Inchon

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the invasion of Inchon by a hastily-assembled 1st Marine Division. I wasn't quite 5 years old. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now...

Wikipedia's plenty close enough.

The Battle of Inchon, code name: Operation Chromite) was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations (UN). The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital Seoul two weeks later.[3]

The battle began on September 15, 1950, and ended September 19. Through a surprise amphibious assault far from the Pusan Perimeter that UN and South Korean forces were desperately defending, the largely undefended city of Incheon was secured after being bombed by UN forces. The battle ended a string of victories by the invading North Korean People's Army (NKPA). The subsequent UN recapture of Seoul partially severed NKPA's supply lines in South Korea.

Ah, fer the good ol' days o' rum, sodomy, and th' lash!

I am actually old enough to have carried one of these in ITR. They had been replaced with the M-14, but we trained with the leftovers. The two rifles were very similar in use.

Ah, memories...

Thanks to ostoja59.

Be sure to hit yourself in the ass with the door on the way out

A lateral transfer from my Facebook page after stealing it from Donner Party of Massachusetts, whose motto is "Face Ripping, Poop Flinging, Cannabilism & Progressive Liberal Politics - Home to the Angry & Pantsless".

Angry & pantsless. Yep. That's me. At least that's my image at Safeway.

Note to Miss Lindsey: If you're driving scared angry old white men away from The Party Of Scared Angry Old White Men, you might wanta rethink your message.

Fat chance. Good riddance.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Track 1 from his album "Grievous Angel" (1974; remastered version, 2006). Composed by Thomas Brown and Gram Parsons. Recorded July 1973.

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, "Return of the Grievous Angel"

Thanks to Queenigma.

Fixer's back!

He'll show up as soon as the icicles melt off his dick and he can wear Speedos again! :-)

Bryan Fischer: Today’s GOP Will Be ‘Dead’ If Romney Loses

Gee, he says that like it's a bad thing...

TPM

A Barack Obama win in November will lead to a meltdown within the Republican Party, said Bryan Fischer, an influential official at the American Family Association. And he isn’t too optimistic about Mitt Romney’s chances.

“If Barack Obama wins this election the Republican Party as we know it is finished, it is dead, it is toast — you can stick a fork in it,” he told TPM Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington. “And conservatives, grassroots conservatives, are either going to start a third party or they are going to launch a hostile takeover of the Republican Party.”

Fischer said he believed Romney would be leading national polls by double digits at this point if he had followed Paul Ryan’s lead and offered more detailed conservative positions on the budget and social issues.

Fischer and his hate group are among the worst of the worst. The funny (bad choice of words, I know) part is that these phony xtians think their Dead End Quarter is in the majority.

“I think if Mitt Romney loses this election that the pro-family leaders in the United States should get together with Rick Perry on Nov. 7 and start planning for 2016,” he said.

Excellent idea. Perhaps we'll never hear from them again.

Here's a little more on Ryan at the "value" voters circle jerk today:

BuzzFlash

People For the American Way today challenged the Romney campaign for its decision to send vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to speak today at the Values Voter Summit, an event organized by groups that regularly push false and demeaning smears about gays and lesbians, Muslim-Americans and others. These groups also push extreme anti-woman policies, including defending Rep. Todd Akin after his "legitimate rape" comments.
...

“By speaking at the Values Voter Summit, Paul Ryan sends a clear message: a Romney-Ryan administration has decided to embrace the entrenched bigotry advocated by the farthest of the far right,” said Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way.

Philosophically speaking, I guess I have to thank these wingnut hater assholes for showing me how much hate I have in my own soul. For them. Not a pretty realization.

I didn't know they had Republicans in Pakistan

Anger Rolls Across Pakistani City in Aftermath of Factory Fire

KARACHI, Pakistan — The towering metal door at the back of the burned-out garment factory could have been an escape for many of the low-paid textile workers caught in the fire here on Tuesday. Instead, it stands as a testament to greed and corruption at a factory where 289 trapped employees died.

As hundreds of workers scrambled to escape the flaming factory after a boiler explosion, they found the main sliding door — 30 feet high, big enough for a truckload of cotton — firmly locked. Instead of letting the workers escape, several survivors said Thursday, plant managers forced them to stay in order to save the company’s stock: piles of stonewashed jeans, destined for Europe.

Go read this sneak peek at manufacturing here if Rmoney gets "elected".

Any volunteers? [crickets]

Female Fox News contributor says Michelle Malkin ‘needs to get laid’

There would have been more volunteers to go after Osama bin Laden armed with a handful of fairy dust rather than do that. Shudders at the thought.

Headline of the Day

Bachmann: Libya attack was effort to impose Sharia law on the U.S.

Batcrap crazy is alive and well. Sigh.

Shopping Day

Over the mountains and through the woods to Costco we must go. See yas later.

Willard on his money's foreign policy experience

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—One day after he was roundly criticized by both parties for his comments about Libya, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney attempted to burnish his foreign-policy credentials today, telling reporters that “no one has spent more time overseas than my money has.”

“My money has served in banks from Switzerland to Bermuda, and from Bermuda to the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Romney said. “I challenge my opponent’s money to equal that record of service.”
...

Mr. Romney’s recent foray into foreign policy may have hurt him in a new poll, in which a majority of likely voters agreed with the statement, “Mitt Romney is starting to make his trip to the London Olympics look like the pinnacle of modern diplomacy.”

An official statement from the Romney campaign did not refer to his latest comments, but indicated that between now and the election Mr. Romney’s schedule would deëmphasize events where he might be called upon to open his mouth.

Nah, let 'er buck. :-)

Note to President Obama

So, Barry ... I heard you say that you're not sure if Egypt is our ally, new government and all. I also heard that the demonstrations at our embassy were fomented by a radical right-wing fundamentalist element that wants President Morsi to fail. I think you and he have more in common than you might think. Call him.

Headlines of the Day

Romney's Incendiary Response to US Embassy Deaths in Libya Proves Him Incapable of Being Commander in Chief

We knew that.

Romney Hooks Himself Off the Stage

In every campaign, there's a moment you know it's all over. [...]

When You Learn They’re Not Ready

“Bungle… utter disaster…not ready for prime time… not presidential… Lehman moment.” And that's just the Republicans.

This shit's all over TV and the interwebs. Rmoney done waffle-stomped his pecker for fair this time. Good. Folks might start to see what an insufferable arrogant prick he really is.

Related Update:

‘It Makes Me Sick’: Actress in Muhammed Movie Says She Was Deceived, Had No Idea It Was About Islam

God the insufferable jerk

If it's Wednesday, it's Morford taking on the Repug invisible sky wizard.

I am delighted to report God still appears to be a bit of an unbearable twit.

Petulant. Uptight. Whiny as a third-grader with recurring lice. How do we know? Because, against all deeper understanding and without a single care that He’s not the slightest bit real in the literal sense, the Almighty still insists on keeping score, observing your every move, measuring your capacity to hate others who do not agree with your narrow view of life, or love, or America.

It’s true. If all reports for the past week – and the past handful of incoherent centuries – are to be believed, God does nothing but laze about the couch with a golden iPad, tracking how many times He’s mentioned on television, who won the Packers game, how often you watch porn or say something nice to a gay person, and who commits more acts of guilt-addled fear in his glorious name.

Oh, and love. There’s love in there somewhere. Maybe. Unless you’re a liberal. Or Muslim. Or gay. Then you’re on your own.

It’s a little tricky to unpack, but sometimes it must be acknowledged: There exists in the American mythos this fragile, long-abused idea that when you buy a gun, or a beer, or a Chinese-made pair of Levi’s using a piece of tattered green paper with the word “God” on it, that it actually means something, that underneath it all there’s this tiny, microscopic hint of divine glue holding it all together, somehow....

Or maybe not. Maybe it’s not all that sweet after all. Maybe it’s one of the sadder, more debilitating aspects of the modern American condition, given how it’s no secret that organized religion, conservative politicians, marketers and megacorps alike love nothing more than to prey upon the poor and the less educated, anyone desperate for structure and divine meaning, but not quite willing or able to figure it out for themselves.

Don't worry. Pat Robertson and his ilk will tell you what you need to know. God only talks to charlatans with radio shows and keep those checks coming, folks.

The "October Surprise"?

WaPo

Netanyahu: Without ultimatum, U.S. has no ‘moral right’ to stop Israel from attacking Iran

I think Secretary Clinton and President Obama have their work cut out for them to stop Bibi from attacking Iran in order to influence our election in an attempt to restore Romney's neocons to the seat of power.

If I were Emperor (EOTUS) I would support Israel. If they were the agressors, I would support them from afar, and verrrrry slowly in any military way. Slow enough, in fact, that they would do better if we sent FEMA instead of military assistance. If they start it, let them fight it.

The GOP Throws a Tampa Tantrum

Funny, in a Repugpathetic sorta way. Via BuzzFlash:

Notable quote:

"That Clinton - he talks to people like they're allowed to know something!"

Campaignful: Episode 2 - That Stupid DNC Is So Stupid

The Neocons and 9/11

Robert Parry with a "recommended read" that will piss you off. Again.

The emerging history of 9/11 reveals that President George W. Bush’s failure to protect the nation resulted from neocon insistence that Iraq was the real threat, not al-Qaeda. The political relevance today is that the neocons want back into power under a Mitt Romney presidency, writes Robert Parry.

So, when the Aug. 6 PDB arrived, it already had a troubling context, mounting evidence that al-Qaeda had placed a team of terrorists inside the United States with plans for a dramatic attack on American soil. Yet, Bush brushed aside the Aug. 6 warning while vacationing at his Texas ranch and literally went fishing. Why?

Eichenwald writes that Bush’s nonchalance could be traced to the success of neocon advisers in convincing the President that the warning was “just bluster.” The neocons have never been known to be humble in their assessment of their own intellectual prowess and that self-certainty apparently swayed Bush.

According to Eichenwald, “An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat.

“Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day. In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real.”

The Bush administration was soon on course to launch not only an invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, but Iraq as well. The neocons also revived their dreams about using Iraq as a launching pad for additional “regime change” in Syria and Iran. In the short term, the 9/11 disaster worked out so well for the neocons that some cynics began to suspect that the neocons had secretly wished for the attack all along.

Here's a little "truther" version. Not my conspiracy theory, but I'll use it to illustrate Mr. Parry's point:

9/11 didn't quite turn out the way Dick Cheney and the PNACer's thought it would, did it?
...

The neocons got the new Pearl Harbor that they so longed for [...]

The silver lining:

To add insult to injury, the GOP will be out of power for decades to come.

The "insult" was the neocons getting power in the first place. "The GOP will be out of power for decades to come" sounds like a blessing to me. It was NOT "worth it".

9/11 changed this country forever and not in a good way. You know the details.

The smart neocon bet was soon placed on Mitt Romney, who like Bush was a relative neophyte on foreign policy. The smooth-talking neocons quickly earned a place of trust in the Romney camp. The former Massachusetts government largely delegated to the neocons the job of writing his foreign policy white paper, “An American Century.”

Neocons should be shot on sight in my opinion. I think the phrase applied to The Holocaust is appropriate: Never Again must they be allowed to take over the White House and the nation.

Dubya's Ghost

The Daily Beast

Why Dubya will decide the winner this fall.
...

The conventions are over, but the individual who will determine the 2012 election didn’t attend either of them. His name is George W. Bush.
...

One day, a Republican presidential candidate will exorcise Bush’s ghost. But most likely, he or she will do so by bluntly telling Americans where Bush’s presidency went wrong, and how their presidency will be different. Until that happens, George W. Bush will be present at every Republican and Democratic convention for years to come, whether anyone invites him or not.

Short of displaying Dim Son's head on a pike and giving back all the money they let Wall St. steal, which is all the money, the Repugs are toast for a while. Good. Maybe they'll come to their senses and get a viable candidate for '24 after Obama's second term and Hillary's two terms, but I doubt it.

Normally I don't care much for Peter Beinart, who wrote the piece, because he's a little too militantly pro-Israel, but I hope for once he's right.

Video Emerges of Biden Biker Bar Visit

Joe is apparently going after a different 1%. I hope he didn't get to hear that old biker saying, "Look out! It's another drunk broad with a gun!". Heh.

TPM

That Biden photo everyone is talking about was apparently an attempt to recreate this classic scene from movie history.

Actually if you haven’t seen this immortal movie, watch this longer clip for the full context of the scene …

I'm waiting to see Joe's new cut - "Sons of a Second Term". No fear - he'll go from prospect to patchholder in November.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

TORNADOS TOUCH DOWN IN NEW YORK CITY
Pat Robertson says God angry about ban on oversized soft drinks.

Report: U.S. Healthcare System Wastes $750 Billion a Year
Money that could be spent on advanced weapons systems.

Iran, North Korea Agree to Cooperate in Science, Technology
Israel, South Korea do lunch.

Campaign Ad Onslaught Begins
At least $500 million will be spent to sway a handful of airheads living in Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire.

The onslaught has begun in Northern Nevada as well. The Repugs are trying desperately to lock up the Basque sheepherder vote.

Now at Fixer & Gordon

Burning Man Rat Rod

Don't miss this one!