Lying's Okay, When Something Important Like Hannah Montana Tickets Are At Stake

Sometimes you come across a story that is a barometer of how far off track this country has become. We are, in my opinion, a nation of dishonest people. From our leaders we hear such lies as "I did not have sex with that woman" to "Mission Accomplished" to "My father marched with Martin Luther King" to "If I'm elected the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil", and we expect them, and only get angry when the other side lies. We do this because in this country, it's more acceptable to be a dishonest winner than an honest loser.
So it should come as no shock to find out that a mom has admitted to lying to win her daughter Hannah Montana tickets (for those of you who outside of the mainstream who don't know, Hannah Montana is the latest crime against the pop culture perpetrated by the follicular challenged Billy Ray Cyrus since his "Achy Breaky Heart" gave a bunch of inbred mouth breathers an excuse to boot scoot at the local trailer trash breeding ground and Budweiser dispensary). Plus, she got an awesome Hannah Montana blonde wig, because even though we like to make jokes about them, every girl wants to be blonde!
Now as House is fond of saying, everybody lies, but it's what we lie about and what we stand to gain from the lie that determines the difference. I lie to spare myself the embarrassment of past mistakes being brought to light, this mother lied about the child's father being blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq so her daughter could gain much coveted concert tickets (and who says we're a Christian nation?).
And what did this mother teach her child with this deception?

“We did the essay and that’s what we did to win,” Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. “We did whatever we could do to win.”

So Ms. Ceballos' daughter learns that honesty is less important than things, values aren't as important as winning, and worshipping at the altar of the cult of celebrity personality is the new morality in today's society.
In the meantime, Ms. Cyrus has a photo scandal brewing (which she blames on "Satan attacking". Time for the Vatican Satan squad to step in!) that's sure to place her in the running to be the next Jamie-Lynn Spears.

Ghouliani:The Final Solution

When you're a one-issue candidate, you tend to attract the singly simple-minded people, as is the case with Rudy Ghouliani, as this video of Rudy's New Hampshire campaign official shows. To this obviously Fox News addled idiot, it's much easier to wipe the planet clean of Muslims (or at least chase them back into their caves)than it is to:
1)address the security issues that allowed a horrendous assault on the US to occur in the first place, or
2)address the geopolitical issues that cause the Muslim population to "hate" Americans in the first place.
(Thanks to mike votes for the heads up on this story)

Curiouser and Curiouser

Like many people, I was shocked to hear today of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. But I was also struck about the way it was carried out The assassin first shoots her, then blows himself up? It seemed a bit odd, I mean, isn't the modus operandi typically the suicide bomber just blows himself up in close proximity to their intended victim?
Now comes the news that the US is sending a "surge" of troops into Pakistan in the wake of the assassination, after Pakistan had temporarily restricted US involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary operations on its soil.Hmmmm.
One only needs to look at the globe and see how nice and cozy Pakistan is in regards to Iran. Perhaps this lends some credence to Ron Paul's claim that we're getting ready to bomb Iran on MSNBC's Morning Joe today.
Very curious, indeed.

Next: A Promise To Leap Tall Buildings In A Single Bound

Is this the best the Democrats can muster? (No, it isn't) Can anyone, for God's sake tell me why Hillary Clinton is the front runner when she says absurd things such as “Elect me and oil prices will instantly drop!” Surely she must be intelligent to know that the president doesn't control oil prices, but maybe she's hoping that her supporters aren't that savvy.
Oil prices are set by demand, so as long as Americans insist on driving gas sucking pigs of cars, the oil prices will stay high. Sure, there are things a president can do to ensure lower gas prices, such as, I don't know, not labeling Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization(second story down), a step towards a war with Iran that will, that's right, drive up oil prices. (of course, Ron Paul is a kook for suggesting that America's foreign policy is why we are hated in the Middle east, Hell, the whole damned planet, but what does he know? He voted against the war in Iraq that Hillary voted for, which was the start of the rise in oil prices.
Of course, Hillary has her kool-aid drinking legions who think she would be a great president, or maybe they feel that a female president would be better than a male (which, if you look at it, is chauvinistic sexist drivel.) Sure, she could be a president, just not a very good one, if her past actions are any indication of what the future holds from her.

Another Holiday Tradition: Lew's Annual Christmas Rant

I really hate this time of year. With the incessant hawking of every damned invention on the planet as "the perfect Christmas gift" to the non-stop blaring of awful Christmas music from every imaginable source, Christmas has because a time of major annoyance than a time of peace.
The most truly irritating is of course, the advertisers, of whom I'm sure would advertise their product as a sure cure for the war on terrorism, if they thought they could get away with it. Blissfully unaware of the growing stagflation, they hawk new cars and expensive jewelery as the way to "show your wife how much you really love her". Enough to pay thirty-nine percent for five years on a useless trinket destined to sit in a box for most of the rest of her life (oh, right, it's an investment, something she can pawn off in five years when she runs off to Florida with the pool boy, leaving with nothing but the debt and an awful taste in you mouth).
Then of course, there is the Christmas music. Every fresh crop of pop singers ensures us another string of new Christmas CDs, designed to cash in on the singer's popularity before all their recorded output ends up in the cut-out bin at a bargain book store. So they sing the same songs that 16,000 other singers have sung, just as sincerely and emotionally overwrought, where it will end up being about as memorable as Barry Manilow's version of Jingle Bells. Apparently no one can do anything original, like write a new Christmas song, but even if they did, most people wouldn't like it, as they fear the unknown, and tend to stick to familiar territory.
I had someone ask me what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I thought long and hard. I don't really want anything, but I do need a cheese grater, so I suggested that, and was given the dirtiest look I've managed to arouse from someone since my days as a dirty hippie at a punk rock show.
The one thing I do enjoy about the season, however, is being able to give my children presents. I don't get an opportunity the rest of the year, but the end of the year is when I get my annual attendance bonus, where the company I work for reimburses me for the sick days I did not take. It's supposed to come two weeks before Christmas, giving me ample opportunity to shop (which I loathe) and stash the loot away before Christmas. Well, once again this year, as it did last year, the company I work for screwed up and did not give me my bonus as they are contractually obligated to, so I had no money to get my kids gifts, except for the gift card my ex-mother-in-law sent me, which I was grateful to receive, but with prices the way they are these days, didn't go too far.
So today, I was a little down, a little depressed, and angry that management, who fucked up their responsibility, didn't step up to the plate (one of the corporate cliches they are fond of using)and deliver my bonus to me in a timely manner. I felt like Clark Griswold from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
Then, a miracle happened. Cindy, a good customer of mine paid me a visit. She had told me that she had prayed the night before that she may be able to deliver a gift to someone who really needed it this year, and was directed by whomever to me and my two boys. My eyes began to tear up and my throat was choked close as I thanked her very much. Suddenly, the whole meaning of Christmas was shown to me, it's the joy of giving out of love, not from obligation, that is the real meaning of Christmas.

A Kinder, Gentler Machine Gun Hand

Hilary Clinton is trying to "warm up" her image, in which she is seen as cold and calculating.
Excuse me, but isn't that in and of itself a cold and calculating move?
Sen. Clinton has slipped somewhat in the polls, and with the primary season busting wide open next month, she must do something to counter that slippage.
Only the loyalist of Kool-Aid drinkers are unable to see her for what she really is, the next step in turning our country over to the corpocracy that began with her husband screwing over the working class in this country by giving away the keys to the farm with NAFTA. Sure, she may have suckered some into believing she may do something about the abysmal health care system in this country, but I surely hope you don't believe she'll actually do anything about it.
As someone from the John Edwards camp stated "In fairness, I think the only image make-over that would work would be Senator Clinton saying no to lobbyist money and finally embracing an agenda of real change".
Like that's gonna happen.
Remember the days, long before television, when a politician ran on their accomplishments, not on some focus-group-created image designed to sucker voters into voting against their own self-interest? Real accomplishments, not some exploit-a-national-tragedy-for political-gain situation (I'm looking at you, Ghouliani).
Unfortunately, some people want to keep you from hearing those people who want to effect real change, which in case you haven't noticed, is what we really need.

Neocons:Truthseekers, or Raving Paranoiacs?

By now you've all read how the NIE proves Iran suspended it's nuclear weapons program in 2003. Still that hasn't deterred the neocons who feel Iran is still a danger, in spite of the report. Even presidential hopeful Rudy Ghouliani hasn't stopped banging the war drums.
How bad do they want this war? Well, leading neocon "godfather" claims the intelligence community is trying to sabotage Bush with the NIE. John Bolton, the bastion of sanity, has called for a Congressional investigation in to anti-Bush people in the intelligence community.
Hey! I got an idea! How about instead of spending time and money trying to start a war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, we track down the one person we know had something to do with it. I mean, if Morgan Spurlock can find Osama Bin Laden, there's no reason the US government can't find him either. Unless they don't want to find him.

Neocons Overstate The Obvious

Neocon war hawk and former defense policy board member under Donald Rumsfeld Richard "Prince of Darkness" Perle admitted Wednesday that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal act under international law. He also said he had the worse comb over and was really bald. Perle, who had to step down from his position on the advisory board because of questionable business ties still thinks the war was the right thing to do, just against the law, that's all.
Law means nothing to the neocons, neither international, nor the rights of citizens anywhere on the planet, with the US declaring it has the right to kidnap British citizens wanted in the US, not only for "extraordinary rendition", but in other cases as well.
Another PNAC member, Paul Wolfowitz, has been
offered a top position at the State Department apparently unable to hold a real job in the private sector since having had to step down from his spot at the World Bank for giving his girlfriend a raise, and not the kind in his trousers. Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the war on Iraq (and we all know how well that turned out) will be advising Secretary of State Rice on matters concerning WMD (because he knows so much about where they aren't).
Isn't it refreshing to know that instead of seeking new ideas, the current administration is looking for the same old stale ones?

Don't Expect Real World Solutions From People Out Of Touch With Reality

The more things change, the more Bush's perspective stays the same. Bent askew.
In his radio address today, Bush proved that the simple minded can only focus their attention on one thing, filling the War party's coffers via defense contractors. How, you may ask? By insisting that funding the wars in Aghanistan and Iraq are our top priority.
What they are really doing is distratcting the people from the real problem (from CNN):

After years of living happily beyond their means, Americans are finally facing financial reality. A persistent rise in energy prices will mean bigger heating bills this winter and heftier tabs at the gas pump. Job growth is slowing and wage gains have been anemic. House prices are sliding, diminishing the value of the asset that's the biggest factor in Americans' personal wealth. Even the stock market, which has been resilient for so long in the face of eroding consumer sentiment, has begun pulling back amid signs of deep distress in the financial sector.

This set of priorities comes from the guy who thinks faith is the answer to the world AIDS crisis. That was Ronald Reagan's solution, and look how well that worked in stopping the spread of AIDS. Real world solutions don't appeal to Bush because he has never been in toch with the real world.
Don't expect the Democrats to stand up to Bush, they have yet to do so, and to think they will now is folly. They need to look tough on terrorism by continuing to fund the US spread of it by military force, lest they be pilloried by the corporate media for their failure to do so.

Three Months Is Like A Lifetime on the 'Net

When did Bush bashin' become all the fashion?

Seriously, I have spent the last three months disconnected from the web (due to corporate hostility towards those who choose to live a non-consumerist lifestyle), much of it spent vegetating, actually having Favorite shows!!! In the world of television (broadcast television, alas, soon to be swept away by HD-TV so that corporate America can sell more airtime to imbeciles who feel it necessary to hold conversations at supermarkets. Yay technological advancement!!) George W Bush rarely exists, except as a target for jokes for those who wouldn't have had the temerity to make them two years ago. The war in Iraq is never discussed, except when the networks feel it necessary to trot out the troops to thank them for fighting a war that has long lost it's reason.
The yellow ribbon magnets have all faded, and are no longer being offered at any store I shop at. (Which is like, two or three. Maybe they sell them at Wal-Mart, right next to the new Eagles album, er, CD, that I will never purchase, because I will never set foot in such a den of evil)
On television, everybody is dancing because they got a new cell phone, floor cleaner, moisturizer, or air freshener, and their whole life has vastly improved so much that they can barely contain their glee at being able to be free to purchase these items because our soldiers are over in Iraq, fighting non--existant terrorists to give them the chance to dance with glee because they have a new deodorant. Sure, they probably don't have fresh water or electricity 24/7, but they can always ululate because Allah has provided them with a cell phone in their choice of colors. Not a rainbow of colors, but three, which is three more choices than they had before.
So anyway. now I'm back. It may take a while for me to get back up to speed, having had my head filled with misinformation for the last three months. And hopefully, I will reacquaint myself with all my old friends soon (the ones still out there). And special thanks to the friend who helped hook me up with my new ISP.

Another Rat Jumps Ship

White House spokesmodel Tony Snow announced he is leaving his job due to "financial reasons". What does it say about a man who is unable to survive on a mere $168,000 a year? What does it say for the majority of people out there who have to survive on considerably less? Remember when somebody who pulled in that amount of cash was considered well off?
That this announcement comes on a Friday evening dump leads me to believe there's more to this story than we are being told. Is the $168,000 not enough to pay off those who maybe extorting him because the father of three's name may be on a certain DC madam's list? Or did Mr. Snow have a sudden attack of conscience because he has cancer and wishes to make things right before he shakes off his mortal coil and must stand before his maker and atone for his sins?
Whatever the reasons, Snow joins Karl Rove as another high profile member of the Bush administration who is jumping ship. Who knows? I think the Ramones express my sentiment the best......
Ramones Glad To See You Go

I Wish It Was Only A Joke

The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.

By Philip Atkinson Family Security Matters
You know when you combine "Family" and "Security" you're nothing but a front for the Republicans. Who else would advocate the dissolution of the democracy that is spreading democracy throughout the world while eliminating it here at home?
But when it comes down to it, which millionaire are you voting for? Doesn't it seem silly to wonder which candidate "seems like presidential material"? It's not like we're casting a fucking Hollywood movie folks, we're deciding who will decide our fate for the next four years. Harry Truman was just a clothing store owner folks, a haberdasher, fortunately for him he was elected in the pre-television era, when a president had to have command of the english langauge to be considered 'presidential', not just look good in a suit and power tie.
And now, to celebrate getting my computer back..............................

The Official "Terrorist" Act

Today, on the radio as they discussed the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the hosts described how the major (corporate) news outlets had to go to the Department of Homeland Security to see if this was an act of terrorism. This, of course, caused me to start thinking, what did they mean? Wouldn't the local law enforcement on scene be a better source than a government bureaucrat thousands of miles away?
Everday we arewarned of impending doom from a department that wants to intrude even more on our privacy. This isn't the first time we've been warned of imminent terror attacks, it seems almost evry summer a warning is issued, which comes to pass with no attacks, but people forget because they're too distracted gearing up for the next season of American Idol. Is the reason the media needs official confirmation because they know that in order for the official terrorist attack to occur, it has to be allowed (or be another government black op) like 9/11.
Make no mistake, the next attack won't benefit terrorists, but will benefit the corpocracy, defense contractors, neocons, and Israel-firsters like John Hagee. The people of the Middle East, if they wish to attack the US, need only to wander into Iraq (like most of the anti-Americans over there are doing anyway) to strike at us.

A Pointless Move By A Spineless Congress

Senators are considering a perjury investigation against Alberto "El_Turdo" Gonzales after documents contradict Gonzales' testimony, and I wonder, what's the point?
In the enfeebled mind of the Republican, perjury is only applicable when someone like serial rapist Bill Clinton can't recall with whom he had sex (when most Republicans can name all three women they've had relations with: their wives, that hooker from the DC madam and that drunk girl they forced themselves on following a night of binge drinking.)but not when a member of the Bush administration lies under oath to a grand jury or a Senate investigation. Even if Bush would allow an investigation (which he won't since he has continually placed himself above the law), if the verdict was guilty, he'd just pardon Gonzales or commute his sentence, no need for taking responsibility for one's actions when you're a member of the party of values. Besides, Gonzales can't remember every law his office is doing, he's way too busy violating the Hatch Act and ignoring Congressional orders.
And right on cue, anytime Bush has politcally damaging revelations we are suddenly warned of another possible "terrorist" attack, which only proves that all the illegal spying, the illegal wars and executive privilege hasn't made us any safer than we were on 9/11, so you'd have to be a real doofus not to see it.

Same Shit Different Asshole

The 2008 presidential election is one of the most important elections ever (Okay, they're all really important, but bear with me), a chance for the US to change the disastrous course on which it has been recklessly traveling these past seven years. So we need a chief executive who's going to do things differently than the way the satanist in the White House has been operaring.
At last night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton criticized Barack Obama for saying that he would talk with nations that are supposed enemies. This is a complete about face from her criticism of Bush for not talking to those same countries. We all know how well not talking to these countries has been successful for the current regime, isn't Sen. Clinton running against their failed policies? And what are the countries that Hillary won't talk to? Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. You know, the countries that refuse to bend to the will of the corpocracy.
Iran has yet to be found doing anything wrong, amid growing accusations being flung at it by the Bush administration, eager to start another war that will make Halliburton even richer before Dick Cheney steps back in the reins when (or if) he steps down from the vice-presidency. But who is behind the push to demonize Iran that so many US lawmakers have signed on with it? And why is the frontrunner in the Democratic Party talking war with Iran, just like Dick Cheney? (Please, no apologists) I suppose once she has started war on Iran she could fli-flop, just like she did with her position on using diplomacy, or her support for the war in Iraq, and millions of addle-pated Democrats, more signed on to a cult of personality than anything the demgogue-in-the-making stands for, will merely accpet it because they think she be better than Bush. But to be better, you have to be different. And Hillary isn't.

An open letter to Vern Ehlers (R)MI

below is a copy of an email I sent to my congressmen, asking him to get behind Rep. Kucinich's call for impeachment. If you wish to contact your congressperson, you may do so at this site.


Mr. Ehlers,
Back in 2002, I wrote you asking you to vote against the authorization for war with Iraq, A war that is illegal under international law, no matter how much support the president had from congress. You were kind enough to respond back to my letter, in effect stating that according to an article in a magazine, you felt that the invasion was the right thing to do. Many years and many deaths later, we are stuck in an endless war that could have been prevented if you had listened to a constituent, and not the media.
Now here it is almost five years later, and things haven't improved concerning Iraq. One of the main reasons for us fighting there is because Vice-President Cheney manipulated intelligence, a fact borne out by too many sources to quote here. This is beyond his authority. We also have a president who refuses to be held accountable for any of his actions. Our political system has a series of checks and balances to prevent the types of abuses that the current administration is involved in. So I ask of you: Which is more important, the constitution and the country it protects, or the party for which you belong?
If you say the former, than I urge you to contact Rep Conyers and agree to start impeachment proceedings. Then, if there is just cause for impeachment, I ask you to vote for it, just as I would expect you to vote against it if there is no cause.
If you say the latter, then I hope you remember this missive when in the future, another president continues the arrogant abuses first conceived by the current administration, and your children, or perhaps your grandchildren ask you why our country has strayed so far from it's original intentions, that you had an oppurtunity to stop this now, but chose instead to be loyal to your party moreso than to the constitution you swore to uphold. Thank you.

Lern Two Spel

Looking at this picture, it's easy to see why the President, or even the Republicans still have support in this country: the people who still do are a bunch of morons (that's morons, not morans). These people, who I'm sure lots of tax payer dollars were spent to give them an education, decided that looking intelligent wasn't as important as looking cool. How hard is it to spell "momma"? There are two preferential spellings, the previous example I gave, or Mama as evidenced in Mama's Family, or in the myriad of "Mama____" Italian food/pizza restaurants that dot the country.
What's even worse than having a bunch of of window-lickers proudly displaying their ignorance is the politicians who exploit the spell-challenged to garner votes for themselves. These are the same people who believe Saddam had something to do with 9/11, the war in Iraq is winnable, or Rudy Ghouliani is "America's Mayor". Basically all you have to do is tap into their fear factor, and they'll respond in kind, which is why they have somehow linked "Osama" to Obama, even though the two have nothing to with each other (and the fact that Osama has been dead quite a while surely is lost on them ).
Now I'm not advocating a literacy test for voters, as that would be a violation of the Voting Rights Acts, nor I do I think we need to spend more on public education, since this person went through the system and didn't gain any rudimentary skills so it's too late for them anyway. Maybe if the media did a better job of informing people, instead of acting like the propaganda branch of the government, there might be hope for our society.

Bush Takes It Up The Ass!

Bush will cede power to Dick Cheney while he undergoes colonoscopy, which means it's one for the record books for the world's longest colonoscopy ever, since he's pretty much ceded most his powers to Cheney anyway. Well, I wouldn't call it the world's longest, since that's pretty much what Bush has been doing to the country since taking office. Let's hope that it's a long drawn out and painful process, much as the Bush administration has been for these past six and a half years.
And we should also hope that once Cheney gets the reins, he doesn't do something stupid, like order a bombing of Iran, which is something he and his neocon buddies have been aching to do since bungling, well, I was going to say Iraq, but they've pretty much bungled Afghanistan, oh Hell, the whole damn war on terrorism. But most of all, and as much as I hate to say it, let's hope he gives the powers back to Bush rather than signing some executive order making him Dicktator for life, which, given the state of Cheney's heart, may not be for very much longer, one would hope.

What Flavor Is Your Kool-Aid?

Neil shakespeare had a post about Kool-Aid where I learned, among other things, that it was actually Flvaor-Aid that was quaffed in mass quantities in Jonestown. Also, that while his mother didn't add the correct amount of sugar, making it blander than usual, my step-mother used Sweet'N'Low, which had no conversion chart for mixing with Kool-Aid, which made the most horrible colorful drink you'd never want to taste.
But why do we only associate Kool-Aid with Republicans? How many people drank the Democratic Kool-Aid last night, when it looked like Harry Reid was going to force the Republicans to filibuster the Levin-Reed Iraq Deployment bill, only to have him pull the bill from consideration on the senate floor, leaving a lot of people with blue dye #6 and yellow dye #10 moustaches around their mouths as the hopes of ending the war came crashing down like a six-year old after the sugar buzz wears off.
Our two party system is a lot like Kool-Aid, or is it Funny Face, Choo-Choo Cherry on the right and Blastin' Blue Raspberry on the left, looks good, tastes good, but really is just laden with sugar and a lot of bad chemicals with no nutritional value whatsoever. Where were the three Democratic front-runners last night, when they had an oppurtunity to show off their leadership skills that qualify them to be the leader of the free world? Sadly, they are non-existant, appealing only to those whose brains have been damaged from drinking too much Kool-Aid, while offering nothing beyond their collective cults of personality.

Dick Gets A Hard-On For Iran (Again)

Iran has agreed to open it's heavy water reactor to UN inspections as part of it's obligations as a co-signee to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. say what you will about Ahmadinejad being a madman, at least he alows more transparency than the crazies in the "I don't recall/executive privilege" Bush regime. So while Al Qaeda thrives in Pakistan, Dick Cheney has been pushing for war with Iran. This won't stop terrorism, of course, but it will mean billions of dollars worth of no0-bid contracts and overcharges for Halliburton, and that's good for Dick Cheney.
But it's not good for the people of Iran, many of whom want democracy, not nuclear fallout. It would not end terrorsim, only increase it as much as the war in Iraq has drawn more people to oppose the US occupation. Increased risks of attacks in a more volatile region wouldn't be good for US troops stationed over there.
According to a Washington source, Bush and Cheney do not trust the next administration to deal with Iran decisively. Of course, people who lack trust are often not trustworthy themselves, as evidenced by a). the repeated lies spewn forth from the mouths of Bush and Cheney, and b). the veil of secrecy they cloak themselves in.

Who'd A Thunk It?

John at Left In Aboite tagged me with a thinking blogger award, which I can't figure out, since most of the time I think people must think I have a large collection of tinfoil hats. But it's nice that I can stir up the grey matter, even when I can't figure out away to end a post.
We all try to make a difference, to get a point across that might get lost in the corporate media onslaught, so for me to have to pick five bloggers that make me think makes me think I have my work cut out for me, since they all make me think.(And since John has already tagged Peacechick Mary, it's going to be even more difficult, but here it goes:

Born At The Crest Of The Empire-Mike has it going on, if you haven't stopped by, you really should because he is on top of things, with the best news and pictures I have ever seen. I stop by several times a day to see if there's anything new, or just to see Mike's response to my comments.
reality-based educator_ I only discovered this a couple of weeks ago, but like Mike, he's got it going on. His posts are longer, but they will make you think.
Left In East Dakota-Everybody loves Graeme (except maybe beakerkin or sonia belle); you should too. Graeme often offers a historical perspective that inevitably has me running to Wikipedia to read more.
Fuzzy And Blue--Political Musings by a Proud Democrat-I often feel Tina is like a kindred spirit, linking together a story that points my mind in a the right (or left) direction.
The final spot is difficult. I'd like to give it to Neil Shakespeare (He's back you know), but I know he doesn't go in much for memes. The same for Pissed-Off Patricia. Snave is good at making me think, as is Sumo, as well as a dozen more blogs that I lose everytime Firefox eats my bookmarks (that's why I haven't been to see y'all).So I just spun a whell and ended up with-
Kvatch-That's right, nobody out snarks the master! Our Kommander already has one of these; here's hoping he gets fifty more!
(Sorry, Ron, not this time, if you know what I mean)
The rules as follows:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the pos
t that you wrote.

Bush's Boogeyman is Back

Curiously timed and conveniently undated videotape of Osama Bin Laden has surfaced, right when we have Bush administration officials proclaiming their "gut feelings" about imminent terrorist attacks and then being ridiculed all over everywhere for it. This was then followed up by Condi Rice proclaiming warning signs of a terrorist attack.
And now we have Osama, once again providing tape of an unspecified origin, right when the Bush administration needs their boogeyman. Support for the war in Iraq is slipping, not only amongst the citizens of America, but amongst the GOP itself. What better way to cloud the minds of the people with fear than to wave the scariest boogeyman (and former CIA asset) at them. That is so, like, 2004, dude.
Now we know that while we're bogged down with war in Iraq Al Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan and garnered more recruits, making them stronger than ever. While we're wasting time waging a war against Iran, we're no safer than we were on September 10, 2001. All the illegal wiretaps, torture and spying on the American people haven't made us any safer, and neither has the Republican party, or it's incompetent leadership in the White House, which has bathed itself in secrecy to no end. But in order to end this madness, we need a new strategy, which no front runner from either party has offered up, only the same old same old, which has been so (in)effective so far.

Man of God?

Much has been made of Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" that alqeada will attack sometime this summer. One may think these attacks are unprovoked, but in reality they are in direct correlation to US foreign policy, especially as it pertains to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Such policy is being driven by the Christian right, which supports Israel even as it violates international law and seizes more land from the Palestinians. Israel expansionist policies are being funded in part by John Hagee, who has given $8.5 million to Israel expasionist policie, as well as using political pressure on Congress to keep funding policy, even as it violates international law.
Hagee is also pushing for war with Iran, which is necessary in "order for most of today’s Christians to escape physical death, two-thirds of the Jews in Israel must perish, soon", which is most certain to happen when Israel strikes Iran's nuclear facilities, which, unlike Israel's nuclear site at Dimona, is open to inspections by the IAEA, a move hailed by the UN. Hagee seems to revel in the fact that the "end times" of his religious beliefs are upon us, but it seems more as if he's trying to incite the apocalypse himself.
Hagee fancies himself a Christian, however, he seems more in step with the "Islamofascists" who want to take over the world and force Sharia law on us all. Perhaps we'd all be better off if we gave them their own planet to fight each other over whose God has the biggest dick, and leave the rest of us in peace on Earth.

Beyond Psychopathic

There's crazy, then beyond that is pure bull goose loony, and even farther out is a space occupied by George W. Bush. It's not that he ordered the sugeon general to mention his name three times a page in speeches made. that's just mildly meglomaniacal. Nor is it his claim that the insurgency in Iraq is the same as the ones who attacked us on 9/11. Which puts the commander guy at complete odds with what the commanders on the ground are saying. Bush is losing support for the war in Iraq, and so, as in the past, he has trotted out that day which is becoming a dim memory to those people who are dealing with rising prices, a jump in foreclosures, and the final sign of the apocalypse, the Spice Girls reunion. But I think that day has been all used up by the Bush adminsitration and the propagandists in the corporate media. Which is why I agree with Cindy Sheehan (who wasn't the first to float the idea, anyone who can do simple math could add it up) when she says the Bush administration will stage another terror attack to jump start a war with Iran and declare martial law here at home. (You don't think they created a unitary executive to hand it over to Hillary Clinton in January 2009?)
Bush has reached a point where he can admit an administration official committed an act of treason (and was very well taken care of)and not have anyone in the corporate media bat an eye.
Maybe Bush's insanity is caused by the fact that no-one has ever held him accountable.

D'oh!

You know you're skimming the bottom of the blogosphere when I get tagged by the recent meme that's floating around like a virus. But thanks to Lizzy, I can no longer claim to be lucky enough to never be hit by these durn things.
1. Although it's been years since I've entered a Wal-Mart, and never intend on entering one again, I can not pass up a yard sale.
2. I still own the first guitar I ever bought, a Fender Lead II, perhaps the finest guitar on the planet.
3.I used to blog under the name Carrie Oakey, that's right, it was a joke, and what made it even funnier to me was the many people whom "she" angered.
4. I am a professional chef, and can prepare many soups sauces and salad dressing from scratch, but my favorite thing to cook is crystal meth.
5.When I was in college, I shared an apartment with Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer for TOOL and A Perfect Circle and he was the one who introduced my to my ex-wife.
6.I once won an award (second place)in a recycled art show for "Most Artistic Merit"
7. I never use my spell check, instead choosing to actually look words up in a dictionary if it doesn't look right to me.
8. I can sing along with any Beatles song from any point and never miss a word.
Since that unpleasantness is done, now I have to do this:

All RIght, here are the RUles:

1. We HAVe to post these RUles beFORE we give you the facts.

2. PlAYers start with eight RANdom facts/HAbits about thEMSElves.

3. PEople who are tagGED need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these RUles.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagGED and list their names.

Don’t forget to leave them a COmment telling them they’re tagGED, and to read your blog.
And now you're it:
Ron Nasty, my blog buddy over at The American Insurgency
Lily, my partner at Lose The Noose
Rex Kramer
Betty Cracker
Karena
Robot Buddah of The Johnny Sutra
Fatcat Politics

And Lizzy, ye shall be linked!

Isn't This Guy's Time Almost Up?

We're doomed, doomed, I tells ya.
Everyday we circle the drain leading into that dark abyss from which there is no way out. Our collective society's standards are falling so fast that soon they will crash to the ground like George Bush with a mouthful of pretzels.
It's not bad enough that we worship celebrities like false idols at a satanic supper, it's the celebrities we choose to worship, no talent hacks whose sole redeeming quality (if it could be considered a redeemable quality) can be summed up with "I saw 'em on the tv!" Paris Hilton. Anna Nicole Smith. Clay Aiken.
Surely this American Idol runner-up should be on the fast track to 'where-are-they-now', but somehow he has managed to make a career out of being a no-talent hack. That he didn't spontaneously combust when he attempted to cover Badfinger's "Without You" isn't amazing enough, it's the fact that enough people bought it to garner it airplay on adult contmeporary radio when Harry Nilsson's far superior version is still available. Aiken doesn't have the range or the expressive quality to pull the song off, and if you thought it was okay, then you are banned.
But that's not why we are doomed. Nor is it the fact the celebrities like Aiken think we are here to be their personal footstools. Nor is it the fact that in the hierarchy of the idiocracy our country is quickly becoming, people like William Hung and Clay Aiken get record contracts while thousands of better singers and bands struggle in obscurity only because they're not able to exploit themselves for the enjoyment of people too fat and lazy to get off the couch and go to a club, for Christ's sake.
No, the disturbing sign that we all are doomed is the fact the enough people paid money to see Clay Aiken in a concert. That's like one of the seven signs that the apocalypse is upon us. And we are all doomed.

Left Wing Elitism Is As Bad As The Right

I didn't watch any of yesterday's Live Earth concerts for varying reasons. One, I don't have cable television (which in and of itself is a very eco-friendly sacrifice we all could stand to make), so the idea of watching artists NBC deemed worthy of watching (what are the odds most of them were on Warners, or other subsidiary, label?)didn't really excite me enough to tune in. Two, the roster of artists didn't really excite me too much (Madonna? Red Hot Chili Peppers? Shakira? These people aren't total publicity whores, now are they?), nor did the Crowded House reunion. Three, I'm already aware of global warming, and anyone who isn't has their head buried in the sand too deep for this concert to reach, as you can't swing a cat by the tail these days without hitting a global warming opponent.
Now, I'm not saying global warming isn't a threat, it just seems hypocritical for private jet flying and SUV and limousine driving pampered rock stars with McMansions with heated pools to lecture to me about global warming. This sort of hypocrisy is akin to people who support the war in Iraq from the safety of their homes in the US, instead of taking up arms themselves. This is just more elitism from people who want us to do as they say, not as they do (because if we did, we'd all be screwed). You can't change the world if you can't change people, and left wing elitists need to change as much as anyone else.

The Numbers Are Growing....

Despite the best efforts of the corporate media to downplay the Bush Crime Family's illegal and unethical behavior, Nearly half of Americans favor impeachment of Bush, while more than half support an impeachment of Cheney. Of course, more than 75% of Americans bleieve in ending th war in Iraq, which leads me to wonder, why haven't the Democrats done anything that they were voted in to do?
Even now, with anew election cycle around the corner, more and more Republican senators are jumping ship and calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, while timid congressional Democrats refuse to back Dennis Kucinich's call for impeachment of Cheney. Way to drop the ball again, Democraps!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Jump In The Lake

....quick, before the State of Michigan makes it illegal to jump off the piers. This is the most ridiculously unenforceable laws that I think they have ever considered (although the $500 fine will make it profitable for the state to do so).
I grew up in Grand Haven, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, where the waters of the Grand River spill brown into the blue of the Great Lake. On either side of the river are piers, one with a lighthouse maintained by the Coast Guard to guide ships through into the harbor where they can drop off coal for the city owned power plant, or construction materials for Construction Aggregates, farther upstream in Ferrysburg (that's right, it's just southwest of Fruitport).
The pier is one of the tourist attractions, and is featured prominently in advertising for many local businesses who thrive during the tourist season, as well as a symbol for the city itself. Many people who come to town take the long walk to the end of the pier, where they take some pictures, and then head back. We called them "fudgies" in honor of their predilection for buying fudge at the many confectionaries along the west coast of Michigan. (We, in turn, were "townies", local yokels who stuck around when Old man Winter dropped mountains of snow on the beach) There is no real industry in Grand Haven besides the tourist industry, most of the autoparts manufacturers having been outsourced to other places.
As a teenager, we would all gather at the second ladder of the pier (which makes the story of the 19 year old Grand Rapids woman who was unable to pull herself onto the pier unbelievable. She couldn't climb up a ladder?), where we would dive and swim (and sometimes, in a fit of misplaced testosterone, ride our bikes off)in the lake, far away from the fudgies who lined the shores with their screaming kids and loud top forty radios blaring disco music. The water wasn't very deep (only about twelve feet, which was how we were able to retrieve our bikes after riding them off there)), and it was free of under water rocks and other debris. And, we were smart enough to obey the signs posted by the US Army Corps of Engineers warning us to stay off the pier during high seas. Now, future generations of townie's good times are in peril because some do gooder with misplaced intentions wants to spoil it for the many to protect the few, who, if they aren't good enough swimmers to be able to swim to shore (which is not that far, my buddies Leroy and Ron Nasty used to swim to shore from the end quite frequently), shouldn't be in the water in the first place.

FLASHBACK!! "No Plans To Occupy Iraq"

In case you missed it yesterday, President Bush compared soldiers in Iraq to the US soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Actually, we're more like the British, and the insurgents, which are being tagged "alqaeda" by the administration, even though there is no connection, they are the ones fighting off an occupation army intent on exploiting the vast resources of the country for King George.
Of course going into Iraq the US disputed a report that the US wanted long term access to bases in Iraq. Now, of course it's a different story. Even Hillary Clinton wants full time bases in Iraq (which is her way of sucking up to the corpocracy, and why she sucks). Which reminds me of an old joke. How do you know when George Bush is lying? When Dick Cheney's lips aren't moving.

Digging Past All The Right Wing Bullshit: What The Scooter Libby Case Was Really About

The American people are pissed. They are so pissed, that the White House had to turn off it's comment line.Another neocon crime okayed by the criminals in the Bush administration, who seem more concerned with covering their asses than obeying the law. If, like Jonah Goldberg claims, everyone on the cocktail circuit knew tha Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, it just means that the right wing nuts aren't very good at keeping secrets, or they aren't very careful with national security (or both. You decide). However, the prosecutor, the CIA and Plame's former colleagues all have stated that she was a covert operative. Who do you believe? A propagandist with the National Review, or people testifying under oath in a court of law?
But if the commutation (and possible pardon) hasn't got you steamed up, perhaps going back to the original story will.
In the propaganda run up to the Iraqi war, George Bush uttered the famous sixteen words:

"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Joseph Wilson was sent by the CIA to investigate these claims earlier and reported them back to the CIA as false. When Bush gave his infamous speech, Wilson was mortified that what he reported was being twisted to use as the springboard to war. So he wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times:

Given the structure of the consortiums that operated the mines, it would be exceedingly difficult for Niger to transfer uranium to Iraq. Niger's uranium business consists of two mines, Somair and Cominak, which are run by French, Spanish, Japanese, German and Nigerian interests. If the government wanted to remove uranium from a mine, it would have to notify the consortium, which in turn is strictly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Moreover, because the two mines are closely regulated, quasi-governmental entities, selling uranium would require the approval of the minister of mines, the prime minister and probably the president. In short, there's simply too much oversight over too small an industry for a sale to have transpired.

(As for the actual memorandum, I never saw it. But news accounts have pointed out that the documents had glaring errors — they were signed, for example, by officials who were no longer in government — and were probably forged. And then there's the fact that Niger formally denied the charges.)

There you have it. Bush was using forged documents as it's cassus belli for war, and when it was pointed out to the American people by Joseph Wilson, someone from the Vice-president's branch of government leaked his wife's name to Robert Novak (as well as other journalists)in retaliation. Outing a covert CIA operative (especially during a time of war) is a crime, and as I have pointed out earlier, Plame was a covert operative. James Comey, a Bush appointee, had Patrick Fitzgerald investigate this, and in the course of the investigation, Lewis Libby gave contradictory testimony, in fact perjuring himself, which is another crime.
The Bush crime family, like any good crime family in America, looks out after those who won't roll over on them. So instead of having Libby do his time like Susan McDougal did for the Clintons, Bush commuted his sentence, which Bush (who has detainees in Guantanamo indefinitely without the luxury of a trial) thought was rather harsh.But the lie still lives on, even as more and more people die because of it.

So Much For Equal Protection

Proving once again that the Republican party only believes in accountability for the other guy, George Bush commuted the sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Apparently Bush felt the sentence for committing a crime was "too harsh". Hey, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
While this may mean the felony conviction stands, it does mean that ouside of a $250,000 fine (which probably will come from the legal defense money his corpocratic buddies have been raising for him)and probation, Scooter won't have to face the consequences of his actions. Niice.
As was illustrated in the Paris Hilton case(or the Marc Rich case for that matter), the United States has two sets of laws. One for the rich and/or famous, and another for the rest of us. While we may be expected to follow the letter of the law, the wealthy skate by on their money and political connections.
Just remember this election cycle, when you hear a candidate blather on about "fighting crime" or "justice" or "democracy"what they really are talking about is a set of rules that don't apply to them. Don't believe me? Why hasn't Bush been charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to release subpeonaed material?

My Holocaust Is Bigger Than Your Holocaust

A resolution has gained a majority of support in Congress that would label the slaughter of Armenians by the Turks between 1915 and 1923 as an Armenian genocide. President Bush is resisting the resolution because he says it would endanger already strained "diplomatic relations" between Turkey (which wants to go after PKK rebels in Northern Iraq and the US, which has had the support of the Kurds since it's 2003 invasion of Iraq. essentially Turkey feels that if you free the Kurds in Iraq, then Kurds in Turkey would wish the same freedom. Which makes me wonder why we're afraid of offending a country with one of the worst human rights abuses records.
One also has to wonder why it's okay to label deliberate mistranslations as genocide (see previous post), but not to label real acts of systematic governmental eradication of ethnic groups (the very definition of genocide) as such.
Even more important is the question why the Congress is obsessing on actions that started over ninety years ago, while 77percent of Americans feel we should get out of Iraq now. Especially when 1.5 million Iraqi refugees has crossed the border into Syria (probably lugging those missing WMD with them)since the illegal US invasion in 2003. Ironically, Syria was the final destination for many of those Armenians during the rule of the Young Turks.
And while mentioning the Armenian holocaust in Turkey is a crime (I guess I'd better cancel that trip to Istanbul), denying the Holocaust (or even questioning it) can get you thrown in jail.
While any wholesale slaughter of inidgeonous people is a tragedy (anyone remember our own Native Americans?), this legislation, while noble, cannot do anything to change the past. What we need to do is focus on the here and now, and get down to business to do do waht's really important to Americans now.

Hey, You! Remember Us? The People Who Vote For You And Pay Your Wages?

Today must be the day that all is right with this country. New Orleans has been rebuilt, our borders are secure, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended, Dick Cheney has impeached, and the White House has accepted subpeonas in the US attorney firing case. Oh, wait a minute, none of that has happened.
What has happened is the House of Representatives has passed H Con Res 21, which passed with only Reps. Kucinich and Paul voting against it. What this resolution does is pressure the UN to bring Iranian president Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on Genocide and the United Nations charter. Something that has never happened. That's right folks, we're punishing a man for making a statement that he never said. What he did say was:

this occupation regime over Jerusalem" to "vanish from the page of time.'

This hardly qualifies as genocide (especially with regard to how Americans are slaughtering Iraqis and IDF forces are killing Palestinians), and would more likely be tantamount to suicide, since Israel has nuclear weapons and Iran has yet to be proved to have them. What this is in reality is part of the Likudnik party's "A Clean Break", which calls for breaking up all Arab states in the region into smaller pieces (like we're doing in Iraq, since the Neocons are so chummy with the Likudniks)for the security of Israel. This is also a ramping up of rhetoric against Iran in preparation for a US strike against them using tactical nuclear weapons, which will likely kill a lot of Iranian civilians, but in no way can that be construed as genocide.
While all this is happening, the US is committing war crimes, violation UN resolutions and the Geneva conventions, but that's okay (not really). And Israel stands in violation of numerous UN resolutions itself.
So with the conitnuing slump in housing sales, the health care crisis, global warming trends, outsourcing of jobs, and lack of support for the wars overseas, it's nice to know that Congress could get together on one thing totally irrelevant and unnecessary to the American people. Good job!
(Well, they also came together on a pay raise for themselves, after all, ignoring the American people is hard work.)

Will Cheney Ever Give It Up?

Time to put your thinking caps on, folks.
In the latest installment of a series on Dick Cheney in the Washington Post, James Baker III said:

He has been pretty damn good at accumulating power..

All the powers that Cheney has accumulated has been because of the "war on terror", and the chief executive's role as commander-in-chief....
The war in Iraq is more than likely to last well into 2009, thanks in part to the spineless cowardly Democrats....
The likelihood of a Democrat winning the presidency in 2008 are pretty good....
Would Cheney be willing to just hand over all these powers he has created to the "opposition" party?
Then there is NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51 and
HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-20 which sets up a dictatorship in the case of a catastrophic emergency. The chances of this happening are much better than John McCain getting elected president.

You Can't Have It Both Ways, Dick

Dick Cheney is a guy who likes to do things in secret. Makes me wonder what he's got to hide. While we're all supposed to open our lives to the whims of the NSA, Dick feels everything he does should be shielded from the eyes of the public.
Like when the The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued to get a look at Cheney's visitor logs, he claimed "executive privilege".
Now, while refusing to comply with an executive order on the handling of classified information, Cheney has claimed that he doesn't have to do so because under the Constitution also serves as president of the Senate and therefore has both legislative and executive duties.
uldn't have a team of advisors helping him to circumvent the laws (along with a team advisors "fixing" intelligence on Iran, and planning an attack against Iran)and would welcome transparency. Cheney feels that he is the law, all that laws don't apply to him, because if they did, he'd be waiting to join Scooter when he goes to prison. Cheney has also invoked "national security" to prevent prying eyes from seeing the laws he is breaking, but as long as Ol' Dickhead is in office, our country will never be secure.

Who'll Clean Up L'il Georgie's Mess?

Like a cat who cries when it's litter box is full, the US has pressed the Iraqi government to clean up the sectarian violence. You know, the violence that started after the US occupation based on claims of WMD that were never there. In other words, if we had just lefy Iraq alone, there would be no sectarian violence there.
Also, 3528 soldioers would still be alive, over 655,000 Iraqi civilians would still be alive, and two million Iraqi refugees would still have homes. But don't expect the US administration to be held accountable for any of this, we're talking about a president who probably never had to clean up a danged thing his entire life. So better to point the finger of blame at the Iraqi government. As is always the case with the Republican party, personal responsibility is something they expect from the other guy.

The Clock Is Ticking On Your Fifteen Minutes

Kelly Clarkson has scrapped her plans for a summer tour because of poor ticket sales. Apparently she wasn't able to fill the stadiums she hoped for, so instead of scaling back her tour to smaller clubs and venues, she chose instead to fire her manager and cancel the whole the danged thing. Some of you may remember (she hopes!) Ms. Clarkson as the first winner from that odious offering American Idol, but hey, that was like five years ago, and since then we've been treated to other winners in that television contest, none of them able to quite match the success of Ms. Clarkson (except, of course, that country singer, but who didn't figure on country music fans showing a lack of good judgement in musical choices, from the same people who made Toby Keith a star). The thing is, television watchers will vote for you as long as they don't have to lift their girths of the sofa cushions. And they'll watch you on television shows, or your commercials, but expect them to leave home? Don't you know there are terrorists out there?
That's why I think you'll see changes within the polls once people actually have to, you know, vote. Any television watcher can answer the phone and say they back, say, Rudy Ghouliani or Hillary Clinton, but very few of these people will actually leave the sanctity of their HD televison sets with 300 channels, remote controls and plenty of fat-free snacks in the fridge.
But while these fleshsacs are getting the latest update on Paris Hilton's stay at the Graybar Motel, or vote in competitions that are reduced to irrelevancy on an annual basis, more people are getting their political news on the web, (while the ratings at GFox News are starting to slip), provign a boon for those candidates who really have something to say that the corporate media is trying to sweep under the rug and out of the view of most couch moistening television watchers. My guess is that by next year, even the cathode ray zombies will be sick of both party's front runners and looking for substance. Even conservative bloggers are jumping ship on Bush over his immigration plan, and more than likely, any candidate who supports this plan as well, we may find that for the front runners, like Ms. Clarkson, their fifteen minutes may be just about up, too.

Random Rantings

Last week, on Face The Nation, independent (yeah, right) Senator Joe Lieberman advocated the bombing of Iran. While not in line with the way many people feel about excelerating the MidEast conflict (most of them want it ended, hence the Democraps control of Congress in 2006), it is in line with the neocons and the Israeli government, who have been looking for an excuse to drop nuclear weapons on Iran for as long as two years ago. As Charley Reese put it:

Iran has no intercontinental missiles, and the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons is Israel. Please note that the United States flatly refuses to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has refused to sign it. Iran admits international inspectors. Israel flatly refuses to allow international inspectors. The only country in today's Middle East with weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading and occupying other people's countries is Israel.

As for Iran's alleged threat to "wipe Israel off the map," that is propaganda based on a mistranslation. Nobody in Iran has ever threatened to attack Israel militarily. The accurate quotes from Iranians have been simply that Israel as a Zionist state will eventually collapse, just as the Soviet Union as a communist state did. Iranian officials have even explicitly said they have no desire or intention of attacking Israel.

The Bush Doctrine Applied To Other Countries
Now suppose Iran, who has been threatened by not only the US, but Israel as well, decided to pre emptively strike first? Wouldn't that be okay? By the Bush regime's specious reasoning, the attacks on 9/11 were perfectly justified because the US had threatened the Taleban first with a carpet of bombs, after they rejected our carpet of gold to build a pipeline through their country.
Send Your Kids To Die, Leave Mine Alone
Mitt Romney has stated he wants to increase the size of the military. But like Joe Lieberman, Rudy Ghouliani, or any other war pimps running for the presidency (which includes everyone, with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, and Mike Gravel), none of them have any family members in the military.
That's why there's the big push to pass the immigration "reform" bill, not only will it lower wages by flooding the labor pool, but:

a provision in the stalled immigration bill that would have allowed some undocumented aliens to join the military

What right-thinking white person wouldn't endorse a war where we send all them brown-skinned people from over here to fight all them brown-skinned people over there? When this bill passes, it won't matter that the Army missed it's recruitment goals, because there'll be plenty of people to send off to kill and die for big oil and the military-industrial complex. Especially when the war engulfes the whole MidEast because some idiots decided we needed to bomb Iran.

The Bitter Race For Third Place

Is the irony of John "Flapjack" McCain calling out Mitt Romney for his politically convenient position on abortion lost on anyone? Here we have the man who criticized evangelicals in politics now pandering to them. So now we have a real campaign, with two less-than-saintly people trying to outdoor each other in a holier-than-thou competition. Is third front runner status so important that these people have to start throwing each other under the bus?
I guess McCain has to make up for all the support he lost when he backed Bush's wacky immigration scheme, which was not too popular with the love-thy-neighbor-as-long-as-he's-white-speaks-english-and-votes-Republican crowd. And since Ghouliani has carved out a niche with his incessant invocation of 9/11 (which seems to be working, oddly enough), and Fred Thompson cannonballed into the pool of Republican contenders, knocking McCain back even farther than McCain was able to do on his own, McCain had to do something to save his, well "credibility" isn't the right word because he doesn't have any of that left, but something akin to it. So Johnny-Boy decided the best thing to do is to appeal to the Christiansane right. Next I expect he'll be equating Mormons with Satanism, which isn't too far off the mark, as far as the Bible thumping brigade is concerned. Let's hope the campaign gets more interesting from here.

Pardon Me, Pt.II

Now I'm not normally a violent person, but sometimes I wish I could reach into my television and slap that smug self-serving smirk off Bill Kristol's face every Sunday on Fox News. But, I would feel bad about it because, unlike Bill "Dr. Lizardo" Kristol, I have conscience. To him, the ends justify the means, and so what if Lewis Libby lied under oath, there was no crime committed because the Bush administration had declassified Valerie Plame's position.
The whole purpose of the Plame affair was to discredit Joseph Wilson for proving that Cheney's Office of Special Plans had manipulated intelligence (otherwise known as lied) about Iraq's nuclear ambition's.But one wonders if there was no crime to cover-up, why did Libby lie to the special prosecutor?
Bill is the editor of a right wing publication known as the Weekly (Double) Standard, where, concerning the Clinton impeachment he said:

if anyone lied under oath the way Bill Clinton did--knowingly and purposefully in order to thwart a legitimate legal process, or if anyone engaged in an obstruction of justice, the way Bill Clinton did, then indictments would be proper.

Libby's lies were under oath (hence, the perjury charge) which engaged himself in obstruction of justice (hence, the obstruction of justice charge). Like Fitzgerald's investigation of Cheney's office of special plans, the investigation under which Bill Clinton perjured himself, no criminal charges were filed. But because Libby is a neocon, he, like the president and vice-president seem to be out of the reach of justice.

Suppose They Gave A Straw Poll And Nobody Came?

Rudy Ghouliani came to town today, and while I didn't get the chance to go see him, perhaps it's all for the best as far I can see, I don't need to be arrested by his staff should I pose the wrong question (so much for freedom of the press under Blinky). But I guess I should be glad Ghoulianai showed up at all, especially after I read where both Ghouliani and McCain will skip the Iowa straw poll. No candidate in the straw poll's nearly 30 year history has bypassed the event and won the caucuses. And since the Iowa caucus is so important, either Blinky has no intention of winning, or he's relying on the Republican vote fraud machine to do it's dirty work.
Or maybe it's because the gargoyle knows that every online poll conducted following the debates like this one, or this one, or even this one (why do they all ask who was the snappiest dresser? Does that matter?)place Ron Paul as the winner. Even Fox News poll placed Ron Paul second. A straw poll now when Ghouliani the front runner is presumed to be the nominee would look pretty bad if he gets the tar beaten out of him by Ron Paul, unless, of course, he doesn't make an effort. Than he and the backing of the corporate media propaganda noise machine can once again discount Paul's support like this piece as a quirk, rather than the people trying to have a voice in the democratic process. The Blinky wins, and we all lose.

Those Damned Democrats........

.....soft on the idea of nuclear war. Who wouldn't want a nuclear war? That seems to the Republicans to be the most viable way to fight terrorism-drop nuclear weapons on Iran!
Those damned Democrats, living in the nineties, when people actually used things like diplomacy to achieve a goal, instaed of starting another war because somebody somewhere is doing something that Republican leadership doesn't like. If Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons (which, they insist they're not, but our government doesn't believe them because our government is populated with people who lie, therfore they don't trut other people to tell the truth) they might use them, even though any use by them (or anybody else) would be a violation of international law. But it's okay for us to use them, even though we're a bunch of duplicitous hypocrites who only want to control the world's oil supply so oil companies can gain a complete monopoly and gouge American drivers even more (watch your back, Chavez, you're next).
Those damned Democrats, who (claim to) want to end the war in Iraq, even though it means "the terrorists will follow us home", but only if you exclude the latest terror plot which only proves that killing mass civilians in Iraq hasn't dissuaded people from other countries from trying to attack us on our own soil.
Republicans have painted themselves in a corner with this whole "terrorism" thing (terrorism is what they do to us-Noam Chomsky) tying every other issue to it. Immigration bill? Depending which (lunatic) fringe of the party you're trying to appeal to, the new bill will either help terrorists, or hurt terrorists. I'm sure these guys can't even choose which tie to wear until they decide how it will hurt the terrorists (frankly, in the above picture, McCain's tie hurts me the most, so I can only imagine the devastating effects it will have on alQaeda).
Those damned Democrats don't have enough front runners either. While two or three Democrats can be considered front runners, the Republicans now have four, including that former GE employee with the hot trophy wife, who hasn't even joined the race yet.
(Of course, they don't include Ron Paul who leads this poll,even though analysts say he's really 3% higher than polls indicate)

Compassionate Conservatism In Action

Arkansa is going to need to upgrade it's image (Not that it had much of a positive one after foisting Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee on the American political landscape). First US attorney in Arkansas Tim Griffin resigns after evidence ties him to illegal voter suppression. Surely you heard this story, it was buried underneath all the stories about William Jefferson, the foiled "terror plot" and Paris Hilton going to jail.The former Rove aide was "directly involved in voter suppression".
Now comes the story of the head of the Arkansas GOP saying, "we need more terrorist attacks, so people appreciate Bush". Much in the same way 9/11 helped people to appreciate Bush, who was sitting on the lowest poll numbers since Nixon, only to have them go up the next day. And Bush's numbers are way lower than they were on September 10, 2001.
Is it me, or does anyone else find it distasteful the way the Republican party, from George Bush to Rudy Giuliani, wave the "terrorist threat" around to garner votes. The war against terrorism has failed abyssmally, perhaps we should find anotheer way to deal with those wish to harm us. The problem is the Republican head is too hard on the outside and too soft on the inside to deal with terrorism in a rational way. Probably because fear gets them votes. Especially in Arkansas.