Now I'm Pissed

This is certainly interesting.

Rick Perlstein wrote a great summary of the convention, but what is really interesting, is what was edited out. first lets take a look at the Village voice version:
via Atrios

Tuesday was compassionate conservatism night. Arnold Schwarzenegger was scheduled to rhapsodize about the immigrant dream, Laura Bush to wax gauzy about the man she calls "Bushie." At the Laugh Factory eight blocks away, on the other hand, it was "GOP Comedy Night," and the comedians must not have gotten the memo (Deviation begins) outlining that night's talking points. When the First Lady announced, "We are determined to provide a quality education for every child in America," she was perhaps disguising a sentiment expressed by the Laugh Factory's MC: "[We] have to face the fact that there are some dumb kids. It's time to give just a few of them coloring books, some crayons—press on to what we can save."

---

The only time you witnessed anger on the convention podium it came from a Democrat. That's all part of the hustle. If the bloodiest chunks are tossed out by someone who's not Republican, it can't be vicious partisanship, right? Even if the speech was the sheerest extrusion of rage since the days when Senator Joe McCarthy ranted and raved about Democrats as the party of twenty years of treason.

let's check out the part that originally occupied the space between these two graphs:

Jokes, argued Sigmund Freud, are best understood as a response to anger and frustration. If you want to learn what the Republican rank and file gets angry and frustrated about when they're not reading from Karl Rove's script, the Laugh Factory turned out to be a useful place to be.

*"To my fellow immigrants listening tonight, I want you to know how welcome you are in this party,"* Arnold said later that night at the Garden.

"I want to take that torch off and put in a finger, right like that!" gestured the MC about the Statue of Liberty.

*"It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties..."*

"Islamic prayer in Spanish," said comic Julia Gorin. "That's the next step."

The First Lady: *"We are determined to provide a quality education for every child in America."*

The MC: We "have to face the fact that there are some dumb kids!...It's time to give just a few of them coloring books, some crayons--press on to what we can save."

Steven McDonald, the hero cop shot in Central Park in 1986, on AIDS: *"Here at home, President Bush has committed record levels of support to fighting the disease. Internationally, President Bush has marshalled an army of compassion..."*

For wacky Julia, who wears a cameo of "my Georgie" around her neck, AIDS is nothing but a pet cause of Hollywood activists. Want to know why they're so eager to find a cure? "They can't keep their legs shut."

The MC kills with a Cosbyesque riff--"What' the hell is a 'time out'? The only time out I had was when I was unconscious for three and a half minutes!" Then loses the crowd when the next line rushes out too loud and fast, like a 12-step confession instead of a joke. ("'Time out' was for my old man to switch hands"). Then he composes himself. He produces an image of what his mother would do if he, who only had a stick to play with instead of an X-box, complained that he was bored. Punchline: "She would have stuck the stick up my ass!"And now the audience is his again. The only joke that yields a bigger laugh is Gorin's Valley Girl squeal about why John Kerry should be glad Empress Hillary didn't install herself as running mate:

"He would have gone the way of Ron Brown, Vince Foster, and Buddy the dog."
Those Democrats!

I am not going to jump to any conclusions here, the are many reasons to edit an article; space, content, and coherence are a few. But one version is a bit more favorable to the "Party". I appreciate the opportunity to see the rest.

Monster makes landfall

Though the wind speeds may have slowed, the storm
itself is creeping, and loaded with rain..

Like Father Like Son

Steve Gilliard has another nice column, this time reflecting on the convention and its aftermath.

While the right is saying "Kerry is toast" and the faint of heart wish Howard Dean hadn't self-immolated, the fact is that Kerry stands a much better chance of winning than Clinton did in 1992. He's got money, millions of active dems working to elect him, and Karl Rove. Not to mention Bush's bad luck.

On a day which should have been covering Bush's post-convention swing, we've seen more of Jeb Bush and Hurricane Frances, then the disasterous raid on the Chechen school. Once again, events have conspired to work against Bush.

Besides, Bush's campaign has been off their game. Focusing on Vietnam, which is building into a nasty backlash for Bush. It's a quiet thing, but I think a key mistake was mocking Kerry's Purple Hearts. I think a lot of people were offended, but that could only happen when people are looking inward. The GOP is now an inward looking party.

Now, this is a disaster in the making. Bush's personality isn't enough here. With it's vulgar appeals to theocracy and it's harsh, macho rhetoric, as the media dissects it over the next week, the scale of the disaster will be seen. The GOP doesn't see it any more than the Dems saw Reagan in 1980. They ridiculed him until it was election day and then he won.

And while a lot of Dems want Kerry to lash out, he has to be careful and time his attacks right. One thing which the Dems haven't done, and have to, from the blogs to campaign talking points, is create the sense of inevitability of Bush's defeat.

People have a tendency to forget, or mistakenly lose from the equation, that the press is not yet on our side, and has not given our viewpoints equal time. There are several agendas at work. It is realy easy to be a stenographer, and who among you would not take the opportunity to slack off if given the chance to do so without retribution.

The media also feels that the trivial sells more advertising than hard news, and as corporate ownership is primarily concerned with the bottom line and secondarily concerned with the manipulation of the populous, the media will keep riding that pony. Maintaing a corporate friendly government also increases dividends. So Kerry has to be careful, and strike in ways that can not be turned around on him., I have faith in his tactical acumen.

Between the investigations and the failures in Iraq, something will break to the point that the perennially unlucky Bush will be seen as the clear loser.

The GOP no longer bothers to talk to those who don't abide by every tenent of their ideology. They even shut aside apostates like gays and pro-cnoice Republicans. Rove may think he's going to get 4m evangelical votes, but with their anti-gay agenda, besides those with other issues like Ed Koch, they're going to lose those 1m gays who voted for Bush and maybe another couple of million moderate Republican women.

As Bill Schnider said, no presidential election has ever been won by turning out your base. If Rove pulls it off, he's a genius, but personally, I think he's so far over his head he's drowning. He's never managed an incumbent's campaign before, and his inability to create a coherent defense for Bush's record is showing.

Karl will find out the hard way that it is a lot easier to swindle an electorate with a relatively unknown candidate, than one whose only virtues have been constructed with a measure of smoke, mirrors, papier mache, and bubblegum, i.e nothing of substance.
The convention seemed to degenerate into a base maintaning fusillade of red meat for the faithful, instead of the fire up the center, keep the goons in the closet affair that it was advertised to be.

Karl seems to think an energized base and a bit electoral manipulation will do the job for him. I am not confident that the party is smart enough to pull off the massive vote fraud needed without getting caught. Also I would dare anyone to come forward with a converted gore or nader voter planning on casting a ballot for bush. I have heard of far too many bush voters leaving throwing their support to kerry, or planning on not showing up.

A lot of new people who have never voted befiore, have registered with the Democratic party, and I am confident that our turnout is gonna be huge. I'll step out on a limb and suggest that 105-110 million will turn out to vote this year, and if I am correct, His Chimperial Majesty is gonna be heading back to Crawford in January. Of course, not before pulling all of the J, F, and K keys, off of the keyboards. I would not put it past president projection to fling shit at the walls of the oval office before a secret service detail drags his cry ass out of the place. Head on over there and read the rest.

[....update....]

Head on over to this fine Kos Diary and comment thread by Maryscott O' Connor which adds a few reasons to alleviate your fears. A taste follows:

Do you really believe that the virtual tie between Bush and Kerry has somehow magically evaporated due to the Republican National Convention? Somehow that 10% of registered voters, immovable from Kerry's camp for months, watched the RNC and were persuaded to vote for Bush??? Are you frigging kidding me?

I don't pretend to understand polls, outliers or otherwise. I do know that however this Time poll was conducted, it must be really messed up in some fundamental way.

The real panic seems to be about the media, as usual, and how they will bleat the news long and loud, claiming this huge bounce for Bush and calling the election two months in advance.

Go Go for the good of the city, and read the rest.

Pussillanimous Prince

Yep, were talkin about the dimwitted, dissolute, Dauphin, the Codpiece Crusader, the selectified, occupation Overlord, and his mad elocution, and oratorical talents. The only thing keeping us from the brink of disaster, in the ongoing war between good and evil, is our malapropistic majesty, King George.

Since I have a pony in this race, I am happy that a man in charge that comes from the "Leviticus trumps Jesus" brand of christian. His actions aren't hamstrung by inconvenient "love thy neighbor", "Ye without sin..." "....to the least of us" trifle. With clear conscience he can go it alone, guns ablazing, and strike at the heart of the enemy. But thats not really the subject of this humble screed, no, I want to talk about the "Ownership Society" and Opportunity Zones". I may diverge from the selected path if really juicy new policy initiatives or gross mendacitificatin' is spotted. Whoopsie daisy, here we go, a little of both:

I am running for President with a clear and positive plan to build a
safer world, and a more hopeful America. I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives. I believe this Nation wants steady, consistent, principled leadership-and that is why, with your help, we
will win this election.

Would someone please tell this man that he has been presidentin for the last 3.6 years.
And while you came to washington as a kind of tabula rasa, during your term you have been proven, neither compassionate, nor conservative. Lets see if I can get closer to the
vaunted opportunity zone. Damn, waylayed again.

This changed world can be a time of great opportunity for all
Americans to earn a better living, support your family, and have a
rewarding career. And government must take your side. Many of our most
fundamental systems-the tax code, health coverage, pension plans, worker
training-were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. We will
transform these systems so that all citizens are equipped, prepared-and
thus truly free-to make your own choices and pursue your own dreams.

Ok, is it just me or does anyone else wonder if the definition of American, and citizen in bush's mind deviate from the normal definitions of these words? I am beginning to suspect that when bush uses those words, what he means is that america is kind of like a club and a Country. Wait, .... a country club. If you are not a member you aren't a real murican or citizen. That is the only way that what he said makes any sense. Lets try this again. . . . . . . . . . . . Bingo.

In this time of change, opportunity in some communities is more
distant than in others. To stand with workers in poor communities-and
those that have lost manufacturing, textile, and other jobs-we will
create American opportunity zones. In these areas, we'll provide freedom tax relief and other incentives to attract new business, and improve housing
and job training to bring hope and work throughout all of America.

When I heard this the first thing that sprang to mind was something about lebensraum and finality of solution, kind of like a No Wealthy Child Left Behind program for adults, or the obverse of a gated community. Now if this was like the American opportunity zones of post occupation Germany, I might be made sympathetic to the cause, but they way it came out of his mouth, made it sound like a new kind of Super Max Prison complex. Lets move along shall we, to the Ownership society.

In an ownership society, more people will own their health plans, and
have the confidence of owning a piece of their retirement. We will always
keep the promise of Social Security for our older workers. With the huge
Baby Boom generation approaching retirement, many of our children and
grandchildren understandably worry whether Social Security will be there
when they need it. We must strengthen Social Security by allowing younger
workers to save some of their taxes in a personal account-a nest egg you
can call your own, and government can never take away.

Wow that sounds good, I have been looking forward to owning the half of the street that is in front of my house, and own my garbage collection, water treatment, electrical utility cooperative. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about the "opportunity zones" It sounds like I could have my own. I am also excited about the possibility of bidding on some ownership "helpers", to help me with the cotton I am looking forward to cultivating in my back yard. I really like the idea that I can have things that can never be taken away from me.

Now during my steadfast viewing of this convention in a changing world, I did suffer a couple of broken bones. On Teusday night the "twins" fractured my funny bone. On Wednesday, the Zellernaut, and his Imperiousness, fractured my shame bone, but Thursday all was made well again as bush went to work on my selfish bone, and when he was done I found myself renewed.

"Screw shame, screw funny, I want my goddamn money" was a chant that suddenly found its way into my head, replacing any previous skepticism and melting my fears away.

Now friends, there you have it, America, long the land of opportunity, will have more, and ownership of your own little piece of the government, now, who can argue with the selfish bone?

Clinton spooks the freepers , Wolcott weighs in, Digby on Drum

I was gonna put this up last night, but figured y'all would like to read it there first. As with Town Hall, CNN is something that could damage my beautiful mind. And unless you just crawled out from underneath your rock, you are probably aware that Bill Clinton is soon to go under the knife for arterial bypass surgery. The usual suspects, saw conspiracy. A new and welcome addition to the 'sphere, found parody. Our good friend Digby was watching a little CNN (so I didn't have to, the BM ya know).

*Sigh*

CNN is implying that Clinton must have covered up his health problems while he was in office.

Now, passing out eating pretzels and falling flat on your face several times while in office certainly doesn't merit such scrutiny. I'm awfully glad they aren't doing that.


On other hand, Tweety just said the race is over, so I'm going down to the beach.

Good to see that CNN is still up in the grill of power, unafraid to demonstrate that the Whoreth estate is still good for a walk around the block. I think this retroactive speculatude is a fine thing, and I am sure that the Whoreth estate will get on about the pretztel thingy in, I don't know, 5 or 6 years. Next we'll enjoy a bit of snark from the welcome new addition, James Wolcott's Blog.

With the transparent, calculating cynicism that marked his two terms in office, Bill Clinton chose to burglarize the majesty of President Bush's Churchillian convention address by conveniently entering the hospital for heart surgery. Unable to yield the spotlight, Clinton clutched his chest like Fred Sanford and called 911 in a desperate bid to deny Bush the "big mo" he was beginning to enjoy after addressing the nation last night from a mound of skulls at Madison Square Garden, each skull beautifully handcrafted by Thai sweatshop workers

Now that's just crafty, snarky, bloggy doupleplus goodness.

Now I used to spend a fair amount of time at Keven Drums old place, but grew tired of the troll infestation and his occasionally awkward lurches to the center. Digby examines a fine example of this annoying (to me at least) tendancy. From Digby, Drum starts off the party:

It's fine to hammer away on domestic issues with specific target groups. It's fine for John Edwards to focus on the two Americas. But anyone who thinks the primary message of Kerry's campaign should be anything other than national security is just deluding themselves. To paraphrase James Carville, "It's 9/11, stupid."

In fact, it's a no-brainer: somehow Kerry has to convince people that he can be trusted with national security and Bush can't and if he doesn't, he's going to lose. But I guess he still doesn't get that.

I'm finally beginning to think Mickey Kaus might be right: Kerry has spent too much time inside the liberal cocoon. It's going to cost him the election if he keeps it up.

I think that's a bit premature since nobody's seen the ads yet. It may be 9/11, stupid, but in my view, there is no reason that a harshly negative fear campaign cannot be waged using economic issues as one of the symbols of Bush's frightening recklessness.(If the ads are bunch of namby-pamby,kumbaya nonsense with Kerry and adorable children, then I'm discouraged too.)

The fact is that war (not 9/11 particularly, although Bush would like that) is the subtext of the entire campaign no matter what we actually say. All criticism, all negative ads all harsh rhetoric plays to insecurity about Bush's leadership --- and leadership is defined at this moment in history as wartime leadership.

[....]

As Kevin said, if we are going to wage a campaign of fear, it's got to be believable and Bush as some kind of scheming warmonger who wants to blow up the world is not believable. What is believable is Bush driving the ship of state into an iceberg because he's reckless and out of control.

To make that case, I think it's perfectly reasonable to use economic issues as well as national security issues to illustrate that point. At the end of the day, if the message is that Bush is a dangerous man for the health of this nation, it doesn't really matter what the subject is. People will make the association with national security all by themselves.

Where I get my Town Hall

For those of you who are unaware, Town Hall is an online dispensary of right wing political expression. And like Bar, the mother in chief, I just cant have my beautiful mind sullied by the goings ons and writings of among others, the virgin Ben, my favorite pony Michelle Malkin, the comedy stylings of Marvin Olasky (I'm a twice born, but before I was more godly than Kerry, I was a sinning, {let me tell you what...}, fanatical, authoritarian left wing looneytoons hack), the imperial meanderings of Brent Bozzell, the agitprop of Dennis Prager.

Hell we might as well go through the whole list. I am sure that you are familier with a certain, batshit crazy, madams apple possessitatin', is that a gun in your pants or are you just happy to see me Ann Coulter, the master of sin detection (sin is bad but it makes me feel funny in the pantal area) Mike Adams, spawn of the slanderous loins of Lucianne, Jonah Goldberg, Walter, i never met a billionaire I did not like, Williams, and finally, the inimatable,I recently met a profiling scheme and recognised that white people were not excluded therefor I don't like it, Gary Aldrich.

You see, like the mother in chief, my mind is a beautiful thing, hell I thought I'd finally hit the big time when I heard they were making a movie called "A Beautiful Mind", and was devistated to find out that it was based not on me, but some crazy Nobel winnin' guy. So you can see why I can't be bothered with the exposure to the right wing vitriolic volcano, that is the town hall and why I let my good pal (insert name of site author here) over at World O' Crap, whose mind is made of sterner stuff than mine, do the heavy lifting. Lets just enjoy a sample of the fine work from our friend at WOC.

Ben Shapiro

If your friends and family members are sinners, you should stone them to death, so as "to preserve traditional values."

Last Sunday, I picked up a copy of Boston Magazine while sitting in the green room at the Fox News studios in Watertown, Mass. Leafing through the publication, I came across an article titled "Confessions of an Ivy League Callgirl," written by Jeannette Angell, a university lecturer with a master's degree from Yale. The fact that she was a Yalie caught my eye -- as a Harvard Law student, I've already adopted our communal animosities -- and so I read the piece.

Yeah, it was the fact that the sex worker was from the rival school that caused Ben to read this article. Otherwise, he would have no interest in her confessions -- or in any other steamy, erotic stories of illicit passion that might drop into his lap (so to speak). See, Ben is a Harvard Law student who often sits in the Fox News green room, and so his continuing interest in internet porn, naughty movies, collegiate hookers, etc., is only because Yalies might be involved in such things.

You see its the kind of dedication, to sift through the sewage, and find the snarkables, that would destroy this beautiful mind, And I thank our friend for that, I really do.

McCain comes clean on Iraq

Not that this should be a suprise, as I am sure it was part of the plan all along, but McCain, has stated that we will probably be in Iraq for the next decade or two. From Bob Herbert's latest via my pal Rorschach. It would have been nice if this had been on the table when they started selling this fiasco.

When asked this week on CNN how long the U.S. military is likely to remain in Iraq, Senator John McCain replied "probably" 10 or 20 years. "That's not so bad," he said, adding, "We've been in Korea for 50 years. We've been in West Germany for 50 years."

Reporters have come to expect candor from Senator McCain, and in this case he didn't disappoint. But there weren't any speakers mounting the podium at the Republican National Convention to hammer home the message that G.I.'s would be in Iraq for a decade or two.

That's not the understanding most Americans had when this wretched war was sold to them, and it's not the view most Americans hold now.

If Senator McCain is correct (and the belief in official Washington is that he is), then boys and girls who are 5 or 10 years old now will get their chance in 2015 or 2020 to strap on the Kevlar and engage the Iraqi "insurgents" who, like the indigenous forces we fought in Vietnam, will never accept the occupation of their country by America.

Marcina Hale, a protester who came to New York this week from suburban Westport, Conn., said she has two teenage boys and that Iraq "is not a war that I'm willing to send my sons to." As the years pass and the casualties mount, that sentiment will only grow.

The truth is always the first casualty of politics. But there was a bigger disconnect than usual between the bizarre, hermetically sealed perspective that was on display in Madison Square Garden this week and the daunting events unfolding without respite in the real world.

The world is on fire and Bush is using the only available firehose to fill up his 40 acre fishin' hole.

Military Disenfranchisement Ballot box Activities

Apparently if you are a soldier and want to cast a vote you have 2 not so secure options, Fax and E-mail. After watching Nueremberg on the Hudson this week, I guess Rove has chosen to phone in the election this year. Another stake in the heart of the democratic process, from the NYT.

Members of the military will be allowed to vote this year by faxing or e-mailing their ballots - after waiving their right to a secret ballot. Beyond this fundamentally undemocratic requirement, the Electronic Transmission Service, as it's known, has far too many problems to make it reliable, starting with the political partisanship of the contractor running it. The Defense Department is making matters worse by withholding basic information about the service, and should suspend it immediately.

The Defense Department is encouraging soldiers to use absentee ballots or fax votes directly to local officials, when possible. But it also provides an alternative: Omega Technologies, a private contractor, will accept soldiers' faxed and e-mailed ballots on a toll-free line, and then send them to the appropriate local elections office. Handling ballots is always sensitive, but especially so when, as in this program, they are not secret. An obvious concern is that votes for a particular candidate could be reported lost in transit, or altered.

Omega Technologies is not an acceptable choice to run the program. Its chief executive, Patricia Williams, has donated $6,600 in this election cycle to the National Republican Congressional Committee, and serves on the committee's Business Advisory Council. And while everything about the conduct of elections should be open to public scrutiny, Omega is far too secretive. In an interview, Ms. Williams refused to say who would handle military votes, and whether they could engage in partisan politics. "I will not allow the public to invade the privacy of the employees of Omega," she said.

Wow, this is just another in a long train of ballot tampering activities, and frankly the only reason I am nervous about the election. If we had a fair voting process, President Gore would be leading, whatever lipsticked pig the publicans would have nominated, by a large margin. If we had a fair election this year, Kerry wins running away. This is truly disgusting, and I would presume that Kerry will be addressing this. Whether the press will bother to report on this and other disenfranchisement activities, we can only hope.

The Defense Department has taken a "trust us" attitude. Soldiers have to trust that military higher-ups will not try to learn their political choices and hold it against them, and that local elections officials at home will not reveal those choices. The voters have to trust that no one at the contractor or the Pentagon will make errors, or intentionally alter ballots. In a democracy, matters like these should not have to be taken on faith.

Welcome to the Henhouse, Fox, if you need anything just let us know. Wow I did not know that we had evolved into a Faith Based Representative Republic. Yeehhaa.

Democracy on steroids.

There are many accounts of NYPD roundups of peaceful protestors. Indy Media has been all over it from the start. Daily Kos commenter SteveW was released after spending at least 28 hours in the famous pier 57 holding pens. From indy media a picture of the cattle pen.



We should hang our heads in shame.

[.....update.....]

From another page at indymedia comes this description of the arrests and conditions.

A State Supreme Court judge today ordered the city to release hundreds of people who had spent as many as 48 hours or more in jail and found the city in contempt of court after it failed to comply. Most of the people had been swept up in mass arrests on Tuesday, August 31, the day of nonviolent direct action to confront the Republican National Convention. Many claimed they were bystanders not connected to any protest. The drama of the detentions unfolded in and around 100 Centre St., and heightened when the National Lawyers Guild filed a writ of habeus corpus late Wednesday evening demanding that the detainees be brought before a judge and formally charged. The more than 1100 people arrested on Tuesday had already been held at that point for more than 24 hours without being arraigned, informed of their rights, given access to an attorney, provided medical attention, or given access to adequate food, water, or sleeping facilities.

All the detainees had passed through the ad hoc detention center at pier 57 [ photos: inside | outside ] where they had to sleep on a floor slick with motor oil and other toxic residue. Numerous detainees complained of infections, rashes, and chemical burns. By Wednesday night, the detainees had become fed up with their treatment and began to refuse food.

When you indescriminately round up people whats the big deal if a few innocent bystanders get swept up in the driftnets of the police state. I mean you got to break a coupla eggs if you want an omelet.

Cole hits one deep

Cole posits a look at Bush as the CEO of AmeriCorp, and comes to the conclusion that the shareholders should throw him out on his keester.

What if the CEO convinced himself that the Mesopotamia Corp. was planning a hostile takeover? What if he had appointed a lot of senior vice-presidents who were either incompetent boobs or had some kind of backroom deal going with crooked brokers, and fed him false information that Mesopotamia Corp. was making a move and had amassed a big war chest for the purpose? And what if, to avoid this imaginary threat, he launched a preemptive hostile takeover of his own, spending at least $200 billion to accomplish it (on top of the more than $400 billion he is already losing every year)? Remember, it was a useless expenditure.

It turns out that Mesopotamia Corp. was a creaky old dinosaur with no cash reserves, and couldn't have launched a hostile takeover of the neighborhood mom and pop store. And, moreover, its arena of operations is extremely dangerous, and nearly a thousand America, Inc. workers get killed taking it over. And it turns out that the managers that the CEO put into Mesopotamia Corp. were bunglers. They adopted policies that made the taken-over employees bitter and sullen and uncooperative. Instead of standing on its own, the wholly owned subsidiary of Mesopotamia, Inc., requires continued infusion of capital from America, Inc. It looks increasingly as though Mesopotamia, Inc., will have to be let loose, and that its new managers will opt for interest-free Islamic banking as soon as they can.

Meanwhile, the real threat of a hostile takeover comes from al-Qaeda, Inc. Because 138,000 employees had to be assigned to Mesopotamia, Inc., there are few left to meet that challenge.

So given this kind of record, do you vote this CEO back in? It is often said that a lot of Americans want to stick with Bush to "see Iraq through." But if you think about him as a CEO, and look at how well he has run things, you can see the idiocy of this argument. The real question is, do you throw good money after bad?

I am convinced that his slavering supporters would still back their horse fearing pony, if he was caught red handed fucking a goat in the oval office with another man's cock in his mouth. The press would probably report it as "Goat related malfunction activities" Thank god there are not enough of these idiots around to re-elect the bastard fruit of Bar.

Holy Shit

Suprise suprise

Young republi-can support the war. Young republi-cant be involved in fighting it. Oh to be young and selfish again. Here is the future of republican patriotude. Thanks to SteveM for the heads up.

Young Republicans support Iraq war, but not all are willing to join the fight

By Adam Smeltz

Knight Ridder Newspapers

NEW YORK - Young Republicans gathered here for their party's national convention are united in applauding the war in Iraq, supporting the U.S. troops there and calling the U.S. mission a noble cause.

But there's no such unanimity when they're asked a more personal question: Would you be willing to put on the uniform and go to fight in Iraq?

In more than a dozen interviews, Republicans in their teens and 20s offered a range of answers. Some have friends in the military in Iraq and are considering enlisting; others said they can better support the war by working politically in the United States; and still others said they think the military doesn't need them because the U.S. presence in Iraq is sufficient.

"Frankly, I want to be a politician. I'd like to survive to see that," said Vivian Lee, 17, a war supporter visiting the convention from Los Angeles,

Lee said she supports the war but would volunteer only if the United States faced a dire troop shortage or "if there's another Sept. 11."

Watch out what you wish for Viv. But it is nice that you realize that a combat zone is not so safe, and even better that because of the proud example set by dear leader and the mighty band of chickenhawks, that military service has become irrelevant to the furtherance of a political career. Now Viv, I am sure that you are well connected and will convenienlty be issued a high draft number when the draft is reinstated by executive order the minute your man takes office. Allright, do we have any budding Tom Delays in the group?

"As long as there's a steady stream of volunteers, I don't see why I necessarily should volunteer," said Lee, who has a cousin deployed in the Middle East.

Yes our friend Viv is happy that all those patriotic poor and minorities keep streaming into the military, so really there's no point. Ding ding Delay...

"If there was a need presented, I would go," said Chris Cusmano, a 21-year-old member of the College Republicans organization from Rocky Point, N.Y. But he said he hasn't really considered volunteering.

Credit Chris with "at least on paper" showing up if called. No fancy flights to Canada for this patriot. Lets look at some of the other reasons presented by the junior chickenhawk brigade.

"I physically probably couldn't do a whole lot" in Iraq, said Tiffanee Hokel, 18, of Webster City, Iowa, who called the war a moral imperative. She knows people posted in Iraq, but she didn't flinch when asked why she wouldn't go.

"I think I could do more here," Hokel said, adding that she's focusing on political action that supports the war and the troops.

"We don't have to be there physically to fight it," she said.

Similarly, 20-year-old Jeff Shafer, a University of Pennsylvania student, said vital work needs to be done in the United States. There are Republican policies to maintain and protect and an economy to sustain, Shafer said.

Party first, Country second. Support the war first, the troops second. could someone get a call out to the priority police. This is patriotism at its finest hour. The pride that these young Cowards Patriots have for their Country Party is nothing short of inspirational. There are republican policies to maintain and protect afterall, why should young and talented kids get dirty fighting terrorists in Freedoms great Flypaper
zone, when they can work to support the party. One people, One party, One Leader.

Priceless

A page dedicated to republican support of our troops. Enjoy. via Eschaton.

Maybe trying to tell us something

This is pretty amazing, but I'll wait to get worked up about it. I never thought that I would see the likes of the what currently passes for our government, and I only hoped that intelligent life beyond our solar system would be discovered in my lifetime. The possibility of heads exploding in Fundy Town ... priceless. Click image for link. Heads up from Corrente.

LONDON (Reuters) - An unexplained radio signal from deep space could -- just might be -- contact from an alien civilization, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday.

The signal, coming from a point between the Pisces and Aries constellations, has been picked up three times by a telescope in Puerto Rico.

New Scientist said the signal could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon or even be a by-product from the telescope itself.

But the mystery beam has excited astronomers across the world.

"If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting," Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath in western England told the magazine.

It was broadcast on the main frequency at which the universe's most common element, hydrogen, absorbs and emits energy, and which astronomers say is the most likely means by which aliens would advertise their presence.

The potentially extraterrestrial signals were picked up through the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through the huge amount of data picked up by the telescope.

Lovefest at MSG

Another indespensible column by Paul Krugman, sing it brother.

There was plenty of hatred in Manhattan, but it was inside, not outside, Madison Square Garden.

Barack Obama, who gave the Democratic keynote address, delivered a message of uplift and hope. Zell Miller, who gave the Republican keynote, declared that political opposition is treason: "Now, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief." And the crowd roared its approval.

Why are the Republicans so angry? One reason is that they have nothing positive to run on (during the first three days, Mr. Bush was mentioned far less often than John Kerry).

The promised economic boom hasn't materialized, Iraq is a bloody quagmire, and Osama bin Laden has gone from "dead or alive" to he-who-must-not-be-named.

Another reason, I'm sure, is a guilty conscience. At some level the people at that convention know that their designated hero is a man who never in his life took a risk or made a sacrifice for his country, and that they are impugning the patriotism of men who have.

That's why Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them, mocking Mr. Kerry's war wounds and medals, have been such a hit with conventioneers, and why senior politicians are attracted to wild conspiracy theories about Mr. Soros.

It's also why Mr. Hastert, who knows how little the Bush administration has done to protect New York and help it rebuild, has accused the city of an "unseemly scramble" for cash after 9/11. Nothing makes you hate people as much as knowing in your heart that you are in the wrong and they are in the right.

But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at that convention, for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation's freedom, diversity and complexity.

Bigotude and intolerance was in full bloom inside the garden this week, not to mention a healthy dose of grave robbing. Those that are baptised in the fetid waters of republican intolerance love America the way a wifebeater loves his wife. For this group there really are 2 America's, despite the protestations (with an attendant bouquet of too much) to the contrary. One america is reserved for the elect ("I call you my base"), and one for the "help" a category that the rest of us occupy. That this convention of moderation morphed into base frenzification program activation, suggests not only the death of shame, but that Rove believes he can win on hate alone. If they are successful you can be assured the "new boss will not be same as the old boss."

Quite a Delivery, eh.

Missed the first part of last nights speech, because I was hanging out with a friend and forgot that little boy blue has an early bed time. While I had missed the first night activities and speechifyin' by Guinieani and McCain, I gird my loins and caught the festivities on Tuesday and Wednesday. I enjoyed the twins and wifeepoo, the immigrantinator, the astounding Romney, Millertime, and Snarly.

So I get home expecting to see whoever wasbatting third to the presidential cleanup and was disappointed to discover that the speech was already in progress. What a tepid delivery. And so many new ideas, stuff I'd only heard of just about everytime the man opened his mouth over the last couple of years. That "ownership society" schtick that I had first heard round about the state o' the Union, was offered up like a new golden calf for the rest of us to worship while george and his fundamentalist pals take Jesus, and his loving generous ways, home to use and worship as they see fit.

The first thing I heard after the speech and before I ran off to comedy central to catch what was left of the daily show, a quick stop to MSGOP had tweety asking someone named meacham what he thought. "That was the best political speech of his career", was all I needed to know before changing the channel. This meachum cat and I, clearly saw a couple of different speeches. George looked like a scared little boy, and delivered a ho hum jumble of patriotic platitudes, during his little theatre of the absurd, in the round. Bartlett (whitehouse communications director) you should be ashamed of yourself, for letting such drivel pass through your approving hands.

And I noticed the weird little one eyed wink. Was it a facial tic, a side effect of whatever medication they had him on, ( a cocktail I would imagine, "this one is to help you keep you continence" "what container" "No G continence, to keep you from crappin your pants" "oh should of said it that way the first time" "this one will level your mood"
"cool") or a new "sign". It was a speech that attempted to target the great unwashed, that was filled with base mainaining code. Unfortunately for Rove and the Presstitutes, who would be charged with pretending that it was a masterpiece, it likely only had an effect on the elect.

I may decide to breakdown a few graphs of the speech after I take a look around. I really look forward to Billmon's return and thorough examination of the crime scene.

[..update..]
Was a word that beginneth with O followed by S followed by A folowed by M finishing in A uttered once during this convention?

Police state activities

photo by montrassori

"I almost got scooped up at Union Square last night.
I avoided going to Pier 53 because I ran like hell and
managed to vault a police scooter before they
strung the nets up.I came that close to getting my ass kicked"
A friend of mine who lives in NYC sent me this email a couple of days ago.

............you should have been out here this weekend to get a
glimpse of what the police state will look like if GW gets four more years.
Manhattan is largely under police control right now. Cops are everywhere.
They are controlling auto traffic, pedestrian traffic, airspace, bridges,
tunnels, waterways, you name it. I've never seen cops take such direct
control of the city. They are completely micromanaging every
happening--every biker going the wrong way or missing a light, every
jaywalking pedestrian, nearly every boat, plane, truck and car has a direct
interaction with an individual cop over the past few days. It's something
else. Is it a vision of what's to come?

I missed this post by Atrios last night, but when I saw it this morning, the way it dovetailed with the note above, well say no more.

New York's in total lockdown. Kos and I just made the fairly short trip to the Air America studio and it's impossible to cross the city. They're stopping all traffic to let the goddamn delegate buses have unimpeded progress through the city. We had one angry angry cab driver. "They bring the convention here, and the people get nothing!"

I thought the security in Boston was over the top and mostly for show, but it's nothing compared to what they've done here. Temporary express bus lanes for delegate buses? Holding traffic for 15 minutes to let a few make left turns? Nuts.

Just remember folks, "All animals are equal, come animals are more equal than others."

Brownshirts got their marching orders.

In what could be a prelude to Kristallnacht Democratic campaign offices in Pennsylvania and Michigan were vandalized last night. Heads up from Atrios

By Lara Brenckle

lbrenckl@centredaily.com

STATE COLLEGE - Centre County Democratic Headquarters was vandalized late Tuesday when someone smashed the thick, tempered glass in the building's storefront window, causing about $3,000 worth of damage.

According to State College police Cpl. Mark Argiro, witnesses in the 300 block of Calder Way heard the window break and saw a white Ford Tempo carrying three men leaving the area.

Investigators will review surveillance tapes taken by cameras posted on Beaver Avenue from McAllister Street to Hiester Street, in hopes that the white car seen leaving the area was caught on tape. If it was, police can attempt to identify the license plate, Argiro said.

Lets hope they get lucky.

September 1, 2004, 2:20 PM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- Someone tossed a cement chunk through a storefront window of the local John Kerry presidential campaign headquarters in an act of vandalism a Democratic official said appeared to be politically motivated.

"They could have gone through any number of storefronts, so I don't think it was an accident," said John Otterbacher, Kent County spokesman for the Democratic presidential ticket.

Local campaign official Jim Rinck said nothing was taken from inside the headquarters during the vandalism early Tuesday.

Kim Yob, chairwoman of the Kent County Republican Party, said she was sorry to hear of the vandalism but dismissed the possibility of any Republicans being involved.

Nah not republicans, pissed off independents who will be visiting the same upon the county republican offices tonight, you know for fairness sake.

A compelling analysis

I don't think that I could put it better myself, from --FMguru in the comments at Gilliards place.

Rove's strategy is certainly...unique for a general election. Conventions are supposed to be the time when you heal all the party's wounds (privately) and publically present yourself to the swing/undecided/apolitical center of the spectrum in what amounts to a four-day infomercial. But this is just pure, red-meat-for-the-base style hatemongery. Didn't they learn anything from 1992 Buchanan-fest?

The sheer level of spittle-flecked Kerry Hate is astonishing. I expect that on the Limbaugh show and Drudge Report and Free Republic, but what is the upside of filling the airwaves with this shit for a general audience?

I think this convention is sliding into disaster territory for the Reps. The first rule of conventions is "Do No Harm", which is exactly what the DNC accomplished last month. But between the Kerry-bashing, the Bush twins being revealed as dumber versions of the Hilton sisters, zombie Dick Cheney robotically intoning "flip...flop...flip...flop...", crazy Zell Quisling's literally deranged speech (and attempt to throw down with Chris Matthews), and oh yes, the President bold-faced declaration that the war on terror is unwinnable (not to mention jew-baiting George Soros and handing out Purple Heart Band-Aids.), I just don't see how Bush's speech tonight will save all that. I imagine he'll try to put a positive, optimistic spin on things (by using the word "optimism" over and over again, no doubt), and the bobbleheads will contrast that with the negativity of the last three days. He'll lay out his future plans, with lots of unfunded pie-in-the-sky and no specifics, and he'll give lots of tough talk about Iraq, and the need to be "strong" and "resolute". But so what? He's been saying that all year long.

Thats only half of it check out the rest. Our friend is probably right on about the pie in the sky platitudes and the optimisitudinatin' that our heroic dear leader and verbal warrior will try to swoon us with. As Positivitatin' and inclusitivitatin' as dear leader may try to come off tonight, I don't think he will be able to put the genie that Miller and Snarly let out last night, back into the bottle. And if the Softball introduction is any indication, I will be pointing and laughing early and often tonight.

Pomp and Smirkumstance

First off, Last nights the Daily Show was a masterpiece. Be sure to catch the rerun at 6 o' clock.

Last night was almost like watching the hindenburg come down in flames, though without the "oh the Humanity" sentiment. Zigzag zell was like a pez dispensing pinyata, filled with red meat for the brown shirt brigades. Cheney was a font of inspiration, exuding his usual warmth and charm. Man, that guy can really light up a stage, almost Clintonesque is his radiance. Anyone who was filled with pride in their country after last nights Rally, has probably signed up for the advanced sniper brigade and will be charged with eliminating malcontents like yours truly.

I think that while a case could be made with respect to comparisons with the Nuremburg Rallies, Nuremburg, was on the whole a much snazzier production, and quite frankly more inspiring. Tonight, our dear leader will strut to a special, stage in the round, set up on the convention floor, where he will be surrounded by only the most rabid of his faithful. If he has any chance of ressurecting the poor dead soul of this convention, someone might want to take a look at "Triumph of the Will" today for some last minute tips. Unfortunately for the party of inclusitude, I am fairly certain that Stumblebum will not be up to the task.

Worst Convention Ever. There I said it, damn and it feels good. That they still feel they have to indulge in base maintanence program activities at NaziCon 04, speaks volumes.

Zell Miller loosing his head and challenging Tweety to a duel was an amazing breakdown of composure. There were 3 episodes worth of Daily Show material in that interview. To bad that tweety will be forced to turn in his fangs again. I can't imagine what the Freepi are on about today. I'll let you know what we drag in with the nets.

Optimisitude

can I help myself?
no I really can't



Shameless ripoff, however comes with some
transcriptly millerbot blows stackly
gooodness. sorry but the spelling sucks
but not so bad that you miss the flavor.

zell: no kris no i did it because i no i you you you your hopeless I wish I was over there in fact i wish that we lived in the, i wish that we lived in the day i wish we lived in i chris i wish

tweety: i gotta warn ya i gotta warn ya, were in a tough part of town over here but i do but i do recomend you come over because i like you, let me tell you this if a repu if a republican senator broke ranks and r im sorry and a republican sen broke ranks and came over and spoke to the dems would you respect him

zell: yes of course i would ive seen that happen from time time to time - look i-

tweety: why whatr jim jeffers which jim jeffers say to you of jim jeffers of vermont switched prties after getting elected

zell: look look if your gonna ask a question

tweety: its a tough question, it takes a few words

zell: get out of my face. if your gonna ask me a question step back and let me asner it. you know i wish we

tweety:-senator

zell: i i i wish that you-I wish we lived in the day when you could challenge a person to a duel now that would be pretty good but don't ask me [xtalk] dont pull that, wait a minute, dont pull that kind of stuff, that on me like you did that young lady when you had her on there, brow beatin her to death, I'm not her, I'm not her

Please pardon the formatting errors. trying to deal with the transcription of crosstalk is a not a skill to be trifled. or ultimately a job to be suffered by mortals. the above is all I can bother myself with and is accurate. cant wait to see the software version.

Now thats bowel evacuatin' funny

The Rude Pundit dips quill into well to discuss Presidential leadership, as displayed by dear leader, on the day when the world fell into his lap.

Since George Bush's "leadership" after September 11 is what's being touted as his great strength, let us remember not only the infamous seven-minute slow burn of "Oh, fuck, I'm gonna shit myself in front of schoolchildren" in Florida, but let us remember that the President was on the run, hopping around the country like a jackrabbit on acid, thinking it sees wolves everywhere. The "leadership" of Bush ain't about standing on the rubble three days later. It's about a man who chose to run away. At least a six-foot high steaming pile of shit would have stayed put. And in the days after we finally found out that we still had a President? Why, we know, we know now that he and his administration immediately set about trying to bomb Iraq, no matter what. Yeah, man, that's leadership. Take advantage when everyone's distracted. Sweep up later.

Best Simpsons related posting activities

The opportunity stared some of us right in the face but we blinked, and missed. I am personally ashamed of myself, I just stood staring vacantly off into space while that platter full of those little quiche thingies that i like so much was presented, and I managed to find that one nasty tasting liver treat. Now while I run looking for a napkin to spit this crap out, take a look at this short post from Jesse titled Ken Griffey's Grotesquely Swollen Jaw. Damn kids.

[...Updidlydate...]

Umpire: Okay, let's go over the ground rules. You can't leave first until you chug a beer. Any man scoring has to chug a beer. you have to chug a beer at the top of all odd-numbered innings. Oh, and the fourth inning is the beer inning.
Wiggum: Hey, we know how to play softball!

Homer: You're Darryl Strawberry.
Darryl: Yes?
Homer: You play right field.
Darryl: Yes?
Homer: I play right field, too.
Darryl: So?
Homer: Well, are you better than me?
Darryl: Well, I never met you... but yes.

The Rude one goes off on the Gropenfuhrer

Give the guy some material and lets just say that as fast as you can say "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" He does exactly that. Go check out the "Terminator vs the Bush Women." Now. Hurry.

Christ, what a load of crap that fake demi-man exploded onto the crowd of slavering white people at Madison Square Garden last night. When he proudly announced his life as an average American immigrant story, maybe somewhere a Guatemalan maid who works on a cash basis in an Atlanta mansion was mopping up the kitchen and could hear the harshly accented California governor from the TV in the entertainment room. Maybe a little radio played Herr Governor's words out into the fields of Mexican maquiladoras picking corn in Indiana. Maybe a group of Haitian workers could listen through the din of the steam in the laundries of Brooklyn. Maybe from sea to shining sea all the non-white immigrants could hear Schwarzenegger's words and for a moment believe the bright, glittering lie that supporting Republicans is the only way to success. Then their bosses would order them back to work or be put out on the street. Man, the desperate exploitative steps a rich fascist will take to protect his tax cuts.

Meanwhile, the Bush Twins, Jenna and Barbara, demonstrated for the world to see that they are destined for coked out oblivion, being fuck puppets for celebrity boys who wanna tell their posses they had presidential pussy, and deep, long-term therapy to deal with the scars of being so complicit in their own whoredom. When Jenna said that it was time for "payback" for being "embarassed" by their parents, God, didn't you hope against hope that some synapse would flare up in her brain and she'd say, "Holy fucking shit, there was the night Daddy came home, blasted out of his mind on Peruvian blow and tequila and chased me around wearing nothing but a cowboy hat and boots and a raging hard-on, screaming, 'Daddy loves you, Daddy loves you, you got a lovin' Daddy,' and Mom had to pull out a rifle and tell him to put his pants on or she was gonna call Grandma and then Daddy collapsed by the pool, pissing himself and screaming, 'Mama's gonna beat me somethin' fierce' before he vomited down his chest and all over the Spanish tile and when he started bleeding out of his nose, Mom called Grandpa, who sent over his private ambulance, the one on-call for just this emergency, to take Daddy to the hospital to pump him with adrenaline so he didn't go into a coma and embarass everyone. Again."

Beavis and not Beavis

Arent the twins cute? It was such a joy to watch them comport themselves with such grace. No it was a trainwreck, So was the "softball game" introduction gimmick. With stumblebum fumbling his words amidst a backdrop of a softball game wherein all of the batters wore the number 43. They shared their version of the hamster story, lets just say "the hamster didn't make it" in yet another shameless attempt to mock Kerry. This convention is all highschool all the time. With regard to the twins I'll let Steve Gilliard take care of the details.

Seriously, I know I beat up on them, but I find them kind of sad.

It's so clear that they have real, ongoing, issues with their parents. They both love and deeply resent their father. Because they so don't care about the campaign. They do what they are told and that's it. Jenna is clearly headed towards rehab, but Not Jenna isn't much better off. Every time I see her, I get the feeling she'd be happier as an editorial assistant at Harper Collins, and living in a studio apartment.

Jenna is so angry at her dad it almost radiates off her body. The boozing, the alleged abortions, all of it designed to get daddy's attention and it fails..

For some reason, I think Jeb has a much better relationship with his kids, even with Noelle's drug habit. George P. Bush seems to be a much happier, more centered person than Bush's girls. Not that it's ideal, I don't think the Bush men are great with kids at all, but I think the Bush twins are very unhappy girls.

It's unfair to compare them to the Kerry girls, who are much more accomplished and slightly older. But when you compare them to Cate Edwards, it's just sad. She seems not only happy to work for her father, but she's poised and intelligent.

The Bush girls are smart, but they are just going through the motions. Why else bring up curfew? They're 22, old enough to get a beer or volunteer for Iraq. Curfew is for teenage girls, not adults.

Yet, the family, as well as the campaign, seems intent on treating them like teenagers who haven't quite graduated yet.

And they are completely indifferent at how angry their socialite lifestyle makes people. Kids their age are being maimed for life in Iraq. Jessica Lynch was crippled for life at 21. The average age of an infantry platoon leader is 23. So why do the Bush girls act like newly liberated teenagers?

The party of the stern father figure wants to infantilize anything they can get there hands on. Mature adults who think on their own are anathema to the foundation of Republican groupthink.

This aint flogging a dead horse it's necrophilia

What is it about the Clintons that give some wingers headaches and othere wingers hardons? It's not like Rush hasn't flogged the horse to death, but has rendered it's corpse beyond all recognition. Like the addled addict that he is, Rush is compelled to put his strap on penis on and search feverously for another hole to thrust this "manhood" through. He trundles hither and yon in search of enough lightly decayed sinew to bundle together to form a kind of pocket pussy and proceeds to have his way.

Limbaugh claimed Clintons are funding Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

On the August 31 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh suggested that former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are secretly funding the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

From the August 31 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I still say, if you really dig deep, you might find some Clinton PAC [political action committee] money, laundered three or four different ways, found its way to the Swift Vets. But that's just me.

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have condemned the false and misleading attacks on Senator John Kerry by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as well as the links between the group and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, as The New York Times reported on August 30.

Limbaugh's remark recalled unfounded speculation by numerous pundits, including himself, that the Clintons do not truly want Senator John Kerry (D-MA) to win the 2004 presidential election; for more examples, see here, here, and here.

Rush, can we talk dude. That pony you keep fucking is already skin and bones dead, and like oil, you are soon gonna be running out of skin and will be left with nothing but bones to fuck. My advice, admit that you have a problem, get a few cases of spam and fashion a replica of Bill Clinton's ass, or Manuel's, the poolboy that you fetchingly gaze at while he works, and have at that until you are satisfied. Remember to put the spam ass back in the fridge when you are done mmmkay.

Fuckin' shit up wherever they go.

You may remember the costs associated with presidential visit to the Lacrosse Wisconsin area. Well a recent visit to New Mexico resulted in loads of damage to the local airport runway. From a commentor at DailyKos.......

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - It’ll cost at least $1 million to repair a runway at the Las Cruces International Airport damaged during President Bush’s recent visit to the state.

Officials say the damage apparently was caused last Thursday during the landing of a C 32 A airplane that accompanied President Bush’s visit. The airplane is a military version of a Boeing 757 jetliner.

A deep set of tire ruts highlighted by dark skid marks extend more than half a mile down the runway.

Facilities director Brian Denmark says city staff made it clear to the pilots and the president’s travel team that the airport could not handle the weight of a 757.

The city has closed the runway indefinitely. The airport has three runways.

Suprise of suprises, warned of danger ahead of time what does BuschCo do? Disregard that which it does not want to hear. I wonder if any of my tax pennies will be involved in the repair effort. What an arrogent piece of crap.

Which horseman of the appocalypse?

And didn't we all think that bush was
batshit afraid of horses. The appocalytude
is truly astonishing is it not?

Doin the hokey pokey

And you thought that Irony was dead

No it was just hamstrung. You gotta love it when gangbang Gropenator lavishes praise on the Dimwitted and Dissloute Dauphin. In an ap piece titled:

Schwarzenegger Praising Bush's Character

NEW YORK (AP) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger planned put his star power to work for President Bush on Tuesday, praising him for "perseverance, character and leadership" in a time of war and terror.

The Austrian bodybuilder-turned-Hollywood star and politician was to draw heavily on his own unique immigrant story to cast the GOP as a party of opportunity. "I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities," he says in excerpts of his prime-time speech to the Republican convention.

"And I believe they can. That's why I believe in this country, that's why I believe in this party and what's why I believe in this president," Schwarzenegger says.

"America is back," he says, a line reminiscent of his slogan from the "Terminator" movies: "I'll be back."

Osama bin forgotten

Not a single mention of the perported 9/11 conspitor. Is anyone suprised. Didn't think so. Anyone want to lay odds on a Saddam-in-a-cage appearence on Thursay night?

Ah'm proud to be an idiot part 798

Thanks to Attaturk for digging up this one. I'll be searching for more.

IOKIYAR "Watch me count my own votes"

Greg Palast draws our attention to a florida election supervisor counting votes in her own race. This is unfreakinbelieveable. They can't win fairly so must use any means necessary.

by Greg Palast


On Friday, Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach, candidate for re-election as Supervisor of Elections, chose to supervise her own election, no one allowed. This Tuesday, Florida votes for these nominally non-partisan posts.

You remember Theresa, "Madame Butterfly," the one whose ballots brought in the big vote for Pat Buchanan in the Jewish precincts in November 2000. Then she failed to do the hand count that would have changed the White House from Red to Blue.

This time, Theresa's in a hurry to get to the counting. She began tallying absentee ballots on Friday in her own re-election race. Not to worry: the law requires the Supervisor of Elections in each county to certify poll-watchers to observe the count.

But Theresa has a better idea. She refused to certify a single poll-watcher from opponents' organizations despite the legal requirement she do so by last week. She'll count her own votes herself, thank you very much!

And so far, she's doing quite well. Although 37,000 citizens have requested absentee ballots, she says she'd only received 22,000 when she began the count. Where are the others? Don't ask: though she posts the names of requesters, she won't release the list of those who have voted, an eyebrow-raising deviation from standard procedure.

In other outrageous news, we find out that most of the big media outlets are picking up the Gropenators tab.

Schwarzenegger aides said Wednesday that the estimated $350,000 cost of his excursion to New York next week would be underwritten by a number of entertainment, pharmaceutical, oil and telecommunications concerns with major business interests in California.
[....]Among the corporate sponsors of Mr. Schwarzenegger's trip, according to a list provided by the governor's office, are Fox Entertainment, NBC Universal, News Corporation, Paramount, TimeWarner, the Walt Disney Company and Viacom. Other donors include Abbott Laboratories, Amgen and Pfizer, ChevronTexaco and Conoco Phillips, and Outback Steakhouse, SBC and Visa.

Two important entertainment trade groups, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, also contributed toward the trip. The two groups are also sponsoring a tribute to Mr. Schwarzenegger in New York after his speech.

Nice ain't it. And WTF a "Tribute" for what? Grabbing tits and ass as fast as he can? Being and utterly bad actor? Washed up Nazi, an Ernst Rhoem, who won't be targeted in the upcoming night of the long knives? Jesus Christ.

While the idiots blather on

Purple hearts and Outrage fatigue

Got this one from Steve Gilliards place, head on over and check out the comments.

Bigots Idiots and Children

One of the biggest fires raging through blogistan is the righteous outrage over the RNC Purple HeartBandAid stunt. Astonishing in its lack of sensitivity to the potential offence to millions of purple heart recipiants. A gag of the lowest order, I can imagine the childlike giggling that accompanies the revelation of the idea. While searching for a good picture of the item in question, I stunmbled across this wingnut site.

Kerry to Endorse New 'Purple Heart' Band-Aids
05/06/04 NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey

Senator John Kerry, the recipient of three Purple Hearts, has signed a contract with Johnson & Johnson to endorse a new line of band-aids.

The band-aids will be small purple hearts designed to cover minor, superficial wounds like Kerry suffered as a lieutenant in the Vietnam War.

"We're proud to be working with Senator Kerry," said a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson. "We plan to use actual shrapnel removed from his arm in our ad campaign to highlight the small size of our J&J Band-Aid brand Purple Heart bandages."

The doctor who treated Kerry at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, recently described the procedure used to treat the wound that won the senator his first Purple Heart.

"First, I located the wound with the aid of a magnifying glass," said Dr. Louis Letson. "Then, I used a pair of tweezers to extract the shrapnel, which measured approximately one centimeter in length and two to three millimeters in diameter.

Wingnuts have absolutely no shame. They are sooo highschool and hardee har har. Lets take a look at some of the comments attached to this brilliant post.

I get so pissed every time I think about that moron getting a Purple Heart for his boo-boo. If that's the case, I deserve a freakin' Congressional Medal of Honor for giving birth to my children. And I probably didn't whine as much about it.- Denise

After being called out on the stupidity of the post, the man who wrote it follows up:

Nikki - You missed the whole point of the post. I was not demeaning the soldiers. I have a nephew serving in Iraq and I'm very proud of him. I served in Viet Nam. I am making fun of John Kerry who in all probability did not deserve his first and third purple heart. Read more of my writing before you jump to erroneous conclusions. I would never make fun of a genuine hero or demean his service to his country. -Denny

Of course Denny, drink the Kool Aid, swallow the lies. When did you choose party over country, when did you decide to wear blinders, and can you provide proof that Kerry did not in fact earn his 1st and 3rd purple hearts. No I didn't think so. Brother you are a fool. But its nice to know that you have backup.

If there's one thing I can't stand more than whiny liberal sacks of wussy rine complaining about our country going to war, it's those hypocrites who attempt to hide their treasonus contempt for our nation by cloaking themselves in the flag and mock support of those brave warriors who would die to protect it.

Thats some mightyfine projection you got going on Leroy, in fact this is exactly what your stupid assed party was up to last night with there nothing sacred display of stupidity.

This scum would rather burn our flag than honor those who dedicate themselves to defending it. John Kerry is a shining example of someone who abuses the memory of the scrifce of brave men for his own personal gain, and by pointing out his falsehood and exposing his lies and contempt for his countrymen, veterans and non-veterans alike seek to protect the honor of those who truly sacrificed for their brethren. So liberals, continue to expose your sinful selves to the world through your rediculus rants and blatant hypocracy so that we who have open eyes can continue to see you for what you are. -Leroy

Clear skies, Healthy Forests, No (wealthy or fundimentalist) child left behind, Leroy methinks thou protest too much.

Wingnut Wonders of the World

This list is open for discussion and any suggestions are welcome. I would be looking for People, Ideas, decisions, anything wingnutty good can qualify with the intent on wittling it down to 7 best.

Leo Strauss
anthrax coultergiest
Michelle "miss Manilla" Malkin
Rush Limbaughs anal cyst
Tucker Carlsons Bow-tie
Bill "I won that debate" O'Rielly

and many more to come maybe with graphics and linkydinks for elucidation. Feel free to add your ideas, should be open to all, the comments that is.

Nutcase Freak or Better Angel

You can find out more about the woman who
was chosen to perform the opening invocation
for the Bush coronation Ceremonies at the
Eschaton and over at the Generals Place.
Truly a wingnut wonder to behold

By the way, It just occurs to me that we need to think about
a compilation called "Wingnut Wonders of the World" lets say
somewhere in the neighborhood of seven for a start.

Peaceful Protest Powerful Images

Here is the URL for a great photo album of the protest.

Feel the Love

At first glance a pretty cool logo if you ask me. but look closely friends.



The above courtesy of AmericaBlog. The article linked to the image celebrates the following:

Donnie McClurkin: Grammy Winner (African American and Ex-Gay) to Perform at Republican National Convention

Good thing that he is Black and Ex-Gay thats like a double dose of republican inclusitude.