Thats, uhm well, dont know

Picture via Atrios and yahoo, comment from cms

It's late in the comment game, but I'll add a point
because this picture illustrates it so perfectly.

Mark Miller is out with a new book, Cruel and Unusual and was on Franken's show Friday promoting it. He made the point, which is obvious once you see it, is that Bush gets into trouble grammatically (and in this case, with body language) when he is in a situation where he has to show empathy or compassion or self-reflection. He is incapable of expressing those sentiments and he goes terribly wrong when he tries to.

Earlier this week we heard him try to be empathetic with OBGYNs and the high cost of their malpractice insurance. He couldn't. Bush's famous shlubbing of the "Fool me once, shame on...you" was because he could not say the words "shame on me." This photo again illustrates how the President of the United States is incapable of empathy.

Miller pointed out that whenever the talk turns to revenge, payback, setting evil right, he can come up with "stunningly eloquent" ad-libs. I'm not sure I would go that far, but at least his points are coherent.
cms

Another example of narcisistic personality disorder, among the coctail of sociopathic and psycopathic tendancies. I'm telling you its the only thing that makes sense. Who in gods name can fuck up a simple hands over heart so fucking badly. Hopefully a member of the 101st fightin keyboarders can drop in and enlighten me.

The Gaggle is for sterner men than I

Caught the first part at TBogg and the second at the Eschaton (i think). It takes a strong stomach to wade through scotty's disembling and the media complicity as enabler, but after a couple of aborted attempts to loose my lunch I came acoss the above, what I didn't know was that the second fell on the hells of the first. Scroll down to the bottom of the page

Q Al Gore is saying today that Cheney's comments on the election are sleazy and despicable and an effort to blackmail voters with fear. That's from Al Gore today -- Al Gore in response to Cheney's comments about another terrorist attack coming. If Kerry is elected -- Al Gore is calling Cheney's comments --

MR. MCCLELLAN: Consider the source.

Q He was Vice President, last I looked.

MR. McCLELLAN: He's made all sorts of attacks against the President.

Q Jakarta bombing. Got anything on it?

MR. McCLELLAN: What about it, just looking for a comment?

Q Any details we might not have heard, or a reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we condemn these kind of attacks in the strongest possible terms. It is -- it shows the true nature of the terrorists, and it is a grim reminder that we remain engaged in a global war on terrorism. The terrorists will be defeated. This is a tactic that is -- that's similar to tactics that have been used by Jemaat-e-Islam. And our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.

I guess in some circles the smug dismissal of the opposition passes with legitimacy, but even more disturbing is the flippant toss on the Jakarta Bombing. "Consider the source" I guess that the opinion of a man who served his country in Vietnam, as a multi term Senator and two terms as a vice president is worth nothing. "What about it....." followed by scripted platitudes that never fail to include vagueries about the "true nature" and grim reminders and oh and by the by, we feel for your suffering.

The Revisionist History Channel

Today's lineup started with a 9/11 special followed by their explosive expose of Saddam called "Saddam butcher of Baghdad" followed by "Targeted" a series devoted to enemies we are after and appropriately todays episode was on Osama Bin Laden. So the History channel is doing their part to make it pretty obious that 9/11 equals Saddam and Osama. To finish off the day we are treated to the first four episodes of the Band of Brothers. It almost makes me feel good that we are fighting them terrorists in Irakistan

A legitimate complaint

While at Body and Soul, I read this post and in the comments, there is a discussion of the recent use of pejoritive terms to insult the manhood of dear leader. It is easy forget that terms we use to denigrate someones mannhood can also be very insulting to women, and while the intent may be laudible, the insult remains. In the future I think that we should exercise more caution and creativity in the choice of language to make our point. Jeanne makes an excellent point.

Every time I read a liberal post which uses language that disparages women, I feel excluded. I feel like there's a big sign on the blog that says my (weak and stupid) kind isn't wanted. And obviously I'm not the only woman who feels that way. Now I don't particularly care if Kim du Toit wants to exclude me, but I don't like it when bloggers I read every day feel compelled to remind me every once in awhile that I'm not really as good as they are. More important, insulting half of your potential audience does not strike me as a politically astute move.
[.....]
I don't think liberal men who "insult" Bush by questioning his masculinity intend to offend women, and I don't think they really believe women are weak or cowardly. So why do they do it? That insulting macho pose loses you so much credibility and does so much damage, what's to be gained? Is it just verbal laziness or do they genuinely believe that pose accomplishes something?

A perfectly valid point to keep in mind fella's, there are other ways to attack the man, and in this case I think that Wimp is a better term than others that are invoked to feminise the jackass. Des femmes, has several posts on the matter. Starting here.

Nuances: who owns the words

Simbaud stopped by and asked some hard questions. He noticed I haven't called out any women for using pussy or so-&-so's bitch. There are a mishmash of reasons why; here are the ones I could put to words, in no logical order:

• The women's usage doesn't threaten me the way the men's does. When men say pussy instead of coward, their tone turns ugly with contempt. It's frightening, and self-defense drives me to anger.
• Enough people already tell women what they can and can't say or do.
• Each person has the right to define themself. It's their choice, not mine, what they call themself, no matter how I may cringe.
• I don't want to get involved with any "us versus them" among women. Dissension is a tool for the people who abuse power.
• It disappoints me and I don't want to think about it.
• The men are the ones who relish these insults. When the men stop, the women will stop.

We should endevour to be sensitive to this issue. I can see no reason to do otherwise.

Mr Rumsfeld, its Osama, not Saddam.

Jeanne, over at Body and Soul, brought this to my attention. Twice Rumsfeld confused Saddam Hussien and Osama Bin Laden, from reuters.

In a speech to the National Press Club on the eve of the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Rumsfeld began by saying the world just before the attacks was not as serene as some people now suggest.

"The leader of the opposition Northern Alliance, Masood, lay dead, his murder ordered by Saddam Hussein, by Osama bin Laden, Taliban's co-conspirator," Rumsfeld said.

He was referring to Ahmad Shah Masood who was in opposition to the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan and was killed by al Qaeda two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Later in responding to a question, Rumsfeld again confused Saddam and bin Laden in a discourse about how U.S. and coalition actions had made it more difficult for terrorists to operate.

"It's harder for them to travel between countries, it's harder for them to communicate with each other, it's harder for them to raise money, it's harder for them to transfer money, it's harder for them to buy weapons, it's harder for them to do everything," Rumsfeld said.

"Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying to not get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001," Rumsfeld said.

"Now, he's got to be busy. Why is he busy? It's because of the pressure that's being put on him," he added.

The moderator later asked Rumsfeld if he had meant bin Laden, and the defense secretary replied: "I did. I meant we haven't seen Osama bin Laden."

Not only should this jackass have been fired for obvious incopetance in his job as the primary architect, of the war and occupation, he should be sitting in irons, awaiting trial for his crimes. Instead, the man who should understand the difference better than any of us, demonstrates his inability to keep his facts straight. From Freudian slip to playing the game of moral relevance, once decried on the right, since embraced in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib. In another example of a game called "missing the point entirely" Rumsfeld takes the cowards path.

Associated Press
Saturday, September 11, 2004; Page A04

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, responding to allegations that he fostered a climate that led to the prisoner-abuse scandal, said yesterday that the military's mistreatment of detainees was not as bad as what terrorists have done.

"Does it rank up there with chopping someone's head off on television?" he asked. "It doesn't."

We lost any semblance to the moral high ground when we started abusing prisoners, period. Whether in the end we were not as bad as Saddam or the terrorists is missing the point. We have fallen into the neighborhood occupied by those criminals and have tarred our Nation with that brush. We have slept with dogs and now choose to complain about the attendant infestation of fleas. We lost this war the moment the first prisoner was handled in violation of the Geneva conventions, we lost this war the moment an innocent person was subjected to torture. If the occupation planning was not doomed to failure, if we had been able, through actions, not rhetoric, to convince the iraqi's that we were there to help them, we may have avoided the fatal mistakes that followed and continue to result in sands stained with their blood and ours.

A lack of Courage and Insubordination

I sit in front of the blank page looking for something profound to jump in my head and out of my fingers. I am personally satisfied that I devoted only these words to memo-gate, in fact I have to admit that this is one "issue" that I failed to understand. In any event the fact remains that 32 years ago an officer in the TANG named George W Bush, disobeyed a direct order from his superior, to show up for a physical. That he failed to do so was insubordination, and for the fortunate son, the only disiplinary action faced was the revocation of his flight status.

Dubya has been a lucky boy, if he had actually been serving in the regular army and disobeyed a direct order under wartime, he could have faced not only a court martial, but the death penalty as well. That is the seriousness with which the military takes the chain of command. But George recieved a slap on the wrist because daddy was in a position to ask for and be granted special favors, and over and over again little george was the beneficiary. It is very likely that bush refused to take the physical, because of a fear that it would reveal behavior not becoming of an officer and gentleman, behavior of a nature that its revelation would so damaging to the man or his family as to risk the possibility of being sent to Vietnam for active duty. Think about that for a second.

Was he just trying to hide drug use, or was there something more damaging hiding in a closet somewhere? Was the game so rigged, that george knew that he would never really face the music?

Three years ago today Dubya was on his way to an elementary school in Florida for a photo op. During this photo op he is told that "America is under attack" by his chief of staff, Andrew Card. What does george do? He continues to sit in his chair as if paralyzed and continues with the photo opportunity. Compassionate conservatism is really about wiping that racist stink off your ass by being shown surrounded by black kids. His handlers and the man himself tell us that he did not want to scare the children.

Yeah right, good one. If the man had simply got up 'splained that he had some presidntin' to do, and maybe promise to return at a later date, that would have been fine, the kids would have understood and he could have returned to his real job of leading the country in this very real time of crisis. No that excuse is a sham, trying to put a nice face on a pretty substantial failure of leadership. That the man stuck around after the famous video ends for more photo's is even more damning. Imagine for a second that Clinton had been president and behaved in exactly the same way. That video would be playing 24/7 on all the news outlets and Clinton would be a former president impeached and living in the obscurity of disgrace.

The actions that take place after all the black kids are milked dry in the service of compassion, are best descibed in these words from the Rude Pundit.

"....... 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."

A pretty apt description of the empty suit that was our dear leader on that fateful day.
All of this was lost in the fog of astonishment and rage, and the cries for retribution. A failed leader was elevated to a status unmerited by any action, and embraced by the world. His puppeteers heard opportunity knocking, and before you could say Baghdad, two wars were in the planning stages. And what is war, if it is not an opportunity profit, while under cover of flag and Country. Dubya's "trifecta" was no joke, his cronies Carlyle and Haliburton, had truly found el Dorado, the mountain of gold.

In that mythical america where fairness trumps priviledge, the fortunate son would never have been elevated so far above his level of competance, as to render the peter principle inoperative. In that mythical america, the fact that the administration was at best, asleep at the switch, at worst, looked the other way, would have resulted in their removal from office. In that mythical America our leaders would fight for the common good and would attempt to unite us for the advancement of the common good and not devide us for personal gain or accumulation of politcal power.

Yet this is the real America, and our figurehead has chosen to fead us a never ending diet of fear and hatred, appealing to the basest of our instincts, hoping that we will be cowed like children into returning this pathetic excuse of a father figure to office. On this three year anniversary of the "day that changed nothing everything" the fog clears the sham exposed, and while it is unlikely that george will never truly face any of the consequences of his incopetance, he will be joining his father as a one term president. The judgement of history will not be kind, and will likely include a phrase with which many of us are familier, Worst President Ever.

Check this out: Skip Barker interview

Skip Barker, former swift boat commander who attended "swift boat" school and served in Kerry in Vietnam, participated in an interview on a public radio station, discussing the swift boat liars. Over at Talk Radio, there is audio of a this interview available in mp3 format. Heads up from 2fair in the comments at Digby's blog. He was referring to a TV show, I went searching and found these. If I can find any fottage of the TV show in question I'll post it here. You may want to take a look at 2fair's recap.
[......update.......]
Still looking for, a vid source or transcript, but did find notice on the Alabama Public Television schedule page.

Slippery slope related police state program activities

From Atrios Via Campaign Extra, via WaPo's Dana Millbank, The Secret Service seems to have expanded its activities from the usual, breaking up of counterfeit money operations, and Preznidental protection, to include protecting, well I'm not sure what exactly, but either the protestors, from members of the press that might want to interview them, the press, from the protestors that they might like to interview, or us, from having to read what the protestors might be on about. In any event I doubt that this expanded duty was apart of the original charter that created the service. During a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, seven protestors were ejected from the place, for disruptions of presidential mendacity. This of course should come as no suprise to anyone familiar with "free speech zones"

One uniformed Secret Service agent complained to a colleague that "the press is having a field day" with the disruption -- and the agents quickly clamped down. Journalists were told that if they sought to approach the demonstrators, they would not be allowed to return to the event site -- even though their colleagues were free to come and go. An agent, who did not give his name, told one journalist who was blocked from returning to the speech that this was punishment for approaching the demonstrators and that there was a "different set of rules" for reporters who did not seek out the activists.
........
Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, said dealing with hecklers is the job of "the host committee and local enforcement" officers. "The Secret Service normally doesn't get involved." Mazur referred questions about the event to the Philadelphia field office, where Agent in Charge James Borasi was not available for comment.

A White House spokeswoman, Claire Buchan, said Bush's personal aide did keep a reporter away from the demonstrators but was not involved in the activists' detention.

Wow even Bush's personal aid got into the fray. "Must keep all dissening voices quiet - dear leader must be protected from any idea that he has detractors - his perty brain can not be exposed to the truth." Next up "free speech trailers".

E-Bay , Bake Sales and Lemonade Stands

Most of you are aware of remarks our imperious leader "I Cheneius" made in Cincinatti yesterday.

September 09, 2004

Cheney: Economic Stats Miss EBay Sales

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CINCINNATI (AP) - Indicators measure the nation's unemployment rate, consumer spending and other economic milestones, but Vice President Dick Cheney says it misses the hundreds of thousands who make money selling on eBay.

"That's a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago," Cheney told an audience in Ohio. "Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay."

We'll look into confirmation, but I have been led to understand the E-Bay's 2 billion yearly is in fact counted as part of the GDP. But in any event that really isn't the point, The responce from Edwards was Priceless.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards responded that Cheney’s comments show how “out of touch” he and President Bush are with the economy.“If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking,” Edwards said in a statement.

That is some fine comebackinatin' A zinger that will put smiles on many faces today. But ultimately this talk about the economy should remind us how fucking screwed it is now, that george gave china the keys to it. The looting of the treasury to borrow and spend away on optional tax cuts, optional wars, optional Halliburton and Brown and Root contracts, and the permenant damage that may result, are all the fault of the Supreme Court selected, Optional Presidency.

The former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, believes that there is a 75% chance of a financial crisis in the next 5 years. Ouch. Now in the midst of a close election, I like to try to keep the morale of the troops high, but Volcker has a point and this article in the Economist has some scary numbers in it.

Fred Bergsten explains why policymakers need to act now in order to avert the danger of serious damage to the world economy

FIVE major risks threaten the world economy. Three centre on the United States: renewed sharp increases in the current-account deficit leading to a crash of the dollar; a budget profile that is out of control; and an outbreak of trade protectionism. A fourth relates to China, which faces a possible hard landing from its recent overheating. The fifth is that oil prices could rise to $60-70 per barrel even without a major political or terrorist disruption, and much higher with one.

Most of these risks reinforce each other. A further oil shock, a dollar collapse and a soaring American budget deficit would all generate much higher inflation and interest rates. A sharp dollar decline would increase the likelihood of further oil price rises. Larger budget deficits will produce larger American trade deficits, and thus more protectionism and dollar vulnerability. Realisation of any one of the five risks could substantially reduce world growth. If two or three, let alone all five, were to occur in combination then they would radically reverse the global outlook.

There is still time to head off each of these risks. Decisions made in America immediately after this year's elections will be pivotal. China, the new growth locomotive, is key to resolving the global trade imbalances and must play a central role in future. Action by a number of other countries will be essential to maintain global growth and to avoid deeper oil shocks and new trade restrictions.

Regarding this last graph, It should be clear as a bell to anyone with a couple of brain cells that George and gang are incapable of making the pivitol decisions necessary to turn this mess back into the wind. But that really isn't their goal. The goal is to grab all the cash possible shove it into hidden bank accounts so that they and their posterity will forever, be braced against the worst case scenario of economic collapse. Have you ever wondered how cool it would be to have enormous liquid wealth during a recession, or even a depression, Shit, man, you're looking at a four alarm fire sale.

Krugman has a new column out today that has the Volcker quote within, lets see what the esteemed economist has to say. Paul is all over the budgetary shenanigans played by the bush adminstration, like a cheap suit. He starts with a list of examples that suggest that this administration cannot tell the truth, and then lets us in on the fact that the economic analysts, no longer trust any of the administration numbers and suggest that the books have been cooked, to show an improvement of the deficit numbers at the end of the fiscal year (october, and conveniently before the election).

For example, back in February the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities accused the Bush administration of, in effect, playing three-card monte with budget forecasts. It pointed out that the administration's deficit forecast was far above those of independent analysts, and suggested that this exaggeration was deliberate.

"Overstating the 2004 deficit," the center wrote, "could allow the president to announce significant 'progress' on the deficit in late October - shortly before Election Day - when the Treasury Department announces the final figures."

Was this a wild accusation from a liberal think tank? No, it's conventional wisdom among experts. Two months ago Stanley Collender, a respected nonpartisan analyst, warned: "At some point over the next few weeks, the Office of Management and Budget will release the administration's midsession budget review and try to convince everyone the federal deficit is falling. Don't believe them."

Done and done. Actually it goes without saying that everytime the vicars of the Executive, or any of their spokespersons, open their mouths, lies, vermin, falsehood, the bearing of false witness, mischaracterizations, prevarication, in other words, steaming piles of shit come tumbling out.

As Newsweek's Allan Sloan writes, "The president didn't exactly burden us with details about paying for all this. It's great marketing: show your audience the goodies but not the price tag. It's like going to the supermarket, picking out your stuff and taking it home without stopping at the checkout line to pay. The bill? That will come later."

Longtime readers will remember that that's exactly what I said, shrilly, about Mr. Bush's proposals during the 2000 campaign. Once again, he's running on the claim that 2 - 1 = 4.
..........
Nobody knows what Mr. Bush would really do about taxes and spending in a second term. What we do know is that on this, as on many matters, he won't tell the truth.

Not burdened by the reciept of a paycheck, I am free to say that I know exactly what Bush has planned. He will transfer the remainder of the treasury into the pockets of his family and supporters. He will then loot social security for the same ends, and will hock the rest of the country to china, scoop up that cash, and then when all the cash has been boosted, will skip off into the sunset wistling dixie, and wait for the inevitable
fire sale opportunities that arise when hit by a depression caused by his policies. Put it another way, when George leaves after a second term, Mexicans will no longer have any reason to immigrate to the United States. Scary yes, can we avoid it, absolutely, but we have to send the republicans and neocons packing, come November.

A trip to the otherside

Digby suggested a visit to Catch.com and I ended up at little green footballs. While there I enjoyed a taste of wisdom from the troops responding to this article.

Captain America 9/7/2004 07:08PM PST


Victims!!! All Muslims are innocent victims!!! Or say they would have us believe. But we are all beginning to understand that they are in fact robots programmed by the Koran and Sharia for child murder, child molestation and jihad, ready to explode at any moment. Victims they ain't.
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NDMNTX 9/7/2004 07:09PM PST


Yeah well blacks in america didn't go around planning on blowing up thousands of innocent people either. Screw them and Kerry the waffleboy.
...............
RightIsRight 9/7/2004 07:11PM PST


*puke*

I am so fed up with "cultural sensitivity".

Wake Up Call to all the Multi-Culti Douchebags in America:

Right and Wrong CAN be distinguished. Many times there are NO "gray areas", you appeasing shitheels.

Come over to my house and question the "gray areas" of my behavior after I pimpslap your sorry ass into the sheetrock.

/tiredandsickofit
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Talking Stick 9/7/2004 07:31PM PST


Muslims, here is one American’s suggestion:

Stand up, draw a line in the sand and boldly and vigorously show us what side of the Islamic terror line you are on. If you choose to follow the poor-victim shtick of the race hustlers instead, you will pay a steep price.

Time is running out. Your choice
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Q 9/7/2004 07:34PM PST


“Today, Muslims and Arabs are second-class citizens in the United States.”

Just fucking leave already. Get the fuck out and never come back.
..............

norar 9/7/2004 07:49PM PST

“Today, Muslims and Arabs are second-class citizens in the United States.”

Well, they should wait in line for this entitlement. There are so many contenders for this distinction, it must be quite lucrative.
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Midwest Pundit 9/7/2004 08:00PM PST


Surprise???

Are we supposed to be surprised by this? This is just another article by the liberal press to make Bush sound like a bigot.... Like we didn't know that the muslims (as a whole) would back Kerry.

Give me a break!
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Jakester 9/7/2004 08:35PM PST


Well, quit acting like 2nd class citizens and maybe you'd get more respect, like take the potato sacks off your women for one!

Thats about all I can stands but there is so much more. They also don't like Juan Cole,
as if that is a suprise. Fun group of kids to hang out with though.

I heart MoDo

I am not sure what to snip from this column by Maureen Dowd, as it's just chocked full of goodies. I guess I'll go with the following.

He finally simply spit out what the Bush team has been more subtly trying to convey for months: A vote for John Kerry is a vote for the terrorists.

"Because if we make the wrong choice,'' Mr. Cheney said in Des Moines in that calm baritone, "then the danger is that we'll get hit again. That we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war.''

These guys figure, hey, these scare tactics worked in building support for the Iraq war, maybe they can work in tearing down support for John Kerry. They linked Saddam with terrorism and cowed the Democrats (including Mr. Kerry, who has never been able to make the case against the Bush administration's trompe l'oeil casus belli) and fooled the country into going along with their trumped-up war. So why not link Mr. Kerry with terrorism and cow the voters into sticking with the White House they've got?

It's like that fairy tale where vipers and toads jump out of the mouth of the accursed mean little girl when she tries to speak. Every time Mr. Cheney opens his mouth, vermin leap out.

Lord have mercy. Thats an image that'll scare you out of your chair.

A moment of silence

Yesterday came the sad news that over A thousand of our couragious men and women in uniform, have fallen in combat, giving their last full measure of devotion. In honor to them, those that are left behind, and the thousands whose lives have been changed forever, a moment of silence.

Blogiversary

In the little over two months since this place opened shop on independace day a lot of words have passed under the bridge. As blogger was buggerfied yeaterday, the 300th post came and went without notice and the 100,000 word barrier was crossed. So much has happened in that time, and with little under two months remaining untill the election, so much remains.

Brownshirt hits woman

Violence is the last refuge of a scoundrel. I guess when your hooked, your hooked. That Kool-Aid is mighty powerful stuff. When you buy the image of dear leader to be the heroic, resolute, great defender of the true faith (since when did faith require a defence) a mouthpiece for the lord, you must defend him against heathen detractors at all costs. This just brings me to one question, Who would Jesus punch?

Fight Breaks Out Over Kerry Veterans
Police: Man Attacks Participants In Windsor Parade

POSTED: 9:32 am MDT September 7, 2004
UPDATED: 11:20 am MDT September 8, 2004
A member of a Christian group has been fired after allegedly punching several veterans marching for presidential candidate John Kerry in Monday's Harvest Festival parade in Windsor, Colo.

Russell Laughlin, 40, of Nunn, was a member of the northern Colorado FamilyLife Marriage Conference and was walking ahead of 175 members of Veterans for Kerry.

According to police, Laughlin was handing out pamphlets for his group while making loud insults about Kerry to the crowd gathered to watch the parade.

After about a mile, the veterans group asked Laughlin to go back to his own group, but he refused and instead stood in front of the Kerry group, refusing to move, according to a Chris Humphries, an Army veteran and Kerry campaign employee.

That's when a fight erupted and Laughlin grabbed a veteran by his shirt and started swinging, according to Gary Fedel, a Lakewood, Colo. member of Veterans for Kerry. Humphries said Laughlin then turned around punched her in the mouth.

I guess some people go over the top embracing their role as a "Christian Soldier". IOKILTJ It's OK if leviticus trumps Jesus.

Bloggered + some good news

Blogger was down for awhile, my problems started last night when it wouldn't let me publish, but all is rectified for now. Anyway a visit to media matters, brought this little nugget to my attention, which supports my previous belief that we should stop pulling our hair out. This information also suggests that we should be less worried about "undecideds" or "swing" voters, and should instead concentrate our amunition on those who are already with us.

In order to argue that Democrats must politically outmaneuver Republicans because they can no longer rely on a numerical advantage to win elections, Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, falsely claimed on his September 2 show that "[t]here are fewer Democrats compared to how many Republicans there are."

USA Today founder and columnist Al Neuharth noted on January 22, citing Ballot Access News, that Democrats still have a significant numerical advantage over Republicans in the number of registered voters: "An estimated 201.5 million U.S. citizens age 18 or over will be eligible to vote Nov. 2. ... Of these, about 55 million are registered Republicans. About 72 million registered Democrats."

I have said this before and the above makes it clear, that republicans have a much better turnout than democrats. If the figures above are accurate, they had a turnout of about 85-88% for the last election. This page at the wiki-pedia states that bush recieved 50,456,002 votes. As most of you know Gore recieved around half a million more. The fact that there are 17 million more registered democrats than republicans, suggests that we should work on the apathetic dems and improve our turnout. Screw the Kool-Aid drinkers, they are unlikely to be convinced and trying is a waste of time.

You have friends that did not vote last time around. Talk to them about the Courts (boring I know, but damn inportant), the environment, Health Care. Find a resonant topic and start pushing buttons. It should be clear by now that there are more than just superficial differences between the parties.

The republicans sell themselves with emotional appeals to fear, and racial appeals to intolerance, all the while trying to slip theocracy past the goalie, the democratic message is one of hope and prosperity for all. Quite frankly, we don't care what goes on in your bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen floor. We also respect your right to worship the god or gods of your choosing. Two pretty substantial differences that should help you grease the wheels on election day.

I will say this again, I expect that turnout will be higher on our side than in any recent election. If 107-110 million vote this time around, the chances of regaining the house is very good indeed(we will definitely get the WhiteHouse and Senate). So you know what to do, find 5 dems or socially-liberal freinds and see to it, that they make it to the polls, and then we can start the serious work of cleaning up after these fools.

W stands for "Where was He? and "I Chenius"

Kristoff uncovers a controversy regarding Bush's service in Alabama in today's NYT. Where have I seen this before? Earlier this year, but then some other shiny thing came into the periphery and the press, like so many six year olds playing soccer (Frankin?) found something else to chase.

President Bush claims that in the fall of 1972, he fulfilled his Air National Guard duties at a base in Alabama. But Bob Mintz was there - and he is sure Mr. Bush wasn't.

Plenty of other officers have said they also don't recall that Mr. Bush ever showed up for drills at the base. What's different about Mr. Mintz is that he remembers actively looking for Mr. Bush and never finding him.

Mr. Mintz says he had heard that Mr. Bush - described as a young Texas pilot with political influence - had transferred to the base. He heard that Mr. Bush was also a bachelor, so he was looking forward to partying together. He's confident that he'd remember if Mr. Bush had shown up.

"I'm sure I would have seen him," Mr. Mintz said yesterday. "It's a small unit, and you couldn't go in or out without being seen. It was too close a space." There were only 25 to 30 pilots there, and Mr. Bush - a U.N. ambassador's son who had dated Tricia Nixon - would have been particularly memorable.

I've steered clear until now of how Mr. Bush evaded service in Vietnam because I thought other issues were more important. But if Bush supporters attack John Kerry for his conduct after he volunteered for dangerous duty in Vietnam, it's only fair to scrutinize Mr. Bush's behavior.

Indeed it is. Dear leader was too busy chasing skirts in alabalma to "remember what i was doing there". Dub, I don't think your Mom is gonna be able to help you. this time around. Meanwhile a trip the the pandagon inspires larceny.

That Wacky Bush Campaign
I'm just cribbing this whole cloth from Josh Marshall, it's that important:
Coincidences are the strangest things ...

AP: 'U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000 mark' ... 4:27 PM, Sept. 7th, 2004

AP: 'Ridge: Terrorists hope to disrupt election' ... 4:40 PM, Sept. 7th, 2004

My farther right readers will protest that Ridge is telling the God's honest truth and, let's be fair, he probably is. But we know about that truth already. In fact, it's an omnipresent cloud of truth, terrorists want to attack us again all the damn time, but we mostly hear about it when the news turns against Dubbya. Funny, that.

As I don't have a farther right readership that I know or care about, and because in the case of the administration, I have no interest in the cause of fairness, let me be blunt. This is politics pure and simple, not Ridge's, gods honest truth. It is pretty clear by now, that terror threats exist only to protect dear leader when bad news is in the shute. Unfortunately for Rove Inc. this Chicken Little Game is going to come to the same conclusion as the boy who cried wolf.

In other news, Vice Emporer Claudius Cheneyclese make his case for re-election.

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city.

He's right about one thing. It is absolutely essential that we kick him and his sock puppet to the fucking curb. To suggest that his administration is some kind of terror shield that will protect us,.... well if I was not so pissed right now, the suggestion would have me laughing my ass off while rolling on the floor. If I were you Mr Vice Asshat, I would be arranging for the aquisition of some "not my ass and I dont toss salad" brand cigarettes to shield you during a rightly deserved, lengthy time in prison.

why does blogger hate me

codpiece hagiography is the name blogging is the game. maybe the'll let this one past the goalie

stuff and things

this is a test, blogger is being a bit funky

Bush is a Coward and like his Father, a wimp

Seems like bunnypants is afeared to debate Kerry. AWWWWWWWWwwwww does georgie have a boobooo. Watch the weasel squirm. What a freakin crybaby. Maybe his Mommy can help him or Karen, since most of the time he pulls the most amazing of pathetic little tastics, of wussies everywear, hiding behind Mommy, or the nearest skirt available. "Don't let that big man Kerry hurt me" You sir, are a disgrace to the Office, and to the Country

Sir, has your manhood shrinked beyond the ability to view it without a microscope. So we are looking at having debates about the debates, who is the new flack catcher, Moleman? That old guy on the Simpsons show, he's the pointman for your alliance of cowardice. Dude if you can't stand the heat get the fuck out of the kitchen.

In Defense of Stupidity

Since the the last post meandered into some jackass trying to defend the indefensible, we will continue the theme. Back in April I ran across a site that for a moment left me stunned. I have seen many websites whose sole purpose is to defend whatever the little wimp in chief does, regardless of outcome. Republique Libere, comes to mind. In this case a person felt that sites like Bagdad Burning, Salaam Pax, Raed in the Middle, and A Family in Baghdad were unfair because they did not allow comments on their blogs, you know, so some winger could argue with these iraqis, when he thought they were not fairly characterising the situation in Iraq. I know, after the initial shock wears off, laughter ensues.

You know this patriot might have gone after Juan Cole, who does not allow comments, but then Cole is mighty prolific and 70 orders of magnitude more intelligent. I mean if I wanted to battle Spassky, I would be real careful to avoid a chess set. Even more ridiculous is the title of the blog is a direct ripoff of Baghdad Burning's url adress which starts with riverbendblog. Wait.......just a little longer........how about
cry me a riverbend. Pretty snarky in that kind of creepy and childish republican way. Now just to bring it full circle the guy stopped active posting at the end of may. So here is the "mission statement":

Analysis of Iraqi Blogs Which Don't Allow Comments - Please keep this blog alive by joining in the discussion. I will not respond to abusive emails but you are welcome to post your views in the comments.

Damn that TBogg, Wonkette, and who knows how many others that have decided not to interact with the great unwashed, maybe I, why I aughtta, are you kidding? Lets find some "Anal-Isis" shall we. The following is from Baghdad Burning.

I think beheading was the chosen method of 'execution' because the group wanted to shock Americans and westerners in the worst possible way. The torturers at Abu Ghraib and other prisons chose sexual degradation because they knew that nothing would hurt and appall Iraqis and Muslims more than those horrible, sadistic acts. To Iraqis, death is infinitely better than being raped or sexually abused. There are things worse than death itself and those pictures portrayed them.

This from our "anal-ist".

Personally, I can't believe somebody would rather have their heads hacked off than be "sexually abused" such as what was portrayed in the prison pictures. I just don't get something about the Iraqi mindset if that is really true.

My original opinion remains unchanged. Both the abuses of the prisoners and this horrific murder should be condemned. Both are an outrage. Both should evoke a feeling of shame from those who support and encourage those who would engage in such behavior.

Riverbend's response is ultimately banal.

"I just don't get something about the Iraqi mindset........." Yeah, what you don't get could fill a very large place obviously. And I might go as far as to suggest that you are our of your league. From A Family in Baghdad:

Did you see Mujahideen?

I asked her

And who was shooting at the American forces?
She said she didn’t know the answer because she didn’t leave the house. And she didn’t know who was shooting. Perhaps men from Falluja themselves. Defending their houses and their women. Everybody who left their house was shot at by snipers and we heard of an old man who went outside his house so a soldier killed him while he was standing outside his house. So his son killed the soldier in anger because he killed his elderly father. Then the soldier’s comrades killed that man. The neighbors say they buried them side by side in the house’s garden. I keep thinkning that if we were all inside our house, and azzam went outside to get something and a soldier killed him standing in front of the door. Who will prevent my children from carrying arms and revenging their father
It’s an impossible task

Who gives orders?

Who is implementing?

And who is debating?

Is killing the language of communication between men?

When was killing the language of communication between humans?

Even animals don’t do that to each other.

So what’s happening to humans…the master of creature …the creator of civilizations.

And who has the answer?

From our friend and expert in Middle Eastern affairs:

Faiza bemoans a cycle of revenge and killing which has started between US troops and Iraqis in Falluja. Yet she herself is part of the problem. Instead of calling on Iraqi citizens to lay down their weapons and work with US forces so we can have order and leave the country she stokes the fire by repeating inflammatory rhetoric. She reports rumors as facts and has no regard for those who are dying trying to keep the law in Iraq. Regarding the sacrifices of the police forces she is silent. I've read one posting where she laughed at the 'antics' of a person resisting US efforts to enforce law and calm. Yet she sees herself as peaceful and decrying violence even as she indirectly encourages it.

If I ever know someone facing rape charges, that I havent beaten silly myself, I'll suggest the services of this Legal beagle as a defence attorny. Somehow this Iraqi woman is supposed to tell all the menfolk to put their weapons down and they are just gonna comply huh. She is stoking the fire with words..........hmmmmmm. And this guy from some basement in america knows for a fact that what she reports are rumors, I wanna see that tele screen you've put together. Talk about a rennaisance man, now this guy is channeling HG Wells. Study that last sentence for a moment.................yeah. Were finished here, but if you have the stomach for a boatload of bullshit, by all means. You will have to find the link above, masochists should earn their pain, makes it even better.

Can I get one of those "cant be held responsible" cards

You just have to wonder where they sell the things. You know Dubya's got one. It used to be funny when that traitor Reagan got away with everything (well no, wasn't funny at all) and earned the nickname "Teflon Ron". Jumpin jeehosifat if Dubya's crimes don't roll of his back like water off a duck. It seems, that Like Jimmy Hoffa, no one on earth can find a complete set of his records concerning his tour of "secretarial vollyball" I mean "duty".

Sometime I lay awake at night sobbing softly, thinking what might have been had I been born with those kind of connections and affluence. Well no, not really, but I do sometimes think about what others may have been able to accomplish with the type of advantages, I mean silver spoons, he was born with.

This is the reason that People like Bush are racing towards Aristocracy. Every rich family has a boatload of people in it that would never keep their head above water in a meritocracy. Which is one reason I love the talk from the legacy (or as I like to call whitefirmative action) class about the evils of affirmative action. Think about it this way, If george had been born in my family or yours, the closest he would have gotten to the whitehouse, is in an alley he calls home, on the streets of DC. Or the main attraction in a Donkey bar somewhere south of the border. I am reminded of what one of his Harvard Professors said of him:

Tsurumi, now a professor of international business at Baruch College in the City University of New York, told the Crimson Bush only scored in the bottom 10 percent of students in his class.

Bush's "always very shallow" behavior still stood out in his mind 30 years later, Tsurumi told the paper.
[......]
"I vividly remember that he made a comment saying that people are poor because they are lazy,"

Ah yes the seeds of Compassionate Conservatism sown at such an early age. I guess when you can get into school on a legacy, slide through with gentleman C's, you earn the right to be conteptuous of the poor. Now while looking for the above quote I came across this nugget of genius titled Defending Mr Bush. Warning, gynmastic contortions ahead.

Hm. I think that Mr. Tsurumi, who recently revived the Bush remarks in a couple of articles, badly misunderstood his pupil---if he even recalled the statements correctly. Like the kneejerk elitist rich liberal he almost certainly must be, Mr. Tsurumi assumed the very worst about Bush's comments, if he did not flagrantly twist them for his own cynical political purposes.
Let's consider the alleged declarations, one at a time.
"The Grapes of Wrath" is "corny."
Frankly, I was immediately struck by Mr. Bush's sophisticated aesthetic evaluation of cinema, if not literature, as evidenced by his keen and original analysis of the Academy Award-winning film, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by John Steinbeck.
[.....]
Behold the sheer vagueness of the statement: "people are poor because they are lazy." Why, it is open to all manner of interpretation! How on earth does Tsurumi know what Bush meant by the word "poor"? Or "lazy"?

I am reminded of this scene in an early Simpsons show.
Homer: "Do you have anything bigger than the land behemouth?"
RV Bob: "Why yes sir, yes we do. It's called the Ultimate Behemouth."
Homer: "Where is it?"
RV Bob: "Behold, you are standing in it's presence."

How the jackass that wrote that, could find anything vague about that statement, is beyond me. I guess we could engage in an epistemological argument about the meaning of "grey", but that would just be so much intellectual masterbation. Lets continue and don't forget that box of kleenex:

This is just what a liberal---and particularly, the liberal press---does interminably: take a statement entirely out of context, distort its meaning, and use it to malign the speaker.
Mr. Bush, a compassionate conservative, was obviously referring to people being "poor" only in less desirable human traits: greed, cruelty, impatience, selfishness, jingoism, xenophobia, zealotry, etc. They were not "poor" economically, but "poor" in objectionable attributes! What other meaning could a man as giving and altruistic as our president intend? Such "poor" people would be nothing less than noble of impulse.
Hence: "people are poor (in undesirable qualities) because they are lazy." See how the meaning changes!
Now for lazy. Doesn't this definitively mean indolence, sloth? Doesn't the word derive from the Middle Low German, lasich, meaning feeble; akin to Middle High German erleswen, meaning to become weak?
Undeniably so.

Ummm Huh? Yeah, sort of. Maybe, uhh, sure, don't get too close to me, you did wash your hands right? So lets just say that alot of the same follows, leading to the conclusion.

So, Prof. Tsurumi, please, in the name of reason and fairness, retract your vicious contentions and ugly lies about President Bush, or at least about the idealistic young man who studied with you so many years ago.
No one---no one---expressing opinions as puny, nasty and downright puerile as you suggest Mr. Bush did could ever, in anyone's wildest dreams, grow up to hold an office as lofty, inspiring and important as president of the United States of America.

So Mr. whateverhisname is, seems to conveniently forget Nixon, Johnson, Boatloads of Dixiecrats, and in his world no one could possibly...., I'm sorry, I am laughing too hard to go on any further. Man that interweb thingy you just never know what you pull out of those waters. I'll tell ya, this is the last place I thought this post would end up. Please enjoy the whole thing.

Why I Love Gilliard.

Steve always shoots from the hip, and today discusses, the myriad of reasons related to the Sharon Bush time bombs™, described in Kitty Kelly's new book, that are trickling out in advanced press releases, one by one, to form a swarming pack of snarling dogs. And they smell blood, drip drip dripping from the House of Bush. This is just a taste. If you havent read the rest.

Bush has to move people from Kerry, and he's nowhere close to doing that. The Kelley book will make that nearly impossible. Like Goldman's bio of Elvis, and Kelley's book on Nancy Reagan, people will believe the dirt.

If F 9/11 put some doubts into public's minds, and My Pet Goat is a meme which has stuck, Kelley's book is like the second wind of attack. People expect that this may be the knockout blow, but that's a bit much. What gossip does is create a meme which defines you. Richard Gere never had a gerbil shoved up his ass. Rod Stewart never had a gallon of semen pumped from his stomach. But people still believe both. What I expect the Kelley book to do is to strip away the veneer of Bush as nice guy. If there are rumors of him banging guys and snorting coke, well, that's salacious and will punish Bush for playing cute with his coke use.

Depending on the dirt in the book, Bush could be fatally crippled. But without it, Bush's prospects are dim. It would take none of the scandals around this administration from coming to light, the economy turning around and Iraq calming down.

While the administration has been talking smack about how "well" things are going, they aren't and the campaign staff knows it. Which is why all the dirt has been flying and the convention went so poorly. McCain's gaffe took them off message and Miller's speech. well, it couldn't have been worse. Then he capped it off by wigging out on MSNBC.

A tied race is usually the preclusion to the collapse of the incumbent. Even without Kitty Kelley, Bush would face a significant defeat. But the allegations in her book will spread like wildfire and define Bush as a coke snorting faggot, even if people wonder if every bit of the allegations are true. And of course, that will sink him with his base, not that they can deny the stories or say it's the liberal media. It's dirt, and that has no political allegiance.

This is just getting better by the the day, I would have never thought about the combination of these words "coke snorting faggot" in reference to bush, before I saw them on that page. Lordy lordy, I might just have to spend some time "browsing" the book at some local Bookstores. How is Rove gonna deal with questions of Juniors, drinking, snorting and smoking cock, not to mention refer. The puerile highlarity that is sure to ensue in the coming weeks. Sweet Jesus. Now that I think of it better check out TBogg.

Colbert, "I'm, uh, um with Nambla"

Colbert on the last night of the convention. Squeezing his way through the croud on the floor, says

"Its a little tight down here, I feel like a turd of liberty being sqeezed out through the colon of independance."

Since I missed the Pataki speech, they did have this interesting clip. Pataki:

"But let me ask you, what is this election about if it isn't about our love of freedom?"
------later he said ------
"John Kerry has to google his name to figure out where he stands"
------and-----
"When they say hope is on the way, what they should say is hype is on the way"

Thats a fine example of Republican humor. Ha HA Ha funny. Pataki, you killin me.

Be sure to catch the repeat this evening at 6 pm (my time not sure about yours)

A brit take on Zell

Thanks to the crankpot at WTF is it now, is a British take on the Zell Miller speach:

"Yes, I'm a Democrat. But I'm proud to say that I now support the re-election of George W. Bush."

- Senator Zell Miller (D).

If there is a hell, and most likely Zell Miller believes in such a thing, then Democratic Senator Zell Miller is going to burn in it. Spin hotly on a giant griddle. For something close to eternity.

Oh yes, siree. He is going to burn in hell.
[.....]

"And I don't care what my fellow Democrats say about social issues. For me, national security and the war on terror trump everything else."

- Senator Zell Miller

He doesn't care about social issues. There is one issue for Miller, as there is for much of America: how is terrorism going to be fought. How is national security going to be safe-guarded? And how is this decision-dodging war-fraud John Kerry hoping to deal with it? Here's what Senator Miller says about Kerry:

"I see him talking about the complexities of the situation, talking about shades of grey, rather than black or white."

Yeah. Because the world is painted in black and white. Because there's no room for complexity, for thought, for consideration, for intelligence, for confusion, for difficulty, for uncertainty, for politics.

Idiot.

It's just plain idiotic to criticise John Kerry for suggesting that Iraq and terrorism is a complex situation that demands flexibility of thought. What the hell is wrong with seeing "shades of grey"? If you look at the world and the War on Terror and see nothing but black and white then you're as good as blind.

"Wobbly" is what Miller calls Kerry, while praising Bush for his single-mindedness: he's a "straight shooter" with "a spine of tempered steel" - "he’s the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning." Sameness. Like that's some kind of political virtue.

"In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up."

It's surprising he managed to stand up at all, what with his metal spine.

Brilliant, check out the rest.

James Jamerson, My favorite Bass Player

The story of James Jamerson is a sad one, a studio musician whose contributions laid the foundation of many of motowns greatest hits, a man who is singularly responsible for more booty shaking than quite possibly any one who ever lived. I'll go as far to suggest that every single visitor to this place, has at one time or another been moved, to get off of their ass and dance, to the rhythm of this man's bass guitar.

I was just listening to the finest bassline in the history of rock and roll, or rhythm and groove. Jamerson's work on Stevie Wonder's "I was made to love her" ranks in this Bass player's mind as a masterpiece. It is the swing, syncopation, and a manipulation of time in music; that I can only describe, as a brilliantly executed hesitation dribble, that earn him a place in the pantheon of musical genius. It was this mastery of time, nothing short of monumental, that got many of you laid. You ever feel the irresistable urge to rise to the occasion during Martha and the Vandella's "Heat Wave", that was Jamerson shakin' those hips of yours. "I heard it through the grape vine," "love child," For once in my life," "the Tracks of my tears" and "You keep me hangin on" are among the 30 number one records he performed on.

In 2000 Jamerson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some excerpts from the Detroit Free Press

This much we know about the late bassist James Jamerson: He had hands like bear claws. He adored his kids. And he dramatically, forever, altered the sound of contemporary music.
[.....]
Mysterious as his persona might have been, there was nothing vague about Jamerson's playing. As bassist for the fabled Funk Brothers, he was the bedrock of the Motown sound. When you dance to "Heat Wave," your hips aren't moving because of Martha or her Vandellas. They're being seduced into motion by Jamerson and his fat, vibrant grooves underneath.
[.....]
"You have to remember the state of the electric bass at that time -- it had only been around since the early '50s," says Slutsky. "People didn't know what to do with it. Nobody blew you away. Then Jamerson comes along. He was the first virtuoso of the electric bass, the first to give the instrument a voice."

In musical terms, what Jamerson introduced was syncopation. In layman's terms, just call it funk.

[.....]

Tales of Jamerson in the studio are legendary. He'd concoct his parts in mere seconds, they say, then fool around as the band rehearsed, stomping his foot in odd meters or humming an alternate melody to throw off the players.

"You'd come in with a skeleton for the rhythm section, but you didn't try to contain him," says Paul Riser, a longtime Motown arranger. "He'd always come up with something better than any arranger could dream of."

He was, by any definition, a genius.

"Jamerson terrified bassists all over the world," says Slutsky. "Still does."

I am one of them. While I have not spent as much time as possible, I still can't pull off what he does with the scariest song of them all, "I was made to love her" His son James Jamerson Jr, has a wonderful tribute site here. I would continue to write about this phenominal talent, but I want to listen to him funk it up, and my browser crashed and wiped out this post the last time I was blogging and listening to the .mp3. Take a look at the picture above one time before you leave, and remember the face of the man that got little credit for his achievements while alive, but has had a profound impact on the music you enjoy.

[.....update......]
Just for the purpose of accuracy, my Heat Wave reference was written before I saw the one in the excerpt. my opinion, his is better. but the compare and contrast is interesting.

I am having one of those, Why didn't I think of that, moments

You may have heard of a new book about the Bush clan is about to be released, and some of the stuff that is leaking out is proving to be, shall we say, less than flattering.
So I was just staring at the buzzflash headline feed on the right side of this page and at the top is the headline alledging cocaine use by the president at camp david in the '80's. Also noted is the source: Sharon Bush, George's former sister in law.

There it was, staring me in the face, the memories of the brutal divorce from Neal, being hung out to dry by the family, and little but herpes to show for it, you could search the internet, comb through the anarchists cookbook, and still would not be able to construct a time-bomb of this destructive potential. It is a testimony to the magnitude of hubris displayed by these sons and daughters of Icarus, that they would so quickly and and coldly dump someone who would very likely know the location of closets, and the skeletons therein. Why did it not occur to me that Sharon was a walking time bomb.

I seem to remember her trying to get some help from the family to keep the house payed up and was told to "sell it", well she sold it alright and things may be soon looking mighty comfy in Crawford.

Could all the shit they have to hide fit in the hold of an oil tanker?

That wacky administration of ours, secretive beyond Nixons wildest wet-dreamscape, hands in every cookie jar in washington, astride the narrow world like a colossus, corporate connections sliding their tentacles into every honeypot around the globe.

You want chutzpah, they got it in spades. From Cheney's secret energy task force, where by all accounts energy company lobbyists authored the policy, to the recinding of every Clinton executive order they could find, looking the other way while Kenny boy Lay looted the bank accounts of Californians, and the treasury of Califonia. Making every possible attempt to conflate Saddam and "A Terror kingpin who will no longer be named" in order to prosecute a massive oil grab, under the guise of bringing peace, stability and democracy to the Middle East, thats some mighty Chutzpah.

I am sure that some of you may have a vague memory of a report on 9/11, the result of a congressional investigation of the run up to that fateful day. You may remember how the White House demanded the redaction of some 27 pages of that document, and that those pages were rumored to primarily concern Saudi complicity. The extent of their involvement remains a mistery to this day, and despite the the protestations of the Saudi ambassador to the contrary, not many were convinced.

It seems that a new book written by Senator Bob Graham is set to unleash the fury of the Bush disinformation machine in a way that may lend newfound authority to the old saw "Methinks thou dost protest too much" and blow the doors off the closet of Bush Administration secrets.

By FRANK DAVIES

fdavies@herald.com

WASHINGTON - Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked a congressional investigation into that relationship, Sen. Bob Graham wrote in a book to be released Tuesday.

The discovery of the financial backing of the two hijackers ''would draw a direct line between the terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia, and trigger an attempted coverup by the Bush administration,'' the Florida Democrat wrote.

And in Graham's book, Intelligence Matters, obtained by The Herald Saturday, he makes clear that some details of that financial support from Saudi Arabia were in the 27 pages of the congressional inquiry's final report that were blocked from release by the administration, despite the pleas of leaders of both parties on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Graham also revealed that Gen. Tommy Franks told him on Feb. 19, 2002, just four months after the invasion of Afghanistan, that many important resources -- including the Predator drone aircraft crucial to the search for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda leaders -- were being shifted to prepare for a war against Iraq.

Graham recalled this conversation at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa with Franks, then head of Central Command, who was ``looking troubled'':

``Senator, we are not engaged in a war in Afghanistan.''

''Excuse me?'' I asked.

''Military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq,'' he continued.

Graham concluded: 'Gen. Franks' mission -- which, as a good soldier, he was loyally carrying out -- was being downgraded from a war to a manhunt.''

None of this should come as a suprise to anyone who has been paying attention, and would go along way to explaining Bush's curious insistance during a march 13th 2002 interview about bin Laden "I truly am not that concerned about him". Natch, by this time had, how did Cheney put it? Oh yeah, "other priorities".

Just under 14 months before he was going to make it possible for this blog's title, he was busy working on a plan to finish what daddy didn't. One might step back at this jucture and wonder what kind of planning was going on in the 13 months prior to the start of invasion of Iraq. Now I am no expert, but it would seem that they had plenty of time to plan to win the peace, and avoid the massive clusterfucking trainwreck, that we may as well call Quagmiristan. If I had the desire I might research the amount of time involved in the planning of D-Day.

Graham, who was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from June 2001 through the buildup to the Iraq war, voted against the war resolution in October 2002 because he saw Iraq as a diversion that would hinder the fight against al Qaeda terrorism.

He oversaw the Sept. 11 investigation on Capitol Hill with Rep. Porter Goss, nominated last month to be the next CIA director. According to Graham, the FBI and the White House blocked efforts to investigate the extent of official Saudi connections to two hijackers.

Graham wrote that the staff of the congressional inquiry concluded that two Saudis in the San Diego area, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan, who gave significant financial support to two hijackers, were working for the Saudi government.

Al-Bayoumi received a monthly allowance from a contractor for Saudi Civil Aviation that jumped from $465 to $3,700 in March 2000, after he helped Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhdar -- two of the Sept. 11 hijackers -- find apartments and make contacts in San Diego, just before they began pilot training.

When the staff tried to conduct interviews in that investigation, and with an FBI informant, Abdussattar Shaikh, who also helped the eventual hijackers, they were blocked by the FBI and the administration, Graham wrote.

This confirms that this administration was far to interested in trying to figure out how to benefit friends and cronies, porn and bong salesmen, than actually involved in dealing with terrorism. I half to admit that this last bit has pretty much knocked the Snark right outta me, and certainly jives with a number of things I have read over that last couple of years.

This is the type of thing that elevates the outrage to a level that one starts to wonder if they are in fact crazy. That these criminals are still running loose in Washington, and not buying cartons of "please not my ass, and I don't toss salads" brand cigarettes is an affront to humanity. Let us just hope that the mighty fourth estate awakes from her long slumber, and finds the courage to do their job again. Another shoe, in the form of a Kitty Kelly tell-all, is about to drop soon. I would wager that odds favor the delivery of cartons of adult undergarments to back doors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

NYC Police state activities continued

Steve Gilliard has a post up with stories of others caught up in the dragnet of overreaching security concerns during last weeks Nuremburg on the Hudson. I only want to deal with a couple of examples, from the many cited in the two articles he adresses.
I have previously written about the treatment faced by foreign journalists from countries with reciprocal visa programs, that have been detained and deported because they did not have a special journalist visa, little advertised but recently enforced, a wonderful example of the loss of transparency, sought by this secretive administration. Lets look at the actions RNC security forces took against a credencialled German journalist for Die Zeit a German Newspaper.

Author Irene Dische was covering the Bush speech for the German paper Die Zeit. Dische said she was sitting in the press stands with the artist and graphic novelist Art Spiegelman when police removed them both from the press stands and questioned them about their T-shirts. Spiegelman's T-shirt said "Pray for a secular society"; Dische's featured the word "Bush" and Chinese characters. She convinced police it said, "I love Bush" (it meant shit on Bush and flush him away) and was allowed to return to her seat. On her way back, an usher handed her an American flag and told her to wave it.

Ok, you have got to be shitting me, right. I mean it is ridiculous enough that this practice of banning anyone who is not a lockstep supporter from campaign rallies, speeches, and other events along the campaign trail, but to take these tactics to the National Convention, and apply them to a credentialed journalist is beyond pale. Then to shove an American flag in the German reporters hand and expect a foreign born journalist who is here to do a job, to wave it like a good little patriot? WTF, is Krystallnacht scheduled for next week, are you Fucking kidding me. Lets see if National Socialist related Brownshirt pogram activities are waiting round the bend.

When she refused to take it, she "immediately felt a hand on my shoulders," she said, and police quickly ushered her off the convention floor and into a station set up inside the Garden. They called immigration officials to check on her American status and questioned her for over an hour. She also convinced them to Google her on the Internet to prove that she was a legitimate writer. When she called her daughter, Emily, and spoke to her in German, one detective barked, "You don't speak in a language we can't understand here." Finally she was escorted to the street, with the police, Dische said, "trying to make nice the whole way."

You know friends, I don't have any problem with security as long as it is acctually affective and is used with restraint. I certainly do not think that it is a good idea to empty the short bus, and put mentally defective, myopic, unintelligent xenophobes, in charge of security. This is just asking for all manner of abuse, likely while a real threat tiptoes by with a suit case nuke. Beyond pale, the embarassment of the world. Another example from the same article this time a guy simply on his way home from work.

Indeed, some people were arrested on the mere suspicion that they might be protesters. Ever since thousands of protesters on bicycles snarled traffic last Friday, bike riders have reported being singled out by the cops. On Wednesday, Kenneth Scott Kohanowski, a lawyer, was riding home on Fifth Avenue from his office to his neighborhood in Chelsea when he was arrested for reasons still unclear to him.

"I stopped and asked the officer why we couldn't go down Fifth Avenue," he wrote in an e-mail. "He told me to keep on moving and I insisted on knowing why I couldn't proceed toward my apartment. At that point, he shoved me ... then threw me against a magazine kiosk. A dozen other officers then jumped on top of me. They then arrested me and booked me for disorderly conduct ... I have never been arrested before. The police in this city are out of control with the RNC in town."

This dovetails nicely with a recent email I recieved from a friend who lives in Brookly and works in Manhatten, and uses a bike as his main form of transportation, I wrote about that earlier. Now to think about it I haven't yet recieved a reply, Hope you are OK JH. In any event, go over there and read the rest. In his attempt to cow tow to a party that has little use for him on a national level, Bloomberg will likely find himself out of a job come election time. Good riddence Jack-ass.

Opportunists? I'll Opine you decide

You may have found the argument that 9/11 changed everything compelling, and that as a result all the rules have changed. I do not. What happened that day was certainly on a scale larger with regards to the cost of outcome, but ultimately, was just another in a long line of terrorist acts perpetrated worldwide over the years. I know it sounds harsh, because we value the life of our own more than any other, but on a fundimental level nothing changed except that we got hit in a spectacular fashion.

This certainly did not deter our administration from taking the ball and running as fast and far as they could with it. A populous shocked and cowed by fear, was willing to lose some of its civil liberties in exchange for the perception of security. The Patriot act was rammed through congress, and provided law enforcement all kinds of new toys to play with. Dissent was quickly discouraged, Bill Maher lost his job for having the temerity to suggest, that it took more courage to fly an airplane into a building than fire cruise missles from hundreds of mile away. Ari Fliescher was quick to warn us to watch what we said. Not so slowly, our liberties were eroded in the name of security.

One year previously, a group called the Project for a New American Century published a document titled Rebuilding America's Defenses, and near the end of that document were the acknowledgement that barring a "catastrophic and Catylizing event like a new
Pearl Harbor" that the desired changes would most likely take a long time to come to fruition. Well one year later this event came to pass, and I can't help but wonder who was licking their chops at the opportunities presented.

Despite the ravings of Mylroi, Wolfowitz, Perle among others, terrorism is an assymetric problem. While in some cases States sponser the activities, (most notably Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia), terrorism is a tactic, used by terrorists to effect some goal. This type of terrorism can not be dealt with by the use of traditional military force, no matter how often they try to move that shinola out of the warehouse. Like it or not, dealing with acts of terror efectively, requires an investigative approach more in keeping with a police force, than a military approach.

Would it were so that you could take care of the problem by invading a country, replacing rulers that have been supporters, if not directly given shelter to them, as in the case of the Taliban. But to fight terrorism with that playbook, is not unlike trying to blow up a thunderstorm. Terrorists in general, and Al Queada in particular, are an amorphous group, consisting of cells spread far and wide, with a variety of communication channels, and sources of funding. They are not unlike the the Mob. The 101st airborn is as likely to break up organized crime in New Your as the first mechanized is likely to have any real impact of terrorism as a whole in Baghdad, Tikrit, or Fallujah.

You want to wipe out (nearly impossible) or severly hamstring terrorism in the world, then that is going to require police work. You are going to have to choke off the financial resources which will immediately weaken the enemy. Then you are going to have to put boots on the ground and gather intelligence through infiltration, monitoring of communications, in other words HUMINT. This angle of approach is not very sexy and it certainly does not lend itself to massive increases in military spending. As the often mocked Europeans (who have been dealing with this problem a lot longer than we) have discovered it is really the only way to proceed.

What has now been proven to be an optional and pre-emptive attack on an anemic enemy, has seriously undermined our ability to render the threat of al Quaeda impotent. We let a proxy army do the majority of the fighting in Afghanistan, and did not finish the job before moving on to our great Messopotamian adventure. This is like pulling the leaves and vegetation of a dandelion and believing that we have killed the plant, only to be shocked a week later when the plant seemingly appears out of no where. You did not kill the root, therefor you did not kill the plant. Until we decide to have an honest discussion of the root causes, and the need to change our approach, this will truly become a war without end resulting in the continued and tragic loss of blood and treasure, that will likely continue beyond our lifetimes.

We need to start a dialog soon, or accept that we have become like Don Quixote, forever to be tilting at windmills, and that our children will never have the opportunity to grow up free from fear as we did. Our present course on this front is simply unsustainable, and unlikely to result in the extermination of terrorism.

Took the easy way out

After a minimum amount of frustration, I took the cowards way out and let the haloscan auto update feature take care of the problem. Now for some testing. Of course that is why I originally set up the other blog, to test mods before going live here, but you know, kid in candy store.

Now with Haloscan

You may or may not have seen it but some time ago I wrote of my inability to leave shit unmodified.
I am by nature a hack's hacker. If it can be opened up, I'm like "where's the screwdriver?" If it can be opened up fixed, modified or just plain poked around in, I'm there. While unlike Sheryl Crow and other artists who claim that stealing their music via download, would result in a lack of motivation to continue making music (yeah right, you made music before your ass got filthy rich, and you would likely have continued if you never had, so I'm not buying that shit) I am likely to keep humming along on this blog feedback or no feedback. But in the off chance that visitors have been reluctant to leave comments in blogger, I now have haloscan for your commenting pleasure.

My sinking suspicion is that this blog's content fails the sniff test, and as a result most of you run screaming in another direction so quickly, as to leave barely discernable skidmarks on your way out the door. I can live with that. There are a great number of fantastic blogs covering basically the same territory, many of which have served as inspiration for this one.

As it may take some time for me to sort out the issues I am having, if any haloscan guru happens to get temporarily stuck in this Tar pit, and has any ideas how to put the new fangle haloscan comments at the bottom of the post, replacing the blogger comments, I would greatly appreciate any input. We might even be able to arrange a quid pro quo, as I have some rather esoteric skills that may be useful to you.

In any event, enjoy your Labor day and best regards to you and yours.

George, This Blood is on your hands.

Was gonna try to keep things light around here today, but found out that there are now seven families for whom labor day will never again be cause for celebration.

Via Atrios. Story here.

The management of the war and occupation has been a study in incompetance. From shutting out any dissenting voices with legitimate reasons for examing worst case scenarios, to selling the fraud as an easy, quick and clean, greeted with flowers, pay for itself occupation. We were swindled, and now that the Iraqi Pooch has been screwed in every way imaginable, Our Precious, young men and women, are paying the last full measure of devotion, and there is no end in sight.

The lack of shame exhibited by the administration and its sycophantic following, continues to add insult to injury. What do you bet that we hear nothing from the fine representatives of the fourth estate, who now chooses to pretend that the occupation
is over. We sustained 1100 casualties in August, the highest single monthe since we showed up a couple in March 2003. We have lost 11 soldiers this month alone.

George, you should hang your head in shame. This was an optional war, that you were apparently hellbent on waging during that december of impatience to see if yet another cushy job had been provided to you by family connections. You sir, are a miserable failure, and the lack of any accountability from you or any of the achitects of this failure, demonstrate that you are unfit to lead. If there was an scintilla of shame in your being, you would resign. Effective immediately. Happy Labor Day President.

Best cartoon character ever.

Lets start off labor day with a look at one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time.
He was a special guest, made only a few appearences, but found a place in my heart. Click the photo for a link to the Foghorn Leghorn fan page, and download your own batch of weasels. There will be an animated gif avalable soon. Happy Labor Day.

Did Bush use cocaine

Nice to see that this story may be gaining traction. With Kitty Kelly's new gossip book about the famiglia Bush, coming out soon, the tepid repartage of this issue during the 2000 campaign may take root again. From Atrios and Bush watch. An excerpt of the Buzzwatch page:

* "If Texas Gov. George W. Bush were applying to work at the White House instead of seeking to run it, or if he were a Cabinet nominee instead of hoping to name the next Cabinet, he could not avoid answering detailed questions about possible past drug use as he is doing now. If Bush were applying to be an FBI agent, he would have to provide detailed information about any past drug use. If he walked into a Marine Corps recruiting office, he would be asked if he had ever used illegal drugs and rejected if he refused to answer."
* ""(Bush) evidently believes that drug use as a young adult is not a disqualification for the highest office in the nation," said Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, a liberal group. "If that's true, then a lot of people should be free to seek federal jobs who now feel constrained to do so." Chicago Tribune

* "It's Clintonesque," one frustrated Bush supporter said of the governor's evolving approach to discussing his past indiscretions. "He wants to be the anti-Clinton, but he's looking more like Clinton."
* "Seven years. Fifteen years. Twenty-five years," one opposition strategist scoffed in reference to Bush's shifting statements. "I guess this stuff really does screw up your memory."
* "Republicans are sick of Clinton," said another rival strategist. "The more they see of Bush, the more they're going to see Clinton." L.A. Times

* "Bush's answer yesterday fell short of the standard required of senior government officials both in the Bush administration and in the Clinton administration, who must reveal drug use back to age 18.... Republicans, even those friendly toward the governor's candidacy, doubted that yesterday's limited response would quell the controversy. 'I think it's going to lead to more and more questions,' one strategist said. Now the question is what happened between ages 18 and 28. I don't think those questions will stop until there is an answer.' " Washington Post

It will be intersting if this story takes hold, wont hold my breath, but will keep my eyes open.

Gnashing of Teeth

I have come across a good deal weeping and wailing among fellow dems in blagistan, and I had a fantastic post about it that was eaten by blogger, hate it when that happens. Shorter kent;

Check out this Steve Gilliard post and this one from Maryscott O' Connor and this other one from Steve, with my commentary here, and after I eat and let the steam coming out of my ears subside, I will possible attempt to recreate the original. Damn, all that postly goodness down the freakin toilet.

Bottom line, we are in good shape.

xoxoxo

Nutty Ideas department

I have been in contact with a friend who shared with me an interesting tale about meeting a couple of soldiers in a bar. Both are headed off to Iraq soon. During our correspondence, it occured to me that we should contemplate a Support network for the troops. The idea is simple, we try to collect a growing list of soldiers, over there and stateside, and take a few under our wings as e-mail palls, offer our support, in anyway we can. Mostly to try to boost morale, secondarily to innoculate against the oft heard accusation that we don't care about them as much as the Republicans. From my new friend Shaun, who had an interesting experience with a couple of soldiers at a bar recently.

I think that Dem. Support Network is a great idea. I
would love to help in any way that I can. I have been looking for ways to
get involved, but living in the heart of Republican country there is not a
very large support group here

If any of the 6 or 7 that drop by the site have any ideas to add, suggestions to make, feel free to drop a note in the comments. This is a work in progress and I imagine that we will eventually need a website, and I can deal with that. Thanks, and please feel free to jump in or email me at integritude AT gmail.com

Thanks.

Is Bush still Drinking.

I'll have to wait for the transcripts from whatever show Matalin was flapping her jaws on today, but it seems that she let drop, in a possible attempt to inocculate dear leader, that she was hearing rumors of this attack. Feel free to help me out. More unsubstaniated updates as they come in.

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

Mark Kleiman has this to say about a Susan Estrich article, and on the main page more about potential attack strategies. Time to take the gloves off and start giving the wimps (I am looking at you George) a little tast of their own medicine. Head on over to his place and check it out. Heads up from politus.

Well, you can't say Bush and Rove didn't ask for it.

Bush's return to drinking is apparently common knowledge in DC, though it seems unlikely anyone will talk on the record.

The abortion story is old news, but seemed to be solid, at least by Swift Boat standards: the woman in question denies it, but the two then-friends who drove her to the (illegal) abortion mill have supposedly signed affidavits.

It's Stevenson's challenge to Nixon: if you don't stop telling lies about us, we're going to have to start telling the truth about you. Bush has been asked politely, and he hasn't. Now it's our turn.

From Susan Estrich

Will it be the three, or is it four or five, drunken driving arrests that Bush and Cheney, the two most powerful men in the world, managed to rack up?

After Vietnam, nothing is ancient history, and Cheney is still drinking. What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment.

What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

Or how about Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting those who served in Vietnam instead of the privileged draft-dodging president, and ended up as names on the wall instead of members of the Air National Guard.

Or maybe it will be Texas National Guardsmen for Truth, who can explain exactly what George W. Bush was doing while John Kerry was putting his life on the line. Perhaps with money on the table, or investigators on their trail, we will learn just what kind of wild and crazy things the president was doing while Kerry was saving a man's life, facing enemy fire and serving his country.

Or could it be George Bush's Former Female Friends for Truth. A forthcoming book by Kitty Kelley raises questions about whether the president has practiced what he preaches on abortion. As Larry Flynt discovered, a million dollars loosens lips. Are there others to be loosened?