Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Red Light Express Revisited. By Sean Hannity.



The fictional high-speed rail line from Disneyland to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch that I posted about last week might do Hannity some good. I wuz gonna use the title "Hannity looooves him some Air Force Amy" but somebody already did.

Windy City Watch has more.

While Kelly was doing what FNC is known to do, MAKE SHIT UP, the photos of Hannity were sitting right there, not on some paparazzi page but on the official MBR website.

We will not accuse Hannity of any illegal behavior, MBR is a licensed brothel in Nevada, but we will accuse him of being a grade A HYPOCRITE. We don’t claim to know the circumstances surrounding these photos, however we do know that in 2005 Hannity went after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg claiming she supported legalized prostitution.

I support it as well, for a variety of reasons I won't go into here, and so do the cow counties out there in Nevada for whom the brothels are the main tax base.

I also had a stake in the well-being of brothel employees at one time. Dave, the owner of the Old Bridge Ranch*, east of Reno, bought all his girls Harley-Davidsons. A group ride was spectacular to watch! To say the least! As a mechanic at the bike shop they used, I paid particular attention to safety items. Nothing's as bad for business as a workin' girl fulla road rash...

*Go see what 'Customer Appreciation Day' is like. Heh.

I'm sure Hannity was just doing a little, er, research, or perhaps lecturing these soiled doves on the evil of their ways, so he could more inaccurately mis-inform his right-wing 'moral values' crowd. Sure looks like he isn't having any fun, huh? He better not cop to havin' any fun, anyway.

Former KBR Electrician Speaks Out

This will piss you off. Shorter: KBR does substandard, criminally negligent work that kills our soldiers, and takes no responsibility for the shoddy work or correcting it. They take the $Billion$ just fine.



Update:

Go see Ms. Sparky's site. She has lots more about KBR.

I left her this comment:

I have worked as an electrician's assistant, and my main function, according to the electrician, was to body block him out of danger if he came across line voltage. Never had to do it while he was washing his hands though.

Update II:

Ms Sparky’s Response:

Good Point!!!

Condolences ...

The Old White Lady had to say goodbye to her cat Cotton yesterday. I haven't had a cat in many years, and I miss having one in the house (Mrs. F is allergic), so I've lived vicariously through OWL's brood since we started blogging here. Please stop by and give her your best ...

Multitasking ...

The latest in a line of anemic outrage from the Republicans; President Obama is doing too much, too soon.

Listen to me. Just because your boy couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time doesn't mean others are incapable of handling the job. While it worked for Charles Emerson Winchester III ("I do one thing, I do it very well, and then I move on."), George W. Bush was not a rising star in the thoracic surgery field, nor did he play one on TV. Mr. Obama is a professor of constitutional law and an intelligent man, and that's how shit is done.

This man is the leader of the free world, what in Hell do you expect from him? While I know we're all used to the "high functioning moron", I expect Barry to handle everything put in front of him while standing on his head, making sparks shoot out of his ass.

How is it where you work? Do you tell your boss you can only do one thing at a time? I know that most days, I'm working on 3 cars at once and I've seen what Mrs. F has to deal with. Do you think she can tell the top folks at Honda, Sharp, Canon, Konica - Minolta they have to wait because she's dealing with a problem with one of her other clients and she'll get to them when she has time? She'd be replaced so quick you'd hear a sonic boom. When you reach the top of your field, you're expected to do the impossible and make it work. I expect the same from the President of the United States.

As I said before, we're all used to mediocrity thanks to Bush and the Republicans but that is what got us into this mess to begin with. It is why we have the debacle in Iraq we do and why we can't help our people in the event of a natural disaster (see: Hurricane Katrina). The Republicans have failed in so many aspects that this President has no other choice but to handle many of the problems left by Bush et. al. at the same time.

As people are drowning in their medical bills, as Wall St. collapses, as our military is stretched to the breaking point, as our reputation in the world is at an all-time low, as science has been subverted by the interests of organized religion, taking each of these problems in turn will allow all the others to exacerbate. Broad, wide-ranging action is needed now and it's refreshing to see someone in office who can handle the chore.

This bad wind from the Right (more like a stale fart) is nothing more than an attempt to get some traction for their failed, inept agenda after having everything they stood for refuted on 4 Nov. 2008. As I've said previously, they have nothing; nothing that could do the people of America well. There are no new ideas, no new plans, no attempt to work with this President to try and straighten out the mess we're in, only obstruction. They are slaves to their ideology, staying aboard a sinking ship, in the vain hope it will right itself, even after the captain has given the order to abandon the vessel. They grovel before a man who has never been elected dogcatcher, yet can force them to toe the 'party line', itself a tattered relic of the days when "greed was good", even if it calls for the failure of the nation we love and have sworn to defend. When you have nothing, the only thing you can do is complain about someone doing what you're incapable of.

If the Republicans were smart, they'd shut up, sit back, and let time be the judge of Obama's policies. While they might not be supportive, at the least they could claim some partial credit for a recovery if things work out well and say "I told you so" if they don't (the American attention span is excruciatingly short). This petty whining and finger pointing only makes them look like spoiled, emotionally-deficient little children. At least, most Americans are seeing them for what they really are.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Earmarks ...

(Stays on top today - G)

Or 'pork', if you will. Being this is what I heard the Rethugs going on about this weekend, I figured I'd say a few words.

Aside from the hypocrisy, which quite a few talking heads had no other choice but to take note of (40% of the earmarks in the spending bill are Republican), earmarks can be stimulating for the economy. "Bridges to Nowhere" notwithstanding, earmarks can be used quite effectively to bring stimulus to targeted areas of the country.

The problem is they're not subject to review. The challenge, it would seem to me, would be to determine which 'pork' would be beneficial to the most people. For example, an infrastructure project such as a light rail line from the suburbs to a city, or a high speed rail line connecting major cities (such as the Paris - Brussels Directe in Europe).

The idea, though how feasible it would be is another story, is to have an 'acceptance criteria' they would have to live up to before being included in a bill. A set of guidelines stating a minimum population size the earmark would benefit (ex: an earmark would have to be beneficial to 100K people or more) and a cost cap. Things like 'pig odor studies' and 'Hawai'i travel and tourism' should be undertaken by the various industries who'd benefit. I've driven past hog farms in the summer and yes, there's an odor problem, big time (wouldn't wanna live near one). Thing is, the industry should be forking over the money to reduce the problem under threat of fine from the EPA, not expecting the taxpayer to clean up their mess that they've been making a profit from all these years. Same with the Polynesian tourist industry.

Unfortunately, with the state of the Republican Party today, any type of oversight or regulation is a bad thing. Yes, they'll yell and scream, but far be it for them to set an example by not inserting earmarks into the bill. Maybe, if they started practicing what they preach, the general public might take them seriously again. Adding $3bln to the spending bill and then blaming President Obama for not vetoing the thing is laughable; just another example of Republican hypocrisy in lieu of offering any decent suggestions about how we might overcome the problem of wasteful spending.

Pointing fingers doesn't solve problems, definitive action does. Pointing fingers without advancing a reasonable compromise (as opposed to pushing the failed policies that got us into this mess) is not the way things get done. Since President Obama took office, they've done nothing but bitch and moan but have come up with nothing new. If it didn't slow down the process so much, I wouldn't care because they're relegating themselves to superficiality (the national polls are proving that), but people are hurting and need help now. Obstruction is only putting more people over the edge.

The Party of Limbaugh is well on its way to becoming irrelevant and if they keep it up they'll be condemning themselves to obscurity. I won't stop them but it would be nice if they didn't drag the rest of us down with them.

GOP KoolAid Cooler

RS3M* at Full Throttle

*Repug, or in this case, Rove, Spin, Slime, & Smear Machine.

Think Progress, with comments.

On Fox News this afternoon, Karl Rove insisted that “this crew” in the White House has caused the collapse of the market, faulting the Obama administration for the economic crisis. He blamed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in particular, saying Geithner could not point fingers at the previous administration because he was one of the three people who made the decision to bail out the banks in the first place, with last fall’s TARP.

In fact, Rove declared that only three people made the decision about the bank bailout — and none of them were then-President Bush:

Look, Geithner was sitting in the room, last year. Three people made the decision about the bank rescue package: Geithner, Ben Bernanke, and Hank Paulson, the Treasury Secretary.

Rove added that those three “unanimously made those decisions about the bank rescue.” Apparently they simply informed then-President Bush of their decision to give $700 billion to banks after the fact. Watch it:

Puke first.

Ironically, during the same interview, Rove declared that the Obama administration has “got to start accepting responsibility for the outcome of their decisions” — seconds before suggesting that Bush didn’t even play a role in one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency.

Apparently Bush wasn’t really “the decider” after all.

Remember, everything before November 4, 2008 was Clinton's fault, and everything after is Obama's.

A coupla comments:

Lemme get this straight. Obama is responsible for everything that happens BEFORE he takes office, including the carnage left from disasters he inherited, but Bush is blameless for everything that happened on his watch, including disasters caused directly by his faulty policies?

Oh yeah — IOKIYAR.

Standard Operating Procedure for that White House. Others, especially DICK Cheney, told the “high functioning moron” what to do and he unquestioningly did it.

That's about the size of it.

Quote of the Day

Charles M. Blow, NYT op-ed on the Repugs:

And who has surfaced as their saviors? Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh — the axis of drivel. (my em)

Perfect!

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Obama Mulls Reaching Out to Taliban
Based on warm reception he received from Republicans.

Bush DOJ Secret Memos Cancelled Constitutional Rights
But only because our freedoms were threatened.

Still More Secret Bush Memos Released
In one, grants himself pardon in case anyone finds out about memos.

Supreme Court Sides With Consumers Against Drug Manufacturers
6 justices apparently off their meds.

Asteroid Just Misses Earth, Averting Catastrophe
Although financial mess would have cleared up pretty fast.

Good thing it missed. The Repugs would have blamed Obama.

One in Every 31 Adults in Prison
Rest still at large.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sunday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

U.S. 40, aka the 'Lincoln Highway', the first automobile road across America, is the main street of the town I live in. Parts of it are in original condition, but this song ain't about busted shock absorbers. Heh.


Buck Norris (of the BCB Band) ~ Highway 40 Blues

Thanks, Buck.

NuRPS

Termite58 gives a nice history of this group. Click on the video after it starts and it will take you to YouTube, then click 'more info'. Lead-in:

Formed in 1969, the New Riders of the Purple Sage was initially envisaged as a part-time spin-off from the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia (pedal steel guitar), Phill Lesh (bass) and Mickey Hart (drums...


New Riders of the Purple Sage ~ Lonesome L.A. Cowboy

The First American Dictator

I got no idea who Bruce Mulkey is, but he tamps Bush's crap into a nice, neat brick:

What are the dictatorial powers bestowed on George W. Bush by the previously-undisclosed DOJ memos? He had the power to:

1. Deploy the U.S. military inside the U.S.
2. Order foreigners and citizens alike arrested and held indefinitely without charges
3. Command the military to search citizens’ homes
4. Instruct the NSA to spy on citizens, listen in on their phone calls and read their emails
5. Suspend freedom of speech and freedom of the press

Apparently he only got around to implementing #2 and #4, but god only knows what he’d done if there had been another terrorist attack on American soil.

Since the election of President Obama, I had decided to relegate Bush and his associates to history, preferring to participate in bringing about change in my community and in our nation. But these memos reveal duplicitous and treasonous behavior, and DOJ officials have indicated that there is more damning evidence yet to be released.

The men and women responsible for these illegal and immoral acts must be held accountable. They, and others who might emulate them, need to know that we, the citizens of this nation, will not stand for further desecration of our civil liberties. They need to be held up as examples so that others will be loath to go down this path again. Bush and his pals need to do be investigated, indicted, convicted and imprisoned, for these men and women were the true terrorists, and they came closer to eradicating American democracy than Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda ever will.

I have nothing to add to that.

I'm surprised the needle isn't wrapped around the pin...

Reminder!

I'm still working on the blogroll so if your blog ain't listed in the right hand sidebar already, drop me an email so I can include it (and thank you to those who've already done so). I should have everything up and running by tomorrow.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Hillary gives Russkies wrong Red Button!

The Swamp

What's a little humor between Doomsday players?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went for a little joke today about resetting relations with the Russians, but it turned out the joke was on her.

Clinton, presenting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift-wrapped "reset" button, called the "little gift" symbolic of what President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have been saying about the U.S. and Russia.

""We want to reset our relationship," she said.

Yet something may have been lost in translation in the gift before closed-door talks in Geneva. The word on the button was meant to say "reset" in Russian.

"We worked hard to get the right Russian word," Clinton told Lavrov. "Do you think we got it?"

"You got it wrong," Lavrov replied - the word actually means "overcharge.''

"We won't let you do that to us," Clinton said, with the two laughing.

Shit, anybody can confuse перезапуск* and перезаряд. I do it all the time. Those may not be the exact words they got confused, but given the literary license I have proclaimed for myself, sort of borrowing from Bush, the 'unitary smartass' theory, they're close enough.

I'm glad Hil and the Russian gent got such a good laugh over an object that has come to symbolize nuclear holocaust. Laughter is a good thing, and if the joke was on Hil, so what? She's a good sport and we need a little levity after Bush's Russian 'policy' of 'Let's have a new Cold War! Whee!'.

I think we should get many, many copies of the button with 'overcharge' on it and give them out to Bush and the Repugs' corporate and financial cronies, from Wall Street to Blackwater and beyond. I think we should also wire the buttons, so if they push them...Poof! Then we can 'reset'.

*Sounds like trying to get yer car started with the help of the gardener - "Hey, Perez, poooosh!"

Saturday Central Coast Redneck Music Blogging

Some nice scenery along California's Central Coast from about Santa Barbara to Salinas. I think the train is Amtrak's Coast Starlight.

Dan Tyminski also plays with Alison Krauss and Union Station and was George Clooney's singing voice in O Brother Where Art Thou which is one of the best movies ever, IMNSHO.


Dan Tyminski ~ Wheels

Thanks to nshields and Rounder Records, one of the better record companies.

Saturday Off The Hook Hip-Hop Metaphorical Music Blogging

I've liked Harry Belafonte and Calypso music for fifty years, and it's amazing how old things get seen in a new light with the passage of time. This song is a perfect metaphor, albeit a mite bright and cheery, for what the Repugs and their corporate and financial cohorts, 'Matilda', are doing to us, '...she take me money an' run Venezuela'. Long at 9:31 and worth every second!


Harry Belafonte ~ Matilda

Thanks to WelllExcuuuseMeee.

Republicans battle a truth commission

Well, yeaaahhhhh. So what's new? The Repugs have been waging a war on truth in all its forms since I can remember. Oh, I know what's new! This time, some of 'em might go to jail!

Joan Walsh. Links at site.

Republicans rolled out their arguments against a "Truth Commission" to investigate Bush-era interrogation and detention issues at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today. They're pretty predictable.

[...] Sen. John Cornyn insisted Congress has already investigated all these allegations and a commission would be "an indictment of congressional oversight responsibilities." Yes, Sen. Cornyn, it would be.

Rivkin is an interesting figure: He's never met a Bush power grab or anti-terror policy he couldn't defend. [...]

So according to Rivkin, other countries can't prosecute such abuses, only we can. But we shouldn't. Got it.

Two-thirds of the American people want to see some kind of investigation (a plurality prefer a criminal probe to a mere fact-finding commission). The Democrats can't get away with doing nothing after this lawless eight years. They can't let stand Bush officials' claims to be above the law. That conception of the absolute power of the presidency to violate human rights and break the law was rejected last November. I think Leahy is looking to start with what he can get. We'll see how far this crusade goes.

It'll go farther if we keep pushing it, like pushing a car that's stuck in a mudhole. The Repugs are the mudhole and it's gonna take a lot of shoulders against the trunk lid.

Neocons Wage War on a 'Realist'

Robert Parry with today's 'must read'.

In a normal world, people in Washington might welcome the hiring of a “realist” to oversee the production of U.S. intelligence analyses, with the hope that even if the truth doesn’t set you free, it at least might be the foundation for sound policies.

But that is not the world in which the United States finds itself. In today’s Washington, the city’s preeminent newspaper publishes a neoconservative attack on President Barack Obama’s choice to oversee intelligence analyses because the person is a “realist.”

Freeman’s chief offense, according to The New Republic’s Jon Chait in a Washington Post op-ed, is that the appointee is “an ideological fanatic” because Freeman believes excessively in “realism” and fails to apply a moral filter when looking at the world.

In Chait’s neocon critique, “realism” is not simply a hard assessment of what today's challenges are; it is an “ideology” – and thus open to dismissal as simply a competitive way of understanding the world.

Oh yeah, like the neocons 'understand the world' real well. Yeesh. Maybe Disney World. Fantasyland. Fine. Keep 'em out of politics and positions of power.

The neocons, who are essentially right-wing intellectuals wanting to bend U.S. government policy in directions that fit their ideological interests, recognized early on that seizing the main levers of information inside Washington was crucial. So, they took aim at two targets in particular: the CIA’s analytical division and national journalists.

But the neocons and the Right launched a fierce attack against Freeman because he threatens their influence over U.S. intelligence estimates and thus their ability to exaggerate dangers and to manage the perceptions of politicians and the public.

So, as Chait does in his Post op-ed, the neocons have transformed Freeman’s realism into evidence that “he’s an ideological fanatic.”

Go read how this applies to our Israel policy. Here's a tease:

But Chait’s real beef with Freeman appears to be that he thinks the “Israel Lobby” actually exists in Washington. It is a staple of neocon rhetoric that anyone who observes the political clout of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or other influential pro-Israel groups must be an enemy of Israel.

If you acknowledge it, or admit you see it, you're an enemy of Israel.

Folks, this is the crux of the biscuit when it comes to neocons and misguided Middle East policy. Go read the rest, please.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

I've posted this song before, but not this performance.

Royal Albert Hall 1995


Emmylou Harris ~ One Of These Days

Thanks to onebarton2