Sunday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

Dated 15 Jan '09. Still waitin'...

Cledus T. Judd - Waitin' On Obama

Thanks to KOCHRECORDS.

Quote of the Day

Think Progress, with video:

During a townhall in Waukon, IA Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked by a constituent of his: “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?” When Grassley struggled to explain the details of his own health care plan, the elderly man followed up, “Okay, so how come I can’t have the same thing you have?” Grassley said, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.” (my em)

How about you Iowans exercise yer 'public option' and send this clown back where he came from?

"When the going gets weird,...

...the weird turn pro" - Hunter S. Thompson

Paul Begala

[...] Sarah Palin makes Mark Foley, the congressman who sent filthy emails to pages look almost normal. She makes David Vitter, the senator who was hanging out with hookers, look almost boring. She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men's room, look almost stable. She makes John Ensign, the senator who was having an affair with a staffer, look almost humdrum (and compared to the rest of the GOP whack-jobs, he is). And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP.

Now that's an accomplishment!

[...] A lot of people thought that about George W. Bush. He couldn't be so block-headed, they said. He couldn't be as childish and churlish as he came off. Oh yes he could. And so, too, might Ms. Palin be as vapid and puerile as her inane statement suggests.

We will know. In the fullness of time (and I predict, not much time) we will know. Again and again in her statement, Gov. Palin returned to the nettlesome ethics inquiries that have been visited upon her since she signed on to be John McCain's running mate. No doubt they are annoying. But does anyone believe that's why she's resigning? No, there's more to this story. And Ms. Palin's resignation only increases the chances that we will all know the rest of the story soon. Or, as she might put it:

We will all KNOW the "rest of the Story" *((SOON!))*

Waiting with bated breath...

Dear Sarah,

Let me clue you in to something. Bloggers don't scare easily.

...

"I'll sue you for defamation!" is the toothless wonder of the legal world. The bluster is meant to scare people, intimidate them, and get them to be quiet. In this particular case, it's not going to work ...

It's time for you, and your attorney, to STFU and realize your fifteen minutes is up. The more you yell and threaten, the more dirt we're gonna dig up on your ass. If there's one thing we've learned after 8 years of Bush is how to play the Republican game if we have to. Only you know how many skeletons hang in your closet and it's up to you whether they stay there or not. Good luck.

Regards,

Fixer

Yer ass ...

Mr. Aravosis:

Liberal groups, such as MoveOn and SEIU, and liberal bloggers (such as Jane Hamsher and our own Joe Sudbay) have been pressuring Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu to support the public option in health care reform (i.e., some kind of public health insurance plan). Landrieu has been adamantly opposed to anything resembling a public option. So groups like MoveOn have been running ads against her.

Well, our president will have none of that, He want us all to stop trying to get Landrieu to support a public option. Specifically, he wants them to stop running this ad.

Yes, let's not pressure bad Democrats to support keep provisions of the most importance piece of legislation of Obama's presidency, let alone the next decade.

...

Look, Barry, if you don't want a public option, don't even bother. Without the public option, it Ain't. Fucking. Reform.

A Hot Night In Paris With Emmylou!

That would do it for me, as in "You may pat me in the face with a spade now. I are happy!"...

Emmylou Harris & Mark Knopfler ~ Michelangelo

Thanks to poupystar, France.

Let 'er buck, Private!

Me 'n Fixer finally get to crawl out from under them humvees and get to town!

Watch the gal Fixer's dancin' with from about 1:39. She musta known he was comin' and had a coupla extra joints installed! I make my entrance at about 2:05...

A scene from Buck Privates featuring The Andrews Sisters. Thanks to twobarbreak.

Well, I Do Declare...

You can hear some NPR folks read the Declaration Of Independence here. The text is there as well.

My favorite parts in the birth certificate of our nation:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
...

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
...

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

So, how's all that workin' out?

Happy 4th Of July, Kimmy

Sky News

North Korea has test fired seven missiles off its eastern coast, according to South Korea.

Yo, NK - fire a few off yer west coast and see what happens! Heh.

The move is likely to be seen as another act of defiance against the US - coming as it does on Independence Day.

I think what we need, since it's Independence Day, is a little time-on-target exercise. Every U.S. base and sub that's got missiles should fire 'em so they explode above North Korea at the same time high enough that they can be seen from Tokyo to Beijing. The warheads should be loaded with fireworks that spell out, in Korean and English:

"Kim Jong-Il Sucks Wet Monkey Ass"

5 fucking years????!!!!

[A big welcome to Jim's readers @ Skippy's.]

Yep, Gord and I (and the rest of the bloggers who've graced our page) have been 'giving our opinions' on ... well ... everything for 5 years.

I am appreciative of all the readers and commenters who've come through this place over the past half-decade. You've made this so much more than the anger management class it started out as, a way to 'rage against the machine', and I thank you for your input, feedback, and friendship.

As I've said many times, without you guys, the Brain would be nothing more than graffiti - a couple old guys writing on the wall.

I wish you all a safe and happy 4th.

Independence Day

I've posted this song before and I like it so I'm doing it again. The song is about spousal abuse, but it hits on other levels as well. Check out some of the lyrics;

"Let the weak be strong"

Ya listenin', Dems?

"Let the Right be wrong"

Ain't they always?

"Let the guilty pay"

Bush/neocon/Repug reference. Fuckin' A.

"It's Independence Day"

Best one in years, too. Have a good one. My unsolicited, free advice on this day is translated from the Chinese - "Light fuse. Retire quickly."

Martina McBride ~ Independence Day

Thanks to icechick65.

And yes, Hannity plays this song. Click on the 'before' link above and read what the gal who wrote the song and I have to say about that. Also, click on the video after it starts and read the first few comments.

As The Moose Turd Turns

USA Today

A spokesman reports Sarah Palin is resigning as Alaska governor effective July 26.

Yeesh. Good for Alaska. The rest of us are fucked until she burns out on the national political scene. Sooner rather than later would be good.

Update:

Go see The Coming Scandal Behind the Resignation.

Thanks, Nancy.

Operation Khanjar

Photo gallery from the Marine operation in Afghanistan.

A U.S. Marine from 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. runs to a new position on July 3, 2009 in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan. The Marines are part of Operation Khanjar which was launched to take areas in the Southern Helmand Province that Taliban fighters are using as a supply route and to help the local Afghan population prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

If I saw this, er, presidential election worker approaching my front door, I think I'd

a) Give up

b) Identify myself as a former member of 3rd Battalion 8th Marines and hope nobody in 3rd Battalion ever fucked this guy over, and

c) State loudly and clearly, "Your man's got my vote. Which one o' them sonsabitches is he?"

So far, the grunt outfits I can identify in this op are 1/5 ("Make Peace, Or Die" - you tell 'em they shouldn'ta used the comma!), and 2/8 ("America’s battalion").

Marines have tribal memories.

One-Five fought at places like Guadalcanal, the Chosin Reservoir, Hue City, and Fallujah.

Two-Eight fought at Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa, and Grenada, and served in Lebanon in 1958 and mounted out for the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Marines are indoctrinated from birth not to let their forebears down. I'm sure these young Marines in Helmand Province will do 'em proud.

BTW, my old outfit's motto is "Fortuna Favet Fortibus", which I think translates as "Good Luck Not Pukin' On The Bus Back To Base".

Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure

Another good article by Robert Parry. Not too long and a 'recommended read', just to keep fresh in our minds the biggest crime of the 21st century so far which is still going on and will haunt our country for generations to come. Thanks, George.

President Barack Obama and Iraqi leaders may try to sugarcoat the bitter pill for the United States by talking up the achievements of the six-year occupation, but the public celebrations by Iraqis marking the American pullout from Iraq’s cities tell the painful story of a U.S. strategic failure.

The big news organizations also didn’t want to admit their own complicity in this crime since almost everyone in American journalism, who wanted to keep a comfortable seat at the Establishment’s table, either endorsed the enterprise or kept quiet.

So even today – more than five months after Bush left office – it’s still much easier to dismiss what happened as “unnecessary,” to cite the pre-war “intelligence failures,” and to criticize Bush primarily for his tactical misjudgments in planning an effective occupation -- not committing enough troops and not having a detailed enough post-invasion plan.

Accusing him of criminality is much trickier. After all, in the view of the mainstream news media, war crimes are something that “rogue states” commit, petty tyrants from Rwanda or Yugoslavia who can then be dragged off to The Hague and put on trial.

Such humiliations are not for the former “Leader of the Free World” and his subordinates (nor for an ex-British prime minister). [...]

At this point, chances of any serious accountability look slim to none. Though a vocal supporter of international law, President Obama has made it clear that he won’t tolerate any serious investigation of the Bush administration’s crimes. Obama says he wants “to look forward, not backward.”

As part of that ducking of the past, Obama also can be expected to avoid describing the war as a failure. That would only provoke Republicans and right-wing pundits to accuse him of defeatism and “apologizing for America.”

Instead, to protect the withdrawal’s political flanks, Obama will pretend that the sacrifice of American troops achieved great things in Iraq.

The irony was that Bush’s desire to use the SOFA to cement a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq had the opposite result.

Given broad Iraqi opposition to the U.S. occupation, Iraqi political factions decided to position themselves as defenders of the nation’s sovereignty, not as American puppets.

The likely outcome in Iraq now appears to be the departure of U.S. forces with Washington left with little to show for its investment in blood and treasure. As the Washington Post reported on June 30, “there is little talk among U.S. commanders and diplomats of engineering a victory in the 2½ years they expect to remain here.”

For the United States, memories of its military intervention in a country halfway around the world may fade gradually into history, swallowed by the shifting sands of the ancient land of Mesopotamia, another chapter of failed imperial overreach in that region, a long and bloody saga dating back to Biblical times.

Despite the terrible price in lives, money and prestige, little may remain of Bush’s macho adventure besides the eventual recognition of a painful strategic defeat for the United States.

It's what happens when you let a moral weakling get put in charge by neocon/corporate criminals. We haven't yet begun to see the damage Bush let them cause. Nor are any of us alive today likely to see the end of it.

FBI Ignored Bush-Hussein Ties

Just so we don't forget.

Robert Parry

The FBI has released reports on 20 interviews and five conversations conducted with Iraq’s deposed dictator Saddam Hussein before he was put to death, but none of the disclosed Q and A deals with the role of the Reagan administration in delivering key components for Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s.

The gaps in the FBI reports also underscore the historical travesty that resulted from the Bush administration’s handling of Saddam Hussein after his capture on Dec. 13, 2003, near Tikrit, eight months after the U.S.-led invasion toppled his government.

Instead of being turned over to the international criminal court at The Hague, where he could have been thoroughly interrogated, Hussein was kept under tight U.S. control until he was handed over to his Iraqi enemies on Dec. 30, 2006, for a chaotic hanging.

While President George W. Bush and many of his supporters were thrilled with the execution – what the New York Times called Bush’s “triumphal bookend” to the Iraq invasion – the hanging was not just rough justice meted out to a harsh dictator. It also snuffed out a dangerous witness who could have implicated senior Republicans, including Bush’s father.

Important chapters of history died with Hussein on the gallows. Hussein was a unique witness with the broadest knowledge about who arranged and sold the precursor components for his unconventional weapons that were used to kill Iranian troops and Iraqi civilians.

In death, Hussein couldn’t disclose what George W. Bush’s first Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during that famous hand-shake meeting in 1983, nor whether he got an alleged message from Vice President George H.W. Bush in the mid-1980s about how best to deploy Iraq’s air force against Iran, nor if then-deputy CIA director Robert Gates was running interference for Iraq’s military supply line in the 1980s.

It was the elder George Bush, as Vice President, who allegedly oversaw the covert U.S. operation to assist Hussein’s war machine during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War; Rumsfeld, as special U.S. envoy to the Middle East, held private chats with the Iraqi dictator about his war needs; and Gates, as a senior CIA official, reportedly rebuffed Israeli protests about U.S. tolerance for third-country military shipments to Iraq, including precursor chemicals.

All those important Republicans and more could breathe a little easier after the hangman’s noose choked the life out of Hussein. (Gates remains in government as President Barack Obama's defense secretary.)

Confirmed: God is slightly gay

Mark Morford

Behold, the ongoing, increasingly startling research: homosexual and bisexual behavior, it turns out, is rampant in the animal kingdom. And by rampant, I mean proving to be damn near universal, commonplace across all species everywhere, existing for myriad reasons ranging from pure survival and procreative influence, right on over to pure pleasure, co-parenting, giddy screeching multiple monkey orgasm, even love, and a few dozen other potential explanations science hasn't quite figured out yet. Imagine.

Are you thinking, why sure, everyone knows about those sex-crazed dolphins and those superslut bonobo monkeys and the few other godless creatures like them, the sea turtles and the weird sheep and such, creatures who obviously haven't read Leviticus. But that's about it, right? Most animals are devoutly hetero and straight and damn happy about it, right?

Wrong.

"Giddy screeching multiple monkey orgasm". Get that visual outta yer head. Heh.

We're goin' shopping. See yas later.

What the world needs now ...

Is a nuclear detonation. Athenae:

...

It's finally happened. They broke my brain.

...

The crap that's been coming out of conservatives lately is beyond crazy.

"... They're waiting for you at Bellevue
With their oxygen masks ..."

Apologies to the Boss.



And of course Bruce's record company won't let YouTube play his stuff so I stole this from zerobio who does a great job with the tune.

Update:

More scary crazy.

Yeah, let's see ...

If our spineless Dems actually grow a ball now that they have the 'Magic 60'. Mr. Aravosis (in toto):

Well, this should be interesting. We've been hearing for years that the only thing stopping the Democratic party from asserting itself, from following through on its promises, was the lack of that all-mighty 60-vote majority in the Senate. And now they have it. So, Senator Reid, and President Obama, bring it on.

Oops, never mind.

Ain't shit gonna change.

Wednesday Afternoon 'Hiking The Appalachian Trail' Music Blogging

This goes out to Mark from Jenny and everybody else in South Carolina.

Why Don't You Just Say Goodbye - Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike Featuring Becky Buller on vocal

Thanks to BlueGrassRootsTV.

"two-faced political ideology."

This article in the EssEffChron about one California county sums up Repug - and some Democratic - hypocrisy beautifully:

Sprawling across the northeastern corner of California, this huge, thickly forested county with more cows than people epitomizes the Western frontier - and what seems to be a two-faced political ideology.

Modoc has the highest Republican registration of any county in California, it unfailingly elects anti-tax Republicans to office, and the vote here against last month's ballot measure that would have raised a variety of taxes was one of the most lopsided in the state. And yet, per capita, Modoc County gets more state taxpayer dollars than all but one of California's 58 counties.

The prevailing attitude among the right-wing ranchers and modern hippies who define Modoc County is of fierce self-reliance - but more people here than just about anywhere else depend on welfare checks of some kind to get by.

So with state Republicans blocking new taxes and insisting on deep cuts in taxpayer-funded services, does that make this most solid of GOP bases politically conflicted? Or, worse, just plain ignorant?

Yes.

Shorter: Government should stay the fuck out of our lives. Except for sending us other people's money.

Much more in the article.