A Fifty Pound Bag of Whistling Lips

2004-08-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

It's Official Now

A Fifty Pound Bag of Whistling Lips has now been renamed and relocated. You can now find me at Literally Liberal www.mileah.com. Please change your blogrolls and bookmarks accordingly.

Kathy at Blogmoxie is still perfecting the design so right now it's just the basic MT template. I can't wait for y'all to see the new design! So keep checking in at the new homestead Literally Liberal.

2004-08-12T11:28:00.000-05:00

Changes Are A Good Thing...

....right? Well I hope so as I have the excellent Kathy over at Blogmoxie brainstorming me a new blog design. I'm going for a 1940's Rosie the Riveter/women in WWII type design. Any suggestions on a new blog name? Yes, I may retire the A Fifty Pound Bag of Whistling Lips name when the new design comes together.

I will also be moving to www.mileah.com but I will let y'all know when to change your bookmarks and blogrolls.

Thanks to Chari, Karen, and Greybird for their input in finding a designer.

It's about time for this little blog to grow up!

2004-08-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

At What Price Victory?

Even though George Bush tells us he is fighting a war on terror the Bush administration is not above burning a Pakistani sting operation against al Qaeda in order to ~~scare Americans into re-electing him in November~~ justify raising the terror alert level:

Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him in a sting operation to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, the sources said.

Officials used Sunday's talk shows to defend last week's heightened alerts, amid widespread claims the White House disclosed Khan's arrest to justify raising its terror alert level.

On another note, did anyone see Bush's speech at the Unity Conference Journalists of Color gathering last week? Whenever they panned to the crowd there were all these journalists of color just glaring at him. It was priceless.

And finally, go check out Driving Votes and volunteer in those swing states to get out the vote in November. My boss Kurt is the Texas/New Mexico/Oklahoma/Colorado regional director and now he has his own Driving Votes blog.

2004-08-06T09:19:00.000-05:00

We're Really "Turning The Corner" Now, George

CNN.com reports, "The Labor Department report showed only 32,000 new net jobs added to payrolls during the month, down from a revised 78,000 jobs that were added in June. The increase was the smallest since December, when payrolls rose by just 8,000."

Spin that GOP! Job growth is dismal, oil prices are breaking records daily and George Bush spent the week telling folks that we are "turning the corner." I guess so but in a when we turned that corner we found ourselves staring at a grizzly bear who decides we would make a damn tasty meal kind of way.

2004-08-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

Common Sense

Does it make any sense to give out the names of the buildings that al Qaeda is supposedly targeting? I mean they are talking about mobile truck bombs and the key word there is mobile. Even the least motivated terrorist cruising around in a van loaded with fertilizer and fuel or a homemade nuke can turn on CNN or his local news for that matter and see that they are going to have a hard time striking the Citigroup building this week. Does he give up and fly home to Riyadh? Hell no, he just cruises his van on down to Chicago or Baltimore or Dallas and parks it in front of a building not on high alert.

This whole thing seems fishy to me especially since they are now admitting that the surveillance of these buildings was done pre 9/11. Tom Ridge says "there's no evidence of recent surveillance." Come on guys are we that stupid? The Bush administration knows that their only chance of winning in November is to simply scare the shit out of the American public. That's why they are feeding us three year old intelligence as if it were an imminent threat.

This is simply more chicken little "the sky is falling" politics of the Bush administration. They are the ones who are afraid. They are afraid of losing the election and think that buy scaring us they can prevent that from happening. Think again boys because we ain't buying it this time.

2004-08-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

The Chicken Little Campaign

The George Bush Chicken Little re-election campaign is in full swing.

Laid off Ohio factory worker: "Mr. President, I really need the job that you outsourced to China back in order to feed my kids."

Bush: "9/11, 9/11, the sky is falling, I'm the terror president, 9/11, 9/11, the sky is falling, the sky is falling, more safer than before but not safe yet, I'm the terror president."

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge: "Due to the specificity of non specific chatter and intelligence from our allies in the war on terror led by our very own terror president we are raising the alert level to hot-damn- look-out orange. We may or may not have heard that armies of truck bombers may or may not drive a truck bomb into Wall Street and or John Kerry looks like he may be leading in the polls we are raising the terror threat level to whatever the hell we need to in order to scare the voters into four more years for Bush."

Laid off Ohio factory worker: "uhhhh, really dude, my kids are gettin' hungry."

2004-07-30T08:44:00.000-05:00

Kerry Stands And Delivers

Last night John Kerry had to give biggest speech of his political career and he did so with fervor, urgency, and grace. Here is one of my favorite parts:

And tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is really all about. They should remember the great idea of freedom for which so many have given their lives. Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism.

You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and stripes forever. I fought under that flag, as did so many of you here and all across our country. That flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head. It was shot through and through and tattered, but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of men I served with and friends I grew up with. For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America both great and good.

That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people.

We have been held hostage by the Bush administration for too long. None of their dirty tricks will save them now as long as we all continue to work to get Kerry/Edwards elected this November.

Please make sure your voter registrations are current and remind your friends and family to do the same. Go to your local precincts and volunteer. Keep blogging!

Meanwhile, hours before Kerry's speech Pakistan announced that they had captured a high value al Qaeda target. They captured him on Sunday but announced the capture hours before Kerry's speech. Just like we have all been predicting they tried to take the spotlight away from Kerry but it didn't work. I had to click through three links off the CNN main page to get to the article about the capture.

Again I say to Bush and his cronies, "bring 'em on." Because no matter what you try George, your zip code next year will be 76638.

2004-07-27T08:26:00.000-05:00

Four More Years...

...for Bill Clinton. I had goose bumps listening to his speech last night. Since we can't have Bill then by all means let's send John Kerry and John Edwards to effect regime change in Washington DC.

Some highlights from Clinton's speech (bold text obviously mine):

For the first time ever when America was on a war footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top one percent. I’m in that group now for the first time in my life.

On Homeland Security, Democrats tried to double the number of containers at ports and airports checked for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The one billion dollar cost would have been paid for by reducing the tax cut of 200,000 millionaires by five thousand dollars each. Almost all 200,000 of us would have been glad to pay 5,000 dollars to make the nearly 300 million Americans safer—but the measure failed because the White House and the Republican leadership in the House decided my tax cut was more important- If you agree with that choice, re-elect them. If not, give John Kerry and John Edwards a chance.

These policies have turned the projected 5.8 trillion dollar surplus we left—enough to pay for the baby boomers retirement—into a projected debt of nearly 5 trillion dollars, with a 400 plus billion dollar deficit this year and for years to come. How do they pay for it? First by taking the monthly surplus in Social Security payments and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to cover my tax cut. But it’s not enough. They are borrowing the rest from foreign governments, mostly Japan and China. Sure, they’re competing with us for good jobs but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? If you think it’s good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them. If not, John Kerry’s your man.

You go, Bill!

These policies have turned the projected 5.8 trillion dollar surplus we left—enough to pay for the baby boomers retirement—into a projected debt of nearly 5 trillion dollars, with a 400 plus billion dollar deficit this year and for years to come. How do they pay for it? First by taking the monthly surplus in Social Security payments and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to cover my tax cut. But it’s not enough. They are borrowing the rest from foreign governments, mostly Japan and China. Sure, they’re competing with us for good jobs but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? If you think it’s good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them. If not, John Kerry’s your man.

By the only test that matters, whether people were better off when we finished than when we started, our way works better—it produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes, and 100 times as many people moving out of poverty into the middle class. It produced more health care, the largest increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership, a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized defense force, strong efforts against terror, and an America respected as a world leader for peace, security and prosperity.

Amen, brother!

In the Civil War, America was at a crossroads, divided over whether to save the union and end slavery—we chose a more perfect union. In the 1960s, America was at a crossroads, divided again over civil rights and women’s rights. Again, we chose a more perfect union. As I said in 1992, we’re all in this together; we have an obligation both to work hard and to help our fellow citizens, both to fight terror and to build a world with more cooperation and less terror. Now again, it is time to choose.

During the Vietnam War, many young men—including the current president, the vice president and me—could have gone to Vietnam but didn’t. John Kerry came from a privileged background and could have avoided it too. Instead he said, send me.

When they sent those swift-boats up the river in Vietnam, and told them their job was to draw hostile fire—to show the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight—John Kerry said, send me. When it was time to heal the wounds of war and normalize relations with Vietnam—and to demand an accounting of the POWs and MIAs we lost there—John Kerry said, send me.

Beat that with a stick, Dick.

Since we’re all in the same boat, let us chose as the captain of our ship a brave good man who knows how to steer a vessel though troubled waters to the calm seas and clear skies of our more perfect union. We know our mission. Let us join as one and say in a loud, clear voice: Send John Kerry.

I said, Amen!

If somehow you missed Bill Clinton at his finest then go read the text. (So good I had to link it twice!)

Meanwhile, that yahoo Bush in Crawford crashed his bike again. He said that mountain biking "clears his mind. If his mind were more cleared he'd be a cabbage.

2004-07-22T13:01:00.000-05:00

Rumsfeld Has Curiouser and Curiouser Intel

I bet y'all didn't know this but according to our SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq "continues to calm down."

Now let's look at this; as of today we have 901 US soldiers KIA. I'm betting Staff Sergeant Michael J. Clark and Corporal Todd J. Godwin and their families might disagree that things in Iraq are continuing to calm down.

I wonder if Bush, Rice, and Rumsfeld had to read their names aloud to the public every day would they continue this fatal course of action? Would they even care that our fallen soldiers have wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, grandparents, children, and friends?

And yes George, some of these soldiers are gay and they are good enough to die for your war but are second class citizens in your America.

Again, shame on you Bush, Rumsfeld, and Rice. Shame on you who vote for these maniacs in November. God, I don't even want to know you if you can in good conscience vote for these thugs.

2004-07-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

A No Brainer

It looks like the GOP senators aren’t going to get their Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution banning lesbian and gay marriage. This is good news for us and bad news for the right wing Republicans. That said, however, we know the real reasons they were trying to amend the Constitution which has only been done seventeen times in our history. The real reasons are to a) get the news cycle off of the war in Iraq, b) paint Kerry and Edwards into a corner, c) satisfy George W. Bush's conservative base, and d) to keep people who love each other hidden in the dark through the force of federal law.

That they would use our Constitution in this manner speaks to how far our current leadership has strayed from the intent of the framers. It was not meant to be used for political gain for the party currently in power who want to stay in power. Here is what the framers intended for the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

It's the first sentence of the document. I don't see anywhere in that sentence the words, in order to ensure a second term for G.W.Bush.

I don't think keeping us from marrying in any way promotes the general welfare or secures the blessings of liberty certainly not for those of us who are gay and lesbian.

The Washington Post editorial Kill This Amendment says it best:

Precisely because of the weight conservatives have put on this issue, today's vote, despite its preordained outcome, has become deeply important. It requires senators to take a public stand on a question of deep principle: Are they willing to warp the entire American constitutional structure to prevent people who love one another from marrying?

2004-07-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

The Dog Ate My Military Records

Here you have it the solution to the mystery of Goerge W. Bush's military service:

"It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25."

::cough:: Bullshit ::cough::

Nixon would be proud.

"The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question."

Really, what an odd coincidence.

From The New York Times.

2004-07-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

Waiting For The Other Shoe...

The Senate Intelligence Committee says, "U.S. intelligence agencies fell victim to false 'group think' when assessing Iraq's weapons capabilities and ended up giving the Bush administration overstated or incorrect conclusions before the 2003 invasion."

Well they were preparing intelligence reports for an administration that wanted to hear only what they wanted to hear - that Iraq had wmd's and ties to al Qaeda. I mean Dick Cheney is still claiming there were ties between Iraqi intelligence services and Mohammed Atta. My guess is you don't go into Dick's office with a report that says anything different.

Now the interesting part is the committee is also preparing another report about the administrations use/misuse of said intelligence. Of course, they won't release that report until after the November election.

On a bizarre note, it seems three Americans have been arrested for running a "fake prison" in Kabul, Afghanistan. They were snatching bearded men off the streets, locking them in their homemade prison and interrogating them. They told Afghan authorities that they "wanted to take part in the war on terror." I wonder if Bush will give them a medal. These guys are Ashcroft's wet dream!

2004-07-07T09:13:00.000-05:00

Through Baghdad To Jerusalem

John Kerry and John Edwards make the perfect dream team to lead our country away from the shame and deceit the Bush administration has left us.

In my opinion, Bush's legacy is one of the darkest moments in our history. The neocon agenda is one of the most failed international and domestic policies our country has seen since the Civil War. They believed that by "liberating" Iraq the rest of the Middle East would fall into democracies in kind of a reverse domino theory. They called this theory Through Baghdad to Jerusalem.

The domino theory of the 1950's and 1960's was just as much political bull then as the neoconservative reverse domino theory is today. They are using their theories to advance their own glory and at the cost of the lives of a generation of Americans.

Not only has Through Baghdad to Jerusalem failed to encourage peace between Israel and Palestine but it has also angered the Arab world probably irreversibly and brought god knows how many new recruits to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Our world is considerably more dangerous since the invasion of Iraq not safer as Bush promised.

Quite simply the Bush administration has failed the American people and the world. Their hubris kills.

2004-07-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

July 4, 2004

As we head into this Independence Holiday weekend let's keep in mind the men and women of the US armed forces serving in Iraq.

Since March 2003, 860 US soldiers have given their last full measure of devotion and died in Iraq.

Since March 2003, 5,394 US soldiers have been wounded in combat. Of that number 3,131 have been wounded seriously enough to not have been returned to duty within 72 hours.

Since George Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" on May 2nd, 2003, our soldiers have suffered 722 killed in action and 4,593 wounded in action in Iraq.

Of these casualties the number of times President George W. Bush has attended a military funeral is zero.

We owe it to these men and women to elect them a commander in chief who is worthy of their hard work and sacrifice. We owe it to them and to ourselves to tell Bush that he is fired in November and then let the special prosecutions begin.

2004-06-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

Let freedom What?

Condi sends Bush a handwritten note saying "Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from Bremer at 10:26 am Iraq time. - Condi."

Bush scrawls over it in ~~crayon~~ magic marker, "Let freedom Reign!" I dunno call me hypercritical but isn't the phrase usually "Let freedom ring!"

God, how does this guy keep his day job?

2004-06-28T08:06:00.000-05:00

Like A thief In The Night

US ~~Czar~~ Administrator Paul Bremer slunk out of Baghdad after handing over "control" of the Iraqi government to the interim Iraqi government.

"As recognized in U.N. Security Council resolution 1546, the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist on June 28th, at which point the occupation will end and the Iraqi interim government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people. I welcome Iraq's steps to take its rightful place of equality and honor among the free nations of the world. Sincerely, L. Paul Bremer, ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority."

So all you soldiers there in Iraq who are putting your lives on the line every day-the occupation has ended! Woo hoo, don't you feel better?

Nothing has ended and nothing has changed until the U.N. takes over complete control in the entire country. And after Bush's dismal track record with the U.N. I don't imagine this will happen anytime soon.

In other news...who saw Farenheit 9/11 last weekend? I didn't as they don't have a movie theater in Port Aransas but I will be first in line on Saturday.

According to CNN this has now become the "first documentary ever to debut as Hollywood's top weekend film."

Bush, can you hear that big sucking sound? It's your chance at a second term being sucked down the drain.

2004-06-23T16:58:00.000-05:00

Don't Miss Me Too Much...

I'm gonna just hang out my "Gone Fishing" sign. I will be kicking it at the beach for a well deserved weekend vacation.

Sipping some margaritas, eating some fine dinners prepared by my gourmet cook of a father and pondering the age old question, "Thongs, why bother covering anything up at all if that's all the fabric you're gonna use?" Now, I'm not complaining but just wondering.

Wanna see the view from my window? Ok, I'll stop now. It's not fair for those of you working Thursday and Friday.

2004-06-16T08:41:00.000-05:00

My New Bumber Sticker

"Nobody Died When Clinton Lied."

Enough said.

Speaking of lying and dying, the 9/11 Commission reports "no credible evidence" that al Qaeda and Iraq cooperated in 9/11 attacks on United States. Details soon on CNN.com

I think most of us bloggers have been saying this all along.

Forgive me if I left anyone out. It's early in the morning.

2004-06-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hey, What About Me?

Am I the only person left on this planet that Courtney Love has not assaulted? I guess I could claim her obnoxious behavior is a form of assault to me.

Gotta go call a lawyer...

Maybe we could send her to Iraq. After a couple of days in Fallujah the insurgents would have no more interest in fighting our soldiers. They would just pity us.

2004-06-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

He's No Reagan But It Ain't For Not Trying

Let's forget for a moment that Reagan was involved in some of the most shady dealings in the history of US presidental abuses then later he didn't seem to recall he was even in the room much less the White House. Let's forget he funded, armed, and manned a guerilla war against a legally elected government. Let's forget about the death squads that roamed El Salvador with US dollars in their pockets. Let's forget he presided over an economy with crushing deficits.
Awww hell, even forgetting all of that I can't get weepy about Reagan's passing.

Bush can't be happy that Reagan's passing completely pushes his D-Day rememberance ceromonies to page 9 of the newspaper. He really wanted us to see him as the war president solemnly recognizing the deaths of US soldiers on June 4th, 1944. I would like to see him attend even one of the 814 and counting funerals we've had since his Iraqi invasion.

2004-06-02T14:19:00.000-05:00

The Pledge To Resist

We believe that as people living in the United States
it is our responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil

Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil

Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed
evil

Not By Our Will
and Not In Our Name

We pledge resistance
We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity

We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice freedom and peace

Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real

I just heard this on the radio today too. I really couldn't put it any better than Saul Williams and DJ Spooky.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my breakdown of Bush's speech at the Air Force Academy.

Click on link below to hear the remix.

2004-06-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

For What It's Worth

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

I heard this song this morning and wondered what the folk singers will be writing about Iraq. What will be our legacy? Will they say we told our government, "No more, we will not let you prosecute this immoral and illegal war on our watch!" Or will they say we let George Bush lead us like sheep into this atrocity.

Make sure you are registered to vote and vote in every election.

Write and speak about the renegade government now ruling Washington every chance you get.

Vote out the Bush/Cheney cabal and let that be our legacy!

Let them know that we said, "No more, never again!"

2004-05-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

Murder Most Foul

This editorial from the http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61941-2004May27.html:

PRESIDENT BUSH'S persistence in describing the abuse of foreign prisoners as an isolated problem at one Iraqi prison is blatantly at odds with the facts seeping out from his administration. These include mounting reports of crimes at detention facilities across Iraq and Afghanistan and evidence that detention policies the president approved helped set the stage for torture and homicide. Yes, homicide: The most glaring omission from the president's account is that at least 37 people have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that at least 10 of these cases are suspected criminal killings of detainees by U.S. interrogators or soldiers.

No one has been criminally charged in any of the cases, even though some date to December 2002. Investigations have been shoddy and secretive. And no senior officer or administration official has accepted responsibility or been held accountable for allowing unlawful killings to take place under his or her command. Had it not been for the leak of the photographs from Abu Ghraib, which record less serious crimes, it is probable that none of the deaths in Iraq would have become public knowledge.

It is horrifying to contemplate that U.S. interrogators have tortured and killed foreign prisoners and that their superiors have ignored or covered up their crimes -- and yet that is where the available facts point. Pentagon officials say they will pursue investigations vigorously and that those guilty of crimes will be brought to justice. It is essential to the preservation of this country's fundamental values that they do so. It is essential also to examine the consequences in the field of policy decisions made by the most senior officials in Washington. But the sorry record of the Bush administration -- and the president's own refusal to speak the truth about it -- suggests that justice will require vigorous and sustained intervention by outside parties, beginning with Congress.

Yes, it is horrible to contemplate but we must do that and more. Congressional hearings would have already begun if Bill Clinton or even Al Gore for that matter were president.

It is time for the more reasonable GOP members of Congress to stand up and and say to this rogue president and his staff, "You can no longer get away with lying and hiding the truth from the American people."

Come on, who will stand up and demand the truth?

2004-05-26T11:13:00.000-05:00

Evildoers Look Out

Remarks by the President on Iraq and the War on Terror
United States Army War College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

(Scoffing in parenthesis by me. This is my version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 only we’ll call it Get Bush Re-elected At All Costs Theater of the Absurd 2004.)

I'm honored to visit the Army War College. Generations of officers have come here to study the strategies and history of warfare. I've come here tonight to report to all Americans, and to the Iraqi people, on the strategy our nation is pursuing in Iraq, and the specific steps we're taking to achieve our goals.

(He should be honored since those “generations of officers” are actually really serving in the military unlike their Commander in Chief.)

(I think he might have outlined a strategy before spending a year occupying a country with no plan.)

The return of tyranny to Iraq would be an unprecedented terrorist victory, and a cause for killers to rejoice. It would also embolden the terrorists, leading to more bombings, more beheadings, and more murders of the innocent around the world.

(I imagine if you ask the Iraqi people, especially those in Abu Grahib prison, they might tell you the US occupation is itself tyrannical.)

(As for emboldening the terrorists, hell our occupation of Iraq is their number one recruiting tool.)

The swift removal of Saddam Hussein's regime last spring had an unintended effect: Instead of being killed or captured on the battlefield, some of Saddam's elite guards shed their uniforms and melted into the civilian population. These elements of Saddam's repressive regime and secret police have reorganized, rearmed, and adopted sophisticated terrorist tactics. They've linked up with foreign fighters and terrorists. In a few cities, extremists have tried to sow chaos and seize regional power for themselves.

(Someone in the Pentagon couldn’t have predicted this would happen?)

These groups and individuals have conflicting ambitions, but they share a goal: They hope to wear out the patience of Americans, our coalition, and Iraqis before the arrival of effective self-government, and before Iraqis have the capability to defend their freedom.

(Hmmm, that sentence sure sounds like LBJ could have given it in 1967.)

Our agenda, in contrast, is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people. And by removing a source of terrorist violence and instability in the Middle East, we also make our own country more secure.

(Our agenda is that we had no agenda beyond taking out Saddam. This was G. W. Bush’s personal agenda that has cost our country, and Iraq, dearly in young lives.)

We will hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government, help establish security, continue rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, encourage more international support, and move toward a national election that will bring forward new leaders empowered by the Iraqi people.

(A sovereign Iraqi government hand picked by Rumsfeld, Rove, and Bremer.)

(Anyone think Diebold won’t get the contract to provide those electronic voting machines?)

On June 30th, the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist, and will not be replaced. The occupation will end, and Iraqis will govern their own affairs.

(So, the occupation will end June 30th. I guess that means all of our troops will be packing up and coming home, right. Renaming an occupation doesn’t make the people being occupied feel less, well…occupied.)

America fully supports Mr. Brahimi's [UN Special Envoy] efforts, and I have instructed the Coalition Provisional Authority to assist him in every way possible.

(We should have had the UN involved from day one but the UN didn’t conform to the neoconservative agenda.)

The June 30th transfer of sovereignty is an essential commitment of our strategy.

(And it didn’t become part of our “strategery” until the Iraqi’s started getting testy about an occupying army in their cities and Bush’s poll numbers started dropping in an election year.)

Iraqis are proud people who resent foreign control of their affairs, just as we would.

(Ya think?)

Our troops are showing exceptional skill and courage. I thank them for their sacrifices and their duty.

(Yes, and the National Guard soldiers even showed up for duty thanks in absolutely no part due to the fine example set by their Commander in Chief when he was in the National Guard.)

Our commanders [in Fallujah], however, consulted with Iraq's Governing Council and local officials, and determined that massive strikes against the enemy would alienate the local population, and increase support for the insurgency.

(Local people often object to massive strikes carried out upon them.)

In the cities of Najaf and Karbala and Kufa, most of the violence has been incited by a young, radical cleric who commands an illegal militia.

(So, the Kurdish militia running the north and the militias patrolling in Fallujah and Basra are ok but this one is illegal. Someone get me a program so I can keep up with which militias are good and which militias are bad.)

A new Iraq will also need a humane, well-supervised prison system. Under the dictator, prisons like Abu Ghraib were symbols of death and torture.

(And under the dictator Bush’s occupation…)

America will fund the construction of a modern, maximum security prison. When that prison is completed, detainees at Abu Ghraib will be relocated. Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Ghraib prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning.

(I’m sure all the so-called detainees will be thrilled to have a brand new building in which to be held without trial and “interrogated.”)

The fourth step in our plan is to enlist additional international support for Iraq's transition.

(I’m thinking step four should have been step one and should have been done more than a year ago.)

The fifth and most important step is free, national elections, to be held no later than next January.

(Just like we had here in the USA in 2000.)

We did not seek this war on terror, but this is the world as we find it.

(Well actually, you did seek this particular war on terror. Iraqi’s weren’t on those planes on 9/11/2001.)

We believe it is a tragedy of history that in the Middle East -- which gave the world great gifts of law and science and faith -- so many have been held back by lawless tyranny and fanaticism.

(Middle Eastern lawless tyranny and fanaticism is bad unlike the lawless tyranny of, say, your buddies over at Enron and Worldcom or the tyranny of an occupying army or the fanaticism of the neocon’s.)

Ladies and gentlemen, our president is grasping at any straw to win in November. It’s our job to make sure he crawls back under that loose topsoil in Crawford that caused him to take a header off of his bicycle.

Fire Bush/Cheney 2004!

2004-05-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

They Eat Their Own

What do you say about a man who as GOP House Speaker talking to a reporter questions the party loyalty of Senator John McCain?

From CNN.com:
The exchange started when a reporter asked [House Speaker Dennis Hastert]: "Can I combine a two issues, Iraq and taxes? I heard a speech from John McCain the other day..."

Hastert: "Who?"

Reporter: "John McCain."

Hastert: "Where's he from?"

Reporter: "He's a Republican from Arizona."

Hastert: "A Republican?"

Amid nervous laughter, the reporter continued with his question: "Anyway, his observation was never before when we've been at war have we been worrying about cutting taxes and his question was, 'Where's the sacrifice?' "

Hastert: "If you want to see the sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda. There's the sacrifice in this country. We're trying to make sure they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And, at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong."

I can only conclude that they eat their own. G.W. Bush's dismal record as "a uniter not a divider" again bloodies his own party.

McCain's crime? He criticized the fiscal responsibility of the GOP in Congress and in the White House.

The paranoia of the GOP and their criminal cabal in the White House seems to be increasing.

I know there is little love lost between McCain & Bush. The smear job Rove used against McCain during the primaries in 2000 set a new low to the bar but to say that about McCain who as you know was a POW for many years sets my jaw to clenching.

Hastert, if you want to see sacrifice, try spending 5 or more years in a North Vietnamese prison camp.

*sigh* I think I miss Newt Gingrich.

My buddy Geoffrey over at Legal Outreach has added comments to his blog. He also is using the nifty new blogger template I can't get to work on my blog. Waaaaaa. Go read his blog and drop him a comment so he feels welcome.

2004-05-18T09:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm Just Gonna Say This Once...

Happy Birthday to me.

More later on being 42.

2004-05-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

He's A Torturer And A Murderer

To whom does the above statement refer?

a. Saddam Hussein
b. G.W. Bush
c. Rumsfeld/Ashcroft
d. all of the above

It seems our military JAG lawyers went to the unusual step of contacting a civilian specialist in international human-rights law about our governments plan to side step the Geneva Convention.

This administration planned since 9/11 to throw out 50 years of our military's observance of the Geneva Convention.

Seven enlisted soldiers did not think this stuff up by themselves.

From Newsweek:

The Bush administration created a bold legal framework to justify this system of interrogation, according to internal government memos obtained by NEWSWEEK. What started as a carefully thought-out, if aggressive, policy of interrogation in a covert warÂ?designed mainly for use by a handful of CIA professionalsÂ?evolved into ever-more ungoverned tactics that ended up in the hands of untrained MPs in a big, hot war. Originally, Geneva Conventions protections were stripped only from Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. But later Rumsfeld himself, impressed by the success of techniques used against Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay, seemingly set in motion a process that led to their use in Iraq, even though that war was supposed to have been governed by the Geneva Conventions.

2004-05-13T11:24:00.000-05:00

Rummy Running And The Everyman Weapon System The RPG

Well our fearless Sec Def Rumsfeld is spending the day hanging out at our very own Abu Ghraib prison (I keep thinking of Vincent Price in any 1960's horror film) and giving our troops a little pep talk.

Let me guess without reading the text verbatim yet that he used the term "a few bad apples" at some point but also that we are "working out the process to make sure this doesn't happen again to the grateful liberated Iraqi people."

Oh, and it says on CNN.com Rumsfeld "denied his agenda was to calm the storm over prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib."

Jeez, like Karen, I think I could be a speechwriter for these yo yo's currently occupying the White House. Their rhetoric is starting to be as predictable as a communist party hack in the 60's talking about "running dog lackeys."

On another front, The War Nerd has written a thoughtful essay on the versatility and evolution of the little ol' RPG. You remember the little rocket launcher that could in every guerilla war since the 1950's.

Everything about the RPG design seems like it was designed to be used in Iraqi cities. It's got one of the shortest arming ranges of any shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons, which means you can fire it at a Hummer coming right down the street. It's light enough, at 15 pounds, for even the wimpiest teenager to run through alleys with. It's simple enough for any amateur to use--the original non-camera example of "point and shoot."

2004-05-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

A Crime Is A Crime Is A Crime

Except of course when it's committed by someone in the White House.

Rumsfield's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee:

We did not release the Taguba report to the press. That was done by someone to release against the law a secret document.
That's how it surprised everyone. It shocked the Congress. It shocked me. It shocked the president. It shocked the country.

But to suggest that they had not taken tough, swift, corrective actions in the Central Command, it seems to me is inconsistent with what took place.

(Bold mine.)

Let's see, is releasing that report illegal like it's illegal to release the name of an undercover CIA agent?

Again, those tough, swift corrective actions are just like what's happening to the person who leaked Valerie Plame's name to the press as an undercover CIA agent.

But I wish I knew how you reach down into a criminal investigation when it is not just a criminal investigation, but it turns out to be something that is radioactive, something that has strategic impact in the world. And we don't have those procedures. They've never been designed.

Yep, we sure as hell have no plans because who could possibly have anticipated when you invade a country you have to have plans in place to occupy and pacify that country. Then you have to have some sort of plan to get a leader of the peoples choosing in place and then get the hell out. Hopefully without pissing off the rest of the world at the same time.

2004-05-10T10:04:00.000-05:00

A Voice Of Reason

Edward R. Murrow was a voice of reason in a time of extreme insanity in this country and abroad. I thought I'd share some of his words. They are from a time some fifty plus years ago but sadly they once again apply today.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.

I am entirely persuaded that the American public is more reasonable, restrained and mature than most of the broadcast industry's planners believe. Their fear of controversy is not warranted by the evidence.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.

We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom--what's left of it--but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

We will not walk in fear, one of another. We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. This is no time . . . to keep silent.
Indeed, this again is no time to keep silent. This is a time to raise our voices from the rooftops. Scream loudly and fight for your voice to be heard. No matter what the trouble you cause brings. Voice your dissent, voice your displeasure and stand in front of that tank until it stops or runs you over then you will not be surprised as the next American steps up to take your place. Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead! Vote in November.

2004-05-03T13:06:00.000-05:00

Naming Names

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson who's wife Valerie Plame was outed as an undercover CIA agent working on wmd's by the Bush administration speaks his mind in this Salon.com interview and in his new book The Politics of Truth:

First of all, I think you're absolutely right that it's appropriate to call this a conspiracy, by people very close to the center of power in the United States, who decided that their political agenda was more important than the national security of the country.

What is appalling to me in all of this is that the president said early on that he wanted to get to the bottom of this -- and yet the people who work for the president did not heed his call and step forward. Instead they're stonewalling, and appear ready to stonewall against his instructions indefinitely. Either he didn't mean what he said, or else he doesn't have authority over his senior staff, or they're simply insubordinate.

The man attacking my integrity and reputation -- and I believe, quite possibly the person who exposed my wife's identity -- was Scooter Libby," the vice president's chief of staff.

"Guantanamo" is now a metaphor for being cut off completely from access and sources. I've had any number of reporters who have talked to me about how even the most minor criticism of the administration led to phone calls to their editors from senior officials in the government. I think that's a clear pattern of intimidation.

I am demonstrably the last person that the president speaks to -- hence the mess they've gotten themselves into. It isn't that my report [on the uranium issue] was so enlightening; it was one of three reports in the files of the U.S. government. There was certainly a lot of information that, had the senior advisors been serving the president, would have prevented him from putting that in his State of the Union address.

Look, I bear no personal animus toward the president, other than in his apparent disregard for Valerie's security. The only thing I can suggest is that this is a different crowd that surrounds this president. As most people know, the president is a captive of his team. People whom his father didn't employ, or kept far away from the center of power, are now right at the center of power -- including, of course, one of his father's great rivals, Don Rumsfeld.

People are touched by this story because it gives a human face to a whole host of lies and deceptions that only now are becoming apparent to the American public. Americans don't like this attitude. Americans don't like to see their women taken out and beaten up.

Our self proclaimed War President has some serious 'splainin' to do. I wonder if the special prosecutor Ashcroft appointed gets to the bottom of this before many in this country make a critical error and vote for this band of thugs in November.

This kind of behavior from a president and his staff is immoral and illegal and heads should roll. We haven't seen this much illegality in the west wing since Nixon and Haldeman did their dirty deeds. (I'm giving Reagan a pass since he really wasn't "there" most of the time.)

Oh, and never, never trust a grown man who goes by the nickname "Scooter."

You can also read excerpts from his book here on Salon.com.

2004-04-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

A Quagmire By Any Other Name

The War Nerd once again brings his own unique insight into the current Iraqi situation. I think you'll find his essay It's Not Nam, But It'll Do fascinating.

It's real simple: when we're fighting a combined-arms, mobile, armored war, we're fighting our war. When we're hunkered down in somebody's backyard trading potshots over the adobe fence, we're fighting their war all the way.

But the thing is, Vietnam isn't the only way you can lose a war. Look at what happened to the Israelis in Lebanon. Iraq is a hell of a lot more like Lebanon than Nam.

It went fine, as long as the Israelis were heading north, attacking via combined arms. Their airforce destroyed the opposition.

Then came phase two, the occupation. And that was the biggest military disaster Israel ever had. Sound familiar?

What happened to them is exactly what's happening to us: they woke up the Shiites, who turned out to be way, way scarier than the PLO. In Lebanon, just like in Iraq, the Shiites were the lowest of the low, basically terrorized into keeping quiet and doing all the crummy jobs the Sunni didn't want. And just like in Iraq, the Lebanese Shiites lived either in urban slums or in villages in the South.When the invasion came, the Shiites went from welcoming the invaders to warning them to leave, then to open warfare. Exactly the same script, 20 years apart, Lebanon and Iraq. Once the Shiites started to fight, they showed why it's better not to mess with them.

So who needs Nam? Iraq is Iraq, and that's plenty bad enough.

From Exile.

2004-04-28T09:38:00.000-05:00

The Supremes

Remember the folks who brought you the Bush/Cheney presidency in 2000? Now they are sitting in judgment over whether Dick Cheney has to release his energy task force records.

Cheney headed this task force that included friends of Bush/Cheney such as Ken Lay former chairman of Enron. I should say still un-indicted former chairman of the company that perpetrated one of the biggest accounting frauds in US history. He and the other members of this energy task force, which included energy company lobbyists, decided to open more federal land to mining and drilling including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Sierra Club thinks the American people should be able to see these records and Cheney says we shouldn't. For Cheney it's a separation of powers issue. Hmmm, Condoleezza Rice not testifying before the 9/11 commission was also a separation of powers issue. Changing the constitution to ban gay marriage and detaining American citizens without trial, as enemy combatants, is not a separation of powers issue?

The Bush administration is big on separation of powers these days. However, Dick Cheney of the executive branch and Antonin Scalia of the judicial branch seem to enjoy duck hunting together. The executive branch also has no problem usurping the judicial branch by holding American citizens without benefit of counsel or trial indefinitely.

The Supreme Court deciding who is president despite the actual vote of the American people is apparently also not a separation of powers issue.

2004-04-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

Can I get A Witness?

The Bush campaign folks through their lackeys in the conservative press are now trying to claim that Kerry didn't deserve his all of his purple hearts. Ok here you go - Kerry's military records are posted online. Hmmm, I still don't see where the president has posted his military record on his campaign website nor will he show it to anyone in the press. What little of it they did not destroy before the 2000 race.

First of all, I can tell you Kerry wasn't some senator's son who got a fake third purple heart and there by earned reassignment out of Vietnam. Now as to the severity of his injuries that's up to the doctors who treated him and Kerry's commanding officer to recommend him for any medals. A first lieutenant from Massachusetts unlike a senator’s son like Bush was really doesn't have the juice to get a fake or unearned purple heart.

It's a ridiculous and desperate charge coming from a president who was a coward when he was a young man and still today does not have the courage to admit he manipulated the system as best he could in order to avoid serving in a war in which he, like many his age, did not want to serve.

2004-04-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

Who Said Having Your Own Cabal Couldn't Be Fun?

Did y'all see Bob Woodward on Sixty Minutes last night? It's nice to see the frat boys with nukes in the White House are going to shore up re-election with the help of their good friends in the House of Saud. You see, Bush's buddy Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States promised him they would increase production and lower oil prices before the November election in order to help his lil buddy get re-elected. Nice to know who your friends are.

Once those gas prices go down Bush can say, "see how well my tax cuts worked." "Don't tell me I don't know how to give America a strong economy." "I'm a uniter not a divider," wait, I digress.

I bet Colin Powell is feeling like he got screwed but didn't get kissed after whoring himself for the Bush administration by giving the case-for-war speech he gave to the U.N. See now the whole world knows that Bush and Cheney didn't tell their own ~~Uncle Tom~~ secretary of state he was going to war with Iraq---wait for it---until after they told the Saudis. Man Colin, that's gotta hurt there buddy.

2004-04-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

What Fresh Hell Is This?

Things are moving along nicely for George W. "I'm a uniter not a divider" Bush. He's single handedly united the Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq. They now seem to be having a bit of trepidation about being occupied by the Coalition of the Paid Off. The unusual thing is that they agree. Good job there, George.

It seems Osama bin Laden has offered a truce to Europe while George W. Bush continues to wage war on Europe.

The insurgents have about 40 non-Iraqi hostages. Is it just me or is Baghdad starting to resemble Beirut in the 1980's?

And last but most definitely not least our soldiers who were promised a one year tour of duty in Iraq are now being told they will need to stay for an extra three months. Imagine how that's going over within the rank and file.

Oh and remember that Muslim U.S. Army chaplain in Gitmo who was accused of espionage? The government has dropped all charges against him. Good to know our military and homeland security folks are on top of things.

2004-04-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

Call Me Crazy...

...but how is a memo titled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States" not considered a warning by the National Security Advisor?

2004-04-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

Between Iraq And A Hard Place

Now we are fighting Shiite as well as Sunni all over Iraq. Didn't we go there specifically because of what Saddam did to the Shiites? That is after the embarrassing non-discovery of wmd's, wasn't the justification for the war what Saddam did to the Shiites?

Obviously, the Iraqi people are united in their love for our occupying army. I am just grateful that I have no close family members who are draft age.

As for our fighting men and women now bleeding in the streets of Iraq, I am heartily sorry and am doing everything I can in this election to get rid of the lying s.o.b. that sent you there.

G.W. Bush, you're fired!

2004-04-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Thursday's Child Has Far To Go

Condoleeza Rice will testify Thursday before the 9/11 commission.

Those of you who cannot watch it on TV can listen in on my local NPR station KUT between 8am and 10:30am central time.

More on this tomorrow.

2004-03-31T13:11:00.000-06:00

Out Nixoning Nixon

John Dean says the Bush and Cheney co-presidency is "an even greater threat to the country" than Nixon was.

From his Salon interview:

"To say that the [Bush-Cheney] secret presidency is undemocratic is an understatement," he adds. "I'm anything but skittish about government, but I must say this administration is truly scary and, given the times we live in, frighteningly dangerous."

"There has never been a vice president -- ever (and even including Spiro Agnew who was Nixon's) -- who needed to be investigated more than Cheney. Nor has there ever been such a secretive vice president. Dick Cheney is the power behind the Bush throne. Frankly, I am baffled why the mainstream news media has given Cheney (not to mention Bush) a free ride. I don't know if it is generational, or corporate ownership, or political bias, but it is clear that Cheney has been given a pass by the major news organizations."

Liberal bloggers have been screaming this from the rooftops for some time now. What will it take to get the mainstream media to tell the truth? Does some intern have to give Bush a blowjob for them to get upset by this administrations criminal antics?

Meanwhile in Iraq, the grateful residents of Fallujah are dragging American bodies through the streets and hanging them from bridges.

Tell me this isn't a quagmire. I dare you, George W.

2004-03-30T13:50:00.000-06:00

Well Now, Isn't That Special

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales has decided to let Condoleeza Rice testify in public and under oath before the 9/11 commission. I looks like we will soon have perjury to add to her list of crimes.

2004-03-25T15:29:00.000-06:00

It's Our Turn Now

Air America Radio launches March 31,2004. Programming includes Al Franken hosting The O'Franken Factor from 12pm - 3pm and Janeane Garofalo hosting The Majority Report from 8pm - 11pm.

I love streaming NPR and PRI but I am definitely going to set aside some bandwidth for this network.

2004-03-25T13:05:00.000-06:00

Funny Ha Ha

I was reading CNN this morning and came across an article about the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association 60th annual dinner where the sitting president traditionally pokes fun at himself. This president used a little slide show including a slide where he is looking under furniture and Bush says "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere."

Considering the fact that those non existent wmd's are the stated reason he sent 583 (and counting) American troops and many thousands (and counting) of Iraqis to their deaths I find it hard to stomach him thinking it's funny. Is that funny ha ha or just funny? I say neither Mr. President it's not a joking matter it is, however, a national tragedy.

David Corn over at The Nation attended the event and felt the same revulsion I did.

In case you are wondering what happened in Iraq while the president was joking around:

A gun battle killed a U.S. soldier Wednesday near Taji, just north of the capital, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military's deputy director of operations. Another U.S. soldier was wounded in the attack.

From The Washington Post.

Yeah, that's real funny.

2004-03-24T12:46:00.000-06:00

My American Heroes Today

It gladdens my heart to see those evil bastards up there in the White House finally get their comeuppance. We have had to live with their arrogant attitudes and disastrous policies for so long that it's nice to see them squirm.

My American heroes are the brave folks who are now speaking up and telling the the Bush administration that no we will no longer sit back and let you destroy everything we worked to build in this country and abroad.

From CNN:

When the Bush administration was entering office, outgoing National Security Adviser Samuel Berger told his replacement, Condoleezza Rice, "she'd be spending more time on terrorism and al Qaeda than any other issue," Berger told the panel investigating the attacks Wednesday.

From Salon:

For almost nine months, according to Clarke, he sought approval from top Bush officials for an aggressive strategy against Osama bin Laden. Clarke writes that he could not convince National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to schedule meetings to advance an action plan against al-Qaida. Instead, George W. Bush and his most powerful officials -- Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz -- pursued an obsession with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

I've said this before but I'll say it again, Bush ran for governor of Texas because his mommy hated Gov. Ann Richards because of what she said at the 1992 Democratic Convention about his daddy. He was obsessed with Saddam because of his daddy.

Here is a good article I found trying to look up Ann's speech.

I will have more soon on my continuing personal humiliation at the hands of the Dale Carnegie Stepford Wives Cult.

2004-03-22T09:37:00.000-06:00

I've Been Waiting For A Man Like Him

Former counter-terrorism coordinator for both Bush administrations (also Reagan's and Clinton's) Richard Clarke says:

"Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism," Clarke said in the CBS interview. "He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know."

Meanwhile, former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix referring to wmd's in Iraq says:

"At least we didn't fall into the trap that the U.S. and the U.K. did in asserting that they existed," he said.

While back in the middle east, our ally Israel, cooks up a little terrorism of their own:

Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that it intentionally targeted the Hamas leader, saying Yassin was responsible for planning and directing terrorist attacks.

Hey Sharon, he's a 65 year old quadriplegic in a wheel chair rolling down the street after morning prayers and you guys use a Cobra helicopter firing rockets to take him out??? Come on now, that's crazy and sure sounds like it falls under the definition of terrorism in my opinion.

Main Entry: terÂ·rorÂ·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.

Glad to see that roadmap to peace is working out for you guys.

2004-03-19T08:09:00.000-06:00

One Year Ago Today

We are still fighting in Iraq and American soldiers are still coming home in body bags. This national nightmare has become a self fulfilling prophecy. Bush claimed Saddam had ties to al Qaeda. They weren't in Iraq one year ago but you can surely bet they are there now.

The Bush administration's rhetoric has become more desperate now that their claim of weapons of mass destruction in Saddam's possession has been proven untrue.

I say this about the Bush administration; their methods have become unsound.

2004-03-16T10:51:00.000-06:00

Oh The Humiliation

Say your boss gives you a very good yearly evaluation but suggests you take this seminar...three words...just say no! I'm not even going into the fact that it's three and a half hours every Monday for the next twelve weeks.

The guy sitting next to me (a.k.a. The Engineer) and I spent some quality time plotting the demise of our bosses a la Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train.

I feel like I've been kidnapped by some bizarre corporate training seminar cult. Maybe if I picture the guy teaching the seminar (a.k.a. Ed McMahon) in an orange hare krishna robe with his head shaved it will be easier to let myself succumb to the brainwashing. Hare, hare, hare krishna, krishna, krishna, hare rama.

If I hear "pushing your comfort zones" one more time I think I will actually grind my molars to dust. (Jesus, who really talks like that?) My freakin' comfort zone definitely does not include Ed McMahon.

I am so going to have nightmares about this.

2004-03-12T09:09:00.000-06:00

Campaign Reform

So John Kerry said the Bush folks were "the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I've ever seen." Kerry won't apologize for the truth. It's not like he called Bush "a major league asshole" or anything.

I think the Bush folks should be more concerned about which cell they will occupy in the Hague.

Meanwhile, too bad the Bush Cheney folks don't use their considerable fund raising abilities for these folks.

2004-03-10T12:50:00.000-06:00

Chickenhawks Better Duck

Over at The Nation Tom Hayden writes about his ex-wife Jane Fonda, The Vietnam War, John Kerry, and G. W. Bush:

If I were George W. Bush, I would be terrorized by the eyes of those scruffy-looking veterans, the so-called band of brothers, volunteering for duty with the Kerry campaign. They look like men with scores to settle, with a palpable intolerance toward the types who sent them to war for a lie, then ignored their Agent Orange illness, cut their GI benefits, treated them like losers and still haven't explained what that war was about. They know Jane Fonda is a diversion from a larger battlefield. They are the sort who will keep a cerebral United States senator grounded, who have finally figured out who their real enemies are and who are determined that this generation hear their story anew. They are gearing up for one last battle. Chickenhawks better duck.

Fascinating article. I really think this Iraq quagmire is really going to bite the neoconservatives and the GOP in the ass.

Big screw up there Georgie boy, huge!

2004-03-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

Let's Send Tom Delay A Message...

...Bite Me! That's what we Texans can tell Tom Delay today. Go vote in the Texas primary. Go vote for Lloyd Doggett for the U.S. House of Representatives-10th District.

Remember when all those Texas senators hid out in Oklahoma and New Mexico? They did it so they wouldn't be bullied into voting for the redistricting plan Tom Delay and the GOP came up with in order to get rid of good guys like Lloyd Doggett.

2004-03-08T13:21:00.000-06:00

Regime Change African Style

So what do you suppose the Bush boys are up to now? From CNN:

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe has seized a U.S.-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities and a cargo of "military materiel," Home Affairs (Interior) Minister Kembo Mohadi said on Monday.

"A United States of America-registered Boeing 727-100 cargo plane was detained last night at about 1930 hours (12:30 ET) at Harare International Airport after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Mohadi said in a statement.

What the heck are our friends at the C.I.A. doing? I guess we could start a pool to see in which African nation we are performing a regime change today.

2004-03-05T12:19:00.000-06:00

Justicegate

CNN reports this quote from Sen. Orin Hatch:

Some committee Democrats are calling for a special counsel to investigate the breach, and its Republican chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who employed the staffers, said "odds are" that the matter may be referred to prosecutors.

He is referring to the actions of GOP staffers of the Senate Judiciary committee who discovered that they could access the computers of Democratic members and then did so to the tune of nearly 5000 files downloaded onto one computer.

How is that all that different than bugging the offices of the DNC in the Watergate building? I say it is not.

Bring on the special prosecutor! I say we need to give the GOP just a little bit more rope before the November elections.

There must be some GOP strategists that going into near panic mode with all the dirty tricks of the party finally getting mainstream press.

I especially enjoyed the fallout of the first Bush campaign ads showing 9/11 footage. The families and firefighters, shall we say, objected strenuously.

2004-03-05T07:53:00.000-06:00

Really, It's Ok To Be Gay, Governor

From The Austin American Statesman:

Gov. Rick Perry, speaking out for the first time about a widely circulated rumor about his personal life and professional future, said Thursday that he has been targeted by "an obvious, orchestrated effort" launched by political foes.

In almost all versions, the main theme has been the same: Perry, caught in an act of infidelity, is headed for divorce from wife Anita, who has moved out of the Governor's Mansion. The rumors also say Perry will resign.

"This thing got up to a critical mass," he said, acknowledging that the rumors have spread far wider than he has ever seen political gossip travel.

Of course, Perry denies the rumor and both The Statesman and The Austin Chronicle "have found no truth to the rumors." Not yet.

Anita Perry on Thursday declined to comment on the record about the rumors.

I'm not sure why he would comment on a "rumor." I think this thing may have legs. Time will tell. If it's not true it's still fun to speculate.

If it is "an obvious, orchestrated effort" to discredit the gov. then someone has learned a few pages out of Karl Rove's handbook.

2004-03-04T14:04:00.000-06:00

I Am...Conflicted

My buddy, and former consigliere to yours truly, Geoffrey over at Legal Outreach just posted his first personal/observational post. I have been pondering taking my blog more personal as opposed to political. Hmmm, what to do.

(Just so you all know, he is not the same Geoffrey allegedly having an affair with our own Texas governor Rick Perry.)

2004-03-04T08:03:00.000-06:00

A Close Call

The Justice Blackmun papers have been released today and it's frightening how close we came to losing Roe v. Wade in 1992:

The Blackmun papers reveal that the court's first vote was to overrule Roe in all but name, Totenberg reports on Morning Edition. But as the issue came to a head, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the court's three other anti-Roe justices were blindsided by three centrist justices who worked together in secret to preserve a woman's right to an abortion.

Justice Anthony Kennedy initially voted with the anti-Roe conservatives, giving them a majority of five, but he subsequently changed his vote to support, not eviscerate Roe, the Blackmun papers show. The switch came even as Rehnquist, was circulating a so-called majority opinion that would have left Roe a meaningless shell, Totenberg reports.

I guess Reagan appointee Justice Kennedy is one of those activist judges the Bush folks keep referring to.

(Heard on NPR this morning.)

2004-03-03T07:51:00.000-06:00

We Have A Dream Too!

San Francisco, California, the state of Massachusetts, Portland, Oregon, New Paltz, New York:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."...

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

Yes, gay and lesbian men and women too have this dream and its time has come to fruition. Do this if not for us then for the children who will come after us and carry our banner forward.

2004-02-20T11:11:00.000-06:00

Oh The Humanity

Boy, I sure hope this rumor is true. Rick and Geoffrey sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

I am, most decidedly, *doing the snoopy dance.*

(Links: Karen and Queer Day.)

2004-02-18T14:19:00.000-06:00

Farewell And Thank You

When John Kerry wins the 2004 race for the presidency, we will all owe Howard Dean a thank you. I was never a big Dean supporter but I think he has given the Democratic Party the gift of momentum and the energy to beat the Bush war machine in November. It's been a long four years but thanks in part to Howard Dean we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you, Governor Dean. Thank you, sir, and farewell.

2004-02-12T10:01:00.000-06:00

And Now For Something Completely ~~New~~ Predictable From The White House

I find it amusing how hard the White House is trying to change the subject when faced with Shrub's, uhhh, service in the National Guard. It is, however, going off the deep end for him to propose a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. That is a major shot across the bow of our democracy. It is a call to war to a very large group of Americans and we will not be silent nor will we roll over for this shameful pandering to the right wing at our expense. I don't think the framers of the constitution were interested in legislating marriage which is a religious institution not, obviously, a matter for the federal government. An amendment like this is simply un-American.

It's the same old Rowe strategy: trash your opponents then call it dirty politics when it is done to you. The Bush administration gets away with outing a non-official cover CIA agent then they flip the hell out when Shrub's attendance in the National Guard is questioned.

When a president champions his service in the military and that same president is sending troops in harms way then that president better not be lying about his own service. More than a few men of draft age in 1972 were trying to find a way not to go to Vietnam. Shrub tried to paint his service in the National Guard as serving his country when in reality he was simply serving himself and his desire not to fight in Vietnam. It's that simple and he couldn't even follow through with that plan by attending the required drills.

The Bush administration's methods have become unsound and that is why I don't have the luxury to support a candidate like Howard Dean. We Democrat’s today can't afford the luxury of a Eugene McCarthy type candidate. We need a viable candidate. We need a winner.

2004-02-06T10:11:00.000-06:00

Fortunate Son

I read three articles yesterday about Bush's, umm, military stint with the National Guard during the Vietnam War and am still shaking my head that this didn't make a bigger splash when it came out in 2000. Hell, even Gore served in Vietnam.

From Eric Boehlert's Salon article Bush's Missing Year:

If an Air National guardsman today vanished for a year, military attorneys say that guardsman would be transferred to active duty or, more likely, kicked out of the service, probably with a less-than-honorable discharge. They suggest the penalty would be especially swift if the absent-without-leave guardsman were a fully trained pilot, as Bush was.

Active duty in 1972 meant Bush would have been shipped off to Vietnam before you could say "weapons of mass destruction" hell, probably before you could say "wmd's."

A second lieutenant did not last long in the jungles of Vietnam. "All laughed nervously when confronted with the cold statistics that measured a second lieutenant's combat life expectancy in minutes and seconds, not hours" (from We Were Soldiers Once And Young).

And of course, a dishonorable discharge means we would surely never have had a second President Bush and maybe not a first one either.

It remains unclear, however, whether mainstream journalists will take the time to examine Bush's military record and ask the president why, after receiving pilot training that cost 1970s taxpayers nearly $1 million, he took it upon himself to decide he was finished with his military requirements nearly two years before his six-year obligation was up.

Which by my estimate means at the very least Bush owes the American Taxpayer another $1 million dollars. I think I'll take my share of that refund in euros now that Bush has trashed the dollar. So including Cheney's Halliburton debt and the trillion dollar surplus we had in 2000 and the cost of the war in Iraq...aw hell, I can't even count that total without my head spinning. Let's just say the Bush administration owes us a huge pile of money and I'm sure we can think of ways to spend it on healthcare and social security.

From Lois Romano's Washington Post article Bush's Guard Service In Question:

It was an era when service in the Guard was a coveted assignment, often associated with efforts to avoid active duty in Vietnam. Bush was accepted for pilot training after having scored only 25 percent on the pilot's aptitude test, the lowest acceptable grade.

I can see he was an over achiever even back then.

In August 1972, Bush was suspended from flying because he failed to complete an annual medical exam. A month later, Bush requested to be assigned to a different unit in Alabama and was approved. Although he was required to attend periodic drills in Alabama, there is no official record in his file that he did.

Think they did drug testing on those annual medical exams? I'm willing to bet they did especially for a guy flying around in a multi-million dollar jet fighter plane.

I guess after that he just turned on, tuned in, and dropped out until his mama told him to beat that Ann Richards out of office as Texas governor because she made fun of his daddy in her Democratic National Convention keynote address.

Bush said in 2000 that he did "show up for drills. I made most monthly meetings, and when I missed them I made them up."

Uhhh Shrub, the meetings you were supposed to attend were National Guard meetings not frat party meetings.

During the 2000 campaign, he was pretty vague about his military service and couldn't recall much detail at all about serving which I find hard to believe unless it never really happened.

My father was in the R.O.T.C. in the 1950's and then after college joined the U.S. Air Force as a second lieutenant and he recalls much of his time in training and service as a bomber pilot. My dad was also third in his class of seventy in flying and flew bombers. Bush scores a disgraceful 25 percent on his pilot's aptitude test and god knows where he stood in his class rankings upon graduation from flight school and he flew fighter jets?! Flying fighters has always been considered the choice spot for the best pilots in the service (at 6' 4" my father was too tall for fighters-his legs would have been, uhhh, removed violently during ejection). I'm guessing someone pulled some strings there or our young Bush would have found himself flying WWII transport planes carrying spare parts for the real fighting men.

John Kerry and Wes Clark both earned the Silver Star while serving in Vietnam. Bush played dress up and probably just used his wings to pick up girls.

What I find most appalling is that he is sending National Guard troops to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan while he couldn't even show up to meetings while serving stateside. They are proudly doing the same job he neglected to do when it was his turn.

2004-02-04T08:33:00.000-06:00

A New England Patriot Wins On The Road Again

In keeping with the Anybody Who Can Beat Bush theory I am officially endorsing John Kerry for POTUS. And for VPOTUS Edwards or Clark will do fine. Whoever can win in the south works for me.

It's interesting how the Dean campaign has seemingly imploded. He may have started too early because now he's out of money and out of steam with little prospect of getting more at this juncture.

In other news, it appears now that ~~Cheney's own~~ Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown, & Root has overcharged the U.S. military some $16 million dollars on meals at one Kuwaiti base this year. Let me repeat, overcharged $16 million dollars for army food! Has anyone ever met a soldier that even sort of liked army food? Though I will admit that fake turkey Bush posed with Thanksgiving looked yummy.

This is on top of the $7 million dollars they already overcharged the military for gasoline. Folks, as you all know, that's our money and I want my portion refunded.

On a tragic note, we are now losing U. S. Soldiers in Iraq at the rate of one per day. That's American men and women serving their country proudly and they deserve better than Bush, Cheney and their thieving cronies.

Note: Don't forget to vote over at Karen's for her Donate To The DNC To Help Elect Anyone But Bush In 2004 contest.

2004-01-26T09:05:00.000-06:00

Mendacity In The White House

I knew it wouldn't take long for the State of The Union Lie 2004 to unfold. Without further ado:

We are seeking all the facts - already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day.
Bush in the SOTU address 01/20/2004.

"My summary view, based on what I've seen, is we're very unlikely to find large stockpiles of weapons," he said on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition." "I don't think they exist."
The Bush administration's top weapons inspector David Kay two days after resigning his post.

Admittedly, Kay also says, "I actually think the intelligence community owes the president rather than the president owing the American people." Kay suggests that the intelligence community failed the administration.

If the Bush administartion can't trust their own intelligence then what does that say about how the administration conducts business with said agencies? I'm guessing that they treat these intelligence agencies with the same hubris and contempt with which they treat the American people.

Kay did say he was interested in writing a book. That should be interesting to read.

Time will tell how this plays out.

Contact: Mileah

2004-01-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

"A Girl, Age Two, Wrote Me A Letter. Uh, I mean, Thank you, El Salvador!"
Or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love The Bomb.

There is just so much here to loathe it's almost unfair of me. Awww, what the hell, here goes:

Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. As we debate at home, we must never ignore the vital contributions of our international partners, or dismiss their sacrifices. From the beginning, America has sought international support for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support.

Our partners, our partners! I think he means those we have paid off or possibly those we drug kicking and screaming.

We are seeking all the facts - already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day.

Funny how "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" becomes "the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities." It's kind of like magic or deception. Gotta love Al Sharpton for his "Weapons of Mass Deception" quote.

And we should limit the burden of government on this economy by acting as good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

And you are going to start doing this when? Can you say record breaking 540 billion dollar deficit?

I signed this measure proudly, and any attempt to limit the choices of our seniors, or to take away their prescription drug coverage under Medicare, will meet my veto.

I think he just said "Bring 'em on" to seniors.

The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message.

I'm very relieved that he is addressing this national emergency. Steroid use in professional sports definitely should be a high priority for the president at this juncture.

Activist judges, however, have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives. On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.

I thought the GOP were for less goverment interference in our lives. I'm thinking a constitutional process is about as much government as government can be. I'm sure the founding fathers meant for government to define marriage. Hey Shrub, constitutional amendments are for things like The Bill Of Rights not for pushing the agenda of the Christian Right in order to get you a second term.

As for those "activist judges," How about the recess appointment of Charles Pickering? He is about as activist a conservative as ever was appointed to the federal bench.

Last month a girl in Lincoln, Rhode Island, sent me a letter. It began: "Dear George W Bush. If there is anything you know I, Ashley Pearson age 10, can do to help anyone, please send me a letter and tell me what I can do to save our country." She added this PS: "If you can send a letter to the troops, please put 'Ashley Pearson believes in you.' "

And yes Ashley, there is a Santa Claus. There is also a boogie man and his name is Dubya.

Speech text courtesy of The BBC News* and The White House.

*Hey, if British intelligence is good enough for the president then British news is good enough for me.

Contact: Mileah

2004-01-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

It's Time To Play Catch The Lie

Well folks, it's seems like tonight we get to hear another State of the Union address. If it weren't so abhorrent to contemplate we could make a game out of guessing which sentences are lies. Let's hope this is the last State of the Union address we have to hear from Bush and the GOP.

Yeah, the economy is doing better but there are still 2.4 million jobs lost since February 2001.

Still, when arguing for the tax cuts, the Bush administration promised they would create about 300,000 jobs every month, beginning in July 2003 -- most economists doubt last year's numbers will be revised that dramatically.

And an Economy.com study last year found the tax cuts added less than two percentage points to GDP growth in the third quarter, suggesting most of the economy's growth was due to pent-up demand after the first months of the war in Iraq.

Your tax cuts worked, my ass.

How 'bout John Kerry and John Edwards in Iowa? Interesting.

Contact: Mileah

2004-01-16T10:51:00.000-06:00

High Noon-With Nukes!

Yee haw cowgirls and cowpokes, Shrub has a plan to combat those pesky weapons of mass destruction that he can't find. What could that be, you ask? Well I’ll tell you, lil missy, we are going to combat weapons of mass destruction with…more weapons of mass destruction!

From The Austin Chronicle:

Three months after the 9/11 attacks (although clearly in preparation much earlier), the Bush administration delivered its "Nuclear Posture Review" to Congress. The Pentagon-authored text is couched in recommendations, but its tone and direction are unmistakable. It buries alive all those quaint Cold War holdovers -- diplomacy, arms-control treaties, test bans -- in some figurative fallout shelter, never to be heard from again. In their stead, war planners bellow and yearn for a doctrine that strikes first and evades questions later. "The need is clear," the posture review states, "for a revitalized nuclear weapons complex that will be able ... if directed, to design, develop, manufacture, and certify new warheads in response to new national requirements."

Every president since Truman relegated the bomb to a category unto itself, to be locked away unless the nation's very survival were at stake. Not so George W. Bush. In the introduction to his administration's "National Security Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction," Bush wrote that the U.S. "will continue to make it clear that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force -- including potentially nuclear weapons -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad, and friends and allies" (emphasis added).

What intrigues me is the part about the Bush administration having prepared it's "Nuclear Posture Review" prior to 9/11 and the fact that it changes the way we have approached the use of nuclear weapons for the past sixty years.

Contact: Mileah

2004-01-14T13:32:00.000-06:00

Bush League Dynasty

Interesting LA Times article on the Bush family history in the Middle East:

The Barreling Bushes

Eldest son George W. Bush made his first Middle East connection in the late 1970s with James Bath, a Texas businessmen who served as the North American representative for two rich Saudis (and Osama bin Laden relatives) — billionaire Salem bin Laden and banker and BCCI insider Khalid bin Mahfouz. Bath put $50,000 into Bush's 1979 Arbusto oil partnership, probably using Bin Laden-Bin Mahfouz funds.

(As seen on Metafilter.)

Contact: Mileah

2004-01-09T09:19:00.000-06:00

Pandering to the Red Planet

Earlier this week Dubya was pandering to the Latino vote now; he's pandering to the Martian vote. That man has no shame.

In other developments, I have decided to throw my support firmly behind…anyone who can beat Bush. I sure hope that “anyone” is currently running in the Democratic primary.

The only good thing I can think of if (god forbid) Bush wins, is there is no way Cheney can get elected in 2008 (way to much baggage). Which means President Hilary Clinton will be in office. Boy I sure hope Dean or Clark has the right stuff because I don’t think I can wait that long and we sure as hell don’t need another Dukakis.

Contact: Mileah

2003-12-30T08:34:00.000-06:00

Conspiracy Theory

Hmmm, you be the judge...

"Among political pizza findings, people with "Dean for President" bumper stickers on cars in their driveways tipped 22 percent higher than people with "Bush for President" bumper stickers. People with "Bush for President" bumper stickers were three times more likely to order meat-topped pizzas than "Dean for President" drivers."

Also in the news...

"George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton are finally on the same ticket -- the most admired man and woman in America, according to a poll released Monday."

Hillary, baby, we need you now!

I hope you all had a good holiday.

Contact: Mileah

2003-12-15T08:31:00.000-06:00

Just So You Know

George Bush did not land on an aircraft carrier remove his flight suit then put on an army jacket and pose with a fake turkey then get on his horse with six shooters blazing ride to a small farm outside Tikrit then dig Saddam out of his hidey hole. Well he did some of those things for the cameras but Saddam was captured by soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division, members of Task Force 121 and with the help of Iraqi informants and U.S. intelligence analysts. Just so you know.

Contact: Mileah

2003-12-08T09:18:00.000-06:00

Messiah Complexity

Juan Stam over at The Nation hits the nail on the head with his excellent essay on Bush's Religious Language:

"It is remarkable how closely Bush's discourse coincides with that of the false prophets of the Old Testament. While the true prophets proclaimed the sovereignty of Yahweh, the God of justice and love who judges nations and persons, the false prophets served Baal, who could be manipulated by the powerful. Karl Marx concluded that religion is "the opium of the people." But Marx never knew committed Christians like Camilo Torres of Colombia, Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador, Frank Pais of Cuba, Ernesto Cardenal of Nicaragua, Dietrich Bonhoeffer of Germany or Martin Luther King Jr. of the United States. How paradoxical, and how sad, that the President of the United States, with his heretical manipulation of religious language, insists on proving Karl Marx right."

Contact: Mileah

2003-12-05T14:59:00.000-06:00

A Blacklist I'd Be Proud To Be On

I think the NRA would have saved a lot of paper if they had listed national organizations with pro-gun policies instead of this list. Yes, the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the YWCA of the U.S.A. are surely folks the gun nuts need to be concerned about! Not to forget the dangerous types running amok in Kansas City over at Hallmark Cards.

Contact: Mileah

2003-12-02T08:56:00.000-06:00

Fortunate Son

Once again the Bush boys are above the radar and maybe the law. Can you imagine what they would have done had this been Roger Clinton and not Neil Bush?

Matt Bivens from The Nation writes:

Legal documents filed in the divorce of Neil and Sharon Bush (after 23 years of marriage) show that Bush had a contract with a three-year-old company backed by the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. His pay was to be $400,000 a year. His duties? Even less clear than his qualifications. (The brother of the president of the United States accepting $400,000 a year at the pleasure of the son of the president of China -- and also lacking the common sense to turn away legions of strange women at his door offering sex -- smacks, frankly, of a tremendous national security problem.)

When will the so called liberal media start reporting the truth about Bush and his cronies in Enron, Worldcom, and Haliburton? Glad to know he has brought integrity back to the White House as promised.

Your comments are most welcome. (It has become a tad lonely here of late.)

Contact: Mileah

2003-11-25T11:26:00.000-06:00

Enough

Hey, hey, G. Dubya B. how many kids did you kill today?

Meanwhile, this same man pardons a turkey and has a good laugh.

I can't stand seeing or hearing the news anymore because even though they say something like "two American soldiers killed today..." I know that each one is someone's brother, sister, mother, father, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife. Each one had hopes, dreams, fears, and above all courage. I looked at every face and name on this list and it makes me so sad I just can't stand it one more day. Why are we not screaming their names from the rooftops?

I leave you with this thought for Thanksgiving:

"Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

Rabindranath Tagore

Contact: Mileah

2003-11-14T10:06:00.000-06:00

Stop All Your Sobbing

If I hear one more whiney Republican Senator crying about those four federal court nominees I am going to scream. The Republicans in the US Senate have now been afflicted with the same short term memory loss the Bush administration has been suffering from. Do they not recall the eight years of blocked nominations during the Clinton years? Forchristsakes, the Republicans held up 63 Clinton nominees. We are talking four ultra conservative judges here, folks, four. Now the GOP Senators are even promising to block liberal nominees if a Democrat is elected in 2004. Tsk, tsk, shame on you.

In other news, I was quite intrigued by the announcement that the bushites now want a quick transition to an Iraqi governed Iraq. Getting a little nervous about Nov. 2004 there Georgie? Think the American people are getting a little weary of their sons and daughters being killed and wounded by any idiot with an RPG? I know I am.

Do you know what's interesting about this picture/press release? Not sure? Well, for one thing, there are NO women in the picture. Hey ass*****, keep your damn laws off my body!

And finally, a funny Friday link (make sure your sound is on).

Contact: Mileah

2003-11-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Transparency In The State Of Texas

What do you suppose President Bush has to hide about his term as the governor of Texas? It appears that when he was successful in hijacking the presidency the governor turned president had all his papers carted off to his father's Texas A & M located Presidential Library and federal control.

The Texas Public Information Act later forced the return of these documents to the Texas State Library in Austin and ostensibly the view of the people. Now that the hide 'em in College Station trick didn't work, Bush and his successor as governor Rick Perry are using the "secret" classification to keep most ordinary Texans from viewing these documents.

Perry has been trying to keep not only his execution memos secret but his budget memos as well. If we, as Texans, choose to allow executions then we should not be squeamish about the process. That said, I do understand the governor's reluctance to release these documents. However, will somebody please explain this same reluctance regarding budget memos? Is it just me or are Bush and Perry starting to seem nixonian in their fear of what the public knows.

Read all about it in the Austin Chronicle's article "Closing Open Records" by Lucius Lomax.

Contact: Mileah

2003-10-30T09:06:00.000-06:00

We Lost Another One

Those of you that don't really know me don't know that I have a penchant for singer songwriters. We lost one of the great ones of our generation this past week (Oct. 21). His name was Elliott Smith and he wrote songs like this:

Waltz #2 (XO)

First the mic then a half cigarette
Singing cathy's clown
That's the man that she's married to now
That's the girl that he takes around town
She appears composed, so she is, i suppose
Who can really tell?
She shows no emotion at all
Stares into space like a dead china doll
I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow
Now she's done and they're calling someone
Such a familiar name
I'm so glad that my memories remote
'cos i'm doing just fine hour to hour, note to note
Here it is the revenge to the tune
"you're no good,
You're no good you're no good you're no good"
Can't you tell that it's well understood
I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow
I'm here today and expected to stay on and on and on
I'm tired
I'm tired
Looking out on the substitute scene
Still going strong
Xo, mom
It's ok, it's alright, nothing's wrong
Tell mr. man with impossible plans to just leave me alone
In the place where i make no mistakes
In the place where i have what it takes
I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow
I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow
I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow

I worked for many years in a live music venue that no longer exists here in Austin called Liberty Lunch and it was there that I had the pleasure to meet and see Elliott play several times. Man, he was good. I remember watching the sold out crowd from stage right and saying, "I don't think anyone is breathing until his songs end." They weren't and Elliott, alone on that big stage, never looked up from his guitar.

Margaret Cho worte a beautiful blog entry about Elliott here.

I'll be back soon with my regularly scheduled bush rant.

Contact: Mileah

2003-10-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

Once Again, Our Hubris Dooms Our Efforts

Yes, the Bushites have decided to allow 10,000 Turkish soldiers join the "coalition" and deploy in the Sunni triangle area of central Iraq. They will not be discouraged by the fact that 85% of the Iraqi people do not want Turkish troops there or by the fact that the Iraqi Governing Council voted against the deployment.

How will the Turkish troops get to their area of deployment? They will march straight through Kurdish held northern Iraq. As you know, there is no love lost between the Kurds and the Turks. In fact, the Turks have been suppressing their own Kurdish population for decades. Our fiercely independent Kurdish allies will not be pleased by the sight of thousands of soldiers from a country that would just as soon see them all dead marching through their territory at the behest of the ruling Americans.

We continually ignore the history and traditions of the people and the country we are occupying. This does not do much for the "winning of hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people. We cannot win the peace in Iraq if we continue with this paternalistic attitude, ignoring the will of the populace, and squandering the human resources of a well trained, well educated, and proud people. The don’t worry children, Uncle Sam knows what’s best for you attitude won’t cut it with the Iraqi people today any better than it did with the Vietnamese people in the 1960’s. In the meantime, suicide bombers continue their nasty business of death fueled, in part, by our hubris.

Contact: Mileah

2003-10-07T09:28:00.000-05:00

George Lies When He Cries

I know we have been chronicling the lies of the bushites in this blog and many others but here is a nice article by David Corn over at The Nation that includes quite a list of those lies that the American people have been swallowing since 2000:

"Bush campaigned for the presidency as the fellow who would bring honesty back to the White House. During his first full day on the job, while swearing in his White House staff, he reminded his cadre, 'On a mantelpiece in this great house is inscribed the prayer of John Adams, that only the wise and honest may rule under this roof.' But Adams's prayer would once more go unanswered. There has been no restoration of integrity. Bush's promise was a lie. The future of the United States remains in the hands of a dishonest man."

One more thing, pop culture quiz...Who can name the movie I referenced (ableit vaguely) in the title?

Contact: Mileah

2003-10-01T10:44:00.000-05:00

It's Molly Day at A Fifty Pound Bag

Once again I say all we have to do is vote! Come on y'all, it ain't brain surgery, it's simply voting. All the average Jill or Joe has to do is vote. The rest of us liberal agitators will keep an eye on those sneaky bastards currently running our country.

Now go read Molly Ivins:

"In this country, we have the most extraordinary luck -- we are the heirs to the greatest political legacy any people have ever received. Our government is not them -- our government is us (with room for improvement, to be sure).

All this right-wing propaganda about how the government is The Enemy, the government needs to be strangled, needs to be starved, needs to be hocked off, as though schools and hospitals were horrible things -- it's all nuts.

It's our government. We can still make it do what we want it to when we take the time and put in the energy it takes to work with other people, organize, campaign and vote. We can still make the whole clumsy, money-driven system work for us. And it's high time we did so."

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-25T09:41:00.000-05:00

Where Was George?

I'm really not understanding how the American people can not be asking those pathological liars currently occupying the White House why they even have to lie about what the president knew and when he knew it on 9/11.

Eric Alterman at The Nation is asking:

"Bush's aides later offered, and retracted, the excuse that he spent the day flying around the country because of threats to Air Force One believed to have been received at the White House. What nobody has ever explained is this: If you think Air Force One is to be attacked, why go up in Air Force One?

I don't have the answers to these questions. But why is no one asking them?"

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Dubya Rant.

No, this isn’t possible. Not from this administration. Now folks if you are standing you may want to sit down this may come as a shock to you hardworking Americans: “America’s rich get richer.” Glad to know those tax cuts for the rich are getting the economy back on track!

Say it ain’t so Geo.

Well at least the rich are breathing a sigh of relief since I'm not sure the rest of us can afford to breathe at all.

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

For My Dear Friend

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Shrub rant for the following announcement:

I miss you Sheila. Happy Birthday even though you have to spend it up there in yankee land you have a good time tonight. Go join her fantastic Austingrrls list for her birthday.

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-11T09:32:00.000-05:00

Today, I Offer This...

Creation

Wherever the dead are there they are and

Nothing more. But you and I can expect

To see angels in the meadowgrass that look

Like cows -

And wherever we are in paradise

in furnished room without bath and

six flights up

Is all God! We read

To one another, loving the sound of the s’s

Slipping up on the f’s and much is good

Enough to raise the hair on our heads, like Rilke and Wilfred Owen

Any person who loves another person,

Wherever in the world, is with us in this room -

Even though there are battlefields.

Kenneth Patchen

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-08T08:19:00.000-05:00

So Now It's A War On Terror?

Glad to know we’ve stopped looking for those pesky wmd’s and are back to fighting the war on terror. Call me crazy but it’s our poorly planned (if planned at all) occupation of Iraq that is causing all this terrorist activity. We have successfully filled the ranks of al Qaeda and other similar groups for generations to come with fresh angry young people eager to die for the cause. It’s a self- fulfilling prophecy. We know that al Qaeda had little or nothing to do with Saddam and their operatives were not present in any organized fashion in Iraq before our invasion. Well you can be sure they are there now!

Now all we need to do is keep hemorrhaging money to the tune of 87 billion more of our dollars to support Shrub’s war. Really, we couldn’t have found a better way to spend our resources? Not to forget that while we hemorrhage money that we don’t have our brave young men and women lose something even more precious. We can’t afford this...not in dollars and certainly not in lives.

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

A Body Blow To The Presidency

The Bush administration quietly suffered a body blow this week when Miguel Estrada withdrew his name from consideration for the U.S. Court of Appeals. During the past two years, Senate Democrats have successfully filibustered to keep him off the court.

The Dems opposed Estrada because of his conservative views and his evasiveness during hearings on abortion and affirmative action. Tom Delay called the filibuster a “political hate crime.” I guess he would know a hate crime when he saw one but frankly, that accusation is ridiculous coming from the Republican Senator behind the nasty redistricting fight he engineered here in Texas. His redistricting plan is partisan and disenfranchising to minorities and the poor. Hmmm, political hate crime….riiight.

Bush has been trying since the day the Supreme Court appointed him president to stack the judiciary with conservative judges and thank goodness the Senate Dems just aren’t going to let that happen. Finally, they stood up and said not on my watch you don’t. Keep up the good work Senators that’s what why we elected you.

Contact: Mileah

2003-09-03T12:46:00.000-05:00

Just A Quick Note Now, Then More Later...

Happy Birthday III!

Contact: Mileah

2003-08-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

Go Blog This!

Well Shrub's crazy tax ideas and other shenanigans (see: war and tanking economy under GOP leadership) now mean that we the people's government are spending 401 billion dollars more than we are earning this fiscal year. Excellent work, George. Glad to know he is doing for the country just about as well as he did with his oil bidness. Really y'all, did we expect anything different from him? I'm pretty much resigned to working until I'm 97 or dead. How about you?

Our Baghdad Czar Paul Bremer tells us we are going to have to find several tens of billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq. The way things are going a lot of that money will be lining the pockets of Dubya and Cheney's buddies in the corporate world. Hey maybe that's their plan to get our economy rolling again. Doh!*

Go read this soldier's blog. He has amazing insight for a 24 year old guy and is currently deployed in Baghdad. I've been looking for a deployed female soldier's blog but have yet to uncover one.

Go read this lawyer's blog. He's one of the smartest men I know. He's pretty darn sweet too but we should probably keep that to ourselves so he can still scare opposing counsel when necessary.

Go join my buddy Sheila's list. She's stuck up in yankee land (read: Long Island, NY) going to law school and missing Texas. We are currently debating whether or not Long Island can still be viewed as an island. I’m maintaining that because of all the land bridges and tunnels it now looks more like a stubby peninsula than a long island. Really, go see for yourself. (You have to zoom out a bit to see what I'm seeing.) Hey, if Shrub can say the economy will improve with his tax cuts then I can partake in some amateur cartography and redesignate it a stubby peninsula, right. Oh wait, I'm not president of anything nor an idiot...on second thought, it can stay an island.

*7/29 Update: Heard on NPR this morning that contractors are being paid 1/3 of the 4 billion dollars a month we are spending in Iraq. Guess who's the number one contractor? That's right, Cheney's own Halliburton.
Contact: Mileah

2003-08-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

Can I Get A Redo?

Our friends over at the GOP seem to have a new strategy to combat those results they have been getting from letting us pesky citizens vote. Since the 2000 election, they have successfully employed the redo. Don’t like the results of the count in Florida? Don’t count them; let the Supreme Court give you a redo. Don’t like the legislative districts in Texas, redo ‘em. Don’t like the elected governor of California? Can I get a recall? Don’t believe all that we’re causing global warming stuff because it interferes with your all buddies in the industries that are doing a lot of the polluting? Hell, just tell folks you’re still collecting data and do nothing while the freakin' ozone burns away. (Guy's it's 100 degrees in London, for God's sake!) Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s all about the redo.

Contact: Mileah

2003-08-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

The Business of Iraq

Four billion dollars a month...what can you do for four billion dollars a month? In seven years, you could more than pay off all of Africa's current foreign debt. For an entire continent that sounds like a bargain. I'm betting you could cure AIDS. I'm sure you could run several small countries but you cannot apparently successfully run Iraq. Bill Gates could buy a new home for a fraction of that (around 50 million). If you are the richest winner in Powerball history, you could tip a heck of a lot of strippers. It is so much money I'm having a hard time finding things you could spend it on. Maybe y'all could help me out with some ways to spend that much money.

As for comments, bring 'em on. Come on, you know you want to. You too, Geoff. It's been kind of lonely over here of late.

Contact: Mileah

2003-07-29T08:42:00.000-05:00

Run Senators, Run

Those rascally Texas Democrats are on the lam again. I say it's a pretty sad state of affairs when our bully of a Governor keeps calling these special sessions for the sole purpose of satisfying the wants of the national GOP and Tom Delay. Rick Perry and the Texas GOP, you answer to the people of the Great State of Texas not to Tom Delay. We don't want your lousy redistricting. Doesn't this make Rick Perry Tom Delay’s poodle?

Contact: Mileah

2003-07-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

Get Your Ducks In A Row

Talk about rewriting history...I heard on NPR this am a snippet of the Bush - Annan meeting with reporters on Monday. It seems Gee Dubya has some short term memory problems. He said that Iraq "wouldn't let the inspectors in" as a justification for the war. Hunh? Call me crazy but I seem to recall the inspectors were there in Iraq, let in by the Iraqi government. They really ought to keep this guy from talking without a script.

I am curious as to why George Tenet is so eager to fall on his sword. The CIA had the very same text on Iraq purchasing uranium from Niger removed from a speech that Shrub gave four months prior to the State of the Union address. Does logic dictate that the CIA would have allowed that sentence to be put back into the most vetted speech a president gives? I don't think so. Someone had that language put back in there and I don't think it was George Tenet or the CIA. The CIA didn't want it in the speech and that is why Shrub said the information was based on British intelligence. I think it was someone in the Bush inner circle who put that in the speech. Someone who thought the American people and the rest of the world needed more convincing. Someone who didn't care that it was a lie. Even if that someone wasn't George Bush, I don't see how he could not have known. Shameful. As for Tenet, he is a Clinton appointee after all maybe that's why he is the one with his head on the chopping block.

Contact: Mileah

2003-07-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

So, Shrub, When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?

So, which is it, was this another colossal intelligence failure on your watch or did you just flat out lie to us?

Contact: Mileah

2003-07-08T14:26:00.000-05:00

And This Is A Suprise, How?

A Bush official now says that when Shrub claimed Iraq was buying uranium from Africa... he was wrong. Lemme get this straight, do you mean to tell me, Mr. Unnamed Bush Official, that the president lied to the American people and the World community in his State of the Union address? Wha' tha hell! That is simply not possible. He wouldn't lie, it was a mistake, he was given faulty intelligence. Riiiight. The Bush folks sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Africa to check out the possibility that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger and he reported back that the claim was untrue. Now my friends here's the good part...he told them the claim was untrue long before the State of the Union address was given. There is no mistake here, folks. He flat out lied to us! I imagine that more reports of deception and backpedaling will soon be forthcoming from the Bush camp. After all, they are getting rather good at it.

I bet they are thrilled that there is no longer a special prosecutors office. Do you think Ken Starr would have investigated the Bush War Lie with the same zealotry he employed when he went after the Clinton's? If some members of Congress felt getting a blowjob constituted high crimes and misdemeanors then, hoo boy, Bush is in big trouble.

Contact: Mileah

2003-07-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

No Bad Deed Goes Unrewarded in This Whitehouse

Molly Ivins (my heroine, as regular readers will know) writes about The Iraqi Gold Rush now happening in an occupied country near you. I understand the saying "to the victor go the spoils" but shouldn't the Bush administration have shown a little more decorum than to give WorldCom a $45 million dollar contract to build a wireless phone system in Iraq? This company, as Molly says, is the "perpetrator of the largest accounting fraud in American history." They perpetrate an $11 billion dollar accounting fraud get a slap on the wrist $500 million dollar fine from the SEC and are rewarded with a $45 million dollar government contract. She also reports that Washington Technology lists WorldCom as eighth among federal IT contractors in terms of dollar amounts awarded them as a primary contractor. Up to eighth from twelfth in 2002 and twenty-eighth in 2001. The audacity of them sumabitches in the Bush administration is amazing. In 2002, WorldCom made $506,931,000, which pretty much takes care of the SEC fine. Mind you, this is only the revenue from federal contracts. It does not include monies made from their regular business dealing both here and abroad. At this rate, next year will be a banner year for federal contracts at WorldCom. I sure am glad that the Bush administration took WorldCom's crimes seriously and met out the appropriate punishment.

Contact: Mileah

2003-06-27T08:25:00.000-05:00

What's That Noise?

A sound like screaming but it’s faint and kind of muffled. Ohhh, I get it, that must be Strom Thurmond somewhere in Dante's 8th or 9th Circles of Hell.

Contact: Mileah

2003-06-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Sodomy Law and Flubber Stash Found in Iraq

There is something inherently wrong with this place when it takes the Supreme Court of the United States to tell the state where I was born and have spent all of my 41 years that I am no longer a criminal. To hell with all the narrow-minded idiots in this country. We're here (yes, even in Texas), we're queer, and you better damn well get used to it!

Oh yeah before I forget, some centrifuge parts and musty old papers buried under a rose bush (shrubbery or coincidence?) for twelve freakin' years do not a smoking gun make! It's real hard to use a centrifuge when it's been buried under a rose bush for the past twelve years. Hey, maybe they also have the secret formula for flubber buried under an oleander somewhere in Baghdad.

Contact: Mileah

2003-06-18T12:55:00.000-05:00

What Did The President Know and When Did He Know It?

This is a question I believe we are going to be hearing a lot more in the future. It is the question that was asked about Richard Nixon during Watergate. It is the question the people and their representatives in Congress should be asking about Bush. What did the President know about warnings of terrorist activities in the US prior to 9/11 and when did he know it? What did the President know about the lies told to the American people regarding the invasion of Iraq and when did he know it? Did he invade Iraq in order to keep us from paying too much attention to the disastrous failures of the intelligence community regarding 9/11...on his watch? Why is this administration stonewalling the families of 9/11? Is all this subterfuge to keep from embarrasing Bush prior to the 2004 election? What did the President know about the fraud and theft his corporate buddies perpetrated and when did he know it? There is an incredible pattern of lies and deceit coming from the White House that we cannot let go unnoticed and unpunished. Bush and his cronies may need to get a friendly judicial appointment through Congress soon in order to limit time spent in Leavenworth or Marion.

This is an excellent article from Salon regarding the 9/11 coverup.

Contact: Mileah

2003-06-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

Falwell Was And Still Is An Idiot

Did y'all catch Jerry Falwell on CBS this weekend? He left us with this little gem of a statement “I think Mohammed was a terrorist." “In my opinion,” says Fallwell. “And I do believe that - Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. And I think that Mohammed set an opposite example.” Do you believe the hubris of this man? He claims to be speaking for 70 million Christians (including Shrub). Well, he sure as hell doesn't speak for me! I don't think he has ever read the Koran. Maybe he read the Christian Right's edition of the Koran. I imagine the Romans felt that Jesus was a terrorist. See what happened to them. To make matters even more bizarre aparantly the Christian Right is thrilled with the goings on in Israel and Palestine these days. You see, to the Christian Right jealots, the Jews in Israel are instrumental in the Second Coming of Christ. Now aparantly, when this happens, two thirds of the Jew's will be wiped out and the rest will convert to Christianity. I imagine the Jews are less than thrilled with this idea. It makes me ill to think that these are the folks who have the ear of the President. It's no wonder the Arab's don't trust Bush. The Israelis shouldn't either. I sure don't.

Contact: Mileah

2003-05-28T10:24:00.000-05:00

Amnesty International and Shrub's War Equals Safer World Fantasy

Amnesty International released their 2003 Annual Report today and AI's Secretary General Irene Kahn said "people around the world are more insecure today than at any time since the end of the Cold War." How many of y'all are not suprised in the least about this? This is another example of The Bush War Lies. As they one by one become untrue or unfounded they make up a new lie, uhh I mean reason. Heck they've given us soo many different excuses for the war I barely remembered a "safer world" was one of them. Of course, the bushites will probably dismiss Amnesty International as a left wing liberal organization stuffed full of commies and queers. If so, I will be proud to count myself among them.

Contact: Mileah

2003-05-21T10:05:00.000-05:00

Something About Mileah's Birthday

I had an interesting forty-first birthday on Sunday. My friend Sheila bought us tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Alegria so on the way there...

Me: "Damn, tell me that cop is not pulling me over on my birthday!" (speedometer reads 60, part of my brain registers the fact that speed limit sign we just passed said 50)

Sheila: "I was gonna say something, we already passed one cop then I saw this one . You didn't see him?"

Me: "I do now."

APD Cop: "Pull over to that Texaco."

Me: "There is now way he's giving me a ticket on my birthday." (repeated several times as he walks towards my car)

Me: (handing APD cop my license and insurance and noticing his name tag says Detective Johnson)

APD Detective Johnson: "Speeding." (he heads toward cruiser with my dl.)

Me: "There is no way he is giving me a ticket today." (aren't birthday's a free pass?)

APD Detective Johnson returns to my car with ticket in hand.

Me: (incredulous as I am signing ticket) "You are really gonna give me a ticket on my birthday?"

APD Detective Johnson: "I didn't notice it was your birthday."

Me: (looks at ticket where he has written my birthdate once and today's date once)

APD Detective Johnson: (at least looking like he feels a bit bad about it) "I won't tell you happy birthday since this isn't a very nice present."

Me: "I guess I won't tell you thank you then."

Sheila: (shaking her head) "Why didn't you tell him before he wrote the ticket that it was your birthday?"

Me: "I figured he would notice since it's printed on my license."

Sheila: "Mercury's in retrograde."

Me: "Yeah, the communication thing."

Me: "Some detective he was."

Based on a true story...some dialogue has been altered to protect me from looking like too much of a goofball.

Contact: Mileah