Tucker to Evangelicals: Chumps

It looks like Repuglican operative and pusillanimous puke Tucker "The Twit" Carlson finally got something right. From Atrios:

Here's what Tucker Carlson had to say on this weekend's Chris Matthews Show:

CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power. Everybody in...

MATTHEWS: How do you know that? How do you know that?

CARLSON: Because I know them. Because I grew up with them. Because I live with them. They live on my street. Because I live in Washington, and I know that everybody in our world has contempt for the evangelicals. And the evangelicals know that, and they're beginning to learn that their own leaders sort of look askance at them and don't share their values.

MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?

CARLSON: That's exactly right. It's pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out.

It doesn't matter that us Realists have known this for a long time. When the reg'lar fundies (as opposed to the political christofascists, who are hopeless) figure out how bad they've been punk'd, they're gonna get really pissed off. It's about time.

When somebody like Carlson says it out loud, it must in fact be happening and obvious to the most casual observer. Good. Even good Christians don't like being taken for useful idiots, particularly by the Devil.

Video.

The Sandbox

There's a new Doonesbury milblog called The Sandbox at Slate. It's for posts from troops and family members. The motto is "GWOT Hot Wash, Straight From The Wire". Many links to other milblogs. Here's some examples:

Combat Doc

Most soldiers I talk to fall into one of three groups. First are the die-hard supporters. Guys who claim to "hate the Hajj" but really only do so because they think it's their job to. This is about 10%. Second are the anti-war, Bush-is-full-of-shit, no-war-for-oil crowd. These guys see no good at all even if they were part of it. This is about another 10 or so percent. The rest are guys who do their job and seem to be the most confused. The right is saying "Yay Bush!" but they see holes in the story. The left is screaming "Bring our soldiers home!", while some wear shirts saying "Germans Supported Their Troops Too" and claim to speak for a relatively conservative military. Don't worry guys, there's no draft coming. College campuses and wanna-be hippies take note.

It seems each side is claiming to speak for the soldiers, but the press interviews and CNN stories are only pulling out the bits they want to publish to get their message across. Whatever that message is, Joe isn't getting his out.

...

In the end Joe isn't being heard by the pro's or the anti's. There is good and bad going on there, but the only one who will tell you the truth is the shooter who handed out bread to the children and lead to the Hajj.

The 'truth' has nothing to do with what the pols and the media want out of you guys, Doc, but there are some of us who are listening.

Doc in the Box

After three trips out here you start to notice trends -- what works, and the people who make a difference. There's always someone who goes beyond what is expected of them, doing things that aren't asked, and has that shining moment when they're so pissed or some subject irks them so much that they just have to fix it.

...

It's not the people who do well on their day jobs who make the mark that everyone remembers, it's those cranky old men who get pissed off by the status quo and do something about it. [...]

Speaking as the poster child for Cranky Old Men, thanks fer noticin', Doc.

Much, much more. The links to the other blogs are the best part, IMNSHO. Go see what these folks are thinkin'.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman: Iraq War "Drifting Sideways"
On a narrow mountain road with a drunk at the wheel.

CONDI VISITS IRAQ, WARNS LEADERS THEY HAVE LIMITED TIME TO STEM VIOLENCE
Specifically, until November 7.

Military Spending Bill Allocates $20 Million for Post-War Victory Party
Featuring insurgents' favorite food, entertainment.

There's more where those came from.

I hope they're talkini' about fishing...

Go see this pic of Bush and Foley. Heh.

Update:

Same picture, good commentary at Night Light.

What's the best defense they've come up with so far? "Hey, we've been letting our guy molest these kids for years! Why bring it up now? Must be political."

PRopaganda and the media who love it

Billmon, writing about the Republicans trying to blame the Democrats for the Foley scandal, unearthed this line that may be indicative of the Repugs' overall PR strategy for everything:

"Despite the best that has been done by everyone . . . the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage."

Emperor Hirohito
Radio Broadcast Announcing Japan's Surrender
August 15, 1945

I love it!

Billmon continues on the unconscionable complicity of the media:

If the latest Newsweek poll is even half way close to accurate, then the Republicans have stalled in roughly the same manner that the Hindenberg "stalled".

This may seem a trivial matter, given all the other lies, big and small, that have come rattling down the propaganda assembly line over the past six years. Foley himself is just a sideshow geek compared to the three-ring circus that gave us the war in Iraq. But if there's been a more brazen attempt to rewrite history -- last week's history! -- I can't remember it.

True, the Rovians are desperate, but this clearly reflects their belief that they can say anything, any fucking thing at all, and not be called on it by the corporate media, at least not in any kind of time frame that matters. And as far as I can tell, they're right -- they haven't been called on it, except by Think Progress and the wild-eyed bloggers and the other tattered remnants of the left opposition.

I know, I know: So what else is new? But I've enough journalist left in me to still be astonished at how deeply and sincerely so many in my old profession has learned to love Big Brother. And they didn't even have to have cages filled with carnivorous rats strapped to their heads.

Cages strapped to their heads with little non-carnivorous Rove-faced rats reminding them of who's got the reins, maybe.

It's time to call it quits...

Fareed Zakaria on Iraq:

It is time to call an end to the tests, the six-month trials, the waiting and watching, and to recognize that the Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to face the terrible reality that America's mission in Iraq has substantially failed.

More waiting is unlikely to turn things around, nor will more troops.....Nor will new American policies help. The reason that the Democrats seem to lack good, concrete suggestions on Iraq is that the Bush administration has actually been pursuing more-sensible policies for more than a year now, trying vainly to reverse many of its errors. But what might well have worked in 2003 is too little, too late in 2006.

Kevin Drum on Fareed Zakaria:

This is a big deal. It's one thing to express retrospective misgivings about Iraq (as Peter Beinart has done) or to criticize the conduct of the war (as Tom Friedman has done), but it's quite another to finally admit that there's little more we can do and that we should come home. That's a difficult public step for someone who's a charter member of the conservative establishment, a man who supported the war and has been vocal ever since about the importance of getting Iraq right.

It's also nice to see Zakaria acknowledge the fact that it's understandable that Democrats don't have much of a positive agenda for Iraq. It's arguable whether the Iraq experiment could have worked under any circumstances, but it's undeniable that after three years of miscues there simply aren't any credible options left. You can't criticize Democrats for being unable to solve a problem that's no longer solvable.

Zakaria is a smart guy, but he's also a person who's good at putting his finger to the wind - and then getting credit for leading the way when he anticipates an imminent shift. That may be what's happening here. Sometimes all it takes is for one person to say something publicly in order to get everyone else to finally admit their own unspoken doubts. This may be the column that breaks the dam and makes withdrawal respectable among the center-right establishment.

Zakaria is hardly the first to call Bush's flawed imperialistic Iraq policy a failure, but he may be among the first mainstream journalists that actually have a voice people listen to to do so.

We can only un-fuck up what Bush has fucked up just so far. No doubt Iraqis are gonna finish fucking it up before it gets settled, but it's theirs to do.

Let's get our troops out of the way and let 'em have at it unimpeded. It'll be quicker that way, and let the chips fall where they may.

Repubs are Stump Broke

The word's out that the Repugs have hit bottom. Go see the bottom they've hit on the cover of Time. Anybody got a stack of milk crates?

White House stonewalling and the Jack Abramoff scandal

WaPo

REMEMBER WHEN President Bush promised to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office? He doesn't either, it would seem. A report by the House Government Reform Committee, based on three years of e-mails and billing records from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former law firm, detailed how Mr. Abramoff and his team billed clients for hundreds of contacts with White House officials and dispensed coveted tickets to sporting events and concerts to favored officials, including adviser Karl Rove and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, then the White House political director.

You might think a White House worried about honor and integrity would want to look more closely at Mr. Abramoff's dealings. You might think it would be concerned about whether Ms. Ralston violated the rules that prohibit administration officials from taking gifts valued at more than $20, though there is an exception for gifts based on preexisting friendships. You might think it would want to make clear that -- whether technically permitted by the rules or not -- this is unacceptable behavior from government officials.

Not this White House, which has been resolutely incurious about Mr. Abramoff's activities and equally unwilling to provide information about it -- making it impossible to know how many of the reported contacts are classic Abramoff puffery and how many real. "Nothing more will come from the report, no further fallout from the report," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Friday.

A White House even a little concerned about honor and integrity might have managed to summon up a tiny hint of criticism -- not to mention a promise to make sure its employees behave in a way that befits the term public servant. A White House with nothing to hide would release information about Mr. Abramhoff's his meetings and contacts with its officials.

Yeah, like that'll happen. This White House has so much to hide that it probably doesn't even know all the things it needs to hide so it just hides everything.

Perhaps they have a "Director Of Hiding Stuff That Could Get Us All Thrown In Jail" on the payroll at $150K of our tax money per year. Wouldn't doubt it a bit.

October Surprise

Rolling Stone

What last-minute scare tactic will the Republicans pull to swing the midterm elections? Our panel of experts predicts this fall's October Surprise.

This fall, with Bush's approval rating hovering near a historic low -- thanks largely to the disastrous war in Iraq but also not helped by a sluggish economy, high gas prices, GOP squabbling over immigration, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and a general sense that we're all kind of fucked -- Republicans seem to be relying, thus far, on their perennial tactic: spooking Americans on homeland security. Unfortunately for Bush, public skepticism regarding terror alerts has been steadily rising. "It's amazing to me how short a shelf life even the London terror plot had -- it was basically a day," notes New York Times columnist Frank Rich. "I don't think they can play that card anymore. It's the boy who cried wolf."

With the political reality so clearly running against Bush, pundits wonder: How will the Democrats manage to lose this time? The party's own incompetence is generally guarantor enough, but Karl Rove and Co. surely have something special in the works, a political bombshell designed to change the momentum of the midterm elections. We surveyed a broad range of political thinkers and asked for predictions, both serious and fanciful, of possible October Surprises by the GOP. Here are the results.

Here's just a sample:

ELI PARISER, executive director of MoveOn.org

Looking at the news this fall, I have to imagine the Republicans are hoping for some little girl to go missing. Because the JonBenet Ramsey coverage has been remarkably effective at drowning out the reality of people coming home in body bags from Iraq every day. If I were Karl Rove, I would assign the Department of Justice and the FBI to drum up more celebrity show trials. That's really their best hope: another Michael Jackson scandal.

I'm sure that due to magazine lead time, Mr. Pariser didn't know about Foleygate when he said that. The GOP has their very own Michael Jackson! Hey, the Repugs are desperate enough to try it anyway: it sure worked on them!

LARRY BEINHART, author of "American Hero," the basis of the film "Wag the Dog"

Here's what Rove is going to do: He's going to have Bush assassinated. They blow up Air Force One. Maybe shoot it down with a missile that will turn out to have been stolen from a U.S. Air Force base. They'll track it back to Afghanistan, say it got into Al Qaeda's hands that way. It solves everything. It rallies Americans around this terrorist assassination and gets rid of this loser who's embarrassing them. Dick Cheney steps grimly to the helm, declares martial law and becomes President for Life.

I wouldn't rule that one out. They only needed Bush's "good ol' boy" act to get in. They don't need him any more.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, founder of the Huffington Post

Taking a page from Nixon in '68, the Bush administration will announce it has a secret plan to end the war in Iraq. They just won't let it slip that it involves selling the entire country to Halliburton.

There's more. Go read. You don't want to miss the one by Al Franken. Cagey, ain't I?

Ponta Delgado and Horta

After never having been to the Azores before, I was quite pleasantly surprised at what we found. My first, and lasting, impression is that the Azorans (Azorites?) are a nation of craftspeople. From the sidewalks decorated with basalt and limestone (these are volcanic islands) to the tile work on the houses, they are a very creative and aesthetically aware people. Properties are separated by beautiful stone fences that parcel out the countryside.

The islands themselves also posess a natural beauty. The clouded peaks rising up from the sea where beautiful, dense forests abound. The Azoran people have also put the volcanic heritage of their islands to good use, using geothermal energy to produce power, the greatest pollution source coming from auto exhaust and cow farts. Lotsa cattle of all types abound.

On Ponta Delgado we took a tour up to one of the volcanic craters, a place called Fire Lake (yes, the Bob Seger song went through my head constantly). It was exquisite beauty, even though the weather had changed for the worse. From what I understand from the locals, the weather can change faster than in the midwest U.S., where storms blow up off the Atlantic, especially on the windward side of the islands.

A trip to a pineapple plantation was also on the itinerary and it was fascinating how they grow them in hothouses. We also got to taste pinapple liquor, which sucked wet monkey ass in my book, but the bright side was the lady of the house also makes her own table linens for sale. Mrs. F bought a bunch of those for the dining room at home.

We didn't do much in Horta but walk around and shop some more, enjoying the quaint village and beautiful churches. We both said we wouldn't mind spending a week among these people who were very warm and friendly, regardless of how they feel about our Preznit and the shitty American policy of late.

We're now cruising about a thousand miles WSW of the islands, making good speed (30 kts) for Bermuda on restless seas. A low cloud deck came over us last night after we pulled out, bringing with it 25 knot winds and 10 - 15 foot swells. Noordam is rocking (though no sweat on her part), and some of the Olde Fartes (yes! Lurch coined that phrase!) have been complaining, but I had the most restful sleep last night. Personally, I'm hoping the swells get a bit bigger before it lets off, the ride is fantastic.

I'm running low on Internet time (I'm not giving Holland America another $100; it's cost me $200 so far) so this will probably be my last post until we hit Bermuda on Thursday. We'll be home Saturday morning and then I'll be back on the line, ready to join my troops (Do I make good personnel decisions or what?) for the big push to Election Day. I'm rested and relaxed and can't wait to get back into the fight. Thanks for the wonderful comments by everyone on my vacation posts and it's been fun having you along. I'll talk to you all from Bermuda.

Oh, bartender ...

Really Good Music Alert!

On Friday night, it was my good fortune to catch Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on the season debut of the Sierra Center Stage series on PBS.

This group is great! The series says it's dedicated to 'American Roots Music', but these guys are kinda RootsJazzFusionWTFGrass with just a touch of Celtic and maybe a little Martian. They defy description, other than 'amazing'. They're all outstanding musicians. Fleck is a master banjo picker (oral history here), Victor Wooten, the bass player, is terrific, wind man Jeff Coffin can play anything you can blow air through, and the percussionist, "Futureman", who has the strangest instrument I've ever seen, as well as drums, is not to be missed!

The Sierra Center Stage series starts tomorrow night, Sunday the 8th, on many stations. Don't miss it.

Update:

Go click around the Sierra Center Stage site. There'll be twelve shows with twelve different artists, and there are musical video clips for each one. There's going to be some damn good shows!

Bush in closet, back-doors it...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in town for a fund-raiser for Sen. Rick Santorum, had a close encounter with a large group of anti-Republican protesters as he was making his way to the Duquesne Club, Downtown.

Protesters said Gov. Bush blew them a kiss, acknowledging the crowd of about 30 chanting pickets that was made up of United Steelworkers and members of Uprise Counter Recruitment, a tour traveling through 22 cities to support anti-war efforts.

I think any man who blows a kiss to steelworkers either wants to give 'em a knob job or get his ass kicked. Or both. Heh.

"We don't want you here," protesters chanted.

Port Authority spokesman Bob Grove said six or seven officers responded to the scene to control the crowds.

As a precaution, the governor was ushered into a T-station supply closet and stayed there until the crowd left. (my em)

Mr. Vandenburgh and Mr. Meieran said they later saw Mr. Bush escorted to the Duquesne Club, which he entered through a back door at about 5 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Bush said she was unaware of the incident last night and had no immediate comment.

I wouldn't have had an 'immediate comment' if that were my boss, either! It's hard to comment when you're laughin' yer ass off at him, and you don't want him to see that!

This is getting better and better! A Repuglican governor, brother of the president no less, is now reduced to hiding in a closet to avoid American citizens, and using the back door so he won't be seen.

I think 'closet' and 'back door' are especially apropos in the wake of the House scandal as well. Oh naughty me! (ROF,LAO!)

Priceless!

100 Hours

A transplant, yet a California Girl I'm kinda proud of, Nancy Pelosi lays out her agenda for the House. From AP.

Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp"* after more than a decade of Republican rule.

As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats - in her fondest wish - win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history.

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds - "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

She understandably left out one teeny detail of what else she might do...

"President Pelosi" has a nice ring to it, huh?

*There's an old adage amongst Service Managers that is universally applicable: When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's sometimes hard to remember that your main objective was to drain the swamp.

Oh for pete's sake,enough of this already...

When I was 14,a male,adult family member tried to molest me(he did not succeed.However,I believe this incident,along with other factors,helped set me up to be abused and raped later on). I never told anyone til I was an adult. I live with that guilt everyday because I know I wasn't his first or last victim. My first response surprised me,I got MAD. Which most likely prevented me from being raped. I scared the shit out of the guy,he was scared of little old 5ft nothing 100 lb me. And the bastard still had the nerve to tell me I was to blame. For wearing shorts. In 90 degree weather. In the middle of August.In a house with no central air conditioning. I looked too good for him to keep it in his pants,yes,that is precisely what he said to me. I was 14,he was in his sixties,over 6 ft tall,close to 300 lbs. Who REALLY had control here?

I was vulnerable mostly because my homelife sucked. I never got told I was loved,special,or treated as though I were precious and respected. I was raised by a mother who was herself abused,raped,beaten,locked in a closet for telling what happened to her. Abuse is transgenerational,passed on. It takes alot of work to break that cycle. Many people fail at breaking that cycle,it's not easy,there is no pill you can take,no simple program to follow.

Sexual predators have a built in radar, they are extremely adept at picking the most vulnerable among us. When it comes to those who prey on kids, they hone in on the kid's need to feel loved,accepted,doted on. This process is known as"grooming". It's a courting process,with gifts,flattery,an understanding ear,even a shoulder to cry on. This needs to be understood by more adults,that someone paying lots of attention to your child,or a neighbor's child,may not have the best of intentions. It's sad,many adults simply love kids(like me),and want to advocate for,mentor and help them. But we've come to a place in this country where you can't trust anyone until they've EARNED it. And you must watch,carefully,closely,and never ignore that little voice inside that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck when something isn't quite right.

I'm focusing on victimology here because it's really time for a wake up call in this country. Sixteen year old boys are not,I repeat NOT men. I know guys like to think they were all manly and stuff at that age,but they still were not men when they were teens. Becoming a Man(or a Woman)is a process,and in this culture,such as it is,teenagers are pushed into being adults way before they're ready for it. It might be a little different if we prepared our kids to be adults sooner,but the fact remains that we do not,and 16 yrs on this planet is not long enough of a time for that preparation. Just because a kid that age is 6ft tall and wears a size 15 shoe doesn't mean his brain contains the adult information needed to make adult decisions,let alone the emotional maturity to be cut loose if something bad happens to them. This time of life is ackward enough,and as a Mother,I'd have to argue that kids need the adults in their lives as much if not more at 16 than they did when they were 6. I'm not talking about smothering a kid with overprotective fears here,I'm saying that as a teen, you need someone to help you navigate the choppy seas of life,until you can learn and do it yourself.

The kids most vulnerable to predation are from broken homes,abusive backrounds,those who are overly indulged and overly protected(aka more naive than many of their peers),or those who live with parents who are controlling and overly restrictive(or any combo of the above). These situations leave you with a kid who craves adult approval. Sexual predators who target kids KNOW this,and it's time the rest of us knew it too.

As I've followed the Foley matter,I've noticed it's only been men coming forward to lay blame on the kids. Even Bill Maher did it on his show last night. And I could be mistaken,but all the guys who have tried blaming the kids for this madness haven't raised any kids themselves. They need to STFU and sit down and let parents and victims speak on this. And don't give me any crap about"age of consent"here either. That turd might float IF we taught our kids about the emotional components and impacts of sex and their sexuality,but we don't. If more kids understood this emotional impact early on,perhaps we'd see a bit of a drop in teen sexual activity because we'd be raising up children who can see around corners a bit more. Instead,we pass on our own shame and"dirtiness"about all matters sexual. This teaches nothing useful.

Until you've held a weeping child who gave her boyfriend a blow job because she thought that would make him love her(when instead he bragged about it to all his friends who then called her a whore),or you've been confronted with a teenager who is about to become a father or a mother many years too soon,or had a child come to you and confess to being abused,or have put years into being a good parent,or even read a fucking book about child abuse,don't run your fucking piehole on this subject and blame the kids. They didn't create this fucked up society,adults before them did.

You know what a responsible and mature adult would do when confronted with a kid who came on to them sexually? The first question ought to be this:

What happened to this child? Because it's NOT NORMAL for a kid to behave seductively,especially with an adult decades older than themselves. It's almost a guarantee that kid has been molested. And that should be your invitation to make damn sure this kid gets some help,yesterday. It means you take a deep breath,make some inquiries, and get the professionals on the case. It's not an invite to have sex you moron,it's a cry for help. An abused child will act out until someone intervenes on their behalf. Period,end of story.

Predators ALWAYS have the choice to act or not to act on their impulses. Let's not minimize that. There is NO child on this Earth that has control in a sexual situation with an adult. EVER. I don't give a flying monkey's ASS how"mature" or "precocious"a kid is, they are not the ones in control of the situation.

And let me make one last point,make it perfectly clear:

Anyone who blames the kids in a situation like this IS USING THE SAME DEFENSE THE PREDATOR USES. Got that? By doing this you are no better than the predator,you are DEFENDING what they did. And this kind of shit makes it impossible for kids in these situations to come forward and end the violence. Because that's what child predation is,an act of violence. The predator may never raise a hand to the child in anger,but the result is an attack on the very core of who that child is. No one has the right to do that to another person. Ever.

I'm dead serious about this folks. Anyone who even hints that the kid had it coming needs to be nailed to the wall immediately for using the same defense predators use. Trust me,if that happens enough,these know nothing fuckheads will keep their shitty opinions to themselves. Allowing this to take hold in the American psyche is dangerous,and it's about time to stop it dead in it's tracks.

Proud to be an American

Or, Yankee Go Home. Seen on the main drag in Horta, Azores:

The Case for Taking the Tape Off Our Mouths

Impeachment anyone? TomDispatch lays it out. As per usual, take a lunch. Today's 'must read'.

Never before has the system of government established by the U.S. Constitution been as seriously threatened; never before has the built-in remedy for the sort of threat we face been as badly needed; never before have we had as good an opportunity to use that remedy exactly as it was intended.

Every list of impeachable offenses includes tangential references to other impeachable offenses. The list seems inexhaustible, but here's a quick run-down of the main possible charges:

Eat lunch here. Even a 'quick run-down' of Bush's crimes is pretty long. Try not to get PBJ all over your mouse.

What Would It Take for Impeachment to Happen?

This part is the money shot, folks.

Believe it or not, the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is perfectly possible, although a number of factors will have to come together for it to happen. The public will is already there, and this is quite remarkable given the lack of action in Congress or mention in the mainstream media. The polling that has been done on impeachment is dramatic. The Washington Post finds that a third of the country wants Bush not just impeached but also removed from office. Zogby finds that, by a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq. When Americans were asked, "What 2 or 3 specific changes would have to take place in order to improve your trust in government today?" the winner by far was "personnel changes/impeachment proceedings." When Pennsylvanians were asked whether they would be likely to vote for a congressional candidate who "supports having impeachment proceedings against President Bush," 84.9% of Democrats said yes, while 7.0% said no. Among Independents, 49.3% said yes, while 40.6% said no.

To voters who are paying attention, the "let's hold investigations and see where they go" approach looks disingenuous, given how many impeachable offenses are already public knowledge. I've heard reports from dozens of Congressional representatives, in both parties, who refused to sign onto Conyers' bill for an investigation, and not once has anyone argued that there is too little evidence. The argument always focuses on the "extreme" nature of impeachment or the political agenda behind impeachment. As a result, the Democrats are, for the most part, steering clear even of talk of future investigations.

Quietly, however, Democrats do acknowledge that impeachment is coming (my em). [...]

Ba-Da-Bing! That's the line I've been waiting for since Bush started his criminal war on America!

Impeachment and removal, followed later by indictment and conviction, will be a long struggle. (It will, sadly, slow Congress down for a while in its work of destroying the world.) But it is needed to restore the U.S. Constitution as well as international law, and to establish a standard of accountability for the launching of aggressive wars. So, while the process may need to begin with crimes that Congress has been less complicit in, such as the use of signing statements, it must end with the offenses our world cannot well survive if they are repeated.

The first subpoena sent to the White House will be refused, of course, and the conflict will develop from that point. Democrats and any Republicans of conscience should be prepared for that and have a plan that will see us through to George Bush's removal from office for the highest of high crimes and misdemeanors.

'Refusal of a subpœna' should be followed immediately by the House equivalent of a 'bench warrant' and 'arrest'. The rest will be easy.

Hey, we can waterboard him now, it's apparently legal, but I would rather get Bush drunk or dose him with maybe 1000 mikes of squiggly and see what he says*. Video and transcript. That's just me, and I'm not nice where war criminals are concerned, particularly a domestic war criminal.

How do we get all this goodness flowing to start Bush on his inexorable trip to Federal prison?

November

*He might just curl up in a ball and cry. That'd be OK too.

Thousands nationwide protest Bush

USA Today

Hundreds of people called the Bush administration's policies a crime and held up yellow police tape along a three-block stretch in front of the White House on Thursday as part of a nationwide day of protest against the president.

The 500 demonstrators were among many who gathered for similar events in more than 200 cities to protest Bush on issues ranging from global warming to the war in Iraq.

"We are turning the corner in bringing forward a mass movement of resistance to drive out the Bush regime," said organizer Travis Morales with the activist group World Can't Wait.

Hundreds marched in Los Angeles, carrying caskets draped in U.S. flags to a federal courthouse, where protesters held a mock marriage of church and state.

n Reno, Rick Strandlof with World Can't Wait said his coalition opposes "the Bush regime's record of corruption, fear, incompetence and tyranny."

"We are at a defining moment for this country and our people," he said.

I agree, and I for one don't want to be defined by the likes of Bush. Kudos to the protesters.

November

A special comment about lying

Keith Olbermann lit into Bush big time yesterday. Transcript and video.

The president doesn't just hear what he wants.

He hears things that only he can hear.

It defies belief that this president and his administration could continue to find new unexplored political gutters into which they could wallow.

Yet they do.

Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?

Why have you chosen to go down in history as the president who made things up?

In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity to this clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.

If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.

But if we know one thing for certain about Mr. Bush, it is this: This president - in his bullying of the Senate last month and in his slandering of the Democrats this month - has shown us that he believes whoever the enemies are, they are hiding themselves inside a dangerous cloak called the Constitution of the United States of America.

And, of course, inherent in the Pentagon's war-making functions is the regulation of presidential war lust.

Enacting that regulation should include everything up to symbolically wrestling the Chief Executive to the floor.

And thus, worst of all perhaps, these newest lies by President Bush about Democrats choosing to await another attack and not listen to the conversations of terrorists.

It is the terror and the guilt within your own heart, Mr. Bush, that you redirect at others who simply wish for you to temper your certainty with counsel.

It is the failure and the incompetence within your own memory, Mr. Bush, that leads you to demonize those who might merely quote to you the pleadings of Oliver Cromwell: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."

It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you fear, Sir.

It is your own - before 9/11 - and (and you alone know this), perhaps afterwards.

Mr. President, these new lies go to the heart of what it is that you truly wish to preserve.

It is not our freedom, nor our country - your actions against the Constitution give irrefutable proof of that.

You want to preserve a political party's power. And obviously you'll sell this country out, to do it.

These are lies about the Democrats -- piled atop lies about Iraq -- which were piled atop lies about your preparations for al Qaida.

To you, perhaps, they feel like the weight of a million centuries -- as crushing, as immovable.

They are not.

If you add more lies to them, you cannot free yourself, and us, from them.

But if you stop -- if you stop fabricating quotes, and building straw-men, and inspiring those around you to do the same -- you may yet liberate yourself and this nation.

Please, sir, do not throw this country's principles away because your lies have made it such that you can no longer differentiate between the terrorists and the critics.

Do not miss this. There's plenty more. Or see at YouTube.

Naval Grafitti

I guess you Squids know about this but this was new to this old AF weenie. We pulled into Ponta Delgado and I saw all this great grafitti on the sea wall on the dock.











I'll have more from our trip to Ponta Delgado tomorrow, after we get done in Horta.

Bottled Lightning

I was awakened this morning about 5 by a flash of light (even through the dark curtains) from my balcony and an excruciatingly painful noise running down our (port) side of the ship. Immediately I grabbed my robe and rushed to the rail, expecting to see the wreckage of a smaller craft, that's how bad it sounded. I looked for flares, or anything else that would indicate a distress signal, and prepared to call the bridge. Two seconds later, a lightning bolt impacted the sea not a hundred yards from my position and then I was nearly knocked over by the peal of thunder directly over the ship. Surprised the shit out of my ass. So did I go back in? Nah, I sat on the balcony with my camera trying to catch the awesome sight for posterity. Neither my relexes nor the camera would cooperate. You can't bottle lightning but I did, however, get a picture of the front we passed through once the sun came up.



I also wrote a long post at Below the Fold on the subject of cruise ships versus ocean liners (yes, there is a distinction) yesterday if you'd like to read it.

We had a great party last night too. There are several live bands performing aboard Noordam and the featured attraction is the Nick Ross Orchestra, one of the tightest big bands I've ever heard. We partied with the usual suspects, a bunch of us who enjoy each others' company. A diverse group who are all lovely people.



Not all were present and I'll introduce you to the absent later on. From left to right. Dave and Martha, (a newlywed couple from Lansing, Michigan whom we have come to adore over the past week and remind us of us when we were 15 years younger), yours truly, Judy (and her husband Glen who's missing because he had a blackjack tournament in the casino) from San Diego, California, the beautiful Mrs. F, and Loretta from Ventura California who is also Judy's aunt (she is one impressive woman who worked for the USO during WW2 at the St. Louis Canteen). Our friend Bob from Columbus, Indiana was also in the casino but a very lovely 83 year old man who was traveling alone until he met up with us. We all manage to close one of the bars on this barge every night.

More later, we're heading out to Punta Gordo Ponta Delgado (I been calling it Punta Gordo all week in honor of our esteemed Jarhead and it just slipped out), the Azores in a little while and I'll have more pics up either tonight or tomorrow.