...
Number of times Bush said terror/terrorist/terrorists: 22
Number of times Bush said Osama: 0
Epic FAIL.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Priorities
Epic FAIL.
Monday, January 28, 2008
SOTU
A cut & paste re-run, or as Rachel Maddow put it, a 'Groundhog Day speech' - lies, spin, bullshit, my way or the highway, support what I do or you're an enemy of the state and I'll veto it, taking credit for things he hasn't done and spinning failure as success, and, oh yeah, perpetual war and the crimes will continue and he wants immunity for them.
Same old, same old. Limp outta here, ya broke-dick quackerass.
SOTU? STFU.
Mrs. G's commentary: "He's an evil pig."
1.20.09
Same old, same old. Limp outta here, ya broke-dick quackerass.
SOTU? STFU.
Mrs. G's commentary: "He's an evil pig."
1.20.09
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Yes.
The fundies'll have a ball with that one!
Iraq's Parliament Approves New Flag
Old one (bottom) represented Sunnis, Shia, Kurds; new one (top) represents Blackwater, Halliburton.
White House, Congress Agree on $150 Billion Political Survival Package
Bipartisan deal keeps them in office through next election.
President Bush, in Final Year, Considers Legacy
Will he be remembered for Katrina, War in Iraq or the Depression?
Yes.
World Future Society Predicts 1 Billion Millionaires in 2033
And eight billion beggars.
Report: U.S. Scientists Close To Creating Artificial Life
Just waiting for good lightning storm.
The fundies'll have a ball with that one!
Quote of the Day
From Politico on Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Senator Obama. Liquid alert!
If that happens, wear a helmet. The sky will be full of pigs!
And don't forget the endorsement of JFK's cute little pre-school-age daughter Caroline. Yeah, I know, but that's how I remember her...
“This is the biggest Democratic endorsement Obama could possibly get short of Bill Clinton,” said a high-level Democrat.
If that happens, wear a helmet. The sky will be full of pigs!
And don't forget the endorsement of JFK's cute little pre-school-age daughter Caroline. Yeah, I know, but that's how I remember her...
CBS Falsifies Iraq War History
Robert Parry
Just as an aside, it helps if the victors have a written language. For instance, what we know as "The Battle of the Little Big Horn" was (and is) called "The Greasy Grass Fight" by the victors, but they couldn't write it down. Ultimately, of course, they lost the war so we got to call things whatever we wanted to anyway.
If you missed '60 Minutes' last night, hit the link and watch it. Wait'll you hear why Saddam actually invaded Iran! The old expression about trivial insults, "wars have been fought for less", came true.
Disgusting. So far, the 'media' has been writing the Iraq flusterpluck down as if we will be the 'victors' because that's what they've been told to do by their Masters or risk their plush careers.
If it weren't for a few other-than-mainstream actual journalists, we'd lose this war and think we won a great victory. At least when we slink out of there with our tail between our legs, as we will and as we should, maybe folks will realize why and hopefully not let it happen again. At least until the memory fades.
There’s a cynical old saying that the victors write the history. CBS’s “60 Minutes” demonstrated how that process works on Jan. 27 in airing Scott Pelley’s interview with the FBI agent who de-briefed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Just as an aside, it helps if the victors have a written language. For instance, what we know as "The Battle of the Little Big Horn" was (and is) called "The Greasy Grass Fight" by the victors, but they couldn't write it down. Ultimately, of course, they lost the war so we got to call things whatever we wanted to anyway.
In a world of objective reality, a reporter might say that the United States launched an unprovoked invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, under the false pretense that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, even after Iraq had repeatedly – and accurately – announced that its WMD had been destroyed in the 1990s.
In line with Bush’s version of history, “60 Minutes” correspondent Pelley asked FBI interrogator George Piro why Hussein kept pretending that he had WMD even as U.S. troops massed on Iraq’s borders, when a simple announcement that the WMD was gone would have prevented the war.
“For a man who drew America into two wars and countless military engagements, we never knew what Saddam Hussein was thinking,” Pelley said in introducing the segment on the interrogation of Hussein about his WMD stockpiles. “Why did he choose war with the United States?”
The segment never mentions the fact that Hussein’s government did disclose that it had eliminated its WMD. Instead Pelley presses Piro on the question of why Hussein was hiding that fact.
If you missed '60 Minutes' last night, hit the link and watch it. Wait'll you hear why Saddam actually invaded Iran! The old expression about trivial insults, "wars have been fought for less", came true.
Of course, Hussein did tell the U.N. to “come on in, check it out.” But he did so in the real history, not in the faux reality that now governs Washington and pervades America’s top news programs, including “60 Minutes.”
In Pelley’s historical formulation, the question is not why did Bush invade Iraq in violation of international law, causing the deaths of nearly 4,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, but rather “How could [Hussein] have wanted his country to be invaded?”
This strategy of repeating a “big lie” often enough to make it sound true was famously described in the writings of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels during World War II. However, given the relatively free U.S. press, many Americans feel they are protected from “big lie” techniques, counting on journalists to call lying politicians to account.
But that clearly is no longer the case – and hasn’t been for some time. Facing career pressure from well-organized right-wing attack groups, American journalists act more like triangulating politicians, fearful of accusations of “liberal bias” or unpatriotic behavior or softness on terrorism.
To have challenged George W. Bush in July 2003 – when he was near the height of his popularity – or even now with his approval ratings at historic lows would carry career dangers that few American reporters want to risk.
So, discretion – or in this case the acceptance of a lie as truth – is the better part of valor.
Disgusting. So far, the 'media' has been writing the Iraq flusterpluck down as if we will be the 'victors' because that's what they've been told to do by their Masters or risk their plush careers.
If it weren't for a few other-than-mainstream actual journalists, we'd lose this war and think we won a great victory. At least when we slink out of there with our tail between our legs, as we will and as we should, maybe folks will realize why and hopefully not let it happen again. At least until the memory fades.
McCain: Military Imbecile
p m carpenter
I've got nothing to add to that, other than I think he will be the Repug nominee and this country had better have better sense than to vote for endless, mindless, criminal war.
What John said was this: "[Romney's] apology is owed to the young men and women serving this nation in uniform, that we will not let them down in hard times or good. That is who the apology is owed to."
It so happened that when I read that I had just put down a marvelous new work on military history: Mark Perry's Partners in Command, an investigation into the working relationship between Generals George C. Marshall and Dwight D. Eisenhower. And the meticulously driven subtext of Perry's work is that both of these incisive military minds and, later, shapers of America's foreign policy, would have been appalled -- absolutely aghast -- at the United States' entry into Iraq.
Both would have left aside the question of apologies, because both, quite simply, would have found the intervention utterly inexcusable -- a betrayal of America's political culture, societal way of thinking, and even common sense.
John McCain -- as that rare political creature, a Republican pol who actually served -- now presents himself as a thoughtful student of military history as well, and therefore as exceptionally qualified to be commander in chief. But Mr. McCain, in rooting for this idiotic war at the start and now advocating an interminable presence, understands nothing of what the true giants of yesteryear understood.
It is John McCain who owes an apology to "the young men and women serving this nation in uniform," for having helped, that is, to spearhead their voiceless entanglement in a lonely and endless war of choice -- one that would have appalled those far deeper thinkers of how and when military means should be used, and how they should not.
I've got nothing to add to that, other than I think he will be the Repug nominee and this country had better have better sense than to vote for endless, mindless, criminal war.
Wave Motors
I think we've all seen some of the new tidal generators installed at various places around the world. It's a damn good idea as long as the ocean rolls in and out. Renewable energy, renewed four times a day. I won't make any jokes about gettin' energy from the ol' in-an'-out. Sure I won't...
Anyway, I was watching a show called "Road Trip: California's Corners" (DVD available) on one of my PBS stations last night, where Huell Howser is doing a series dedicated to finding the exact location of all five corners of my state, and they're not always right where they're supposed to be. His M.O. is to chat up the locals and see various offbeat spots of interest and find the corner via GPS in the last five minutes and plant a little Bear Flag. He was in Imperial Beach whilst looking for the southwest one.
What I found out, besides that the southwest corner of California is at the broken-down old border fence extending a few feet out into the Pacific through which Huell shook hands with a Mexican, was that tidal and wave generation is nothing new. I should have known.
It got me interested, so I googled up the Edwards Wave Motor that was installed on the Imperial Beach Pier in 1909 and discovered that various kinds of these things were all over the place. I discovered this fascinating article on some of the early experiments in this technology.
The upshot was that generally these contraptions didn't work and were dumped in the sea by storms that washed away the piers they were on.
The modern tidal generators rest on the waterway beds, pre-dumped so to speak, but they didn't have the technology to do that in the old days. Those old boys at least gave it a shot back in the infancy of harnessed electricity.
Interest in tidal generation waned for almost a century, but it's perked back up again due to the burgeoning realization ("Lights on in yer head, dipstick!") that burning fossil fuels and fouling the air just to boil water is no longer the best way to run your toaster.
Anyway, I was watching a show called "Road Trip: California's Corners" (DVD available) on one of my PBS stations last night, where Huell Howser is doing a series dedicated to finding the exact location of all five corners of my state, and they're not always right where they're supposed to be. His M.O. is to chat up the locals and see various offbeat spots of interest and find the corner via GPS in the last five minutes and plant a little Bear Flag. He was in Imperial Beach whilst looking for the southwest one.
What I found out, besides that the southwest corner of California is at the broken-down old border fence extending a few feet out into the Pacific through which Huell shook hands with a Mexican, was that tidal and wave generation is nothing new. I should have known.
It got me interested, so I googled up the Edwards Wave Motor that was installed on the Imperial Beach Pier in 1909 and discovered that various kinds of these things were all over the place. I discovered this fascinating article on some of the early experiments in this technology.
The upshot was that generally these contraptions didn't work and were dumped in the sea by storms that washed away the piers they were on.
The modern tidal generators rest on the waterway beds, pre-dumped so to speak, but they didn't have the technology to do that in the old days. Those old boys at least gave it a shot back in the infancy of harnessed electricity.
Interest in tidal generation waned for almost a century, but it's perked back up again due to the burgeoning realization ("Lights on in yer head, dipstick!") that burning fossil fuels and fouling the air just to boil water is no longer the best way to run your toaster.
What it takes ...
To get people to give enough of a damn. Father Tyme with a great post on how long it takes to change the inertia of the American people:
Much more and spot on. Off to the shop. Happy fucking Monday ...
It must take a long time for many Americans to understand the basic goings on in life. Most of us knew in 2000 that George Bush would be bad for America. We knew he already was a liar, conniver, deceitful thing that should have been flushed with the condom his daddy should have used.
...
So we gave old Grandpa a vote of confidence and let him tuck us in for 4 more years – by staying home election day. I guess it was easier to stay home and watch TV than go out and vote. No sense in changing things when they’re going so well or rather when things aren’t really affecting most of us; so the TV says. And things are getting better with the war, the economy is doing real well, jobs are up; why change; why vote for someone else; why vote at all?
But deep down inside we knew he wasn’t telling everything to us yet we thought that if things were really bad the newspapers and people on TV News surely would let us know the truth.
...
Much more and spot on. Off to the shop. Happy fucking Monday ...
We knew it ...
35 years ago when I was in grade school.
But back then, the powers-that-be said it was just the dirty fucking hippies worrying about nothing (sorta like the global warming debate now). We should have developed an alternative energy source by 1975, Christ, we put a man on the Moon in '69, but Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the robber barons were polishing their act and padding their pockets. Perspective, ladies and germs. It's been seven years since we got Bush. Time flies when your head is in the sand.
World demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply within seven years, according to Royal Dutch Shell.
The oil multinational is predicting that conventional supplies will not keep pace with soaring population growth and the rapid pace of economic development.
...
But back then, the powers-that-be said it was just the dirty fucking hippies worrying about nothing (sorta like the global warming debate now). We should have developed an alternative energy source by 1975, Christ, we put a man on the Moon in '69, but Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the robber barons were polishing their act and padding their pockets. Perspective, ladies and germs. It's been seven years since we got Bush. Time flies when your head is in the sand.
Great thanks to Cookie Jill for the link.
Neglect ...
Or, to quote Atrios: "This is another episode of What Digby said."
For years, the CIA equipped Osama and his Mujaheddin against the Russians in Afghanistan and we knew how the Paks let them support. Did we think they'd change because we threw a few bucks at them? If that weren't enough, the Brits have a history of getting their ass handed to them in that part of the world. You'd think we'd have learned from those experiences. Heh ... fat chance, but then Hitler didn't learn squat from history either when he got a hard-on for Russia.
The only way to win a war with those people is to kill every last fucking one of them. These are people who hold grudges for hundreds of years (Remember the old Shi'a - Sunni thing?); putting their plans on hold for a few years until the Americans leave is no big thing for them. They waited out the Russians, didn't they? One day, our puppet Karzai will be swinging from a tree and someone more favorable to Pakistan will be installed there. It's just a matter of time.
Sometimes, I wonder where we'd be if President Gore had taken office instead. I wonder how he would have used the 'sympathy capital' we earned on 9/11, or if 9/11 would have even happened. What a waste of 8 years.
...
Back in the day when we were all writing about Afghanistan and the Taliban that was common knowledge, conventional wisdom. John Kerry made a big deal in 2004 about Tora Bora and the wild absurdity of pulling the focus away from al Qaeda. People may have thought that was a political ploy but it wasn't. Iraq was a massive distraction and waste of time and money right in the middle of a damned serious problem with Islamic fundamentalism. There's a reason why Jim Webb called it the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory all the way back in '04. It was.
It's possible that this reconstituted Taliban are just a bunch of losers sitting in the mountains with big dreams. But if they actually did assassinated Bhutto (with the help of the Pakistan security services, which is likely) this is no joke. Pakistan is the most unstable nuclear armed country we've ever seen and the potential for catastrophe is actually quite real. The fact that we have the entire US military bogged down in a useless occupation, while the Republican candidates are running around muttering incoherently about staying there for a thousand years or waving the white flag of surrender to al Qaeda in Iraq is further testament to how delusional the GOP remains on this subject.
...
For years, the CIA equipped Osama and his Mujaheddin against the Russians in Afghanistan and we knew how the Paks let them support. Did we think they'd change because we threw a few bucks at them? If that weren't enough, the Brits have a history of getting their ass handed to them in that part of the world. You'd think we'd have learned from those experiences. Heh ... fat chance, but then Hitler didn't learn squat from history either when he got a hard-on for Russia.
The only way to win a war with those people is to kill every last fucking one of them. These are people who hold grudges for hundreds of years (Remember the old Shi'a - Sunni thing?); putting their plans on hold for a few years until the Americans leave is no big thing for them. They waited out the Russians, didn't they? One day, our puppet Karzai will be swinging from a tree and someone more favorable to Pakistan will be installed there. It's just a matter of time.
Sometimes, I wonder where we'd be if President Gore had taken office instead. I wonder how he would have used the 'sympathy capital' we earned on 9/11, or if 9/11 would have even happened. What a waste of 8 years.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Biodh An Deoch Seo 'N Làimh Mo Rùin
I was just taking a little snowy Sunday break from the liars and pontificators and I went and found some nice music. I used to watch the Transatlantic Sessions on Ovation TV before our cable company got bought out by SuddenlyNoLink, who in a startling display of stupidity, ditched it. They used to have Indian, Korean, and all kinds of world music as well. I liked it all. Mrs. G thought (and thinks!) I'm nuts. Who am I to argue...
So now, in a desperate attempt to get out of a "crazy redneck music" bag I've recently found myself in, I present Julie Fowlis with Jenna Reid & Donal Lunny. The pricks disabled the embedding, no doubt in a fit of crass commercialism. There are others I could have posted the videos of, but I like this one.
Note: A wee dram of some smoky adult beverage with the peat still in it will help in your understanding. Maybe not so 'wee'. Perhaps 'Whee!'.
So now, in a desperate attempt to get out of a "crazy redneck music" bag I've recently found myself in, I present Julie Fowlis with Jenna Reid & Donal Lunny. The pricks disabled the embedding, no doubt in a fit of crass commercialism. There are others I could have posted the videos of, but I like this one.
Note: A wee dram of some smoky adult beverage with the peat still in it will help in your understanding. Maybe not so 'wee'. Perhaps 'Whee!'.
North American solidarity ...
The Canadians can be dumbasses of the same magnitude as we are:
...
Look on the bright side: it means unity. We are forming one great northern continent, unified in our ignorance, led by uninformed dumbasses. Brothers and sisters to the north, welcome!
South Carolina ...
Care less. No, I don't think Obama will run away with it now. I personally think it'll tighten the race. Good. Unfortunately, I think the best John Edwards can do is VP and it looks like he's positioning himself for that. He knows it too. The only thing I know for sure is Bill Clinton should STFU*.
On the Rethug side, I think I'd rather see Romney get the nomination than McCain, just because too many democrats buy in to the 'McCain Fable' and would vote for him over Hillary or Obama. Never underestimate the power of white men to let their sexism and racism boil up at the least opportune times. Hopefully, more Rethugs hate McCain than Dems do. I'd rather Rudy, but he's doing his own crash and burn and probably won't be in the race by the end of February, let alone November.
Unlike most on the left, I certainly don't think a Dem win in November is a sure thing and it might behoove us not to begin gloating prematurely.
Update:
If this is any indication, turnout should be huge in November.
Good.
Update:
*Greenwald captures my point:
Time for Bill to head home to Chappaqua and start surfing the intarwebs with his pants around his ankles. He ain't doing Hillary any good anymore.
On the Rethug side, I think I'd rather see Romney get the nomination than McCain, just because too many democrats buy in to the 'McCain Fable' and would vote for him over Hillary or Obama. Never underestimate the power of white men to let their sexism and racism boil up at the least opportune times. Hopefully, more Rethugs hate McCain than Dems do. I'd rather Rudy, but he's doing his own crash and burn and probably won't be in the race by the end of February, let alone November.
Unlike most on the left, I certainly don't think a Dem win in November is a sure thing and it might behoove us not to begin gloating prematurely.
Link via Atrios.
Update:
If this is any indication, turnout should be huge in November.
Wow. Estimates had topped out at 350,000. This is a ridiculous improvement over 2004 when just 290,000 voters voted in the Dem primary ...
Good.
Update:
*Greenwald captures my point:
...
But the last few days have changed my view on those matters substantially. The Clintons' strategy has become increasingly trashy, even ugly, and yesterday's remarks by Bill Clinton -- in which he pointedly compared Obama's candidacy to Jesse Jackson's and thus implicitly (though clearly) dismissed South Carolina as a state where the "black candidate" wins, followed up by the Clinton campaign's anonymous branding of Obama as "the black candidate" -- reeked of desperation ...
Time for Bill to head home to Chappaqua and start surfing the intarwebs with his pants around his ankles. He ain't doing Hillary any good anymore.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Raiding YouTube
Gord got me over to YouTube today thanks to his crazy redneck music and his homage to Tet, I figured I'd get you in the mood to enjoy Saturday evening partying on your future 'stimulus'.
Two of my favorite guitar men together. B.B. King and Gary Moore doing B.B.'s The Thrill is Gone:
Two of my favorite guitar men together. B.B. King and Gary Moore doing B.B.'s The Thrill is Gone:
Bai Ca Truong Son
I was reading an article at Kos by truong son traveler on the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, a turning point in the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War sums up thusly, the shortest and best quote about the eventual outcome:
I got curious as is my wont. What the hell is a 'truong son'? Turns out it's a mountain range in Central Vietnam in the Greater Annamite chain. I ran across this video. My grasp of Vietnamese is slightly less than my tenuous hold on English, but I recognized a coupla place names, and 'My' which I think means 'American' in a picture of a Huey.
While we're remembering Tet, let's not forget the outcome of that war. Enjoy this.
I wonder if in 40 years we'll be watching Iraqi videos like that.
The Vietnam War sums up thusly, the shortest and best quote about the eventual outcome:
As a final comment especially for those who claim that "we were never defeated on the battlefield". Those people most certainly never spent much time on the "battlefields" of this, a mostly unreported small-unit war. Not that it mattered anyway, for as General Giap said, "We were prepared to lose for longer than you were prepared to win." (my em)
I got curious as is my wont. What the hell is a 'truong son'? Turns out it's a mountain range in Central Vietnam in the Greater Annamite chain. I ran across this video. My grasp of Vietnamese is slightly less than my tenuous hold on English, but I recognized a coupla place names, and 'My' which I think means 'American' in a picture of a Huey.
While we're remembering Tet, let's not forget the outcome of that war. Enjoy this.
I wonder if in 40 years we'll be watching Iraqi videos like that.
Red Necks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer
Man, I'm on a roll today! If anyone thinks I must've lost my mind to post the previous music video (scroll down a little), this one will remove all doubt.
This is dedicated to mechanics and other folks who "don't fit in with the white collar crowd" everywhere, and to anyone who has ever found themselves shitfaced at 1 AM with their sunglasses still on the bar in front of them.
Hank Thompson
This is dedicated to mechanics and other folks who "don't fit in with the white collar crowd" everywhere, and to anyone who has ever found themselves shitfaced at 1 AM with their sunglasses still on the bar in front of them.
Hank Thompson
'Stimulus' Advice
This is dedicated to all the folks who are planning to follow Philip's advice as to how to spend your 'stimulus' check. This is very stimulating.
Red Ingle and the Natural Seven with absolutely the hokiest version of this pæan to the temptations of the flesh (Whee!) I've ever heard. Try not to get dizzy watching it. If you've already borrowed against the anticipated tax rebate loan, you probably already had a good start on this subject matter and are already dizzy, so never mind.
And the moral of the story? Spend less money on cigarettes and you'll have more to spend on booze and babes.
Red Ingle and the Natural Seven with absolutely the hokiest version of this pæan to the temptations of the flesh (Whee!) I've ever heard. Try not to get dizzy watching it. If you've already borrowed against the anticipated tax rebate loan, you probably already had a good start on this subject matter and are already dizzy, so never mind.
And the moral of the story? Spend less money on cigarettes and you'll have more to spend on booze and babes.
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