Git a rope!

This is from the Chimp's hometown newspaper:

These people stole our White House. They bastardized all four branches of our Government. They have done nothing for the People, not one thing the majority of the People have wanted.

If you haven't read between the lines, then I'll spell it out: I'm so damned pissed off I could chew nails!

You should be, too.

America and the rest of Planet Earth can't take another three years of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rice, Rumsfeld and the rest! And they don't deserve more time.

It has been 1,914 days since the Rehnquist Supreme Court allowed this illegal oligarchy overthrow of our Government. It's high time we take it back.

Richard M. Nixon was tossed out of office for far less, and Spiro T. Agnew left the vice-presidency in disgrace over what amounted to a minor infraction compared to Cheney's dishonorable, greedy, un-American activities.

Impeach the lot of the George W. Bush and Karl Rove Cabal.

Note to Georgie: This is from the Barbarians at your Gate.

If my hometown paper said shit like that about me, I'd reconsider whatever it was they said I was doing wrong. Just before I snuck moved away in the dead of night to avoid bein' tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Or to avoid being the guest of honor at a necktie party.

"I'm from the government and..."

This is telling, if not particularly comforting, about our government's mindset as to what our troops need to know about cultural sensitivity in Iraq. From Liberation.fr:

Before rushing into Iraq, Captain Fick's men learned two phrases in Arabic: "Stop or I'll shoot!" and "We're here to help you."

I'm sure a great career in Federal domestic 'law enforcement' awaits these troops upon their discharge. And they can say these phrases in English, along with "Show me your papers" and "Tough shit about your door".

Today

I'm just getting ready to head off. I'll be bringing the Mrs. home this morning since the last of the pathology came back negative for cancer last night. Dr. Abu-Rustum says she's proceeding ahead of schedule in her recovery too. Yay!!!

I'd just like to thank the folks at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for their competence, professionalism, caring, and thoughtfulness. A very impressive team who took great care of my wife and didn't have a problem with me showing up in the wee hours of the morning, 2 hours before the normal visiting hours, and hanging around for half the day. Special thanks to Ofor (yes, that's his name), the Army medic (Reservist) who just came back from Iraq and is pursuing his nursing degree while he works at Sloan as an aide. He doted on my wife, making sure she was comfortable and wanted for nothing. Thanks, man. I'm eternally in your debt, brother.

Several folks have asked where to send flowers. I'd rather, in lieu of sending anything to us, you make a donation to Sloan-Kettering for what the flowers or gift would cost. Flowers die but your gift to them can help folks who really need it.

Once again I'd like to thank all of you who've left good words and wishes in comments or who've emailed me directly. The generosity of concern has been overwhelming. Thank you on behalf or the Mrs. and Shayna.

Now we work on getting back to normal.

On message

I hear guys saying the Dems don't have a message, like my link to Matt Stoller's post this morning.

...

Yes, it's that bad. I've been told that the way to gain power in the Democratic caucus is to get elected, and then this is key, to not die. That's how you become a committee leader. And apparently to become leader you promise not to rock the boat and make sure that every gets their precious little committee assignment, regardless of merit. Listen to this pathetic podcast by Representaive Frank Pallone, who jokes about what a bad job he's doing as the Democratic member in charge of 'message'. Yes, in fact that's his job as the Communications Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, where he "coordinates the party's message on the floor of the House of Representatives."

...

And then guys like Bill Press who get all incensed and proceed to lay out the Dem agenda:

...

Looking at mid-term elections of 2006, political reporters are incapable of writing about all the monumental screw-ups of George Bush and Republicans, without immediately adding: Yeah, but Democrats are worse.

...

Look, they might have a plan and an agenda. They might even have a message. But it's not the correct message. This is what should be beaten like a rented mule until Election Day:

The Republican Party is an organized criminal enterprise.

That's it. Simple. One coordinated message that comes out of every Dem pie hole whenever they're in front of a camera. I don't have to give examples, pick a couple from the big pile. DeLay, Abramoff, Cunningham, Halliburton, Iraq, New Orleans and tie 'em all together with the money they've stolen from the treasury and their constituents. That's the message.

...a stunning warning

From Attytood:

Sandra Day O'Connor rips into GOP, DeLay, Cornyn, and warns of the "beginnings" of dictatorship

This has to do with pols going against judges whose rulings they don't agree with and the possible outcome. It's a "should read".

Half, dammit

Half of us believe Man was spat, fully-formed, on the face of this earth by God...literally. Someone please kill me.

A Veteran's Letter to the President

Go read it at Main and Central.

Not About Brazilian Pube Jobs?

The Rude One goes off on Laura Bush. Doesn't really mean a damn thing, but it's funnier'n shit.

Unless it's "Jesus Christ, you're on fire" or "Let me lick that clean for you," the Rude Pundit doesn't give a happy monkey fuck what Laura Bush has to say.

Christ, sex between them must be like watching a circus clown fuck a balloon animal.

...Laura droned on about the Laura Bush Foundation, which is not, it turns out, a place for researching the proper care and maintenance of a Brazilian pube job...

It's not? Shit! I sent 'em money...

Enjoy.

Cultural Warmongers

No quotes, because it's hard to hold my nose and link to Pat Buchanan at the same time. He's got a good point. There, I said it (Shudder!).

Naked came the blogger

TBogg's goin' Big Time:

I guess I should let everyone in on my little secret.

I have been commissioned to write a book on blogging for a sub-major publishing house (Not Regnery. I said sub-major, not sub-human). Negotiations started several months ago, and today we finally dotted our i's and crossed our tboggs and the deal is done. I'm quite excited. Here is what you can expect:

The book is tentatively called -

An Army of Wankers: How Blogging and Technology Empower Social Maladroits to Feign Expertise, Over-Simplify Complex Arguments, and Land Face Time on Reliable Sources.

In a wide-ranging survey employing very long words containg both vowels and consonants, in addition to Venn diagrams, scratch-and-sniff panels, knock-knock jokes, and pop-ups, I will explain:

This oughta be good. Here's a sample:

Cock-headed man-whore or cock-headed journalist-whore? You make the call.

Some of the 'comments' are good too, to wit:

And be sure to use the line "between the sheets" liberally. That would spice it up AND drive the nitwits crazy.

Oh, and maybe "vagina" too.

The Amazon reviews are being composed already...

Speaking as a Social Maladroit, this is fun stuff. Go read.

Rove on track for real port deal...?

This might be a little tinfoil-hattish, but that's never stopped me before. From TPM Cafe:

Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, and the hawks have done it again. The fell-through Dubai-Ports deal is a backroom deal between the White House Hawks and the prospective firms--all in a diversionary tactic to get the deal to Halliburton--one of the only American firms that can easily handle the task. The priceless element of this: Democrat Chuck Schumer believes he came up with the idea.

This is the information I have.

On the evening of December 21, 2005--Bush had just secured an extension of the Patriot act until July. He wrote a memorandum for the Secretary of Transportation, and then met privately with a few advisors (Rumsfeld, Rove, Cheney, Card) and discussed how the Patriot Act would get through. In this private discussion, Rove proposed the idea of creating a diversionary tactic through an upcoming ports deal. Cheney and Rove toyed with this idea at length, as card and Bush worked on the details of how to get the Patriot Bill into a sure-win situation with Congress. Rove noted that the next years elections would weigh heavily on the Senator's decisions vis a vis Terror, an issue which Bush had been dropping in the numbers--and seemed vulnerable. If the Democratic leaders would believe the opposition of a Islamic ports deal could be their opportunity to out-do Bush on his hiterto strongest issue--they would all but secure that the deal would fail, and they would be ahead on the issue of Terror--right before the elections. In the process, Halliburton could be subtly offered up through channels as a "lesser of two evils" alternative. Si vis pacem, para bellum

I don't know if this is true, but it wouldn't surprise me a bit. I wouldn't put anything past Rove and his chimpy little puppet.

What's true now was true then...

Paul Krugman courtesy of Tennessee Guerilla Women.

Never mind; better late than never. We should welcome the recent epiphanies by conservative commentators who have finally realized that the Bush administration isn't trustworthy. But we should guard against a conventional wisdom that seems to be taking hold in some quarters,, which says there's something praiseworthy about having initially been taken in by Mr. Bush's deceptions, even though the administration's mendacity was obvious from the beginning.

According to this view, if you're a former Bush supporter who now says, as Mr. Bartlett did at the Cato event, that "the administration lies about budget numbers," you're a brave truth-teller. But if you've been saying that since the early days of the Bush administration, you were unpleasantly shrill.

Similarly, if you're a former worshipful admirer of George W. Bush who now says, as Mr. Sullivan did at Cato, that "the people in this administration have no principles," you're taking a courageous stand. If you said the same thing back when Mr. Bush had an 80 percent approval rating, you were blinded by Bush-hatred.

And if you're a former hawk who now concedes that the administration exaggerated the threat from Iraq, you're to be applauded for your open-mindedness. But if you warned three years ago that the administration was hyping the case for war, you were a conspiracy theorist.

The truth is that everything the new wave of Bush critics has to say was obvious long ago to any commentator who was willing to look at the facts.

Modesty precludes me from including me 'n Fixer in the "old wave", but Mr. Krugman is absolutely correct. This "new wave" waited until there was absolutely no way to deny or spin their way out of the long-ago-obvious without looking like the idiots we've known they are. There's not enough Kool-aid in the world to sustain the evil charade except for the brain-dead true believers and Corporate beneficiaries.

Welcome to the club, but don't think you're going to be treated like heroes for discovering something new about Bush & Co. You won't be and you didn't. You helped keep this cabal going a lot longer than it should have, and some of us have long memories.

Why we lose

Just read... Wrap your head in duct tape first so it doesn't explode.

Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

"Dad's an idiot. I can't wait until mom gets home."

My Jesus

An excellent quote from Froggy:

...

You know, the GOP likes to play that they are the party of god, but Jesus didn't go around holding $1000 a plate fund-raisers for Herod. He wasn't noted as "one of Caesar's Pioneers." He's famous for walking with the sinners, forgiving thieves and prostitutes, and lending a helping hand to the poor...

Ann Richards

She was my governor when I lived in Ft. Worth. Let's hope she overcomes this latest hurdle.

Godly men

It's a hot day on Indiantown's Brady Ranch. And pastor Doug Giles has his hands on a gun. A wiry man in fatigues and a crumpled cowboy hat, he crouches between two fat oak trees. Then he locks his sight on a 500-pound nilgai antelope and pulls the trigger.

The bullet hits with a force so fierce that the animal sails four feet into the air. Then for a moment it regains its footing and tries to scramble away. But a shattered front leg flops like a jelly-filled sack. When the minister fires again, the antelope tumbles to the ground.

Giles sells a video of the hunt after Sunday services at his Aventura Clash Christian Church ...

And explain to me how Jesus would justify this? Shouldn't a 'pastor' be somewhat non-violent? This is as bad as going to the Far East to fuck children. Killing animals (or anything else) for no reason other than to mount their heads on a wall is unconscionable to me. Ladies and gentlemen, all life is precious and the sooner we realize that, the better off we'll be.

And before all you hunters crawl up my ass, I'm not talking about actual 'hunting season', culling the herd hunting. We have a deer hunt here on Fire Island because they have no natural predators and they'd overrun everything. I understand that. I'm talking about the Cheney-type clowns who go to farms here and in other countries to kill shit for no reason other than the animal's features make a nice 'trophy'.

I knew it

I knew Lardass was on the take.

Thanks: C&L

Carville and Begala

As most of you know, I think Carville is either an idiot or on the take, and Begala isn't much better but tolerable. I don't think they should speak for Democrats. Scott at FDL:

...What's amazing, though, is Michael's archival find--the alternative suggestion advanced at the time [the 2000 election season] by Paul Begala and James Carville, the Democratic Party's self-appointed saviors:

By choosing former Georgia governor Zell Miller as his running mate, Al Gore could add intellectual brainpower, rhetorical firepower, and lots of plain old populist piss-and-vinegar to this staid election.

[...]

...

Couple of fucking morons.

Dear Repubs

At Huffpo:

...

Anyway, the reason I'm writing is, I want to ask, Are you all scumbags? Are you all only interested in your personal wealth, political power, and foisting your idiotic form of fundamentalist Christianity on others? By whatever combination of lies, manipulation, intimidation, deceit, and hypocrisy is necessary?

Surely not. Sheer statistical probability alone requires that there be some of you who are not scumbags. For those who aren't, then, I have several questions:

...

I had that thought this morning as I watched the sun rise over the East River. I don't care what anybody says, New York has the most beautiful skyline of any city in the world.

For all those interested, mama's doing fine. We're hoping to have her home either tomorrow or Saturday. Thanks again for all the good wishes, prayers, and kind words.

Sark Drops Feudalism for Democracy

This is positively HUGE! Drop whatever you're doing and run to My Way News!

LONDON (AP) - There are no cars, roads or dentists and the only ambulance is a converted tractor, but Sark - a tiny self-governing island in the English Channel - embraced the modern world Wednesday, when legislators voted to swap its feudal government for democracy.

After around 450 years of rule almost exclusively by landowners, the smallest independent state in the British commonwealth will allow each of the 600 residents to stand for election.

"It is an enormous leap, a bigger leap than we had wanted. The island was hoping to reform through evolution, not revolution."

Despite the move to embrace modernity, the island retains some unusual laws. Only the head of state - the Seigneur - has the right to keep pigeons or an unspayed female dog.

The use of tractors - the only mechanized transport on the island - is also strictly regulated, with only one passenger per vehicle allowed - except up and down the 300-foot high Harbour Hill.

Actually, I once saw a photo of the Dame of Sark with her motorized invalid carriage. She was tearin' up the roads. That was during the Nazi occupation.

I hope their revolution doesn't give 'em a nosebleed in the wake of their headlong rush into the 18th century.

Be sure to click on the link. It's a lovely place.

Walschwitz

Never one to let bad taste stand in my way, The Guardian sent me here. You vill go look. If you do not, ve haff vays of making you...

Iraq through the prism of Vietnam

General William Odom, USArmy (Retd.), former Director of the NSA, has a few things to say.

The Vietnam War experience can't tell us anything about the war in Iraq - or so it is said. If you believe that, trying looking through this lens, and you may change your mind.

The Vietnam War had three phases. The War in Iraq has already completed an analogous first phase, is approaching the end of the second phase, and shows signs of entering the third.

Gen. Odom has a good historical perspective and knows whereof he speaks. Go read.

Big Business admits it...

Sirotablog

This new article and this new article in the Financial Times finally exposes the real issue fueling Big Money's freakout over Congress moving to stop the Dubai port deal. The first article is most brazen. It quotes the president of the Business Roundtable "warning that renewed political attempts to block the takeover of port facilities could jeopardise both foreign investment and forthcoming trade negotiations." The Roundable, which represents 160 chief executives, dismissed serious security concerns and claimed the controversy is "just another iteration of economic isolationism like the outsourcing debate was." So there you have it in black and white from Corporate America: profits are more important than security.

Big Biz is in on the grim joke: "National Security" is a big scam the way Bush is doing it.

Office Pirates

So there I was (relax, it's not a fairy tale war story), pursuing truth, justice, and the American way on behalf of our readers like I always do. I exist only to serve. Anyway, proving the old adage that even a blind old pig will find an acorn once in a while, somehow I got to this article in the NYTimes, which was interesting enough that I went to the subject site, Office Pirates, to see what I could see. Pretty good, jokes, videos, shit like that. Go see. Don't go if you ain't got a coupla minutes to cruise around. Let me know whatcha think.

Midwest Values

Good interview with Al Franken. From BuzzFlash.

BuzzFlash: Do you feel that redefining and accurately framing progressive values is one of the biggest keys for progressives to win the election? Have you jumped on the Lakoff framing bandwagon?

Al Franken: I have, to some degree. It just drives me nuts that these guys have stolen values, when they're corrupt, dishonest, greedy. They hire people by cronyism. They hijack religion and Jesus, when Jesus talked about helping the poor. As I always say, if you cut out every passage in the New Testament where Jesus talks about helping the poor, or helping the least among us - if you cut out each one of those passages, you'd have the perfect box to smuggle Rush Limbaugh's drugs.

Read and enjoy.

I should have known...

This line at Cursor piqued my prurient interest:

...gay ex-prostitute goes down.

I thought to myself, "Wow! A true enthusiast! Gets after it even when there's no money involved!"

But, of course, there was. It was about Texas politics.

Power and Fantasy

Maureen Dowd compares our two national centers of fantasy and denial. At Donkey O.D.

There is a crash of ideologies between the country's two most self-regarding and fantasy-spinning power centers. The Bush crowd cringes away from gay cowboys spooning, gay authors flouncing, transgender babes exploring and George the Dashing Clooneying in movies about the glories of free speech and the dangers of oilmen influencing policy.

But as I looked around Vanity Fair's slinky Oscar party on Sunday night, it struck me that the bellicose Bushies do share a presentation aesthetic with Tinseltown's trompe l'oeil beauties: you see no furrowed brows, no regretful winces, no unflattering wrinkles, no admissions of imperfection, no qualms about puffing up what you really have, no visible signs of hard lessons learned, and no desire to confront reality in the mirror.

In Hollywood terms, we've reached an Indiana Jones crisis moment in our parlous protectorate. The cave is collapsing, the snakes are encroaching, the vehicles are exploding, the crushing ball is rolling down on us. The public has stopped buying the administration's sugary spin. The Washington Post reported yesterday that 80 percent of Americans - cutting across party lines - say sectarian violence makes civil war in Iraq likely. More than a third call it "very likely." Half also think the U.S. should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, the poll found, and two-thirds say the president has no clear plan for Iraq.

The widespread resistance to the Dubai ports deal, even among newly fractious Republicans, indicates that Americans have lost faith in the president's competence - a faith shredded by the White House's obtuseness and lies on Katrina.

I love MoDo. The Vanity Fair post-Oscar party is the hottest A-list ticket in Tinsel Town, and she managed to brag a little on herself for getting to go to it, and weave the administration into the phoniness at the same time! Way to go, Red!

Fire Chief Caught On The Lamb

This one's just for fun. From The Smoking Gun.

"You caught me Alan, I tried to fuck your sheep."

Thank God for reality. I couldn't make this shit up!

Veto this, Chimp-o!

From the WaPo

Efforts by the White House to hold off legislation challenging a Dubai-owned company's acquisition of operations at six major U.S. ports collapsed yesterday when House Republican leaders agreed to allow a vote next week that could kill the deal.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) will attach legislation to block the deal today to a must-pass emergency spending bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A House vote on the measure next week will set up a direct confrontation with President Bush, who sternly vowed to veto any bill delaying or stopping Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Co.

Yo, Dubya, you ran your mouth and threatened these guys. Put up or shut up. Let's see you veto your war money. It's your choice: Dubaiously controlled U.S. ports or more money to throw down the sand-hole. Congress might over-ride the veto and you'll get your money and no port deal.

Wanta know the ironical part?

DP World officials suggested yesterday that within days, Peninsular & Oriental's operations will belong to them, no matter what Congress does.

They're not going to stop unloading ships in those port terminals. International trade and corporate profit trumps the War on Terror.

And why not? In Bushworld, Green Money beats out a phony, made up, political Red Herring anytime.

Besides, Bush needs the UAE for bases for the jump-off into Iran.

Just one

I'm off to the city to visit the Mrs. I just want you to leave you with some wisdom from Jo Fish:

...

The last time the US sent military forces in to intercede in a civil war, we had to build a monument to 58,000-plus Americans who lost their lives taking sides in a civil war that both the Preznit and Vice-Preznit ran away from, in spades. This time, those two cowards started it and we, the People own it. Unfortunately.

Iraq will affect the political discourse in this country for the next 20 years. It will not be over when the troops come home, on many levels. For the American public, the troops, the economy, this war has damaged us all immeasurably.

And get a dose of reality from Kevin Hayden. I've been saying this for almost 2 years.

...

Yes, I can compare Bush to Hitler. The numbers of corpses do not need to match. The willingness to maintain that death rate, to practice torture, to murder POWs, to develop a gulag that includes foreign ones we've exiled people to via extraordinary rendition... these are the tools of Stalin and Hitler. The only brake that has kept the numbers of dead smaller has been the press digging out the details. And when they are silenced, the numbers will rise.

...

I'm outta here...

It ain't yer daddy's Jesus...

David at 42 turned me on to this one. In his words,

Dear Friend - It is *imperative* that you read the following page from the White House web site: http://www.whitehouse.org/ask/jesus.asp

Don't delay! Your patriotism is at stake!

Liquid Alert!

Yeah!!!!!

I'm happy to report Mrs. F is out of surgery and doing fine. I should be able to bring her home on Friday. While they did do a complete hysterectomy, they found nothing malignant. Once she heals she'll be good as new. I'm a happy camper.

Thanks to all of my colleagues and commenters who offered prayers and good words. We're both deeply touched.

Have I told you how much I hate driving in Manhattan?

How Tom DeLay Stole Congress

Here's a little teaser.

Update:

NYTimes on the film.

Port deal is necessary for war on Iran

Mike Whitney recalls Napoleon's advice in regard to why Bush is pushing so hard for his UAE port deal:

"If you want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map."

United Arab Emirates is located at the center of an oil-dependent world. This tiny state forms the promontory that juts out into the famed Straits of Hormuz through which 40% of the world's oil passes every day. Across the narrow straights sits Iran, the next victim on the list of "axis of evil" nations. Any attack on Iran will require that military forces quickly deploy to Dubai to forestall the closing of the straits and the subsequent devastation that would occur to world oil supplies and financial markets.

This is the critical point that is being intentionally concealed by America's diversionary media. This is the reason that President Bush continues to force the Dubai port plan even though 70% of the American people and Congress resoundingly oppose it.

As far as we know, however, Ahmadinejad has been straightforward in his claims. The IAEA has consistently found that Iran has fully complied with the terms of the NPT and that there "is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program."

That hasn't stop[ped] Washington, though. The die was cast for war with Iran nearly a decade ago in policy papers drawn up by far-right political ideologues that now control all the levers of foreign policy in the Bush White House.

The hypocrisy of this Bush-backed plan is breathtaking. Bush just finished a trip to India and Pakistan where he effectively declared himself the final arbiter of who will get nuclear technology and fuel and who won't. His actions were a clear affront to the IAEA, the UN, the NPT, and the United States Congress, who is supposed to determine such matters as treaties.

Bush has apparently elected himself the god of all things nuclear.

The NPT is dead.

Will this final assault on international agreements clear the path for war with Iran?

The UAE port deal is just more indication that an attack on Iran is forthcoming. Its location is crucial to the success of any American invasion.

For the Pentagon warlords Dubai has become the strategic epicenter of the global resource war. As peace activist and author Uri Avnery said, "Regimes come and go, rulers rise and fall, ideologies flourish and wither, but geography stands forever. It's geography that decides the basic interest of every state."

All eyes should be focused on Dubai and the tenuous future of the Straits of Hormuz.

I didn't want him to go to war with Iraq, and I really don't want him to go to war with Iran.

Anything that presents a barrier to another criminal war on behalf of Big Corpora is a good thing. The port deal must not stand.

The Solution For South Dakota

The Rude Pundit has a sure-fire plan to get the misogynistic South Dakota Forced Birth law overturned so fast it'll make your head spin. Note: his post contains both bad language and a high sexual content. Win-win! You gotta go read it, but here's the upshot:

Over the next few weeks, months even, as periods are missed and crocodile tears are shed (for, indeed, there will be few real regrets), you can pretty much bet that abortion on demand will become the law of the land in South Dakota so fast that it'll seem that yesterday never happened.

That guy's got a pair o' solid brass ones, don't he? I hope it's nice and warm wherever he is.

Spring is almost here: for Mr & Mrs F

Exhausted, I sought
a country inn, but found
the dogwoods in bloom.
Basho

We're thinking of you two. Get the rest you need, have some chicken soup and get ready to enjoy springtime (plant some bulbs for next year)!




(I took a little liberty with Basho, who found wisteria in bloom.)

Family matters

My ass is gonna be scarce around here until the weekend. Unfortunately, during an exam two weeks ago, Mrs. F's doctor found a mass that he didn't like the looks of. Being an Ashkenazi Jew with a family history of cancer (my wife's mom and her grandparents on her mom's side had various flavors), surgery is the only option. She goes in tomorrow morning.

The docs have prepared us for the worst but are hopeful because a C-T scan did not show evidence of metastasis. They'll be doing a biopsy while she's on the table to see if chemotherapy is warranted or not.

While we're naturally concerned, I know she will be in the best place in the world, in the hands of the best doc in the world in the field.

This is a big change for me because it's usually Mrs. F waiting in the hospital for them to put me back together. If all goes well, I'll have her back home for the weekend. Posting will be few and far between because I'll be spending most of my time in Manhattan and frankly, the world can go to Hell for all I care until I know the love of my life is out of danger. I'll let you all know how things went tomorrow night or Wednesday morning.

Gord's got the keys. Behave yourselves until I get back.

See ya's.

Enjoy Monkey Tail

Take about 15 minutes and go see this film. I don't know where he finds this shit, but this is the best one yet from Cleek. Yes, install the media upgrade if you have to. It's worth it.

This day in history

From Geov Parrish

3/6/1836: Mexican troops defend their country's abolitionist constitution, defeat foreign slaveholders. San Antonio, Texas. Remember the Alamo.

Then again, maybe they were just trying to get part of their country back. I wish they'd try again.

1857: Dred Scott decision by U.S. Supreme Court opens federal territory to slavery and denies citizenship to blacks, ruling that blacks are not entitled to protection under the law. The "unhappy Black Race," wrote Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney in his opinion, had never possessed "rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Gee, sumthin' happens nearly every day! Go read.

The case for impeachment is growing

AlterNet

Until recently, talk of ousting President George W. Bush has proved little more than a distant rumbling. For too long, impeachment has been deemed implausible. It's not going to happen with a Republican Congress, so the argument goes. Not with the president finishing his second term, not while we're at war.

But the distant rumbling is growing louder by the day, creating a resonant echo that is rapidly taking root in public discourse. "Impeach Him," reads the cover of this month's Harper's magazine. And in a public forum in New York City last week, journalists, lawyers, and political figures came together to discuss the case against our president.

n fact, the case for the impeachment of President Bush is arguably the strongest in American history. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) makes this amply clear in its recent book, a concise indictment of President Bush that lays out four clear legal arguments that point to impeachment as a necessary remedy for the gross violation of our Constitution. The Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush covers illegal wiretapping, torture, rendition, detention and the Iraq war. An appendix compares the impeachment proceedings of Andrew Johnson, Nixon and Clinton to the comparatively more powerful case against Bush.

The Articles of Impeachment make clear that this is no longer just about President Bush. Rather, it is about preventing the executive branch from obtaining carte blanche to disregard the two other branches of government. This is a paradigm shift that has already gained substantial footing through this administration's steady erosion of legal precedent.

It is the ultimate case of missing the forest for the trees. Behind this massive body of evidence, behind each new report of this president's transgressions of the law, is the threat of the one and only story that Americans will read for the rest of this presidency, and presidencies to come: The abuse of power, and the destruction of our Constitution.

That may be the legal argument, but this for damn sure is about Bush. And all his merry, evil men.

By all means go read the article. Many links and an interview with the book's author.

Right now, the move for impeachment resembles a sputtering moped. Let's turn it into a fire-breathing Top Fueler.

Priests Purify Shrine After Bush Visit

ABC News International

NEW DELHI Mar 5, 2006 (AP)- Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from President Bush. [...]

A Tijuana whorehouse would need spiritual cleansing after a visit from Bush.

The rest of the story:

[...] But it wasn't the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit.

These people have a strange order to their priorities. Yes, I know the dogs were a mortal insult to Hindu sensibilities, but I hope they saved some pixie dust to rid the joint of Bush's karma as well.

And these are the folks we're giving nuclear assistance to? If I remember right, they have a six-armed deity named Kali who claims to be the "destroyer of worlds".

Weekly reminder

Ironic Times

Survey: Only One in 1,000 Americans Can Name All Five Rights Guaranteed in 1st Amendment

Those who do are detained, questioned.

Analysis: American Economy Enters New Era

We borrow trillions from other countries to pay their workers low wages to make things our laid-off workers can afford.

Be sure to read all three pages.

On Moussaoui

After a month of jury selection, the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged with a crime in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, is set to begin today in a Virginia courtroom, and Hamilton Peterson, who lost his parents on hijacked United Flight 93, plans to be there.

"Justice must be done," Peterson, of Maryland, says. "There must be accountability."

...

I guess we can hoist a body high and claim victory, or revenge, or justice was achieved but this guy was just the dumbest member of the team. Had he been a little smarter, we wouldn't have caught him either, his DNA smeared on the pavement instead of the Chimp's only PR victory in the 'War on Terra'. All I ask is this, more than 4 years after 9/11; where's Osama?

Blame

I touched on this last night when I quoted Atrios commenting on an Andy Sullivan [I still don't get him, I never understood gay Repukes - Fixer] post. This morning my man Dave over at STF looks at another courageous Repuke, Instashithead [link to Kevin Drum; we don't link to idiots here].

The press had better hope we win this war, because if we don't, a lot of people will blame the media.

And a comment struck me:

But damn it, if the chickenhawks had just gone and fought...we'd have won easily, right?...

We sure as hell wouldn't have as big a recruiting problem. If blame is passed out, the ones who should take most of it, aside from the Chimp and his minions, are the Chickenhawks. Those who spoke loudest in favor of it, despite their broad-based unwillingness to serve.

All you so-called 'men' who get your kicks watching the military do their stuff, cheerleading from the safety of the sidelines. You're all pathetic, lame excuses for men and the only power you have comes from subjugating your women and arming yourselves to the teeth. If you believed so strongly in this war, you should have dropped everything and signed up. But that isn't your style, is it? You all talk a good line but, like your so-called leader, all you do is talk.

You've had your say and it's helped run this nation down the road to ruin. Now that we're there, I'm gonna make sure no one forgets your parts in it. Men? Not a chance. You're all a bunch of whiny little boys.

And I blame you!

Let's get this straight #2

To all those 'courageous' right wing bloggers and sycophants who are 'supporting the troops/the president/the war', listen to Atrios:

...

Of course by participating in the public discourse one plays a part in something, but typing away from one's basement does not involve "facing down" anything. Not a single person who opposed this war was "cowardly" as it takes no actual courage to send other people off to kill and die. One does not get to bask in the reflected bravery of those who are actually doing what you send them to do. There was nothing courageous about supporting a war which was supported by the US government and almost the entire punditocracy, and aside from helping to stifle debate and demonize people who quite sensibly opposed the war their contribution to their noble cause was precisely zero.

Eating their own

Last week I wrote about Rep. Peter King's stand against the Dubai ports deal. Seems the Chimp is paying him back:

WASHINGTON, March 3 - Representative Peter T. King's prominent opposition to a proposal to allow a Dubai company to take over some terminal operations at American ports may have earned him some punishment from the Bush administration: He has been grounded.

Mr. King, the New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, confirmed Friday that a few days after he first threatened legislation to hold up the port deal, the Pentagon informed him that it could not provide an aircraft for his planned March Congressional delegation to Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

...

King is in a position to stick it right back to the White House. Let's see if he does it. I love election year politics.

Thanks to donkey o.d. for the link.

Wha...

No sex toy for you! Did you know Tennessee was overrun with 'em??!!!

Please don't

At Iddybud:

On today's Meet the Press, former Senator and 2004 VP candidate John Edwards of North Carolina stated that he was considering a run for US President in 2008.

I like John Edwards, I really do, and so does Mrs. F, but in '08 we need a person with national and international experience. We don't need someone who'll learn it on-the-job. The Chimp has screwed things to Holy Hell and we need someone who knows what they're doing in order to fix it.

I'd like to see him as a VP candidate on a Wesley Clark ticket. Wes Clark has the international connections (Supreme Commander of NATO) and the sechel to put good people in leadership positions where he is weak. We have to rebuild the foundations of this nation before we begin to move forward again.

And just to be clear, I'm not saying Wes Clark will be my choice, but Clark/Edwards does sound appealing.

Deadly Lies...

Or, Clinton with a Blue Dress.

Oscar blogging

I'm with Roger:

...

What will make this event even more revolutionary is that I haven't seen a single 2005 movie, either in theaters or on DVD. That's at least two less than TBogg. I am less qualified to have an opinion on 2005 films than anyone on any subject, with the exception of Michelle Malkin on any subject.

...

I, however, won't be liveblogging. I will be dead sleeping. All I know about the movies this year is just the premise of Brokeback Mountain has given four immature mechanics too much material.

And one more thing. I'm all for any movie that makes the Jesus-freaks crazy.

Leaving...

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.

The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.

...

Stay the course, huh? After wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives, American and Iraqi, and destroying our standing in the world, we're just gonna throw up our hands and say 'oopsie'? I'm sorry, but Bush and Blair are gonna have to pay for this. For crying out loud, Bush 1 knew this would happen 15 years ago (the reason the cry 'on to Baghdad' wasn't heard after we kicked Saddam out of Kuwait) and most of the reality-based folks knew it too. Somebody's gonna have to be held accountable and be 'brought to justice'.