Let's Talk about Hate speech, Shall We.

There is this wonderful little spot on the internets, a little piece of Heaven called Little Green Footballs, run by a wonderful man by the name of Charles Johnson. One of the nice things about the place is the moderation of the commentary. When someone steps out of bounds or makes a comment that is beyond the pale, it is quickly expunged from the record, suffice it to say this a place that you can enjoy with the entire family. I think that some of the following commentors were expressing their dissapointment with the passing of Yasser Arafat, Im not really sure, because I got these from an anonymous friend at the eschaton.

#1 bigel 11/12/2004 12:10PM PST
Mecca and Medina would look soooo lovely as radioactive craters, dontcha think?

#5 PostalWorker 11/12/2004 12:12PM PST
Mecca and Medina for sure, lets throw in Riahd and Tehran for good measure. Nuke ém till they glow and use their asses for runway lights!
Preemptive strike please

Maybe this is not about Arafat, I am not sure what these two are on about, or what radioactivity has to do with anything, but I have been known to be dull.

#36 Infidel and Proud 11/12/2004 12:26PM PST
If we get nuked there is only one response: the complete extermination of every sub-human shit-eating pig-fucking muslim from the face of this planet.
Muzzies are not human. They are vermin.
Period.

Oop's, i am not sure that uncle charlie would condone this kind of declaration, he must have missed this one.

7 Blue Lobster 11/12/2004 12:29PM PST
If it truly comes down to a choice between the survival of the West or the ascendency of Islam then:
1. Turn every major Muslim city into a glowing crater
2. Hunt down every survivor we can find and behead them
3. Mount their skulls on pikes as a lesson to the next 10 generations that the West will do what it takes to survive
4. Turn every area that we don't care to traverse looking for survivors into a hell of chemical weapon residue, mines, and radioactivity
5. Monitor those areas from the air; as soon as anyone comes out of a cave, nuke 'em

OK, he must have, not seen this one either, ( pssst.I think he's talking about Iran ) I think this guy may have a few issues with the Muslims. I wonder why he is so angry.

4 Infidel and Proud 11/12/2004 12:31PM PST
What do we do with the 7M (claimed) muslim rodents already infesting the US?

157 darrellbear 11/12/2004 01:14PM PST
Send 'em all to hell. Give 'em something to whisper about around the campfire for the next thousand years.

Mr. Johnson, you may want to take a look at these. People might come to the conclusion that you endorse such things.

#182 American Infidel 11/12/2004 01:22PM PST
Mr. Pol & rightasrain
Moslems around the world belong to one nation:
Nation of Islam
First and foremost, they are MOSLEMS...Therefore, every single MOSLEM is fair game, when and if it comes to the dropping of the NUCULAR BOMB or BOMBS...

CJ seems to have overlooked this comment too. I just don't understand this obsession with the NUCULAR BOMBS, and singleing out the adherents of another religion. Well I am sure this comment will be expunged.

220 locutus 11/12/2004 01:44PM PST
My solution?
One word:germs

Germs? for what purpose? Maybe this person is a biologist. Do the Borg have germs?

271 d_on_a_palehorse 11/12/2004 02:08PM PST
my patience is worn, there is no compassion left....I've heard this in the thread also.....we have the technology...why are we dicking around....let's end this now...finally...we can nuke them til they glow and shoot the rest of them in the streets...........
WTF are we waiting for?
"we shall march on a road of bones......"

I know how you feel, I get cranky some times too. But I take deep breaths and calmly say to myself, "Serenity now", I find that it calms me down and my murderous urges wane. I suggest you try it some time Mr. Horse.

321 'Nam Grunt 11/12/2004 02:44PM PST Muslims are nothing but ignorant, POS, look how they act, now believe it or not guys, I am not a racist redneck living here in Texas, they have nothing and never had anything, to be more clear, they are like cavemen, animals. (that should receive some replies from bleeding heart liberals).

322 restitutor orbis 11/12/2004 02:44PM PST

Can we exterminate them yet?????
oh please oh please oh please ??????

I wonder why everybody seems to be in a rush to action of some kind. When I was a kid the 24 th of December was the longest day. I could hardly sleep, because I could not wait to open my presents. Do you guys feel like that? I am not sure who these muslims are or why they are bad, could some one help me with that?

#332 Jheka
So, very specifically, where would you nuke, when, and using what yield?
I am not at all familiar with the type of bombs we have or their yield...I would like to save the real estate, afterall I would like to visit the Sphinx, the Great Pyramids, the area where archeologists believe the Garden of Eden was (the Fertile Crescent), take a cruise down the Nile, etc...etc...etc...
I would begin with their holy sites, followed by their most populated cities, etc...
The entire NATION OF ISLAM is fair game...

Oh goody a fellow traveler. I too would like to visit those ancient places, in order to get a better idea about the history around the cradle of civilization. then I think I too would begin by visiting all of their holy places because i hear that they really have some nice architecture. Wow they play fair games in Islam, I might even win some money.

376 missouri boy 11/12/2004 03:44PM PST
WE DON'T HAVE TO NUKE ANYBODY TO TAKE ISLAM
OUT.
IF WE STARTED DESTROYING EVERY SHRINE , EVERY
MOSQUE, EVERY HOLY PLACE THERE IS IN ISLAM
(STARTING WITH THE 1500+ IN AMERICA ) WE WOULD
KILL ISLAM.

Now why would you want to kill Islam now that I just found out they have fair games.
Did you lose money the last time you played there? Any tips or thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. thank in advance.

Well that's it for this weeks LGF Round-up If we are lucky they will have some other advice on fair gaming and the like.

Winning Hearts and Minds

Raed has a post and some pictures about the ongoing battle in Fallujah, as well as a particularly annoying troll / war appologist moral reletavist by the name of Jeffrey. According to Raed, the American / Kurdish forces have operational control of the north side of the city, while the insurgency has control of the south.

Fighters in Fallujah seem to be still fighting, in spite of the US announcements of the fast expected victory. It seems that we are reaching to the deadline that the US army put for itself. It is tonight!
Let's see what will happen tomorrow anyway...

The last military maps shows that the US army is controlling the Northern parts of the town, while the Iraqi fighters claim they are taking the southern parts of the town as their base.

This picture was released by the US army from Fallujah today. Humilating more Iraqis isn't the way to make things better, believe me

Meanwhile ABC seems to confirm the situation, and I wonder if Wha-a-Mole, has not turned into a game of Duck Duck Goose. Apparently we have detained some of the foreign fighters, out of 151 captured 15 have been identified as Foriegn Nationals.

Iraqi insurgents are holding out in the city of Fallujah despite a four-day assault that the United States has killed about 600 rebels.

The US military in the city says the rebels are being cornered in the south of the city.

However, correspondents embedded with US forces say the marines are continuing to come under fire in other areas of the city.

The US military says 22 of its soldiers have died in the offensive, with 170 more injured.

The BBC's Jennifer Glasse, who is with one unit of US marines in Fallujah and whose reports are subject to military restrictions, reports that US and Iraqi military officials say 300 people are holed up inside a Fallujah mosque and have asked to leave the city.

US and Iraqi troops are evaluating the group to see if any are insurgents.

They say civilians will be allowed to leave, suspected insurgents will be detained.

US forces already have about 151 detainees, including 15 non-Iraqi fighters. They are from Iran, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

There is one French-speaking militant whose nationality has not been determined.

The commander of the offensive on Falllujah, US Lieutenant General John Sattler says his troops control 80 per cent of the city and have killed about 600 insurgents.

However, troops are still encountering fierce resistance, with a number of insurgents hemmed in in the south of the city.

Marine Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Brandl has described his troops' progress: "The enemy's, we're in his backyard.

"We came in here to reduce this enemy sanctuary and we're doing that.

"We're crushing his back one vertebrae at a time and he's trying to take advantage of any opportunity he can get. We're not giving it to him."

It is a small sample to be sure, but I am certain that they would like to be able to lay claim to much higher numbers of captured foreigners in Fallujah, 1 in 10, tends to make it difficult to buy the current spin, that these are not Iraqi's behaving like the kids in that rediculous '80's movie "Red Dawn". Or in other words, Freedom Fighters.
Having dealt with an inundation of Kool-Aid Drinking Moral relativity (we're not as bad as Saddam) embracing Trolls on various boards, I am not suprised to see an infestation on Raed's blog. In fact I think the man is quite generous with what he does not choose to remove. Lets take a look at "Keyboard Commander" Jeffrey.

Fuck the deadline. A couple more days of turkey-shooting terrorists sounds DAMN GOOD to me. Who in their right fucking mind would claim victory because they were killed a day after a nebulous "timeline"?

Get real, numbskull.

Jeffrey -- New York
.............
[in response to having a couple of his comments deleted is the following]
............
---MEET THE NEW BOSS

SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

YOU'RE JUST LIKE SADDAM, RAED

CUT OUT THEIR TONGUES IF THEY SAY SOMETHING AGAINST YOU

Jeffrey -- New York
...............
>Wow man, you are some psycho sicko American.

This is hands-down my favorite so far. I can't describe how much pleasure it gives me to called a "psycho sicko American." Really. Thanks.

And you've only encountered the thinnest outer layer of my depravity.

Better buckle your seat-belt tight, Nugget. The ride could take a few unforseen twists and turns. Bring a barf-bag, to be sure. I will slowly walk you down into the evil core of the American soul.

What? You think we cleaned out the yellow-bellied Taliban and pulled Saddam from his spiderhole through DIPLOMACY?

He he.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Jeffrey -- New York

Next, we will take a look at some comments from that cesspool of humanity known as Little Green Footballs. I don't know what other than illumination we can expect from the examination of those that reside or adhere to the cult of Bush / Zionism.

By the way did I mention how swimmingly things are going in Iraq? I believe Bush gave glowing reports during one of his fireside chats on the radio this morning.

11/13/2004, 10:06 a.m. PT

By JENNIFER LOVEN

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush painted a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq, claiming significant progress Saturday in the U.S. military's battle in an insurgent stronghold.
..............

Our forces have made significant progress in the last several days. They are taking back the city, clearing mosques of weapons and explosives stockpiled by insurgents and restoring order for law-abiding citizens," Bush said in his broadcast.

He said "support continues to grow" internationally for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, even though the multinational force will see some reductions in the coming months.
....................
"Ultimately, Iraq must be able to defend itself, and Iraqi security forces are taking increasing responsibility for their country's security," Bush said.

Well that seels it Things Are Just fine, we are "restoring order for law abiding citizens"
(by killing them) "support continues to grow" (a tree grows in Brooklyn) and "Iraqi forces are taking responsibility for their country's security" (we can't trust the iraqi soldiers any farther than we can throw them, so we are using Kurds instead, and that certainly won't cause problems down the road). It's all good. Hey look over there Scott Peterson has been convicted.

Bobo Brooks calls the CIA mutineers.

Why this idiot is given space to opine and a paycheck to boot escapes me, but the bottom line is that Brooks welcomes his new Executive overlords and finds the CIA to blame for all the bad stuff. I really have to give Attaturk and some others who deign to write faux columns in Brooks' voice. That is some heavy lifting, I would never wish to be so well aquainted with his method and style to attemp the feat myself. On to the Jackass.

White House officials concluded that they could no longer share important arguments and information with intelligence officials. They had to parse every syllable in internal e-mail. One White House official says it felt as if the C.I.A. had turned over its internal wastebaskets and fed every shred of paper to the press.

The White House-C.I.A. relationship became dysfunctional, and while the blame was certainly not all on one side, Langley was engaged in slow-motion, brazen insubordination, which violated all standards of honorable public service. It was also incredibly stupid, since C.I.A. officials were betting their agency on a Kerry victory.

Pray tell, you know this from what source, oh, a little birdy told you. Well brooksie I'll grant you your premise.
Anybody with a fucking brain in their head was betting the betterment of their lives on a repudiation of the fools that have us neck deep in a pile of shit. Let's see if you can slip it all the way down and tickle the uvula.

As the presidential race heated up, the C.I.A. permitted an analyst - who, we now know, is Michael Scheuer - to publish anonymously a book called "Imperial Hubris," which criticized the Iraq war. Here was an official on the president's payroll publicly campaigning against his boss. As Scheuer told The Washington Post this week, "As long as the book was being used to bash the president, they [the C.I.A. honchos] gave me carte blanche to talk to the media."

Nor is this feud over. C.I.A. officials are now busy undermining their new boss, Porter Goss. One senior official called one of Goss's deputies, who worked on Capitol Hill, a "Hill Puke," and said he didn't have to listen to anything the deputy said. Is this any way to run a superpower?

Meanwhile, members of Congress and people around the executive branch are wondering what President Bush is going to do to punish the mutineers. A president simply cannot allow a department or agency to go into campaign season opposition and then pay no price for it. If that happens, employees of every agency will feel free to go off and start their own little media campaigns whenever their hearts desire.

If we lived in a primitive age, the ground at Langley would be laid waste and salted, and there would be heads on spikes. As it is, the answer to the C.I.A. insubordination is not just to move a few boxes on the office flow chart.

Brooks strokes his chin lightly and Dreams of Rome, and pushes a pantal puptent, while thinking of Carthage. I really haven't had a chance to have any coffee yet, and quite frankly, this jackass is not worth any more time. If you want to take a look at editorial felatio, fell free, my freind.

That Porter Goss, now theres a leader you can work with

The Rats are jumping ship at Langley. Apparently there has been some friction born of disrespect. Resignations include the Deputy director of the CIA, and the Deputy Director of Operations.

Deputy Chief Resigns From CIA
Agency Is Said to Be in Turmoil Under New Director Goss

By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 13, 2004; Page A01

The deputy director of the CIA resigned yesterday after a series of confrontations over the past week between senior operations officials and CIA Director Porter J. Goss's new chief of staff that have left the agency in turmoil, according to several current and former CIA officials.

John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations, the officials said.

It seems that there are more to follow. maybe the CIA can take a page out of the CPA playbook and replace these departing spooks with politically pure, Heritage Foundation rejects. I think Ledeen's kid might be looking for a job.

Yesterday, the agency official who oversees foreign operations, Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes, tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Murray. Goss and the White House pleaded with Kappes to reconsider and he agreed to delay his decision until Monday, the officials said.

Several other senior clandestine service officers are threatening to leave, current and former agency officials said.

Just what we need, an agency wide breakdown, in the midst of the global war-profiteering on terror. Lets take a look at what is on the agency plate.

The disruption comes as the CIA is trying to stay abreast of a worldwide terrorist threat from al Qaeda, a growing insurgency in Iraq, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan and congressional proposals to reorganize the intelligence agencies.

Did someone say Taliban, I thought that them was dead, thats what the War profiteer in chief told me. I don't know about the average bush appologist, but this doesn't sound good at all.

"It's the worst roiling I've ever heard of," said one former senior official with knowledge of the events. "There's confusion throughout the ranks and an extraordinary loss of morale and incentive."
........
Goss's arrival has been especially tense because he brought with him four former members of the intelligence committee known widely on the Hill and within the agency for their abrasive management style and for their criticism of the agency's clandestine services in a committee report.
Three are former mid-level CIA officials who left the agency disgruntled, according to former colleagues. The fourth, Murray, who also worked at the Justice Department, has a reputation for being highly partisan. When senior managers have gone to Goss to complain about his staff actions, one CIA officer said, Goss has told them: "Talk to my chief of staff. I don't do personnel."

The overall effect, said one former senior CIA official, who has kept up his contacts in the Directorate of Operations, "is that Goss doesn't seem engaged at all."

That sounds like someone else who is charged to run something big, oh yeah, the president. Arrogent and disengaged, those are the pillars of leadership my friends, or rather something I like to call leadertude (OK I just invented the word-and will hit up a thesaurus to find a synonym that is a better match for the tude suffix) no dice. this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. I is likely down hill for a while.

What will Pat Robinson Say George?

Yesterday, bush and Blair met for photo opportunitys, and high-minded rhetoric, about solving the Isreali Palestinian problem in just four years. Prominent was the discussion of a Palestinian state.

US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair have said "a new opportunity" has emerged to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Hours after Yasser Arafat was buried in Ramallah, Mr Bush said the setting up of an independent Palestinian state was possible within the next four years.

I suspect that this is as likely to happen as the trip to "Mars" that george floated as a trial ballon just under a year ago. The inner cynic finds this likely to be some meat tossed out to shore up Blairs falling political fortunes. One wonders the greeting Blair got from dubby considering he had stated a preference for a Kerry victory. I imagine that after tony was forced to lay his lips on georges ass, they made up. dubby needs Tony, to maintain the veneer of coalition.

He reaffirmed his view that the future of the Middle East is "two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security".

But he said it was up to the Palestinians to show their commitment to peace, to work towards democratic reforms and to fight terror.

"If you want to be helped, here's what we're willing to do," the president said. "If you choose not to be helped, there's nothing we can do."

Let's see if I can translate this. "If you want to be helped, you can have this shit on a stick. If you "choose" not to be helped, you can eat your shit off the ground. More importantly for bush, is how these statements are likely to put fundy knickers in a twist. During a visit to Isreal in early October, Pat Robertson delivered this shot across the bow:

Influential American evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday that Evangelical Christians feel so deeply about Jerusalem, that if President George W. Bush were to "touch" Jerusalem, Evangelicals would abandon their traditional Republican leanings and form a third party.

"The President has backed away from [the road map] but if he were to touch Jerusalem, he'd lose all evangelical support," Robertson said. "Evangelicals would form a third party" because, though people "don't know about" Gaza, Jerusalem is an entirely different matter.
........
Robertson urged that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) be abolished, given what he called the organization's active role in the "perpetuation" of the Palestinian refugee problem. He warned that a Palestinian state would become "a constant source of irritation" that would "endanger the territorial integrity" of Israel.

"A Palestinian state with full sovereignty would be a launching ground for various types of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction," the former presidential candidate said.

Whether Tiptoeing through the Tulips, with fundy coddling code, or playing the evangelicals like a cynical Stradivarious, bush has to keep the fundies on the reservation and hope they do not let slip the dogs of war, meanwhile back to the Bees, leaders of the coalition of the thrilling.

But the BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, notes that President Bush said nothing that he cannot later walk away from. Despite sounding optimistic, the president remains neither hostile nor committed to a peace process.

The president did not commit himself to an international peace conference on the issue and failed to embrace calls to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East.

He did not give a timetable for achieving a Palestinian state.

But he said he intended "to use the next four years to spend the [political] capital of the United States on such a state".

Aha, I thought I smelled another mobilization of the "Empty-Promise Keepers", as is the case if you carefully parse the language of any sheech he gives (Mars anyone?). One hopes the dominionists have their updated codebooks handy, or at least their fundy de-coder rings. Speaking of Dominion, Pat lets us know what the conflict in the middle east is really about and issues a warning.

"I see the rise of Islam to destroy Israel and take the land from the Jews and give East Jerusalem to [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Yasser Arafat. I see that as Satan's plan to prevent the return of Jesus Christ the Lord," said Robertson, a Christian broadcaster.

In two Jerusalem appearances, Robertson Sunday praised Israel as part of God's plan and criticized Arab countries and some Muslims, saying their hopes to include Israeli-controlled land in a Palestinian state are part of "Satan's plan."

Robertson, who has made critical statements of Islam in the past, called Israel's Arab neighbors "a sea of dictatorial regimes."

He said he "sends notice" to Osama bin Laden, Arafat and Palestinian militant groups that "you will not frustrate God's plan" to have Jews rule the Holy Land until the Second Coming of Jesus.

Only God should decide if Israel should relinquish control of the lands it captured in the 1967 war, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, Robertson said, in a reference to Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza next year.

"God says, 'I'm going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and Gaza Strip,'" Robertson said. "'It's my land and keep your hands off it.'"

Wow, God is in the Real Estate business now? What Pat did not say was that before all this socond coming activitude, the dome on the rock has to be destroyed so that the temple of Abraham can be rebuilt and a throne installed, then Jesus can come down, gather the faithful and bring them home to daddy. Back to the Freedon Fightin' duo, BatshitCrazyman and Blair:

"As those elections draw near, the desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate," Mr Bush added.

"Success of democracy in Iraq will be a crushing blow to the forces of terror and the terrorists know it."
.............
"We are the pillars of the free world. We face the same threats and share the same belief in freedom and the rights of every individual," he said.

Mr Blair spoke of a "tremendous desire and willingness" among European nations to ensure the transatlantic alliance, strained over the Iraq war, regains its strength.

Obviously for american consumption, as the Europeans now have every right to despise this administration, pillars of the free world my ass

Kaye Grogan wingnut pundit and Biblical studies mastermind.

Oh those self-righeous Republican pundits, forming a fomidable Phalanx as Values warriors in Batallions of Morality. We liberals better get out of the way or pay the consequence, lest we become a screen for their projection. Oh woe is me of the classical liberal education, I might be in trouble if my parents had not decided to become born-agains for a couple of years while I was growing up.

Invariably the exercise did not take, my parents divorced, and I continued the heathen education that allows me to know when I see or hear shakespeare and distinguish it from the bible. And that damn science education, I know, really, I would be far better off if those secular lies did not form the basis of my pathetic world view. Atrios posted a tip from The Poor Man, who found the following in a Kay Grogan column. One of many that have appeared in the 10 days about how faith won the day and the democrats should just get over it and lie prostrate before our new Republican "Value Brigade" Overlords, begging for mercy. Her column starts with the following:

There are some myths and untruths surrounding the role God plays in our daily lives. To say that religion and politics do not mix, is certainly a myth, unless you ask a liberal. Anything that affects a Christian (and voting is one of them) — enters into the religious realm. Trying to separate the two is like trying to separate oil from a glass of water, it's impossible to do.

OK there's something that doesn't quite make sense, here, in an up is down sort of way. Oh shit right there at the end. Yo Kaye Oil and Water don't mix, okay, Kaye. No mixy oil and water. Try it yourself. Go into the kitchen, poor a glass of water, add a tablespoon of oil, stir vigorously and in a minute or two, the oil will coalesce at the top of the glass while the water stays below.

The Bible is also a political manual, if people would only look at scripture as the final authority as to how we should elect our leaders. God tells us to obey the laws of the land, unless they are in conflict with the Bible. As a Christian we must look not only at the political issues, political parties, but within the hearts of candidates. Since it is hard to really see into the hearts of politicians, because they say one thing, and their actions don't always support what they've said, the Christian must look at what a politician stands for, and if they are in conflict with the teachings of Christ when they vote on important issues.

Yes it is hard, hard work to see into the hearts of politicians cause they often misrepresent or distort their positions. Hmmm there is a fog I can't quite, I am reminded of someone who is a serial distorter (for lack of a better term). Oh Yeah, Kayes beloved, Monarch of Mendacitude, the Dubyanator. This just leads to the denoument, and demonstration of this good womans fine breeding, and taste in literature I might add.

Many are caught up with being a die-hard political party member. They refuse to go outside their party affiliation, and will vote strictly party line, regardless if they know their candidate is supporting abortion, same-sex marriages, and other issues they may not really support in their hearts. The Bible says: "to thine own self be true." If you can't trust yourself when making crucial decisions that will affect you, and others for years to come, who can you trust? And this brings me back to the question: How can politics and religion be separated? Both have such a profound effect on our lives and others.

"To thine own self be true" Hmmm, maybe Shakespeare was ripping of the bible when he gave that line (Act I, scene iii) to Polonius, who spoke it to Laertes, as the latter was ready to disembark on a trip to the "big city". So I wonder what biblical text does this quote come from? None I am sorry to say, unless it comes form the apochropha, or one of the books that the coucil of Nicea chose not to cannonize? I can't find it. Well now, given that egregious errors exist in the first four paragraphs of her screed, I figure that to continue would be a waist of time.

No wonder the right wing denegrates education, and no wonder that us elite educated folk laugh at them when they don't even bother to check on the one hand (oil and water), and mix up the works of Satan (Shakespeare) with the words of God (the Bible). Thanks for the laugh Kaye. (pssst. if you need an editor, give me a call)
[........Update........]

She has edited the "to thine owns self be true to refer to Shakespeare "Ha Hah" - Nelson. And upon further review has rewritten the opening part about the oil and water. Tee Heee

Gratuitous Cat-Blogging

This is Ptolemy, Jack's (he's the fat black cat below) brother. He is a very sharp boy with a philosophical attitude, and a very sweet demeanor He is the definition of grace. He may also be the most beautiful cat I have had the pleasure of knowing. His purring is also top notch, I would imagine there might be a market for using his purring in sleeping aids, or as a setting on a noise machine, right next to the ocean sounds.

Ptolemy was named after the Greek Astronomer, Mathmetician, and Geographer, seen below. Click on the image for more information about this fascinating character.

The Fallujah you won't see on Your TV

Given that Doctors without borders has left Iraq due to security concerns like the ones they had when they bailed from Afghanistan earlier this year. It is up to the Red Cross and the Red Cresent to give aid and confort to Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire. There are many suffering and in desparate need of medical attention in Fallujah. From Yahoo via Reuters. Tip from Americablog.

By Omar Anwar

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Aid agencies called on U.S. forces and the Iraqi government to allow them to deliver food, medicine and water to Falluja on Friday and said four days of intense fighting had turned the city into a "big disaster."

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which receives support from foreign agencies including the Red Cross and UNICEF (news - web sites), said it had asked U.S. forces and Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government to let them deliver relief goods to Falluja and establish medics there.

But it said it had received no reply.

"We call on the Iraqi government and U.S. forces to allow us to do our humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said Firdoos al-Ubadi, Red Crescent spokeswoman.

"This is their responsibility," she said, adding that judging by reports received from refugees and pictures broadcast on television, Falluja was a "big disaster."

A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission to help refugees in towns around Falluja, but could not say if it had been granted access to the city itself.

The Red Crescent has seven teams of doctors and relief workers, backed by trucks of food and other aid ready to go into each of Falluja's districts when the word is given.

Let's hope that the word comes quickly if for nothing else but the name of human decency.

"Anyone who gets injured is likely to die because there's no medicine and they can't get to doctors," said Abdul-Hameed Salim, a volunteer with the Iraqi Red Crescent. "There are snipers everywhere. Go outside and you're going to get shot."

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on Thursday morning and arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the west, on Thursday night.

He said families left in the city were in desperate need.

"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.

Anyone who is paying attention should realize that what news gets throught the pentagon division of the Ministry of Truth, is sanitized so keep the true horrors on the ground from seeing the light of day, lest it dampen support for the war.

Meanwhile the Iraqi government has sent troops (our guys - sent by the Iraqi leadership - global test anyone) into Mosul chasing that mole of insurgency all over the place, while US/Iraqi (really Kurdish) Forces root out the remaining cells of insurgency in Fallujah. Again from Yahoo/Rueters.

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - American forces Friday pushed deeper into the last remaining insurgent stronghold in Fallujah, and the Iraqi government rushed massive reinforcements to Mosul, the country's third-largest city, where police lost control in the face of insurgent attacks.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said U.S. and Iraqi forces now occupy about 80 percent of Fallujah, and clearing operations are continuing to find caches of weapons and ammunition.

In Washington, President Bush met Friday with his top ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and warned that with upcoming Iraqi elections, "the desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate." But he said victory in Iraq would be a blow to terrorists everywhere.

Just keep repeating things untill they are true georgie boy. I bet you are happy to have your butbuddy and fellow sock puppet Blair at your side.

Army and Marine units moved to tighten their security cordon around the besieged city of Fallujah, backed by FA-18s and AC-130 gunships.



The largest pocket of remaining resistance fighters were cornered Friday in the city's southwest as airstrikes and strafing runs continued.

"The rout is on," said a 1st Cavalry Division officer. "It won't be long now."

Iraqi forces are charged with searching every building in Fallujah, working from north to south, the military said.

In the city's north, U.S. forces report roving squads of between three and five militants shooting small-arms fire and moving easily through narrow alleyways. Troops are finding numerous weapons caches, the military said.

Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief Michael Weir said in an interview that troops of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment who spearheaded the first push into the city early Monday found entire houses that were booby-trapped.

Fighting was so fierce that, on one occasion, U.S. troops fought insurgents room to room, just a few feet away from each other in the same house.

Troops have cut off all roads and bridges leading out of the city and have turned back hundreds of men trying to flee the city during the assault. Only women, children and the elderly can leave.

The military says keeping men aged 15 to 55 from leaving is key to the mission's success.

"If they're not carrying a weapon, you can't tell who's who," said an officer with the 1st Cavalry Division.

Where have I heard that before, ah yes Vietnam. I guess the plan now is to kill or detain every male of breeding age, and that will only serve to make us more friends in the long run. It's "Hearts and Minds™" people, get with the program.

No George, I dont want to play stinky pinky

Tony grins while Dubya tries to slip one past the goalie

Props to Attaturk for the catch

Dubya wants you to keep "your money"

Youv'e heard his riff on the evils of taxation, and his justification of massive tax cuts, that benefit those who will be desparately trying to shove that camel through the needles eye, when their time comes. "It's your money, you know how to spend it better than the government does" says Dubya over and over again, and the rubes, fed a steady, nearly unending stream of anti-government propaganda, and filled with materialistic furver, lap it up like a hungry man wolfs down a bowl of stew. Well my greedy friends, adherents of the cult of the self made man, you may want to ponder this fine piece I found at horculated.

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.


Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

No one earns their fortune in a vacuum, and there is no such thing as a truly self made man. Fro those inclined to digagree, I'll be happy to chat with you after you have made a life for yourself ala Robinson Caruso, and without the companionship of Friday.

Sanctity of Life, My Ass.

I first caught wind of this story at the eschaton last evening, and after dealing with a couple of war appologist justifacilitudes, this just lit my fuse, an uncharacteristic explosion of invective ensued. What follows is the story of a young girl who needs 24 hour care to deal with her numerous health issues, and a bureaucracy that wants to end her coverage, which would result in her death. Between the travesty in Iraq, and increasing numbers of people falling off the Health care wagon, the Republicans talk a great game about the sanctity of life, but in reality that is all it is, talk . Let's meet Lauren Rainey.

Medicaid threatens to terminate girl's nursing care

(Mobile, Ala) November 9 -

Life as they know it is on the verge of turning upside-down for a local family. Alabama Medicaid is threatening to eliminate the nursing care for a Mobile middle school student who had previously qualified for a special program. The girl's doctor says the changes are happening because of a state policy that doesn't make any sense.

13-year-old Lauren Rainey is full of life. She's smart, outgoing, and always smiling. Her nurse describes her as a drama queen. At school she is the class clown.

"She's a happy child," her mother, Laura, tells NBC 15 News. Her size is more like that of a 3 year old. But that's the least of her medical concerns.

"She's got the trache, she's deaf, she's got asthma, got an enlarged heart, all types of bone problems, scoliosis," said her mother.

To help her breathe, Lauren is hooked up to an oxygen machine and a humidifing mist machine. Lauren's doctor said her airway is restricted to the size of the end of an ink pen.

"That's why she is constantly suctioned. She is always getting plugged up," added Laura. Lauren's airway is suctioned several times an hour to prevent her from suffocating.

Due to her medical condition, Lauren requires 24-hour a day supervision. Medicaid currently provides her a trained nurse for 10 hours a day. But a recent letter from Alabama Medicaid says a decision has been made to eliminate Lauren's care.

As to why, Medicaid officials would only tell Lauren's mother: "She doesn't meet the criteria. I don't know how they can do that."

To find out, NBC15's Bruce Mildwurf went to Montgomery to meet with Alabama Medicaid Medical Director Dr. Mary McIntyre. She is the doctor who made the final decision in Lauren's case. "I have to make it (decisions on Medicaid clients) based on the medical information that is provided, the documentation that is submitted, and whether or not they actually meet the criteria," said McIntyre.

The Medicaid official said the decision is based solely on the individual's medical records and the nurses progress notes. She said Medicaid only provides nursing care for patients whose condition is clearly worsening.

Dr. Lawrence Sindel, Lauren's doctor, responds to that by saying, "Clearly the people that made the decision don't understand what's going on with Lauren or they decided taking care of her is not worthwhile."

Dr. Sindel has cared for Lauren for ten years. He said if they waited for her condition to worsen further, the price could be her life. "I think if she were to get the flu, it would be very difficult to help her through that. If she were to catch a pneumonia, it would be very difficult to help her through that. So the likelihood she could die is very high." said Sindel.

"Words like could and may, those are all things that could happen to anyone in this room." said McIntyre during our interview. The difference being everyone who was in the room when she made that
comment was healthy.

"For me to take care of her 24 hours a day, I don't know how long I can last doing that." said Laura. " How am I going to take care of her if I can't even go out to work to take care of her. I may even lose my house."

Dr. Sindel agrees: "That's not something a family member can do 24 hours a day. None of us can work 24 hours a day." But Medicaid's Dr. McIntyre insists the program was not designed to provide relief to the caregiver.

<>Minutes before our interview with Dr. McIntyre, Mildwurf was told we would only speak in general terms... that we were not to mention Lauren by name... "Because of regulations, that is not something as an individual or as an agency... that's not something we can discuss." We were told that even though Lauren's mother filled out the necessary paperwork giving Medicaid permission to speak specifically about her case.

When Lauren's name was mentioned by us, just to ask what information we had access to, the interview abruptly ended. "Turn the camera off. We're done with the interview at this point," we were told.
...........
Dr. Sindel tells us: "Most physicians would not agree with just letting somebody who is still functioning and has a real life and a personality just not be cared for." But then again, Dr. Sindel sees Lauren as a human being, not as just a medical chart.

"It's just sad. It's sad that our government can, you know... it's like throwing kids away." said Carolyn Yates, Lauren's 10-hour-a-day nurse. And it's because of the rules in the State of Alabama, this young girl will possibly be denied the care her doctors say is necessary for her to just live and breathe. Lauren's family has appealed Medicaid's decision. Meanwhile, Medicaid will continue to maintain Lauren's care through the appeals process.
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If Lauren makes it to her 14th birthday, it will likely be a result of this story getting the press it desersves. If she looses her appeal she is likely to endure a tremendous amount of suffering while slowly withering away into death. The party that claims the mantle of "The Sanctity of Life" sure is working overtime to gut any government programs that might protect it. The party that wears it's "superior morality" on it's sleave, seems contemptuous of the morality of Social Justice. I wonder how much Healthcare 220 Billion dollars could purchase.....

Global warming has an upside. Who'da Thunk it.

Apparently Global warming is a good thing. I am suprised that some some scientists would suggest it is a "Good Thing™". The logic goes like this. One, It will be easier for offshore oil and gas exploarations, and two, will open up arctic shipping lanes that will be benificial to the Russians. From Reuters:

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

REYKJAVIK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - An accelerating thaw of the Arctic may open vast regions for oil and gas exploration but that brings worries of spills in the fragile environment, experts said on Thursday.

Scientists behind an-eight nation report saying the Arctic sea ice could almost vanish in summer by 2100 because of global warming said offshore oil and gas operations would be easier but melting permafrost could destabilise installations on land.

But oil companies are unconvinced.

"We can't say for sure whether Arctic operations will become easier or more difficult," said Mark Akhurst, climate change manager for BP, an observer at a scientists' conference in Reykjavik reviewing the Arctic report released on Monday.

"One of the big issues is ... great chunks of ice shifting around," he said. "If warming creates areas where ice is far less stable then it's much more difficult to engineer."

Oil and gas is already produced around the Arctic from Alaska to Norway. Big new projects include Russia's Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea, one of the world's biggest with an estimated 3.3 trillion cubic metres of gas.

"As ice recedes, resources like oil and gas will generally be easier to reach," said Arne Instanes, a Norwegian scientist who wrote a chapter of the report on infrastructure in the region.

Many environmentalists are opposed to exploration for new fossil fuels in the Arctic -- saying the burning of oil, gas and coal is already responsible for heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide that are warming the planet.

Only a matter of time before the administration runs with this.

Mimicry a sincere form a flattery

Monkey See, Monkey Do. and of course Monkey See, nor Hear, nor Speak no Evil. The Original site, called Sorry Everybody (monkey see), was discovered by Freepers and they came up with one of their own, Were Not Sorry (monkey do).
Below is an example of the unappologetic minions of the Monkey.

Blood on my hands? Who gives a Fuck.



Another proud to be an american patriot

Why would the Mandate monkey need a line Item Veto

So bush, leader of a party that controls the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th estates, feels the need to exercise even more control over the legislative process. Meanwhile I seem to remember that Clinton wanted one so now I must find out. OK, here is the story. Congress passed a bill giving Clinton the line item Veto in '96, Clinto used it sparingly througout '97, and the SCOTUS ruled it unconstitutional in '98. From the WAPO.

By Helen Dewar and Joan Biskupic
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 26, 1998; Page A01

The Supreme Court yesterday struck down the broad new line-item veto authority that Congress had given the president to cancel specific items in spending and tax bills.

Within a couple of hours of the ruling, the law's backers announced they will try again to find a constitutional way to expand the president's powers to cut pork-barrel expenditures.

In a 6 to 3 decision, the court held that the line-item veto law violates a constitutional requirement that legislation be passed by both houses of Congress and presented in its entirety to the president for signature or veto.
........
But the judicial branch, looking to constitutional rather than political or fiscal priorities, took a far dimmer view of the power swap.

Unlike earlier laws giving the president discretionary spending authority, "this act gives the president the unilateral power to change the text of duly enacted statutes," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

Let's see how bush plans to get around this opinion, before he stacks the courts, that is.

Six years after the Supreme Court took away the president's ability to veto specific parts of legislation, President Bush is asking Congress to bring back the line-item veto to let him make precision strikes against projects and tax provisions he doesn't like.

At a news conference after his re-election, Bush said he wanted a line-item veto that "passed constitutional muster," explaining it would help him work with lawmakers "to make sure that we're able to maintain budget discipline."

Budget discipline, in the bush administration? That does not pass the smell, laugh, or "global" tests.

White House Budget Director Josh Bolten told the Senate Budget Committee this year that the administration hopes to work with Congress to draft legislation that would stand up to constitutional scrutiny.

"We hope the president has the political courage to follow through on this," said David Williams, spokesman for Citizens Against Government Waste, a leading advocate of the line-item veto as a means to rein in government spending. "This could be one of his legacies."

Grover Norquist must be wetting himself at the thought. I can envision the "lines" that would be subject to veto. Social services, strike, NCLB, strike, any program that might help the little guy, strike. Grovers wet dream, the LIV in the hands of a man who would be the despot dauphin.

Meanwhile in Mosul

While the press engages in near orgasmic Rapture over Fallujahpallooza War Porn II©, Insurgents in Mosul are setting police stations on fire and stealing weopons right and left. Welcome to the Quagmiristan™ version of Whack-A Mole. If it wasn't such a tragedy, the keystone-copesque nature of the prosecution of this war would be laughable. While the media falls over itself trupeting the triumphant if not phyrric victory in Fallujah, people across the world are learning that the US military is not the potent juggernaut they may have once feared. Meanwhile relaxing poolside at "Club Med" is laughing as we continue to do his bidding and as we move closer to economic collapse.

Insurgents on rampage in north Iraq city of Mosul
11 Nov 2004 10:49:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Maher al-Thanoon

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Insurgents set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and brazenly roamed the streets of Mosul on Thursday as Iraq's third largest city appeared to be sliding out of control, residents said.

Explosions and fire from assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades could be heard echoing across the city and columns of smoke rose from at least two police stations set alight.

"It's crazy, really, really crazy," said Abdallah Fathi, a resident who witnessed a police station being attacked.

"Yesterday, the city felt like hell, today it could be the same or worse."

The northern city of Mosul has seen frequent outbreaks of violence, but residents and reporters said the past two days were the worst since the end of the war last year.

As U.S. forces battle to suppress insurgents in the rebel city of Falluja, it appears many fighters may have fled to other cities where they are launching new attacks.

In the past three days, there has been a step up in guerrilla activity in Samarra, Baiji, Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi, areas of Baghdad and in the holy city of Kerbala to the south.

In Mosul, a city of about three million people, insurgents attacked a group of Iraqi National Guardsmen blocking a bridge in the city centre, killing five of them and destroying three vehicles, witnesses said.

A cameraman working for Reuters filmed groups of militants emerging from a police station carrying police-issued AK-47s and bullet-proof jackets before setting the building on fire.

We will be compelled to take Mosul, while the insurgents re-take What is left of Fallujah. Then the christian soldiers will march off to Karbala, etc, etc, etc. But at least we're fighting the Terrorists "over there".

Arafat has passed.

If you listen quietly you can here shouts of glee all over the world for the demise of a leader blamed by many of these folks for the problems faced by the palestinians. Sharon must be licking his chops, thinking of the opportunities that this power vacuum might provide. Bush will likely state that all is good now that a terrorist is dead. He will probably offer platitudes of hope that the new palistinian leadership see the writing on the wall, and that it is in their vested interest to "play ball". Cooperation and capitulation will be requested in editorials all across the land.

We may soon discover, that as bad as Arafat may have been, he might have been more responsible than we know for keeping a lid on the more militant factions in the occupied territories. Speculation, sure. But it is beginning to look like the old saw about "the enemy you know...." is increasing in relevence, esp in the Middle East. In any event the Body of the Arafat is on it's way home. Note to self, take a look at LGF.

The body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has begun its final return to the Middle East from the Paris hospital where he died early on Thursday.

Mr Arafat's coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was taken by helicopter to a French military airport, where a ceremony was held.

His body was then put on board a plane bound for Cairo, where his funeral will take place on Friday.

The Palestinian Authority has declared 40 days of mourning.

Members of the French government attended the ceremony at Villacoublay airport, described by the BBC's Allan Little in Paris as a semi-state occasion.

A military band played a funeral march as Mr Arafat's coffin was carried to an Airbus plane bearing the livery of the French republic.

I am sure that the freepers will be all over the french, for this display of respect for the de-facto leader of a people still striving for self determination. I fear for the good people in the region who will invariably dealing with incresed instability. A lesson that one could learn from the Isreali Palestinian conflict if they bothered, is that terrorism can not be defeated at the point of a gun. Strap yourselves in folks, I fear that the wild ride has just begun.

Holy War

Are our elections fair?

I am as partisan as they come, but I believe that every vote should count. If a recount that I can trust (no closed soor partisan shenanagins ala prov ballot count in ohio) and if it turns out that bush wins by 5 million, and gains 15 EC votes, would be dissappointing, but I would be happy to accept it.

I do hope that we have a final accounting, but fraud notwithstanding, we can no longer accept a system that is broken by large turnout. We can not accept 7 hour waiting periods to cast a ballot. We can not accept a county or precinct judge being told a machine can hold 10,000 votes when it can only retain 3500. We can not accept a system where they run out of ballots, ore one in which provisional ballots are not likely to be counted, or to put it another way, be thrown in the garbage. We cannot accept a system that allows parties with a contempt for certain voting groups to run the voting system. In my mind, all of these factors bring into question, the legitimacy of the process, and this is before any vote counting shenanigans are employed by either side. For these reasons I cannot accept the legitimacy of the election.

If people have to wait until 3 am to cast a vote, the system is FUBAR, period, and we should all be nervous about the future of our representitive republic.

There are a boatload of issues that continue to haunt the process, although what southern republicans and dixiecrats have is an institutionalized system of black voter disenfranchisement. They seem to be strict constitutional contructionists and have likely managed to keep the black vote as mandated in the constitution at 3/5ths a person.

For me it is an issue of fairness, and we should treat it as such. every vote should count, period. One of the most frustrating things is listening to the barely veiled contempt for voters that republican pundits and political hacks seem to have. How often have you heard the off hand "(insert democratic candidate here) would not have won the race if it wasn't for the African American vote", aka "the Hammer-Time factor". The common rejoinder is that (insert republican candidate here) would not have one without the ignorant bigoted angry white man vote." aka the Cracker Time factor". Both of these attitudes are bullshit, but guess which one you are most likely to hear on TV? I have heard the Hammer-Time factor discussed often on all the mainstream news outlets.

I have heard it on Rush (why the fuck is that guy not in jail) Limbaugh's Program. the not so subtle subtext is that niggers aren't educated enough to vote. For reasons passing understanding a lot of republicans are baffled by the fact that 9 out of ten African Americans vote for democrats, to them I say look in the morror, your party coddles racists, and while moderate white people may fail to grasp the meaning of your racial code words, black folk understand exactly what you mean.

There must be more accountability and transparency in the way votes are cast and counted. It should be a crime to tamper with the elections in any way, shape or form, and the penalties should be substantial enough to discourage those who would contemplate voter intimidation, vote fraud, or any other tactics, designed to rig the game. If we can't trust the process, the future of the country is in grave doubt.

There are a couple of camps with respect to the current issues regarding the legitimacy of the election. On the one hand there are those that are convinced that it was "stolen", on another hand there are those that suggesting that a rational approach is needed, wait for evidence to mount before jumping to conclusions, and on a third account are those that are satisfied with the results and believe we should move on. This last group is likely to be composed of people who are unwilling to accept the possibility that fraud on a massive scale is possible for it would interfere with their idealised vision of America. These are the targets of Goebbels "Big Lie" system of propaganda, the "my leaders would never do that" or "that would never happen here" crowd.

I have serious questions, and hope beyond reason that the accounting will meet my satisfaction, but I won't hold my breath. My greatest fear is that the system will alway be broken, and we have enthroned a permanent tyranny of the minority, a new aristocracy, the hegemony of Corporate/Religious interests, that I have feared would take place in my life time. I would like to be proven wrong.

One week later.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes, or PIPA for short has some interesting information regarding the perceptions of bush voters. For starters:

Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD or Major Program,
Supported al Qaeda

Agree with Kerry Supporters Bush Administration Still Saying This is the Case

Agree US Should Not Have Gone to War if No WMD or Support for al Qaeda

Bush Supporters Misperceive World Public as Not Opposed to Iraq War, Favoring Bush Reelection

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.

It would seem that many of dear leaders supporters are woefully misinformed and I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Our friends overseas should take note that a majority of bush supporters think that you folks support dear leader and everything he stands for. You may wonder how they got that idea. Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh fed it to them.

FWIW, by the time the first week of the war in Iraq had finished, it was obvious that Saddam was not in possesion of WMD's, because if he had them he would have used them, because he was a madman, don't you know.

Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.

These "perceptions" kill me. Saddam ran a secular state and fundimentalist radical Islam, was as much a threat to him as it has become for us....what's the point, it is obvious that we are a nation filled with assholes, and run by greedy war profiteers. And we have a "press", owned by corporate intrests and Defence contractors. The GWOT is just a battle in the war of the coming apocalypse, and GWB, doesn't need to worry about the judgement of history, because he is planning to shake the hand of Jesus soon.

The biggest fraidy cat

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22 pounds of sweet lovin' kitten voiced, fraidy boy. Jack is something else. He was the first cat I ever witness panting, as a young cat would chase the stick to exhaustion. It got to the point that we had to spell S-T-I-C-K if curious as to its whereabouts. If you would voice the word Jack would offer assistance, and could be counted on to find his favorite toy. He has his "ways".

Sundday Afternoon Catblogging

This is sylvia, she has to place the water bowl just so. She makes no bones about moving it if it is out of whatever "alignment" she has in mind. It used to start next to the wall, but we have now been trained. She still feels compelled to make adjustments. She has all the Lapseeker 2500™ programming including updates.
She was dropped off by a friend who feared that his newborn was allergic. While she was named after Plath, she is the most up beat and congenial cat's I have ever known, simply unfazed by anything.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. This is my favorite line from Hamlet, and one I have always taken to heart. It is in part, coupled to a very active imagination, the reason I have an extremely open mind. I abhor the use of the tag "conspiracy theory" to stifle debate, simply because someone refuses to wrap their head around the possibility that some things may not be accidental, or that conventional wisdom might just be a cover story for an ugly truth.

Most of us carry a carefully developed variety of assumptions that assist us in making sense of the world. When evidence might challenge one of these assumptions, we are much more likely to challenge the evidence than question the assumption. History is littered with shattered assumption: There are four elements, the earth is flat, the earth is the center of the universe, the earth is only 5,000 years old. I expect that many commonly held assumptions will fall by the wayside as history marches on.

Where Am I going with this? I am not sure, but I think that it is helpful to evaluate and challenge your assumptions, and articles of faith from time to time. As nice as it would be to live in a world of white and black, the one I occupy includes every shade of grey. Hell, I am grey. 400 years ago, my ancestors were living on 3 continents, Africa, Europe, and North America. One of these days I will explain how a trip to the grocery store at the age of 3 1/2 led me to an understanding that something was fundimentaly wrong with the world, an assumption that has withstood the test of time.

In other news I would suggest that you take a look at this rant from my friend Bellatrys at Nothing new under the sun.