Happy New Year

Once again I would like to thank Times Square for being three hours ahead of us out west. The ball will drop and Kathy Griffin will get done embarrassing the shit outta Anderson Cooper and the whole silly shootin' match will be over at 9 o'clock.

Like it matters...

Couldn't resist...

Thanks to YubaNet.

Update:

The Real Housewives Of Iowa

And finally, with reality TV stars, radio-talk-show hosts, and television pundits making up roughly 90 percent of the current GOP presidential field--or those who led in polls at one time and flirted with entering the race (see Palin, Sarah and Trump, megalomaniac)-- entertainment and politics in the United States have finally gone from symbiotic to simply redundant.
...

First there is the Santorum Surge--which I'd advise you not to try and google.

Heh.

But with bribery in the air, gaffes galore and Ron Paul perhaps asked to share his theories on The Bell Curve, we are once again reminded of the wisdom of the great H.L. Mencken, who once said of campaigns in general, "A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in."

It will be good to get the right-wing christowhacko three-ringer and the national hangover outta the way on the first full business day of the New Year.

Best Political Cartoons of 2011

Go

Quote of the Day

From a 'must read' entitled:

President Obama: A Radical Liberal Moderate Conservative Socialist Corporate Stooge?

Quote from the last ¶:

...the next bill the President needs to sign, aimed at Congressional Republicans, is the Cut the Crap Act; Republicans won’t out-game this president, and he seems ready to let them know it.

I can ask for no more than that.

Ugh ...

Sorry ain't been around the last couple days. I musta caught a chill when I was playing lumberjack the other day and the cold I thought I'd gotten over came back full force. I spent Thursday afternoon and all of yesterday drugged up and sleeping. Thank god it was a slow news week.

Have a happy, healthy, and safe New Year.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Musik: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - Love and Happyness

Thanks to will21118, Germany.

U.S. Troops In Iraq Excited To Finally Return

America's Finest News Source

BAGHDAD—Members of the U.S. Armed Forces were reportedly overcome with feelings of joy, nostalgia, and optimism this week after learning they would soon be withdrawn from Iraq and allowed to finally return home to Afghanistan.
...

Added Robinson, "I can't believe I'm going home again."

In 2003, thousands of American soldiers were unexpectedly uprooted from Afghanistan and sent off to fight in a long and bloody war overseas. After serving multiple tours of duty in Iraq, the vast majority of these troops said they couldn't wait to get back and have their lives return to normal.
...

According to military officials, the announcement of the long awaited homecoming has greatly improved morale, with U.S. soldiers looking forward to returning to the one place where they truly felt like they belonged.

Amid all the fanfare, there was some unpleasant news. Troops in the 11th Marine Regiment were ordered early Tuesday morning to ship off to the United States, a distant foreign land, filled with bizarre customs, strange beliefs, and millions of people they do not know or understand.

Let's do everything we can to ease their adjustment to life in the U.S. That's an artillery regiment and if they nut up you'll never hear the one that gets you. You might see it if it's like the one on their flag, but you'll be deaf by the time the shot reaches you. Heh.

Gingrich's Iowa Crash Has GOP Base Hunting for Next Anti-Romney

John Nichols

There seems to be some attempt in Iowa to get evangelicals to coalesce around Santorum, the former senator and career candidate who is comically being referred to as a “fresh face.” What that really means is that Santorum has not been treated seriously enough up to this point to have been subjected to significant scrutiny.

They're scraping the Frothy Mixture off the bottom of the barrel as we speak. Once they get the bottom of the barrel nice and clean they'd do better to run that product of the cooper's art, the more intelligent and electable piece of fine aged oak . Heh.

This'll blow yer mind...

Apple plots smartphones powered by hydrogen

Oh fucking swell. Instead of all kinds of IF, RF, and WhateverF waves bombarding your peanut, now this.

I wonder what they'll call it? My vote is for "iHindenburg".

Heh...

Thanks to DemRapidPesponse.

What could the poster boy for the 1% possibly be trying to keep from public scrutiny in the light of day?

Could it be the amount of money he took in without lifting a finger?

Could it be the percentage of it he paid in taxes?

Or could he, like myself and GE, be a tax taker instead of a tax payer?

None of that crap will fly very well in this election year. Thank you, OWS.

Lincoln's new ad

I didn't know they offered a handy roof rack!



Tony Peyser

The event had the grand pomp & circumstance
I bet Kim Jong-il had long felt he deserves
But maybe the crowd was so enormous because
They thought there might be hors d’oeuvres.

Bound for Local Glory at Last

I guess my unplanned theme for today is good ol' American socialism. I'm glad to see this. NYTimes.

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma has always had a troubled relationship with her native son Woody Guthrie. The communist sympathies of America’s balladeer infuriated local detractors. In 1999 a wealthy donor’s objections forced the Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City to cancel a planned exhibition on Guthrie organized by the Smithsonian Institution. It wasn’t until 2006, nearly four decades after his death, that the Oklahoma Hall of Fame got around to adding him to its ranks.

But as places from California to the New York island get ready to celebrate the centennial of Guthrie’s birth, in 2012, Oklahoma is finally ready to welcome him home. The George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa plans to announce this week that it is buying the Guthrie archives from his children and building an exhibition and study center to honor his legacy.
...

Ken Levit, the foundation’s executive director, said he thought of doing something for Guthrie after the Hall of Fame induction. Nowhere in Tulsa, he said, is there even a plaque paying homage to this folk legend, who composed “This Land Is Your Land”; performed with Pete Seeger and Lead Belly; wrote the fictionalized autobiography “Bound for Glory”; and sang at countless strikes and migrant labor protests in the 1930s and ’40s. Mr. Levit began a more than three-year campaign to win the consent of Ms. Guthrie, who had taken custody of the boxes that her mother, Marjorie Guthrie, had stowed away in the basement of her home in Howard Beach, Queens.

Woody Guthrie’s music has also had added play time this year as Arlo Guthrie, Mr. Seeger, and other musicians have sung his protest songs at Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and elsewhere.

“There is no doubt there will be some voices in opposition to the way Guthrie is being emphasized — Oklahoma is about the reddest state you can have,” Mr. Hosmer explained, referring to its conservatism. “And when Woody Guthrie was a boy, Oklahoma was also the reddest state because we had more socialists elected to public office than any other.”

Heh.

Dee Jones, Sharon’s husband, explained that Guthrie “was kind of taboo because some influential people in this town thought Woody Guthrie had communist leanings.” But once the community realized that the 3,000 or so attendees brought in business, everyone got behind it, Mr. Jones said.

Double heh. Heh.

Here's a lazy blogger's Thursday Bonus Woody. Bears a family resemblance to "The Ballad Of Jesse James" written in 1924. Jesse left the moneychangers in the temple and just took the money.

Jesus Christ, written and performed by Woody Guthrie, 1940

Thanks to contrarymary77.

Americans need to come out of the closet

Looking in the mirror ...

It all boils down to one thing with the teabaggers. They hate anybody who isn't white and Christian:

...

If the "fundamental concern" of the Tea Party is that "hard working Americans are being forced to foot the bill for undeserving freeloaders," that makes them the same people who bought Ronald Reagan's fairy tales about welfare moms driving Cadillacs and young bucks buying steaks. And if appeals on this hackneyed bit of class-warrior nonsense appeals to a "widely held sentiment" among the Tea Party faithful," then the "Tea Party faithful" are pretty obviously racist.

...

They've been trying to put lipstick on that pig for 150 years. It still ain't working.

Careful what you wish for ...

Or, "Can The Christo-Right Pass The Muslim Test?"

...

So what is the Muslim Test? Simple! It is the fool proof method of revealing this Right Wing hypocrisy. As the last three years have made blindingly obvious, the average conservative has lost all sense of reality. They are so consumed by hatred of Muslims, they’ve jettisoned every shred of rationality. But how do you get through to people this crazed? Well, you really can’t. But what you can do is force them to confront their lunacy and watch them howl at the moon in outrage. This provides a glimpse for neutral or undecided bystanders into the depths of Right Wing fanaticism while providing liberals with an amusing game to play with mentally unhinged people.

...

I got some heads I'm gonna try to explode with this. Heh ...

Keep dreaming, twat ...

It's all about milking us ...

For what little we have left. Perfesser Krugman:

...

There is nothing — nothing — in what we see suggesting that this current depression is more than a problem of inadequate demand. This could be turned around in months with the right policies. Our problem isn’t, ultimately, economic; it’s political, brought on by an elite that would rather cling to its prejudices than turn the nation around.

Top 10 most awesome records of 2011

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford's top music picks for 2011. I can honestly (and thankfully) say I've never heard of any of 'em. At least it's SocSec payday. I can relate to that.

"It's Romney. It was always gonna be Romney."

You can always tell how intelligent a man is by how much he agrees with you. El Rude-o agrees with me and is therefore very smart indeed! More stuff too,

But, really, at the end of the day, fer fuck's sake, Republicans, just accept that Mitt Romney is your nominee. In a whiny-ass editorial in the Weekly Standard, William Kristol offers blow jobs and crystal meth to any savior candidate who jumps into the Republican race. "[I]t is no time for leaders to duck responsibility," he says before going into great detail about how he can't go another minute without getting Christie or Jeb or Rubio spooge on his face. It's kind of embarrassing to see what a shameless knob-gobbler Kristol admits to being.

It's Romney. It was always gonna be Romney. Just like it was always gonna be McCain. Just like it was always gonna be Dole. Sometimes things are just inevitable. Embrace it. Because any candidate that has any smarts at all ain't getting in this race just so that Michele Bachmann can get nasal and nasty on them or that they have to endure the degrading spectacle of being on a stage with Newt Gingrich. Ask Rick Perry how that savior gig worked out.

Wilkerson on GOP race and other stuff

I enthusiastically agree with him on some of his points and am dragged kicking and screaming to agree with him on others.

Notable line:

"We're gonna need two or three more planets!"

Thanks to TheRealNews,

Neck Shots Help PTSD

Following up on yesterday's theme of how we're helping our Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, this one via our pal Bustednuckles.

Navy Times

SAN DIEGO — After seeing promising results with an innovative treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, a group of Navy doctors in San Diego hopes a new study will show a shot in the neck that quiets nerves could bring quick, lasting relief to suffering combat vets.

In a pilot study at Naval Medical Center San Diego, 42 active-duty service members will get injections to block or turn off nerves from transmitting triggers that can cause anxiety, hyperarousal or other symptoms of PTSD. Such nerve blocks, much like basic pain management treatments first done in 1925, typically bring relief in a few days, if not several hours, and in the weeks or months after the procedure.

The study, funded by the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, uses a stellate ganglion block, or SGB. The treatment involves injecting an anesthetic into the stellate ganglion — a bundle of nerves in the neck — which blocks pain signals in the sympathetic nerve system from reaching the brain.

The study team hopes to present its findings in May at an American Psychiatric Association meeting and ultimately get more funding for continuing research and larger clinical studies. An article Hickey co-wrote about the effects of SGB treatment on eight combat vets will be in the February issue of Military Medicine, the Journal of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

Once again, it's a money problem.

That ease and fast relief appealed to Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Christopher Carlson, who retired in 2010 after multiple deployments in a 20-year career that included at-sea tours. Carlson said he subsequently was diagnosed with PTSD after getting worsening bouts of cold sweats, disrupted sleep, anxiety and severe nightmares “that seemed almost real.”

He was prescribed medications, “but really nothing seemed to be working,” he said, and his struggles sidetracked him from getting good employment after he retired in Norfolk, Va., and moved to Chicago. He drank more, was depressed and got more forgetful; he and his wife, who have four children, divorced.

On a fluke, someone told him about Lipov’s treatment. Desperate for relief, he volunteered.

“It seemed like it was a miracle cure,” he said. “It changed my life.”

After his initial improvement seemed to wane a few months after the first injection, Carlson got a second treatment and noticed “night and day” changes.

“My mind is a lot clearer, and I’m sleeping better,” he said Dec. 14. “My emotions are a lot better.”

Note to the Pentagon, President Obama, Congress, everybody who can write a fucking check on OUR money: This shit looks like it works. May is a long way off, the process after that a lot longer. Get out in front of this and fund the study of this treatment NOW, with lots and lots of clinical trials on Vets, ya cheap pricks. Time is important to these Vets. Every addiction or suicide or divorce that doesn't happen is a helluva lot better than those that do.

Lumberjack Story of the Day

In honor of Fixer's tasks today, I offer a really old joke.

Pierre, the greatest lumberjack in all of Canada, is trying out for a new job. He hasn't quite got his prospective employer won over yet so he gets out his A game.

"I am Pierre, greatest lumberjack in all of Ca-na-da! You blindfold Pierre and put piece of wood in front of him. Pierre will tell you everything about this wood!"

The first piece of wood is offered up to the blindfolded Pierre. He bends over and sniffs it from one end to the other.

"Is four by four post, six feet long, Douglas fir from western Oregon."

Pretty impressive, thinks the employer and sets out another one. Pierre does his stuff.

"Is fence post, yellow pine from Sawtooth Range of Idaho."

By now the employer is well and truly impressed. He decides to give Pierre a real challenge. He calls in his secretary and has her strip naked and assume the position.

The still blindfolded Pierre sniffs the subject from one end to the other and back again. With a very puzzled look on his face, he announces,

"Is very odd. Please to turn wood over."

The secretary obliges and Pierre sniffs again. He rises to the full upright position with a big grin from ear to ear.

"Ha! You try to fool Pierre! Is shithouse door off tuna boat!"

I'm a lumberjack ...

My neighbor, whom I warned a few weeks back to get some of his big trees down before winter, lost one of his trees last night in some vicious winds (60 - 70 mph). Thing is, it fell over into my yard and took down one of my pines.

Guess what I'm doing this morning.

Update:

The bright side is it ain't my fence or my gazebo.

Luckily for my neighbor, it missed my shed.

And, of course, my supervision:

Back to work ...

I pity the fools!

Who vote for them.

Thanks to Internet Weekly Report.

Brain Wars

Looks like I've got a theme today.

Pro Publica

More than 115,000 soldiers have sustained mild traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, in the wars when shock waves from bombs rippled through their brains. Most have recovered quickly, but some have suffered lasting cognitive problems, from headaches and dizziness to problems with memory and reasoning.
...

In January, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., questioned the Pentagon's decision to deny cognitive rehabilitation therapy to troops with brain injuries. Her inquiry came after a story we did about how the Pentagon based its decision not to pay for such care on a much-criticized report from the ECRI Institute. Following the story and McCaskill's inquiry, the Pentagon solicited the help of the Institute of Medicine, which released a report in October urging the Defense Department to do more research on the therapy before offering it more broadly.

"More research". Very similar to the response from Japanese motorcycle manufacturers many years ago when told their bikes were such evil-handling pieces of shit that they were killing American kids by the truckload - "must study" - which we took to be Japanese for "fuck you".

Now, as then, expenditure on used-up soldiers is to be avoided so there's more taxpayer money available for profit on Cold War weapons systems we no longer need, and jobs for retired Generals.

It's a lot cheaper to say these soldiers had pre-existing personality disorders or they wouldn't have crashed the motorcycles in the first place.

No pull trigger, no get food.

Million-dollar wound...

Multiply this by 40,000 and the non-physical trauma by 300,000 to get an idea of what the two wars have wrought which will be with us for three generations at least.

Wounded Marine inspires AP photographer's search

Inside the medevac helicopter in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Cpl. Burness Britt bleeds profusely from his neck. He and two other Marines have just been hit by shrapnel, with Britt's injuries the most serious. The medevac crew chief clutches one of Britt's blood-covered hands as he is given oxygen. I take hold of the other.
...

In my 20 years as a photographer, covering conflicts from Bosnia to Gaza to Iraq to Afghanistan, injured civilians and soldiers have passed through my life many times. None has left a greater impression on me than Britt.

When we finally met Dec. 13 at the hospital, I saw him in the distance. He walked with difficulty, trying to control his right arm and leg. He was wearing a plastic helmet to protect his head where part of the skull had been removed. His brain had swollen to nearly twice its size because of his injuries and doctors had to open the skull to relieve the pressure.

His helmet had a camouflage cover on it emblazoned with the 3rd Marine Division emblem on its side.
...

He had just started to regain his speech, working his way back from months of "thumbs up, thumbs down conversation," says his 22-year-old wife, Jessica.

He will undergo more surgeries next year to rebuild his skull.

I'm glad Cpl. Britt is on the mend and don't mind even a bit helping pay the tab for, quite literally, his "million dollar wound".

We better not let Repugs get in power. They know military funerals are a lot cheaper and they love to see the flag draped over a coffin a lot more than they like to see Disabled American Veterans, the leeches who take money for care that the Repugs would rather have in their pockets.

Remember ...

The somewhat ongoing (Where is Oily Taintz now anyway?) President Obama birth ceretificate 'debate'?  Well, Res thinks we should do the same (a return in kind, as it were) to the Mittser:

You know how dumb @$%^s shrieked at Obama to "Release the birth certificate" for years?

Our cry in 2012 should be for Mittens to release his tax returns.

...

Quote of the Day

Thers:

...
The fact that the GOP presidential field is only capable of coughing up a gang of clownish shysters and a laughably phony hack indicates that the GOP is not a political party, but Fox News by other means.
...

I was a little under the weather over the holiday.  Sorry for the absence ...

San Diego naval hospital testing unusual PTSD treatment

LATimes

Naval Medical Center San Diego is studying whether an anesthetic used during childbirth could help relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"If we don't get PTSD under control, our crime rate and social disability are going to be out of control," said Lipov, founder of Chicago's Advanced Pain Centers.

The treatment aims to affect the body's sympathetic nervous system through the nerves in the neck. The bundle of nerves that control the "fight or flight" syndrome in the brain are known as the stellate ganglion.

The injection, Lipov said, "resets" the nerve bundle to calm down the agitation and "hypervigilance" that are common to PTSD sufferers. Although denied federal funding, Lipov has received $81,000 from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and has 10 veterans enrolled in his own study.

On one point all the researchers agree: PTSD will remain a medical challenge long after the end of the wars. McLay said PTSD, by different names, can be traced to the days of Achilles and the Spartans.

"I see Marines, SEALs, Green Berets — the toughest men on earth — and they still have PTSD," McLay said.

Best of luck to researchers and Veterans with this. Whatever works, although it may be a little hilarious to hear a tough old Vet holler "I WANT MY EPIDURAL!". Heh.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

NORTH KOREANS STILL GRIEF-STRICKEN OVER DEATH OF KIM JONG-IL
Urged to report any neighbors not grief-stricken.

Reuters: 2011 “Year of the Tyrant”
2012 expected to be “Year of the Guy Who Overthrew the Tyrant.”

Koch Industries Hopes to Fill 2500 Jobs
Mostly in vote-suppression.

George H.W. Bush Says Romney is “Best Choice"
From a “pathetic field of losers.”

Neut sights self, sinks same

Raw Story

Certainly no-one will ever accuse Newt Gingrich of having low self-esteem. Talking Points Memo is reporting that Gingrich’s campaign manager Michael Krull has taken to Facebook to vent about the Virginia Republican Party’s judgment that the former Speaker of the House did not qualify to appear on the March 6 primary ballot.

“Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,” he writes, comparing the campaign’s failure to acquire the 10,000 signatures necessary to compete in the Virginia primary to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. “We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action.”
...

As Raw Story reported earlier, this is the third state primary for which the Gingrich team has failed to collect enough signatures or missed the filing deadline.

Difference being that the U.S. Navy didn't torpedo and sink itself.

Neutie, You ain't a pimple on the ass of a 17-year-old Seaman Third at Pearl Harbor. Don't hit yerself in the ass with the door on the way out.

We Like Sheep

Thanks to Paul Krugman.

Extra butter, please!

Thanks to YubaNet.

Christmas Is No Time to Talk About War and Peace

Truthout

Christmas Cancelled as a Security Measure

Ellis Island - The three wise men were arrested today attempting to enter the country. The Iraqi nationals were carrying massive amounts of flammable substances known as "frankincense" and "myrrh." While not explosives themselves, experts revealed that these two substances could be used as a fuse to detonate a larger bomb. The three alleged terrorists were also carrying gold, presumably to finance the rest of their mission.

Also implicated in the plot were two Palestinians named Joseph and Mary. An anonymous source close to the family overheard Mary bragging that her son would "bring down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly." In what appears to be a call to anarchy, the couple claims their son will someday "help prisoners escape captivity."

"These people match our terrorist profile perfectly," an official source reported.

All of the suspects claimed they heard angels singing of a new era of hope for the afflicted and poor. As one Wall Street official put it, "These one-world wackos are talking about overturning the entire economic and political hierarchy that holds the civilized world together. I don't care what some angel sang; God wants the status quo - by definition."

Oy Chanukah

I don't want to leave anybody out in the holiday season. This oughta do it.

The KlezMormons perform "Oy Chanukah" at Muse Music in Provo, Utah on December 15, 2009. For more information about The KlezMormons, search for "The KlezMormons" on Facebook or on Twitter at twitter.com/klezmormons.

Thanks to pyjingo.

Ahuna Ye Tswanang Le Jesu Kammatla

Ya in that Christmas funk, bunkie? This'll snap ya out of it! I don't think this is a Christmas song but I don't think it's inappropriate either. If I should find myself wandering lost and alone in the spiritual desert and stumbled into a church, I'd wanta stumble into theirs!

Thanks to joashstilltheman, U.S., from Nairobi, Kenya.

Tiếng chuông ngân nhạc Nguyễn Ngọc Thiện-Giọt Sương Long Lanh

I didn't know I understood Vietnamese. Heh.

Thanks to HatSuongLongLanh.

Go Tell It

Let's try to remember on these most Commercial of Holy Dollar Days that the Jewish carpenter whose birth we commemorate had a message of peace and brotherhood that got him killed for pissing off and scaring the establishment of His day, and Who did not espouse the hate spewed in His name that is so accepted by some as "Christianity" today.

A traditional recording of "Go tell it on the Mountain" by Peter Tosh/ The Wailers/ Bob Marley & The Wailers or whomsoever it may be. Tosh singing lead.

Thanks to Tonesullock, Eire.

Asterisk*

*Where would the GOP be without it?

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Thanks to aztecwarrior113.

California Girls!

Havin' a little trouble gettin' enthused ta get off the couch and do that pesky last minute Xmas shopping, bunkie? These gals'll get ya going!

Manpreet & Naina representing California's Bay Area performing @ Warrior Bhangra 2011. This was an exhibition performance. Barso Re Megha Hindi Dance.

Warrior Bhangra was put on by California State University Stanislaus.

Thanks to harjothundal, Yuba City CA. Mucho Bhangra!

The 12 Lies Of Christmas

Cut to the chase:

On the twelfth day of Christmas
Republicans told me
Government takeover of health care's coming
Your guns Obama's swiping
WMD Saddam's a-keeping
Medicare they're enhancing
Wall Street's not bilking
Government Reagan was trimming
Half the people no taxes paying
Tax cuts more revenues bring
We don't torture
Thank the one percent
Gay marriage is like box turtle love and
Obama's born in another country.

The Repugs are crackin' up...

They're crackin' me up too! Fun to watch. Robert Reich says it's a bad thing. Good piece, though. I'll disagree with him later.

The underlying conflict lies deep into the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old.

As Michael Lind has noted, today’s Tea Party is less an ideological movement than the latest incarnation of an angry white minority – predominantly Southern, and mainly rural – that has repeatedly attacked American democracy in order to get its way.
...

America has had a long history of white Southern radicals who will stop at nothing to get their way – seceding from the Union in 1861, refusing to obey Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, shutting the government in 1995, and risking the full faith and credit of the United States in 2010.

Newt Gingrich’s recent assertion that public officials aren’t bound to follow the decisions of federal courts derives from the same tradition.

This stop-at-nothing radicalism is dangerous for the GOP because most Americans recoil from it. Gingrich himself became an object of ridicule in the late 1990s, and many Republicans today worry that if he heads the ticket the Party will suffer large losses.

It’s also dangerous for America. We need two political parties solidly grounded in the realities of governing. Our democracy can’t work any other way.

Here's where I disagree with him: We don't have two parties solidly grounded in the realities of governing. We have one that can barely find its ass with both hands and one that's grinding itself to powder in front of our eyes. A lovely process to watch, I might add.

There's a reason to have two motorcycles too. When one of them is so badly broken it won't run, you ride the other one exclusively until the broken one gets fixed. Difference is, with political parties we have to wait until election day to get parts.

Let's hope we get the right ones. We can ride just the Democrats for a time while the Repugs are getting rebuilt and still get where we want to go until the Dems break down too. Then we're screwed.

A third "bike" maybe? Whee! Let's get an "Arrest Me Red" Italian Fastacci Sumbicci!

Well, maybe not...

Maybe what we need is some Repugs who will listen to reason. Until the day that pipe dream comes true, maybe we need a solidly Democrat Congress for a coupla years. As badly as the Teabaggers have fucked things up, how much worse could they do? Don't answer that...

Ethics? Don't need ethics!

Breaking:

Old man yells at cloud.

Heh ...

I got this from my friend Darko, Prince of Skopje:

What Do Jews Do On Christmas?

Delightfully splained to us goyim by a lovely Hebrew maiden:

What Do Jews Do On Christmas? A Limerick Explanation
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Here’s a query that’s answered with ease:
“What do Jews do on Christmas Day, please?”
We watch movies and read.
Surf the Net. (Dull indeed!)
But mostly we munch on Chinese.

I can see through her dining room window that's some good lookin' moo goo gai pan and - oooh! my favorite! - General Tso's Chicken!

(I’ve dedicated that limerick to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. (This post explains why.) And here’s a fun article about Jews and Chinese Food.

Maybe it's oy goy gai pan...

Update:

I couldn't resist this one, also from Mad:

"Two Jewish ladies are talking about what they're going to do on Christmas Day.

'Let's take in a movie and then have Chinese for dinner,' suggests the first.

'I don't know about the Chinese,' says the second. 'How about Thai?'

'What are you,' the first says, 'Reform?'

Knock, knock. Who's there? Secret Service who?!

CNN

The U.S. Secret Service said Wednesday it was following up after a California man used Facebook to make a profane threat against President Barack Obama.

"Assassinate the f------ n----- and his monkey children," Jules Manson, 48, a onetime candidate for the Carson, California, City Council, wrote on Facebook Sunday, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.
...

"I was not in the right state of mind," when he made the posting, Manson told the station. "I was very angry when I made those statements." Asked what he has learned, he said, "to think before you talk. ... Never make statements unless you're in the right state of mind."

This clown lives in a trailer. Musta been the meth fumes off the stove put him in "not the right state of mind".

Also, Carson ain't too far from Compton and maybe claiming he ain't a racist won't be enough to prevent a few drive-bys. Try esplainin' yourself to those guys while they're installing your new air-conditioning one bullet hole (or thirty) at a time. Heh.

Me'n Fixer have called for the demise of many, many neocons, war criminals, one particular POTUS, various and sundry miscreants, etc., many, many times. We're good Americans who believe in rule of law and always, always qualified it by insisting it only be after due process, as in "we'll give him a fair trial and then hang him and then we'll do lunch". Anything else is stupid and just asking for a knock on the door.

One Man in Iowa Speaks for a Tired Nation Regarding Newt Gingrich

El Rude-o

[...] None of that matters for just this instance. In one moment, that man actually looked into the corrupt, vile, evil eyes of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and said, "You're a fucking asshole."

And for that brief moment, Tom Sorensen is America's greatest hero.

Thank you, Mr. Sorenson. For just that one brief moment, you spoke for an awful lot of us who wish they had the chance to say that. To more assholes than just Neutie.

I'm in a Xmas-y mood today!

Fixer posted so much good stuff today that I feel like just screwin' around. Thanks, boss.

See 'comments' on this post. I can't fault the cartoonist for getting the color of the shitballs wrong. Heh.



This one's fucking perfect:

Thanks to YubaNet for always having the best 'toons!

Mutiny!

Mitch the Chin turns on the Orange Boner:

... 

McConnell, almost immediately after Boehner wrapped up his remarks, cut the legs out from underneath the House GOP leadership and sided with Harry Reid’s proposed solution.
...

Big bucket, extra butter ...

Good ...

Our troops don't have to live a lie in order to serve anymore:

Step away, Michael ...

Our pal Michael Stickings is trying to make himself as nutty as a conservative by trying to figure out the Republican presidential field:

...

It'll be Romney. Republicans like establishment types, he's got money and organization, and he's next in line for a party that likes clean succession.

Wait. Bachmann is crazy, but maybe the right sort of crazy for today's crazy GOP.

No, she's insane. And Perry is much more appealing. He sounds a bit too much like Bush, but he certainly looks the part, more down-home and authentic than stuffed-shirt Romney.

But Perry's such a dolt. Check out his embarrassing debate performances. Can he string a coherent sentence together? And why does he keep sticking his foot in his mouth?

...

Heh ...

I stole this ...

From the one, and only, Sen. Bernie Sanders:

Click to embiggen.

Die, bitch ...

Things are looking up:

Poor health isn’t slowing down Dick Cheney during the holiday season. The bullish ex-vice president, who suffered five heart attacks, attended a party to welcome Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush to DC at former George W. Bush adviser Bobbie Kilberg’s home in McLean, Va., where sources say he seemed “enfeebled.” Cheney sat while others stood at the party, also attended by Virginia Sen. Mark Warner. We’re told he was seen using an oxygen mask to aid his breathing. But Kilberg denied Cheney wore a mask. A Cheney rep added, “Not true. He’s doing fine. He’s celebrating Christmas in Jackson Hole with his family.”

My Christmas wish is that he sheds his mortal coil in the slowest, most painful way possible.

Great thanks to our friend Montag for the link.

I like it ...

Thers:

...

Crackers ran the economy, and fucked it up.

Rich white people shouldn't be in charge of capitalism.

Fortunately this is a testable premise. I propose that for a two year period, poor people who are not white should be put in charge of major corporations as well as most major governments.

If they fuck shit up even worse than the current nitwits, then we, the Left, promise to never ever complain again.

...

I'm down wid it. They certainly couldn't do any worse. Poor folks don't go spending money like drunk squids in Olongapo and generally have more common sense than most of the rich folks I know (it's just that rich folks have the money and juice to fix the fuckups caused by their lack of common sense). I think we'd do pretty well.

You can run ...

But you can't hide. Not only are the GOP congress weasels feeling the heat in Washington, it's waiting for them when they get home:

Everyone knows House Republicans endured tremendous punishment all day Wednesday, making it clear to most observers that in the standoff over renewing this year’s payroll tax cut, they’ll have to blink.

But an even more important story, which escaped notice inside the Beltway, is that the lashings followed GOP members of Congress back to their states and districts.

Here’s a roundup.

...

Like I said the other day. they've gotten too obvious in their obstruction. Even the most ignorant among us (those who the GOP counts on for votes) are getting it.

Boner puts House doings back under the rock

Speaker Boner is afraid of the light of day. Rightly so. Heh.

Raw Story, with video.

Boehner’s office cuts off C-SPAN cameras as GOP takes beating

As Rep. Stenny Hoyer (D-MD) attempted to call for a vote to extend a payroll tax cut to middle class and working Americans, his Republican colleagues adjourned the House and walked out of the chamber. And if that weren’t odd enough, it got even stranger: As Hoyer railed against them for failing to help working Americans, footage from C-SPAN went silent, then cut away.

Moments later, C-SPAN took to the Internet to explain that it wasn’t their doing, but someone working for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

Heh.

Godless Commie Headline of the Day

Me'n Fixer have been saying this for years.

How We All Pay For the Huge Tax Privileges Granted to Religion -- It's Time to Tax the Church

Fuckin' A.

Dead men sell no heretical iPhones

If it's Wednesday it must be Morford on the passing of some notables and what happens next.

We cry out, mostly seriously and only semi drunkenly, "Who is the next Steve Jobs? Where will we find another of the notorious intellectual fire of Chris Hitchens? What of someone precious and rare like the humble revolutionary Vaclav Havel?" On it goes.

Hitchens, for one, was a wicked and sly hybrid, one part cruel contrarian jackass, one part brilliant social commentator, one part chain-smoking bourgeois atheist, one part insufferable Iraq war-supporting hawk, all parts rare in literary kind and intellectual breed.

Add to this the fact that the GOP as a whole and the Tea Party in particular have seen to it that science, intellectualism, books, sex, spirituality, independent thought, higher education and decent taste in footwear are all considered elitist boogymen to be eradicated from the dumbed down American mind like fleas from a mangy dog. Not exactly fertile ground for radicals and revolutionaries to take root.

It actually is. Just in the wrong direction. More like potatoes or turnips than brilliant flowers springing into the sunshine.

The lad manages to end on a hopeful note. Ah, youth...

Dear 1%ers ...

I am a self-made man. You are not:

David Dayen does a lovely job of dissecting this wretchedly dishonest exercise in Galtian self-pity by Jamie Dimon and his fellow one-percenter elites, but I can’t help taking a swing at that fastball they parked right over the plate.

So anyway, how many of these self-alleged “job creators” are totally self-made superior beings? Hmmm, not many:

...

These fucking assholes have a lot of gall calling themselves men, let alone "self-made rugged individualists". They're greedy, whiny, pampered little shits.

Another bunch ...

Who should be put up against the wall forthwith:

Each year millions in government funds intended to help veterans get back to work go to firms where owners have lied about being disabled vets, according to government watchdogs.
...

I can give them a "disability" that would bring them into compliance.

Fox 'News' viewers ...

Explanations ...

Or, how the GOP made a mess of the payroll tax cut:

The fight over renewing the payroll tax cut into next year has escalated into a multi-front political war, both between Republicans and Democrats, and within the Republican party itself. 

But lost in the gamesmanship and the arguments about process, hypocrisy, and leadership are the issues at stake. 

So let’s review.
...

These idiots play games while people starve.  Go Google "Emperor Nero".

Christ ...

The 2011 White House Christmas card features a content looking First Pup Bo Obama sitting by a roaring fireplace, flanked by Christmas presents and festive Christmasy ribbons and pine wreaths and bulbs. If you listen hard, you can almost hear sleigh bells.
...

You know what's coming, right?.

Any comment would be just wrong. Heh.

[A big welcome to Crooks and Liars readers; thanks Tengrain! - F]

Stolen from The Christian Left.

Iraq Bookends

Thanks to YubaNet.

Chasing the Dragon

Raw Story with video. Hint: puke before viewing.

On Monday, Imus told Mary Matalin, a former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, that she must be “smoking meth” if she thought Gingrich had shot a beating the current president.

“Can Newt Gingrich beat President Obama?” Imus asked Matalin.

“Yes, he can,” Matalin stated without hesitation.

“Oh, well you’re smoking meth or something,” Imus declared. “You’re insane.”

She musta been breathing extra deep in a cloud of smoke from a burning crank warehouse! Her teeth look brand new in the photo. Heh.

Oligarchic perversion of our legal system continues apace...

Expanding on Fixer's post about bought justices.

BradBlog

The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court.

Apparently not the "radical judicial activists" Neutie would have arrested. He would reserve that for judges who interpret the Constitution in favor of the people.

Last ¶ after a little history of the Federalist Society:

Unfortunately, Bork's views are not unique. They are the views held by the Federalist Society-funding billionaire oligarchs, like the Koch brothers, who would mask their authoritarian corporate capitalism under an Orwellian concept of "liberty" as the two-tiered system of "justice" entailing elite impunity is assured by a "bought-and-paid-for" judiciary.

They aren't even trying to hide it any more.

Headline of the Day

Party elite executed to clear path for Kim Jong-un

What the North Koreans call "election day". Heh.

8 crazy nights ...

We wish all our Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah!

Gaming the refs ...

Knowing the GOP like we do, does this surprise anybody?

Madison - State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in two cases cast the deciding vote in favor of parties represented by a law firm that gave him tens of thousands of dollars of free legal services, a review of state records shows.

One of those was a high-stakes case this June that allowed Gov. Scott Walker to implement a law that all but eliminates collective bargaining for most public workers. Gableman was in the 4-3 majority that allowed Walker to prevail. Michael Best & Friedrich - the firm that defended Gableman for free in an ethics case - worked for the state and Walker's administration in the collective bargaining case.
...

Easier to win when the referee is in your pocket.

Great thanks to Scout Prime for the link.

The GOP way ...

Change the rules:

After a much-longer-than-anticipated caucus meeting Monday night, House Republican leaders announced a plan to vote Tuesday to nix a broadly bipartisan Senate stopgap bill to extend the current payroll tax cut for two months. But they won’t be doing this with a standard up or down vote.
...

What, they think people will forget all their bullshit by next November?  After 3 years of their obstructionist, protect the rich at all costs policies, people already take it as a given that the GOP is the Party of the Wealthy.  Since Obama was elected, they've given up caring whether they are obvious or not and I'm hoping even the most dense of us are finally getting it.

Shark Week at the SEC

Thanks to YubaNet.

Iraq War Timeline

Opinions You Should Have. Probably closer to the truth than the official one.

March 14, 2003 - Bush Makes Last Ditch Attempt to Avoid Diplomatic Solution.
...

May 2, 2003 - Cheney Suggests Bush Make Absurdly Dangerous Landing On Aircraft Carrier.

(Bush Takes Opportunity to Wear Largest-Ever Presidential Codpiece.)
...

June 11, 2003 - Claimed Iraqi Bioweapons Trailers Revealed To be Winnebagos.
...

April 18, 2004 - Bush To Return Iraq For Credit Or Refund.
...

July 9, 2004 - Sinking Bush Poll Numbers Increase Likelihood of Terrorist Attack, Says Ridge.

You get the idea. Much more.

Operation Iraqi Horror 2.0

CSM

As US troops exit Iraq, Maliki moves against Sunni rivals

Gee, thanks for the decent interval after our troops escaped came out. Wouldn't want them to think they were used for nothing. Yeesh.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

PANETTA TELLS TROOPS WE'RE WINNING WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Like we won in Iraq.

Last American Troops Leave Iraq
Last American contractors to leave in 2034.

Maybe earlier if they're in boxes.

NTSB Urges Nationwide Cellphone Ban for Drivers
Better call your congressman as soon as you pass this idiot driving the speed limit in the left lane.

Good News: Fewer Teenagers Getting Driver's Licenses
Bad news: more seniors hanging on to theirs.

Less whippersnappers to piss off by obeying the law!

One sentence ...

Sean Paul Kelley:

Army Spec. David E. Hickman is apparently the last American soldier to die for the mistake that was the Iraq War. He was thirteen years-old when the war began.

And you get coal ...

In your stocking. The Republicans give a big "fuck you" to working people at Christmas:

The Senate’s two-month payroll tax extension is dead on arrival in the House. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, made that perfectly clear Sunday morning as he said that Congress will have to negotiate a deal closer to the House-passed one-year extension before members leave for the holidays.

“Well, it’s pretty clear that I and our members oppose the Senate bill – it’s only for two months,” Boehner said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “If you talk to employers, they talk about the uncertainty. How can you do tax policy for two months?”

...

But the tax breaks for rich folks get to go on and on forever ...

No shit ...

Quote of the Day

Retiring Congressman Barney Frank:

...

"It's a great embarrassment to the conservatives," Frank pointed out. "They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole -- not all of you -- but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there."

...

Remember, the conservatives only believe in small government when it comes to regulating shit they support.

See you in Hell ...

The insane midget in North Korea has died. Good. Unfortunately, it won't do much for the poor people of North Korea who still have to live in Earth's Asshole:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died of a heart attack at the age of 69, state media has announced.

Millions of North Koreans had been "engulfed in indescribable sadness", the KCNA news agency said. People were seen weeping in the capital Pyongyang.

His son Kim Jong-un was described by KCNA as the "great successor" who North Koreans should unite behind.

...

We'll see soon enough whether the military will want to continue with a figurehead in charge or if they want to come out of the shadows. The "Great Successor" will live only so long as the generals allow it.

It's official!

This is from 2 1/2 years ago:

DoD Training Manual: Protests are "Low-Level Terrorism"

Shorter: Actually use your 1st Amendment rights instead of just paying lip service to them and you risk indefinite detention without due process.

This is not the United States I swore to protect.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Making Believe
Hello Stranger

Thanks to mondoBLIND.

Who Says Newt Doesn’t Share JFK’s Vision

SPR

“I believe this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing poor inner city children on the moon, so that they can mine minerals, and return those minerals safely to the earth.”

Heh. Justin Bieber can play the Sean Connery role in the remake of Outland.

Will Iraq Debacle Prevent Iran War?

Robert Parry. Worth a read.

Neoconservatives are livid over President Obama’s declaration that the Iraq War is over, fearing that its disastrous outcome will undercut plans for a new war with Iran. But Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich says, if elected, he stands ready to join Israel in invading Iran,

I don't think we have to worry about Neut, but we have to watch the fucking neocons like a hawk.

But the Iraq debacle, now given a stamp of finality by Obama’s removal of the last U.S. combat troops, threatens to solidify among many Americans a recognition that they were “had” by the neocons, that the Iraq War was a terrible mistake that shouldn’t be repeated again.

So, the neocons must move quickly to change that perception, by asserting that the war had actually been “won” by Bush but that Obama “lost” it. That way, Americans won’t close the door on the next neocon adventure, a war with Iran.

We can only hope our press learned their lesson from the terrible way they mishandled themselves in the run-up to Iraq and will counter neocon lies with facts, maybe even some truth this time. They say they have, but...

IMNSHO, neocons are like Nazis - kill them where they stand.

The debts ...

Pierce looks at what we owe after this horrible, misbegotten war:

...

We owe some terrible bills to the world for blundering around like a blind ape with a bazooka in the most volatile section of the planet. We owe them to the world for sneering at the French and laughing at the Canadians when they wouldn't follow us into the quagmire just because we said they should. We owe them to the world for our belief in our invincibility. If we'd armor-plated our Humvees as thickly as our politicians armor-plated their self-righteousness, a lot of soldiers would still be alive. We owe them to the world for re-electing C-Plus Augustus and his soulless vice-president in the middle of what we already knew was a hubristic bungle of historic proportions.

...

Real simple ...

Click to embiggen.

WHAT?!

TPM

Aryan Nations Leader Sentenced For Fraud After Feds Investigated Al Qaeda Ties

Shorter: This bastard likes al Qaeda because they hate Jews.

Kreis pleaded guilty to fraud in August after lying to Veterans Administration officials to get pension money. He had served in the Navy for nine months during the Vietnam War, but was discharged early “based upon a determination that he was not suited for military service.”
...

The Feds didn’t find a connection to Al Qaeda, but they soon discovered that though Kreis had qualified for a need-based “improved pension” for his military service, he did not report over $33,000 in income he made in 2005, and made false statements to the Veterans Administration that he had made no outside income that year.

Nine months in the Navy and a General Discharge and he gets a fucking PENSION? What the fuck is going on here?

What Barack Obama Should Have Said While Announcing the End of the Iraq War (Rude Version)

You Know Whom

"So I apologize for this war. Yes, I have blood on my hands from my own violence against the world. But not this anymore. We're exiting Iraq because we never should have been there in the first place. I apologize for this war that was forced on you by George W. Bush and his advisers. The only proper punishment would be to have them all on stage here, all of 'em, Bush, Cheney, Condi, Colin Powell, Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, everyone who ever lied to you about WMDs and Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11, everyone who worked to frighten the American public into a savage froth, each and every one of these cunts, Tony Blair, all the leaders in the coerced coalition of the willing, all of the war profiteers who made millions of dollars.

"And then we'd make them drop their pants. And we'd let all of you line up to fuck them in the ass. The women soldiers can use strap-ons or their fists. That's right: fuck them until they collapse. Fuck them until they can't breathe. Fuck the mechanical heart right out of Cheney's despicable mouth. Fuck them for everyone who died, for everyone who's fucked up, for everyone who can't sleep without having nightmares. Fuck them for the Jessica Lynch lie and for Pat Tillman. Fuck them with a spider hole and Saddam's statue and a 'Mission Accomplished' banner and yellow cake uranium. Fuck them with IEDs and Abu Ghraib leashes. Fuck them for Halliburton and Blackwater. Fuck them in Fallujah and Mosul and Baghdad. Fuck them with shock. Fuck them with awe. And when they're done being fucked and their asses are ripped up and they're on the ground, contemplating what just happened to them, we'll dump vats of blood on them, the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who were killed because of the madness inflicted on two nations, on the world. And then we'll give 'em to the Hague.

Too close to the truth for any politician to say out loud.

Update:

Fixer and I posted these within 5 minutes of one another. That's never happened before in 7+ years and 18,000+ posts.

Flagrant larceny ...

I'm stealing this from the Rude One in toto because this is exactly how I feel about this horrible war that's finally over:

[President Obama gave a speech at Fort Bragg yesterday to declare the end of the 8.75 year war in Iraq. It was measured and vague. Here's what he should have said:

"More than 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq. 1.5 million. Over 30,000 Americans have been wounded, and those are only the wounds that show. Nearly 4,500 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice. To all of them, to all of you, and to your families, I just want to say, 'We're sorry.' I mean, holy shit are we sorry. We can't say how sorry we are. I could have a couple of hundred thousand prostitutes ready to fuck each and every one of you, and that wouldn't scratch the surface of how sorry we are. By the way, we do not have those prostitutes because John Boehner refused to fund them.

"I look out there on all of your tired, confused, if relieved faces. Some of you have fond memories of building schools or playgrounds, of happy Iraqi children smiling at you, of people thanking you for ridding the nation of Saddam Hussein. But you're all wondering, 'What the fuck was that for?' And, to be honest, I cannot tell you. I can tell you that it was all a colossal clusterfuck and a waste of time and lives and money, for several reasons.

"First, within the next few years, Iraq is going to descend into chaos, and there is not a goddamned thing we can do about it unless we want to overthrow the government and install someone who is totally our puppet and stay there in large numbers forever. But, c'mon, if these fuckers wanna kill each other, it's gonna happen, whether it's Shi'ites from Iran or Sunnis from Syria making the violence roll. People gotta start this shit from within. That's what we learned this year in places like Tunisia and Libya. And it could still end up with fucking chaos.

"Second, you're returning to an America that this war, among other things, has serious fucked up. You're not gonna get jobs. You're not gonna get the help you need. If you're on unemployment, we can't even guarantee that that'll last. Sure, sure, I can say that we passed the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, so that you and your families can get the education that allows you to live out your dreams. That includes a national effort to put our veterans to work. We’ve worked with Congress to pass a tax credit so that companies have the incentive to hire vets. And Michelle has worked with the private sector to get commitments to create 100,000 jobs for those who’ve served. But, c'mon. We've fucked ourselves with our own dicks. And when push comes to shove, you know those Republican cocksuckers in Congress will cut your benefits so that Johnny Billionaire can afford more cocaine and bigger tits for his wife and daughter.

"Now, I wanna be honest with you. I wanted to leave about 3000 of you there, along with the thousands of mercenaries we've hired, to keep the peace and so that these fuckers back here in DC wouldn't say that I'm wimping out or that I failed. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, John McCain. Shut your whore mouth, or you'll see the backside of my pimp hand. It's sad but true that the filthy game of politics infected this sore. The RNC probably already has an ad online about what a pussy I am, even if we are leaving an embassy and 15,000 Americans, including a couple of hundred soldiers.

"Some of you may be wondering why we're not declaring 'Victory' today. That's because there hasn't been victory. There was never gonna be a victory because there was never a real goal. There has only been shame brought upon the nation and death and destruction brought to the Iraqis. Oh, and purple ink for voting. There was that. When he started the war, President Bush said, clearly, 'Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.' That was a miserable lie made by a motherfucker who was trying to act tough. This war was the indulgence of a United States that the previous administration wrecked.

"So I apologize for this war. Yes, I have blood on my hands from my own violence against the world. But not this anymore. We're exiting Iraq because we never should have been there in the first place. I apologize for this war that was forced on you by George W. Bush and his advisers. The only proper punishment would be to have them all on stage here, all of 'em, Bush, Cheney, Condi, Colin Powell, Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, everyone who ever lied to you about WMDs and Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11, everyone who worked to frighten the American public into a savage froth, each and every one of these cunts, Tony Blair, all the leaders in the coerced coalition of the willing, all of the war profiteers who made millions of dollars.

"And then we'd make them drop their pants. And we'd let all of you line up to fuck them in the ass. The women soldiers can use strap-ons or their fists. That's right: fuck them until they collapse. Fuck them until they can't breathe. Fuck the mechanical heart right out of Cheney's despicable mouth. Fuck them for everyone who died, for everyone who's fucked up, for everyone who can't sleep without having nightmares. Fuck them for the Jessica Lynch lie and for Pat Tillman. Fuck them with a spider hole and Saddam's statue and a 'Mission Accomplished' banner and yellow cake uranium. Fuck them with IEDs and Abu Ghraib leashes. Fuck them for Halliburton and Blackwater. Fuck them in Fallujah and Mosul and Baghdad. Fuck them with shock. Fuck them with awe. And when they're done being fucked and their asses are ripped up and they're on the ground, contemplating what just happened to them, we'll dump vats of blood on them, the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who were killed because of the madness inflicted on two nations, on the world. And then we'll give 'em to the Hague.

"That's what we should do. But we won't. Because that'd be divisive. And Lord knows I wouldn't want to be divisive."]

The costs ...

Reading this, I'm brought back to the last M*A*S*H episode, when they're all in the OR with Armed Forces Radio on, and the costs of the Korean War are broadcast:

...

But when weighing those possible benefits against the costs of the Iraq intervention, there is simply no conceivable calculus by which Operation Iraqi Freedom can be judged to have been a successful or worthwhile policy. The war was intended to show the extent of America’s power. It succeeded only in showing its limits.

...

Good thing ...

Christine O'Donnell doesn't live in Saudi:

...

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.

...

And these are our friends in the region?

It's official ...

The war in Iraq is over.

The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.

The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.

...

It wasn't worth one drop of American blood or one dime of American treasure.

Wolcott on Neut ...

A short, but good, apologia from the master:

...

Allow me to say this in my puny defence, however. One reason I’m such a wayward prognosticator of rightwing trends is that I’m incapable of blacking out enough neural sectors to see the world through reptilian-brained eyes, a prerequisite for any true channeling of the mean resentments and implanted fears that drive hardcore conservatives ...

At this point, I go under the assumption that nothing is too far out of bounds for any of the GOP, especially Neut.

Great thanks to Drifty for the link.