XML Feeds
Archives for: August 2008
Will they make the delegates sleep in the Dome?
Will they give 'em water?
Gustav
This page (barring technical difficulties) will have the latest public release from the National Hurricane Center on what they think Gustav is up to:
It should be updated several times a day.
More GOP "brilliance" .
McPOW thinks it might be a good idea to deliver his acceptance speech from the disaster zone that results from Gustav.
"McCain made plans to travel to a threatened area of the Gulf Coast on Sunday, accompanied by his wife, Cindy, and running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. They planned to meet Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) in Jackson, Miss., aides said.
McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.
At the start of his remarks at a rally in Washington, Pa., on Saturday night, McCain said: "I would like all of us, obviously, to keep in our thoughts and our prayers the people of the Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans, that are threatened by this terrible natural disaster, the hurricane. They need to know — and I know that they know — that they are in our hearts and prayers as this impending hurricane approaches.
“The great God, that he could spare — at a minimum — the loss that might result from this natural disaster. So my friends, as we enjoy this great rally, we will keep them in our thoughts and our hearts and our prayers"
Whit is WRONG with these people?
Bush mass for shut ins for 08-31-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Vice Presidential Selection.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL SELECTION CELEBRATION
Today we celebrate John the Blesseds selection for vice president, Sarah the Pure. She is a good holy woman gives birth, shoots guns, and believes man and tyrannasaurus rex skipped through the jungle together eating oranges.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
Rubber Ducky, you're the one.
You make bath time lots of fun
Rubber Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you.
Rubber Ducky, joys of joys
When I squeak you, you make noise
Rubber Ducky, you're my very best friend, it's true!
Everyday when I make my way to the tubby
I find a little fella who' cute, yellow, and chubby.
(rub-a-dub-a-dubby)
Rubber Ducky you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you.
Everyday when I make my way to the tubby
I find a little fella who's cute, yellow, and chubby.
(rub-a-dub-a-dubby)
Rubber Ducky, you're so fine
And I'm glad that you're mine
Rubber Ducky I'm awfully fond of...
Rubber Ducky I'd like a whole pond of . . .
Rubber Ducky I'm awfully fond of you.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Lord God Bush looked down upon the people and spoke. `All those who say Sarah the Pure is a vindictive corrupt woman who poses nude hate America'.
What is it that the Profit Cheney is trying to teach us? It is that all those who say Sarah the Pure is a vindictive corrupt woman who poses nude hate America. This the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
VPILF ?
Believe it or not , THIS is a pro Palin site.
Looks like if the VP thing doesn't work out , she has a future as a right wing porn star.
Sarah Palin on Foreign Policy
Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He ‘Thinks Senator Obama’s Going To Win’
From ThinkProgress:
On Fox News Sunday this morning, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said that President Bush is more likely to attack Iran if he believes Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is going to be elected.
However, “if the president thought John McCain was going to be the next president, he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out,” Kristol said, reinforcing the fact that McCain is offering a third Bush term on Iran.
“I do wonder with Senator Obama, if President Bush thinks Senator Obama’s going to win, does he somehow think — does he worry that Obama won’t follow through on that policy,” Kristol added. Host Chris Wallace then asked if Kristol was suggesting that Bush might “launch a military strike” before or after the election:
Gustav and Hanna
Gustav will probably land somewhere near and looks like it will definitely hit as a hurricane -- probably greater than cat 1 -- and Hanna's most likely path will bring into the Gulf about a week after Hanna. I just wanted to reassure you guys ahead of time that these are storms with significant potential -- so I am watching them and have already planned for leaviing should they eventually seem to be headed here.
So -- don't give it any thought. If they hit -- my children and I will be having fun on an unplanned vacation -- elsewhere. And on the bright side -- since I don't prioritize taking trips -- hurricane evacuations are the only time I go on extended trips that don't involve hospitals. And rest assured -- I won't be worried about the material things I left behind until and unless I get back and find that I must. So -- don't you spend any unnecessary time thinking about it -- either.
I need the computer to work -- so it comes with. I can't afford to replace all those game systems and games -- so they come with. And the photos and important documents come with -- also. Everything else is easily replaced and not deserving of the physical and emotional cost of worry. So -- if they hit -- we'll be fine somewhere else. And if we come home to destruction -- we'll have an excuse to get a house full of new stuff! (I'm so good at reassuring myself and the kids -- I swear -- sometimes they look like they wish it would hit us!)
Obama's speech seen by 38 million viewers
From Yahoo:
NEW YORK - Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was seen by more than 38 million people.
Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol" or the Academy Awards this year. Obama talked before a live audience of 80,000 people in Denver.
His TV audience nearly doubled the amount of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush four years ago. Kerry's speech was seen by just over 20 million people.
Obama's audience might be higher, since Nielsen didn't have an estimate for how many people watched Obama on PBS or C-SPAN Thursday night.
Methinks the republics just had a big accident in their drawers.
Problem Solved
His one has to be seen to be believed. McCain't has a health care plan:
(more at the link)
But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)
"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."
He has a point
Putin claims Georgian crisis is US ploy as Russia's isolation grows
The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, claimed today the Caucasus crisis was started by the Americans as an election campaign ploy.
As Russia found itself increasingly isolated internationally because of its invasion of Georgia and its decision to recognise two breakaway regions of Georgia as independent states, Putin suggested the Georgia war had been cooked up in Washington to create a neo-cold war climate that would strengthen John McCain's bid for the White House and wreck the prospects of Barack Obama.
History Making Day
Dems choose Obama in thunderous acclamation
DENVER - Barack Obama swept to the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday night, a transforming triumph that made him the first black American to lead a major party into the fall campaign for the White House. Thousands of national convention delegates stood and cheered as they made history.
Former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton asked Democrats in the convention hall to make their verdict unanimous "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory." And they did, with a roar.
Competing chants of "Obama" and "Yes we can" surged up from the convention floor as the outcome of a carefully scripted roll call of the states was announced.
Obama, a 47-year-old Illinois senator, was across town as the party handed him its top prize — a ticket into the general election campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain. He was expected to briefly visit the Pepsi Center later in the evening to thank the delegates.
His formal acceptance speech Thursday night was expected to draw a crowd of 75,000 at the nearby football stadium where an elaborate backdrop was under construction.
____________________________________________
I don't think that there is anything more I need to add.
Hillary to Base: Grow Up
p.m. carpenter comments on Marie Cocco's commenting on Hillary's speech last night. As usual, in my humble opinion, carpenter is good.
Hillary Clinton's presentation last night may have been a tour de force of manufactured enthusiasm, but I'll give her credit for coming around to comprehending that her political future is now hinged to Barack Obama's. Should he go down in November, Hillary is cooked because she'll get the blame, and it would seem she (finally) knows that.
As for last night being Hillary's first test for a future presidential run? Well, as the quite unhappy syndicated columnist Marie Cocco predicted yesterday, "Clinton can't win tonight. But then, she knows that" -- too.
Kids well prepared for the real world
"Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.
Bush mass for shut ins for 08-24-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Corruption.
CORRUPTION CELEBRATION
Corruption is a good holy thing when it is engaged in by holy republicans. Like how Lord God Bushs Uncle Bucky cashed in on the Holy Oil War 2. There is nothing wrong with corruption as long as the good and holy republicans engage in it.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away;
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air.
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about
I’ve looked over jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.
What do you get for pretending the danger’s not real.
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
No, this is no bad dream.
The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives he releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, he hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water.
Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you’re told.
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Lord God Bush looked down upon the people and spoke. `All those who have faith in me will accept and cheer the holy corruption I and the holy republican party engage in. All those who dont hate America and everything it stands for.` And the people obeyed him and soon recieved a holy sheering.
What is it that the Profit Cheney is trying to teach us? It is that we must always accept what Lord God Bush does and never ever question his holy actions or we will not recieve our holy sheering. This the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Old Olympic Swmmer Spitz Pissed
Seems that some people can really carry a grudge, and it's worse when an old faltering ego is bruised. This is from the August 22-29 issue of 'The Week':
Swimming legend Mark Spitz is outraged that he wasn't invited to attend the Beijing Olympics, and he refused to buy his own tickets. "I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously?" he said. "That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost --- it is." Spitz added that he would have won the eight medals Phelps is shooting for if the Games had included all the same events when he competed in 1972.
1972 was so long ago...guess he thought his record seven gold medals would always be a record and with that, Ol' Mark Spitz would live forever. Must be sad to believe that one's ego could be shattered ... for the whole world to see.
Just another example of how much we've changed. Very little of personal pride in the country. Everything is becoming more about me and my ego. Poor old Spitz.
It's Biden
DLC pro-war, pro Big Biz, pro lobbyist, DINO Biden.
Change we can believe in, hell yeah! Sheesh.
These folks don't like him, that's for sure.
...........
That's the last vacation I take. Disconnect for a week and look what happens!
McCain Bringing Back the Draft?
From Thinkprogress:
Today at a townhall meeting, an audience member praised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his vow to “follow bin Laden to the gates of hell.” After a long question about veterans’ care, the questioner said she believed we needed to reinstate the draft, to which McCain seemed to readily agree:
QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.
[Appaluse]
MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.
Odd.....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ idUSN1927197620080820
If they said he was leading on security matters I could understand it. The economy???
They laughed, thank goodness
John Brummett writes about Bill Gwatney's funeral. Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was gunned down at party headquarters last week by a disgruntled wingnut. I don't know if the shooter listened to right wing demagogues or not (the perp was killed by the police in the ensuing chase), but the incessant call to kill Democrats and liberals by the Limbutt, Coulter, and the like should stop. Now.
People that criticize Little Boots and Rove get jailed or put on No Fly lists, for crying out loud.
Rev. Vic Nixon introduced Gov. Mike Beebe as Mike Huckabee. The preacher was so horrified that he had to cover his face. It was no matter. It gave Beebe the opportunity to quip. He responded in kind by calling Rev. Nixon, an eminent Methodist minister, "monsignor." Beebe reminded that he wasn't the one on a diet.
It permitted Bill Clinton, who spoke next, to joke that he was certainly glad Rev. Nixon hadn't introduced him as President Bush.
Oops
We were talking about Karl Marx and I quoted that famous "Religion is the opiate of the people" saying of his.
It doesn't translate well into Lao, and I probably won't repeat it.
Ukraine says it reserves right to bar Russian navy
Ukraine says it reserves right to bar Russian navy
Sun Aug 10, 6:26 AM ET
KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine warned Russia on Sunday it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said the deployment of a Russian naval squadron to Georgia's Black sea coast has the potential of drawing Ukraine into the conflict.
"In order to prevent the circumstances in which Ukraine could be drawn into a military conflict ... Ukraine reserves the right to bar ships which may take part in these actions from returning to the Ukrainian territory until the conflict is solved," said the statement which was posted on the ministry's Web site.
Both Ukraine and Georgia have sought to free themselves of Russia's influence, integrate into the West and join NATO.
The statement reflected a strong Ukrainian support for Georgia and is certain to anger Moscow, further straining Russian-Ukrainian relations.
Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Sunday he was aware of the statement, but added that the Russian government must analyze it before making comment.
"It makes a third party involved, and it's quite unexpected," Nogovitsyn said said at a news conference.
A 1997 agreement between Russia and Ukraine lets the Black Sea Fleet remain in Sevastopol through 2017, but Ukrainian officials have said they want it out after that. The issue adds to emotions over Crimea, which was part of the Russian Federation but ceded to Ukraine during the Soviet era and became part of the independent Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Ukraine offers missile defence cooperation to NATO
Saturday 16 August 2008
AFP
Ukraine is prepared to open its missile defence network to cooperation with European and other foreign powers, the ex-Soviet republic's foreign ministry said Saturday.
The ministry said that the demise of a bilateral Russian-Ukrainian defence agreement earlier this year "allows Ukraine to establish active cooperation with European countries."
The offer came amid tensions between Kiev and Moscow over Russia's invasion of parts of neighbouring Georgia, a close ally of Ukraine that also borders Russia.
The offer also followed Poland's finalising of an agreement to host elements of a US missile defence shield which Moscow describes as a threat to its national security.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said Kiev could invite European partners to integrate their early warning systems against missile attacks.
Ukraine is also ready to deal with "foreign countries interested in getting information about the situation in space," the ministry's statement said.
Bush mass for shut ins for 08-17-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate mud throwing.
MUD THROWING CELEBRATION
Mud throwing is a good holy thing republicans do to get their message across. If enough mud is thrown, the evil liberal opponent looks so bad they lose.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
I was takin a trip out to L.A.
Toolin along in my cheverolet
Tokin on a number and diggin on the radio
Just as I crossed the Mississippi line
I heard that highway start to whine
And I knew that left rear tire was about to blow
Well the spare was flat and I got uptight
Cause there wasn't a filling station in sight
So I just limped on down the shoulder on the rim
I went as far as I could and when I stopped the car
It was right in front of this little bar
Kind of a red-neck lookin joint called the Dew Drop Inn
I stuffed my hair up under my hat
And told the bartender that I had a flat
And ywould he be kind enough to give me change for a one
There was one thing I was sure proud to see
There wasn't a soul in the place except for him and me
He just looked disgusted and pointed toward the telephone
I called up the station down the road a ways
He said he wasn't very busy today
And he could have somone out there in just about 10 minutes or so
He said," Now, you just stay right where yer at!"
And I didn't bother to tell the darn fool
That I sure as hell didn't have anyplace else to go
I just ordered up a beer and sat down at the bar
When some guy walked in and said, "Who owns this car
With the peace sign, the mag wheels and the four on the floor?"
He looked at me and I damn near died
And I decided that I'd just wait outside
So I laid a dollar on the bar and headed for the door
Just when I thought I'd get outta there with my skin
These 5 big dudes come strollin in
With one old drunk chick and some fella with green teeth
I was almost to the door when the biggest one
Said, "You tip your hat to this lady, son!"
And when I did, all that hair fell out from underneath
Now the last thing I wanted was to get into a fight
In Jackson Mississippi on a Saturday night
Especially when there was three of them and only one of me
They all started laughin and I felt kinda sick
And I knew I better think of something pretty quick
So I just reached out and kicked old green teeth right in the knee
Now he let out a yell that'd curl yer hair
But before he could move I grabbed me a chair
And said "Now watch him Folks cause he's a thoroughly dangerous man!"
"You may not know it but this man is a spy.
He's a undercover agent for the FBI
And he's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan!"
He was still bent over holdin on to his knee
But everybody else was looking and listening to me
And I laid it on thicker and heavier as I went
I said, "Would you believe this man has gone as far
As tearing Wallace stickers off the bumpers of cars.
And he voted for George McGovern for President."
"Well, he's a friend of them long haired, hippy-type, pinko fags!
I betchya he's even got a commie flag
tacked up on the wall inside of his garage."
"He's a snake in the grass, I tell ya guys.
He may look dumb but that's just a disguise,
He's a mastermind in the ways of espionage"
They all started lookin real suspicious at him
And he jumped up and said "Now just wait a minute Jim!
You know he's lying I been living here all of my life!"
"I'm a faithful follower of Brother John Birch
And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church.
And I aint even got a garage, you can call home and ask my wife!"
Then he started saying somethin bout the way I was dressed
But I didn't wait around to hear the rest
I was too busy moving and hoping I didn't run outta luck
When I hit the ground I was making tracks
And they were just taking my car down off the jacks
So I threw the man a twenty and jumped in and fired that mother up
Mario Andretti wouldda sure been proud
Of the way I was movin when I passed that crowd
Coming out the door and headed toward me at a trot
And I guess I should of gone ahead and run
But somehow I just couldn't resist the fun
Of chasing them all just once around the parking lot
Well they headed for their car, but i hit the gas
And spun around and headed them off at the pass
I was slinging gravel and putting a ton of dust in the air
I had them all out there steppin and fetchin
Like their heads was on fire and their asses was catchin
then I figgered I had better go ahead and split before the cops got there
When I hit the road I was really wheelin
Had gravel flyin and rubber squeelin
And I didn't slow down till I was almost to Arkansas
I think I'm gonna reroute my trip
I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped
If I went to L.A., via Omaha
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
And George the Blessed smirked down upon the people and said, "The liberal candidate is a space alien who eats Christians sent here to take away our freedoms. Anyone who votes for them hates America".
What is it that the Profit Cheney is trying to teach us? It is that the liberal candidate is a space alien who eats Christians sent here to take away our freedoms. Anyone who votes for them hates America. It may not be true but its good enough not to vote for them. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Vacation
I've spent 3 weeks of my yearly 4 week vacations on moonlighting. But next week I'm taking a trip to Mallorca for 8 days of debauchery (I hope).
I don't know if I can post or not (Timbuk's seen the motorcycle pics of my companion), so have fun folks.
And for the Fl. posters, best of luck with the storms.
The New Iron Curtain Under Construction
US, Poland agree to missile defense deal
By VANESSA GERA and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland and the United States reached an agreement Thursday that will see a battery of American missiles established inside Poland, a plan that has infuriated Russia and raised the specter of an escalation of tension with the region's communist-era master.
The deal, which was to be signed later Thursday in Warsaw by Poland and the United States, includes what Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a "mutual commitment" between the two nations -- beyond that of NATO -- to come to each other's assistance in case of danger.
That was an obvious reference to the force and ferocity with which Russia rolled into Georgia in recent days, taking the key city of Gori and apparently burning and destroying Georgian military outposts and airfields.
Tusk said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be too slow in coming to Poland's defense if Poland were threatened and that the bloc would take "days, weeks to start that machinery."
"Poland and the Poles do not want to be in alliances in which assistance comes at some point later -- it is no good when assistance comes to dead people. Poland wants to be in alliances where assistance comes in the very first hours of -- knock on wood -- any possible conflict," Tusk said.
"This is a step toward real security for Poland in the future," he added.
http://ap.google.com/article/ ALeqM5hdNtXPW9- 1UZEmhgLC5VZ3dDa25wD92I7FKG1
The United States of Arbusto
The WASP section and its followers, Moral Majority, are in a decline due mostly to immigration and a bleeding away to the Mega Churches that promote Love and Prosperity. The die-hard Dobson groups remain with their many off-shoots of anti abortion and teaching creationism in public schools, among other Christian based conflicts with the secular world. This results in a changing political dynamic. We are heading quickly into a Latino population/political base.
The basic WASP and white citizen/voter is an angry crew. The cost of gasoline is the lead bitch, but taxes, health care and the realization of the phoniness of almost all things political grind in their gut. The almost tie in polling data between Obama and McCain shows how split the public is. And, as ususal, the typical voter will vote against their own best interest over some trivial matter such as a hair style, or he looks like he’d make a good prez.
The Powers That Be –TPTB – after seeing the the revolts and demonstrations of the 60s and 70s for equal rights, civil rights, anti war, women’s rights were threatened by this uprising of the population for ‘redress of grievances’, one of those pesky rights of the Constitution. From their eyes, it was a population of citizens rocking the status quo Ship of State. A form of mutiny. So, we got Disco, snowmobiles, jet skis and a myriad of other distractions to keep us preoccupied and far too busy with our own little world of distractions. Drug laws, sponsored by Big Pharma, kept us from expanding our minds – or just seeking some relief from the daily grind. That contributes to an enforced numbing of the mind – a control of thought, the state interceded in the thought process of the population. Then came along the vast array of psycho tropic anti depressants, Ritalin for the kids and a vast array of medications, like in The Brave New World, some form of Soma to keep a large segment of the people drugged up and zoned out.
Now, we are living through that famed reagan revolution — the assault and destruction of the middle class and below. Deregulation and union busting were the main weapons; along with tax cuts for the top 10% the divine plan was to starve the government. As they like to say, and it has come to pass, to shrink government t a point where it could be drown in a bath tub. They have taken the “We, the people” from the Constitution and replaced it with ‘Us Corporations’.And since those factions own the press, especially TV, the public is given shit to feed their brains. Mixed in with all that feces is a plan to disrupt and confuse the American mind. We are at odds with each other on so many topic and issues we will never see mass demonstrations to protect our rights or to end an illegitimate ‘war on terror’.
We, or most of us, have become so complacent and confused to ever raise up to petition for our grievances. For the most part, those are about high gas costs and how Apple will sell their phone for $600 one week, then knock the price down a few weeks later to $300 —(or something like that. We are a country divided. The people have been sold a line of crap and they’ve snorted, ate or rolled in it believing those propaganda lies as truth. Rush limbones just got a $400Mil contract for his ‘service to the cause’. According to Harper’s magazine there were 1,229 minutes of news coverage about the war in Iraq between January to June last year; this year, during the same time frame there were 300 minutes. Harper’s again reports that 35% of Brits and 34% of Canadians think the USA is a force of evil.
We are falling apart at the seams and there is nothing that can be done to save the country. We will need another civil war and have our own Taniman Square revolt.
Today is yesterday
The Great Game, a sideshow of Metternichian, Bismarkian and Kissingeresque/CFR "realpolitik", is still played today.
Short-sighted and navel-searching diplomats and politicos do not learn their lessons, the electorates less so, and the story is played time and time again.
FWIW, not even Alexander the Great has been capable of making sense and peace in Afghanistan. Timour, Genghis and a hundred others have never gone beyond transient success.
And now, 2300 years after Alexander, McSame and Obama want to try where everyone else has always failed.
Ho hum.
Gawd
A section of the world press, particularly the British and that of Chicago, are in an uproar over the Spanish basketball team because of a photo where the team puts on "oriental eyes".
They're calling it racist.
I live in Spain and I can say that for a country with 10%+ of an immigrant population and yearly tourists that outnumber the natives AND immigrants, Spain is perhaps the least racist country I know.
The exception to the rule are the gypsies, who themselves could be considered racists (they prohibit their women from marrying outside the romani race).
What is at issue here is "political correctness". Spain recognizes that people are different - but they don't discriminate on the basis of these differences. They call blacks... god forbid... blacks. And when asked to pose "cutely", they can't conceive of the idea that putting on "oriental eyes" is an insult. It's a fact - orientals have slanted eyes, it doesn't make them superior or inferior.
Spain doesn't have the baggage that countries like the UK and US have. There have been no lynchings, no segregation here - and Spain's national sins are centuries old and mostly can be attributed to the catholic church or the values of the middle ages. The UK, on the other hand, points to a picture or a misinterpreted comment by a coach while forgetting about Brixton or their recent imperial past.
The Chicago press, of course, sees this epìsode as an opportunity since Chicago and Madrid are competing for a future olympic berth.
Well, screw pc as I've been known to say. If a man is a bastard and he's blue I have no problem with saying "damned blue bastard" and I am not alluding to the rest of the blue people out there. If he was tall as opposed to blue, I'd say "damned tall blastard" and wouldnt think that I was insulting all tall people around.
So what is it with this goddam political correctness?
One Man
I've posted this several times because it just blows me away, but with the Olympics going on I couldn't resist posting it again.
One man.
A column of tanks.
Who would you bet on?
This post wasn't meant to be about China. 1989 was a long time ago. The Olympic opening ceremonies were fantastic. By all accounts the Chines have gone out of their way to make visitors comfortable.
But where the fuck are the Americans with this kind of cojones?
"Impeachment is off the table" my ass!
Private medical model
The current "health care system" in the US is basically private. Even those semi-socialized and selective programs such as Medicaid and Medicare merely funnel gubmint money to private suppliers - and is grossly overcharged for their efforts.
The model pushed by the Dems is a mega-expansion of this inefficient, corrupt and over-expensivve model.
Corrupt? Look up City of Angels Medical Center, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center and Tustin Hospital Medical Center in the news. It was front-page news in Spain (over here we're always entertained by the strangeness of aspects of US society), it doesn't appear to be so over there, but
The government alleges that runners working for Metropolitan Healthcare would approach homeless people with Medicare or Medi-Cal benefits. Authorities allege that they were promised up to $30 in exchange for visiting a downtown Los Angeles clinic. The recruits were given a fabricated diagnosis without a doctor's exam, and the form and the patients were then sent to one of the hospitals, the complaint says.
According to the city attorney's office, the 177-bed Tustin Hospital was promised up to 50 patients per month. Recruits were often admitted to the hospitals based only on those forms. The patients typically stayed for a day or two before they were sent back to Skid Row. The hospitals, doctors and ambulances would then bill Medicare or Medi-Cal.
The city attorney's office alleges the defendants received millions in payments. The action seeks to stop the hospitals from recruiting patients, a court order requiring full compliance with state and federal law, and civil penalties.
Loony Fringe
stumbled across this today:
"Beware of flags with gold fringes
Our nation has but one flag that is described and specified by law (Title 4). But, today we have two flags that are being displayed in our country. One is the familiar red, white and blue. The other one, deceptively, looks like our nation's lawful flag, but it has a gold fringe border.
Recently, this gold-fringed flag has been appearing on TV and is now displayed in courts, schools and churches in our country and some other public buildings.
Why is it replacing our national flag in these buildings? What does the gold fringe indicate?
A gold-fringe border on a flag is a military flag, reserved to Army general's for use in military headquarters and to display at court martials. It notifies viewers that the area is displayed is occupied by a military force.
When a gold-fringed military flag is displayed in a courtroom, it indicates, without being announced in any other way, that court (military tribunal) is enforcing military rule and is not really operating under constitutional due process of law.
The gold-fringe flag now widely displayed in courts, churches and , schools is not the flag of our continental United States of America. It silently signifies our 50 States are no longer sovereign republics, but that we are under martial rule without awareness of most Americans!
Has the federal government, which was created by the states to be our servant, covertly conquered and become our master without we the people being informed? As the gold-fringed flag indicates, it appears that our nation is quietly being converted into a military dictatorship. Is that why we are being gradually disarmed with anti-gun laws?
If so, is it not high time that we 250-plus million Americans wake up, stand up and speak up before it is too late? Think about it."
The above was an urban legend that kicked-around at least as far back as 1993, the heyday of militias and the "Republic of Texas" and fearing Janet Reno.
Technically, it's a load of hooey. But it rings true-enough to give goosebumps.
One thing about the Bush Jr. gang is that they came to power not only as bastards like Rove and Cheney, who would cynically capitalize on old-wives-tales and ghost stories
like the fringe opinion on fringes...
but also the bastards were in coalition with true-believer RUBES like Ashcroft with
his superstitions about calico kitties and nude statues and vegetable oil anointments...
Bush himself being both a believe-anything rube and a wannabe bastard.
Did you see the LA Times story about what a new-age froot loop Edwards' mistriss is?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-miller10-2008aug10,0,4015084.story
There's another similar newswire story where she denounces Elizabeth Edwards' "bad energy".
I admit that I initially searched for a photo of Rielle Hunter to see how she looked.
To pass judgement on Edwards' taste. Would she be another Monica Lewinsky?
But these reports on her mumbo-jumbo personality put her more in a league with Ashcroft and Bush: soft-head/running-mouth.
In am odd way, I don't have a problem with Edward's pick. There's a proper place for EZ-thinkers.
They -should- be in charge of astrology and blowjobs. Not wars and healthcare.
But it's nuts to give them a microphone and expect any substance to their views on the wife of the
man they sucked off; or their views on, for example, Terry Shiavo.
Bush grim about Russian bombings
"The violence is endangering regional peace, civilian lives have been lost and others are endangered. We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to the Russian bombings," a grim Bush told reporters. He did not take any questions.
Bush mass for shut ins for 08-10-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate repeating.
REPEATING CELEBRATION
Repeating is a good holy thing republicans do to get their message across. If the message is repeated ften enough the sheep obey and believe the message
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
George, george, george, george, george, george, george, george, george.
There's nothing he's says he can do that can't be done.
Nothing you he's says he sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy.
There's nothing he's says he can make that can't be made.
No one he's says he can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time It's easy.
All you need is george, all you need is george, All you need is george, george, george is all you need.
George, george, george, george, george, george, george, george, george.
All you need is george, all you need is george, All you need is george, george, george is all you need.
There's nothing he's says he can know that isn't known.
Nothing he's says he can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere he's says he can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy.
All you need is george, all you need is george, All you need is george, george, george is all you need.
All you need is george(all together now) All you need is george(everybody) All you need is george, george, george is all you need.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
What is it that the Profit Cheney is trying to teach us? It is that Saddam and Al Quada have a link. There is a link there. Its just common sense to believe it.
This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Caption Contest!
I guess Laura Bush wasn't invited to this photo op?
(Actually, I'm sure it was all innocent -- but it's still funny.)
Dubya to adopt...
...Obama's Pakistan policy?
Oh the irony. For me, whomever wins the election means that I lose.
Perhaps one side's victory will mean I lose a little more, but the other's victory (unfortunately) merely means that the inevitable will take a little longer.
Sigh.
Get this
Russia and Georgia (the country, not the peanut-growing state) are on the verge of war. The UNSC was going to make a statement, but...
"At the request of Russia, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session in New York but failed to reach consensus early Friday on a Russian-drafted statement.
The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the United States, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force," council diplomats said."
So now the US and its puppets reject sentences that are at the very core of the UN Charter? Is this the Afghanistan/Iraq syndrome (I won't call it a doctrine) in action? What on earth is wrong about asking for two quarrelling countries to renounce the use of force?
How low we've fallen.
Hard to Believe
While Little Boots is over in China criticizing the Chinese for violating human rights, he reminds us that he's not bad at the violation of same hisself.
Remember the infamous ovens and boxes in the Japanese POW camps? Seems we've taken to using them in Iraq...
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military is segregating violent Iraqi prisoners in wooden crates that in some cases are not much bigger than the prisoners.
The military released photos of what it calls the "segregation boxes" used in Iraq.
Three grainy black-and-white photos show the rudimentary structures of wood and mesh. Some of the boxes are as small as 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 feet tall, according to military officials, although they did not release a picture of a box that size.
Earth is as cool as Mars
Something actually pretty cool, from the Duluth News Tribune. About a guy from Duluth, even, Professor Goodge (sic).
Here's the teaser that might make you want to read the entire article:
“Ninety-eight percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, and we can’t really see the geology,” Goodge said. “However, the ice dredges material up that we can work with.”
...............................
“It was pretty easy to spot anything that didn’t belong,” Goodge said.
One thing that didn’t belong was a rock the size of a small watermelon. It was coarse-grained granite, pinkish red-gray in color and containing large feldspar crystals.
“It stood out, but I had no idea it would give us the results it did,” Goodge said.
Subsequent tests revealed that the rock was the same age — 1.4 billion years — and had the same chemical, textural, mineral and isotopic characteristics as a belt of rocks in North America stretching between California and Newfoundland. The findings, the team argues, confirms that the Southwestern United States and East Antarctica were once joined — an idea called the SWEAT hypothesis. Under the hypothesis, parts of Antarctica and America were connected more than 1.4 billion years ago. About 1.1 billion years ago they joined other land masses to form Rodinia — the earliest known supercontinent. Some researchers believe that between 600 million to 800 million years ago a portion of Rodinia broke away from what is now the southwestern United States, drifting south to become eastern Antarctica and Australia.
Nukes
From a Palast email:
I’m guessing it was excessive exposure to either radiation or George Bush, but Senator John McCain’s comments from inside a nuclear power plant in Michigan are so cracked-brained that I fear some loose gamma rays are doing to McCain’s gray matter what they did to Homer Simpson’s.
On Tuesday, the presumptive Republican candidate descended into the colon of a nuke to declare we need to build 45 new nuclear plants - that this is the way out of our energy crisis. Nuclear power, declared the senator, is a “safe, efficient [and] inexpensive” alternative to oil.
Really? We can argue all day about whether nuclear plants are safe (they aren’t –period). But there can be no argument whatsoever that these giant radioactive tea-kettles are breathtakingly expensive.
Nuclear plants are cheap until you actually try to build one. Not one of the last 49 nuclear plants cost less than $2 billion apiece. I’m looking down the road at the remainders of the Shoreham nuclear plant which took nearly 20 years to build at a cost of $8 billion – or close to $7,000 per customer it was supposed to supply. When I say “supposed to,” it was closed for safety reasons after operating just one single day.
We’re told that the new generation of plants will be different. Just like an alcoholic child-beater, the nuclear plant builders promise us that, “This time it will be different.” Sure. And McCain believes them.
If I'm not mistaken, and without taking into consideration the cost of dealing with waste for thousands of years, nukes become competitive with oil when a barrel reaches something like $600.
More
Of course it wasn't speculation
From Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A quiet data revision that has boosted by nearly 25 percent the number of oil futures contracts U.S. regulators think are held by speculators is raising eyebrows in the energy trading community.
The revision means that speculators controlled 48 percent of the open interest in NYMEX crude oil futures and options as of July 15, compared with just over 38 percent under the previous classification.
"That's huge when you look at the numbers," said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading in Chicago.
"It changes the whole way you look at the recent moves in this market."
It gets worse...
The big shift is all the more surprising, oil traders and analysts said, since the CFTC apparently reclassified only one unidentified oil trader at the same time as the data revision.
"There may have been multiple 'positions' which were reclassified ... but they all appear to have been held by just one trader, and this was a very special trader, with an enormous concentration of positions in crude oil amounting to perhaps 460 million barrels, and not much interest in anything else," noted John Kemp of RBS Sempra Commodities.
I wonder if it was Cheney.
This is just obscene
At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting their pension plans into resources to finance their executives' retirement benefits and pay.
Maybe one day we'll get so sick of being treated like crap that we'll put a stop to this kind of crap
Obama Leads, Pessimism Reigns Among Key Group
From the Wapo, here's a poll that makes better sense than the endless Gallup Daily Tracking, Assmussen, and Zogby (all republic) polls that have Obama and McCain't neck and neck:
By Michael D. Shear and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 4, 2008; A01
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama holds a 2 to 1 edge over Republican Sen. John McCain among the nation's low-wage workers, but many are unconvinced that either presidential candidate would be better than the other at fixing the ailing economy or improving the health-care system, according to a new national poll.
Obama's advantage is attributable largely to overwhelming support from two traditional Democratic constituencies: African Americans and Hispanics. But even among white workers -- a group of voters that has been targeted by both parties as a key to victory in November -- Obama leads McCain by 10 percentage points, 47 percent to 37 percent, and has the advantage as the more empathetic candidate.
This Is an Optimistic Post in That It Thinks John McCain Is a Cretin:
The Rude Pundit comes back from vacation firing on all cylinders. This is hilarious.
Here’s the moment of high-larity that the Rude Pundit is awaiting: it’s a week or so after the election in November. Barack Obama has won, handily, and yer TV and newspaper pundits everywhere are declaring how inevitable it all actually was, how McCain never really had a chance, and, in the name of balance, how one or two demographics actually make the race closer than it is.
Case Closed!
Al-Qaida: Explosives expert wanted by US killed (AP)
AP - Al-Qaida confirmed Sunday the death of a top commander accused of training the suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole eight years ago
Well, then. Let's just take their word for it.
Another Mission Accomplished.
Pelosi -- Woman Without A Brain
From the August 11th edition of TIME magazine, the 10 Questions section for Nancy Pelosi:
Why have you taken impeachment off the table as an option for President George W Bush? --
Nancy Shipes -- Woodstown NJ
I took it off the table a long time ago. You can't talk about impeachment unless you have the facts, and you can't have the facts unless you have cooperation from the Administration. I think the Republicans would like nothing better than for us to focus on impeachment and take our eye off the ball of a progressive economic agenda.
*********
So, if the administration is not forthcoming with the facts, the House is just up shits creek. Yeah, this is the Speaker of the House. One of those so called "leaders". It's a "Well, let's just ask the president if he wants to be impeached and see what he has to say about the matter". How freakin absurd is this going to get before it all falls down?
And another thing about that 'leadership' thing. Mccain is out there toting about how little leadership Obama has. What kind of leadership did bush-boy have before he was put in office by court order? And what has he demonstrated in terms of 'leadership' once he got there?
The only thing he lead us in was to invade two soverin countrys and tax reductions for the richest 'citizens'. He has not shown me any kind of thoughtful idea or ideal that garnered the support and following of the American public.
And this Obama guy --- pissed me off that he's so weak that he's now sporting a flag lapel pin. Then he votes for the phone companies on the FISA so they have immunity. Now he's for off shore drilling and up in Alaska too.
The only change he has to offer it seems is putting a new color on the status quo.
Bush mass for shut ins for 08-03-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Indictment.
INDICTMENT CELEBRATION
An indictment against a republican is a witch hunt and sets a scary legal precident that republicans can be held accountable for the things they do to make America great.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
When youre weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
Im on your side. when times get rough
And friends just cant be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
When youre down and out,
When youre on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
Ill take your part.
When darkness comes
And pains is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
Im sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Then George the Ever Wonderful smirked down upon the people and proclaimed "This indictment against the holy Profit Stevens is a witch hunt and I am sure in the end his good name will be cleared".
What is the Profit Cheney trying to say to us? It is that all republicans are holy and any charges against them will be cleared. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Let's try it for Corporate Crime, too!
McCain suggests military-style invasion modeled on the surge to control inner city crime.»
Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spoke to the National Urban League, a group “devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.” When an audience member asked him how he planned to reduce urban crime, McCain praised Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts in New York City before invoking the military’s tactics in Iraq as the model for crime-fighting:
MCCAIN: And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.