Lucky Strike Parade of Hits

Diplomats Told to Take Cover in Baghdad

2008-03-28T17:25:00.001-04:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_embassy;_ylt=AqD9N14vkj4ncVXz8DGYImys0NUE

I'm pretty certain that I'll have to edit out the link above if it wrecks the rest of this post's settings. In the event I do, here's the link to Tengrain's take on it. It's where I picked it up: Mock, Paper, Scissors

But, that being said, what I'm trying to get out is that this is way worse than the above article leads the reader to believe. (It's not Iran. I'm damned sure the Iranians aren't self destructive enough to give the current administration anything to blame them for. These rockets probably came from a 106-mm Recoilless rifle, not a 107-mikemike Chi-Com. A piece of Korean War Era weaponry.) It seems the Green Zone, that S/W Asian version of Mexico City's Zona Rosa... Wait, what!?!?! It's NOT?!?!?! Oh! Pardon my mistake. Anyway, the Green Zone is surrounded and rounds are falling inside the wire, and have been since Easter Sunday. (however, the Mission waits until Thursday to release an advisory to all personnel about it). Sunday Bloody Sunday. It's comforting to know the insurgents have a sense of humor almost as good as the VC did. Yet one more comparison this horrible waste of everything has in common with America's Trojan War.

Oh, now I remember what it was that 's the comparative to the Green Zone, it's not Zona Rosa. Silly me. No. It's... Khe Sahn.

FWIW...

Blog Against Theocracy-2008

2008-03-24T01:50:00.002-04:00

Ostara, 2008-CE:

We come around again, to that time of year, where we must remind ourselves that unless we're strong on the defensive and fleet of foot to stamp out spot-fires as they erupt, the, "Villagers with the torches", will not only come for us, (those NOT of the Body), but they'll have John Law, wearing his Sunday Best, in the passenger seat of the Model A, a picnic basket in his lap for after the festivities, too. If I live to be 400 I hope I never see someone afraid that,'They', (the people who thought Easy Rider had a happy ending), will come for someone on account of religious grounds, without hoping I'd be strong enough to stand at their side when the door crashes in and give one last swing of my pick-head ax. Wasn't, "Freedom from Fear", one of those 'Four Freedoms', World War Two, America as a nation and americanism as a philosophy was supposedly about? What ever happened to that?

I'm a Pagan and am de facto on the Monotheistic enemies-list because of it. No, "People of the Book"- Dhimmitude for me and mine. None of that, "Judeo-Christian Tradition", crap thrown around as when the X-ians want something from Jews, or Jews want something from X-ians, (think Dennis Prager). Nope. None of that stuff for we Pagans. So you could say that equal protection under the law, (especially when you're unimaginably outnumbered, worse than Custer and Henry V combined), is a good thing. Something worth protecting. Something worth hanging on to.

There are oh-so-many scary, crazy, phony religious-types on this planet, (and their multitude of 'true believers', right behind them), out to steer you wrong and make you live your life their way, that it's important to have a place where those nuts can't do it to anyone. Not only prohibited by law but proscribed by custom as well. Like child labor and child sacrifice before it, socio-political repression as it's manifesting currently in America with these, 'Jesus Freaks', subverting the liberal and accepting tenor of this country and her constitution, has to be stopped. They, these religious extremists, are an Avant-Garde, the shock-troops, for people who wish to turn back the calendar almost 1,500 years. Remember they didn't get called, "The Dark Ages", because there was something wrong with the Sun.

FWIW...

Boy In The Bubble

2008-02-26T00:10:00.001-05:00

(words by Paul Simon; music by Paul Simon and Forere Motlobeloa)

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio

These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Long Distance Call is right, reverse the charges, "Get me, Susie and our cats off this stinkin' rock before the Pig People complete their mission of sending everything to Hell in a hand-basket."

Signed, 'Me'.

FWIW...

I See It's Been A While

2008-02-01T01:45:00.000-05:00

Since last I posted anything here. Depression sucks. I did run across this at 'Mock,Paper,Scissors' tonight and thought it was worth knocking the cobwebs off'n this blog to put up the results.

BTW... It was totally wrong the first go around. Said my personality was keyed into, (Get this!) The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, (Wrong bunch of Pagans LOL ) and tried to find a feedback form but took the quiz over again instead and thought about the answers a bit longer. The thumbnail sketch was much closer to reality the second time around. The quiz told me that I was keyed into...

You're Loosely Based!

by Storey Clayton

While most people haven't heard of you, you're a really good and
interesting person. Rather clever and witty, you crack a lot of jokes about the world
around you. You do have a serious side, however, where your interest covers the homeless
and the inequalities of society. You're good at bringing people together, but they keep
asking you what your name means.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

FWIW...

I Wonder If They'd STILL Agree If It Said Bush Was Nuts, Instead?

2007-09-08T04:12:00.001-04:00

I’d hate to think that OBL did all this because Friday was my birthday. And I didn’t get him anything. Oh well. Then again what do you get a boogieman for his birthday, anyway? ‘Let’s Pretend’ games? Invisible tie? A tape of his own funeral? I dunno.

These dimbulbs at Powderline really are the dumbest fucknobs on planet earth, aren’t they? There was no fucking tape from anybody except the Bushco Labs Propaganda Division. (I’m sure you’ve seen their motto: "We Bring Good Things To Lies” ) OBL is either dead or being hidden under VERY deep cover in a place where no-one would ever think to look for him and yet when he supposedly surfaces TPTB immediately spray his mug all over every news show and broadcast on six continents, and the wingnuts believe it’s all true and eat it up like it was chocolate covered pretzels instead of the obvious propaganda it is.

I’m surprised. Has no-one in the fright-wing of the blogosphere have the ability to reflect on this and ask themselves, “Why is it, exactly, that OBL’s tape thing agrees with almost every aspect of my world view? About the war? Democrats? Pres. Bush? America’s way forward? And yet HE’s the enemy?”

I guess that they’re all too fucking stupid to see when they’re being led around by the nose, much less why their every taliking point is endorsed and repeated by Osama Bin Laden. Killer of innocents. Enemy of America and Life, itself…

I can’t even feel sorry for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally posted at Sadly, No! 7 Sept 2007

Fred Dates Hillary

2007-08-09T15:59:00.001-04:00

Fred Reed, for any poor bastid that fell in here and has no idea about anything regarding either me or this blog, isn't perfect and I don't dogmatically agree with what he writes but this is probably the best explanation of the facts surrounding both the failing grade American health care gets and why Socialization of medical care in America is SO important. Unless, of course, you wanna look ME in the eye, as well, and say, "Fuck'em... I'm not paying a cent!", too.

You'll find your teeth at the door, with your hat, when you wake up.

Commy Sell-Out

August 8, 2007

In thinking about socialized medicine, a couple of points merit thought:

First, the people who are most against it least need it. Usually they are columnists of the political right and the people who read them. Columnists without exception are of intelligence above the average, as are almost all of their readers. With few if any exceptions, they are well educated. Consequently they tend to be prosperous, savvy, and very likely to have good insurance.

They also have little or, more likely, no real contact with anyone who might need socialized medicine. For example in Washington, which I know well, the klaxons of left and right berate each other from the cocktail parties of Georgetown and Cap Hill, eat in posh restaurants, and vacation in the Greek Isles. They do not know the people of the truck stops and gas stations.

Second, opponents of socialized medicine seem to think that such a system would be subject to exploitation by grifters and scam artists. They are right. Note that the grifters would not be people receiving care, but Republican doctors who would pad their bills and otherwise skim off unwatched cream. We are all against corruption until it is our turn at the trough. Note also that a woman with a broken leg does not pretend to have two broken legs so as to get an extra cast.

It seems to me that the underlying question is not that of socialized medicine but rather: What is our attitude as a nation toward people who are not very smart? Who furthermore are culturally impoverished? Who are among the substantial fraction of Americans who can barely read?

They exist in large numbers. Half the white population have IQs below 100. The proportion among various non-white groups is much higher. Throw in legal aliens with fourth-grade educations and little command of English, and people in small towns where the idea of going to college is only slightly stranger than that of going to Mars.

Few of them are welfare cheats. Usually they have worked hard all their lives. Often they vote Republican. They are just…”stupid” is unkind but perhaps best conveys their condition, though some of the apparent stupidity is in fact ignorance. They can’t balance a checkbook, must less understand rollovers on a 401(k). They don’t understand what 18% interest on a credit card means, and can’t read, much less understand, a contract. (“The party of the first part, hereinafter….”) They aren’t smart enough to be entrepreneurs. Very likely, they have never read a book in their lives.

Try to imagine never having read a book. You can’t do it.

Word-crafters of my acquaintance rail against Hillary for supporting socialized medicine. They seem to think that the beneficiaries of the program would be people like themselves, only shiftless. “I studied and worked my way up and made something of myself, and I take care of myself. Why don’t these lazy bastards to the same?” Easy. Because these of my friends have IQs averaging in excess of 140, while the lazy bastards (who in fact are neither) check in at maybe 90.

I often hear it said that people should be able to invest as they think best the payments they make into Social Security. Of course what is really going on is an attempt by stock funds to get their hands on lots of other people’s money. Still, the argument is made that freedom and free enterprise demand that government not take, etc. “It’s our money. Let us invest it.” This ignores the fact that over half the population is absolutely, irremediably, hermetically incapable of investing intelligently.

Now, what do we do with people who have obeyed all the fabled American rules, who have worked, perhaps at pathetic wages and no benefits, and never cheated, and been honest citizens, and then the bottling plant went to China and they’re old and have nothing? What?

We could be good social Darwinists and let them rot. They are not cutting edge people, not Verilog mechanics or optical engineers or hedge-fund managers. Who needs them? All right. If this is your position, say so. Look me in the eye and say, “Screw’em. I don’t care what happens to them and I’m not going to spend a red cent on them.” Say this, and I will understand you.

An obstacle to thought here is that the people in the editorial suites and cocktail parties are twiddlers of abstractions. Waving a shrimp speared on a toothpick, holding a glass of vintage Sobriquet, they speak of second-order supply side multiplier effects of marginal increases in labor costs and what Burke and Adam Smith said. You’ve seen their websites: “Rothman on Kleinfelter.” “Kleinfelter on Fergweiler.” “Fergweiler on Theftwunkel.” Intellectual sparring is their world.

It’s different to Mary Sal Wooten in a decaying trailer somewhere on 301 South, with her retinas peeling like wallpaper from diabetic retinopathy, ankles swollen and darkening toward gangrene, and the hospital won’t take her because it isn’t an emergency and she can’t afford her medicine. Really, truly no-shit can’t afford it.

What do we do with people like her? People who just flat can’t handle the complexity of today’s world? It seems to me that anyone who wants to think about socialized medicine has to answer that question before starting.

When I was a kid in King George Country, Virginia, the answer commonly was the federal government. Dahlgren Naval Proving Grounds was there. It hired a lot of the local country kids, rednecks as we now say, as gate guards, truck drivers, maintenance workers, and so on. These jobs legitimately needed doing, and those hired did them well. The jobs carried benefits and pensions. But the private sector won’t if it can avoid it.

What other solutions are available? Many say, “It’s a job for private charity.” This is another way of saying, “Screw’em, I ain’t paying a cent.” Yet others say cut taxes and the resulting economic boom will lift all boats. This is another way of saying, “Screw’em, I ain’t paying a cent.”

But let’s at least have the dignity to say what we mean. The truth is that large numbers of people cannot take care of themselves beyond showing up at work every day and spinning lug nuts on the assembly line. They aren’t going to invest wisely from youth because they aren’t smart enough. Employers aren’t going to provide retirements unless forced to. Hospitals won’t take them if they can avoid it. Do we say, “Screw’em, let’em croak”? Apparently. Then let’s say so plainly.

.

FWIW...

PDB 08/06/01, A Fateful Day

2007-08-06T06:16:00.000-04:00

Six years... Six l-o-n-g years.

This picture, above, is purported to be from 06 Aug 2001, of the Preznit getting his morning briefing. The famous warning of, "OBL determined to strike in America", that Condi later, covering for her Husband, said, "How could ANYONE expect something the magnitude of 9/11 to have been on it's way???" Or words to that effect. It all happened on that halcyon day, back then, six years ago today.

I wrote that the picture is touted to be from that fateful day we're remembering today but I have a funny feeling this pic is bent. Now I believe the people responsible for making this pic available for everyone to use in this blogswarm, that the photo is the real thing from Crawford etc. And I believe IN them too, they're wonderful people who want America to be America, again. Not america inc. Anyway... Looking at this picture with a heightened level of scrutiny due to mistrust in the administration, I have a feeling that there are a few touch-ups or airbrushed out things in it. Such as the longneck in Preznit Drinky's left hand. Also, I think the White House Photo Dept, air-brushed in, on the back of his head, (because he isn't wearing it while on vacation), his usual shoddy hairpiece or toupee or whatever they call them these days. I'm sure there's quite a few more if I found a version of the photo that wasn't keyholed but, shit, those two examples are enough to make me hate myself for not noticing until very, very, much later that this bunch were on an eight year Kamikaze mission to satisfy no-one but themselves, and take America down with them when they leave...

For Paraguay or Dubai or some other place they can't be extradited from. With all the money they stole.

A Special Friday Cat Blogging

2007-08-04T00:45:00.001-04:00

ETA: here's the lolcat from ICHCB of Oscar from 26 July 07:

Meet Oscar...

This ki77eh, it seems, has the uncanny knack of knowing when the patients of the hospice, where he lives, will die. He's accurate to around four hours of the event. I don't know if it's creepy or a good thing as I'm afraid that someone might harm poor Oscar in an attempt to, "Study", him. You know how stupid some people are around things they don't understand.

And This, From TBogg

2007-08-03T01:16:00.001-04:00

TBogg - "...a somewhat popular blogger"

Something interesting from the responses to this post. A new and perhaps better, more accurate, name for the fuckstick chickenhawks... A, C-4, which stands for: "4-C -- Conservative Chickenshit Chickenhawk COWARD".

I think that says it all.

FWIW...

Ballad of the Yellow Berets

2007-07-22T14:40:00.001-04:00

Drifty does it again! More talent in his little finger than the whole Wurlitzer has in it's collective!

d r i f t g l a s s: For the College Republicans

(Sung to the tune of, "The Ballad of the Green Berets.")

“Ballad of The We’re Not Gay!”

Bleating wingnuts of the Right
Dastards hiding from the fight
Cellar trolls with much to say
That screech as one: “ No, we’re not gay!”

“Cheney/Bush” on their lapels
Karl Rove’s own splinter cells.
Bought a War: let others pay.
Snivelers all, but soooo not-gay.

Trained to live off Daddy’s cash
When lies don’t work, then talk some trash.
In fear they might just be “that way”
They scream real loud: “But I’m not gay!”

“Cheney/Bush” on their lapels
Karl Rove’s own splinter cells.
Who buy their Wars on lay-away.
Poltroons all, but soooo not-gay.

Back at the dorm, a girlfriend waits
A wingnut too, and six weeks late.
Daddy’s doctor snakes her tubes
‘Cause “Right to Life” is for the rubes.

Take someone else, but don’t take me.
A real man, I’ll never be.
Just like the spawn I’ll whelp one day,
Who just like me, will not be gay.

Every so often that quote from the song,Memo From Turner, bubbles up from the depths of my memory, regarding such situations:

"When the old men do the fighting,
And the young men just look on."

A simple play on words and opposite to the way things were in 1970, when the song was written but I almost always felt that this day would come. When the generation after me, I'm 43, would yield so many high-fliers, foul balls, sissies, mushrooms and basement-dwelling, Cheeto's-binging, sniveling rat-fuckers to render them ineffectual. But maybe I'm too pessimistic?

RINO!! DINO!! And Now... WINO!!1!

2007-07-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

After reading on a few different blogs the term, "WINOS", I took a circuitous route to finding out what it meant. I knew about, "R/DINO", R/Dem In Name Only, bla-bla-bla. So as I searched, my mind mused a bit about what the acronym could mean, to then compare my solution to the actual answer. So now I know what it means and as these sort of acronyms go this one's actual meaning leaves something to be desired but what can you expect as it's origins are in the MSM and the GOP... Y'cannot expect silk purses from sow's ears, Jim!. (Sorry my inner Mr. Scott boiled over for a wee minu... Oot!)

Anyhow, I like my definition for, "WINOS", better than the one now in lingua franca. I think:

Wimps
In
Need
Of
Spines

...is a more fitting acronym regarding the current congresscritters that don't have a clue and couldn't buy one even if ya pointed them in the right direction and kicked them in the ass, to send them down the road.

What's wrong with these hot-house flower shitbird politicians? Was I out that day, in the tenth grade, when some of the lesser-known sections of The Federalist Papers were discussed? Is there, buried in some footnote somewhere, a double-secret codicil that demands an inverse ratio of electability to intellect?? If there is, and I've overlooked it, I wouldn't be surprised.

Look What You Made Me Do! (Monday Action)

2007-07-16T16:42:00.001-04:00

Digby writes:

Monday, July 16, 2007

Monday Action

by digby

I've been linking for the last couple of weeks to CAF's campaign to force the Dems to expose the obstructionists, and I hope that many of you have signed up. Chris Bowers has compiled some examples of the legislation the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to block with their "intent to filibuster" obstructions. It's time to make them stand up and do a real filibuster if they are going to block legislation like this:

Chris Bowers has compiled some examples of the legislation the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to block with their "intent to filibuster" obstructions. It's time to make them stand up and do a real filibuster if they are going to block legislation like this...

To which I responded:

Digby,

Please take a step back and look at this situation again. From where I'm standing it seems as if the D's are using the ancient, "Look what you made me do"-Defense to respond to charges that they can't get their shit together on the floor. If that's the truth, then it's not your fault nor is it your duty to be an apologist for the Congresscritters.

One of the few truisms I gleaned from those who raised me was, 'Never make excuses for people.' If what someone is doing is wrong... it's wrong. Battered housewives use that cliche of "It's only 'bla-bla-bla' that makes them mad. Not me.", to explain away that shiner under the left eye. Don't become part of it and don't get lost in it. If the D's wanted to make things happen with more success than they're currently experiencing, they're quite capable of making it happen, whatever the situation is.

A better question might be why are they acting as if they never thought they'd get this far and aren't trained on how to complete the mission and actually run the country. Who put a bunch of inept people into these powerful positions? And why them? Someone must know something that we don't. Is there something in the wings that hasn't yet made itself known, yet? Because it seems to me that the D's have hit the beach but now are killing time, treading water or wading in the shallows and have no impetus to pick a direction in-land and go. Why doesn't it seem to matter to the Democrats that their campaign has stalled?

There must be some insider who knows what, for ill or nil, these D's are really up to. And there's enough motivated, smart, people here who read this blog, Digby, M'arm, to get that job done. It's time to find out what the insiders know and when they knew it, before we waste by donating another red cent to the individual politicians or the party itself. Times are tough and money is like blood in some quarters. Why waste it on those who whine like children? The Dem's are not telling us... We, their supporters and their electorate, the full story about what's going on. It's time we found out why...

Respectfully,
L.S./M.F.T.
@}---

(P.S. Please don't think this is some kind of indictment of you Digby, or this terrific blog. Nothing could be further from the case. Some times it helps if an outsider tells you that this IS the forest... Y'know the thing with all them trees, in front of ya. A diffident perspective and nothing more.)

As written above, I don't want to come across as either patronizing or dismissive of that wonderful combination of terrific things that IS Digby. She's the Cat's Pajamas and would never think of,'talking down to her', for all the Whiskey in Ireland. I do think that she needs to take a step back and look at the situation viv-a-vis the treatment of the Dem's onb the floor by the R's. Unless the R's have the families of the Dem's hostage, what can be the real reason that these D's can't get anything of gravitas accomplished?

Oh, and I quipped something almost a non-sequitr earlier that doesn't really rate it's own post... Here goes:

"M-I-C That's Military Industrial Complex..."
"K-E-Y Y...? Because it pays SO good..."
"M-A-U-S Because we'll all end up in Privatized Concentration Camps for doubting Dear Leader."

FWIW...

Cloverfield 1-18-08

2007-07-15T19:55:00.000-04:00

Interesting coming attractions y-tube from Paramount. It takes place in NYC, it seems, and it brought up a few unpleasant memories, when things go horribly wrong in the promo trailer. Here it is, see for yourself:

Pretty unnerving for those who saw the towers come down, eh?

Oh Sweet Jesus I Hate Joe Lieberman

2007-07-13T17:25:00.001-04:00

From Digby:

You've got to love the very pious and orthodox Lieberman adopting the "stab in the back" in whole cloth. There's a horrible, horrible irony there.

To which, I responded:

I thought it was,"Tail Fluffer Joe.

And his job description was, "Human Dung Beetle."

I'm amazed, that the voters in CT are that dumb as to put that creepy
little man back in the Senate. They must've either all have the last
name,'Diebold', or they both never saw a picture of him nor EVER heard him talk. He sounds like Kermit the fuckin' Frog!

However... Maybe it's US, who congregate at Digby's, that are out of
step with things? Maybe, 'America' really IS a nation of in-bred,
trailer-trash, baby-jeebus-lurving, fucktards and we're living in
denial? I have to make mention of the possibility because high
intellect is not the natural order of things. Brilliance is an unusual
condition when weighed against the whole of the Human experience. There
are no guarantees of intelligent offspring from intelligent parents.

L.S./M.F.T. |

I reposted it to my blog because theres been a few instances lately where a subsequent comment has diverted the thread in a direction away from the main area of discussion. I wanted to be able to find this easily for further analysis.

Olbermann And Crossing The Rubicon

2007-07-05T13:00:00.000-04:00

I've never tried to embed video before but this special comment by Mr. Olbermann warrantedme trying it. The gloves are off and there's no room for speculation any longer, Keith calls for the bilateral impeachment of both Bush and Cheney. Yesterday. If not sooner.

He also mentions Nixon and that even Mr. Nixon wasn't so aloof to the problems he and his administration caused this country, recognized that there wasn't anything left to do about it and did the right thing by resigning in 1974. Personally, I think that the current regime won't leave the White House one second before their appointed hour in January of 2009. The Bush junta came to pillage this country, and by extention the rest of the world and dad gum it! They are going to use up their full eight years. They bought them fair and square, damnit, they'll use them to the last drop.

Can Open... Worms Everywhere!

2007-06-29T23:28:00.001-04:00

Something in me snapped while reading this post by Digby. My snit has nothing to do with her, other than I read about this petition thing there and got disgusted with the Democratic Party being such a bunch of good losers all the time. Then I had to vent my frustration in the comments section. I doubt anyone will even notice as I seem to have a habit of killing threads or posting on threads that have already run their courses so I doubt there will be any repercussions.

Anyway, here's what I responded:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn't sign. Won't sign. But I vote. Democrat. Across the board.

It galls me beyond belief and I'll be damned if I have to add my name to some on-line list, like some urban legend chain letter about some missing seven-year-old, to get my congresscritters to do what it is that they're supposed to do normally. (And why I voted for them in the first place.) I'm not gonna kiss their asses to hopefully motivate them to do their fuckin' jobs. That whole set of actions bespeaks of a very abusive and dysfunctional relationship, vis-a-vis we the electors our elected officials.

I wonder if, as a way of motivating the House and Senate, it's necessary to only pay the members of the congress piecemeal? (Only pay them when they do something successful, like pass a law and it actually gets to the President's desk.) We've tried most of the other, legitimate, ways to get a positive response out of these Democrats without result. Maybe this, although punitive, might work?

I know I'm being negative but I'm frustrated and disgusted and this petition thing makes me feel as if this lack of success in DC is OUR fault. Like we're not clapping hard enough. That idea upsets me greatly and I don't see much hope for change. How I see it is, I guess that after 40 abuse-ridden years of the Repiglicans having the top slots in the circus for a majority of years, anyone with a, (to use my poetic license), "Killer Instinct", jumped ship and joined the R's many moons ago. Leaving behind only those who are content with their subordinate role. Imagine that... A whole political party full of subbies... Whodathunkit?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FWIW...

Housekeeping Traffic

2007-06-23T04:25:00.000-04:00

Since I'm not one of the cognoscenti who has a Picasa, Flikr or other freebie photo hosting account, I had to take Blogger's suggestion about how to post a pic for this blog. (Which it seems didn't work but instead loaded the B-52 picture that I've used forever as an avatar into the title/header, I didn't know you could do that, it's a new feature for Blogger.) And while I'm at it I'll also include a photo I borrowed from BAG, of the ever-lovely Digby, and link the video from Google, via Firedoglake, to this page as well of the now famous, "Digby Spiel", from the Take Back America-thing.

I feel bad that this is the post that follows Steve Gilliard's obit but, "Feel bad" is a double entendre in itself. I've been dealing with a massive toothache and/or abscess, intermittently for over a month now and has really affected my desire to write. But... I am am getting up the nerve, and a clean pair of pliers, to pull the molar that's been giving me all the trouble but it ain't easy. (I feel like I'm whining making mention that this will be done without any anesthetic, either.) One of the things that's been a nagging voice of caution in the back of my mind about this is that I probably won't be able to suture the open wound myself and if I could afford the $300.00 for the ER-Visit, to sew the hole shut about with .98-cents worth of Vicryl, I could afford the same money to go to an actual Dentist, n'est-pas? As if there was an Oral Surgeon around here that was accepting new patients, I might add. America, medical care on Earth... Right.

Steve Gilliard, R.I.P.

2007-06-02T20:28:00.000-04:00

Left Blogsylvania lost one of it brightest luminaries today. At the age of 41, Steve Gilliard passed away this morning, Saturday June 2-nd, as has been reported on a myriad of blogs. From his own blog,'newsblog.net' to Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher to Digby to D r i f t g l a s s, to Shakesville, Mr. Gilliard was eulogized as a,'Blogger's Blogger' who's ability to comment with great insight was legendary, going back to his early days at Kos.

I'm sorry that I didn't get to read more of his work as within a week or so of finding his blog he fell sick, was hospitalized and was not able to continue to blog as he had before life threw him such a spitball, that it led to his demise. I did not see it mentioned anywhere what will become of his blog now that he's gone but I doubt it will continue without him.

'Yankee Go Home', Now In Arabic.

2007-05-10T19:16:00.001-04:00

Why did this get so little attention in the MSM?

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation

I guess because the same companies who own the majority of the TV stations, news papers and other outlets of information are also the companies making the Lion's Share of the money hemorrhaged from the coffers of both the Pentagon and the US Government proper. Why in the world would they want too many people figure it out and... Stop them? So y'see that it seems to be in their best self-interest to keep the majority of sheeple in the dark and fed horse shit... Y'know, like mushrooms. It isn't only RCA/GE/NBC/UNIVERSAL/etc. that's got a finger in every-fuckin-pie, from music to nuclear weapons.

This was never about the worldwide red herring of terrorism nor the Iraqi people. Arab, (Marsh or otherwise), Kurd or even visiting Martian. Oppressor or oppressed. Muslim, Christian, Jew or Zoroastrian never mattered. All that ever mattered, (And still matters, BTW), was/is how much money the top one, or less, percent of America's Fat Cats could vacuum out of the American Treasury in the eight years alloted to them by virtue of the two stolen elections they paid for as a down payment on their license to steal during the ensuing years.

Freedom, be damned. It gets in the way of you being a good slave.

Pursuit of Happiness? Only if you're one of them. If not... Mind your place. Or else...

FWIW...

And you thought our sun was big?

2007-05-09T22:02:00.001-04:00

The size of the Earth compared to other planets, then to the sun, then our sun compared to other stars. Unbelievable how big some of these stars are!And as an added bonus, they included the star of our homeworld currently orbits, Aldebaran.

read more | digg story

Whoops, I Went Off on a Tangent

2007-05-09T20:33:00.001-04:00

(ETA: This whole post has beaucoup kinks in it as it seems that ScribeFire isn't exactly like posting directly to Blogger. There were many HTML errors created in the cross-posting that I've tried to correct but HTML-ese isn't my strongsuit. Not in any way, shape or form. But that's what practice is all about, I guess... Stay tuned for more.)

I was responding to a post at, "The Aristocrats", when my response developed a mind of it's own and before I knew it, I'd hit the publish button. I was more concerned with syntax and complete sentences that I completely over-shot the runway as regards the post I was responding to. Here's the first paragraph or so of the post and link:

Heckuva Job!

“Okay,
guys, listen up - here’s our plan. Alabar - you get the video camera
and tape the rest of us running around firing guns like a bunch of
freakin' maniacs and hollerin’ ‘Allah Akbar!’ The infidels always get
spooked when they hear that. Make sure you get all our faces. Then,
Muqtada - you carry the tape over to the video store and have ‘em dub
it to DVDs, so we all get a copy to have in our personal possession.
I’m pretty sure the video store is secure - I haven’t heard anything
about no memo Alberto Gonzales mighta wrote saying it was okay for the
Great Satan to snoop in on our private video collections. Next, now
this next part is really important, Alfonso – wait a minute, are you
sure you’re one of us? – good, whew! - had me worried there for a
second. We need for you and maybe a couple of other guys to drive on
down to Philly, stop some cop, and ask him for a map of Fort Dix. I
know it’s in New Jersey, but if we ask a cop in Newark he might get
suspicious. We can't afford to arouse no suspicions, Surprise is the
very heart and soul of our scheme. Okay! Sound like it’s all coming
together? I think so. Allah will be pleased. Allah be praised! Now,
whatcha say we all go down to play some paintball and get in practice?
Be sure to holler 'Allah Akbar!' after every shot. There's magic in
them words!”

And here's the response from me:

I guess this is yet another example of, "Wherever you go, you go again.", because I can remember hearing, in the 60's-about Viet Nam-the grown-ups, (I was only six or so by 1970), asking each other, "Would you rather fight them in Jersey?" To which one or another of my much older relatives or family friends would reply, "Maybe we could beat them in Jersey."

It seems that in the ensuing almost 40 years that nobody has changed that much. Only the names have changed. We used to call them,'Hard Hats' and now we call them,'Wingnuts.', but their argument is the same tired, ghost written, garbage. Those who didn't have the, "Honor to serve", are the first to reply and more than 99-percent in the affirmative to the President's latest proclamation.

I'm tired, so tired of the same bottom of the barrel scumbags who dodged the draft in the 60's, yet couldn't get laid without paying someone for the pleasure(honor?? or horror?? you decide) and spent the funnest years of their lives lurking in the basements of some of America's highest institutions of learning. Trying to overthrow the self same joyous spirit that didn't... Couldn't. Include them within it because they are and were SO vile. They have nothing to show for their life's work except sadism, emptiness, disease, murder and petulant, pointless, destruction.

I imagine they view themselves collectively as a second coming of Louis XIV and his boast of, "Apres-Moi... Le Deluge." That if they can't be the greatest members of their generation, then they'll be the worst. It fits their adolescent behavior to a,'T'.

See? Little nail, big hammer. And after a fashion, the wrong everything other than sentiment.

FWIW...

Oh! Don't Forget To Tip Your Waitress

2007-05-01T18:56:00.000-04:00

Tristero, at Digby's posted something about Tenet, which I'm sure if anyone comes across this will have read, (like anyone reads this but me), but FWIW, so's I can find my response easier than sifting through the zillions of Heloscans there, here's my reaction:

It doesn't matter what we think or postulate is the current thinking of one member of the clique responsible for Iraq and the current state of America. It's only their public face, designed to sell their book. They're all the same. Tenet's book tour is only part of the permutations the individual high-ranking members of the cabal will, one at a time, undergo in the, "Wind-Down", phase of the operation, consider it an after-action debriefing, if you will. His important part of the job is done and now it's play-time.

He'll do the rounds of all the big-time MSM hot spots, King, MTP, etc. Where he acts out the part of the somber, reluctant mourner to what seemed like a good idea at the time, saying the same preplanned thing on every channel until we're sick of seeing him, similar to a bad stand-up comedian, bombing on stage, "My name's George', I'll be here all week...Don't forget to tip your waitress."

Then it's off to the Caymans, Limbaugh's Haitian Fantasy Hideaway, Thailand or wherever the real cash, hash and gash is hidden and off into the sunset he sails with the Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything...

<--- That Purple Thing There

2007-04-29T19:32:00.000-04:00

It's not the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

As an aside, I know that over time this post won't be pointing at the thing any more so above is the pic the title is pointing at. It's from NTodd's blog called, "Dohiyi Mir", from a post called, "Take The Pledge By Not Taking The Pledge. A Meta Exercise In Three Bowel Movements". It's pretty easy to see that he isn't in favor of that 'Civility ~~Plague~~ Pledge', crap. I'm not a big fan either and expressed suspicion as to the actual motive of the guy behind this pussy promise. I think it was at Digby's that I posted something about it but... I'm unable to remember, at the current time, if and or when I actually did or not have a conversation about this with the Presid... I've been watching too much Abu Gonzo C-Span, haven't I? Anyway...

I figured that I'd give credit where it's due for the thing as I sure as hell coouldn't make that thing myself. And if anyone but me actually reads this thing, go and have a look as it's a good idea that should have as much support as possible.

R's No Longer, 'The Daddy Party'

2007-04-21T14:51:00.000-04:00

I went off on a tangent while replying to a post at the Carpetbagger Report, IRT how life imitates art with the R's bitching how the Dem's are trying to fill a seat in the House left empty by the death of a Georgia Congresscritter. By... Are you ready for this? ~~By stealing it!~~ By running a candidate for it! Dem Bastids!!1!

(Here's my reply) :

It’s tragic what has happened to the “daddy party…”

Comment @5 by beep52 — 4/21/2007 @ 11:17 am

I don't think of them as the,'Daddy Party', any more. These days they come off as resembling the, Deus Ex Machina Party or even the Jesus Ex Machina Party.instead. They, the Yuppie/Boomer generation members at the top of the pyramid, continually repudiate their Daddys and have spent their whole lives trying to get out from under the shadow of their parents almost larger than life visage while getting their noses rubbed in shit by their parents these last 40 years with, "We won OUR war. A real war, WW2. What's your generation done, Junior? Got screwed up on the dope, lost Viet Nam and now you're up Iraq without a paddle and sending her to the poor house. You're nothing compared to us... We... The Greatest Generation." {Insert here the admonishment to,'Quake with fear you tiny ants'.}

A good example is how quickly the White House turned-down any of the suggestions from the (headed by WW2-gen Unka Jimmy3) Iraq Study Group. What Unka Jimmy should have done was hand-off the report to Meg Wurmser or Kagan to present to the Fool on the Hill and let Dumbya think (??? I know, wha ???) ... think it came from AEI or the Hudson Institute. It might have been implemented if they had. But I digress.

Suffice to say that the people in DC, currently running things and staffing the WH, are those few who couldn't get laid in college back in the 60's and didn't fight in Nam, didn't go to Woodstock but instead occupied their youth being, "Serious" and playing, "Let's Pretend"-Politics, with the Young Repiglicans. Now they tried to make their mark on the world through conquest and failed. Again. So, they've decided to make their marks with infamy instead. And they hope the fundies are right and Gawd will come and save them all because these people can't save themselves. I'm surprised none of them drowned in a rainstorm. Standing there. Looking up, incredulously. Their mouth wide open. Wondering what all the wet was.

FWIW...

Digby's Got Me Like Butter... I'm On A Roll... 707!!11!

2007-04-21T02:54:00.000-04:00

Usually, I don't get moved to respond to more than one or two posts across the blogosphere in any given 24-hour cycle. I read tons but usually, my replies are of the, "You said it first before I could get to it"-type. Not today though and usually also, if I do respond to more than one post, it's spread out across some two dozen blogs. However, tonight it's been Digby all the way.

This one is from a different post than the above responses posted here. This is from : http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/running-out-of-choices-by-digby-is-this.html

A thread about who might replace Abu Gonzo as Attorney General. Ted Olson, he (NOT) of the 'Arkansas Project', but... OOPS! He really ,WAS in retrospect after testifying before Congress in 2001 that he WASN'T during the verbal part of his confirmation hearing to be Solicitor General, then changed his position, later in the written phase of questioning, to say that he , actually.... Whodathunkit? was member of that august body of skells. He's also 9/11 widower, the hubby of the late Barbara Olson, who's death sent not only hubby back to the private sector, but has been stated as the reason why Ann Coulter, (Isn't demographics a wonderful science? Birds of a feather, it seems, DO flock together!), is the way she is. She,(Coulter), blames Islam in general and all of it's adherants in particular, as responsible for her friend Barbara's death, in that big hijacked aircraft that made that little hole in the Pentagon.

I doubt that there's going to be any shake-up at DOJ but if there is? I could see Olson being tapped but I think there are a few others that might be a better fit with today's clique in the White House. My response to Digby, below, has a few more suggestions regarding who could replace Abu Gonzo as Top Cop.

"I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned Giuliani as the next Atty Gen. It might be a nice pay-off for, along with Saint John McNutso, being a stalking horse for the RNC and whoever the real candidate for the R's is going to be. Catching all that flak ,exploring weakness in the primary states like NH, SC and Iowa. Really lots of fun since Rudy doesn't have a real job right now but all that constant on the road is going to get tiring. After all he's not made of iron, is he? "It might be nice", Rudy must think to himself, to again get one of those Wingnut Welfare no-show gubbmint jobs, enjoying the succor of the public tit while all the time decrying Big Government, yet all the while nursing down a high six-figure-plus salary and full bennies without paying a dime into any co-pays. He's about due for another slurp at Uncle Sugar's big pink nipple.

Or maybe Harriet will be recalled to Washington to care for her little Georgie-poo in his time of need? She might even knit him a nice, new sweater while she's there in the office, taking up space, as I doubt there's gonna be a lot of lawyerin' going on at Justice until some time in late January of 2009.

No matter who or really-what-gets to be next, I don't think that an arduous confirmation in front of the Judiciary Committee will be a deterrent to the next AG-Candidate, as has been mentioned upstream, this one'll be a recess appointment, too."

What happens next remains to be seen...

Something Else I Missed Yesterday

2007-04-20T20:08:00.000-04:00

"GIRLS RECITING PLEDGE:...to remain sexually pure...until the day I give myself as a wedding gift to my husband. ..

This whole thing makes my head hurt too, Digby. But the quote above is to me one of the worst of the major selling points of the whole Anti-Woman movement. (Yet I agree, too, in and of themselves that these Purity {cough,cough} Balls stink of incest porn all the way to the rafters.)Trying to treat women as if they were property is a horrible way to raise a Daughter. It not only will change the body politic's view of Women but it might change how Women view themselves and their bodies. If, after years of propaganda that a woman is taught that she's only a commodity, with specific use and a limited shelf life to boot, there's a point where she might begin to believe what the hammers of adversity are trying to force her to become... A breeder and nothing else or more. Make sure she keeps cranking out the cannon fodder.

These modern day repiglicans aren't the, "Daddy Party". They're the, "Deus Ex Machina Party." They think with their faith, hope and chastity that the big guy in the sky will stop looking at them as the abject failures that they are and return. Return and descend to reward His tired supplicants. They deserve nothing but the noose and the lash.

Oh how I'm starting to hate this country and those Royal Fucknobs that've been ruining it, (A/K/A The Repiglicans), for the last 50 or so years.

Now where's my medicine? My headache's back...
L.S./M.F.T. | Homepage | 04.20.07 - 8:10 pm | #

This was my two cents worth, FWIW..."

Now since Blogger is having trouble separating the beginning of my above quote from anything I preface it with. I'll do this whole thing backwards. And hopefully, quickly too as I wasn't kidding about the headache. It's getting worse.

This was a reply to this post: HERE From Digby's, about the SCOTUS decision yesterday on the ban on certain type or types of abortions. Then tangentially, the subject of, "Purity Balls", came up and... Well go read the original post as my response isn't all encompassing but more narrower than the whole of the area discussed.

Edited to add:

"One other question...

What IS it about these people that they get SO freaked out by anything having to do, even peripherally, with sex? What frightens them so that they've constructed whole religions against this one, (wonderful if you're not a chicken about it), part of the Human Experience? I guess what I'm asking is: What's wrong with 'fornication as recreation', as an aside from the biological imperative of,'copulation for population'?

All-in-all, my attempt to answer this is anecdotal from 40-plus years of watching and wondering. I'd never bother asking these jesus freaks the 5 W's of Journalism about it because they'd lie and quote their fuckin bible instead. So, while I wait for my meds to kick-in and help me with the fugue this article sponsored, what's anyone else's experience? Anybody have a good scenario as to what it is that's set these {harrumph} people off?"

Don't ask me why I decided to go back and post that but I guess my honest curiosity got the better of me whilst I emerge from the fog of my migraine.
I doubt anyone will even notice it, much less comment, but it would be nice if I could read other people's perspective into what scares these oddballs so about sex.

Somewhere Beyond Words

2007-04-18T23:03:00.000-04:00

"HERE", is the list of victims from the shooting spree at Virginia Tech.

My heart goes out to their families .

Now imagine this happening something like three times a day and you have Iraq, every fuckin day.

Could someone please explain to me what the stupid wingnuts think the US winning in Iraq would look like, much less what it would entail to achieve?

Imus See Things Differently

2007-04-14T03:10:00.000-04:00

Not better or worse only different. I've often joked that my name is an adjective as well as a proper noun. I'm not bragging or anything but I see things, sometimes, at a parallax view to what of others see. This unique perception has nothing to do with the right or wrong of any situation, though, thankfully. I remain joyously amoral as ever.

This fracas with Don Imus is a good example. He said some things on his show the other day, (he called the Women's B-Ball team from Rutgers a, 'buncha nappy headed hos', or words to that effect), and while reviled by the punditocracy on both sides of the aisle for this comment, it's not the first time Don's been down that street and has been talking his way out of it for over twenty years now. Or (as some stories are couched in ,"Le Mort D' Arthur"), so the French book sayeth. First it was announced by the radio station Don was taking a 2-week vacation, later it was called a suspension for the same 2-weeks and then... Boom! Fired.

Other than the current inhabitants of 1600 Sesame Street and their camp followers, I don't wish on anyone the loss of their employment, as mouths are, (now it's metaphoric in Imus' case as he's fuckin' loaded), hard things to feed on Love alone. What he said was really stupid. Freshmen stupid. So, for someone as seasoned as Imus? Needless to say that my natural cynical nature started sending out warnings to my bullshit detector and then I saw a headline Friday, (???), on Yahoo! News about this, wherein the team, had forgiven Mr. Imus for his ~~cheap, stupid, slur~~, ahem, err.. Faux pas? Then a little while after seeing the headline, I surfed through the posts at Digby's and as always the level of discussion there made me think more about the issue. I'm not really interested in the press-release-hand-out lives of the rich and shameless. (ETA: and all this is before the Governor almost getting killed in a MVA on his way to a sit-down about this whole ordeal. BTW, it's five in the morning on Sunday now. I'm not going to update with fresh reports about Corzine. I hope he makes a full recovery.)

This is what I posted at Digby's and I haven't gone looking for any latest updates about it but I still thins it was a scam to give him a boost over to Sirius or wherever...

I think this whole Imus non-event is nothing more than a publicity stunt. I saw a headline on Yahoo! News, earlier this evening, 'Scarlet B-Ball Team accepts Imus Apology', or something like that and the idea hit me. I really have to buck the trend and say this whole kerfuffle is all an act. Please don't think I'm making an excuse, apology or anything else. I'm not writing this as any damned apologist nor as a rationalization for what happened, I think what he said was really off-base and the only reason I can't expound further about Ol' Don is that I haven't listened to his show or tv simulcast in aeons, if ever. However... Anyone who generates the kind of enormous revenue that's been bandied about on the 'net, that Imus generates, these past few days, doesn't get, "fired", like that. He'll be on Sirius Sat/Radio or one of it's competitors, in a few weeks. Right in time for whatever ratings book decides the commercial rates for that medium.

Imus may have been around longer but he's been a second-banana to Stern for almost 20 years now but he's always made his bosses rich. Howard went Satellite, so will Imus. It's where the money is.

Friday Cat Blogging

2007-04-13T15:54:00.000-04:00

One of the things I need to do is get around to installing the new camera to the computer as the top and bottom pix are over a year old. The one in the middle was harvested from, "I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?" And as so often with me, I missed the culturally significant reference to Nintendo and my ink-blot-test-reaction was, "Aww, how cute. A textbook example of Cat-aminita Muscaria Mushroom", and only got the joke when I read the other comments under the picture. BTW... I recommend to anyone as goofy for kitties as I obviously am to have a look at the site. (Link above and I'll blogroll same soon as I'm done with this.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, the other two pictures... The top one is from about a year and a half ago of Susie, (My Mrs. for that one in a zillion who might stumble across this), with our furkid, Reinhard, a Tuxedo but with a line of black down his white belly that makes him look like he's wearing a tux but with a regular, black, neck-tie, like Uncle Reinhard did. The other shot is from last Summer and is of our other two, Punkin', (The Maine Coon Cat, left) and Boing who is only about 10 weeks old here and is now a bit over 14 pounds of beautiful greased lightning and isn't even a year old yet. He'll be one in early May.

I have a few recent-ish pix of them that are on hard-copy and I'll be scanning them into the system in a few... Somethings, I hope. Days, hopefully but y'never know with me. Some days are better than others.

Blog Against Theocracy

2007-04-08T23:09:00.000-04:00

This weekend there's been a concerted effort to remind people what it is exactly that's the end-product of all these, 'Fundies', working in the Bush maladministration. It's called, "Theocracy", or a "X-tian Republic", by those prone to deception about their goals. They seek to either subvert or, if necessary, defenestrate the established order and laws of the United States and replace them with, their much different, (and much worse for those who don't toe the Party Line), America.

I don't see it like the ,"Birchers", did in the 50's and '60's with the commies in Jersey and Brooklyn in flames but there needs be a shoring up of the Constitutional protections afforded those of us who are not under the auspices of that Great Cross in the Sky. There's no, " In Hoc Signo Vinces", for we Asatruar but then again we aren't pacifists, either. I think this small minority has to be put in their place, (at the fringes of society), like all other splinter groups that offshoot from the mainstream and more established common avenues of the american body politic, before the very real chance of them reaching critical mass and becoming more of a threat to normal people both here and abroad than they already are. I also think it's a mistake to absolve regular, everyday, christians from blame for the excesses of their co-religionists. 'Madman In The Marketplace', over at, "Liberal Street Fighter", has some interesting points that would be redundant for me to do anything but cut and paste a sample of what he (?) wrote:

"I think that religious “moderation” is basically an elaborate exercise in self-deception
- Sam Harris

A little Blogging Against Theocracy today on this day when the Xtian’s mythical Holy Sacrifice moldered in His tomb before He pushed back a rock to rise and shine. Being a good liberal, I’m supposed to be tolerant, which I try to do. Unfortunately, given the way many Americans demand that you “tolerate” them by letting them spew their nonsense in your face while you desperately hold onto a fixed smile, most of my “toleration” consists of walking away. Cowardly, yes, but giving it back to a fundie will often result in being surrounded, caught in a crossfire, as “moderate” Xtians leap to the nutjob’s defense when I can’t take his superstitious babbling anymore.

To be frank, the so-called “moderate” or “mainline” religionists drive me almost as nuts as the fundies do. They are descendents of the same “good people” who have enabled theocrats and religious bullies throughout history. They made those evils possible, more concerned with maintaining their comfortable lives, their cozy little social networks, than with real justice for ALL of their fellows.

They are apologists, protectors and shields for the intolerant people more devout than themselves, and history has shown time and again that they too feel the wrath of the extremist believers once the targeted “heathen” and “others” are dealt with. It is a pattern repeated over and over throughout history."

For me to have written something like that would not only have been repetitious but no way near as well worded. The full post is available via the link above for Liberal Street Fighter. It's long but worth a read, as is the blog, "Blog Against Theocracy".

And last but not least... Happy Ostara!

Too Wordy For A Bumpersticker but...

2007-04-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

... I had to put this somewhere. It was a reply to a thread about those idiot FReepers brainstorming to generate some pro-war bumperstickers. They had some circumloquation about 'L.I.B.E.R.A.L.S.', but it sucked yet a poster replied with one for 'pubs. I really thought it was both clever and accurate, and posted as much. Oy! The blog is called: No More Mister Nice Blog.

Here's the post:

Raising
Every
Petty
Underachiever
Beyond
Limitations
Into a
Crooked
Administration's
Network

skimble | Homepage | 04.03.07 - 6:21 pm | #

Like Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship

2007-04-03T03:52:00.000-04:00

I posted this, below, as a response to a thread at The Carpetbagger Report.

I think the recent spate of people, inside the fishbowl, talking out to the press at how dismayed they are at how things are turning out is a little too coincidental for my tastes. I don't believe in coincidence to begin with and I know that anything said by any member, no matter how peripheral they are, of this government is lying and spinning. And is doing so not only to save their own ass but for the expressed purpose of salvaging the Repiglican party's chances of winning the 2008 race. Nothing is what it seems with this bunch.

Although on the surface it looks like all these defections out of the Bush/Cheney camp are rats leaving a sinking ship, another way of looking at it could be an attempt to rehab the RNC. If it looks like the middle level functionaries are denouncing the current regime as if to say, "Y'see... These guys aren't REAL Republicans. They aren't or weren't _______- enough", as a way of deflecting the blame of today's failures onto the Bushies and away from the RNC proper. So when the election season is in full swing, they can run a candidate that is billed as the antithesis of Bush yet not a Democrat. Then still claim to support the wingnuts and christopaths in whatever lunacy will get them to vote for the 'pubs.

Talk about being between the Devil and the deep blue sea. The two things that would actually hurt the Democratic party's chances in 2008 are the two things that would help America in the short-term, those being: Impeaching Bush and Cheney and pulling all of our troops out of Iraq, ASAP. Doing those two things would give the R's breathing room to recoup, rearm and devise a new strategy of making Bush the bad guy and rolling out a new, untainted by the double whammy of 'everything-gate', starring Karl Rove and the war, giving them a year or so to actually show how unlike Bush they are and not have to defend any of the Bush admin's plethora of inadequacies nor blunders.

I know.. It sucks either way.

Late Nite FDL: The Chocolate Jesus Manifesto

2007-04-02T01:26:00.001-04:00

A refutation of that bully, Bill Donohue's latest public tantrum, re: a statue of Jesus, made out of chocolate. Things usually run until 03:00 Eastern, 12:00 Pacific as far as the live comments are concerned. Stop by a have a look and post if so moved.

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I Don't Know How

2007-03-25T23:56:00.000-04:00

...to contact him but there was an article , I saw tonight when I logged-in, at Yahoo! News about that rare, (almost legendary y'might say), bird: The Ivory Billed Woodpecker. It's a long article and I'm not going to post it here in its entirety but instaed will post the link in the odd chance that all my other attempts to contact IBW fail but he sees it here, instead. To whit:

IBW Article from Y! News.

I know... Message in a bottle...

FWIW...

And More. And Many More...

2007-03-19T02:08:00.000-04:00

I don't know where I'll draw the line with this. What'll remain private and what I'll post to the world at large as there have been myriad instances where what you write in a 'blog comes back to either haunt or taunt you.

I'm not too interested in trying to save the world, my last name in not Quixote. My desire is to vent and/or give a deeper explanation to comments I might make on other 'blogs. (I'm going to stop using an apostrophe in front of blog like I do with 'phone. "Blogs", is a word in and of itself.) So, instead of referencing to a blog that's not integrated into, "Blogtopia"(Yes, Skippy PBUH coined that term!), I decided it'd be easier to do so here, on Blogger.

FWIW...

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2007-03-18T23:51:00.000-04:00

...It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you... YOUR... Lucky Strike Parade of Hits!