I'm starting on the last room in the remodel. Looks like I'll have everything closed up before vacation.
And, for your listening pleasure, that "Limey guit-ar picker" (as Gord calls him) and his boys:
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Saturday whorage
Another chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.
I'm starting on the last room in the remodel. Looks like I'll have everything closed up before vacation.
And, for your listening pleasure, that "Limey guit-ar picker" (as Gord calls him) and his boys:
I'm starting on the last room in the remodel. Looks like I'll have everything closed up before vacation.
And, for your listening pleasure, that "Limey guit-ar picker" (as Gord calls him) and his boys:
"I'm going where there's no depression"
An old Carter Family tune. I'm surprised today's elites don't tell the common folks to suck it up and let them steal all the money and power they want, that it doesn't matter, there's a better day a-comin'. When you croak, and if that happens because of money and power, it's God's will anyway so STFU peasants.
Sheryl Crow
Quote of the Day
From a commenter over at Nucks' place on the post Fixer linked to in his post just below this one:
In this country, you don't have to be all that erudite to feel like a ham sandwich sometimes.
In the land of troglodytes, the erudite man is food.
In this country, you don't have to be all that erudite to feel like a ham sandwich sometimes.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Oh look ...
Shiny shit. Our pal Nucks:
Yeah, keep watching Wolfie, reading NYT and WaPo, and you'll continue to be a low-information voter with no clue of what they're doing with your rights, your money, and your security.
...
Oh, by the way, the current flap going on with Russia?
Yeah, SHINY, ain't it?
Ask yer neighbors how they are doing.
The foreclosure rate in California,ALONE, is ONE THOUSAND, THEE HUNDRED, PER DAY.
Georgia, SHINY.
...
Yeah, keep watching Wolfie, reading NYT and WaPo, and you'll continue to be a low-information voter with no clue of what they're doing with your rights, your money, and your security.
In My Dreams
I gotta go stain/seal a bench & table deal before I assemble it, made in China outta cheap shitty-on-one-side pinewood. I got it to replace the previous 25-year-old cheapass table that got broken by ice sliding off my roof. I wanted a new one anyway and had to move it around a buncha times under the ice overhangs 'til I found the right place...
Let's kick the weekend off a little early. Watch the pretty pictures and listen to a lovely old song. Later.
Let's kick the weekend off a little early. Watch the pretty pictures and listen to a lovely old song. Later.
"Thank God And Greyhound "*
IPS
Make it a bus with duallies and chain 'em up. I'll drive.
*Apologies to Roy Clark.
As a new report forecasts that the 190,000 private contractors in Iraq and neighbouring countries will cost U.S. taxpayers more than 100 billion dollars by the end of 2008, an under-the-radar Florida court case suggests that U.S. President George W. Bush -- a staunch contractor supporter -- is preparing to throw security contractors such as Blackwater under the political bus.
Make it a bus with duallies and chain 'em up. I'll drive.
*Apologies to Roy Clark.
A Frozen Katrina
Up hyar in the mountains, us simple hill folk, well, this simple hill folk anyway, consider August to be the first month of winter even though it was 95°F yesterday.
Huh? August? 95°? Winter!!? Ya lost yer effin' mind? How come ya think like that, Clem?
The answer is in the stars. Orion, considered a 'winter' constellation, has been visible in the morning sky since around August 1st, when Betelgeuse and Bellatrix first recognizably appeared above the eastern horizon just before first light. Can Driekoningen and The Dog be far behind?
Even though there are three months of some of the best weather in California yet to come before the Dreaded First Dump, we'll start heating the joint in September, so the time is now to clean out the chimney and make plans to get out in the woods as soon as they reopen for woodcutting and make the pickup's springs groan and its headlights point at the sky with max loads of firewood if you didn't already in Spring like you should have.
Katrina vanden Heuvel is thinking about this as well. Many links.
The clarion calls follow.
Ignoring real people in favor of Big Corpora is the way the Repugs roll. People are going to die, or continue to die, because of them.
Even if we vote the bastards out on election day it will be too late for some folks.
I heated my home exclusively with wood for eighteen years, starting the day I found out that the less propane I bought, the more it cost. Wood heat is awful. They say wood heats you twice, when you carry it as well as when you burn it.
Bullshit.
By the time you drive way out in the woods, fall the trees, limb 'em, buck 'em, pile the slash, load the truck and unload the truck many times, split and stack the wood, only then do you get to tote it into the house bit by bit and burn it, but by then you have been warmed many, many times. Not to mention constantly cleaning detritus from around the hearth and shoveling snow off the woodpile and access to it.
When you take into account wear and tear on your truck, tires (pine forest fuelwood access roads are not kind to them), chainsaw, clothes, gloves, boots, your body, etc., the time involved, the extra soap and mayonnaise, and on and on, you save money over buying the wood, but it still costs.
If you buy your firewood, it costs nearly as much as heating with gas, which is what I have done since the gas came in. I still keep a supply of wood for the inevitable power outages when the electrically powered gas furnace won't work.
Having just said that wood heat sucks, if the price of natural gas goes up by 67% as predicted in the above article, now that I'm on a fixed income I may have to go back to it. We will see.
I'm still fit enough to lay in my own firewood and feel lucky to be so, but I don't care how physically able the folks in the oil-burning areas are, they can't pump their own heating oil. They're just pretty much screwed.
I hope they remember who's doin' the screwin' on election day.
Huh? August? 95°? Winter!!? Ya lost yer effin' mind? How come ya think like that, Clem?
The answer is in the stars. Orion, considered a 'winter' constellation, has been visible in the morning sky since around August 1st, when Betelgeuse and Bellatrix first recognizably appeared above the eastern horizon just before first light. Can Driekoningen and The Dog be far behind?
Even though there are three months of some of the best weather in California yet to come before the Dreaded First Dump, we'll start heating the joint in September, so the time is now to clean out the chimney and make plans to get out in the woods as soon as they reopen for woodcutting and make the pickup's springs groan and its headlights point at the sky with max loads of firewood if you didn't already in Spring like you should have.
Katrina vanden Heuvel is thinking about this as well. Many links.
As John McCain and the Republicans trumpet their election year boldfaced lie–drill now so we can lower prices at the pump today–they continue to ignore a looming energy disaster with lives hanging in the balance.
Currently, eight million homes rely on heating oil during the winter months, and last winter’s prices forced too many citizens to choose between heat, food, and medicine.
According to the New York Times, heating oil prices are now 36 percent higher than they were last winter and bills will be up to $1500 higher than they were last year. As for the 54 million households heating with natural gas, prices are expected to be 67 percent higher this winter. Current funding for the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is below 1980’s levels–”a time when fuel prices were just a tiny fraction of what they are now,” The Timberjay newspapers point out. In fact, last year’s $2.5 billion in LIHEAP funding allowed just 16 percent of eligible recipients to receive aid. Congressional representatives of New England states have sought as much as $6.5 billion in additional LIHEAP funding to meet the anticipated needs of the upcoming winter. With both lower-income and middle-class people now unable to afford this basic necessity–a requirement for security in one’s own home–newspapers in the Northeast are sounding a clarion call to head-off the impending disaster.
The clarion calls follow.
Indeed, the crisis has gotten the attention of Democrats–and some Republicans–in Congress, but an effort to respond was thwarted by yet another GOP Senate filibuster. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tried to increase LIHEAP funding all the way back in November, while President Bush proposed cutting it by $379 million. In March, Sen. Sanders offered a budget amendment that would have rescinded the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest three-tenths of 1 percent of taxpayers and increased LIHEAP funding by $4 billion. Last month, he was the lead sponsor of the Warm in the Winter and Cool in the Summer Act which would double LIHEAP funding, adding $2.5 billion to the program (less than one week’s funding in Iraq). Although President Bush threatened a veto (no surprise there, he has also proposed cutting the weatherization program that helps lower-income families reduce energy consumption over the long-term), there were fifty-two co-sponsors, including thirteen Republicans. Sanders called it a “tripartisan bill” with the majority of Congress, the nation’s governors, AARP and others on board.
But when it came time to vote on the legislation on July 26, there were only fifty votes to end a Republican filibuster–ten shy of the sixty needed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. The GOP wanted “a vote on legislation that would open up the continental shelf to oil drilling.”
“I understand the games that are played in Washington, but it doesn’t make the obstruction tactics any less revolting,” Sanders said following the vote. “This is life or death. People are dying in the summer heat. People will freeze to death this winter.”
While Republicans continue to push drilling as their election year elixir, real pain, real lives, and real security are ignored.
Ignoring real people in favor of Big Corpora is the way the Repugs roll. People are going to die, or continue to die, because of them.
Even if we vote the bastards out on election day it will be too late for some folks.
I heated my home exclusively with wood for eighteen years, starting the day I found out that the less propane I bought, the more it cost. Wood heat is awful. They say wood heats you twice, when you carry it as well as when you burn it.
Bullshit.
By the time you drive way out in the woods, fall the trees, limb 'em, buck 'em, pile the slash, load the truck and unload the truck many times, split and stack the wood, only then do you get to tote it into the house bit by bit and burn it, but by then you have been warmed many, many times. Not to mention constantly cleaning detritus from around the hearth and shoveling snow off the woodpile and access to it.
When you take into account wear and tear on your truck, tires (pine forest fuelwood access roads are not kind to them), chainsaw, clothes, gloves, boots, your body, etc., the time involved, the extra soap and mayonnaise, and on and on, you save money over buying the wood, but it still costs.
If you buy your firewood, it costs nearly as much as heating with gas, which is what I have done since the gas came in. I still keep a supply of wood for the inevitable power outages when the electrically powered gas furnace won't work.
Having just said that wood heat sucks, if the price of natural gas goes up by 67% as predicted in the above article, now that I'm on a fixed income I may have to go back to it. We will see.
I'm still fit enough to lay in my own firewood and feel lucky to be so, but I don't care how physically able the folks in the oil-burning areas are, they can't pump their own heating oil. They're just pretty much screwed.
I hope they remember who's doin' the screwin' on election day.
Poke the Bear
Click for a bigger target
1. WH has started to panic over a July 9 meeting & Rove/McCain's Political Advice To Repub of Georgia
Nice going, you fucking morons. Again.
2. Crisis in the Caucasus: Ultimately, it is all about oil
Christmas came early this year for Vladimir Putin.
3. Pootie-Poot Comes Home to Roost
Truthout
In a letter written in 1648, Swedish statesman Axel Oxenstierna, chancellor to both King Gustavus Adolphus and Queen Christina, counseled, "Know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed."
No shit.
How we deal ...
Digby looks at how we deal with all of the illegal immigrants who are 'detained' by the U.S. Government. Whatever bit of the 'moral high ground' we still controlled has now slipped away:
Today's must read. I overslept again so I'll see yas tonight. Off to work. Thank fucking god it's Friday ...
...
Neiwert goes on to describe what happens to these kids. Think the worst and you would be right.
It's just as awful in its own way when they "keep the families together" --- in prison camps:
...
Today's must read. I overslept again so I'll see yas tonight. Off to work. Thank fucking god it's Friday ...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Get us the fuck out of here ...
Maru:
US troops want America-hating Islamocommiedefeatoterristfistjabber Black Hussein Osama for President. Bonus: if not him, then Ron Paul, who isn't even running anymore.
...
Quote of the Day - Drei
Our buddy (and fellow New Yorker) Creature:
John McCain would like Americans to forget that we're already mired in two wars as he pushes for a third.
I'd like to have ...
A private conversation with Jerome Corsi. Won't take long, just about 45 seconds, and afterward we would never have to hear or read his drivel* again.
People like Corsi are lower than lawyers, real estate agents, and used car salesmen. It's one thing spinning for your candidate, it's another printing up outright lies about his opponent and trying to pass them off as truth.
... "Jerome Corsi is a discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago," ...
People like Corsi are lower than lawyers, real estate agents, and used car salesmen. It's one thing spinning for your candidate, it's another printing up outright lies about his opponent and trying to pass them off as truth.
*That's because I'd break all his fingers with a hammer and arrange it so he eats the rest of his meals through a straw.
Thai slave laborers freed in El Monte become U.S. citizens
LATimes
Holy shit. That line made me tear up a little.
I was gonna make some partisan point about Ms. Clinton taking the name of the President under whom she was freed after the labor laws against slavery went unenforced during Bush I's reign, but I think it's just her married name so I can't do that. Drat!
Welcome to American citizenship, ladies. You sure as shit paid for it.
Maliwan Clinton recalls her first taste of America with a shudder. In this fabled land of the free, she was enslaved behind razor wire and around-the-clock guards in an El Monte sweatshop, where she and more than 70 other Thai laborers were forced to work 18-hour days for what amounted to less than a dollar an hour.
The El Monte case drew international attention, blazed new paths in immigration and labor law, led to legislation offering visas for victims of human trafficking and became the subject of an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution.
The case marked the first time in federal court that garment workers successfully held manufacturers and retailers responsible for the actions of their labor contractor.
It was the shocking nature of modern-day slavery in such a nondescript American neighborhood that so riveted the nation, Su said.
Ultimately, law enforcement officers arrested eight operators of a Chinese Thai garment sweatshop in an early morning raid in August 1995 and freed 72 Thai immigrants, some of whom had been held captive for at least four years.
Clinton and the Chuai Ngans said that whatever travails they endured here, their American journeys have been well worth taking.
Holy shit. That line made me tear up a little.
I was gonna make some partisan point about Ms. Clinton taking the name of the President under whom she was freed after the labor laws against slavery went unenforced during Bush I's reign, but I think it's just her married name so I can't do that. Drat!
Welcome to American citizenship, ladies. You sure as shit paid for it.
McCain sends Lieberman and Graham to Georgia
Click to McBiggen
The Lonesome Mongoose, link from this headline at BuzzFlash:
Is it just us or are Graham and Lieberman the Larry and Curly to McCain's Moe?
Not a fair comparison - The Three Stooges had more socially redeeming qualities.
But considering that one of the main lines of attack Republicans are pushing against Obama these days is that he’s presumptuously declared himself president before Election Day, it’s a little curious that the GOP nominee thinks sending campaign surrogates to visit the war is a good idea.
This has nothing to do with that. They're going there to clean up after Scheunemann's promises to Georgia that the U.S. would have their back if they put down the separatists in S. Ossetia fell through. Or maybe Georgia stopped payment on the check.
McCain: Obama Is Too Smart To Be President
IWR
No shit, but that'll happen about the time we're dodgin' falling excreta from aviating porcines.
Click McConehead
John McCain today said that his opponent Barack Obama is "too smart to be president".
"We don't need another wise guy like Bill Clinton to balance the budget and make the economy grow.
What America really needs is four more years with a backslapping clown like me winking and schmoozing with all my Washington insider pals like David Broder, Cokey Roberts and Wolf Blitzer.
My reporter buddies don't give a rats ass about my connections to the oil industry, my nine mansions or my $800 pair of Bruno Magli shoes with the solid gold taps.
All they care about is being invited to those exclusive cocktail parties with all the powerbrokers.
If the Washington insider press was really on the ball they might figure out who the real elitists are," said McCain to a standing ovation by the Washington Press Corps.
No shit, but that'll happen about the time we're dodgin' falling excreta from aviating porcines.
I'm Sigmund Freud, and I Approve This Message
Paul Waldman
A fat lot McCain knows! I'm for Obama and it takes two hands to lift my, er, tire gauge...
Meanwhile, McCain himself was sent out to pose in front of working oil rigs, to testify to his thirst for pulling more black gold from the earth. The message couldn't be plainer: See that itty-bitty, little tire gauge? If you vote for Obama, that's how big your penis is. If you vote for McCain, on the other hand, your penis is as big as this rig, thrusting its gigantic shaft in and out of the ground! Real men think keeping your tires inflated is for weenies.
A fat lot McCain knows! I'm for Obama and it takes two hands to lift my, er, tire gauge...
Dualquote of the Day
Both from The Rude One:
And:
Damn, he's good!
Goddamn, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is such a cunt. [...]
And:
If the Rude Pundit had been asked, as Goodling did, "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?" he'd have answered, "He smells like lime and coca leaves."
Damn, he's good!
This should come as no surprise...
BuzzFlash
There's more.
For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than the citizens of America.
Cokie Roberts went on attack this week, trying to portray Sen. Barack Obama's vacation to the state in which he was born and raised, and where close family members still live, as seditious. Instead, we think she came off looking like a bigoted tool of the RNC, which more than qualifies her to be this week's Media Putz.
There's more.
We learned this in school ...
About 40 years ago. Just like the effects of pollution were explained to us in grade school so long ago, and have come to pass, so were we warned about the potential of the Chinese. My teacher was one of those who saw the 'Yellow Hoarde' as the biggest danger to 'American Supremacy'.
In an excellent post (and make sure you follow the link and read Harold Myerson's piece, which she quotes), Digby looks at how the Chinese mindset will allow them to do what the Rethugs can only dream about:
If Americans were a 'proud warrior race', the military wouldn't have recruiting problems and all the Young Republicans would be in Iraq.
In an excellent post (and make sure you follow the link and read Harold Myerson's piece, which she quotes), Digby looks at how the Chinese mindset will allow them to do what the Rethugs can only dream about:
...
The great irony, of course, is that this was supposed to be the epoch of the Pax Americana. Ooops.
...
Meyerson calls attention to what he calls the masterstroke of the opening Olympic ceremonies; the decision to feature the little hero of the earthquake, the boy who went back to save his schoolmates because he was hall monitor and it was his duty. Meyerson points out that this "cuddly capitalist-Leninism, already much beloved by our major banks and corporations for its low-wage efficiency, poses a genuine economic challenge to the messier, unsynchronized workings of democracies. A nation that can assemble 2,000 perfectly synchronized drummers has clearly staked its claim as the world's assembly line."
Once again, I'm struck by how much the neocons and their fellow travelers are similar to those they purport to hate. They too are nationalists, who would be proud to have Americans marching in lockstep to the tune of a (properly conservative) government on the world stage. (The Randians would naturally prefer that the ceremony be sponsored by a multi-national corporation, for "freedom's" sake.)
...
Meanwhile, McCain is milking this for all he's got and it looks like we're about to see if he can persuade the American people that we are a proud warrior race who will smite evil and darkness wherever we see it (while eating Big Macs and watching TV, naturally.)
...
If Americans were a 'proud warrior race', the military wouldn't have recruiting problems and all the Young Republicans would be in Iraq.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
I wish I could vote for him ...
Rep. Neil Abercrombie on Cokie Roberts:
God, I love this man.
...
"She's a bit of a fool that's the only thing you can say," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie. "Don't forget Cokie Roberts and the whole Washington crowd live in a kind of an incestuous relationship to one another, they talk to one another, they see one another, they know nothing about ordinary people."
...
God, I love this man.
Great thanks to Mr. Philadelphia for the link.
Quote of the Day
Sean Hannity:
Would you be talking about the first Mrs. McCain? What?
"If you can’t keep a promise to your family, can’t keep a promise to your wife, you’re having an affair, you’re lying about the affair repeatedly. Why should the American people trust you when you say you’re not gonna lie to them? Why should we trust you?"
Would you be talking about the first Mrs. McCain? What?
Disinformation, Data Dumps, & Haystacks
Go read Cracking the Pentagon Pundit Code.
The Pentagon is counting on the fact that most people won't, but it only takes a few. Links at site.
Do you wonder how the Pentagon used its military analyst program to spin military operations in Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Bay detention center or another issue? Are you curious whether a certain group or person -- say, Vets for Freedom or John McCain -- is mentioned in the Pentagon documents? Now you can easily search through the more than eight thousand pages of Pentagon pundit records.
Exposing the workings of the Pentagon's military analyst program isn't merely an academic pursuit. Citizen-driven investigations can help achieve real accountability. Without outside scrutiny, the ongoing investigations of the program -- by the Defense Department's Inspector General, Government Accountability Office and Federal Communications Commission -- may remain in limbo, where the only effect they have is to deflect further calls for action. Or, if the investigations are closed when no one's paying attention, their findings may easily be watered down or never acted upon.
Democracy needs its own "force multipliers." Can you help?
The Pentagon is counting on the fact that most people won't, but it only takes a few. Links at site.
Neocons Now Love International Law
Robert Parry re Georgia/Russia:
Don't they see what we all know? IOKIYAR.
It’s touching how American neoconservatives who have no regard for international law when they want to invade some troublesome country have developed a sudden reverence for national sovereignty.
While major U.S. news outlets may be comfortable wearing blinders that let them see only wrongdoing by others, the rest of the world views the outrage from Bush and the neocons over Russia as a stunning double standard.
Don't they see what we all know? IOKIYAR.
Gunman shoots Arkansas Democratic party chairman
Yahoo!News
I bet his AM radio was tuned to Limpbaugh or Hannity.
Note to Dems: The Repugs know they're going to lose this coming November and the loonier among them think they can reverse the trend by firepower and intimidation. They can if we let 'em. Start shooting back. Most of them are cowards unless they've got the upper hand. If it's on, let's get it over with.
The Marine Corps taught us that the best chance for survival is to assault an ambush, guns blazing. You might get shot if you draw against the drop, but you're damn sure going to get shot if you don't.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A gunman entered the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday and shot the party chairman, who was hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.
She said the secretary described the man as in his 40s and white and drove off in a blue truck.
I bet his AM radio was tuned to Limpbaugh or Hannity.
Note to Dems: The Repugs know they're going to lose this coming November and the loonier among them think they can reverse the trend by firepower and intimidation. They can if we let 'em. Start shooting back. Most of them are cowards unless they've got the upper hand. If it's on, let's get it over with.
The Marine Corps taught us that the best chance for survival is to assault an ambush, guns blazing. You might get shot if you draw against the drop, but you're damn sure going to get shot if you don't.
The tabloids are better at 'Gotcha!' "journalism". Unless you're a Democrat, of course.
Proudly and singlehandedly lowering the tone of our political discourse, which is no mean feat in and of itself, I present this piece on how the tabloids sometimes get it right when the "real" media don't:
I look at the covers when I'm standing in line like everybody does. Sometimes I comment in my drill-field whisper to the amusement of others, particularly about UFOs and the resultant alien babies at the White House. Some folks pick 'em up and thumb through 'em. I wouldn't be caught dead doing that! My dear departed mother-in-law actually subscribed to a coupla the damn things and, since the statute of limitations has run out, I'll cop to readin' 'em at her house.
Bush's personal life is off limits in the MSM because the bigwigs don't want us to see it, but just once I'd like to see video of him fallin' down drunk. Maybe from one o' them dashboard cams on Cops.
Click the link and go see the colorful graphics and read the story. Nobody'll see ya...
Note to Pickles: Soak him good when ya split. You still look plenty good, but money'll help. You might not like it in Paraguay anyway. Better yet, drop a dime on him, and after we hang his punk ass, you'll get it all.
Update:
News Corpse
Yeah, I've been hangin' my head in shame for 7½ years because I'm so proud of what he's done. I hope his liver explodes.
Is Laura Leaving Bush After he Leaves Office Because He's Been Hitting the Sauce Again?
This begs the question whether Bush had returned, in full, to his Frat boy days at Yale, including getting high on the sauce. Wonkette, for one, asked the question, "Was Bush Falling Down Drunk At Olympics?"
Click it. Looks pretty juiced to me.
Bush's behavior at the Olympics should have been a national scandal, but big media just shrugged it off as jocular good fun.
As for Laura and George's marriage (and her much rumored short stay at the Mayflower Hotel last year), only time will tell if George, the self-avowed alcoholic, has returned to his old ways.
In the meantime, if you want to even consider the possibility that George is downing liquor, the only place, apparently, you will be allowed to openly read about it is in the tabloids.
I look at the covers when I'm standing in line like everybody does. Sometimes I comment in my drill-field whisper to the amusement of others, particularly about UFOs and the resultant alien babies at the White House. Some folks pick 'em up and thumb through 'em. I wouldn't be caught dead doing that! My dear departed mother-in-law actually subscribed to a coupla the damn things and, since the statute of limitations has run out, I'll cop to readin' 'em at her house.
Of course, tabloid fodder about Britney, Brangelina, Paris, Rosie, and the like regularly seep up the feeding chain into the corporate press, but Bush's personal life is off limits.
The question is why?
Isn't he the one still answering the 3 AM phone calls?
Actually, probably not. They just go directly to Dick Cheney. He's only drunk when he is out shooting friends ... uh, we mean pheasants.
Bush's personal life is off limits in the MSM because the bigwigs don't want us to see it, but just once I'd like to see video of him fallin' down drunk. Maybe from one o' them dashboard cams on Cops.
Click the link and go see the colorful graphics and read the story. Nobody'll see ya...
Note to Pickles: Soak him good when ya split. You still look plenty good, but money'll help. You might not like it in Paraguay anyway. Better yet, drop a dime on him, and after we hang his punk ass, you'll get it all.
Update:
News Corpse
The national embarrassment that is our president once again raises its reddened face. In photographs from the Olympics in China, it appears that recovering souse, George W. Bush, is relapsing.
In one picture his face is flushed, his eyes droop, and his expression is dopey. In all fairness, that may be his normal expression. However, the bloody scrape on his arm suggests that he has recently taken a less than normal fall.
In the other picture, Bush appears to be having trouble remaining upright without considerable help. It takes three men to prop up the wobbly boozer-in-chief.
Don’t it make ya feel proud?
Yeah, I've been hangin' my head in shame for 7½ years because I'm so proud of what he's done. I hope his liver explodes.
Republicans Throw in With Obama
Truthout
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama unveiled a group of disaffected high-profile Republicans on Tuesday who he hopes will help him win the support of Republican voters in swing states.
"This is simply not a time for politics as usual," said Jim Leach, a former congressman from Iowa who endorsed Obama on Tuesday.
Leach, one of "Republicans for Obama" effort, said he thought that Obama would return the presidency to a less partisan style that looked to more international cooperation and was "rooted in very old American values."
Sounds good, but watch yer six, Barry.
Our 'leadership' ...
Proves they're unfit to lead.
Then [November 2007]:
Now:
We knew it then and what we knew then did come to pass.
I don't want Dem leaders who think that somehow a conservative will change his behavior. I don't care if Schumer and Mukasey suckled from the same teat or gave each other handjobs at university. People like Schumer and Feinstein are political dinosaurs and are being played for fools by the Rethugs. It's time to get rid of Dems who still believe the Republican Party is merely the embodiment of a different political ideology. The Republican Party is a criminal organization that has been able to change the laws and abuse the Constitution to rob the American people.
Perhaps now, Schumer and Feinstein will get it but I seriously doubt they have the ability. It's time for leaders who grasp the reality as it is today. The Republicans do not have the best interests of the American people at heart. Power and money are their only motivations.
Then [November 2007]:
...
Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) showed such courage Friday when they announced their support for attorney-general nominee Michael B. Mukasey. Both are members of the Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Mr. Mukasey's nomination. It is likely that their support salvaged Mr. Mukasey's nomination, imperiled because he would not state outright that the interrogation method known as waterboarding, or simulated drowning, is illegal. While we, like Mr. Schumer, Ms. Feinstein and others, would have wished for such an answer, supplying it would have put Mr. Mukasey in conflict with Justice Department memos that likely allow the technique -- memos that those who may have carried out or authorized waterboarding relied on for legal protection. Both Mr. Schumer and Ms. Feinstein cited Mr. Mukasey's intellect, his stellar qualifications and his reputation for being straightforward and independent as reasons to support his nomination.
...
Now:
Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced today that no Justice Department employees are likely to be prosecuted on charges that they allowed political considerations to influence department hires.
This, despite a pair of recent inspector general reports that concluded that at as many as six justice officials illegally allowed the political views of prospective employees to be factored into hiring decisions.
...
We knew it then and what we knew then did come to pass.
I don't want Dem leaders who think that somehow a conservative will change his behavior. I don't care if Schumer and Mukasey suckled from the same teat or gave each other handjobs at university. People like Schumer and Feinstein are political dinosaurs and are being played for fools by the Rethugs. It's time to get rid of Dems who still believe the Republican Party is merely the embodiment of a different political ideology. The Republican Party is a criminal organization that has been able to change the laws and abuse the Constitution to rob the American people.
Perhaps now, Schumer and Feinstein will get it but I seriously doubt they have the ability. It's time for leaders who grasp the reality as it is today. The Republicans do not have the best interests of the American people at heart. Power and money are their only motivations.
Trading Spaces ...
POP has a pretty good, simple litmus test for a presidential candidate:
Personally, I wouldn't let McCain cross the property line, let alone into my house, let alone anywhere near my checkbook.
...
I have this little question I ask about the candidates every political season. I ask myself which candidate I would trust enough to turn my home over to for one month? If I went away for a month, who would I trust with my checkbook to pay the monthly bills? Who would I trust to care for my house, pets, plants and the general everyday running of my home?
...
Personally, I wouldn't let McCain cross the property line, let alone into my house, let alone anywhere near my checkbook.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Quote of the Day
Larisa:
... When the only super-power creates an environment of lawlessness and thumbs its red, white, and blue nose as international law, treaties, and obligations, declaring supremacy as a shield against criticism, then other nations will do the same ...
It's on you, sucka ...
Because:
We're footing the bill for every-fucking-thing.
WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.
The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.
...
We're footing the bill for every-fucking-thing.
Great thanks to Dr. Fez-head for the link.
What, me worry?
We ain't got no stinking problems:
Everything's fine ... if you're feeding at the Republican trough.
Q [NBC's Bob Costas]: But given China’s growing strength and America’s own problems, realistically how much leverage and influence does the U.S. have here?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I don’t see America having problems. I see America as a nation that is a world leader, that has got great values. [my em]
Everything's fine ... if you're feeding at the Republican trough.
My Olympics Hero of the Day
Benjamin Boukpeti, a French brother competing for Togo took the Bronze in the Men's K-1 (Whitewater/Wildwater) Kayaking. First Olympics medal ever for the Togolese Republic.
I was gonna say he probably learned how to kayak whilst evading crocs in the Mono or Oti until I learned he's never been to Togo, but maybe they got 'em in the Marne...
Congrats, Ben.
He might as well have been wiping his ass with it...
Ms. Smith Goes To Washington
Another picture came to mind. Does it occur to Bush that he is sitting in the country that bought all of the red ink that he and his criminal administration could supply? Has Bush or any of his minions given any thought as to what we could use for collateral, I wonder?
I have. The highest debt ever, we thought at one time, was "charged" up by the Reagan/Bush Number One administration, but again, another Republican administration this time, outdid them all. We Americans cannot afford Republicans (my em).
Debt, death, and destruction and people want to argue or even think about who to vote for? Why are those three "D's" not considered as dishonoring the US flag?
Most of us Americans look to our US flag as a symbol of freedom and the unity of the states of this nation, one brotherhood, neighbor to neighbor ... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for one and all. A living, breathing democracy. How is that possible for those Americans who put their trust in US leadership and US military, when they are either losing their jobs, their homes and livelihoods, losing their lives, or after serving this country, are homeless, without benefits, and living on the streets?
How is that possible for Americans who are constantly being harassed through Bush GOP legislation? Through constant privatization and constant deregulation ... the killing off of everything our flag symbolizes. A slow death of what every American wants to believe in. And, do we hear Americans complaining? Voicing their anger? Their rage? Not loud enough!
None of this is being headlined, except on the Internet. The big guy media treat Bush as if he was really somebody, not as the head of a branch of government that needs to be pursued for crimes against humanity, as if the lives of over 5,000 innocent Americans are not worth that ... as if the spent lives of over a million innocent men, women, and children are not worth seeking justice for them. It's called accountability for Afghanistan, Iraq, and New Orleans, and anyone in government who supported the Bush regime. Anyone and everyone.
Get 'em, Shirley.
A conversation with Richard Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke is the smartest guy in the room about foreign policy. When me'n Fixer are in charge of this country, this guy is gonna be our main advisor. This video is 56 minutes long, and I recommend you watch it if you missed it the other night.
Money as a Weapon
'Money as a weapon' is certainly nothing new. Big Corpora's lobbyists and their made men in the halls of power have been using it against the American people for years and it's a very effective tactic, but this is a little more direct:
WaPo
This is the first time I've heard about the 'struggle' to 'finish the war' in Iraq. Mostly it's been about Bush's struggle to keep it going forever. But I digress...
Shoes and sheep I can dig, but action figures, t-shirts and animal cooling pools in a fucking war zone? Things must be going better than we think!
Time to bring the troops home. Just leave pallets of cash at strategic places and let the Iraqis help themselves. Shit, dollars aren't worth anything anyway. They're crankin' 'em out 24/7 on printing presses in China. As soon as they get the plates to print Euros, Iraq's economy will really take off!
This is a very long article, with a mixture of compassion and outrage, for me at least, on how we're (mis?)handling part of the giveaway of our children's and grandchildren's futures. Go read it, but one paragraph amused me a little in a grrrr! kinda way:
I find it ironic that we're using Hezbollah tactics, with one big difference - we're doing the bombing and killing, then we're going in afterward and handing out cash.
Let's just drop the money and save the grief.
WaPo
In the five-year struggle to finish the war in Iraq, military leaders and their troops have said a particular weapon is among the most effective in their arsenal:
American cash.
This is the first time I've heard about the 'struggle' to 'finish the war' in Iraq. Mostly it's been about Bush's struggle to keep it going forever. But I digress...
Soldiers walk the streets carrying thousands of dollars to pay Iraqis for doorways battered in American raids and limbs lost during firefights. Sheiks appeal to commanders to use larger pools of money locked away in Humvees and safes at military bases for new schools, health clinics, water treatment plants and generators, knowing that the military can bypass Iraqi and U.S. bureaucratic hurdles.
Army documents show that $48,000 was spent on 6,000 pairs of children's shoes; an additional $50,000 bought 625 sheep for people described in records as "starving poor locals" in a Baghdad neighborhood. Soldiers ordered $100,000 worth of dolls and $500,000 in action figures made to look like Iraqi Security Forces. About $14,250 was spent on "I Love Iraq" T-shirts. More than $75,000 sent a delegation to a women's and civil rights conference in Cairo. And $12,800 was spent for two pools to cool bears and tigers at Zawra Park Zoo in Baghdad.
Shoes and sheep I can dig, but action figures, t-shirts and animal cooling pools in a fucking war zone? Things must be going better than we think!
Time to bring the troops home. Just leave pallets of cash at strategic places and let the Iraqis help themselves. Shit, dollars aren't worth anything anyway. They're crankin' 'em out 24/7 on printing presses in China. As soon as they get the plates to print Euros, Iraq's economy will really take off!
This is a very long article, with a mixture of compassion and outrage, for me at least, on how we're (mis?)handling part of the giveaway of our children's and grandchildren's futures. Go read it, but one paragraph amused me a little in a grrrr! kinda way:
The tactic was similar to the way Hezbollah operates in Lebanon, said Koenig, who was an adviser to one of the Marine generals in charge of large-dollar CERP projects. "Hezbollah shows up after an Israeli airstrike with cash and fixes the neighborhood," he said. Iraqi insurgents, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, "never did that," he said. "They would come in and take charge of an area, but they didn't come back and say, 'We're going to help you out here.' "
I find it ironic that we're using Hezbollah tactics, with one big difference - we're doing the bombing and killing, then we're going in afterward and handing out cash.
Let's just drop the money and save the grief.
Brig Rats Train Service Dogs
I've heard of this program in civilian prisons, and I think it's good that the residents of Base Building 3 are doing it too. It gives them something useful to do and benefits Marines who need help.
From the 'L.A. Unleashed' (heh) section of the LATimes
Prisoners in the U.S. Marine Corps brig at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are helping train service dogs to assist Marines wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Under a program overseen by Carolina Canines, based in Wilmington, N.C., the dogs stay with the prisoners as the dogs learn up to 70 tasks, such as turning off lights and picking up clothes. Each dog, such as the one above, gets about nine months of training, sleeping next to the cot of their trainer-prisoner.
"We messed up," a prisoner explained to WHQR in a report on National Public Radio. "But at least we can do something productive with our time while we're in here."
Coupla things, first, you gotta mess up big time to spend nine months in a Marine Corps brig, and second, how wouldja like to be a DJ at that radio station and have to say stuff like "And now, twenty minutes of uninterrupted music from Whacker 91.3! And don't forget to wash yer hands..."
And by the way, Labradumbs are a perfect fit for Jarheads. They're both given to runnin' around in circles with their tongues hangin' out, droolin' "Where did they go? Huh? Huh? Where did they go?" Natural allies, and if the dog is smart they got a chance...
Hey Sis, Whatcha Doin'?
I fell out of my chair laughing when I saw this comment at Crooks and Liars:
No word on where her other sisters Methie and Screwie hang out.
Cokie and her sister Boozie are at Myrtle Beach ALL the time.
No word on where her other sisters Methie and Screwie hang out.
The Legacy ...
Stolen from Mary in toto (links at the link):
Overslept this morning. See yas later ...
Bush administration undercuts endangered species act to prevent "activists from using the Endangered Species Act as a legal lever to force controls on greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming." The Bush legacy: working to make all creatures extinct before their time.
Overslept this morning. See yas later ...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Quote of the Day
Our pal UL:
As ordinary guy and America's American American straight talking maverick John McSame takes every weekend off to kick off his $500 shoes at one of his eight homes, demonic, flesh-eating zombie Cokie Roberts labels b. HUSSEIN BeezlebubOsamaObama an elitist snob for taking a vacation in Hawaii where his Grandmother lives instead of some place common people go, like Myrtle Beach, SC.
...
Neocons Call For U.S. To Launch War With Russia
All the usual suspects.
Think Progress
It's time to round up neocons, declare them enemy combatants, and jail them for life.
Go read the comments.
Think Progress
Matthew Yglesias asks of Kagan’s World War II analogy: “If we launch a war with Russia — which would seem to be the point of busting out the analogy — then how are we going to find the time to launch wars with Iran and China?”
It's time to round up neocons, declare them enemy combatants, and jail them for life.
Go read the comments.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Victory in Iraq Almost Certain
Declares President Ahmadinejad.
Study Suggests Dogs Have Empathy for Humans
Most other animals think we're assholes.
Wal-Mart Issues Dire Warning to Workers About Democrats
Predicts Obama win would force them into psychologically confusing higher tax bracket.
Archeologists Unearth 1900-Year-Old Chariot in Bulgaria
Amazingly, it still runs.
More Exotic Hawai'i
Following up on Fixer's post after I quit shaking my head 'til it hurt in wonderment at the inane blathering of a highly-paid, well-connected Repug old lady gasbag who oughta be attending to her knitting.
Then again, the 'Pugs are so desperate they'll try anything!
Honolulu Star Bulletin
Ooh! Lapsing into his native tongue! Tres exotique! He probly says stuff like 'brah' and 'da kine' too!
Now that's exotic! Damn idealist!
That all sounds pretty normal on a vacation, but he might have picked up a buncha Repug crossovers with that 'visiting his tutu' remark. Most of them only do that in the privacy of their own homes. Oh, wait, that means 'grandmother' in Moke.
I think most people can relate to a 'sno-cone' and 'lunch'.
Then again, the Repug 527s might label bodysurfing as 'elitist'. Ya need a lot of specialized equipment not easily available to middle America to do that, like an ocean and maybe a swim fin if you're really above everybody else.
Oy gevult! That was the most exotic way I could come up with to say 'Yeesh'.
Then again, the 'Pugs are so desperate they'll try anything!
Honolulu Star Bulletin
Obama greeted the cheering crowd with a loud "Aloha! How's everybody doing today? Howzit!"
Ooh! Lapsing into his native tongue! Tres exotique! He probly says stuff like 'brah' and 'da kine' too!
Obama said "most importantly, that when you come from Hawaii, you start understanding that what's on the surface, what people look like, that doesn't determine who they are.
"And that the power and strength of diversity, the ability of people from everywhere, whether they're black or white, whether they're Japanese-American or Korean-American or Filipino-American or whatever they are, they are just Americans, that all of us can work together and all of us can join together to create a better country.
Now that's exotic! Damn idealist!
He told the crowd that his trip to Oahu is mostly for vacation, to visit his tutu, relax, adding that he plans to get a plate lunch. "I might go to Zippy's. I might go to Rainbow Drive-in. I haven't decided yet.
"I'm going to get some shave ice. I'm going to go body surfing at an undisclosed location," he said, adding that he plans to spend a lot of time watching his daughters play on the beach.
That all sounds pretty normal on a vacation, but he might have picked up a buncha Repug crossovers with that 'visiting his tutu' remark. Most of them only do that in the privacy of their own homes. Oh, wait, that means 'grandmother' in Moke.
I think most people can relate to a 'sno-cone' and 'lunch'.
Then again, the Repug 527s might label bodysurfing as 'elitist'. Ya need a lot of specialized equipment not easily available to middle America to do that, like an ocean and maybe a swim fin if you're really above everybody else.
Oy gevult! That was the most exotic way I could come up with to say 'Yeesh'.
A lot of vets ...
Feel the same way I do about McLame:
You already have a 'Veterans' Care Access Card'. It's called your DD Form 214. Any other additional crap McSame proposes is nothing but a way to get his corporate cronies a piece of the VA pie.
Sen. John McCain, speaking to disabled veterans Saturday in Las Vegas, attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, for his foreign policy record, while also proposing a program that would allow veterans to acquire health care at private hospitals and not just through the Veterans Affairs Department.
The veterans, at Bally’s for their national convention, gave him a tepid reception, especially considering McCain’s life story. The Arizona senator was a Navy pilot shot down over Vietnam, tortured and held as a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years.
Just one of 14 veterans interviewed by the Sun after his speech said he is a certain McCain voter, and the nonpartisan group’s legislative director expressed concerns about McCain’s proposed "Veterans’ Care Access Card." [my em]
...
You already have a 'Veterans' Care Access Card'. It's called your DD Form 214. Any other additional crap McSame proposes is nothing but a way to get his corporate cronies a piece of the VA pie.
Thanks to Mr. Aravosis for the link.
It's the 50th fucking State ...
Dipshit. And these people bring us the news? Oy:
The stupid is documented on video here.
Cokie Roberts said today that Obama shouldn't be going on vacation anywhere that has the "look of a foreign exotic place" and should go to Myrtle Beach instead. Apparently, Hawaii isn't quite American enough for Cokie and her provincial pals in the beltway, even though it's one of the 50 states.
...
The stupid is documented on video here.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
History lesson
I was musicruisin; and saw this video with this caption:
Who the fuck's "The Clash"? This is the 'familiar version', kid!
The 'Go-Go' dancers were the hottest thing goin' in the early '60s. This was before topless joints and gentlemen's clubs. These gals are probably all grandmothers now. They thought the evidence was long gone. Heh.
I'll admit to not knowing (or maybe forgetting) The Crickets did it first. Here's their version.
The Clash's version is more familiar but this is before-Clash. The song is originally recorded by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets.
Who the fuck's "The Clash"? This is the 'familiar version', kid!
The 'Go-Go' dancers were the hottest thing goin' in the early '60s. This was before topless joints and gentlemen's clubs. These gals are probably all grandmothers now. They thought the evidence was long gone. Heh.
I'll admit to not knowing (or maybe forgetting) The Crickets did it first. Here's their version.
"But wait! Call now and...
...your order will be shipped in only ten years!"
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Today's 'must read'. They know a thing or two about oil in Texas.
I think we should tow Saudi Arabia just off the coast of Florida and sink it. The water's shallow enough there that we could pump our new offshore oil with one section of pipe per well, already-in-place Chinese pipe if you believe that bullshit, and the Cubans could walk here safely. That's not much more fantastical of an idea than what the pols are spouting these days, and the drones are lapping it up.
Please read the rest of the article.
Click to embiggen
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Today's 'must read'. They know a thing or two about oil in Texas.
What amazes me is how no one ever wants to discuss how to cut back on our energy use without affecting our lifestyle. Instead, the conversation is always the same: Drill more, drill now, drill here – and by the way, let’s never be dependent on foreign oil again.
Dream on.
First, what do we really mean when we say that we want to stop our dependence on foreign oil? Does anyone really care that we get millions of barrels of oil a day from Canada? After all, that qualifies as foreign oil; and just last week ConocoPhillips announced a $7 billion pipeline project to bring even more Canadian oil to U.S. refineries as far south as the Gulf Coast. Alternatively, does anyone really care that we receive oil from Mexico? Probably not.
Basically, when there is some public outcry that we should quit importing foreign oil, that’s really code for "We should quit importing Middle Eastern oil. And just for fun, let’s stop importing oil from Venezuela too."
Lately we’ve heard plenty of pundits screaming that we should be drilling as many likely locations for new oil supplies as we can in the Gulf of Mexico. However, locating those oil hot spots requires a specific type of oil-drilling ship. As of this week, not only are all of those oil ships spoken for, but if you ordered a brand new one today you might be able to take delivery of it in 2012 – 13. They’ve all been presold until then. So, should you stumble upon a huge new oil field 30,000 feet under the Gulf, realistically it might be somewhere around 2016-17 before your local refinery could turn its contents into gasoline.
I think we should tow Saudi Arabia just off the coast of Florida and sink it. The water's shallow enough there that we could pump our new offshore oil with one section of pipe per well, already-in-place Chinese pipe if you believe that bullshit, and the Cubans could walk here safely. That's not much more fantastical of an idea than what the pols are spouting these days, and the drones are lapping it up.
Please read the rest of the article.
Carib Cruise
Here's a cruise I could get behind. A singer-songwriter cruise in the Caribbean. Music all the time. The ship could rotate on its anchor chain for a week for all I care. My Carib Cruise was only musical on beans'n Brussels sprouts nite...
Here's 20 more of these, and a review of that cruise.
Here's info on the next one.
Now, if it went to Amsterdam...
Cayamo cruise 2008 "Even her cough is beautiful"
Poor Patty was sick but still put on a fantastic show.
Here's 20 more of these, and a review of that cruise.
Here's info on the next one.
Now, if it went to Amsterdam...
Quote of the Day
Digby:
...
If history judged Richard Nixon and George W. Bush based solely on their marital faithfulness, they would be considered among the best presidents we ever had. It's not a useful proxy for public behavior, never has been.
...
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