The next chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.
And for your Saturday night, some serious blues.
Albert King - I'll Play The Blues For You
I'm going to bed.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Saturday whorage
Spent my day doing more taping and I'm beat.
The next chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.
And for your Saturday night, some serious blues.
I'm going to bed.
The next chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.
And for your Saturday night, some serious blues.
I'm going to bed.
Our Day
Me'n Mrs. G went up to Portola today to see our friends Steve Storz and his sons Neil and Eric who comprise the Storz Performance Trials Demo Team who performed at Portola Railroad Days*. Here's just a taste:
Eric rode across the old implement tires to get up on the cable reel. He can turn that thing around in a phone booth.
For more on Trials, go see Fixer & Gordon. I'll have more pix of this trip up over there in a coupla days.
Note the badge on the building to the rear. This demonstration was held in the front yard of the Plumas County Sheriff's substation! Friendly folks up there! The folks who invited the Storzes up there laid out the obstacles with a forklift on Friday.
Notice Steve's F-150 on the left. I asked him why he chose the "King Ranch" model. He just said he's a sucker for leather seats!
*Go see this video of why you don't wanta get drunk and pass out on the railroad tracks up hyar inna mountains.
One more and then I'm gonna go collapse. This is the neatest way to advertise a politician I've seen yet, on the side of a small town dirt track Saturday Night Special.
I got no idea whether the candidate was a Dem or a Repug. That seems to be the style this year. Charlie Brown had a booth there and you couldn't tell his party by looking either.
The man behind the wheel climbed in while I was raising the camera to take the picture. With a cell phone in his ear, natcherly. He fired that animal up and I had two thoughts - 1) they must not have much in the way of noise restrictions at the Quincy track, and 2) I was damn glad I had my belt on tight cause I'da jumped outta my pants otherwise!
We stopped for an early dinner at Los Dos Hermanos in Sierraville, the business district of which extends two buildings on either side of a T-intersection. Three of 'em are bars. Heh.
We had a swell day. Me tired now.
125cc Sherco-mounted Eric Storz
Click to wayembiggen
Eric rode across the old implement tires to get up on the cable reel. He can turn that thing around in a phone booth.
For more on Trials, go see Fixer & Gordon. I'll have more pix of this trip up over there in a coupla days.
Note the badge on the building to the rear. This demonstration was held in the front yard of the Plumas County Sheriff's substation! Friendly folks up there! The folks who invited the Storzes up there laid out the obstacles with a forklift on Friday.
Notice Steve's F-150 on the left. I asked him why he chose the "King Ranch" model. He just said he's a sucker for leather seats!
*Go see this video of why you don't wanta get drunk and pass out on the railroad tracks up hyar inna mountains.
One more and then I'm gonna go collapse. This is the neatest way to advertise a politician I've seen yet, on the side of a small town dirt track Saturday Night Special.
I got no idea whether the candidate was a Dem or a Repug. That seems to be the style this year. Charlie Brown had a booth there and you couldn't tell his party by looking either.
The man behind the wheel climbed in while I was raising the camera to take the picture. With a cell phone in his ear, natcherly. He fired that animal up and I had two thoughts - 1) they must not have much in the way of noise restrictions at the Quincy track, and 2) I was damn glad I had my belt on tight cause I'da jumped outta my pants otherwise!
We stopped for an early dinner at Los Dos Hermanos in Sierraville, the business district of which extends two buildings on either side of a T-intersection. Three of 'em are bars. Heh.
We had a swell day. Me tired now.
"He can call McCain out better than anyone else"
Politico on Biden:
I'm down wid it.
But Biden watchers also know that there is much to like and admire about the man. Biden is a fighter who is joining a campaign some Democrats believe should scrap a little more. He is a serious adult on the serious, adult issues of the day.
And no one will liken Joey Biden of Scranton, Pa., to Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.
"He knows McCain better than anyone else. He intimidates McCain more than anyone else. He can call McCain out better than anyone else on some of his positions," said Biden’s pollster, Celinda Lake, in a recent interview.
Richard Ben Cramer, in his masterful look at the 1988 race, “What It Takes,” wrote that even from boyhood, Biden was not to be underestimated.
“He was little too, but you didn’t want to fight him — or dare him,” he wrote of Biden. “There was nothing he wouldn’t do. Joe moved away from Scranton, Pa. in ’53, when he was ten years old. But there were still a lot of guys in Scranton today who talk about the feats of Joey Biden. ... Joey would never back down.”
I'm down wid it.
Who's the elitist?
In amongst a discussion of the relative wealth of the presidential candidates in the LATimes lies this jewel:
Venti, triple POW, lotsa carbon? I'd avoid reporters if I did that too! Yeesh. He should get his wife to buy him a cappuccino machine.
McCain, who huddled with advisors at his desert compound in Sedona, Ariz., said nothing in public. A nine-car motorcade took him to a nearby Starbucks early in the morning, where he ordered a large cappuccino. McCain otherwise avoided reporters.
Venti, triple POW, lotsa carbon? I'd avoid reporters if I did that too! Yeesh. He should get his wife to buy him a cappuccino machine.
Mass delusion ...
My friend (and customer) Bill (who's a nurse at a local hospital) and I were talking the other day as I gave him a ride to work (he dropped his Toyota off for service). We both remarked about how the Republican Party has convinced Americans to vote against their best interests over the past 40 years. We're also most amazed there are such things as black, gay, and female Republicans as well but that's another post completely.
Digby illustrates this well with a chart put out by the Rethugs:
You'd think (and to me it's something that looks good for Obama) the Rethugs would be stupid to highlight this difference but, once again, they'll convince the average American that Obama's populist plan will somehow screw them. I think Digby has finally boiled it down, finally discerned what our collective problem is:
Yeah, one day I'm gonna win the Megaball too.
I think many Americans have deluded themselves they're in McCain's league (as far as wealth goes) because in the last few years they've had several hundred grand (liberated from their homes' equity) to buy the boat, big screen TV, McMansion, and Corvette. Ain't nobody gonna foreclose on McCain when his ARM readjusts.
News flash: The average American ain't gonna die rich. Shoot for comfortable.
Saturday whorage later, gotta give the drywall a schmear.
Digby illustrates this well with a chart put out by the Rethugs:
You'd think (and to me it's something that looks good for Obama) the Rethugs would be stupid to highlight this difference but, once again, they'll convince the average American that Obama's populist plan will somehow screw them. I think Digby has finally boiled it down, finally discerned what our collective problem is:
...
To me, the Democrats should be able to rest their case on that alone.But because the right has been so successful in portraying vast wealth as the result of some sort of Randian heroics that Americans don't grasp just what a scam McCain's tax plan really is.
I don't know how to change that. Every American seems to think he or she will be wealthy one day and therefore we must preserve the system that protects their future wealth. (I think it may be some sort of mass delusion that comes from reading too many articles in People magazine celebrating the vast wealth of talentless TV stars. ("If they can do it, I certainly can!")
...
Yeah, one day I'm gonna win the Megaball too.
I think many Americans have deluded themselves they're in McCain's league (as far as wealth goes) because in the last few years they've had several hundred grand (liberated from their homes' equity) to buy the boat, big screen TV, McMansion, and Corvette. Ain't nobody gonna foreclose on McCain when his ARM readjusts.
News flash: The average American ain't gonna die rich. Shoot for comfortable.
Saturday whorage later, gotta give the drywall a schmear.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The last word ...
On homes. Fred the Cat:
...
If you know how many homes you have and are embarrassed by the number, what does that say about you? If you just don’t know how many homes you have, what does that say about you? Tells me he is either filthy rich or stupid.
...
Plugs ...
As many of you know, I'm a big fan of the necktie ... for wearing. I own hundreds, especially wild and colorful ones and I found a place that has a really good collection. I just got 6 of 'em. This is one of them.
If you love ties like I do, you should check out WildTies.com. They have so many, you could spend days there.
If you love ties like I do, you should check out WildTies.com. They have so many, you could spend days there.
McEasyrider*
Glenn Greenwald, obviously an avid reader of the Brain, follows up on my earlier comment:
Much, much more along these same lines by various Repug gasbags who are strangely silent about McCain being in EXACTLY the same position.
IOKIYAR.
But will it be when the 'base' figures it out? You know, the ones who think a woman's place is in the home and that God says she should be subservient to her husband? That she should STFU and vote the way she's told to?
Maybe so, maybe no. I think most of 'em'll let it slide lest they lose to us godless commie fucks.
*From Harry's Blues Lyrics:
Not exact in McCain's case - he doesn't work, it's true, but he's a career Repug pol so of course he pays for sex. At his age, the gals(?) earn every dime too!
[...] McCain himself isn't actually rich. He just lives off the inherited wealth of his much younger former mistress and now-second-wife -- for whom he dumped his older and disfigured first wife -- and who then used her family's money to fund McCain's political career and keep him living in extreme luxury (after insisting that he sign a prenuptial agreement, which would make McCain the first U.S. President to have one).
In 2004, numerous leading right-wing pundits had many things to say about men who do that:
Joseph Farah, World Net Daily, "President Gigolo?":
But if there is one characteristic of Kerry's life that should disqualify him absolutely as a candidate for president, it is the fact that he has sought out millionaire wives to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he's a serial gigolo.
...
Is marrying well good preparation for serving as the president of the United States? . . . . He's always had a net underneath him throughout his political career -- in his case, a net woven of homespun 24K gold.
...
If his own wife doesn't trust him with her money, why should we trust him with ours?"
Teresa Heinz Kerry is not sure about her husband's character. Are you?
Much, much more along these same lines by various Repug gasbags who are strangely silent about McCain being in EXACTLY the same position.
IOKIYAR.
But will it be when the 'base' figures it out? You know, the ones who think a woman's place is in the home and that God says she should be subservient to her husband? That she should STFU and vote the way she's told to?
Maybe so, maybe no. I think most of 'em'll let it slide lest they lose to us godless commie fucks.
*From Harry's Blues Lyrics:
"An easy rider is the husband or significant other of a whore - thus the name. He doesn't work or pay for sex. It's his easily."
Not exact in McCain's case - he doesn't work, it's true, but he's a career Repug pol so of course he pays for sex. At his age, the gals(?) earn every dime too!
Nervous Nellie Denver Cops Gear Up For Dem Convention
Raw Story
Yeesh. What a bunch of pussies.
The Denver PD has said it may conduct mass arrests of people who are doing nothing wrong and put them in 'Gitmo on the Platte'. Remember that one definition of 'government' is a 'monopoly on violence'. Granted they have to be ready, but another old saying is 'if a thing's worth doing, it's worth overdoing', but in my youth it applied mostly to booze and dope.
They won't be making arrests for small quantities of weed. My advice to protesters is to remain peaceful and non-violent, light up en masse and give the convention, the cops, all of Denver, a contact high. Heh.
Rumor (and I'm starting it!) outta St. Paul is the cops are gearing up for an onslaught of 'moral values' at the Repug convention by tripling the size of the vice squad and implementing a Fast Perv Response Team.
Almost everyone can be a potential violent protester at the Democratic National Convention, according to a new bulletin issued by the Denver Police Department and leaked to the ACLU.
The bulletin lists myriad items police should watch out for, including "caches of supplies that could be used by violent demonstrators." The publication intended for commissioned police officers was provided to RAW STORY Thursday.
On the list? Plastic shields, football helmets, gas masks, baseball catch protectors, cases of nails, hand held radios, maps, bicycles, and protest sign handles ("perfect for swinging at first responders"). The police say they're also worried about people with large numbers of city maps or "camping information."
"Football, baseball, motorcycle and bicycle helmets are all used by violent protesters," the bulletin warns. "Bicycles are used to blockade sidewalks, streets and can be used to slow down responding emergency vehicles."
Camping information is a threat, too, such as "information concerning the camping, boarding or housing of potential violent protesters that have rented campaign spaces, rented farms or land for the time period around the DNC."
Maps are worrisome because they're "frequently used by violent protester [sic] to plan direct actions against conventioneers."
Yeesh. What a bunch of pussies.
The Denver PD has said it may conduct mass arrests of people who are doing nothing wrong and put them in 'Gitmo on the Platte'. Remember that one definition of 'government' is a 'monopoly on violence'. Granted they have to be ready, but another old saying is 'if a thing's worth doing, it's worth overdoing', but in my youth it applied mostly to booze and dope.
They won't be making arrests for small quantities of weed. My advice to protesters is to remain peaceful and non-violent, light up en masse and give the convention, the cops, all of Denver, a contact high. Heh.
Rumor (and I'm starting it!) outta St. Paul is the cops are gearing up for an onslaught of 'moral values' at the Repug convention by tripling the size of the vice squad and implementing a Fast Perv Response Team.
Gentlemen, start your garbage disposals ...
Just in case you know of anybody who likes to remodel their home, check out a test drive of the Porsche Kitchen for Men. Tim Taylor with brains...
Damn fancy way to whip up a grilled cheese sandwich!
Klickenzie
Damn fancy way to whip up a grilled cheese sandwich!
You can die ...
But you can't vote. Once again supporting the troops:
Like everything the Rethugs do with regard to vets, they only 'support the troops' as long as they're able to carry a rifle and are qualified for deployment. As Lisa (from whom I stole the link) says:
I think you hit it squarely on the head, sister.
WHAT is the secretary of Veterans Affairs thinking? On May 5, the department led by James B. Peake issued a directive that bans nonpartisan voter registration drives at federally financed nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and shelters for homeless veterans. As a result, too many of our most patriotic American citizens — our injured and ill military veterans — may not be able to vote this November.
...
There are thousands of veterans of wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and the current campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan who are isolated behind the walls of V.A. hospitals and nursing homes across the country. We have an obligation to make sure that every veteran has the opportunity to make his or her voice heard at the ballot box.
...
The department has placed an illegitimate obstacle in the way of election officials across the country and, more important, in the way of veterans who want to vote. A group of 21 secretaries of state — Republicans and Democrats throughout the country, led by me and my counterpart in Washington State, Sam Reed — has asked Secretary Peake to lift his department’s ridiculous ban on voter registration drives.
...
Like everything the Rethugs do with regard to vets, they only 'support the troops' as long as they're able to carry a rifle and are qualified for deployment. As Lisa (from whom I stole the link) says:
...
Why would the Bush Administration keep VA populations away from the vote? Could it be they fear these military personnel are not happy with what they've seen, or how they have been treated? That they may not be the rah-rah poster children that they wish to represent them as?
I think you hit it squarely on the head, sister.
This is good ...
Seems the wingnuts are rushing to defend McLame in his ignorance of his personal housing situation. Our friends at Sadly, No read the drivel so you don't have to. Funny, being Ass Rocket can't tell a house from a tie and the other defenses range from "Stupid African" to the Pantload's "But he supported John Kerry". The best one:
Just proves the point: The Republicans are the Party of The Elite.
I got investments too and if I owned more homes than the one I live in, I'd know it. Thing is, there's a buncha Americans who'll listen to this shit and think "okay, that explains it" and move on. It just amazes me how much crap we'll collectively swallow without question.
... the McCains own a variety of investment properties, which accounts for John McCain’s not being able to give precise number ...
Just proves the point: The Republicans are the Party of The Elite.
I got investments too and if I owned more homes than the one I live in, I'd know it. Thing is, there's a buncha Americans who'll listen to this shit and think "okay, that explains it" and move on. It just amazes me how much crap we'll collectively swallow without question.
Memo:
From the Department of Duh:
No. Fucking. Shit. Did anyone ever believe that the Chimp's signing statements were legal?
78% of Bush’s signing statements "have raised constitutional or legal objections"
No. Fucking. Shit. Did anyone ever believe that the Chimp's signing statements were legal?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Homes McCain doesn't remember having worth nearly $14 million
Me'n Mrs. G own two houses. Both of them together, one in a mountain resort town, the other in a Central Coast beach town, ain't worth as much as the condo McCain sleeps in in DC.
Go see.
I can see why he thinks it takes $5 Million to be rich. Note: I can be rich with a lot less than that. Try me. Please...
Update: This is a good one.
He's only got one though. A pauper by McCain standards.
No shit! Got that one right! I don't give a shit what the next president eats, and we don't need a college professor either, but somewhat better than the current 'gentleman's C' moron, or the proposed Repug 5th from the bottom of his graduating class at a publicly funded university, neither of whom learned very much or have since, would be nice. Just someone who thinks occasionally and can learn and adjust will be a big improvement.
Go see.
I can see why he thinks it takes $5 Million to be rich. Note: I can be rich with a lot less than that. Try me. Please...
Update: This is a good one.
McCain Spokesman's Retort: Obama Lives in "a Frickin' Mansion"
He's only got one though. A pauper by McCain standards.
"In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."
No shit! Got that one right! I don't give a shit what the next president eats, and we don't need a college professor either, but somewhat better than the current 'gentleman's C' moron, or the proposed Repug 5th from the bottom of his graduating class at a publicly funded university, neither of whom learned very much or have since, would be nice. Just someone who thinks occasionally and can learn and adjust will be a big improvement.
Old Fart Vets Against McCain
Click it
An extensive site about what some of my peer age group thinks.
Also see McCain's Veteran Problem.
It looks like McCain has a veterans problem. This, despite being widely respected as a POW survivor of the Vietnam war. Another indication of trouble for McCain comes from a new report showing that active troops overseas are donating 6:1 to Obama over McCain.
After McCain's 5-and-a-half years as a POW and many more years of service, you would think that looking out for servicemen and veterans would be a top priority. You'd think it'd be one of the few things that might warrant a one-day break from campaigning to return to the Senate and vote on. Maybe he would be inspired to author legislation on behalf of America's servicemen and women, or at least tack his name on someone else's bill. In the same speech, McCain made a bluntly hypocritical and ironic statement that sums up his own position perfectly:
"I suppose from my opponent's vantage point, veterans concerns are just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage."
You oughta know, McPuke.
McCain’s Warped Worldview
I could not have hoped for a better picture of McCain, with his head framed by 'Rescue' and 'Danger'. Note the 'down' arrow indicating that Hell might be better than a McBush presidency. It's an omen, I tell you!
Excellent piece by Robert Scheer.
There you have it encapsulated, the McCain campaign for president, an irrational mélange of patriotic swagger and blindness to reality that is proving disturbingly successful with uninformed voters. How else to explain the many millions of Americans who tell pollsters they prefer a continuation of Republican rule when so many of them are losing their homes to foreclosure and the nation is devastated by out-of-control military spending?
I can explain it: They're insane. Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is almost a dictionary definition of 'insanity'. Ask any recovered drunk. Since I'm the one that's handy, I'll tell ya - if ya don't change, yer gonna get in trouble (probably already are), get sick, go broke, and die.
One more Repug administration and we'll be pattin' this country on the face with a spade. And the ones who caused it by thinking the Repug disease couldn't possibly have caused it will blame it on everybody but themselves.
Please, Oh Please, God, Let It Be Joe Lieberman
P.M. Carpenter
Please read the rest. I don't think McCain's that stupid/crazy and I'm hoping to be proven wrong. The streets of St. Paul running red with Repug blood would be a definite plus!
I'm not sure there's a god on the other end listening to my prayers, but should McCain actually pick Lieberman, I will know there is.
And speaking of stupendous understatements, this same source rather sheepishly conceded that a Lieberman pick would auger "a messy week" at the GOP nominating convention.
Messy? Yeah, a bit messy, as in, an absolute bloodbath.
Please read the rest. I don't think McCain's that stupid/crazy and I'm hoping to be proven wrong. The streets of St. Paul running red with Repug blood would be a definite plus!
McCain = Military Draft
Dday:
If there ever was a Manchurian Candidate, it is John McCain.
My boss Harry came up with something the other day which gave me pause for thought. What did they do to McCain's mind (purposely or not) when he was a resident of the Hanoi Hilton?
Seems to me, from personal experience after having been exposed to the brutal violence of combat, that someone like McCain would do his best to assure America's young people wouldn't have to go through what he did except under the most dire circumstances. The way he cheerleads the Iraq fiasco, the way he supports Bush's policies toward Iran, and the saber-rattling he engaged in with the Russians this past week (also in support of Bush policy) tells me he has no regard for the lives of his brothers and sisters (my brothers and sisters as well) who are serving, and dying, as we speak.
McCain ain't playing with a full deck and that became evident as soon as he became the GOP nominee. His lockstep support for the Chimp and his policies, and his blatant disregard for the lives of our troops (after all he's experienced during his war), leads me to think more got rearranged between his ears than we know. This guy is as qualified as the Chimp to be CINC, maybe less.
...
This is pretty clear. Your sons and daughters will be sent off to fight should any problem arise in the world. John McCain believes only in blunt force and aggression over diplomacy and multilateralism, and either we grind the existing troops further into dust or there's a draft. There are no alternatives.
Particularly when you're running a campaign based on increasing turnout from the under-30 set, I think this would be something you'd want to mention...
...The reason that we're going to need a draft, of course, is because McCain is a reckless hothead who's default setting is more war.
...
If there ever was a Manchurian Candidate, it is John McCain.
My boss Harry came up with something the other day which gave me pause for thought. What did they do to McCain's mind (purposely or not) when he was a resident of the Hanoi Hilton?
Seems to me, from personal experience after having been exposed to the brutal violence of combat, that someone like McCain would do his best to assure America's young people wouldn't have to go through what he did except under the most dire circumstances. The way he cheerleads the Iraq fiasco, the way he supports Bush's policies toward Iran, and the saber-rattling he engaged in with the Russians this past week (also in support of Bush policy) tells me he has no regard for the lives of his brothers and sisters (my brothers and sisters as well) who are serving, and dying, as we speak.
McCain ain't playing with a full deck and that became evident as soon as he became the GOP nominee. His lockstep support for the Chimp and his policies, and his blatant disregard for the lives of our troops (after all he's experienced during his war), leads me to think more got rearranged between his ears than we know. This guy is as qualified as the Chimp to be CINC, maybe less.
One who's been there ...
As some of you might know, John McCain is a long-time acquaintance of mine that goes way back to our time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as Prisoners of War in Vietnam. He is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.
... But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.
...
I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.
...
I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.
...
Much more at Military.com.
Great thanks to the lovely Avedon for the link. And by the way, what Skippy said.
What killed the Russians ...
In Afghanistan will kill us as well:
What do I always say? Amateurs talk strategy and tactics, experts talk logistics. Don't matter how many great plans you have, if you can't support your operators, the plans ain't worth a shit. Ask the Russians about how many of their convoys got ambushed in the Hindu Kush. Ask their men how many helicopters were taken out by a buncha goat-humpers with AKs shooting down at 'em from the surrounding heights.
We shoulda learned from the Brits (read Kipling) and the Soviets. You cannot take and occupy Afghanistan; it's almost an impossible logistical nightmare. There should never have been 'boots on the ground'. We should have exacted a price for 9/11 (bombed everything into gravel and killed as many of 'em as we could) and then called it a day.
...
The 'western' forces in Afghanistan have huge logistic problems. To put two feet on the ground they need twenty feet or more behind them shuffeling papers, organising and feeding the logistic queue. Their way of existence and fighting is incompatible with the country they are in. Too many trucks will not come through. The logistic lines are too long and to insecure. The road war will kill their mission.
What do I always say? Amateurs talk strategy and tactics, experts talk logistics. Don't matter how many great plans you have, if you can't support your operators, the plans ain't worth a shit. Ask the Russians about how many of their convoys got ambushed in the Hindu Kush. Ask their men how many helicopters were taken out by a buncha goat-humpers with AKs shooting down at 'em from the surrounding heights.
We shoulda learned from the Brits (read Kipling) and the Soviets. You cannot take and occupy Afghanistan; it's almost an impossible logistical nightmare. There should never have been 'boots on the ground'. We should have exacted a price for 9/11 (bombed everything into gravel and killed as many of 'em as we could) and then called it a day.
Cross-posted at API.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Conyers Calls Committee Back from Summer Recess to Investigate Suskind Allegations
OpEdNews
Yeah we have. We've pretty much seen 'nothing' so far about getting rid of the war criminals that run this country.
I hold no illusions that Rep. Conyers' recall is going to make any difference. A million pissed-off Americans with pitchforks & scythes (.45s and .30 '06s might be better. Gotta deal with the cops, you know.) on the White House lawn might.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has taken the highly unusual step of calling his committee back from summer recess in order to investigate allegations by Ron Suskind that the Bush administration forged a letter to buttress the links made between Saddam and 9/11, and Saddam and WMD. The congressional Authorization for the Use of Force Against Iraq, the ""War Resolution" which, as far short as it fell of a congressional declaration of war, gave the invasion its constitutional legal cover, and gave Bush the authorization to invade only after he had certified to congress the existence of these two critical links. If Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and if he did not possess WMD, the war was off.
Conyers' reconvening of his committee was the result of enormous public pressure, most poignantly that coming from military families wanting to know why their loved ones are dead. Despite the exquisite, shining clockwork political operation now in place at the Executive Branch, working hand in glove with the media spin machine, it's still not that easy to get 4100 Americans killed over lies. Bush knew Americans would not subject their troops to such an uncertain fiasco over 17 violated UN resolutions, or Saddam's brutal but by no means unique human rights record. If we attacked every country which violated UN resolutions, we'd be bombing Tel Aviv.
So Bush lied.
This country is now learning what many already know: that democracy is not given. It is demanded. Few politicians are interested in your right to freedom from search and seizure without a warrant, or your right to a jury trial even if George Bush thinks you are an "enemy combatant." They already belong to a class of the powerful who will merit special consideration. Some, with good reason, may argue that we already have a two-tier system of justice, for the rich, and for the poor. But like the movie says, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Yeah we have. We've pretty much seen 'nothing' so far about getting rid of the war criminals that run this country.
I hold no illusions that Rep. Conyers' recall is going to make any difference. A million pissed-off Americans with pitchforks & scythes (.45s and .30 '06s might be better. Gotta deal with the cops, you know.) on the White House lawn might.
BMX
This new event is just like motorcycle racing except the nut holding the handlebars is also the motor. Besides, which other Olympic event has competitors with names like Scrawny Donny, Kamakazi, and Afro Bob? Me like. Not bad for a sport that got its start in vacant lots in SoCal back in the '60s with kids on Stingrays.
Pictures from EssEffChron.
Click to embiggen
Pictures from EssEffChron.
The Secret Deal For Iraq's Oil
The Public Record
Nothing new. One more nail in Cheney & Bush's coffin. We need to put down the hammer and start using a nail gun.
Four months before the United States invaded Iraq, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton Corp., on a secret deal that would give the world's second largest oil services company total control over Iraq's oil fields, according to interviews with Halliburton's most senior executives.
Previously undisclosed Halliburton documents obtained by The Public Record confirm that controlling the world's second largest oil reserves was a top priority for the Bush administration. Additionally, the deal between the Department of Defense and Halliburton unit Kellogg, Brown & Root to operate Iraq's oil industry saved Halliburton from imminent bankruptcy.
Nothing new. One more nail in Cheney & Bush's coffin. We need to put down the hammer and start using a nail gun.
On 'guts' ...
Maru the Great:
...
Oh GAWD, the horror! Is this what we want from our next president and next leader of the free world? Thinking??? When he should be blindly overreacting and turning our enemies into headless, spurting meatfountains in a puddle of glass?
//shit
Jeebus fucking Christ on a motorcycle. What... the... fuck is wrong with these assclowns???? There's nothing manly with being a reactionary cowboy jerk -- and after the past 8 years we should all be very aware of it. Bah. Fuckwit. [my em]
...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Olympics Alert!
BMX tonight, 8-11. There will be blood...
Late Nite Update:
Didn't happen. Grrr. Maybe Wednesday.
Even Later Nite Update:
The preliminary BMX heats came on about ten minutes after the first update. More later, but USA v. Georgia beach volleyball is on now. It's 10 after 1. The BMX is exciting but I don't know if I'm going to make it zzzzzzzz...
Late Nite Update:
Didn't happen. Grrr. Maybe Wednesday.
Even Later Nite Update:
The preliminary BMX heats came on about ten minutes after the first update. More later, but USA v. Georgia beach volleyball is on now. It's 10 after 1. The BMX is exciting but I don't know if I'm going to make it zzzzzzzz...
Moyers Interview with Bacevich
I watched this last Friday night. I recommend that you go read or watch stuff all the time, but this time PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the time to go watch this one.
Does being a jerk work?
Never has for me, but I don't have the advisors that McJerk does.
Guardian UK
Blustery lie-master Goebbels is grinning through the flame and sulfur smoke at how well his M.O. worked for Bush and is now working for McCain.
It took this country years to begin to get it about Bush. We haven't got years to find out about McCain what is painfully obvious to some of us: more of the same, perhaps even worse.
Guardian UK
John McCain is a liar and flip-flopper and panderer and bully and whiner. And it seems to be working
John McCain is a jerk. Alternately a bully and a whiner, and a bald-faced liar to perhaps a greater degree than even George Bush and Dick Cheney, McCain is running a stupid and mephitic campaign that insults even Americans of average intelligence virtually every day.
He has pandered to the right-wing to a degree that the word "shameless" can't possibly begin to describe. He has flip-flopped repeatedly, on taxes and abortion and many other matters. And he quite obviously changed his position on offshore drilling in order to raise pots of money from oil interests. Period.
Most surprisingly of all to me, he has demonstrated over and over his lack of a grasp of, and in many cases even a passing interest in, the details of policy. Here is a man who's been a national legislator for a quarter-century. He has clearly been interested in a few things, mostly having to do with military and foreign policy, and to a certain extent energy policy. But there are dozens more realms with which responsible Solons ought to have acquainted themselves over 25 years. McCain seems to have glided through the Senate without even bothering to learn very much at all about fiscal and economic policy, healthcare, social policy (which is an umbrella rubric covering a dozen different things) and a lot of other topics. His campaign, and his partisans, accuse Obama of being a lightweight. But in truth, McCain is the policy lightweight.
More than that, the McCain campaign has established a negative story line about Obama – that he's shallow, just a celebrity, and so on – that is sticking, a little. It's a blustery lie. But blustery lies often work.
Blustery lie-master Goebbels is grinning through the flame and sulfur smoke at how well his M.O. worked for Bush and is now working for McCain.
It took this country years to begin to get it about Bush. We haven't got years to find out about McCain what is painfully obvious to some of us: more of the same, perhaps even worse.
Russia Is Not Jamaica
Well, no shit, MoDo! I hope ya didn't figure that out while on a particularly hideous vacation spent smoking potato peels and drinking terrible coffee and diesel vodka on a beach on the Volga clad in yer overcoat...
What goes around, comes around. Thanks a pile, Georgie.
America’s back in the cold war and W.’s back on vacation.
Talk about your fearful symmetry.
After eight years, the president’s gut remains gullible. He’ll go out as he came in — ignoring reality; failing to foresee, prevent or even prepare for disasters; misinterpreting intelligence reports; misreading people; and handling crises in ways that makes them exponentially worse.
As Russian troops continued to manhandle parts of Georgia on Friday, President Bush chastised Russian leaders that “bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century” — and then flew off to Crawford.
His words might have carried more weight if he, Cheney and Rummy had not kicked off the 21st century with a ham-fisted display of global bullying and intimidation modeled after Sherman’s march through the other Georgia.
But with this country’s military and moral force so depleted, the Bushies can hardly tell Russia to stop doing what they themselves did in Iraq: unilaterally invade a country against the will of the world to scare the bejesus out of some leaders in the region they didn’t like.
As Michael Specter, the New Yorker writer who has written extensively about Russia, observed: “There was a brief five-year period when we could get away with treating Russia like Jamaica — that’s over. Now we have to deal with them like grown-ups who have more nuclear weapons than anybody except us.”
What goes around, comes around. Thanks a pile, Georgie.
Gingrich Claims Tire Inflation Lines Big Oil’s Pockets
Neutie's losin' it, and it's fun to watch!
Think Progress. Video if you must. Many, many comments.
Almost any gas station with a service bay will check your tire pressure and air them up for free, and in CA at least, it's illegal to charge for air if you buy gas. You ask for a token for the machine. If you have to pay to use the compressor, the 25-50¢ it costs will save you more than that in gas.
Neutie could use about twelve bucks worth. I'm surprised his head doesn't look like a deflated beach ball.
Here's a comment I particularly liked:
I wanta see where an OBGYN attaches the tireflator! I hope Neutie's 'Schrader valve' is big enough...
Think Progress. Video if you must. Many, many comments.
Last night on Fox News, host Sean Hannity and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) returned (as they often do) to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) recent suggestion that Americans inflate their tires properly in order to save energy costs.
Seeming to outdo his previous false attacks on this issue, Gingrich claimed that Obama’s idea is actually encouraging Americans to “enrich Big Oil” because selling air has “a higher profit margin than selling gasoline”:
GINGRICH: Well, I got a very funny e-mail from a retired military officer in Tampa who pointed out that most tire inflation is done at service stations and you pay for it. And it’s actually a higher profit margin than selling gasoline. So Sen. Obama was urging you to go out and enrich Big Oil by inflating your tires instead of buying gas.
Almost any gas station with a service bay will check your tire pressure and air them up for free, and in CA at least, it's illegal to charge for air if you buy gas. You ask for a token for the machine. If you have to pay to use the compressor, the 25-50¢ it costs will save you more than that in gas.
Neutie could use about twelve bucks worth. I'm surprised his head doesn't look like a deflated beach ball.
Here's a comment I particularly liked:
Guido the Loving OBGYN Says:
Or you can stop by my place and I’ll air up your tires for free. But I’m sure Gingrich just considers that communism.
I wanta see where an OBGYN attaches the tireflator! I hope Neutie's 'Schrader valve' is big enough...
Geezer on McGeezer as McBush
My curmudgeonly role model Jack Cafferty on McBush.
Like, DUH! Sometimes it takes a while to sink in with us old farts. Better late than never, Jack.
Your fear is well-founded. Welcome to reality, Jack.
Is McCain another George W. Bush?
Like, DUH! Sometimes it takes a while to sink in with us old farts. Better late than never, Jack.
Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.
I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.
One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.
He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.
I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.
George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.
He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.
I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
Your fear is well-founded. Welcome to reality, Jack.
It's why I worry ...
About Barry's chances this fall. Digby looks at the demographics and how different groups get their news. As we all know, far too small a minority get their info from reality-based sources:
Unless there is an overhaul of the Washington presscorpse corps (and an overhaul of the business of network and print news), the Republicans will have an ready-made propaganda outlet. Unfortunately, there is no oversight of The Fourth Estate.
Off to work. See yas later.
...
I know that most of you are far to busy and too well informed about the issues and the real news to waste time watching the crap the Entertainment Industrial Complex churns out for the rest of the folks, which is why both dday and I spend a lot of time dissecting the television gasbags. It's partially to understand what they are all saying to each other in their tight little feedback loop, but it's also to try to see what the TV news watchers are seeing. Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily stupid people (although some are --- they exist in all groups of humans) but that they simply choose to use television as their primary source of news, which, considering how much of it is available, isn't all that surprising. People who don't have jobs that feature computers or have the time to spend online, naturally put the TV on in the background or sit down to decompress for a bit when they can, and consume their news passively.
And that's where the Village media really has an impact. Their willingness to allow themselves to be conduits --- in words as well as pictures --- for these phony GOP images and manufactured story lines makes them defacto tools of the right wing, who spend many millions developing campaigns for the consumption of fellow villagers --- to disseminate to that 46%.
...
Unless there is an overhaul of the Washington press
Off to work. See yas later.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Workin' overtime ...
The graffiti artists in Minneapolis - St. Paul are working overtime to welcome the Rethug convention:
More here.
More here.
Great thanks to our pal UL for the link.
Quote of the Day
The Misfit:
A good rule of thumb for everyday life. If the Chimp (or Rethugs in general) say something, you can assume it's a lie.
Given a dispute in facts such as that, I will presume it is the Bush Administration that is lying.
A good rule of thumb for everyday life. If the Chimp (or Rethugs in general) say something, you can assume it's a lie.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
NEOCONS SET UP INVASION OF GEORGIA TO GET McCAIN ELECTED
“Don't tell Dick I told you.”
Cost of Military Contractors in Iraq More Than $85 Billion
Half for shoddy work, half for hush money.
U.S. Media Look to Neocons for Analysis, Advice on Georgia
Because their analysis, advice was so excellent on Iraq.
Oh fucking swell...
???News Quiz???
What is a separatist enclave?
A ) South Ossetia
B ) Kosovo
C ) the Confederacy
Hint: Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton.
Maker of Viagra Promotes Its Use by Women
If clitoral erection lasts longer than four hours see your gynecologist.
Note to horny old broads: Dr. Gordon is in!
A threefer on racism in the campaign
Here's a combo on racism in the presidential campaign. I could probably do a twentyfer without much trouble. First, Clarence Page:
In sort of a perverse way, I take pleasure from thinking of the bassackwards notion of racist bastard white supremacists voting for Obama on purpose to make things 'worse' so they can then save us by making things 'better' later. Fuckin' morons.
Media Matters:
Just as an aside, I'm guessing that you've all noticed the not-so-subtle similarity between 'Obama nation' and 'abomination', as in any kind of interracial relationship besides master/slave (gasp!).
If the whole world woke up tomorrow morning and we were all the same color, we'd be about the same shade (Please forgive me for that. I couldn't resist. Heh.) as Sen. Obama. It wouldn't matter, by noon we'd have figured out which groups we're supposed to hate and the reasons why. Any flimsy excuse of cultural or other dissimilarity will do nicely. For some reason, some humans(?) need to look down on someone to make themselves appear superior, and others stand ready to exacerbate, perpetuate, and exploit the flaw.
I stand guilty as charged. I hate wingnuts.
Eric Alterman:
Reminds me of the old story about a Marine General visiting an outpost during the Korean War. Every minute or two, a pfft! was heard, followed by a puff of dust nearby. The General asked an old Gunny what it was, and the Gunny told him it was an enemy sniper on the next hill over. "Why don't you send out a detail and kill him?" the General asked, to which the Gunny replied, "Aw, General, we can't. He never hits anybody and they might replace him with some sonofabitch who can shoot!"
Substitute "corporate war profiteers, Big Oil, religious whackjobs, and other right wing undesirables' for 'Marine General' and you get the idea. They don't want anybody fuckin' with their taxpayer-and-greed funded gravy train.
Especially if it's a nigger.
So you think the chorus of white hate groups is seething with rage that Barack Obama could become president? Think again.
Members of the knuckle-dragging set are taking a rosier view, judging by their Internet posts. They say the possibility of a biracial president is helping their recruitment efforts.
"It will be a beautiful day when the masses look at the paper and truly realize they have lost their own country," according to one of the postings spotted by Mark Potok, who monitors hate groups at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In sort of a perverse way, I take pleasure from thinking of the bassackwards notion of racist bastard white supremacists voting for Obama on purpose to make things 'worse' so they can then save us by making things 'better' later. Fuckin' morons.
Media Matters:
Summary: Despite stating that he had apologized for what was described as a "series of bigoted and hateful posts," Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation, is scheduled to appear with host James Edwards on the August 17 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show, which, according to its "Statement of Principles," "represent[s] a philosophy that is pro-White." In a blog post, Edwards has stated that "[i]nterracial sex is white genocide."
Just as an aside, I'm guessing that you've all noticed the not-so-subtle similarity between 'Obama nation' and 'abomination', as in any kind of interracial relationship besides master/slave (gasp!).
If the whole world woke up tomorrow morning and we were all the same color, we'd be about the same shade (Please forgive me for that. I couldn't resist. Heh.) as Sen. Obama. It wouldn't matter, by noon we'd have figured out which groups we're supposed to hate and the reasons why. Any flimsy excuse of cultural or other dissimilarity will do nicely. For some reason, some humans(?) need to look down on someone to make themselves appear superior, and others stand ready to exacerbate, perpetuate, and exploit the flaw.
I stand guilty as charged. I hate wingnuts.
Eric Alterman:
Of course, a presidential campaign cannot openly traffic in racism and xenophobia. So it must conduct this campaign in a kind of code. Historically blacks and dark-skinned immigrants have been accused of "not knowing their place" by whites who see their positions challenged, and are deemed to be "uppity." The code word du jour is "presumptuous."
Think about it: the candidate who won his party's presidential nomination and is leading in every national poll stands accused of acting as if becoming President requires some planning and preparation. Apparently ignorance and incompetence have become prized virtues in George W. Bush's Washington, and so potential competence is considered a cause for concern.
Reminds me of the old story about a Marine General visiting an outpost during the Korean War. Every minute or two, a pfft! was heard, followed by a puff of dust nearby. The General asked an old Gunny what it was, and the Gunny told him it was an enemy sniper on the next hill over. "Why don't you send out a detail and kill him?" the General asked, to which the Gunny replied, "Aw, General, we can't. He never hits anybody and they might replace him with some sonofabitch who can shoot!"
Substitute "corporate war profiteers, Big Oil, religious whackjobs, and other right wing undesirables' for 'Marine General' and you get the idea. They don't want anybody fuckin' with their taxpayer-and-greed funded gravy train.
Especially if it's a nigger.
Too cheap to succeed
That's been my problem for years too, but I was floored that the Gray Lady has a 'Wheels' section! I mean, don't Noo Yawkahs just walk, take the subway, or ride with cab drivers who don't speak much English and know the longest route to anywhere?
I think the Tata Nano's cuter than a bug's ear, and it's supposed to sell for $2500. I'd buy one in a heartbeat. I can install my own radio.
I doubt if it will pass U.S. safety standards. It looks like the main frontal crash protection is the soles of yer sneakers!
Click to make it almost life-size
I think the Tata Nano's cuter than a bug's ear, and it's supposed to sell for $2500. I'd buy one in a heartbeat. I can install my own radio.
I doubt if it will pass U.S. safety standards. It looks like the main frontal crash protection is the soles of yer sneakers!
The extreme-right way to make a buck
A BuzzFlash link to an LATimes op-ed that says all I need to know:
More Repug smoke and mirrors. Perception is reality.
Good Insight Into How Slanderous Right Wing Books Become So Successful: "The Obama Nation" was written and printed because major American publishing houses have decided that there's money to be made in funding right-wing boutique imprints modeled after the Washington-based Regnery, which has made a small fortune stoking the hard-right furnace with combustible prose. Corsi's book is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, which hired right-wing political operative Mary Matalin to edit the imprint. Random House has a similar imprint in Crown Forum, and Penguin Group USA has Sentinel. Their business model -- and this is all about business -- is predicated on the existence of an echo chamber of right-wing radio and television shows willing to promote these publishers' products -- however noxious. Beyond that is a network of conservative book clubs and organizations willing to place the sort of advance bulk orders for controversial books that will guarantee them a place on the bestseller lists.
More Repug smoke and mirrors. Perception is reality.
A final* word about Saturday night's fauxrum
P.M. Carpenter
There's more, but that's the gist of it. Muleheadishness, lies, and certainty trump good thinking every time, especially in the biased wingnut christowhackjob capital of California that has always been Orange County. Obama never stood a chance in that arena unless he turned white and water into wine. Maybe not even then unless he wanted to smite some evildoers. Fuck that 'turn the other cheek' and 'least amongst us' nonsense, we're KKKristian Amurrikans, dammit!
*Hopefully.
Saturday night, at holy man Rick Warren's Saddleback megachurch, Barack Obama was circumspect, nuanced and informed. John McCain, by comparison, was blustering, simplistic and shallow -- as well as the clear winner.
It was a cringe-worthy two hours, both of which demonstrated why Republicans, despite all their liabilities, win national elections. While the Democrat is loquaciously appealing to reason, the other guy is busy with concise pandering and the amputation of logic. Accordingly, McCain was in top demagogic form Saturday night, while Obama seemed to have learned little about the importance of occasionally stooping low, and being brief about it.
Voters -- most voters, anyway -- don't want a parade of circumspection, which is what Obama too often offered. They want self-confident action, which is what McCain offered. And never mind how his empirical record of manly action has actually unfolded.
[...]...virtually all of McCain's judgments were wrong.
But you know what? He laid them on the public with forceful self-confidence and precise reassurances that he knows thine enemy. And that -- not the actual record -- is what enthralls the electorate. "He has the personality of a fighter pilot: when somebody stings you, you want to strike out," related retired and former McCain-supporter Gen. John H. Johns to the Times. "Just like the American people, his reaction was: show me somebody to hit."
There's more, but that's the gist of it. Muleheadishness, lies, and certainty trump good thinking every time, especially in the biased wingnut christowhackjob capital of California that has always been Orange County. Obama never stood a chance in that arena unless he turned white and water into wine. Maybe not even then unless he wanted to smite some evildoers. Fuck that 'turn the other cheek' and 'least amongst us' nonsense, we're KKKristian Amurrikans, dammit!
*Hopefully.
Indeed!
Nightshift says it far better than I could:
Personally, it downright pisses me off. Were I running, I would have told God-boy to suck my ass (ass: 1 each; big, white, hairy) and he and McCain could jerk each other off for a couple hours. I don't give a fucking damn what my President worships and I have a big fucking problem when a Dem goes to pander to the Jesus freaks.
Running this nation has nothing to do with god. It's about the will of the people.
... Look, I'm a Methodist, and the fact that the two major candidates are addressing their personal religious beliefs in their very first pseudo-debate irks me. I have little doubt that it must be even more aggravating for the agnostics and atheists here. These men are running for the highest political office at a time when there are a multitude of problems. They could be addressing foreign policy, the economy, fiscal policy, banking policy, energy policy... even something low-intensity like agricultural policy would at least be appropriate. But their faith is the lead-off? This does not bode well for anyone who had hoped to see the state disentangle itself from religion (and vice versa) in the next administration.
...
Personally, it downright pisses me off. Were I running, I would have told God-boy to suck my ass (ass: 1 each; big, white, hairy) and he and McCain could jerk each other off for a couple hours. I don't give a fucking damn what my President worships and I have a big fucking problem when a Dem goes to pander to the Jesus freaks.
Running this nation has nothing to do with god. It's about the will of the people.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Die Wacht am Volga und Potomac
Dedicated to Bush and his soulmate Putin. They'll look good as disgraced half-charred corpses amidst the wreckage like the author of the events depicted in this video.
Home To You
I'm an absolute sucker for gals singin' old-timey music set to anime!
The Peasall Sisters are home-schooled church girls who rose to fame singing in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" when they were just tykes. They're all growed up now.
They do a lot of gospel songs, which I like, but luckily for us Brainiac godless commie fucks, most of them on YouTube are "embedding disabled". Like all good church girls, they ain't givin' it away. Heh.
Thanks to chocochu.
The Peasall Sisters are home-schooled church girls who rose to fame singing in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" when they were just tykes. They're all growed up now.
They do a lot of gospel songs, which I like, but luckily for us Brainiac godless commie fucks, most of them on YouTube are "embedding disabled". Like all good church girls, they ain't givin' it away. Heh.
Thanks to chocochu.
Changes In Latitudes...*
The other day I did a post about how August is the first month of winter. Fixer made a comment about August in Germany requiring a jacket in the evening. Check out this performance by Nanci Griffith in Norway, at even higher latitude. Notice all the jackets and the low sun, still up at concert time in the evening. I'd say it was late summer there.
Just FYI, and I have no cite, a rule of thumb is that for each 1000 foot increase in altitude in the Lower 48, the climate behaves as it does 150 miles north. If where I live was at sea level, I'd be somewhere slightly north of Vancouver BC weatherwise, eh? God only knows where Vancouver would be...
Oh, I almost fergot - enjoy the song...
*No apology to Jimmy Buffett needed. I love him.
Just FYI, and I have no cite, a rule of thumb is that for each 1000 foot increase in altitude in the Lower 48, the climate behaves as it does 150 miles north. If where I live was at sea level, I'd be somewhere slightly north of Vancouver BC weatherwise, eh? God only knows where Vancouver would be...
Oh, I almost fergot - enjoy the song...
*No apology to Jimmy Buffett needed. I love him.
Mr. Bush, Enough!!
BuzzFlash lead-in to this piece at Pravda:
Russia done bad, but Bush set the precedent on "invading other countries in the 21st century", and they're lettin' him know they see through his shit:
Two wrongs do not make a right. Especially when the first of the two wrongs was done by our so-called leader in our name.
I don't agree with Russian aggression in Georgia, of course, but I don't agree with American aggression in Iraq either. I do agree with Pravda calling Bush on his hypocrisy and madness.
Please read the rest.
What Goes Round Comes Round: Pravda to Bush, "So you have the colossal audacity, Mr. Bush, to “warn” Russia to pull back? As the wanton, perverse war criminal under whose watch the world saw the crime known as “shock and awe” committed, I’d say you were well out of your mind to suggest that Russia should pull back." Oh Dear Me, You Got Us in a Fine Mess, Ollie!
Russia done bad, but Bush set the precedent on "invading other countries in the 21st century", and they're lettin' him know they see through his shit:
What’s a little shock and awe among inferior people we want to rob and destroy, eh?
What do human beings need an infrastructure for?
Why do they need clean water? Why do they need electricity?
What’s a little torture?
What’s a little regime change? Don’t recall when that was a goal of yours?
And you expect your words to be heeded or even listened to? You are joking! It is said when Caligula went mad he heard laughing.
Do you hear people laughing at you Mr. Bush?
Two wrongs do not make a right. Especially when the first of the two wrongs was done by our so-called leader in our name.
I don't agree with Russian aggression in Georgia, of course, but I don't agree with American aggression in Iraq either. I do agree with Pravda calling Bush on his hypocrisy and madness.
Please read the rest.
The Candidate We Still Don’t Know
Daddy Frank, rested and refreshed from his vacation, takes the best dump yet on McCain.
Good stopping point.
Conspicuously absent in the media's McBlowjob is whether or not McSame has dedicated full-time personnel to change his drool buckets. Enquiring minds want to know!
I liked Pop's piece so much I posted it in toto Below The Fold.
...a new international crisis that allows McCain to again flex his Manchurian Candidate military cred. Let the neocons identify a new battleground for igniting World War III, whether Baghdad or Tehran or Moscow, and McCain gets with the program as if Angela Lansbury has just dealt him the Queen of Hearts.
What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image. As this fairy tale has it, the hero who survived the Hanoi Hilton has stood up as rebelliously in Washington as he did to his Vietnamese captors. He strenuously opposed the execution of the Iraq war; he slammed the president’s response to Katrina; he fought the “agents of intolerance” of the religious right; he crusaded against the G.O.P. House leader Tom DeLay, the criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and their coterie of influence-peddlers.
With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.
Most Americans still don’t know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.
Some of those who know McCain best — Republicans — are tougher on him than the press is. Rita Hauser, who was a Bush financial chairwoman in New York in 2000 and served on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in the administration’s first term, joined other players in the G.O.P. establishment in forming Republicans for Obama last week. Why? The leadership qualities she admires in Obama — temperament, sustained judgment, the ability to play well with others — are missing in McCain. “He doesn’t listen carefully to people and make reasoned judgments,” Hauser told me. “If John says ‘I’m going with so and so,’ you can’t count on that the next morning,” she complained, adding, “That’s not the man we want for president.”
Good stopping point.
Conspicuously absent in the media's McBlowjob is whether or not McSame has dedicated full-time personnel to change his drool buckets. Enquiring minds want to know!
I liked Pop's piece so much I posted it in toto Below The Fold.
Sunday morning Mozart ...
Powerful. The Maestro (Leonard Bernstein) at the baton.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem Mass
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)