Saturday, December 17, 2011

It's official!

This is from 2 1/2 years ago:
DoD Training Manual: Protests are "Low-Level Terrorism"

Shorter: Actually use your 1st Amendment rights instead of just paying lip service to them and you risk indefinite detention without due process.

This is not the United States I swore to protect.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Making Believe
Hello Stranger

Thanks to mondoBLIND.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Who Says Newt Doesn’t Share JFK’s Vision

SPR

“I believe this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing poor inner city children on the moon, so that they can mine minerals, and return those minerals safely to the earth.”

Heh. Justin Bieber can play the Sean Connery role in the remake of Outland.

Will Iraq Debacle Prevent Iran War?

Robert Parry. Worth a read.

Neoconservatives are livid over President Obama’s declaration that the Iraq War is over, fearing that its disastrous outcome will undercut plans for a new war with Iran. But Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich says, if elected, he stands ready to join Israel in invading Iran,

I don't think we have to worry about Neut, but we have to watch the fucking neocons like a hawk.

But the Iraq debacle, now given a stamp of finality by Obama’s removal of the last U.S. combat troops, threatens to solidify among many Americans a recognition that they were “had” by the neocons, that the Iraq War was a terrible mistake that shouldn’t be repeated again.

So, the neocons must move quickly to change that perception, by asserting that the war had actually been “won” by Bush but that Obama “lost” it. That way, Americans won’t close the door on the next neocon adventure, a war with Iran.

We can only hope our press learned their lesson from the terrible way they mishandled themselves in the run-up to Iraq and will counter neocon lies with facts, maybe even some truth this time. They say they have, but...

IMNSHO, neocons are like Nazis - kill them where they stand.

The debts ...

Pierce looks at what we owe after this horrible, misbegotten war:

...

We owe some terrible bills to the world for blundering around like a blind ape with a bazooka in the most volatile section of the planet. We owe them to the world for sneering at the French and laughing at the Canadians when they wouldn't follow us into the quagmire just because we said they should. We owe them to the world for our belief in our invincibility. If we'd armor-plated our Humvees as thickly as our politicians armor-plated their self-righteousness, a lot of soldiers would still be alive. We owe them to the world for re-electing C-Plus Augustus and his soulless vice-president in the middle of what we already knew was a hubristic bungle of historic proportions.

...

Real simple ...



Click to embiggen.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

WHAT?!

TPM

Aryan Nations Leader Sentenced For Fraud After Feds Investigated Al Qaeda Ties

Shorter: This bastard likes al Qaeda because they hate Jews.

Kreis pleaded guilty to fraud in August after lying to Veterans Administration officials to get pension money. He had served in the Navy for nine months during the Vietnam War, but was discharged early “based upon a determination that he was not suited for military service.”
...

The Feds didn’t find a connection to Al Qaeda, but they soon discovered that though Kreis had qualified for a need-based “improved pension” for his military service, he did not report over $33,000 in income he made in 2005, and made false statements to the Veterans Administration that he had made no outside income that year.

Nine months in the Navy and a General Discharge and he gets a fucking PENSION? What the fuck is going on here?

What Barack Obama Should Have Said While Announcing the End of the Iraq War (Rude Version)

You Know Whom

"So I apologize for this war. Yes, I have blood on my hands from my own violence against the world. But not this anymore. We're exiting Iraq because we never should have been there in the first place. I apologize for this war that was forced on you by George W. Bush and his advisers. The only proper punishment would be to have them all on stage here, all of 'em, Bush, Cheney, Condi, Colin Powell, Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, everyone who ever lied to you about WMDs and Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11, everyone who worked to frighten the American public into a savage froth, each and every one of these cunts, Tony Blair, all the leaders in the coerced coalition of the willing, all of the war profiteers who made millions of dollars.

"And then we'd make them drop their pants. And we'd let all of you line up to fuck them in the ass. The women soldiers can use strap-ons or their fists. That's right: fuck them until they collapse. Fuck them until they can't breathe. Fuck the mechanical heart right out of Cheney's despicable mouth. Fuck them for everyone who died, for everyone who's fucked up, for everyone who can't sleep without having nightmares. Fuck them for the Jessica Lynch lie and for Pat Tillman. Fuck them with a spider hole and Saddam's statue and a 'Mission Accomplished' banner and yellow cake uranium. Fuck them with IEDs and Abu Ghraib leashes. Fuck them for Halliburton and Blackwater. Fuck them in Fallujah and Mosul and Baghdad. Fuck them with shock. Fuck them with awe. And when they're done being fucked and their asses are ripped up and they're on the ground, contemplating what just happened to them, we'll dump vats of blood on them, the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who were killed because of the madness inflicted on two nations, on the world. And then we'll give 'em to the Hague.

Too close to the truth for any politician to say out loud.

Update:

Fixer and I posted these within 5 minutes of one another. That's never happened before in 7+ years and 18,000+ posts.

Flagrant larceny ...

I'm stealing this from the Rude One in toto because this is exactly how I feel about this horrible war that's finally over:

[President Obama gave a speech at Fort Bragg yesterday to declare the end of the 8.75 year war in Iraq. It was measured and vague. Here's what he should have said:

"More than 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq. 1.5 million. Over 30,000 Americans have been wounded, and those are only the wounds that show. Nearly 4,500 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice. To all of them, to all of you, and to your families, I just want to say, 'We're sorry.' I mean, holy shit are we sorry. We can't say how sorry we are. I could have a couple of hundred thousand prostitutes ready to fuck each and every one of you, and that wouldn't scratch the surface of how sorry we are. By the way, we do not have those prostitutes because John Boehner refused to fund them.

"I look out there on all of your tired, confused, if relieved faces. Some of you have fond memories of building schools or playgrounds, of happy Iraqi children smiling at you, of people thanking you for ridding the nation of Saddam Hussein. But you're all wondering, 'What the fuck was that for?' And, to be honest, I cannot tell you. I can tell you that it was all a colossal clusterfuck and a waste of time and lives and money, for several reasons.

"First, within the next few years, Iraq is going to descend into chaos, and there is not a goddamned thing we can do about it unless we want to overthrow the government and install someone who is totally our puppet and stay there in large numbers forever. But, c'mon, if these fuckers wanna kill each other, it's gonna happen, whether it's Shi'ites from Iran or Sunnis from Syria making the violence roll. People gotta start this shit from within. That's what we learned this year in places like Tunisia and Libya. And it could still end up with fucking chaos.

"Second, you're returning to an America that this war, among other things, has serious fucked up. You're not gonna get jobs. You're not gonna get the help you need. If you're on unemployment, we can't even guarantee that that'll last. Sure, sure, I can say that we passed the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, so that you and your families can get the education that allows you to live out your dreams. That includes a national effort to put our veterans to work. We’ve worked with Congress to pass a tax credit so that companies have the incentive to hire vets. And Michelle has worked with the private sector to get commitments to create 100,000 jobs for those who’ve served. But, c'mon. We've fucked ourselves with our own dicks. And when push comes to shove, you know those Republican cocksuckers in Congress will cut your benefits so that Johnny Billionaire can afford more cocaine and bigger tits for his wife and daughter.

"Now, I wanna be honest with you. I wanted to leave about 3000 of you there, along with the thousands of mercenaries we've hired, to keep the peace and so that these fuckers back here in DC wouldn't say that I'm wimping out or that I failed. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, John McCain. Shut your whore mouth, or you'll see the backside of my pimp hand. It's sad but true that the filthy game of politics infected this sore. The RNC probably already has an ad online about what a pussy I am, even if we are leaving an embassy and 15,000 Americans, including a couple of hundred soldiers.

"Some of you may be wondering why we're not declaring 'Victory' today. That's because there hasn't been victory. There was never gonna be a victory because there was never a real goal. There has only been shame brought upon the nation and death and destruction brought to the Iraqis. Oh, and purple ink for voting. There was that. When he started the war, President Bush said, clearly, 'Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.' That was a miserable lie made by a motherfucker who was trying to act tough. This war was the indulgence of a United States that the previous administration wrecked.

"So I apologize for this war. Yes, I have blood on my hands from my own violence against the world. But not this anymore. We're exiting Iraq because we never should have been there in the first place. I apologize for this war that was forced on you by George W. Bush and his advisers. The only proper punishment would be to have them all on stage here, all of 'em, Bush, Cheney, Condi, Colin Powell, Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, everyone who ever lied to you about WMDs and Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11, everyone who worked to frighten the American public into a savage froth, each and every one of these cunts, Tony Blair, all the leaders in the coerced coalition of the willing, all of the war profiteers who made millions of dollars.

"And then we'd make them drop their pants. And we'd let all of you line up to fuck them in the ass. The women soldiers can use strap-ons or their fists. That's right: fuck them until they collapse. Fuck them until they can't breathe. Fuck the mechanical heart right out of Cheney's despicable mouth. Fuck them for everyone who died, for everyone who's fucked up, for everyone who can't sleep without having nightmares. Fuck them for the Jessica Lynch lie and for Pat Tillman. Fuck them with a spider hole and Saddam's statue and a 'Mission Accomplished' banner and yellow cake uranium. Fuck them with IEDs and Abu Ghraib leashes. Fuck them for Halliburton and Blackwater. Fuck them in Fallujah and Mosul and Baghdad. Fuck them with shock. Fuck them with awe. And when they're done being fucked and their asses are ripped up and they're on the ground, contemplating what just happened to them, we'll dump vats of blood on them, the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who were killed because of the madness inflicted on two nations, on the world. And then we'll give 'em to the Hague.

"That's what we should do. But we won't. Because that'd be divisive. And Lord knows I wouldn't want to be divisive."
]

The costs ...

Reading this, I'm brought back to the last M*A*S*H episode, when they're all in the OR with Armed Forces Radio on, and the costs of the Korean War are broadcast:

...

But when weighing those possible benefits against the costs of the Iraq intervention, there is simply no conceivable calculus by which Operation Iraqi Freedom can be judged to have been a successful or worthwhile policy. The war was intended to show the extent of America’s power. It succeeded only in showing its limits.

...

Good thing ...

Christine O'Donnell doesn't live in Saudi:

...

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.

...


And these are our friends in the region?

It's official ...

The war in Iraq is over.

The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.

The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.

...


It wasn't worth one drop of American blood or one dime of American treasure.

Wolcott on Neut ...

A short, but good, apologia from the master:

...

Allow me to say this in my puny defence, however. One reason I’m such a wayward prognosticator of rightwing trends is that I’m incapable of blacking out enough neural sectors to see the world through reptilian-brained eyes, a prerequisite for any true channeling of the mean resentments and implanted fears that drive hardcore conservatives ...


At this point, I go under the assumption that nothing is too far out of bounds for any of the GOP, especially Neut.

Great thanks to Drifty for the link.

The Republican Brain ...



Pic stolen from Yellow Dog. Click to induce swelling.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Screaming Doom Fetus saves Christmas

Shopping day today (No Xmas shopping. Ours consisted of a gift certificate at a tattoo parlor for Mrs. G's niece and a check to her nephew so he can buy stuff for us to give to his kids. Easy.) so I'll leave ya with Wednesday's Child Morford riffing on Heavy Metal:

What are you into, citizen? Goth fisting indie horticulture beer making? Hipster artisan pho served in tiny German bird skulls? Foreign films featuring knitting and very large trucks? Finnish speed guitar gods with umlauts where their names used to be? Here is a link. Here is a community. Here is a person who would like to perhaps share in your fetish/interest/kink/genre from afar. Be alone no more. Or rather, be even more alone, but share your crushing aloneness with others just like you. Yay technology!

One'a you youngbloods translate the column for me, please. I didn't understand a word of it. Thank you, Jesus.

"It's a shit fight in a monkey house"

The Rude Pundit on Ron Paul v Neutie:

They're both nuts. They're just different flavors of nuts. For Paul, there's one guiding principle: "Don't spend any fucking money." That's why he opposes wars. That's why he opposes almost everything, including programs to get teenagers off drugs. For Newt, it's all about centering as much power as possible in himself because he is so right in his rightness. It's a shit fight in a monkey house. And all you can do is watch the feces fly.

I'm sure glad there's glass between me and that. Heh. Extra butter, please!

Nothing a proper application of high explosives won't fix...

Thanks to YubaNet.

Heh ...



Click to embiggen.

I support Newt Gingrich ...

For the GOP presidential nomination:

In the most pronounced contrast between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s position within the Republican primary contest and his standing in a matchup against President Obama, Gingrich has taken a commanding lead in a new national poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Newt gets 40 percent of the GOP vote nationally, the highest total for any candidate in the past few months. He’s currently 17 points above his main competitor, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

But the data also shows that Gingrich is a much weaker candidate against President Obama nationally. While Romney is only bested by the President by two points within the poll, Gingrich is crushed 51 - 40, showing the expansive disconnect between the GOP voters’ desire to have a non-Romney candidate and the chances that candidate has in the general election. [my em]

...

Quote of the Day

Professor Krugman on the GOP's flogging of the "debt crisis":

...

The entire debate has been fake. If you don’t understand that, or can’t bring yourself to admit it, you’re missing the whole story.