It's not the same.

Guess who:

...

Republicans have to cling to moral equivalency, and hope that Pussy Dad shows up, because comparing Harry Reid and William Jefferson to, let's say, Tom DeLay and Duke Cunningham, with Bob Ney and others pulling up the rear, is like saying that unsolicitedly squeezing a nice ass in a bar is the same thing as engineering and participating in the gang rape of abducted illegal immigrant children. It's like saying a shoulder punch is the same as getting kicked in the nuts repeatedly. It's like saying that a paper cut is the same thing as a sliced jugular. It's like saying that X equals Y, even if X is a flea and Y is, well, an elephant. At worst, Reid had an ethical fart. At worst, Jefferson is a greedy motherfucker acting alone. Remember: they're not even part of the majority in Congress. DeLay and Cunningham represent a systemic sickness, a malignant tumor of graft and power madness that revealed itself in bill after bill, vote after vote.

...

...and he speaks better English than Bush, too!

Philly.com

Donna Santiago, an unemployed single mother from the Kensington section of Philadelphia, never thought much about Venezuela before January, when she received a load of discounted heating oil courtesy of the South American nation.

Santiago was so ecstatic - her family was among a lucky 181,000 low-income households in the Northeast that received 40 million gallons of discounted oil - she told the program organizers she wanted to thank Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez personally.

Much to her surprise, she got her wish.

Last month, Santiago and her two daughters - none of whom had ever traveled abroad before - were flown to Caracas with about 60 other heating-oil beneficiaries at Venezuela's expense. After a two-day whirlwind tour of Chavez's accomplishments, the American visitors got an audience with the charismatic president himself.

"All I had heard about Chavez was that he was a dictator," Santiago, 38, said after returning to Philadelphia. "The man is far from that. He's a really warm person. I wanted to bring him home and stick him in the White House."

Oh, Si! It would be a big improvement over what we're stuck with now.

G.W.O.T.

This Modern World

Still Fighting The Good Fight

Steve Young tells of his recent visit to Jewish War Veterans Post 697 in Levittown, PA, to see what the old codgers were up to.

Know what these old coots were up to? For one, anything that has to do with veterans affairs, from writing letters to get more aid for those brothers and sister veterans who will never get out of the hospital to picking up the utensils and feeding those who no longer can manage for themselves. And it's not like they take the easy route.

But hospital visits are just a small part of what the veterans groups stand for. Nationwide, on a daily basis, they continue their battles on the front lines helping their communities; collecting food, clothing, bottle caps and anything else that they might bring hope to those in need. Whether caring for elderly veterans or cradling sick infants, they are on hand helping out at the hospitals and retirement homes. They are at the blood banks, working with the mentally ill, placing flags at the graves of our fallen heros, supporting the Holocaust exhibits, lobbying our lawmakers to not forget those who sacrificed for our freedoms, telling their stories at schools, always available to do whatever needs to be done for those who may not be able to do for themselves, showing that you never need stop being of service, even when you're out of the service.

And while this particular story is about a particular Jewish War Veterans post, the same story applies to all veterans groups; the American Legion, Veteran of Foreign Wars, AmVets and so many others, no matter what war, no matter what belief, no matter actual veteran or auxiliary.

As Abraham Lincoln once said..."To Care for Him who Shall Have Borne the Battle, and for his Widow and his Orphan..." To that I might add, "lest we forget their true worth."

I'm a member of the VFW, the American Legion, and the Marine Corps League. I don't always agree with the leadership on politics, but it never comes up locally. The point is to do something for other Vets and for the community if they'll let you. (That reference is to an ongoing fight with our county to let our VFW post repaint the flagpole at the Vets Building here in town. Bureaucracy = Molasses in January.)

When I was at the VA hospital in Prescott, AZ, the Vet's groups for hundreds of miles around came there to volunteer for all kinds of things, from bedpans to Bingo, to help their fellow Vets. It made a big difference in the quality of life for everyone.

My fellow Vets, if you're not a member of a Vets group, please consider joining one. Screw the rightward lean of a lot of them: it's about service. The old wingnuts can always slip on the ice when you're helping them to their car. Heh.

My personal motto is: "Not so lean, not so mean, but still a Marine."

Still tryin' to fight for what I believe, in whatever way I can.

But Why'd They Make It Look Like A Kennedy?

Go see the Anatomy of a Republican.

I'm really sorry...

...for this, but when I saw this headline in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Bush lands in same hole as dad

All I could think was "He really is a motherfucker!"

A little lightness...

Since it seems all of us here are pissed off this weekend, and rightly so. Princess Shayna got a far too infrequent bath this afternoon.



"Dad, I hate being wet! And I hate that camera too."

Burn that yellow ribbon...

RJ's hot today. Hot under the collar, too, like a lot of us at the way our troops are treated by those who put them in harm's way. This is my Memorial Day "must read" recommendation.

Flags are at half-mast, fluttering in the breeze. The smell of barbecue clings to summer dresses in a suburban yard. Somewhere, "Taps" is sounding over crumbling tombstones laced with flowers. And in the whitewashed halls of Washington, Republicans and their "Christian" clerical allies aren't giving a second thought to the young soldiers' lives they destroy every day. To them, our troops are tools to be used and discarded.

Here's my advice to the lady in that SUV over there, the one with the flag on the antenna: Burn your yellow-ribbon decal.

To this crowd, soldiers are puppets and props. Send 'em to the Mexican border for a photo op, stand 'em next to the President with a papier-mache turkey, send 'em out to die for a war that's going to boost our poll ratings. Who cares? They don't belong to our country club, anyway.

That's why I suggest you burn that yellow-ribbon decal, if you have one. It may say "Support Our Troops" in black ink, but what it's really saying is "I've been manipulated by politicians and cynical preachers into supporting an Administration that mistreats our veterans, disrespects our soldiers, and sacrifices them both on a whim."

This Memorial Day, you can truly honor our fallen heroes - by fighting for their comrades who are still among us.

Like Nina said in an earlier post - fight like Hell for the living.

They, too, did not serve....

DarkSyde at Kos on what Memorial Day really means to some. Angry, and right on the money.

[...]To avoid staining our national day of mourning, I felt it more appropriate to dedicate this post at this time to a very different kind of American. They may be clueless neocons, erroneous White House talking heads, or smear artists and their self-appointed town criers. But what they all have in common is that each one bravely ducked when called and later took part directly or indirectly in assaulting the reputation of those who stood in harm's way. They are known, affectionately, as Chicken-hawks:

* President George W. Bush - served four years of a six years Nat'l Guard commitment, some say after daddy's friends pulled some strings to keep him out of Vietnam. The circumstances of his early separation from state-side service are still controversial (details)
* Karl Rove, occasional Deputy Chief of Staff and alleged full time smear artist, escaped the draft and did not serve
* VP Dick Cheney - several deferments, by marriage and timely fatherhood
* Former VP Chief of Staff I. Lewis Scooter Libby - did not serve
* Secretary of State and former NSA Condaleeza Rice - did not serve
* Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve.
* Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - did not serve.
* Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - did not serve
* House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
* Majority Whip Mitch McConnell - did not serve
* Rick Santorum, third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve.
* Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott - did not serve

Recently while stammering out a convoluted apology for avoiding service, one budding Yellow Elephant mentioned in part that he 'can support the Yankees without wearing their uniform.' Not too far off: Your average Chicken-hawk does not play for the Yankees because they lack the physical skill required to walk out on that field and compete; likewise, maybe they do not serve in Iraq because they lack the simple courage required to walk into a recruiting office and sign up. But how about his role models?

* Rush Limbaugh - did not serve
* Sean Hannity - did not serve
* Pat Buchanan - did not serve
* Ann Coulter - did not serve
* Ralph Reed - did not serve
* Bill O'Reilly - did not serve
* Michael Savage - did not serve
* Bill Kristol - did not serve

The 101st Fighting Chicken-shit Keyboardists and assorted neocon shills may be conspicuously absent when their country is in need, but they're always at the ready to order other people's sons and daughters into the meat grinder. They sure seem to pop up on the Quad when the battle is over and the band is a'playin. And they're always on duty, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to smear any survivors with vicious accusations of cowardice or worse when Neoconia calls. Just a couple of examples of their bipartisan handiwork include smearing Democrat Max Cleland, triple amputee, awarded both the Silver and Bronze Stars for valorous action in combat. The same treatment was shown to Republican John McCain who won the Silver & Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross and spent over five years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton.

I reserve tomorrow for those who served with honor. But today, I recognize the puppet masters and their fleshy mannequins, who will shortly swagger over sacred graves, bravely intercept the standing ovation intended for the dead, and unflinchingly bask in the goodwill directed at the lost. They have all but sworn under oath to stay their deadly course, brook no change, and justify every new body bag as giving meaning to the coffin that came before it; an endless procession cleverly contrived to evade responsibility, to forever postpone their day of accountability, the future fallen be damned.

I fear the Chicken-hawks will continue to enlist the dead and maimed in their grotesque media pageants, to cover their blunders and attack any opponent, every week, every month, and yes, even every Memorial Day, ad infinitum. Until We the People finally put an end to this gruesome nightmare.

Go read the rest. I have nothing to add.

Headlines

Ironic Times

Bush Compares Present Era to Cold War
Except this time we're the Soviet Union.

Prime Minister Says Iraq's Troops Almost Ready to Do Battle
With U.S. troops.

Once-United GOP Beginning to Fracture (see chart below)(Go see the chart - G)

Bush Dismisses Gore's Global Warming Movie as Mere Speculation
Will instead see The Da Vinci Code.

Fiddle Goes for $3.54 Million
Washboard, jug thrown in to close deal.

Memorial Day

In Memorium

The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses.
(Who has not heard them?)....

They say,
We were young. We have died. Remember us.

They say,
We have done what we could
But until it is finished it is not done.

They say,
We have given our lives
But until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.

They say,
Our deaths are not ours,
They are yours,
They will mean what you make them.

They say,
Whether our lives, and our deaths were for peace and a new hope
Or for nothing
We cannot say.
It is you who must say this.

They say,
We leave you our deaths,
Give them their meaning.

Archibald McLeish

So let's pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living, as Mother (Jones) would say.

That's some toe-tappin' stuff, you betcha!

Our pal RJ Eskow gets down wit' the "top 50 conservative rock songs of all time" at the HuffPo.

Many of their selections are laughable for their inability to know irony when they see it. Some are inexplicable ("Wake Up Little Susie"? Huh?) Others confuse a singer's bowing to society's conformist pressure with an endorsement of that pressure (see "Wouldn't It Be Nice" -- by their logic, why not include "Society's Child" by Janis Ian?)

Maybe the National Review will be coming up with a list of "Top 50 Conservative Hip-Hop Songs" soon. That's one I'd like to see, given the Right's inclination toward easy money, bling, infidelity, theft, gas-guzzling cars, and shooting people in the face.

Until then, conservatives, keep on rockin'. I can't wait to see Scalia and the rest of the gang gettin' down. Pass the Dutchie, somebody!

I'm guessin' "Dutchie" is some kind of herbal remedy - a laxative maybe?

"Conservative rock" is like "conservative comedy" - a non-existent oxymoron.

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.