Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Catching up on this-n-that

Official Presbyterian Publisher Issues 9/11 Conspiracy Book
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government, according to a book to be released later this month by Westminster John Knox Press—a division of the denominational publisher for the Presbyterian Church.
Environment drowning in bottled water
"Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more," states an article at the Earth Policy Institute Web site. "At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline." ...making and hauling all those plastic bottles burns massive quantities of fossil fuels. Most of those bottles are made from crude oil derivatives... making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
Good Riddance To The Gingrichites: GOP 'Chess Club' Ruled The House For 12 Years And Won't Be Missed
The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. The iconic figures of this era were Newt Gingrich, Richard Armey and Tom Delay. They were zealous advocates of free markets, low taxes and the pursuit of wealth; they were hawks and often bellicose; they were brutal critics of big government. Yet none of these guys had success in capitalism. None made any real money before coming to Congress. None of them spent a day in uniform. And they all spent the bulk of their adult careers getting paychecks from the big government they claimed to despise.
And finally:
"This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country." - Al Gore, speaking for me... thanks, Al

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Okay, I'm back...

...and I brought something really, really weird with me. Maybe you've seen this before, maybe not. It freaks me right out. It's even been logically explained to me, but it still just freaks me out.

Here it is: the Flash Mind Reader.

If you follow the directions, it might just freak you out too 8^)

P.S. When you've finished with that, there's also this. Who needs unauthorized wiretapping?

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving posts always present a veritable cornucopia of possibilities (pun intended, I guess). Sure, there are the things we're thankful for, blah blah blah, what wine goes with tryptophan, parades, and the unique, singularly inescapable hell that is "family".

Well, one thing that thanksgiving seems to be truly about is food, and lots of it. Turkey, of course, or the hip alternative. Weird pies, things made out of green beans, "stuffing" (a term which always struck me as being a little curious, like something Vincent Price would offer during a meal: "Here, my dears, have some... stuffing).

Well, my saucy gastronomes, you're in luck! Because I am here to guide towards the lime-green light of truth known as The Gallery of Regrettable Food. Before you can truly appreciate what you have on your table this season, you MUST examine the gallery. Then, and only then, can you truly appreciate, and be thankful for, your Aunt Edna's Tuna Beet Mold.

Bon Appetit!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Me too, ay?

Seems like so many bloggers have been posting music bits and whatnot, and dammmit, I should do that too! So, just because it's Tuesday, here's a bit of weirdness. Thumpety-whackety-whoo!


Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Empire Will Strike Back

Conservative leaders plan a comeback

Just so you don't have to register with the LA Times to read the article, I'll just paste a few bits here:

Awaking to the dismal reality of widespread defeat, more than 100 of the conservative movement's most ardent leaders gathered as they have every Wednesday for more than a decade in a downtown conference room to discuss strategy... speaker after speaker declared that voters had not rejected conservative ideas but had merely rejected Republican Party leaders who strayed from the movement's basic values.
Translation: They got caught.
"There was no ideological rejection in this election," said Richard Lessner, former executive director of the American Conservative Union... "This was about the Republican Party not behaving like Republicans."
Translation: This was about republicans behaving exactly like republicans.
What is needed now [they] said, is reinforcement of their principles of cutting taxes and spending along with promotion of social causes such as the fights against abortion and same-sex marriage.
Cutting spending? What do republicans know about cutting spending?
The star guest was Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who reminded participants that after losing the White House to Clinton in 1992, the movement turned its losses into the 1994 takeover of Congress. "We have a long history as a movement... of using our difficult election outcomes to make ourselves better," Mehlman said. "...I think we need to look at it as a big opportunity as a party and a cause to return to our reformist approach and our reformist principles."
This guy was the head of the RNC, and he doesn't know that "conservatism" and "reform" are, by definition, opposites?
A Republican National Committee memo laying out talking points for conservative pundits, bloggers and other supporters... underscored that message, calling for the party to "refocus conservative principles of less government, lower taxes, less regulation, strong national defense, judicial restraint and fiscal conservatism."
Who do they think they're kidding? The size of government explodes under republican control, they spend money like mad, their idea of national defense is a Hitlerian fantasy, and their definition of "judicial restraint" is that corporate criminals, republican politicians, and their cronies are all above the law.
At the same time, the conservative leaders made clear where they thought the GOP had strayed from its principles.
Translation again: They got caught.
And their criticisms underscored some long-simmering tensions within the conservative movement that foreshadowed the GOP losses
...But not enough to make them do anything about it until, you guessed it, they got caught.
Several participants said the growth of government over the last 12 years — accelerated under the Bush presidency — had discouraged traditional supporters who had long viewed the GOP as the party of limited government.
Guess what? Goverment expanded more under Reagan and Bush than it did under Carter or Clinton. These so-called "fiscal conservatives" are delusional. Hypnotized. Fooling themselves, and sadly, fooling the poor saps who support them.
One election-night poll presented Wednesday illustrated that concern. It showed that more voters now considered the GOP the party of big government.
Finally. It's about @#$%^ time.
"There's no doubt in my mind it was not a repudiation of conservatives but it was a repudiation of the Republican Party," said the group's president.
Lately we've been bombarded with republicans' lamentations that their party stopped being "conservative" a long time ago. Too bad they didn't consider that a problem until, you guessed it, they got caught.
For his part, meeting host Grover Norquist said in an interview that he viewed the election as a bump on an otherwise smooth road to continued conservative dominance... Despite short-term setbacks, Norquist said, the conservative movement is "perfectly healthy. No one is losing because they favor tax cuts, are pro-life, pro-gun or pro-growth... And Democrats will be standing there, naked to the winds, having been forced by Nancy Pelosi to vote for tax increases, gun control and impeaching the president," he added, referring to the future speaker of the House.
That's the same Grover Norquist who supports Central American death squads as a tool for political change and likes to give money to Jack Abramoff.

Yup, they'll be back in new costumes. Let's be ready.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Flip Side

An argument currently rages about whether the President should be impeached. Now, I am totally in favor of impeachment. I think it is more than necessary; it is a duty that would be more dangerous to neglect than to pursue. Nevertheless, some disagree. One who does is Robert Reich, of whom I am a fan. He makes his case for replacing impeachment with other goals in this article: What the Dems Should Do Now. He makes a very good point, although I am still in favor of impeachment.

Monday, November 13, 2006

The Lifelong Failure Who Never Matured Beyond His Twisted Silver Spoon Adolescence

Can Bush Sr. and His Team Save Son’s Presidency?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Fiscal Restraint

From Newsweek (emphasis mine): Where the Republicans Went Astray:
"From the beginning of Gingrich's tenure, the GOP's K Street offensive had warned lobbying firms along Washington's K Street corridor that they would be wise to hire Republicans if they wanted access... Before long, lobbyists could be seen in committee rooms writing legislation. With corporate coziness came the abandonment of fiscal restraint. Committee chairmen now routinely handed out 'earmarks,' special provisions authorizing spending for members' pet projects. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan vetoed a highway bill because it had 152 earmarks. In 2005, President Bush signed a transportation bill with 6,371 earmarks"
Youch! The party of small government sure knows how to get the job done, ay?

A Commentary on an Old News Item

President's Radio Address (from 11/11/2006):
"One freedom that defines our way of life is the freedom to choose our leaders at the ballot box. We saw that freedom earlier this week, when millions of Americans went to the polls to cast their votes for a new Congress. Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war."
Since when have we ever suspended elections during wartime? Apparently, Bush & Cheney & Rove et al discussed the possibility of doing just that. We know he doesn't write his own speeches. This statement was made to plant the seed in Americans' minds that the Bush regime and/or their repuke successors have the power to take away our right to vote.

This is a recurring theme in the Rovian neocon theory of political success: they take away peoples' votes, whether through fraud or by force, and after that they exercise tyrannical control.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Poetic Justice

Even though I grew up in deer-huntin' country, I'm always rootin' for the deer.
A deer being kept in a pen attacked and killed his owner Sunday, state police said... The buck that killed [him] was among about a half dozen deer penned up on his property
"his owner" !? Yeah, right! I think the deer showed the bastard who owns whom!

Thursday, November 9, 2006

A Constantly Amazing Election

Karl Rove’s stated goal was to create a permanent one-party control over all branches of government. So, perhaps, was Caesar’s, and Napoleon’s, and Stalin’s, and Hitler’s, and so on and so on ad infinitum. It is an entirely un-American approach to government; to deny representation to roughly half the population. My impression of Rove is that he really regards American politics as a sort of competitive game, wherein the goal is to win the contest, capture all the pieces, and so on, with no consideration whatsoever of the effect it has on the human lives which hang in the balance. We are just his game pieces. He lost this round, but I expect he will return more determined to win his pieces back in 2008. Expect diabolical behavior on an extraordinary scale.

The Democrats in congress have now been given their orders: Do a better job than the Republicans, or get thrown out next time. This a golden opportunity for the Democratic party to prove they can be a superior representational body. The Republicans blew it when they had the same opportunity. Now it’s the Democrats’ turn. It wasn’t too long ago that the repukes enjoyed similar victories and proclaimed it a “landslide”, a “mandate”, and “political capitol”. The Republicans thought their success released them of all accountability. Through their arrogance, they became pigs at the trough, giving full expression to all the most hideous aspects of human nature. Democrats must not make that mistake: they are placed in a position wherein they are expected to demonstrate highly ethical behavior – no lying, no stealing, no deception, and so on – and if they catch one of their own doing bad things, they need to punish the culprit, not hide them in the basement like the repukes. If they can’t manage that, then they are just as replaceable as their predecesors.

The Democrats must also not mimic Republicans’ gloating over their 2004 victories. There was a lot of sniping back and forth, with the right claiming their “sweeping mandate,” and the left replying, “2% is not a mandate.” And despite their previous rhetoric, Republicans will pull the same “obstructionist” tactics, like filibustering, for which they sneeringly chastised Democrats.

And to those who say the Democrats are as hopelessly corrupt as the Republicans, all I can say is, there is always hope for, and potential for, positive change. The Dems have turned themselves around before – they were once the party of southern racists, and the party of Vietnam. They are now the party that most Progressives choose as the vehicle of choice for expression of progressive values. That in itself is a step forward, and they should keep that momentum.

Everyone is saying the Iraq war is the most important thing. But don’t let that distract from the enormity of damage the Bush administration has done in so many other areas – domestic policy, environmental policy, non-Iraq-related foreign policy, trashing of our Constitution, implementation of the so-called “patriot act”… the list is far too long to repeat here. We must not ignore those things by becoming too myopic; all these problems need to be addressed as soon as possible, while we have the chance.

And finally, the question of impeachment. My position, for the record, is this: we should impeach the president and the vice president, and pursue punitive action against other cabinet members including Rice, etc. Why? Because the only effective deterrent to crime is certainty of punishment. If the Bush Cabal is allowed to ride off into the sunset without being held accountable for their misdeeds, then we are establishing the precedent (or reasserting the already established one) that it is okay for an American executive administration to behave the way they did. We must not send that message. We must not allow crimes of this magnitude to go unpunished. Impeach.

By the way, I still say 9/11 was an inside job.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

My Last Chance...

...to post my favorite picture of Rumsfeld!

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

When the Dust Settles...

Can we still impeach if Dems only control the House, and not the Senate?

Sunday, November 5, 2006

Republican Man In Iraq Saddam Hussein Sentenced

So, Saddam Hussein, beloved ally of Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Donald Rumsfeld, etc., has been sentenced to death for using the weapons provided to him by United States of America.


Here is a little background on Saddam Hussein that you probably won't find in the Sunday paper anytime soon:
Saddam's move to gas the Kurds is a great talking point for some U.S. propagandists who gleefully note that the "Butcher of Baghdad" has "gassed his own people." The Kurds were poisoned mostly with Mustard Gas, which blisters the skin and lungs, as well as Nerve Agents and good old-fashioned cyanide.

The downside to the whole "gassing his own people" angle is, of course, that the United States under President Ronald Reagan was actively supporting Iraq with logistical and military assistance at the time, in one of those little "proxy wars" with the Soviets that always turned out so well.

In the late 1980s, Reagan dispatched a very special envoy to the Middle East, one Donald Rumsfeld, who wined and dined Saddam even as the dictator was slicing and dicing the Kurds. Rumsfeld claims he warned Saddam about those bad old chemical weapons at the time, but the warning somehow got lost between his uttering it and the notes he submitted to the State Department describing the meeting.

U.S. companies were recruited and encouraged, both covertly and overtly, to ship poisonous chemicals and biological agents to Iraq, by the administrations of both Reagan and George Bush Sr., according to the Washington Post and numerous other reports. The CIA also followed up on these efforts with various military and intelligence assists.

U.S. care packages to Saddam included sample strains of anthrax and bubonic plague, which must have seemed like a really fucking great idea to someone at the time. With U.S. assistance and on its own initiative, Iraq also reportedly developed new and improved toxins, such as ricin and sarin gas.
The moral to the story? It is this: it doesn't matter if you play nice with the Reagan/ Bush/ Republican/ Neocon/ Conservative/ Dominionist/ Rovian/ Whatever the hell they are marketing themselves as these days. In the end, they will kill you to death without a moment's hesitation.

By the way, Saddam is alleged to have killed 300,000 poeple over 35 years, I think. the Bush administration is alleged to have killed 650,000 people over three years. So, not only will he be executed, he'll die knowing that he's only half as lethal as we are.

Life Edited as a Reality Show

An headline in Sacramento's Sac Bee newspaper says:
Campaign 2006: GOP on the rebound
Republican Senate candidates have bounced back in two largely overlooked states, strengthening their party's chance to retain control of the U.S. Senate in Tuesday's elections, according to an exclusive series of McClatchy Newspapers-MSNBC polls.
A headline from Newsweek reads:
NEWSWEEK Poll: GOP Losing More Ground
Republican candidates are falling further behind Democratic rivals, according to the new NEWSWEEK poll.
If you watch reality shows like Amazing Race or whatever, you know that those shows are edited so that the end of the episode is portrayed as a suspensful, down-to-the-wire race to the finish between two contenders. These polls remind me of reality show editing. If only it were as simple as a footrace to the finish.

Friday, November 3, 2006

Just When I Thought It Couldn't Get More Bizarre

So, according to this article in Vanity Fair, the neocons are criticizing the Bush administration for screwing up their plans? The word "irony" doesn't really do it for this one. The building is comdemned, and the architects are mad at the contractors for their shoddy workmanship, without considering that maybe the design was flawed from the beginning, too.

The sad thing is that the neocons will keep on going in the belief that if only they could put together a team that would carry out their plans the right way, then everything would be okay. No matter that their ideology is doomed to failure. It's like, there is still a Nazi party and a Fascist party and so on, but those are just remnants of die-hard loonies. Eventually, the neocons will be relegated to that status, too, if they don't manage to kill us all first.

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Grr

I just spent a hell of a long time composing an eloquent post about a vitally important subject. Then I accidentally deleted it. I am greatly bummed. Damn.

Well, that won't stop us, will it? Truthseekers: if you want to read a really great message about a truly important subject check out this post at Fuzzy and Blue, especialy this flash video. And try exploring the links you find when you google "depleted uranium" (also pictures and videos).

What it means is that we have been waging an aggressive nuclear war of conquest against the middle east for years (and yes, we used it in the Balkans during Clinton's presidency, too, and it was just as wrong then). "Spreading democracy"? More like "spreading demonically". America was once a beacon of hope, and now it stands for death from the skies. We open up the gates of hell and turn their babies into monsters. And our leaders try to tell us "they hate us for our freedom". Right. Who wouldn't defend themselves however they could against this?

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Bush's Bosses

Bush says Rumsfeld, Cheney should stay - Yahoo! News:
"President Bush said Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain with him until the end of his presidency, extending a job guarantee to two of the most-vilified members of his administration."
...because it's not his administration (duh!). Rumsfeld and Cheney are old cronies from the Nixon administration (you can google their bios), and are two of the architects of this neocon regime which was designed, in part, as vindication for the fall of Nixon and the damage that did to the Republican party. Of course he "wants them to stay"... they're in charge, not him! (I know we call it the "Bush administration", for lack of a better term. That's so people know what we're talking about).

Here's another great, short, article on the subject: After President Meets Reporters, Former Supporter Now Suggests He May Have 'Lost His Mind'

Quick Thought

Before I head out the door for work, a quick thought on the uproar over Kerry's joke in his speech to students: Screw Kerry. He betrayed millions of us by handing the 2004 presidential election to the neocons. He's an eloquent asshole, strongly defending the intent of his statement, but actions speak louder than words: if he's so damn smart, he wouldn't have phrased his criticism that way in the first place. Unless he is deliberately working towards Democrat losses, to further the aims of his Skull & Bones brethren.

I am saddened that any on the left still defend this bastard. He helped facilitate a fascist victory in 2004, and this latest statement is another typical example of Kerry's habit of helping Republicans win elections. It was a stupid statement, the backpeddling rationalizations don't work, and he has again damaged progressive political momentum. To hell with Kerry.