all the smoke and wants Bush's War over with because it's a)wrong to begin with and, b)failing, so Bush is trying to spread the message that everything's going just peachy and maybe, just maybe, the troop level can be drawn down by -oh, I don't know- election day. He dare not admit the whole deal was a clusterfuck from the get-go, so he can't send enough troops to do the job like he should have in the first place. Illegal war, bad planning, failure, shine it on, admit no mistakes, lie some more.

Meanwhile, young Americans are being hung out to dry, and die, for Bush's, Cheney's, Rumsfeld's and others' image of themselves, not to mention their crimes and incompetence.

Keep Gitmo open - for them.