* 'Teener' is slang for a sixteenth of an ounce of white snortin' dope. Just sayin'...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
In honor of Benny the Teener's* visit
Headin' out for a Shopping Saturday, over the hills and through the woods to Carson City. Enjoy.
* 'Teener' is slang for a sixteenth of an ounce of white snortin' dope. Just sayin'...
* 'Teener' is slang for a sixteenth of an ounce of white snortin' dope. Just sayin'...
Missing the point ...
Generally, I understand where folks who I consider heroes were coming from when they said or did the things that made me look up to them. Newtie surely doesn't.
Could you imagine?
Stephanopoulos and Gibson moderating Lincoln v. Douglas:
We'd still be fighting* the Civil War.
...
LINCOLN: Thank you very much, Charlie and George, and thanks to all in the audience and who are out there. I appear before you today for the purpose of discussing the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind.
We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think Mr. Douglas loves America as much you do?
...
We'd still be fighting* the Civil War.
*I know, completely wrong historical reference but you get my point.
Saturday whorage
As usual, the next chapter of Thirty Days at Zeta is up at The Practical Press.
If you're new around here, since I'm whoring, you can still read my earlier postings The Captains and The Fourth Estate too.
Whore your own in comments.
If you're new around here, since I'm whoring, you can still read my earlier postings The Captains and The Fourth Estate too.
Whore your own in comments.
It's bad, you know ...
A commentary on our nation and a tune from one of my favorite bluesmen. Three stoned babes jammin' to the master too.
R. L. Burnside - It's Bad, You Know
Friday, April 18, 2008
Quote of the Day - Zwei
Avedon, speaking to Mr. Aravosis:
Corpses have been elected before, my dear. I'll vote for yer dad before McCain.
... But John, honey, about the age thing: My father would still make a better president than McShame, and he's dead ...
Corpses have been elected before, my dear. I'll vote for yer dad before McCain.
It's official: Iraq war 'a major debacle' with outcome 'in doubt'
McClatchy, God bless 'em.
I hope Bush hangs last. I want him to stand there while all the other architects of the Iraq blunder/war crime drop to their deaths. I want each one to tell him how right they all were on their way to Hell.
The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.
The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.
The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.
It was published by the university's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center.
"Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle," says the report's opening line.
"For many analysts (including this one), Iraq remains a 'must win,' but for many others, despite obvious progress under General David Petraeus and the surge, it now looks like a 'can't win.'"
The report lays much of the blame for what went wrong in Iraq after the initial U.S. victory at the feet of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. It says that in November 2001, before the war in Afghanistan was over, President Bush asked Rumsfeld "to begin planning in secret for potential military operations against Iraq."
Compounding the problem was a series of faulty assumptions made by Bush's top aides, among them an expectation fed by Iraqi exiles that Iraqis would be grateful to America for liberating them from Saddam's dictatorship. The administration also expected that "Iraq without Saddam could manage and fund its own reconstruction."
The report also singles out the Bush administration's national security apparatus and implicitly President Bush and both of his national security advisers, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, saying that "senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect."
I hope Bush hangs last. I want him to stand there while all the other architects of the Iraq blunder/war crime drop to their deaths. I want each one to tell him how right they all were on their way to Hell.
Congressman introduces bill to decriminalize personal marijuana use
Raw Story
Rohrabacher? Normally an embarrassment to my state, he done OK this time.
Amen, brother.
Congressman Barney Frank today introduced bi-partisan legislation aimed at removing federal restrictions on the individual use of marijuana. One bill would remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana, and the other – versions of which Frank has filed in several preceding sessions of Congress – would allow the medical use of marijuana in states that have chosen to make its use for medical purposes legal with a doctor’s recommendation. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) joined Frank as a cosponsor of the federal penalties bill. The cosponsors of the medical marijuana bill are Rep. Paul, along with Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Sam Farr (D-CA).
Rohrabacher? Normally an embarrassment to my state, he done OK this time.
To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree. But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe it is important with regard to tobacco, marijuana and alcohol, among other things, that we strictly regulate the age at which people may use these substances. And, enforcement of age restrictions should be firm. But, criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.”
Amen, brother.
Dear George 'n Charlie: Ya done screwed the pooch big time
Will Bunch blisters some ass. A 'recommended read'.
George and Charlie should have to eat dinner off the mantelpiece for about a week, as my Dad used used to say before one of my frequent trips to the woodshed.
Bonus twofer: a piece on the same subject by Katrina vanden Heuvel on the same page.
Update: See also Greg Mitchell's take.
Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos,
Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter. This. Must . Stop. Tonight, if possible. I thought that we had hit rock bottom in March 2003, when we failed to ask the tough questions in the run-up to the Iraq war. But this feels even lower. We need to pick ourselves up, right now, and start doing our job - to take a deep breath and remind ourselves of what voters really need to know, and how we get there, that's it's not all horserace and "gotcha." Although, to be blunt, I would also urge the major candidates in 2012 to agree only to debates that are organized by the League of Women Voters, with citizen moderators and questioners. Because we have proven without a doubt in 2008 that working journalists don't deserve to be the debate "deciders."
George and Charlie should have to eat dinner off the mantelpiece for about a week, as my Dad used used to say before one of my frequent trips to the woodshed.
Bonus twofer: a piece on the same subject by Katrina vanden Heuvel on the same page.
Update: See also Greg Mitchell's take.
Good. God.
John McCain is an idiot.
Problem is, a good portion of Americans think he's the greatest thing since Wonder took a knife to bread. Obviously the economy is rolling along just fine thanks to the Chimp's policies and the best thing we can do is continue them for another four years ... at the least.
To quote the lovely Liss:
Problem is, a good portion of Americans think he's the greatest thing since Wonder took a knife to bread. Obviously the economy is rolling along just fine thanks to the Chimp's policies and the best thing we can do is continue them for another four years ... at the least.
To quote the lovely Liss:
FAIL.
And not just a little fail, either. Massive fail constructed from grade-A failery, with lots of little faily bits all over it.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Quote of the Day
The General Accountability Office:
Now that our American chickenshits have given up our civil rights so the Chimp 'can keep us safer', I hope they can sleep well.
...
The United States Lacks a Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
...
Now that our American chickenshits have given up our civil rights so the Chimp 'can keep us safer', I hope they can sleep well.
Hip-hop? Technometal? No, no, no - Bhangra!
I am so fucking sick of campaign 'news', both sides, particularly after last night's so-called 'debate'. I mean, that was only the second one out of the twenty or so that was actually on a free over-the-air network where people could see it, and it might as well have been a Britney-Lindsay hair-pull and tit-yank. It was a huge success - ABC's ratings went up. Me 'n Mrs. G took advantage of the time to do something that mattered. We went out and bought dog food.
Anyway, I was reading the papers this morning (us old farts do that, you know!), trying desperately to find something without the words 'Clinton' or 'Obama' or 'straight talker'. I lucked out, and so did you, dear reader!
I came across one answer to Fixer's burning question, "Why do they hate San Francisco?". Leaving aside for another time whether it is a wise decision to air-drop moth hormones on a somewhat sexually and socially dis-oriented burg like that (picture legions of homeless people flitting around your porch light, just for example), I found something that'll scare skid marks into shorts all across the midwest and south when it gets to them: Bhangra!
From the EssEffChron:
"No one is doing it quite like us" could be Frisco's motto!
Look out, Kansas. Indian music ain't just for convenience stores and motels any more, and this is just one variety. Your kids will pick up on this California trend like they've been doing for generations (remember car-top surfboards in Shawnee Mission?). They'll be dressing like this and groovin' to the Punjabi beat before you know what hit ya.
And it's all the fault of Baghdad-by-the-Bay.
My further research turned up 55,900 bhangra videos. After viewing them, I chose the following for your listening and dancing pleasure. I've got a sudden unexplained urge for a plate of curry, which I'll have while you're enjoying this.
Anyway, I was reading the papers this morning (us old farts do that, you know!), trying desperately to find something without the words 'Clinton' or 'Obama' or 'straight talker'. I lucked out, and so did you, dear reader!
I came across one answer to Fixer's burning question, "Why do they hate San Francisco?". Leaving aside for another time whether it is a wise decision to air-drop moth hormones on a somewhat sexually and socially dis-oriented burg like that (picture legions of homeless people flitting around your porch light, just for example), I found something that'll scare skid marks into shorts all across the midwest and south when it gets to them: Bhangra!
From the EssEffChron:
In the 30 years since the ascent of reggae out of Jamaica, other musical genres - Cuban son, Brazilian samba, North American hip-hop - have staked claims to international turf. The newest big player on the global block is bhangra, the ecstatic polyrhythmic music and dance of the Punjab region of northern India.
And the newest capital of bhangra is San Francisco, which - thanks to a monthly happening called Non Stop Bhangra, organized by a passionate collective of the same name - is challenging even London as the music's liveliest center.
Vancouver and New York City harbor thriving bhangra scenes, but "no one is doing it quite like us," Love says.
"No one is doing it quite like us" could be Frisco's motto!
While bhangra is seeping into pop music in tracks by Jay-Z and M.I.A., it's grassroots innovation that is fueling its explosion in San Francisco.
"The U.K. is really taking note of us," Love says, "to a point where they think that next big wave in bhangra and South Asian music is going to happen here."
Look out, Kansas. Indian music ain't just for convenience stores and motels any more, and this is just one variety. Your kids will pick up on this California trend like they've been doing for generations (remember car-top surfboards in Shawnee Mission?). They'll be dressing like this and groovin' to the Punjabi beat before you know what hit ya.
And it's all the fault of Baghdad-by-the-Bay.
My further research turned up 55,900 bhangra videos. After viewing them, I chose the following for your listening and dancing pleasure. I've got a sudden unexplained urge for a plate of curry, which I'll have while you're enjoying this.
Out of touch ...
Cruising around Left Blogtopia (yes! skippy coined that phrase!) via our gigantic blogroll, even on the biggest blogs, you read posts from people who know what it takes to live in what American society these days. You read how the policies of Chimp & Co. actually affect the 'man on the street' and how their lives have been made more difficult and even desperate. Regular Americans speaking out against the injustice perpetrated in their name, against other nations and at home.
And then I read a post about the right's bloggers. Do they care how many regular folks are crushed under the boot of Republican policies? Sadly, No!
When propaganda is what pays the bills, you begin to believe the shit you shovel. I have a lot of interaction with town and county mechanics during the course of the day (they come to us when they have a problem they haven't seen before, or need to borrow something it would take them too long to 'procure' officially). In Nassau County on Long Island (one of the reddest counties in NY), you have to be a registered Republican to get a job in the county garage or the Marine Division. It's a fact of life. These guys are expected to campaign for the Rethug du jour too. Most of these guys actually believe the crap they peddle and they will vote Republican, no matter how much it lightens their wallets (the municipal employees' union is a shadow of what it once was), no matter how much 'productivity' is coaxed out of them while staffs are cut (they're not firing anybody but they're not replacing retirees when they leave either; goes down better that way).
It's sad to see people who are getting hurt not making the connection their association with the Republicans is the cause. It's because they've been told, throughout their lives, that the 'tax and spend Democrats' will put them in the poor house while they support illegal aliens and Jihadists. Thanks to the Rethug Propaganda Machine, they believe the Dems are the reason their property taxes have gone up so much in the last 8 years. They believe the Dems caused the price and unavailability of health insurance and they believe it's Hillary's fault. They believe Obama will give more to the 'welfare queens' (blacks of course) at the expense of 'hard working people' (whites of course). It's what they've been taught to believe by the Rethugs and the corporate media.
It's why I don't have much hope of seeing a Dem in the White House. The Rethugs stacked the deck over the last generation and the Dems are too inept to overcome the disadvantage. Maybe they believe the propaganda too?
Off to work ... wish it was Friday.
And then I read a post about the right's bloggers. Do they care how many regular folks are crushed under the boot of Republican policies? Sadly, No!
When you’re living on wingnut welfare it’s really hard to imagine how the other half lives, I suppose.
When propaganda is what pays the bills, you begin to believe the shit you shovel. I have a lot of interaction with town and county mechanics during the course of the day (they come to us when they have a problem they haven't seen before, or need to borrow something it would take them too long to 'procure' officially). In Nassau County on Long Island (one of the reddest counties in NY), you have to be a registered Republican to get a job in the county garage or the Marine Division. It's a fact of life. These guys are expected to campaign for the Rethug du jour too. Most of these guys actually believe the crap they peddle and they will vote Republican, no matter how much it lightens their wallets (the municipal employees' union is a shadow of what it once was), no matter how much 'productivity' is coaxed out of them while staffs are cut (they're not firing anybody but they're not replacing retirees when they leave either; goes down better that way).
It's sad to see people who are getting hurt not making the connection their association with the Republicans is the cause. It's because they've been told, throughout their lives, that the 'tax and spend Democrats' will put them in the poor house while they support illegal aliens and Jihadists. Thanks to the Rethug Propaganda Machine, they believe the Dems are the reason their property taxes have gone up so much in the last 8 years. They believe the Dems caused the price and unavailability of health insurance and they believe it's Hillary's fault. They believe Obama will give more to the 'welfare queens' (blacks of course) at the expense of 'hard working people' (whites of course). It's what they've been taught to believe by the Rethugs and the corporate media.
It's why I don't have much hope of seeing a Dem in the White House. The Rethugs stacked the deck over the last generation and the Dems are too inept to overcome the disadvantage. Maybe they believe the propaganda too?
Off to work ... wish it was Friday.
What got 6 million killed ...
60 years ago is still at work today. The politics of hate and fear or, in Republican parlance, the Southern Strategy:
...
Which gives us the past 30 years of this bullshit whereby it's always somebody else's fault, somebody's always coming to get you, and anybody telling you different is just someone else for you to hate. Which gives us Bush, and this election, and everything in between, and it's gonna keep happening until there's nothing left in our mouths but ashes.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
You, you, you, and you ...
You're all volunteers:
I thought Green Zone duty was the key to success in the Republican Party? Hey, Dan Senor got Campbell Brown, right? What are ya afraid of? They're only mortars ...
The State Department has warned U.S. diplomats that they may be required to serve in Iraq next year if there are insufficient volunteers to fill job openings there, U.S. officials said.
...
I thought Green Zone duty was the key to success in the Republican Party? Hey, Dan Senor got Campbell Brown, right? What are ya afraid of? They're only mortars ...
Will Lincoln Survive "Gettysburg" Comments?
Freewayblogger with a comment on the sad state of punditry.
These clowns are on the air 24/7 and would rather pick the flyshit out of the pepper than discuss anything of actual substance. It's probably a good thing that nobody but us political junkies listens to them.
Transcript from "Hannity's America"
November 20, 1863
Pat Buchanan: I know it's a small point, but isn't "Abraham" a Jewish name?
These clowns are on the air 24/7 and would rather pick the flyshit out of the pepper than discuss anything of actual substance. It's probably a good thing that nobody but us political junkies listens to them.
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