I found out that every single thing that ever happened in this country including the economic meltdown and the bombings in Mumbai can be traced back to the Clinton administration. Bill Clinton outed CIA operative Valerie Plame too. I was given specifics but I can't remember them all. So I had to agree with it all and added that the Clinton presidency contributed to Bush's drinking problem.
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I politely asked these lovely people where they got all this information that I didn't know and the resounding answer was Fox News because it was fair and balanced. It was strongly suggested that I watch that channel so that I could find out how much trouble we are in. Oh I will. I will! And I thought that only lefties were the conspiracy theorists. Silly me. [my em]
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I hear it every day from some of my idiot customers (I work in Nassau County) but, unlike my well-mannered pal, I tell 'em what dumbasses they really are. For supposedly one of the most progressive places in the country, we certainly have a lot of ignorant assholes.
K T Tunstall - Under The Weather
Under this national rain cloud I'm getting soaked to the skin Trying to find my umbrella But I don't know where to begin
And it's simply irrational weather Can't even hear myself think Constantly bailing out water But still like I'm gonna sink
Coz I'm under the weather Just like the world So sorry for being so bold When I turn out the light You're out of sight Although I know that I'm not alone Feels like home
OTTAWA – Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
Apparently, now that Paulson has spent all the money Congress gave him, the only effect being to protect the most culpable from having to suffer for their sins while completely failing to ameliorate any of the real problems they've created for our economy, he wants more money he can spend the same way. Gosh, I wonder what Congress will say....
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Why, "to whom do we make the check out to this time", of course.
If anything, the Dems have proven they are spineless yes-men. Were it not for Howard Dean and the Obama campaign, the Rethugs would control Congress and McCain would be the President-elect. Believe it or not, ladies and germs, we've let them throw $700 bln away with no oversight since the fertilizer met the rotating blade. By the time Barry gets in, we won't be able to afford shit.
The RPG, or rocket-propelled grenade, has long been popular among insurgents, giving them a cheap anti-armor weapon that requires little training. The latest version is the RPG-30. And it allegedly can take out today's toughest tanks. Recently shown on Russian television, the RPG-30 has already been described as an "Abrams Killer."
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You know every yahoo in the Middle East is gonna have one soon enough.
There is something very, very wrong with a country in which people are losing their homes and losing their jobs, and yet they trample a minimum-wage Wal-Mart worker to death in their quest for cheap crap made in overseas sweatshops at one of the worst retail operations in the country ...
You know, I love living on Long Island but it seems to me we have more than our share of assholes.
Ah, but for the sound of people shitting their pants, it would have been a perfect Thanksgiving.
Too bad the terrorists in Mumbai picked this time to kill people. Yes, it's heartbreaking so many people were killed, but it ain't about us. India, the majority of whose population are decent, hard-working folks, is a patchwork of crazy Muslims, crazy Hindus, and even some crazy Christians, (not to mention the whole Kashmir issue) all having their own agenda. The idea of taking Westerners hostage is to bring their agenda to the fore in the world's consciousness.
Did you hear Miles O'Brien acting like a little baby while sitting in for Wolfie on Wednesday? Breathlessly asking everyone he interviewed about how they're hunting down Westerners. "They're coming for us!"
And everyone else who's been scared shitless since 9/11 jumps on the bandwagon. The local news was interviewing people at LaGuardia Airport and one guy said it took him 5 years past 9/11 to get on a plane and this thing in Mumbai is gonna fuck him up for another few more.
Grow the fuck up. If I acted like you people, I'd never go anywhere in the world.
Shit happens all over. People get hit by lightning, get run over by a city bus as they walk out their front door, and drop dead from a heart attack at a young age even though they've led very healthy lives.
There are places in the world where just the act of getting on a bus is an iffy proposition. You have more to worry about from a crazy driver fucking you up on the way to work than you do getting blown up by a terrorist.
That's the problem with this country; one of the reasons we've had to put up with the Chimp's bullshit and criminal activity for the last 8 years. A good portion of us have bought into the fear. All so worried they're gonna get blown up at the mall.
I'm tired of the whiners. I'm tired of the crybabies. I'm tired of all the people who run and hide when something blows up 10,000 miles away. Listen to me: You're fucking Americans!
Throughout our history, we've stood up to people who would intimidate us. Somebody hits us, we pound 'em into the dirt. The Nazis and the Japanese Empire learned that the hard way. As little as 60 years ago, we destroyed a regime bent on world domination, one that controlled vast armies, navies, and air forces, one that could just as easily have brought the war here. We fought a Cold War against a regime who could easily have destroyed us and the world five times over.
Nowadays, if a Muslim farts sideways somewhere in the world, everybody hides under the bed. We've become a nation of whiners and bedwetters, allowing anyone who promises us security to abrogate our civil rights and ruin our economy fighting this big, bad bogeyman. We've mistaken platitudes and coddling for leadership and we're paying the price.
My fellow Americans, a grown-up will be in the White House in less than two months. Use him as an example. I'm tired of your crying.
Grow up and act like Americans!
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain. Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
And I go from wanting to shoot Mrs. F on Monday to getting the place straightened up for Thanksgiving. By the way, the coffee table in the pics is the last remnant of my bachelorhood. I cobbled it together about 25 years ago when I needed a table and we've always had a use for it.
More chapters from Birthright this weekend ... I promise.
Once again, Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours. For all us Lefties, we have a lot to give thanks for this year.
Fuck Grover Norquist and the rest of the neocon assholes. Shaun explains 'big government' simply:
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I confess to lingering resentment about Bill Clinton's notorious declaration that the era of "big government" had come to an end. That's absurd, of course, in the context of a nation of hundreds of millions, with a vast territorial reach and vital social, economic and security interests on every continent. Worse, it implies that there's some legitimacy to the "big government" boogeyman that the right wing uses as a blunt weapon against every worthwhile government program or regulation.
Our government will be, by most any standard, "big." That's not the question. The question is, of course, whether the government is effective. Efficiency counts, too, but size? "Big" is unavoidable. [italics mine, bolds in orig]
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You can't take the government, fold it up, and put it in a drawer until you need it to help your ass out. What people don't get is that the Republicans' idea of bad 'big government' is one that makes everyone pay their fair share, as opposed to their dream of allowing the rich and the corporations to ride free on the middle class' dime.
One of the wingnuts said something like, "Well, she can still write, you Libruls!"
Not very well, and we have better things to do than read her vitriolic always wrong tripe anyway. Anybody dumb enough to buy her books is probably disappointed that they don't have pictures.
Me 'n Mrs. G are headin' for the Central Coast this morning.
Making sure a fairly new and modern pickup is ready for a road trip is easy. Aired up the tires and topped off the windshield washer fluid. Hardest part was coiling up my air hose in 40° weather. Had to wash the windshield with mayonnaise too. A little messy, but necessary. You folks who know why are noddin' yer heads and the rest of yas must think I'm crazy. Heh. I'll keep ya in suspense for a while.
Mrs. G sorted out and neatened up our CD collection, so we got to pick out all different music than we usually take. It's fun to get out a bunch of oldies we haven't listened to in a while. We do about 200 miles straight down through the Central Valley, and commercial country and about ten kinds of Mexican music are OK but a little of it goes a long way, and you gotta be pretty close to NPR and community radio stations.
I'm looking forward to T'giving dinner. The stuffing, green bean casserole, and my niece's husband's heart attack mashed potatoes (one potato, three pounds of butter and cheese, seems like) are my favorites. I only take a helping of turkey because it is considered bad form not to.
We have more to be thankful for this year than for several years past, so just grin at yer wingnut relatives and eat mass quantities of their food. Probly back blogging tomorrow. Signin' off for now.
Anybody who lives in the NYC Metro Area knows about how shitty our airports are to fly into and out of. Now the world does too:
Getting back and forth to Grandma's for the holiday ain't gonna be fun if you have to fly through LaGuardia or JFK.
With the holiday travel season upon us, fliers gave New York's airports abysmal grades in the latest Zagat's survey.
LaGuardia came in dead last among the nation's 27 biggest airports, with the aging airfield in Queens scoring a pitiful 6.8 on Zagat's signature 30-point scale. [my em]
Even picking someone up or dropping them off at a New York airport is an hours-long ordeal. When the Mrs. and I go somewhere, we use a car service to get to the airport, not wanting to put any of our friends through the hassle.
and Duke Cunningham and Mark Milliken and Conrad Black and Ted Stevens and all of Chimpy's torturers, we should all resolve that anyone who ever utters the words "Marc Rich" and "pardon" in the same paragraph with the purpose of denigrating Bill Clinton should be tarred and feathered and no fair using that "cold patch" shit.
Amen, sister!
Whorage later ... probably (sorry, I know I promised last night but it was my anniversary and I was ... distracted).
Maddow asked a good question: If you allow it to stand without a full public airing does it "legalize" it for the future. I think so. Once the precedent is set they will use it again. And the public, like the proverbial frogs in the slowly heating water, don't even realize they are losing not just their rights, but even the idea of their constitution.
Indeed, and a lot of Americans are perfectly willing to consciously give up their rights in order to be kept 'safe', whatever in hell that means. You have more of a chance of being hit by lightning in America than being blown up by a terrorist's bomb (unless you're Mrs. F, who's a terrorist magnet). What rights are you gonna give up to be 'safe' from Thor's Arrows?
And it's not just the fact of some future administration 'pulling a Cheney'. It's our credibility in the eyes of the world. If we accept what these people have done without acknowleging, at the very least, their actions were wrong and criminal, we will forever be considered in the same light as rogue nations and tin-horn dictatorships.
