And since it's Saturday night ...

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while. The Disgruntled Chemist and I are kindred spirits in the fact we both like to blow shit up and we both like good beer (stuff that doesn't come in fridge-convenient 36 or 48-paks). Chemist has been on a crusade for a while now, sampling good beers and writing reviews, which I have used on many an occasion. If you love good beer like I do, you owe it to yourself to use The Disgruntled Chemist's Beer Blogging Archive as a resource.

The 'New' Blogger ...

Sucks wet monkey ass. I'm trying to set up a backup site on the new Blogger for this page so we can continue in case of problems converting this page to the new system. Let me tell ya, I'll have to re-educate myself in their CSS code. What a pain in the fucking ass. I can't move the blogrolls with ease, I can't move the other links with ease, nor can I use the old template (the one I use here) over there. I can imagine what they'll fuck up when they do decide to move us.

Dear Google,

You suck my hairy white ass.

Fixer


Note to Brain Staff: Check your Inboxes for invites for the new site.

Update:

Gord's anger management counselor is proud of him. Mine ain't proud of me. I been cussin' for hours. Heh ...

Quote of the Day

Kreetcha:

Trent Lott is an ass. Last night on Hardball he all but admitted that Cheney and Co. cooked the Iraq WMD intelligence, yet he and his GOP crew marched us to war anyway. It's fuckin' criminal.

Yes indeed, my friend. And you know how far we've fallen when they'll admit it without fear.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday night blogwhore*

The next installment (Chapter 13) of my novel The Captains is up at The Practical Press.

*Apologies to Elton John.

How come?

Seems we needed to know every time Monica Lewinsky visited the White House. How come we're not allowed to know when Jack Abramoff and Jeff Gannon did?

Kicking when down

I don't know what to say:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.

...

Great thanks to Watertiger for the link.

Climate change

Since most of us are in shorts and t-shirts (it's 60 degrees here on Long Island) and have yet to get a real freeze (except for poor Gord up in them thar big hills out west), can we all agree that, aside from me being able to give my home heating oil company the finger this year, we've got a real problem on this planet?

...

Ski resorts have been struggling to survive in Europe. There's no snow, though Vermont just got a welcome boost. Still, the trends now are impossible to ignore. It all just feels wrong now, and you don't need a scientist to tell you about it. Someone just told me the cherry blossoms on the DC tidal basin are starting to bud already, this week. I haven't seen it myself but my friend is pretty reliable. What's the weather like where you are?

Fortunately, the criminally insane Republican leadership in Congress is no longer in charge:

...

"Girl, go get 'im!"

This musical greeting to Nancy Pelosi from Yikes McGee will warm the cockles of your heart.

Democrats Burn the Republicans' Bed

The Rude One, in toto:

[Goddamn, it was so easy to predict: the first reaction of Republicans losing their power in Congress is to whine like the oldest, mangiest bitches in the pound, hoping that if they cry loud enough, they'll avoid the long walk to the metal table in the other room. As Democrats take over today, they've said that the Republicans can go fuck themselves. Break out the needles.

The fact that Republicans even think the victim act will work is laughable, in a "Christ, that's sad, let's shoot Old Yeller way." They don't realize that people love it when the bully gets beaten up. When an abused wife shoots the shit-faced, pummeling husband in the back of the head. When the convicted serial rapist is turned into the gang-banger's punk in prison. Sure, sure, we can bemoan the system that creates the circumstances where such violence can occur. But even in our most bleeding hearts, it's hard to feel anything but satisfied. Because for every life directly damaged by the actions of thuggish wads of fuck, there's reverberations to many, many people. Ask the family of any woman who's been raped. The parents of any kid who gets slugged every day at school. So even if you've promised non-violence as a way of life, well, at the end of the day there's a difference between pacifism and passivism.

So, really, and, c'mon, the proper response, as many have said, to the NRCC's pussy wails of disenfranchisement is to stare at them like the pathetic peep show masturbators they are. They seriously think saying, "Democrats promised to share their toys" is going to have traction as a counter argument to the election results, even when the entire country knows that Republicans kept the playground locked to Democrats for all these years. This is a Karl Rove ploy, the weak wimper of a cancer-ridden corrupt old man, trying to turn the Democrats on themselves, hoist them on their promise of better bipartisanship.

You can smell his sausage-like finger grease all over George Bush's sad editorial in the Wall Street Journal. "What Congress Can Do For America," it was titled. And the simple answer, the one demanded by all Americans whose paychecks don't rely on desperately trying to make Bush into a "leader," is "Fucking stop you."]

Amen.

Quote of the Day

The cartoon at Sumo's. Read the post too, dammit.

I apologize

As you lovely folks are about to discover, I went nuckin' futs on this machine today. There's a lot goin' on. Whee!

Please forgive me, and read every word.

I'm gonna go shovel snow now.

"Malkin may get this guy killed"

A follow-up to Fixer's post, from Cursor:

After the Iraqi Interior ministry acknowledges the existence of a disputed AP source , the source is arrested for talking to the media, but there are few signs of regret from the conservative bloggers who denounced the AP's reporting, and Eason Jordan spreads the blame around.

Way too much content to excerpt. Thank goodness for links.

Street fightin' man...

More on the resignation of Harriet Miers in WaPo:

"They face the question of, to what extent you cooperate or protect presidential prerogatives and withhold documents," said H. Christopher Bartolomucci, a former Bush White House lawyer. "Potentially, it could be a period of conflict with the Hill. . . . It's not necessarily going to be a bloodbath, but it's certainly possible."

Republican advisers have been telling the White House to be ready for war, and many cited Miers as the wrong general. "The White House knew they needed to get a tough street fighter -- that's what this is about," said one such adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve access to the White House.

The advice, according to this person, could be summed up this way: "You guys better lawyer up, and lawyer up in the right way. You better understand the need and the peril and the urgency. . . . You need somebody as tough as [Clinton aides] Harold Ickes or Bruce Lindsey. Because they're coming for you."

"Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you..."

I had a vision of Karl Rove, drunk and shirtless, glasses askew, bent over the trunk of a black and white Crown Vic...Heehee!

I know of a coupla ol' "street fighters" that'd just love to be in the White House, just fer an hour or two, please Jesus, and we they ain't lawyers.

"Kick rocks, Dick!"

Pandagon

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), now the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee as the Dems take over the House, has booted the VP out of his suite.

Rangel, you might recall, has called the VP a "son of a bitch" and said "Sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on," and "He's got heart disease, but the disease is not restricted just to that part of his body. He grunts a lot, so you never really know what he's thinking."

Mr. Rangel says he regrets calling The Dick a sonofabitch in public, but I don't think he really does. Why regret telling the truth?

Charlie's one of my faves.

"...the gavel changed hands with a hug and a kiss."

Good story about the changing of the guard in the House. Or maybe NAMBLA...

WaPo

When House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) rose to present the gavel to the new speaker, he was magnanimous in acknowledging both the roots of Republican defeat last November and the historic import of the moment.

He concluded with a warning for Democrats, gleaned from his party's pursuit of power and the lessons learned from defeat: "If there is one lesson that stands out from our party's time in the majority, it is this: A congressional majority is simply a means to an end. The value of a majority lies not in the chance to wield great power but in the chance to do great things."

In what must be another first, the gavel changed hands with a hug and a kiss.

[...] Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.) shouted "Praise Jesus!" during the opening prayer.

The old fart gets wound up, don't he? I will say this about Sen. Byrd: he inspired me to get the "little red book" of the Constitution and refer to it often. He always carries one.

Today, Democrats hope to pass new rules to promote open deliberations in the House, rein in special-interest spending and lawmaker pet projects, and prohibit passage of spending or tax measures that increase the federal deficit.

Over the next two weeks, Democrats in the House plan to enact new homeland security measures, increase the minimum wage, allow federally funded stem cell research, permit the federal government to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, cut student-loan interest rates and fund alternative-energy research by rolling back tax breaks for oil companies.

But Pelosi herself acknowledged that her carefully constructed consensus agenda will not satisfy the angry electorate that swept the Democrats to power. Democrats will have to confront President Bush on the larger, more controversial issues of the day: the war in Iraq, military tribunals that suspend the legal rights of terrorism suspects, and warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency.

Her call yesterday for a new direction in Iraq "that allows us to responsibly redeploy American forces" elicited strong applause in her party while clearly splitting Republicans, many of whom joined the ovation.

The domestic shit's all well and good, but I remind our legislators:

IT'S IRAQ, STUPID!

Barf and liquid alert!

"Six years of George W. Bush: A celebration of courage!"

Let the games begin!

John Murtha

I will be recommending to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that we begin extensive hearings starting on January 17, 2007 that will address accountability, military readiness, intelligence oversight and the activities of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will be demanding substantive answers to questions that have gone unanswered for far too long.

Go get 'em, Colonel. I hope you act like the bulldog you look like.

This is just one of many investigations scheduled to take place. This is gonna be fun!

"...six years of backlog to clean up"

My Left Nutmeg on minority party rights, and a response to Bush's WSJ bullshit piece.

In 2004 Minority Leader Pelosi proposed to the GOP leadership a Minority Bill of Rights. The Speaker of the House didn't even bother to respond to her letter. Now that the House has changed sides, three members of the GOP Leadership have proposed that she now honor the request she made two years ago.

The correct response is for the New Speaker of the House to agree to the Minority Bill of Rights that will go into effect exactly TWO YEARS from the request, as that's how long they made her and the Democrat minority wait before they even bothered to respond.

So, on Jan 2, 2008 the Minority Bill of Rights for the House will become effective. If it was a good idea for the GOP to wait two years before they began to think it is a good idea, it's a good idea to wait two years before implementing it.

Pretty damn generous, to my way of thinking.

For six years the GOP has controlled all the Federal Government. The result, a culture of corruption where every vote was for sale to the special interests. Homeland security that said that checking on 10% of the cargo entering our country was okay. No investigations into fraud, waste and abuse. A blank cheque on spending like a drunken sailor with money that we don't have. No bid contracts to favored corporations. And most of all, a destruction of the middle class, which has been shrinking for the last six years, not growing. More people having less. That's what six years of the GOP running both branches have done to America. Well, get ready sir, for all that is about to change.

CHEQUE? Ain't there a "Nutmeg State" up around Canada somewhere?

The concept of "working together" is an odd one. Do you really want the Democrats to treat your fellow Republicans the way that we were treated for the last six years? I am sure that they don't. In the House they are demanding a Bill of Rights, just as we did two years ago. Two years ago the Speaker of the House didn't even respond to our request. We were ignored. We were not allowed on commitees. We were refused rooms for investigations, We had no supeona power. We were treated like we didn't exist. We were not able to even offer amendments to bills. Do you remember how a vote was left open for hours so that the GOP leadership could arm twist the votes that they needed to pass a bill you wanted? Rules be damned, and the same with a minority voice. Well Mr. President, do you think the GOP members of the house would like to be treated the same way that they treated us? The way the Executive treated us?

Now you want a two way street where before you were more than happy to run over us and leave us and the over half of America that we represent unrepresented. I'm sure it would be understandable if we were a bit upset, as the American people are, they showed that to you and us at the polls.

Have you been asleap for the last six years? Where do you get off saying that the minority party has a strong say in the form bills take? For the last six years the minority party has been locked out of having any say in the form that bills take. We haven't been able to even offer amendments to the bills presented in the House. As for bringing up bills of our own to the floor, hell had a better chance of freezing over.

The writer makes many good points. Go read.

Fuck bipartisanship, at least for a while. We want revenge on these Repug bastards, as bad and intolerant as that sounds. The pols can't say that out loud, but I can. Mrs. Pelosi can signal that the Repugs can have a say by wearing ice skates in the House.

Update:

A rough draft of Bush's WSJ op-ed has been found. Chortle!

White House Postponing Loss of Iraq, Biden Says

Say what you will about Joe Biden, sometimes even a blind pig finds a truffle. WaPo:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.

"I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy -- literally, not figuratively."

Biden said that Vice President Cheney and former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "are really smart guys who made a very, very, very, very bad bet, and it blew up in their faces. Now, what do they do with it? I think they have concluded they can't fix it, so how do you keep it stitched together without it completely unraveling?"

It is completely unraveled, but one thing they could do is make apologies in suicide notes and leave a place for someone who might be able to do something. Like admit a bad idea has failed as it should have and was destined to do in the first place, that we've lost, and get the fuck out of Iraq.

It's up to all of us

Go read Molly Ivins.

The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck -- so it's up to us. You and me, Bubba.

I don't know why Bush is just standing there like a frozen rabbit, but it's time we found out. The fact is WE have to do something about it. This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped NOW.

Here she cites several examples of what went wrong and promises to do more in each column.

We need to cut through all this smoke and mirrors and come up with an exit strategy, forthwith. The Democrats have yet to offer a cohesive plan to get us out of this mess. Of course, it's not their fault -- but the fact is we need leaders who are grown-ups and who are willing to try to fix it. Bush has ignored the actual grown-ups from the Iraq Study Group and the generals and all other experts who are nearly unanimous in the opinion that more troops will not help.

So, like I said, it's up to you and me, Bubba. We need to make sure that the new Congress curbs executive power, which has been so misused, and asserts its own power to make this situation change. Now.

Now.

It's not a game ...

Now, I generally don't follow, read, or quote Right wing blogs. They're idiots, period, and I don't give their rantings serious tought. It's as if they're playing a game with our nation's future. I guess the role-playing computer games weren't gratifying enough so they began to play with real life, all the while taking money and favors from the Right Wing Noise Machine.

That said, I do pay attention to them when they manage to really fuck something up. The 'Veronica' to Ann Coulter's 'Betty', Michelle Malkin and a bunch of her no-dick male cohorts have created a scandal (there was no scandal to begin with) to try to smear the Associated Press (something AP can do well enough on its own). In their zeal to remain relevant, they might just have put the life of a source in the Iraqi Police, and his family, in mortal danger.

Look, idiots. I don't give shit what you say on your blogs. They're yours and this is still America and you can say what you damn well please. My problem with you is when your words and actions get people killed. Especially innocent people. Especially for some non-existant 'scandal' you create to justify your own existence.

I hope you can sleep well at night.

Quote of the Day

"I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing differently than I believe, as long as they don't impose their religion on me or my government," says Ms. [Lori Lipman] Brown, a former Nevada state senator [and current Director of Secular Coalition of America].

An interesting article for me being I have a big problem with people (especially the government) telling me what to believe.

Great thanks to Blondie for the link.

Nyuk! Nyuk!

Cursor

Appearing on "Countdown," (Rep. Barney) Frank told Keith Olbermann that "when the Republican administration of George Bush tells me not to use legislation to make political statements, it's kind of like being accused of being silly by the Three Stooges."

And then what?

WSJ on the escalation in Iraq:

The administration's high-level deliberations about the size and duration of any potential surge have taken on added significance because both opponents and supporters of the war agree that U.S. influence in Iraq is rapidly diminishing. As Iraq confronts a civil war and a faltering political process, adding more U.S. forces could well be the administration's final real opportunity to stabilize the country.

"If we surge and it doesn't work, it's hard to imagine what we do after that," Mr. Kagan says. "But we're already in a very bad spot, and if we don't do anything defeat is imminent."

More American deaths to try in vain to save Bush's legacy by postponing the inevitable.

His 'legacy' is already etched in stone: a failed evil fantasy.

It's Official

EssEffChron

(01-04) 10:43 PST Washington -- The U.S. House of Representatives, for the first time in its 218-year history dating to the beginnings of the American republic, elected a woman Speaker today when it chose Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco to lead the chamber.

Pelosi, upon her election about 10:30 a.m. (PST) today, became the first Californian and the first San Franciscan to head the 435-member lower house of Congress.

The 66-year-old Pelosi was elected by a 233-to-202 vote on party lines that became a foregone conclusion after Democrats rolled to victory in last November's midterm congressional election that swept aside 12 years of Republican control in the House.

I just happened to catch the results of the vote on TV as they were announced. They cut to L'il Fat Denny. He looked like he'd just noticed he was sucking on a turd instead of a lollipop. Ha!

OK, Nancy, congrats and all that shit. Party it up 'til tomorrow. You (we) earned it.

Then get to work. Crack the whip. Do your 100-hour social programs deal.

Then end Bush's criminal occupation of Iraq. Remember I5: Investigation, Indictment, Impeachment, Incarceration and Inhangthesonsabitchez.

Miers bails out

LATimes

Harriet Miers, President Bush's failed Supreme Court nominee and longtime adviser, on Thursday submitted her resignation as White House counsel.

Snow said Miers' departure did not signal the beginning of an exodus of senior officials after six bruising years at the White House. Asked if other officials were poised to go, Snow said, "I'm aware of none and anticipate none."

Heh. He gets paid to know nothing and anticipate nothing, and then lie about it.

The White House needs to make room for a phalanx of criminal (apt description, no?) lawyers anyway.

This is just too easy, but I have these lovely visions of a buncha swimming rats and a sinking ship...

The balloon goes up!

Stolen en toto from Colonel Murtha himself at Arianna's place.

I will be recommending to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that we begin extensive hearings starting on January 17, 2007 that will address accountability, military readiness, intelligence oversight and the activities of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will be demanding substantive answers to questions that have gone unanswered for far too long.

The war in Iraq and its effect on our military and our nation's future remains the most crucial issue facing the new Congress. I will be will be recommending an aggressive pursuit of action that will allow us to reduce our military presence in Iraq at the soonest practicable date.

I've been waiting to hear this going on 4 years. A hearty welcome to the 110th Congress who take their seats today. Congratulations especially to Speaker of the House (God, it's good to say that) Pelosi.

Off to work ...

It continues ...

The Right Wing Noise Machine and its bought-and-paid-for press. I heard something like this last night when I had Wolfie on:

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

...

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

...

So it's not, 'let's see what the Dems will do for the people', or 'the Dems have a robust agenda to turn around this nation's slide under the Rethugs'. No. It's 'the Dems are a buncha meanies because they're not bipartisan'.

Know what? Fuck you assholes.

We've had 6 years of the Rethugs' version of 'bipartisanship' and look what it's got us. We're laughingstock in the world community, our economy is teetering on the brink, we're engaged in an endless 'War on Terra', the last Congress was one of the most corrupt in history, and we've managed to destroy a nation that was relatively peaceful and terrorist-free.

And you 'journalists' are worried the Rethugs might not have a say in crafting legislation in the new Congress? I say keep 'em out of the process until this nation is running correctly again. I'm sorry, but if I have a guy in the shop who wrecks more shit than he fixes, well ... he's out the door at the soonest before he costs me more money.

If we have a political party whose recent track record has been one of utter failure, they should be kept out of the process until they complete remedial Lawmaking 101. Do they have Legislating for Dummies out yet?

Look, I believe in bipartisanship. I believe the more viewpoints you consider, the more informed decisions you make. I don't believe the Dems should pull what the Rethugs have over the last few years; tit-for-tat isn't the answer but until the Chimp is out of the White House, I would limit congressional Rethugs' power greatly. They've proven they can't be trusted to look out for anyone's interest but their own and that of their campaign contributors.

They've proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

They've proven, since Nixon's time, that their motto is 'Party before Country'. Gerry Ford did when he pardoned Nixon not 'for the good of the nation' but for the good of the Republican Party. The same crew has been around since then. Had Nixon gone to trial, I'd venture to say many of the players in the WH today would have slinked off into obscurity back then. Either that or done jail time. Cheney and Rummy are ubiquitous in every Rethug administration from Nixon to Dubya and all the minor players have gotten steady employment since. It's time for a thorough housecleaning at 1600 and the Rethugs in Congress should have no power until all the investigations are over.

We can't afford it, on many levels. We can't afford bipartisanship until we fix the United States.

Great thanks to Digby for the link. Go read his post on this too.

Oh Man,Tee Hee

Be sure to read the comments too, I'll wait.....

Well played Representative Ellison,well played.

Then there's this. Not so much funny as it is just plain spoiled brat. Tom Price is my rep,yay. What a cheezy little tick on a weasel. This is the kind of representation my neighbors don't seem to mind. As long as the tax cuts keep coming and the gas is below three bucks a gallon no one seems to give a shit. I hate the suburbs.

Avalanche

BooMan in the wake of Olbermann's 'Special Comment':

I could go and find dozens of links to back up what I am about to say, but I'm feeling lazy. So, I'll just say it.

The country has finally turned on George W. Bush. The country is in a very bad and testy mood. At the extreme, tonight's Special Comment on Keith Olbermann's Countdown was the most blistering indictment of a sitting President in the history of broadcast television. I have never seen anything like it. It violated every law of Higher Broderism. It even passed into raw conspiracy theory at points. In different and more stable times, a rant like Olbermann's would mark the swift end of his career. But our nation has entered into a new stage. Olbermann will pay no price for his outburst because even though it was extreme, it was an extremism that has now entered the boundaries of acceptable discourse. The country has no more use for George W. Bush and it has no will to rally to his defense.

The overriding mood of the nation is that we should take away the car keys. And that is the genius of democracy. We may be easily scared and led astray, but as long as we protect our institutions we will always eventually correct our mistakes. The country senses that we cannot wait until 2009 to take away the keys. Congress knows it. Our allies know it. The country stands ready to overthrow this administration and redeem our system of government (my em). I have called the logic of impeachment 'inexorable', and it is.

The President's decision to escalate the Iraq War and call for sacrifice is going to start an avalanche. And no one can stop an avalanche.

Avalanches are sometimes started by loud noises. Let's keep yelling.

Quote of the Day

Related to Gord's post on Olbermann's testicles early this morning, Steve Gilliard:

...

His daughters whore around Argentina and he thinks no one notices? He wants some poor kid from Wal Mart to do another tour?[*]

...

Bush and his friends. He should take those fat, cheetos eating fucks at the think tanks and ship their asses overseas. Let Cliff May run a convoy and have Max Boot drive. Let Goldberg man the .50.

Let those useless motherfuckers sacrifice more than their filthy fucking mouths. Let them do what they ask of others and then denigrate.

...

*If there's one thing I remember my dad bitching about during the Vietnam days was how many college kids got deferrments. While he was a defense contractor and made a good living from Grumman's and Republic Aircraft's contracts, he realized the injustice that was being perpetrated. The kids who couldn't afford college got drafted, the kids who weren't 'privileged' enough to know a congressman or senator went too. My father was a stubborn old Brit whose every waking minute was spent chasing a buck, but even he got what was going on 40 years ago. Shit ain't changed yet.

Dubya's Berlin

[Disclaimer - This is a flagrant Godwin's Law violation but I've been doing it for 2 1/2 years and I'll continue to do so. The similarities between the Chimp and Hitler are too great.]

Via Blondie from DU:

...

Although there have been numerous comparisons over the last few years of Bush vs. Hitler, one cannot avoid the similarities between the two in their final days. Depleted armies, lost wars, generals in revolt and a desperate cling to an unrealistic hope of resuscitating misguided ideologies are just a few of the parallels shared by these two figures. Sadly, neither leader was able to recognize the irony of their respective falls being a result of those ideologies to which they so strictly embraced.

To be fair, there are no invading armies outside Bush's White House bunker (although the 110th Congress may be seen as such) and DeeCeeVille is not ablaze and in complete chaos. However, Baghdad is George Dubya's Berlin and even though he could see the death and destruction and hopelessness his actions have caused - if he chose to - he still continues to hunker down and wait for some kind of miracle that will save that which cannot be saved. Bush is still in his bunker mentality as the weapons he and his administration used against the world and the American people begin to lose their effectiveness. Here are just a few examples of those depleting armaments.

...

Except that Hitler had quite a few early successes. Everything the Chimp has touched has gone to shit.

And just an aside before I run out the door. I thank God every day my mother didn't live long enough to experience the Bush Presidency. Growing up when Hitler came to power, being a nurse in the German Army, being an American prisoner of war, and despising Hitler with every ounce of her being, as well as being a tough broad, she would have tried to storm the White House single-handedly and they would have tossed her in Gitmo. Mom was a naturalized and proud American citizen and raised me to cherish the rights and freedoms we have here. The things she told me about, the warning signs she'd recognized in hindsight from when Hitler came to power, she would have recognized right away from the Chimp. I did. It was my motivation to begin blogging. Rest easy, ma, we're on it.

KO slaps the shit outta the Chimp

Go see Keith Olbermann take Bush to the woodshed over his new propaganda word "Sacrifice" at Crooks and Liars. K.O. must hafta get his pants cut special for a #10 sack. Good on yer, Keith.

It's all about the whining ...

It's what the Rethugs do best. Whine about this, whine about that; they've had control of the country for six years and have yet to do anything worthwhile. Now they're whining about being in the minority and the 110th hasn't even been seated yet. Digby chronicles:

...

They are fully back in minority victimhood mode without missing a beat. And there is a sense of gleeful excitement about the whole thing --- "heh, heh, I just hope I live long enough to see what that horrible woman is going to do to this country."* If you mention Iraq, they shrug their shoulders and start babbling about John Kerry and the draft dodging Clinton. Some lament that the Democrats wouldn't let us win it (we should have "glassed 'em.") For the most part, they seem absolutely thrilled to be in the minority and they are already doing the only thing they have ever really been good at --- carping about Democrats from the sidelines.

...

If they'd put as much energy into running shit properly as they did running off at the mouth, things would actually work and we wouldn't be a laughingstock. It's gonna get worse as time goes on, you know. I'm getting a migrane just thinking about it. They remind me of the guys who think they know cars. They talk a good line but after they're done 'fixing' their car, it comes to me on the hook with a box of parts in the trunk to do it right.

Retirement travel

To start off the new year in a positive manner, I spent a little time this morning reviewing my retirement travel plans. The thought of cruises to far away lands, this time not in uniform, captured my imagination. Everything was going along swell until I clicked on "budget". This came up:

Young Republicans want to help!

Continuing ...

The Crazy Turk, Cenk Uygur (whom I love) picks up where I left off yesterday, but he takes on the hardcore Jesus freaks:

...

There are also numbers that showed how well the public is attuned to the current political and economic climate, with eighty percent predicting an increase in the minimum wage and ninety percent predicting higher gas prices.

But there is one number that stands out among the rest as absolutely unbelievable. Twenty-five percent of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth in 2007. TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT! IN 2007!

These people are nuts. There's no polite way of saying it. If I sound superior, too bad. Sanity has its advantages.

...

Time to get a grip. Jesus ain't coming back to 'kiss it and make it better'. We're on our own and it's up to us to make a better world for ourselves, not just for the Christians but for everyone. Quit waiting for someone or something to do it for you; you'll be waiting a long goddamned time.

What I want ...

*Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

As this New Yorker waits for Governor Spitzer to be seated today, and the 110th Congress later this week, as I welcome 2007 in with hope it will be better than 2006, I just wanted to remind the people, the American citizens who continually voted to enable the thieving, lying, morally bankrupt administration and rubber stamp Congress that runs this nation, how they were played for sheep. There was a formula in place, devised by people far smarter than those using it now, and all of you fell for it. Thank you very much. It makes me wonder how many of you fall for the African 'get rich quick' email schemes that litter my Inbox.

The reason I'm bringing this up now, on the first day of a new year, this New Year, is because I'm tired. I'm battle fatigued fighting the 'Information Civil War'; at least that's what I call this situation between the reality-based folks and the Right Wing Noise Machine. I've been looking back through our archives this morning, randomly stopping at posts over the past 2 1/2 years and realizing that we (here and in Left Blogtopia [y!sctp!] in general) spent a lot of time rebutting untruths and spin shoveled in by the Right.

I'm fucking tired of you folks believing everything you hear on TV as gospel truth. Don't you question anything? Or don't you care because other people's kids are dying, or other families are the ones who can't make ends meet, or you won't be around when the environment finally succumbs to all the crap we've poured all over, in, and above the Earth? You don't care what goes on as long as you get your share. As long as you have your house, your SUV, your little urchins have their video games, and you can pay the bills, fuck everybody who can't. As long as your kids ain't dying in some misbegotten war, as long as you don't have to sacrifice for the nation, who gives a fuck what they do in Washington, right? I'm sick and tired of you sheep.

It was the sheep in Germany who allowed an evil group of men to take control of a proud nation and break it; only now, 60 years later can Germans begin to hold their heads up with national pride. It was the sheep in this country, those of you who thought the Chimp was somebody 'they wanted to have a beer with', who thought the Republicans would 'keep us safer', who believed all the spin, misdirection, and lies without the slightest iota of doubt, who willingly gave up their civil rights, and were willing to give up more of them, in a cowardly attempt to 'be safe'.

I'm sick of you fucking people.

You're the ones who are jumping on our bandwagon now. The 40-odd percent of Americans who now realize the mess they've allowed to be spread all over this country and now they're all pissed they've been fooled. Thing is, a couple years from now, you'll probably be fooled again. I've seriously lost faith in the intelligence and common sense of my fellow American over the past 6 years, because the situation we're in is your fault. Seriously, how many of you possess a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge?

I remember a time when being an American meant something good in other parts of the world. I remember, in the 60s and 70s, spending summers in Europe and being treated like a celebrity just because I was an American. I remember when people used to look to this nation as an institution to emulate, something to strive for in pursuit of personal liberties and freedoms, as a nation abiding by the Rule of Law and, while not perfect, a nation of people striving for fairness for all. It pains me to visit Europe now and see signs and grafitti saying "Fuck Bush" and comparing us to the more dastardly regimes of history. Thank you for making me feel unwelcome in my ancestral home, you sorry, cowardly sheep.

I also want all you armchair generals to shut the fuck up this year. Every day my ears and intelligence are assaulted by idiots who've 'had it with the Iraqis, after all we've done for them' and we should just 'bomb the shit out of them and get it over with'. We started this, you morons. The blood spilled already is on our hands. I'm truly sorry you never got to experience combat and your only connection with it has been through Hollywood offerings. I'm truly sorry that our children fighting and dying in some desert (or jungle) somewhere makes you more of a man (or woman) and satisfies your bloodlust. I'm sorry you're that insecure as a human being, but you make me sick. It sickens me that you have such little disregard for innocent human life, people who are more like you than different, just because their skin is a different color, or worship a different God, or speak a different language. Do something with your lives to give them validation instead of finding some sort of meaning in other people's sacrifice. It is you who are responsible for the carnage, no one else, for without your cooperation, your vote, your complacency, this would never have happened.

I hope you got your rocks off at Saddam's trial and subsequent lynching, because if you think any justce was done there you, as usual, are sadly misinformed. And for all of you who are of age to serve this nation, cheerleading from the homefront doesn't qualify. If you really support the occupation in Iraq, enlist and do your part. Because you hypocrites piss me off more than the regular sheep. Playing GI Joe at the paintball range or taking your AK-47 out to shoot up junk cars doesn't qualify, so refrain from telling me what you would do in Iraq. Enlist and show me how many ragheads you're gonna kill. Otherwise shut the fuck up because I've made a resolution to put you on your ass this year. There are now 3000 U.S. troops dead in the war you wanted, either put up or shut up.

So, for 2007, I have one request for the sheep. Stay out of the fucking way. The choice to elect our representatives is not American Idol or Survivor, it is serious business for an informed public. If you're not serious about your freedoms, rights, and privileges that come from being American, stay the fuck home on Election Day. The choice of who leads the world's only superpower is not a game, not a fucking reality show. Our representatives' decisions affect not just the lives of a third of a billion people in this nation, but the lives of six billion others who don't have the right to vote in America. If you can't take it seriously, if you can't inform yourself and rely on the dog and pony show in our so-called 'free press', just stay out of it and go about your business. If you've learned anything over the past 6 years, it should be that qualification for elected office, especially the Presidency, has nothing to do with a candidate's personality.

You've made our job, those of us who actually care what happens to this nation and the world now and in the long-term, that much more difficult. We'll deal with the hardcore morons and Kool-Aid drinkers, the 18% of socio- and psycopaths, the racists who want to turn this nation into Germany 1933, but it's you sheep that give them relevance and credibilty through your inaction and apathy. We're leading, either follow or get out of the way.

The Republican Party is a criminal organization and you sheep are just passive foot soldiers. They couldn't have created this mess without you as accomplices. Make up for it this year and actually pay attention to what's happening around you and stop parroting the horseshit you hear on Fox News. We're just beginning to straighten out the mess, let us do it.

*Great thanks to our pal Ed Encho for the Hermann Göring quote.

'07

12:00AM OWT* 1 January 2007. 27°F., waxing gibbous Moon, partly cloudy, scattered gunfire, fireworks, sirens, sober as a judge.

Ho-Hum. Another trip around the Sun begins. Or the non-stop one continues. BFD.

Happy New Year, everyone.

*Out West Time

Happy fucking New Year

3000. Guess what 'Happy New Year' will mean to his family from here on.

2006 has been that kind of year...

Barnes & Barnes: Fish Heads

I should issue a not intended for the faint-hearted warning. You've been warned.



Guess who the Fish Heads are? So let's hope, pray, demand, mobilise, write, work and anything else we can think of to make the promise of Nov. 06 become a force for good in 2007. Happy New Year to all and to all a good night.

Dead men tell no tales...

Robert Parry sums it up nicely.

Like a blue-blood version of a Mob family with global reach, the Bushes have eliminated one more key witness to the important historical events that led the U.S. military into a bloody stalemate in Iraq and pushed the Middle East to the brink of calamity.

Some observers think that Bush simply wanted the personal satisfaction of seeing Hussein hanged, which would not have happened if he had been sent to the Hague. As Texas governor, Bush sometimes took what appeared to be perverse pleasure at his power to execute prisoners.

But a more powerful motive was always Hussein's potential threat to the Bush Family legacy if he ever had a forum where he could offer detailed testimony about the historic events of the past several decades.

When there is a potential rupture of valuable information, the Bushes intervene, turning to influential friends to discredit some witness or relying on the U.S. military to make the threat go away. The Bushes have been helped immeasurably, too, by the credulity and cowardice of the modern U.S. news media and the Democratic Party.

With the Democrats taking control of Congress on Jan. 4, 2007, there could finally be an opportunity to force out more of the full story, assuming the Democrats don't opt for their usual course of putting "bipartisanship" ahead of oversight and truth.

The American people also could demand that the surviving members of Hussein's regime be fully debriefed on their historical knowledge before their voices also fall silent either from natural causes or additional executions.

But the singular figure who could have put the era in its fullest perspective - and provided the most damning evidence about the Bush Family's role - has been silenced for good, dropped through a trap door of a gallows and made to twitch at the end of a noose fashioned from hemp.

That's a good point: the Bushes, and many others, deserve the finest. No sisal or synthetic ropes for them.

We better start growing hemp. We're gonna need a lot of it when justice comes to them.