The glamorous life of a rock star...

Our pal Patrick of I speak dog is traveling abroad as the guest drummer in a really loud rock band. England, France, Spain. Go read his journal. Start at the top and read it backwards, or any way you choose. Educational and entertaining.

GOP Bloodbath - Whee!

Americablog

Tucked in to the bottom of an article in the New York Daily News about the Hoyer/Murtha election was this little tidbit:

For all the focus on the Democrats, a former Bush official who predicts a coming bloodbath between the White House and disgruntled conservative Republicans brushed off the Pelosi-Hoyer tussle as much ado about process.

"The Democrats are the sideshow," he said. "Bush self-destructing is the big story in town."

The reporters, Tom DeFrank and Ken Bazinet, always have very, very good inside GOP sources.

The GOP bloodbath will be great fun to watch. Let the games begin.

No comment. Big grin.

Weekend reading ...

And shameless blogwhoring. This week's installment (Chapter Five) of my novel The Captains is up at Fixer and Old White Lady's Writing Blog* The Practical Press.

*Explanation.

"A disaster ..."

The Mail via BuzzFlash:

Tony Blair admitted that British intervention in Iraq has been a disaster last night - sending shockwaves through Westminster.

...

Challenged by veteran interviewer Sir David Frost that the Western invasion of Iraq has "so far been pretty much of a disaster", Mr Blair said: "It has."

...

Almost four years on and one of them finally gathers the stones, but only out of political expediency, to admit what the rest of us reality-based folks knew going in. Had a little effort been put in to post-war planning, as opposed to the effort people put into ripping off the Coalition Authority, the Chimp and Tony could have come up smelling like roses, and the 'permanent Republican majority' might have become a reality here.

But the Chimp's West Highland Whitey refused to concede he was part of the problem. Of course not. Why would you have to plan for what comes after the war if you win?

...

The Prime Minister went on: "You see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It's not difficult because of some accident in planning, it's difficult because there's a deliberate strategy - al Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other - to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war." [my ems]

...

The blame for the insurgents goes directly to Blair and Bush because had we not invaded, Iraq would be terrorist-free. Say what you will about Saddam, and I'm not defending him, but under his regime, as long as you kept your mouth shut and stayed out of his way, you could live a pretty good, safe life. Bush, Blair, the Spaniard, and the Eye-Tie bear full responsibility for the mess in Iraq.

Just wondering ...

How you Vietnam guys feel about this?



I wonder how the Chimp feels with Uncle Ho looking over his shoulder saying "Missed you the first time"?

Pic thanks to Holden.

Gentlemen, start your subpœnas

Raw Story

In a letter addressed to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, soon to be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has requested the release of documents that outline the Bush Administration's interrogation policies.

The documents, which have long been thought to exist by observers and critics of America's national security policies, were confirmed to exist as the result of a still-pending Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the ACLU.

Let the games begin!

Full text of letter at the link.

[Welcome to all the visitors from The Daou Report. ~ Fixer]

Depraved Indifference

Don Davis

While George Bush the Elder is currently being hailed for pulling in the reins on his ne'er-do-well son, local authorities in Kennebunkport, Maine have arrested "41" on counts of "negligent supervision of a minor," and "endangering the planet."

As the Kennebunkport D.A. rhetorically asked at his press conference, "what good is it to take the car keys away from a wasted teenager, after he's already destroyed the neighborhood?"

Paraphrasing from the Maine Criminal Code, the D.A. asserted that Poppy Bush "knew or should have known, of a need to prevent Dubya from operating a country, especially under the influence of Dick Cheney."

The D.A., a Republican, added that the State would be seeking the maximum punishment under the law due to the aggravated nature of the offense, since it was "41" himself who supplied Cheney to "43": "Simply put, this was like handing a loaded gun to a child."

The D.A. concluded his press conference by asserting that Senior never should have let Junior out of his sight: "When you take 41 away from 43, you just end up with No. 2."

Yes, a great steaming, wormy loaf of it.

Let bygones be bygones, my ass...

L.A. City Beat

The midterm election was a long night, and I didn't rise until the next afternoon, but when I did finally drag my hangover to a TV set, I discovered aimless panic as though Godzilla were coming down the Ginza. Donald Rumsfeld has already been hurled from the train. Rush Limbaugh was pounding his fists and bellowing that he'd been "carrying water" for all the wrong people. Talking heads who, when I'd passed out, had been wired to the RNC and Karl Rove were no longer even Republicans, embracing some weird, amorphous "libertarianism." Tucker Carlson had ditched his fatuous bow tie. Others were pointing out that it really wasn't much of a Democrat victory, because the winning Dems were kinda conservative, and that all would basically be business as usual. George himself made an appearance, and every third word was "bipartisan." A few Bushite pundits even had the enduring gall to issue threats while still scuttling like roaches at the light. Henry Waxman was advised to keep his subpoenas under the bed, and John Conyers to forget his articles of impeachment, because vindictive investigations of the White House would not be in the national interest.

Though the post-victory haze, I perceived a final pathetic spin, based in the fiction that the people still respond to Bush's supposed charisma: that to lay a Democrat glove-of-impeachment on the president would alienate the electorate big-time. We were being urged to forgive, forget, and all get along. As in forget the lies and the spies, the Constitution and Geneva Conventions, the war profiteering and the body count. Forget that New Orleans's 9th Ward is still in ruins, forget the inflated homophobia, the decimated middle class, for-profit health care, reproductive rights and embryonic stem cells, and all the small-time insanity, like the Terri Schiavo debacle. Forget My Pet Goat and the War on Christmas? And the accusations of everything from treason to dementia leveled at most of my friends?

Believe me, I have no inclination to forget any single damned thing, or to make any attempt to get along. I want to see every dirty secret dragged out and exposed, until George W. Bush is doing the Nixon perp-walk to the helicopter.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Quote of the Day

From one who always seems to come up with great quotes, our pal 42 on Mitt Romney's Presidential aspirations:

... I guess the next thing you do after leaving the Governor's Mansion in Springfield is buy up a media conglomerate in preparation for your presidential fantasy-run; fantasy because Americans are more likely to elect a Jewish lesbian for president than a Mormon ...

Whaddaya mean ...

I can't beat her? She's my wife, ain't she? Another of the 'values crowd' shows his true colors*:

State Rep. Mark Olson, just elected to his eighth term in the House, was being held in the Sherburne County jail Monday after being arrested in connection with an alleged domestic assault on his wife Sunday afternoon at their home in Big Lake, Minn.

...

I just can't understand why most Americans won't cast a cynical eye at those who would presume to judge our morals. Just because someone swears they follow the teachings of Jesus (and I'm still trying to figure our which of Jesus' teachings they actually do follow) doesn't mean they do. How many examples do you need?

Like the Catholic preisthood it seems the Republican party has become a haven for wife beaters and pedophiles. How can anyone, in good conscience vote for a party where assault and sexual abuse are so widespread? When authority figures abuse the authority they have been given, using it to steal the innocence of youngsters or assault their spouses, on such a scale, something should click in the public's collective heads making them wonder if it might be a systemic problem. It does in mine.

It's a sad commentary on America when the Republican Party can be held harmless for the sins they've committed against this nation and her people.

*Link via Maru.

Got some doom for ya, F-man

Almost 7 min long, this video packs a lot of doom...


There is a detailed diary on this on DKos, so here's a bare outline of how 2 police officers couldn't detain a student with (allegedly) 6 taser shots: During a late night security check of students at a computer lab at UCLA a student who is not carrying his ID is asked to leave. When the student doesn't immediately shut down his computer the security guard calls in the campus police, who encounter the student as he is leaving the lab. The above video starts where the student is intercepted by the campus police and prevented from leaving the computer lab, and when he protests he is tasered by the UCLA police. According to the police the student "didn't cooperate" although students say he did. The police cuff the student who then drops. The police keep telling the student to get up and when he can't or won't they tazer him again and again. Why didn't they just pick him up and carry him out, you ask, since that's what happened at the end anyway. I'm asking that too. Why do they keep screaming at the terrorized student, which only serves to escalate an already tense situation, instead of calmly talking with him, trying to see his position? Wouldn't public safety be better served by just 'talking the kid down'? Yes, the police need to respond forcefully to violent criminals resisting arrest but this student perhaps broke a college rule (I don't know UCLA regs). If you want to be tough I guess you can argue that they could have given the kid a written warning and let him walk off. Well, it can also be said that terrorism is intended for those who witnesses it as well. Oh yes, a student who asked for badge numbers was threatened with a tasering, too.
"Here's your Patriot Act! Here's your f**king abuse of power!" Mostafa Tabatabainejad, the aforementioned student.
Update 1: Please see Dan's comment, which provides contact info for the UC Chancellor.
Update 2: Thank you, Keith Olbermann, for bringing this disgusting incident to national attention.
Last Update:
I think what happened at UCLA is tragic, repugnant and despicable not because it's unique but because it isn't unique. That or worse happens in this country regularly. Here is a quote from They Thought They Were Free, The Germans 1933-1945, by Milton Mayer:

"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it--please try to believe me--unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted', that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures' that no 'patriotic German' could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head."

The real me...

I've had one of these decals - yes, decal - on my toolbox for thirty years and I decided I needed another one and found one on the internets in ten minutes. Ain't life grand?

Tsunami hits California

San Francisco Chronicle. Story and pictures.

Steven said Del Norte County officials received a notification from the National Weather Service on Wednesday morning that a 3- to 5-foot surge resulting from an 8.1 magnitude quake near Japan would hit the Crescent City region about 11:40 a.m.

"We did have a very small surge at that time, and then everybody went back to business as usual," Steven said.

Then around 2:30, Steven said, residents noticed an ominous sign -- water started running out of the town's harbor, a classic indication of an approaching tsunami.

"You don't like to see that," Steven said. "It looked like a very fast river."

Musta been kinda hard to see out of the back of your head whilst running full speed for higher ground.

"...couldn't put this clusterfuck back together again."

Sidney Blumenthal via True Blue Liberal. Read the whole thing.

Bush family guardians James Baker and others are trying to rescue "Sonny" from his failed Middle East policies. Will he listen this time?

In the event that Baker actually advocates what he thinks, Bush's options will be to admit the errors of his ways and the wisdom of his father and father's men or to cast them and caution aside once again. His choice is either Shakespearean or Wagnerian.

Mr. Blumenthal left out Dante:

"Abandon hope all ye who enter here..."

From the Guardian:

President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers, according to sources familiar with the administration's internal deliberations.

I think "machinations" might have been a better choice of words than "deliberations" but them Limeys are quite reserved.

The "last push" strategy is also intended to give Mr Bush and the Republicans "political time and space" to recover from their election drubbing and prepare for the 2008 presidential campaign, the official said. "The Iraq Study Group buys time for the president to have one last go. If the Democrats are smart, they'll play along, and I think they will. But forget about bipartisanship. It's all about who's going to be in best shape to win the White House.

The official added: "Bush has said 'no' to withdrawal, so what else do you have? The Baker report will be a set of ideas, more realistic than in the past, that can be used as political tools. What they're going to say is: lower the goals, forget about the democracy crap, put more resources in, do it."

I don't think we have the military resources to "do it" like it needs, not that it should have ever been "done" in the first place.

This will use up our military, folks. In the fuckin' Bush is giving us and Iraq, these are the short strokes. An act of desperation in pursuit of inevitable failure.

That old black magic...

Yahoo News

BOGOR, Indonesia - A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thursday to jinx President George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia.

Ki Gendeng Pamungkas slit the throat of a goat, a small snake and stabbed a black crow in the chest, stirred their blood with spice and broccoli before drank the "potion" and smeared some on his face.

I have to disguise broccoli too, but I usually do it with cheese sauce.

"I am doing voodoo, because other ritual would not work," he told reporters after he conducted the gory ritual about 1 kilometers from the palace.

Good luck, Mr. Pamungkas. I've worn out six Ken dolls* and used up eighteen boxes of hat pins.

*Closest thing I could find to Bush. No balls. I damn sure wasn't gonna use a G.I. Joe.

Dems are screwing up already

David Sirota

I thought when the campaign ended, we would all get a break from people lying about the Iraq War - and especially from faux "centrist" Democrats lying to us. I thought the strong anti-Iraq-War mandate of the election would shock the system into at least a brief few weeks of clarity and honesty.

I was wrong.

It seems that the "Yay Iraq War! Oops, Let's Now Pretend We Were Always Against the War" wing of the Democratic Party is trying to nationalize Lieberman's Nixonian model and apply it elsewhere. To understand what I mean, just take a quick look at what's going on in the race for House Majority Leader between anti-Iraq-War leader Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) and recently-reconstructed pro-war mouthpiece Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

Apparently, the DLC, Tauscher and Hoyer himself believe that the Members of Congress who will be voting in the Majority Leader race are very, very stupid people who have no access to the Internet and have never heard of Google or Yahoo. They must believe this, because it takes about, oh, 10 seconds online to figure out that, in fact, Hoyer led the charge against Democrats taking a strong position on Iraq, publicly attacking the House Democratic leadership for having the guts to follow Murtha's lead and get up the guts to challenge Bush on the war.

All of this is happening at the same time Hoyer is trying to position himself as the ethics candidate in the race. Granted, Murtha is no saint - but Steny "I Have My Own K Street Project" Hoyer now billing himself as Congress's new Bill Proxmire is as credible as Mark Foley chairing Congress's Exploited Children Caucus. Oops, I forgot - that actually happened, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised after all that this kind of up-in-your-face chutzpah is very much alive and well in a congressional leadership race.

The race is over. Hoyer beat out Murtha in the "leadership" race.

Not a very good start, Dems.

Update:

Here's what Sirota said a month ago, and I agree:

I'm working as hard as I can to help get Democrats into the majority, but the Washington Monthly echoes what I've been saying for a long time about Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD): he's part of the problem. If Democrats take the majority, Hoyer will become a very serious obstacle to those Democratic lawmakers fighting back against the hostile takeover of our government. If Democrats lose, Hoyer will make a run for leader of the entire party - again, not a good thing.

We shall see.

International relations

Think Progress

Yesterday, the White House website featured a graphic with the flags of the three countries he's visiting on his trip - Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. One problem: instead of displaying the Vietnamese flag, the White House graphic featured the old flag of South Vietnam. That flag hasn't been the official flag of Vietnam since South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam in 1975.

What's next? The Confederate flag at Arlington?

Impending doom

You know, I get this feeling that something's gonna happen. I can't help thinking that the White House cabal has something up their sleeves they hope will neuter the Dem majority in Congress. I hear Harry Reid's name being mentioned in connection with Jack Abramoff's recent squealings. Will they jump on this to deflect investigation of their nefarious activites over the past 6 years? I don't know.

Will another front on the "War on Terra" be opened 'inadvertantly' or 'accidentally', an Iranian Tonkin if you will? Another attack on the U.S. perhaps? Don't know either.

It just seems to me that people who crave power for power's sake will not go quietly, just throw up their hands and say "it was fun while it lasted" and begin to bow to the will of Congress. We're dealing with cheaters here, folks, and cheaters don't change.

They are still at the controls, still have incredible power (and don't forget, the support of a third of Americans), and I don't think we can allow ourselves to believe all is fixed with a Dem majority on the Hill. I believe the shenanigans will increase as the WH tries to keep its 'mandate'.

A question

Would you go to a tobacco company for help to quit smoking, a beer company to keep your kids from drinking, or an oil company to help you conserve fuel? Just askin' because it sounds awful stupid in their commercials.

What a difference ...

Four years makes:

WASHINGTON - Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.

...

Republicans, same old song and dance.

No lefty, but Murtha's right

Robert Scheer

Nancy Pelosi is to be congratulated for her backing of John Murtha for the position of House majority leader. To be sure, this was partly payback to a political ally of the speaker-designate. Far more important, however, it was the first installment on a huge debt owed to the voters who swept the Democratic Party into control of both houses of Congress, based primarily on their frustration over the dismal war in Iraq.

Because of his credentials as a highly decorated Marine veteran and stalwart Pentagon supporter, U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) was more effective than any other member of Congress in crystallizing the changing American position on Iraq when he dramatically wrote last year, "It is time to bring them home." Not intimidated by the president's "cut-and-run" smears, he said what most Americans have come to believe: The war is not "winnable" and it is time - now, not in 10 years - to let Iraqis make their own history and to get American troops out of the line of fire.

Go read the rest, including the part where Faux News accuses Murtha of being a "leftist" in the employ of MoveOn.org. Damn, the wingers are desperate! I love it!

Just how desperate? Well, Rep. Murtha is coming under fire for alleged ethics and contract misdeeds, including earmarks. How that will play out I have no idea, but it doesn't sound like he did anything that an awful lot of congresscritters on both sides of the aisle have done. Business as usual.

A little while ago, I saw Andrea Mitchell on MSGOP show a video in support of charges of ethical chicanery on Rep. Murtha's part. It was an FBI video, grainy black-and-white, showing an FBI agent trying to sting Rep. Murtha with a $50K bribe. Murtha turned down the bribe, although he left his options open to take it later, which to me sounded like a pretty good way to get the briber to leave. Republican operative Mitchell wondered if the offer to consider the bribe at a later time might hurt his chances of being Dem #2.

Oh yeah, the failed FBI sting was 26 years ago.

Let's see, the incident was in 1980, Murtha refused the bribe, no charges were brought, but somehow this is relevant today because Murtha said he might reconsider?

Desperate.

If it wasn't for Colonel Murtha USMC(ret.), questions about the viability of the Iraq war and failed occupation would not have been brought into the public consciousness like they have, and the recent elections might have gone the other way. In other words, if Rep. Murtha hadn't spoken out against this criminal president's criminal war, Bush might still be getting away with it with rubber-stamp Repuglicans still in control.

I am most definitely in favor of Rep. Murtha for the position of House majority leader. He has already demonstrated outstanding leadership against great odds.

Nancy: It's your duty to impeach Bush

Common Dreams

Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman is one wise legal thinker who says that, whether or not it would be a political liability for the Democrats, impeaching Bush is their constitutional duty. Holtzman served four terms in Congress, where she played a key role in House impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon.

Fresh from the Nixon impeachment, Ms. Holtzman is definitely on a roll. Listen to the voice of experience, you young whippersnappers!

Impeachment is an essential tool for preserving democracy. The framers of our Constitution, determined to provide protections against grave abuses of power by a president, created the impeachment process as a special procedure for citizens. Through their representatives, citizens would be able to remove a president run amok.

A president cannot be impeached lightly. The framers rejected the notion of presidential impeachment for "maladministration." The term was, at one point, inserted in the impeachment provision but then replaced by "high crimes and misdemeanors." The framers thought maladministration was too vague and worried that it might put the president at the mercy of an overreaching Congress.

What is expected is that the president will uphold the Constitution and the laws and fulfill the oath of office. Carefully applying the law is a requirement for holding office. The president may not avoid, subvert, or undermine the law. Nothing excuses the president from fulfilling his constitutional obligations, not incompetence or ignorance or lack of interest. The failure or the inability of a president to fulfill these obligations, for whatever reason, causes serious harm to democracy. Impeachment is the constitutional remedy to protect the future health of the nation.

She then goes on to list and explain a bare-bones list of five impeachable offenses that Bush has committed by way of subversion of the Constitution, rule of law, and some plain old crimes. Go see.

President Bush has committed a great many grave and dangerous offenses, and subverted the Constitution. The evidence is clear and strong. Congress cannot shirk its responsibility to protect the nation from tyranny. This is what the founders of this country intended when they added presidential impeachment to the Constitution.

Why?

Are we even discussing this, that's what I'd like to know:

...

There is no greater betrayal of the core principles of American political life than to have the federal government sweep people off the streets, throw them into a black hole with no contact with the outside world and no charges asserted of any kind, and simply keep them there for as long as the President desires -- in al-Marri's case, with respect to detention, now five years and counting.

As always, the most extraordinary and jarring aspect of cases like this one is that these principles -- which were once the undebatable, immovable bedrock of our political system -- are now openly debated and actively disputed by our own government. By itself it is astonishing -- and highly revealing about where we are as a country -- that such precepts even need to be defended at all.

I just can't wrap my head around the fact we are having the discussion, let alone putting it into law. This is America, dammit, and debating incarceration without charge in this country is as crazy as an Orthodox Jew debating whether to buy Virginia ham because it's on sale. The idea should be repellent and appalling to every American.

Committees

Bob Geiger has the committee assignments up for the new Senate.

Heh . . .

Me: Hey, the Chimp's going to Vietnam.

Mrs. F: Yeah, 40 years too late.

Quote of the Day 2

Steve Soto:

Only the Bush Administration could be lectured on war crimes by the Germans.

The Germans are going through with this and it looks like Rummy won't be heading overseas anytime soon. Heh ...

Ultimately, Republicans Will Force Bush/Cheney Resignation

Here's a fine idea from Rob Kall at OpEd News.

The democrats "have a constitutional duty," as Nancy Pelosi has said, to investigate--- criminal wrongs, offenses to the constitution...

Once the dirty truth comes out-- that Bush was a criminal and constitutional violator in SO many ways, the 31% rating for Bush that we see today will look huge. The American public will demand that something be done. They will insist upon the rescue of the constitution.

I believe that there will be more network anchors who, emboldened by the tough talk of first and foremost, Keith Olbermann, but also Jack Cafferty and Lou Dobbs. These gutsy media spokesman will rally the American people to demand that the perpetrators face justice, that the abuses to the constitution and the bill of rights be righted (or, with the current climate, "lefted.")

The Republican party will be faced with a disastrous 2008 election and they will have little choice but to cut the damage-- the slowly, but strongly growing media storm of outrage over the crimes and abuses of Bush, Cheney and their worst appointees, particularly Gonzalez.

The Republicans will be forced to take a walk to the white House-- at least 15 or 16 of them-- and they will tell Bush and Cheney, that they have to resign, because the Republican party will be obliterated if they don't clean up their own mess. And Bush and Cheney are their mess.

There are those who would imprison these criminals for life, and those who believe they deserve execution as mass murderers. The US should also allow the world court to try them, with Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Tommy Franks, and a number of the generals who allowed or even observed torture and other war crimes. The US owes the world access to the criminals who got out of control. We need to clear our Karma. Allowing justice to take its course-- true justice, not the perverted, despicable thing that Gonzalez, Yoo and company perpetrated upon this nation and this planet.

The American people will see the light and they will make at least most of these things come to pass. And it will be sweet to see Bush and Cheney and friends do the perp walks they so richly deserve.

This is far-fetched, even a little tinfoil-hattish, but I think all those perps might be easier to indict once they're out of power.

Whatever it takes.

From your lips to the Repubs', and the nation's, ears, Mr. Kall.

"We clap for fairies"

Will Durst, a Frisco resident, on Nancy Pelosi and Baghdad by the Bay.

For those of you who can't wait to get Nancy Pelosi down on the ground to shave her head and expose her horns, I regret to inform you, they aren't there. She's a kindly old grandma now, and although her smile does look like some fiend is twisting a knobby pole inserted up her butt, the ironic part is, in San Francisco, this supposedly frighteningly extreme liberal is considered a moderate often is protested by leftist factions for planting herself too deep in the mainstream and selling out. And yeah, some of those factions also believe the same is true of Fidel. The best way to analyze "The City," as we presumptively call ourselves, is to look to the movies. Like in "The Wizard of Oz," when Dorothy says, "we're not in Kansas anymore," that's our motto. Then, at the end of "Peter Pan," where Tinkerbell almost dies and the only thing that can save her is audience applause. Well, that's us too. We're not Kansas and we clap for fairies. So what? Big deal. Who cares?

San Francisco beliefs center on the rights of the individual. Our biggest moral flaw is we hate judgmental people, a bit of an internal fallacy, I'll admit. We go out of our way not to place restrictions on people or their actions or religions or appearances. When you think about it, what they're really afraid of is the freedoms the citizens of San Francisco enjoy. That's right, they hate us for our freedoms.

The fairies in EssEff even have their own building. They just can't spell for shit.

Quote of the Day

Bob Cesca at HuffPo:

... Had the president been left to his own stubborn devices, I imagine he'd still be wandering the plains of Midland -- 60 years old and carrying a rotting box of Lunchables and a Trapper Keeper, wondering aloud when the short bus will finally arrive...

Bob goes on to document all the ways Poppy and his minions have bailed Chimpy out over the last 40 years.

"The adults are in charge," my ass. He was born a spoiled brat and will die that way.

About fucking time

Today was the first time I heard Dr. King described as an 'American Statesman' and it's been long overdue. It's about time they honored his memory.

Oh, please do

Rudy wants to run for Preznit:

(New York - WABC, November 13, 2006) - GOP officials say former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has taken the initial step towards a 2008 White House bid.

Giuliani filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc. That process creates a panel allowing him to raise money for a potential run.

...

I would love it if Rudy on the Republican line and won their primary. We have more dirt on him here in NY that White House will be a Dem lock in '08.

Rudy, I got one word for ya: K-E-R-I-K

Please, please, please run.

Potemkin Iraq Study Group

Americablog

Regarding this Iraq Study Group, the Washington Post writes the following:

While [James] Baker has been testing the waters for some time to determine how much change in Iraq policy will be tolerated by the White House, [former Democratic Rep. Lee] Hamilton perhaps faces the now even-more-difficult challenge of cajoling Democrats such as former Clinton administration chief of staff Leon E. Panetta and power broker Vernon E. Jordan Jr. to sign on to a plan that falls short of a phased troop withdrawal, the position of many congressional Democrats.

This is a trap. Democrats cannot - can not - own the administration's current course in Iraq. If Democrats buy off on a policy that they know is not the right policy, then they will be buying off on future failure in Iraq. They will own Bush's bad policy. And that is insane. If the bipartisan group can't come up with a real plan, a good plan, the best plan, then let the Republicans in the group come up with their own wacky plan that will fail. The Democrats can issue a dissent that respectfully says they disagree, and why. And when all hell breaks loose over the next two years, the Dems can say "I told you so."

The last thing Democrats need is to hand George Bush some bipartisan approbation of his failed Iraq policy so that, in the future, he can say we all own Iraq, warts and all. We all don't own Iraq, it's his disaster, his failed state. And nothing we try is going to work because it's already too late - Iraq is lost. Bush had his chance, and he failed.

It's Terri Schiavo all over again. Sometimes the patient is just too far gone.

Oh yeah, one final rather important point. Check out the first line of that paragraph - James Baker is testing the waters as to how much change in Iraq policy the White House will tolerate. Excuse me? So, that means the guy running this panel isn't going to give his honest advice - he's only going to give the closest to honest the White House will let him give. That is totally messed up, incredibly dishonest, and it's the very reason we're in this predicament to start with. Generals being afraid of giving honest advice, top advisers to Bush being afraid to tell him the truth. It will be a total travesty if Baker only agrees to what the White House is willing to hear, and Lee Hamilton feels obliged to agree to whatever the Republicans want. Then what is the point of this entire exercise?

Less than honest? Repuglicans? Perish the thought!

I'm not saying I agree with this. We don't know what's in the report yet. Just something to keep in mind.

No ifs ands or buts

Elizabeth Holtzman

The framers of the constitution of the constitution knew that someday there was going to be a Richard Nixon who was president of the United States and someday there was going to be a George Bush who was going to be president of the United States, and they gave us the power of impeachment to revoke them.

They put in the impeachment clause because they said that we know that there will be presidents who will commit grave and dangerous offenses that would subvert the constitution. They knew that subverting that constitution was the greatest danger that could befall our country. So all of us here have to be soldiers in that cause.

Newsweek did a poll two weeks ago. It is a critical poll. It showed that a majority of Americans are open to the idea of impeaching George W. Bush.

What's amazing is that they got it even though there's no discussion of impeachment on the Today Show... , not even the other side. It's a nonentity, it doesn't exist. The mass media hasn't referred to it, except to say "It's a bad thing. It's the democrats." So there's no discussion of impeachment. Yet the American people get it, that this president has subverted the constitution and represents a threat to our democracy.

The constitution doesn't require the minimum. It requires the maximum. We can't have a president of the United States who puts himself above the rule of law if we want to continue with this democracy.That's it. No ifs ands or buts.

Ms. Holtzman is a leading voice in calling for Bush's impeachment. Here's her search on the Google to save you some time should you wish to do more research.

Ain't it the truth?

Low expectations? This administration? Duh.

The Carpetbagger Report

I believe it's important that Americans appreciate the democratic process, but this seems to have "soft bigotry of low expectations" written all over it. From yesterday's presidential radio address:

One freedom that defines our way of life is the freedom to choose our leaders at the ballot box. We saw that freedom earlier this week, when millions of Americans went to the polls to cast their votes for a new Congress. Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war." (emphasis added)

We should be "proud" that the federal government didn't cancel our elections? That the Bush administration didn't use the war as an excuse to interrupt the democratic process?

Setting the bar a little low, aren't we?

Don't think for a minute they're not thinking about it for '08. I don't think they could get away with it, but I don't put anything past them.

One more reason to thank the God of your choice that last week's elections went the way they did.

Go read the 'comments'.

Denial

Not just a river in Egypt anymore. DOD refuses to believe reality:

...

According to Jack Dorsey of The Virginian Pilot, the Department of Defense has spent $6 billion on a program to defeat roadside bombs, often referred to as improvised explosive devises (IEDs). That amount equates to the advertised cost of a Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier. You'd think that for the cost of a carrier, they could have come up with one heck of a rootin' tootin' anti-IED system, but no. A recent report by Congressional Research Service, a non-partisan research and analysis group, says that the five-year IED countermeasure effort has proven "only marginally effective."

...

Folks, this is a perfect microcosmic example of every failure of this war. Five years and $6 billion into a "marginally effective" program to counter a $20 weapon, the Pentagon insists that "progress" is being made. The Pentagon is in total denial about its inability to cope with the most basic of tactical problems, and the administration continues to insist that there's no need to change the overall strategy and policy.

...

It's this whole neocon mindset - if you throw enough money at a problem, it will eventually fix itself - that has to be purged from the White House and government agencies. Thanks to the patronage and cronyism rampant in contracting and personnel areas, things are done in a slipshod manner at higher cost because of these peoples' incompetence. This won't change with a Democratic Congress, only with a new administration in the White House.

As Dr. Attaturk (podiatrist to the stars) says:

"Young kids get to die so old men don't look bad."

"Hey, Pop, kin ya come bail me out?" "What, again?"

More at Newsweek.

Update:

I just heard Maureen Dowd on Press the Meat say words to the effect that what 41 is doin' is like when parents kidnap their kid back from a cult, and Baker is the deprogrammer. That's too close to the truth to be analogy.

The Anti-O'Reilly

Here's a good piece on Keith Olbermann at the EssEffChron.

Today Olbermann is hot, in every sense of the word. He likes to say that the first step to creating one of his blistering editorials is to "get pissed off," and that's certainly how he sounds.

But there's something more to it, too. Conservatives may hate his attacks, but no one doubts that he comes across as one of the smarter guys in the room. When he laid into then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Aug. 30, he threw in references to Neville Chamberlain and the policy of appeasement. Let's see NBC network anchor Brian Williams pull that off.

Not that he would try it.

"Broadcast networks are not interested in the controversy," Olbermann says.

Well, maybe they'd better start thinking about it.

"I think," says MSNBC General Manager Dan Abrams, "that Keith Olbermann may become a model for the newscast of the future."

I'm down wid dat if they can leave the Britney-and-KFed-type crap out of it.

Enjoy.

And now,for something completely different...

Me and my manly men are going to Florida for a turkey day extravaganza with my inlaws. We're hauling the Harley down with us,and on Thursday after an early dinner,the hubby and I are leaving the kiddo with the grandparents in Miami and we're going to Key West for a couple of days on the bike. We leave a week from Tuesday(11/21)and we'll be back on Monday(11/27). Should be fun. Except that drive to Miami from Atlanta and back,christ on a crutch, what a boring stretch of highway that is.

I won't have internet access,and don't want it,lol. It also means,if the weather holds,this week I'm not gonna be around much,I have shit to secure and put away outside before we leave,plants to protect from the weather,that sort of thing.

A few days after we get home,I'm scheduled for a consult with a reconstructive dentist and an oral surgeon. In my misspent youth I had no dental insurance and I have old mercury amalgam fillings(some are 35 yrs old) that are deteriorating my teeth.I have vertical hairline fractures in all my molars,little slivers are breaking off,not good.Those factors have caught up with me,and it's time to suck it up and deal with it before things get gruesome. I've been putting it off,as Moms often do,making sure the kiddo's teeth are lovely while neglecting my own.Hopefully I won't have a heart attack and deep wretching nausea when they tell me how much it's all gonna cost. This means I may be spending alot of time lying around on pain meds now and then until this process is finished. I'll let you know before I go into hibernation mode,if it comes to that.

O'Donnell

Creature has the quote from Lawrence O'Donnell on McLaugh-In this morning that had me rolling. Sent that idiot Tony Blankley totally off the wall.

PSA

Our old friend Mr. H has a new blog and I've been remiss in not directing you there. I'll let him explain:

...

The following question has arisen of late: "If everything sucks, if everything is a conspiracy - if everyone is treating everyone else horribly, taking advantage of their fellow human beings without a thought - what would you propose to do about it?"

Do I have a better idea?

How would I fix things?

I do have an idea or two, and they are related to the process of turning within, following some sort of spiritual practice, and/or adopting a different way of relating to the world - a way based on the inner, as opposed to addressing everything "out there."

So, I'm starting up this blog to focus solely on The Solution, and I'm leaving the ranting to my other blog.

...

If you don't read Michael Hawkins, you're missing out. You'll look at the world a little differently. I almost forgot, you can find him at Pauly's too.

Line of Succession

Wonkette

Republican staffers, a new career awaits

Gilliard

Dear Republican staffer,

As you know, the last election cycle has left many of you looking for employment.

We are hiring.

We know many of you are patriotic Americans who long to serve their country, and take great pride in the country and it's ideals.

I'll be honest, we need more Marines. We need the kind of men and women who want to serve this country, and often face danger.

Having served the Congress, you know the peril we face. Without your help, all of our work and effort in the war on terror may come to naught.

We need you to join the fight. Anyone between 17-35 can enlist in the Marines, although we prefer enlistees by 27 or 28. We will consider older candidates.

Those interested can get more information at www.marines.com

We have information on becoming a commissioned officer for college graduates. The Marines need new, dedicated officers like you.

We hope you consider joining the Marine Corps as your next career option.

Semper Fi,

Col. D. Michael Clayburn
Recruiting, USMC

And take the College Republicans with you!

But seriously, Colonel, given the difficulty involved in installing a spine in former Republitard staffers, the College Repuglicans, and the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, let alone trying to make Marines out of 'em, you'd be better off spending your money on a bucket of oily rags.

Feingold out

It's disappointing to hear, but his chances of winning were extremely small anyway. Note to John Kerry, take Russ' example and stay out of it too.

And while we're speaking of the future, why is James Carville allowed to speak for the Democrats anymore? Being married to that corrupt harpy should have gotten his membership card pulled years ago.

Keep quiet

I'm surprised AOB hasn't gone apoplectic over this; I'm sure she will in comments. I mean, if your man is gonna smack you around, the least you can do is shut up and take it, right?

...

Although some glitz has come off Mr Rove, Republicans have been more eager to blame botched campaigns and individual ethics scandals. "Bob Sherwood's seat [in Pennsylvania] would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn't whined about being throttled," said [neocon dickhead] Mr. [Grover] Norquist. Any lessons from the campaign? "Yes. The lesson should be, don't throttle mistresses." [my em]

And these guys have the nerve to call themselves men.

Link via Josh Marshall.

Quote of the Day

Brother Lurch:

I'm not certain we can defeat the external enemy until we have beaten the domestic enemy.