Flamin' Field of Collards

I tremble with shame in the face of their bravery

2009-06-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

I see the moment we are witnessing as a civil rights movement rather than a push to topple the regime. If Rosa Park was the American "mother of the civil rights movement," the young woman who was killed point blank in the course of a demonstration, Neda Agha-Soltan, might very well emerge as its Iranian granddaughter.
If I am correct in this reading, we should not expect an imminent collapse of the regime. These young Iranians are not out in the streets seeking to topple the regime for they lack any military wherewithal to do so, and they are alien to any militant ideology that may push them in that direction.
It seems to me that these brave young men and women have picked up their hand-held cameras to shoot those shaky shots, looking in their streets and alleys for their Martin Luther King. They are well aware of Mir Hossein Moussavi's flaws, past and present. But like the color of green, the very figure of Moussavi has become, it seems to me, a collective construction of their desires for a peaceful, nonviolent attainment of civil and women's rights. They are facing an army of firearms and fanaticism with chanting poetry and waving their green bandannas. I thought my generation had courage to take up arms against tyranny. Now I tremble with shame in the face of their bravery.

From "Looking for Their Martin Luther King Jr." by Hamid Dabashi

Heart, Henry.

2009-01-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

Caroline Kennedy: "No Drama" Before "No Drama" Was Cool

2008-12-09T16:39:00.001-06:00

I relish the idea of Caroline in the Senate. This guy really sums up the rationale behind it. (hat tip to Dangerblond) I particularly like this bit about the differences between the Kennedy and Clinton camps of the party.

I'm not saying that these superficial contradictions make for anything hypocritical: to the contrary, the critics of a possible appointment of Attorney Kennedy to the US Senate are essentially correct in perceiving that something much bigger than symbolism would occur through it. The Kennedy and Clinton tendencies in the Democratic Party have embodied two distinct magnetic poles each trying to pull the party in different directions for the past 16 years, and before that between Kennedy and Carter tendencies.

This was very much at play with Senator and Attorney Kennedy's endorsement of Obama early in the primaries, and intentionally signaled as such. The Kennedy organization was not happy - many of us were not - with the change in direction that the Clinton administration brought to the party, toward a blatant acquiescence to corporate interests, away from the New Deal and the Great Society. And while both families have had their share of public personal scandal, for the Kennedys that hasn't bled much at all into the political or policy realms: we just have never seen Ted Kennedy, for example, go to Malaysia and collect $200,000 for a speech from a corporate power broker, lavishing his benefactor's company with praise, as occurred yesterday with Bill Clinton, now getting a few last international paydays in before his ethics agreement with the Obama administration kicks in to prevent future such embarrassments.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Brother Bill, but Tio Teddy has always been a political hero of mine. His very subtle, quiet, unobtrusive way of pushing progressive causes for the last 46 years is what I think public service is about. Don't worry about getting credit, worry about getting it passed. Results rather than personal aggrandizement, country before self, just like his brother asked. I'm positive the daughter will continue the brothers' work.

Crazy as a Road Lizard

2008-08-29T19:59:00.007-05:00

Oh, were to start! I had some ideas (rants) rolling around my quilled little noggin. Things like taken bets on whether or not the Dem's would fuck up this campaign...voters with their heads up their asses... Things that make George Washington cry...why God doesn't like you... But well, Today's announcement from McCain (which now shall be refered to as "A Postcard from Camp Clueless").....

What the HELL was he thinking? McCain has showed himself to clueless on some issues recently, but this is clueless in a Regan at the end of his second term clueless! - You know, when the astrologer was running the joint.

DAAAAAAAAMN!

I am gobsmacked. And not in a good way. It is hypocrasy overload! You crucify someone about lack of political experience, you say that they are all image and no substance.... You use these as one of your major weapons. Then, you turn around and select one as your running mate - the person who will be one heart beat away from the presidency, who is younger, with less experience, and who is a former Beauty Queen. Ummmmm, hellloooooooooooooo!

And yeah, I am going to harp on that Beauty Queen thing. I know, I know.... I gave up stereo-types for Lent a couple of year okay. If they are trying to attract some of the old school feminist who were Hillary supporters ... well, does the word "kryptonite" ring a bell? The beauty pagent system represents everything that feminism is against - primarily the objectification of women. The idea that the worth of women is decided by how closely she matches some societal idea of beauty. Or did they think more mature women (and lets get real about it - there was a generational split) voted for Hillary just because she was a women. If so, they just didn't get it - not a all. It wasn't about gender, it was about issues. And there are some women women in the Republican party with some serious political chops.... What about them? It's like when the starter wife gets kicked to the curb for the trophy wife........... ( insert your own comment here)

I do understand - to a degree - what they might have hoped to accomplish with the choice of Palin. Her appeal to conservatives (pro-life, pro-capital punishmen (ie; "pro-death"),anti-same sex unions) will be undeniable. (I'm sure the hunting and NRA membership will help with some people). Also, her age could be seen as plus in connecting with younger voters.

I'm sure Palin is a lovely person. But, to be blunt, I don't think 4 years as a city council woman and 6years as mayor of B.F.E. Alaska and nearly 2 years of being governor is adequate experience to be the vice president of an old man with medical issues. I think it was a poor decision that was not adequate thought through. Yes, undoubtably she will draw some of the more conservative Hillary supporters. But that lack of experience thing is going to hurt her. It's going to be off-putting to some, and not just "some of our liberal friends" to have Barracuda Barbie a heart beat away from the oval office.

Milque Toast and the Convention

2008-08-28T18:57:00.002-05:00

Incoming Transmission from the hedgehog:

Well, Jimmy is old..... Teddy is old.... However, neither looked fraile - and that is important Jimmy was giddy! I was watching on PBS, and they talked to him not to long after he spoke, and he didn't act old! He was a more dignified version on tom cruise on oprah. It was cute.

And Teddy.... isn't he doing chemo? He looked "medication induced" puffy, instead of alcohol indused puff. But, he was the first person to work up enough emotion to pound his fist on the podium. I am worried though, did you see the way Caroline and Maria kept crying? They bothed look mournful. He wasn't supposed to speak... just show up and wave.... Like that was really going to happen. The idea of government with a Kennedy just doens't seem real to me.

I liked Hillary. She looked radiant, she did not look like a has-been, or someone crushed because they had been thrown over. She didn't look like she was grudginly doing what she had to for "the good of the Party". I think her speech was great, and I think she said 98% of what she needed to. I liked the "was it me or the message" tact to shame some of the stubborn. And the thing is, there isn't a huge gulf of difference between her and Obama. In fact I was torn between the 2, and I still am. Honestly, I would have liked to see her on the ticket..... However, I see a more important role for her...... Like I saidTeddy is old - and we've been reminded that he is mortal.... I don't know how much longer we will have him. I can't really think of anyone, except Hillary, who could carry his standard. I can understand why she wouldnt the runner up (or first loser's) position. I woudln't want to be Lady in Waiting....... If she's not going to be president, I'd rather keep her in the Senate, where she can legislate, and protect us.

I did think Bill tearing up when she came out on stage was real.... I don't think he was play acting for effect. If it was fake, the well done to him.

Anywho, over all, -- speechwise -- They've been okay - what I have seen of it -, but nothing special for the most part. Rather sedate, bland, and ...well... white, for the most part. There have been exceptions: Hillary, Gov. Patrick of Mass., The lady from Alabama who had lost the equal pay case in the Supreme Court, the lady from NC, Teddy of course....I missed most of MIchelle Obama's I'm sorry to say. Oh, the lady's from Alabama and NC, I put on the list because they were not public speakers and did pretty damn well for being stuck out there in front of a couple of thousand people.... The Alabama lady wanted to let rip on a couple of occassions, but she maintained control. But you could see it.

There's been very little passion on stage. Most everything has been carefully homogenenized. It doesn't work for me. I'm disappointed a bit... but not becasue of the same reasons as some of the pundits. Pundits are like academics in a way.... many of them are harping on little ommissions... little facts and details. and you know what, most of that doesn't matter to the average american. We won't remember exactly what you said, be we will remember how we felt when you said it. Did I feel empathy, did you actually seem to care, did you talk down to me, did you give me hope.... did you inspire me.... That's what will last in a person's mind.... If you create a positive perception your opponents can spin it however they want too and you supporters will feel protective of you, They will feel like they are attacked if you are attacked. Kerry's handlers never allowed him to show emotion, it was Gore's downfall too..... It was Bill's strength. I don't know if the DNC has figured that out yet. The American public will not vote for a Vulcan - unless it was Spock or Sarak ;P.

I want old time southern style stumping. I want people banging on the lecture for emphasis. I want regular people up there -- uncoached regular people -- up there telling about how they are from bum-fuck mississippi and they are so poor that they had to make the choice between electricity and feeding their children. I want testimonials from surviving family members telling how their loved one died because they couldn't afford medical treatment. I want teachers there screaming at people about how hard it is to teach when you don't have funding... or books...or equipment...or supplies. I want anger, and frustration! I want heartwretching stories told by people who are sobbing.... not the occassional dainty tear.... I want mascara running, snot dripping crying.

I want people resurrecting the ghost of every dead soilder since before the Revolutionary War, and asking them if the past 8 years was worth the cost of their lives.... I want the fucking ghosts of all the founding fathers there and have them asked "When you all were risking death by rebelling against the King..... was this past eight years what you had in mind?"

I want people whipped into a frenzy! THen and only then, do you bring out those in party who can preach...... Those in the party who can channel all that mess of anger, frustration, and negativity into action. Those people, who like spiritual drill sargents, can break people down and then build them back up. Those people who can make (or atleast give the perception of) an emotional connection and common understanding with those of use who are tired of being throdden on by the jack booted, brown shirted bastards who have been draining the life's blood from us for 8 damn years. There are so few left that can do it.... Bill has it with in to do it. This is his chance at redemption -- on a huge public platform no less. He can do it. He needs to empathise... then admit party mistakes - we in-fought too much, but you do that with family - those that you care the most about, you'll fight the ugliest with - he'll have to humanize the party to the people... Then in the way that parents explain way you are being punished, he'll have to deepen the wounds - to clean the out and have the audience hit rock bottom......

Then the transformation start..... He lights a candle in the form of a story about the least of us often represents what is best in us.... The candle grows to a warm fuzzy.... He makes you believe that change can happen.... then that you could do it.... And then.... and this is the most important part, he can make you feel that you want to help, and then infuse you with the fire of righteous indignation so that you realize that it is your moral obligation to help. -- This part, I have heard him do..... I know he can. The man can work a podium.

And he had damn well better do it tonight.

Sly Fox

2008-07-23T23:02:00.000-05:00

The sly fox
Cyclops
We locked
In the idiot box
The video slots
Broadcast
The Waco Davidian plots
They own YouTube, Myspace
When this ignorant shit gon' stop?
They monopolizing news
Your views
And the channel you choose
Propaganda
Visual cancer
The eye
In the sky
Number five
On the dial
secret agenda
Frequency antenna
Doctor mind bender
Remote control
soul
Controller
Your brain holder
Slave culture
Game's over
What's a Fox characteristic?
Slick shit
Sensin'
Misinformation
Pimp the station
Over stimulation
Reception
Deception
Comcast digital Satan
The Fox has a bushy tail
And Bush tells
Lies and Foxtrots
So I don't know what's real

[Chorus]

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Big Brother is watchin'

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Fox 5 is watchin'

[Verse 2:NaS]

The Fear Factor got you all rattled up
O' Reilly
Oh really?
No rally needed
I'll tie you up
Network for child predators, settin' 'em up
Myspace pimps, hoes, and sluts
Ya'll exploit rap culture, then ya'll flip on us
And you own the post, and ya'll shit on us
What is they net worth?
They gon' try to censor my next verse?
Throw 'em off the roof neck first
While I'm clicking my cursor
Reading blogs about the pressure they put on Universal
It gets worse while I'm clicking my mouse
While they kickin' my house
They figured us out
Why a nigga go south
It's either he caught a body, no sleep they watchin'!
I watch CBS
And I See B.S.!
Tryin' to track us down with GPS
Make a nigga wanna invest in PBS

[Chorus]

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Big Brother is watchin'

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Fox 5 is watchin'

[Verse 3:NaS]

They say I'm all about murder-murder and kill-kill
But what about Grindhouse and Kill Bill?
What about Cheney and Halliburton? (Halliburton?)
The backdoor deals
On oil fields
How's NaS the most violent person?
Ya'll don't know talent if it hit you
Bringin' up my criminal possession charges with a pistol (pistol)
I use Viacom
As my firearm
And let the lyrics split you
Who do you rely upon?
They shoot shells at Leviathan
I'm dealing with the higher form
F**k if you care how I write a poem?
Only Fox that I love was the red one
Only black man that Fox loves is in jail or a dead one!
Red rum
Political bedlam
Don't let the hype into your eyes and ear drum
Murdoch on Fox
Not 18 with Barracas
And he hate Barack cause
He march with the marchers

[Outro]

I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth.
Not the biased truth
Not the liar's truth
But the highest truth
I will not be deceived
nor will I believe
In the Propaganda
I will not fall for the Okey-Doke
I am tuned-in

[NaS]

Watch, cause they're watching
Watch what you're watching

Better watch, cause they're watching
Watch what you're watching

Me-Me-Media
Misleading ya

Watch what you're watching

In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

2008-02-26T17:25:00.001-06:00

For your reading pleasure:

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, it has come to pass that the heavens are shut up and a drought of Biblical proportions has been visited upon the Southern United States, and

WHEREAS, the parched and dry conditions have weighed heavily upon the State of Georgia and sorely afflicted those who inhabit the Great City of Atlanta, and

WHEREAS, the leaders of Georgia have assembled like the Children of Israel in the desert, grumbled among themselves and have begun to cast longing eyes toward the north, coveting their neighbor’s assets, and

WHEREAS, the lack of water has led some misguided souls to seek more potent refreshment or for other reasons has resulted in irrational and outrageous actions seeking to move a long established and peaceful boundary, and

WHEREAS, it is deemed better to light a candle than curse the darkness, and better to offer a cool, wet kiss of friendship rather than face a hot and angry legislator gone mad from thirst, and

Whereas, it is feared that if today they come for our river, tomorrow they might come for our Jack Daniels or George Dickel,

NOW THEREFORE, In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

I Ron Littlefield, Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee,

Do hereby Proclaim that Wednesday, February 27, 2008 shall be known as

“Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day”

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_122772.asp

Live the dream

2007-10-22T08:22:00.001-05:00

2007-08-28T19:27:00.000-05:00

"Iran could conclude that we were weak and could not stop them from gaining nuclear weapons," Bush said.

"Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust," he told a veterans group in Nevada.

Time finds the Homeland

2007-08-04T18:17:00.001-05:00

The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics.

Read the whole article here.

The good news is that scientists believe they know how to save it. They want the Corps to let go of the river in strategic areas so it can get back to work building land, even if that requires rearranging navigation at the mouth of the Mississippi. They want to fill in oil and gas canals, constrict the Gulf Outlet and start pumping sediment back into ridges and barrier islands. The Corps developed $14 billion worth of Louisiana restoration plans before Katrina, but Bush scaled them back to $2 billion.

OK - so we KNOW how to fix it - why the bleppity bleep bleep aren't we?! Oh wait there it is - BUSH. I know it's not ALL his fault, but damn man. Get the hell out of the way and let the grown-ups take care of this.

Name that Republican

2007-08-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

Freedonian said...

I love how they're trying to pretend he's a "Washington Outsider". The two bit actor has never had a tougher role to play than that one.

Seventeen years as a K Street lobbyist, a term in the Senate, and time spent as Dick Noxon's mole. He could have been born with the spire on the Capitol Building hanging out of his ass and not been any more "insider" than that.

hmmm- who could it be?

Riddle me this

2007-08-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

How does this:

The legislation would roll back nearly $16 billion in tax breaks for oil companies and provide a broad array of tax incentives and other measures to spur development of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency programs. It would establish new efficiency standards for appliances and other equipment and government support for research into alternative energy such as batteries for plug-in hybrid-electric cars.

not "make "serious attempts to increase our energy security or address high energy costs"?

because Bush is a tool - of the oil industry, I mean.

excerpts from cnn.com

Sisyphus: The Jena Six update: “White tree” is now firewood

2007-08-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

Sisyphus: The Jena Six update: “White tree” is now firewood

What you talk 'bout. Fliffis?

2007-07-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

Holy Shit!

2007-07-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

President Bush will have a routine colonoscopy Saturday and temporarily hand presidential powers to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said.

Pun completely intended. Without lapsing into the obvious jokes, should we all get drunk as skunks tonight in anticipation of the coup?

I wanna move to midtown so he can be my rep!

2007-07-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

References to Gary Trudeau, Nixon, and the Nakie Emperor all in 2 minutes! My rep is gimpsac. (Thanks Michael Feldman for such a great new word!)

The more things change . . .

2007-07-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

the more they stay the same.

Meet the Jena Six:

"In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree."( from http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml)

Timeline/details of the case (from Friends of Justice)

When black students staged an impromptu protest under the tree on Wednesday, September 6, 2006, a school assembly was hastily convened. Flanked by police officers, District Attorney Reed Walters warned black students that additional unrest would be treated as a criminal matter. According to multiple witnesses, Walters warned the black student protestors that, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen." This was widely interpreted as a reference to the filing of charges carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Shortly after the lunch hour of Monday, December 4, 2006, a fight between a white student and a black student reportedly ended with the white student being knocked to the floor.Several black students reportedly attacked the white student as he lay unconscious.Because the incident took place in a crowded area and was over in a matter of seconds eye witness accounts vary widely.Written statements from students closest to the scene (in space and time) suggest that the incident was sparked by an angry exchange in the gymnasium moments before in which the black student assaulted at the Fair Barn was taunted for having his “ass whipped”.

The victim of the attack is close friends of the boys who have admitted to hanging the nooses in September of 20

Within an hour of the fight, six black students were arrested and charged with aggravated battery. According to The Jena Times, at least a dozen teachers subsequently threatened a "sick-out" if discipline was not restored to the school. According to the Alexandria Town Talk, District Attorney Reed Walters responded to the teacher's threat by upping the charges on the six boys to attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder—charges carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the "White Tree" - backstory and update of the first trial from Truthout.org

Petition to demand the intervention of the Department of Justice

Updates

But wait - there's MORE

2007-06-25T21:38:00.000-05:00

Ophelia has not gone into that sweet goodnight - just into Methodist Hospital for "chest pains."

Oh - and Jr.'s former campaign manager filed for the 9th Cong. seat today - that's some party loyalty - have a successful and dedicated, qualified rep - and piss on him.

Tellin' you - reminds me of home.

Everytime I hear the anti-immigration people speak now this is all I hear

2007-06-13T01:05:00.000-05:00

A fence today! A fence tomma! A fence foreva!

Sniff sniff - worthy of home

2007-05-22T08:50:00.000-05:00

This rant by Ophelia Ford, sister to Harold Sr., John the Corrupt and Convicted, and aunt to Jr. and Jake, is worthy of the politics of the Homeland. Enjoy.

Irrelevant? Does he know what the word means?

2007-05-20T20:39:00.000-05:00

'Carter is irrelevant,' Bush administration shoots back

(Jimmy) Carter was quoted Saturday in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as saying "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

Yep, I'll agree with that. But my favorite quote is:

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."

That pretty much sums things up nicely, I think. Without using the profanity I use when I say something similar. But yeah, vocally opposing the current administration's policies makes Carter "irrelevant". In the same millions of voters are that didn't vote for Bush, and I believe that was about half of the country, are irrelevant.

After GOP candidates came to blows over who should speak at Jerry Falwell's funeral

2007-05-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

The family e-mailed former President Bill Clinton asking him to deliver the eulogly.

His response.

any connection to Poverty Point?

2007-05-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

lookie - here, Ma! Damn aliens messed up the wheat!

(who knew they grew WHEAT in Epps?)

Guess Who's A Democrat and a woman . . .

2007-05-08T12:39:00.000-05:00

White House, Kansas governor argue over storm response

DOINK!

2007-04-30T15:32:00.001-05:00

You Are a Liberal for Life

You've got a bleeding heart - and you're proud of it.

For you, liberal means being compassionate, pro-government, and anti-business.

You believe in equality for every person, and you consider yourself universally empathetic.

Helping others is not just political for you ... it's very personal too.

What's Your Political Persuasion?

Here's some GREEN for ya'. ANN

2007-04-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

The Air Car

I've mentioned it before in some response here, but there's the offical site. I've signed up for the mailing list.... I'd love one, they are so cuuuuuuuuuute!

Power to the Little People

2007-04-24T15:56:00.000-05:00

My little peacenik is at it again. God bless the Munchkin!

Kucinich to call for Cheney impeachment

Oh, the possibilities.....

2007-04-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

In a Clinton administration, what would Bill do?

Now there's a phrase a ponder, isn't it? The mind just runs wild. ... A special office staffed by young female interns... well, that's the first thing that springs to mind.

But on a serious note, what would he do? According to the article, Hillary would like to make him "ambassador to the world", and try to repair our image in the international community. ANd I think he could do that.... oooooh, what an excuse for a string of international offices with international intern staffs...... Ooops, sorry - I digress.

So what do you think. Could the promise of Bill in wings help or hurt Hillary. I really don't see it hurting her. If anything, it makes her a little less scary to me.

Maybe I need to learn to swim

2007-04-20T22:35:00.000-05:00

Well, according to almost every scientific organization known to the planet, I really need to learn how to swim. CNN article on global sea level rise or go here USGS and click on the map for animation. Yeah, the map is a little small, but you get the point. The bad news is that most of Louisiana will be gone, but on the upside there'll be alot of waterfront land. By the end of century, levees will probably be a moot issue. I guess the alpaca ranch will have to be in the mountains after all.

Exhuming McCarthy

2007-03-19T09:29:00.001-05:00

You're beautiful more beautiful than me
You're honorable more honorable than me
Loyal to the Bank of America

It's a sign of the times
It's a sign of the times

You're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.

Vested interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize
Look who bought the myth, by jingo, buy America

It's a sign of the times
it's a sign of the times

You're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.

Enemy sighted, enemy met, I'm addressing the realpolitik
Look who bought the myth, by jingo, buy America

"Let us not assassinate this man further Senator,
you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir?
At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

We're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.

Enemy sighted, enemy met, I'm addressing the realpolitik
You've seen start and you've seen quit
(I'm addressing the table of content)
I always thought of you as quick
Exhuming McCarthy
(Meet me at the book burning)
Exhuming McCarthy
(Meet me at the book burning)

And the confessions keep comming

2007-03-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Carlos Valentine Day!

2007-02-13T23:45:00.000-06:00

Happy, happy, Carlos Valentine Day to all!

What we all learned from Molly

2007-02-04T20:47:00.000-06:00

Molly Ivins taught a whole generation of women writers the most useful trick out there, more useful, even, than faking bravery: Get the boys to laugh with you, and you stand a pretty decent chance of being taken seriously.

I love Dahlia Lithwick

At this time in our nation's history we must never forget

2007-02-01T11:36:00.000-06:00

2007-02-01T09:27:00.000-06:00

The Queen is Dead

Al Franken

2007-01-31T20:35:00.000-06:00

From cnn.com's Political Ticker

Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Source: Franken plans Senate run in Minnesota from Alexander Mooney

MINNEAPOLIS (CNN) -- Outspoken comedian and liberal radio talk show host Al Franken has told associates he plans to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in 2008, a source close to Franken said Wednesday.Franken, 55, a Democrat who grew up in the Twin Cities and moved back to the state from New York last year, announced Monday that he was leaving his radio show on the Air America network after his Feb. 14 broadcast.Franken has said previously that he was considering a bid to unseat Coleman, a moderate Republican and former St. Paul mayor who was elected to the Senate in 2002. During the 2006 midterm election, Franken's political action committee, the Midwest Values PAC, raised money for Democratic candidates across the North Star State.Franken has been a writer and performer on the NBC program "Saturday Night Live." He is also the author of several politically tinged books, including "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations."

and now, for something completely different

2007-01-31T16:41:00.000-06:00

thoughts on the "United New Orleans Plan:"

So, in other words, those of us who have shit wanna keep our shit and improve our shit without interference from those who don't have shit and never had shit and want to give us shit. But sometimes their shit is someplace else and they want to move their shit back here but that's gonna create more shit for all of us to deal with.

...and folks who have been elected to be in charge of this shit won't say shit for fear of stepping in someone else's shit. If someone wants to move back to this shit, they better bring good shit or the rest of us don't give a shit about their shit or the shit they give us. Unless it's Serious Shit, and that can (and already has) caused some Serious Shit to happen in some parts of town.

So shit -- this is good shit Jack. Thanks for going through all this shit and telling us what the shit is going on. I was just afraid it was a bunch of shit, but it's the usual shit. Some of us have shit to do and, well, we'll try to work in some of the good shit if we can.

I'm looking forward to all the Mardi Gras shit. Maybe we can get past some of the real shit if we focus on the fun shit. For a while at least.

Jan. 30th 1882

2007-01-30T09:56:00.000-06:00

A look at the future Jan 20, 2009

2007-01-20T23:15:00.000-06:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the President and Vice President

Presidents...past and future

2006-12-28T08:30:00.000-06:00

A note on the passing of President Ford... he was one of the few truely good people who has held the office in recent times. His death leaves Jimmy Carter alone carrying the banner of public service for moral good.

As for future presidents...while people are waiting and speculating on Hillary and Obama, it seems that John Edwards has offically tossed his hat in the ring today. which will muddy the waters for me if Obama runs. There is a part of me that would love Hillary to run, just to have Bill as first Husband. That would be a hoot! Somewhere, in the back of my mind, i can actually picture a Hillary-Obama ticket - and not laugh or shudder. But at any rate, I declared yhe speculation season to be open. Talley-ho!

From Monroe with love

2006-11-12T21:43:00.000-06:00

"Your ass, sir"

2006-11-11T19:01:00.000-06:00

Screw you Hollywood Beach, Fl and your public urination laws

2006-10-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

Hey, little boy, I've got some Congressional candy!

2006-09-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

Yes the same Mark Foley who serves as the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Bet he picked up quite a few leads in that position.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060929/pl_nm/usa_politics_foley_dc_1

Just had to add these, from the Heritage Baptist webpage. Would have just given the link but we know they won't be there long.

http://www.heritagebaptistpsl.com/gpage1.html

And finally, the IMs

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.

Another message:

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.

And this one:

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool."

The Saints Are Coming!

2006-09-25T23:15:00.000-05:00

Actaually, they came and went. With a revengence.
"Fans clad in gold and black strolled around the French Quarter throughout a brilliantly sunny day, ready to look forward instead of looking back at those awful scenes of suffering inside the Superdome in the days after Katrina."

I cried.

Oh - and U2/Green Day rocked! Not that I'm biased in any way. heh. heh heh.

Football watching party at the White House I'm guessing Cowboys/Giants or Jets

2006-09-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

Did he pass?

2006-09-06T00:21:00.000-05:00

Who thinks this man would have been welcomed to a "whites only" lunch counter in 1940's Mississippi?

What about this guy?

Now this guy would be given a table, right?

Guess what, they all the same cat!

So was J. Edger Hoover also a self loathing black man as well as a self loathing gay man.

http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/hoover.htm

All the King's Men

2006-09-05T19:30:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the trailer for it?

IMDB as the trailer there. Sean Penn looks more than "loosely based" on Huey.

In memorium

2006-09-04T09:51:00.000-05:00

Well, a croc didn't get him: 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin Killed by Stingray

Very sad to die so young, and leave young children. But atleast he had the opportunity to live his passion, not everyone gets that chance.

"So what China pattern is currently used in the White House?"

2006-08-31T00:35:00.000-05:00

"oh wait, I'm on the night news, let me get my I'm very serious glasses out. There, now what is on your IPod, America wants to know."

Yes CBS has scored a Bush interview for the "CBSlimmed one."

Noooooooo!!!! We need you!!!! Don't go!!!!!

2006-08-29T12:43:00.000-05:00

Guess it's back to the dead hick in Aruba.

WTF?!

2006-08-29T10:53:00.000-05:00

NOW?! NOW he's calling the Repugs on Ohio?

Kerry alleges misconduct in 2004 Ohio vot

Dude - you ain't getting another shot. You blew a sure thing. Step aside gracefully.

Legislating Sin?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

2006-08-28T13:30:00.000-05:00

Oh, cricky moses! can someone pass me a pail to vomit in?

Rep. Harris: Church-state separation 'a lie'

"If you aren't electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin"

"Harris' campaign released a statement Saturday saying she had been "speaking to a Christian audience, addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government."

If I might address that last comment. I don't know anyone who is lumbered by the idea that "people of faith" should not be actively involved in government. I think most reasonable intelligent people understand that idea of "seperation of church and state" does not mean a religious person should not be actively involved in government. It means that religious people should not legisilate their religion. It was intent of the founding fathers - most of who where deitiest, btw - not to start another Theocrisy.... something about the persecution at the hands of Cromwell and all that puritan rable, as I recall.

Good Lord, she just makes me phycially ill.

Mothers and Daughters

2006-08-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

Not pretty enough for the media to cover their deaths?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/21/201719/923

2006-08-21T13:41:00.000-05:00

Fort Worth Zoo pictures up

2006-08-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

These are from late July, Sunday afternoon at the zoo with 100 temp

http://rgbolen.blogspot.com/

EWE told us

2006-08-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Salon points out where voters are going to be denied the right to vote. In days past your local political machine would have taken care of all these problems for you, but no, those are bad and breed corruption. Can't have that.

Edwin told us, "You really don't want 'good government,' you want 'pretty good government.'"

http://salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/15/states

Polk Salad Annie

2006-08-11T11:47:00.000-05:00

ahhh that's what pokeweed is. I have some in the back under the pines. hmmm - maybe for supper tonight?

TSA announces new head of security!

2006-08-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

Did you know . . .

2006-08-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

kudzu is edible? Yep. Alton Brown ate some on his new show, Feasting on Asphalt. (He's cruising all over eating road food. hey - kudzu and roadsides are synonymous in the South are they not?) He did warn about pesticides, though.

Oh - do y'all like the new color scheme? I thought it was more collarddy than the tan and blue.

Mullet wearing freaks

2006-08-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

Oh, freakshow today. We have as many New Yorkers and New Jerseaineans as any apartment complex in North Dallas but today a mullet wearing idiot pulled up beside me at the exit to Belt Line, old rusted Trans Am and all. I could hear the music before I saw the car. I'm sure if I had the window down I could have smelled him before seeing him too.

I cracked the window and a free concert was mine. To quote and this was at full scream, "I gots da double visions!" I put the window back up and as he pulled out, of course the tags on the "TeeA" were from Louisiana.

Will the real president from Texas please stand up?

2006-08-10T14:34:00.000-05:00

Scroll down to "You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company."

I knew I liked LBJ for a reason.

Just to let everyone know I have not been out of the counrty lately

2006-07-31T21:27:00.000-05:00

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castrounderwent surgery for intestinal bleeding and delegated power provisionally to his younger brother Raul, the Cuban leader said in a statement read out on state television on Monday by an aide.

Castro, who turns 80 on August 13 and has led Cuba since a 1959 revolution, delegated his posts as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party, commander in chief of the armed forces and president of the executive council of state to Raul Castro, his brother and designated successor.

link

Highway to Hell

2006-07-30T09:49:00.000-05:00

Only drunks and children tell the truth:
Gibson's Anti-Semitic Tirade

Humm, wonder where they learned their neat little salute

2006-07-25T00:07:00.000-05:00

I can't wait for this to come out

2006-07-23T17:21:00.000-05:00

res ipsa loquitur

2006-07-21T08:56:00.000-05:00

Darwin Finches aren't Christian

2006-07-19T17:40:00.000-05:00

The headline reads "Finches named for Darwin are evolving". But surely this can not be, since we all know that evolution was lie developed by liberal democrats to increase Satan's minions. Evidently, we need to get some missionaries down there, and explain to these finches that their biological process aren't in the Bible so they can't be happening, and that the Devil must have caused the drought that got the everything kick- started. Those poor birds... doomed to hell fire for all eternity because individual variation and random mutation allowed them to exploit a niche which gave them a leg-up at the seed buffet. Surely that must the work of the Devil, since God could not concoct such a devious plan.

Everyone, outside of this room, knows about it.

2006-07-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

I had to borrow Dr. C's line...for one thing, it actually fits in the Title... And for another thing, This is about one of the most important archealogical sites in North America - that hardly anyone in Louisiana knows about, Poverty Point. The NewsStar had a story about some new research going on there. They are trying to lock down the construction time line. An archeologist believes that the site was started about 2000 years before commonly accepted. Which would make it contemporary - more or less - with other mound building cultures in North America - like Frenchman's Bend. Oh, for anyone reading this (other than Ann ;) ) who is not familar with Poverty Point here what my friends at Wikipedia have to tell you.

I have always been appalled at the lack of knowledge, or even apathy, about the site in Louisiana. I agree with the person in the NewsStar article that said something to the effect of if the site had been made of stone, and not earth, there would be more interest. Earthworks just doesn't sound has "sexy" as "ancent stone pyramid". But if you've ever been to the site, the scale of it is amazing. And yeah, if it had been stone, it would have been f---ing incredibile. Especially since Louisiana doesn't have any large stones.... we got ya' covered on clay, mud, and trees.... but we don't do rock.

Aside from the actual construction, is the size of trade area covered. It would have been basically the area drained by the Mississippi River. I've been there a couple of times, and they evidence of trade goods from the Great Lake Region to the Appalachians. Pretty darned impressive, considering that it would have been around 2000 years before Christ.

As I recall (and this is based on my memory of what the guides had to say) there has also been some evidence that points to trade which central american cultures. It's not outside the realm of possiblity that large dugout canoes could have skirted the Gulf and made it up various estuaries and river systems. This would have brought not only an exchange of trade goods, but of culture and ideas.

So, there sits Poverty Point, the first great city of North America in an old cotton Plantation in North Louisiana. A center of trade for what is now the continental U.S.... The New York or Paris of its day. And the vast majority of the population has no knowledge or no interest in it.

Da Shiz-net

2006-07-18T14:53:00.000-05:00

"Hezbollah is up to some shit. Syria, which equips Hezbollah and was involved in the assassination of Lebanon's prime minister, does need to stop that shit. Whether Israel would really end its shit if Hezbollah halts its shit is a matter open to debate," John Dickerson, Good Shit: Why Bush should swear more

now that's some political analysis.

And now for something completely different

2006-07-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

Do you remember where you were in May '91? Chances were you were wading through water, wondering why NLU hadn't cancelled classes. The NewsStar posted 3 galleries of pictures of the 1991 Flood. Click Me!

I was sandbagging down on Teakwood Drive, and filling sand bags in the parking lot of some store somewhere. Ah, the memories.... Like Dan Rather standing on the I-20 bridge over the Ouachita trying to pronounce "ouachita". I believe it came out "O - ah -chee - tah".

2006-07-16T02:15:00.000-05:00

Just couldnt go without it huh?.......I know how it is .....chicks get like this all the time with me.........been like that since back in 98 when I won Mr Universe.......that was an exciting time......but unfortunatly that was back when I was unnatural and on the juice.....and everyone knows when you are on the juice you dont have much use for your tesities.......so......it was a double edged sword. I was attracting all the ladies.....but due to the overuse of steroids I had no use for them and just played tecmo bowl on the ole Nintendo for entertainment..........and...before you ask.....I know what your thinking.....just how does a guy that has to train to be mr universe have time to play Nintendo. I call it multitasking. See I had tv's set up in all corners of my gym.....(yeah....I used to own a gym back in the 90's) and all of the tv's were hooked up to a single RCA feed coming directly from my Nintendo. and....also....before you ask this.....why was he playing Nintedo when they went out of style years before that and Playsation 1 and 2 had come out......Simple......my hands and fingers were so strong....the new technology was outdated and to brittle for my masive streangth........so ....I had to use the aftermarket joystick that I could get for the Nintendo and use it. But the one byproduct of playing tecmo so much was my left hand curled in and made it looke like I was making a fist all the time......I credit this with my win of Mr Universe cause it actually made me flex my deltoids and bicep at all times making me look flexed even when not flexed.....the judges took note.....and here I am today......Mr Universe 1998.........I actually got a deal to endorse Nintendo Game Cube after my win.......but to demonstrate the use of the game I had to lose quite a bit of bulk just to be able to handle the small and delicate controler........in the process I looked less and less like the Mr Universe physique that I had attained just a couple years before......this caused me to lose my deal with Nintendo cause they couldnt market a girly man as the nice Japanses man in his $5000 suite told me in the meeting we had in Joliet, Illinois in the fall of 2000. This cause untold financial difficulty and stress right after that cause I had planned out my future on the $1700 that I was planning on reaping from them that next year. I then fell into a dark place that I dont want to talk about right now.....to many demons.....to many late nights sitting in a cheap hotel room with whatever bottle of cheap cola I could get my hands on.........I almost lost my sanity. But then I came out of it with the help of Bob Barker.....thats right....Bob Barker......I was watching this show one day....called the price is right. Interesting television that show......well anyway....I saw it.....feel in love with the goods and services they were providing random people in the audiance....and knew that was the key to me making a come back. I hitch hiked all the way to Burbank , Ca and got sold some plasma to have enough cash to get in......and wouldnt you know it.....I got called down.........SAM BOLEN...........COME ON DOWN.......you know the rest of it.....well.......I corectly guessed the price of a ceramic wall clock and bam......I am looking at a nice Dewalt home tool set............a grandfather clock .....and a bark-a-lounger...........I correctly picked with coconut shell had the rubber ball under it....and damn.......I am spinning the wheel........I spun it and wound up with .75 cents.....(never saw that money) Made it to the showcase show down......and of course there is a silver haird lady that had won a freaking Chevrolet Cavalier on with me....so she got the chance to pass on the first show case......So I am bidding on 2 lazy boys and pool table and a trip to Del Bocca Vista Florida........I won........cause I am that damn good. Any way. I get down to Del Boca Vista and sell the dewalts to a 80 year old retire of the Ford Motor company from Flint Michigan who's name was Fredy.....I like to call him Steady Fredy....cause this guy can drink a fifth of Jim Beam and chase it with a can of Ensure and walk straight as a arrow all the way to his hover round and like a flash....he is gone......well......Steady Fredy said he has some friends in the teamsters that are needing some stuff moved......you know......."moved".....well......Fredy give me an address in Fort Lauderdale.....I go.....get in a 1985 Caddilac Deville....and drive that sucker to Philielphia......park and the local Denny's and meet up with a large man in a black leather coat......he gives me a paper sack that in it contains $1700...........I'm back baby...............I invest it in my phone chat service where for 45 cents a minute folks can listen to me talk about how great I was back in 98 as Mr Universe.............and here I am today...........see ....thats why you like my voice......Thank you Bob Barker............your tha man!!!!!

The Mideast Death Dance

2006-07-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Given this is from a Lebanese editor, his points are still salient, although I think he downplays the terrorist aspects of Hamas and Hezbollah too much.

from Salon:
The Mideast death dance

Hamas and Hezbollah, Lebanon and Palestine, Syria and Iran, the U.S. and Israel: Unless these four pairs of actors turn away from their failed policies, the Middle East will sink further into violence and despair.

By Rami G. Khouri

July 15, 2006 | You need to understand the relationship among four pairs of actors to grasp the meaning of the escalating attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel in recent days. The four pairs are Hamas and Hezbollah; the Palestinian and Lebanese governments; Syria and Iran; and Israel and the United States.

Simplistically, President George W. Bush has depicted this latest round of war as a clash between good and evil, while the Israeli government has tried to blame Palestinians and Lebanese who only want to make war against a peace-loving Israel. The more nuanced and complex reality is that, collectively, these four pairs of actors play roles in the ongoing fighting, as we witness the culmination of four decades of failed policies that have kept the Middle East tense, angry and violent.

Hezbollah and Hamas emerged in the past decade as the main Arab political forces that resist the Israeli occupations in Lebanon and Palestine. They enjoy substantial popular support in their respective countries, while at the same time eliciting criticisms for their militant policies that inevitably draw harsh Israeli responses. We see this in Lebanon today as the Lebanese people broadly direct their anger at Israel for its brutal attacks against Lebanese civilian installations and fault Palestinians, other Arabs, Syria and Iran for perpetually making Lebanon the battleground for other conflicts -- but more softly question Hezbollah's decision to trigger this latest calamity.

It is no coincidence that Israel is now simultaneously bombing and destroying the civilian infrastructure in Palestine and Lebanon, including airports, bridges, roads, power plants, and government offices. It claims to do this in order to stop terror attacks against Israelis, but in fact the past four decades have shown that its policies generate exactly the opposite effect: They have given birth, power, credibility and now political incumbency to the Hamas and Hezbollah groups whose raison d'être has been to fight the Israeli occupation of their lands. Israeli destruction of normal life for Palestinians and Lebanese also results in the destruction of the credibility, efficacy and, in some cases, the legitimacy of routine government systems, making the Lebanese and Palestinian governments key actors in current events -- or non-actors in most cases.

The Lebanese and Palestinians have responded to Israel's persistent and increasingly savage attacks against entire civilian populations by creating parallel or alternative leaderships that can protect them and deliver essential services. With every new Israeli attack against the Hamas and Hezbollah leadership or the civilian populations, four important things happen, and will probably happen during this round of war: The Lebanese and Palestinian governments lose power and impact; Hamas and Hezbollah garner greater popular support, which enhances their effectiveness in guerrilla and resistance warfare; they expand their military technical capabilities (mainly longer-range missiles and better improvised explosive devices); and the anti-Israel, anti-U.S. resistance campaign led by Hamas and Hezbollah generates widespread political and popular support throughout the Middle East and much of the world.

This is linked to the third pair of actors, Syria and Iran, who have carefully and patiently positioned themselves as allies, patrons, hosts, financiers, armorers and ideological brothers of Hamas and Hezbollah. While these two Islamist groups are primarily driven by local resistance to Israel, and are Palestinian and Lebanese in their basic identity, they both play important roles in the foreign policies of Iran and Syria. We now witness strong convergence between two parallel but linked trends: The sovereign state actors, Iran and Syria, are fighting deadly political battles against Israel, the United States and, increasingly, Europe, while Hamas and Hezbollah fight similar battles against the same foes. It makes eminent sense, from the perspective of Damascus and Tehran, to foment greater troubles now for the United States and Israel along the Lebanon-Israel border. This is an opportune time to strike because Israel is deeply perplexed about how to handle Hamas' resistance in Palestine, and the United States seems unable to offer any policy other than to support Israel's right to defend itself while withholding the same right from Lebanese and Palestinian civilians.

The fourth pair of actors, the United States and Israel, find themselves in the bizarre position of repeating policies that have consistently failed for the past 40 years. Israel has this to show for its track record of being tough: It is now surrounded by two robust Islamist resistance movements with greater striking power and popular support; Arab populations around the region that increasingly vote for Islamist political movements whenever elections are held; immobilized and virtually irrelevant Arab governments in many nearby lands; and determined, increasingly defiant, ideological foes in Tehran and Damascus who do not hesitate to use all weapons at their means however damaging these may be to civilians and sovereignty in Lebanon and Palestine.

The United States for its part is strangely marginal. Its chosen policies have lined it up squarely with Israel. It has sanctioned and thus cannot even talk to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, and it has pressured and threatened Syria for years without any real success. The world's sole superpower is peculiarly powerless in the current crisis in the Middle East.

As long as these four pairs of main actors persist in their intemperate policies, the consequences will remain grim. The way to break this cycle is for all actors to negotiate a political solution that responds to their legitimate grievances and demands. Everyone involved seems prepared to do this, except for Israel and the United States, who rely on military force, prolonged occupations, and diplomatic sanctions and threats. What will Israel and the United States do when there are no more Arab airports, bridges and power stations to destroy? The futility of such policies should be clear by now, and therefore a diplomatic solution should be sought seriously for the first time.

Copyright © 2006 Rami G. Khouri / Agence Global
Rami G. Khouri is editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune.

Eve of Desctruction

2006-07-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

This a great line from a fairly decent article:

"A powerful country doesn't always need allies to get a job done—but it does need them to get a job done with legitimacy."

I'd go off - buy we all agree here on this issue. I'll get a few beers in and then wax poetic. I just want to go slap the hell of of all of them - Dick, Rummy, Condi, Hammas, Hezbollah, Israel, Super Kim - the whole crew. This is going to be one long hot summer (which technically won't end until September 20 - Jesus.) I don't think there is enough of fermented hops and barley to see me through this - my anxiety level was already high because of personal stuff (like a dissertation and mounting student loan debt) now the whole freakin' world is going to implode.

I've always hated July.

oh - Happy Bastille Day.

Most Americans plan to vote for Democrats

2006-07-14T07:25:00.000-05:00

Although I must preface this by saying that the group sampled was only 1000 people. And I do so appreciate how easily that statistics can be sequed. But this AP Article - if the poll is accurate - brings up 2 points. Why do the Republican have their heads up the bums so far that they don't notice things like this. And will the Dems be able to remove their heads from their bums and actually capitalize on this.

I believe that most anyone - and by anyone I mean any non-politican with active brain cells - can tell you that people aren't happy with the government right now. But yet the parties seem unable to figure this out and absolutely impotent when it comes to doing something about it.

A plan for 2008

2006-07-14T00:34:00.000-05:00

A plan for all out chaos, fistfights at dinner tables, people vomiting in the streets, and a lot of fun.

Here goes.

Hillary sits out the Democratic primaries. The Democrats and Republicans nominate their candidates, say, maybe Bill Frist and Mark Warner. Just picking two of them. Then Hillary and Newt Gingrich both announce that their respective parties have "sold out" or whatever and both run independent campaigns.

Could make for some wild debates, complete with Ross Perot banging on the door screaming "Let me in, Let me in, Larry!"

Israel to Lebanese cities: Get the fuck out!

2006-07-13T22:07:00.000-05:00

I think they are following the advice.

Well, I guess I'll scrub the Mid-East vacation for now

2006-07-13T20:13:00.000-05:00

To quote cnn.com "Major Escelation". Here's the newest story on Israel vs Lebannon . And here's one on the UN Security council vote. Is it any wonder why the U.S. would veto it? For once, we are being consistant. We can't very well condemn them for we have, and are, doing in Iraq. Bush said that Isreal has the right to defend its borders. Again, consistency --- except for the quote from one story at cnn where Bush added that they should do stuff that would destabilize the Lebanese Government. It's a shame he wasn't that insightful a couple of years ago. But that's neither here nor there.

So, great. He we sit with Isreal determined to bomb Lebannon off the map...Lebannon has said that they don't have the resources to intervene with the Hezzbollah (and the US seconded them on that point actually)... To which Isreal seems to be saying "that's not our problem". While Syria and Iran wait on the sidelines.... sigh. Why do I have this horrible feeling that we might get a definitive answer on the question of what exactly has Iran been using the nuclear material for.

Of course, there is another senario. It's out of a bad movie though. What if North Korea decides to take this opportunity - while no one is looking - To test a missle with a payload. Kim Jong Ill is a little nuts... it doesn't seem to far outside the realm of possiblity to me.

Sigh.... I blame it on global warming. People always go crazy in the heat.

Shout At the Devil!

2006-07-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

Valerie Plame is suing Cheney, Libby and Rove in a civil siut! Holy Crike'! I'll post links as they come out!

Mr. Roboto

2006-07-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

This is sooooo funny

The joys of prohibition

2006-07-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

"Prohibition didn't work for alcohol. It won't work for gambling." - Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts

Okay, I know there are bigger issues in the world than internet poker, but this does hit a little close to home for me. House passes online gambling restrictions I know it's not a done deal, but it depends on what the Senate's mood is.

I understand gambling is a problem for many people. But is it up to the government to legislate selfcontrol? And if you believe that it is at some level, how intrusive do you feel the government should be? Should it be allowed to block internet sites? If they are going to block sites, then why don't they block child porn sites? Maybe because some politicans need a good sound byte and they know that smut sites hide, and that the reputable online gambling sites operate out in the open. I'm not real excited about some of the parts of the bill, or atleast the proposed bill, that didn't make it to the article. The part where the government would be requesting banking recordings and other things like that... The article eludes to it when it talks about using "credit cards" to lose lots of money. I'm not real happy with the government telling me what I can't spend my money on.

I know that I have a baised opinion on this. Even though if Brian does well at the WSOP he'll be playing more live games. He's not all that enamoured of online games sinces it's hard to read pixel players. But still.... I think it would bother me even without that. I still think they sould regulate it, and thus earn money off it, instead of do away with it.

And your mother smells of elderberries

2006-07-11T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is what a lipreader says the Itlaian, Materazzi, said to provoke Zidane (who wasborn in Marseilles, but to Algerian immigrant parents) into the infamous headbutt:

Hold on, wait, that one's not for a nigger like you.

We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore.

So just fuck off.

(source: http://www.kottke.org/06/07/the-zidane-headbutt)

ummm- so although I hate that France lost, I don't think I would have held back either, given the racial tension in France lately.

Oh, and Materazzi has not denied that's what he said.

Keep your eyes on the ball, kids

2006-07-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

I'm sure this is what they meant all along right?

Detainess entitled to Geneva Protections

"It's not really a reversal of policy," Snow asserted.

yeah right - and I'm a supermodel.

Rock me like a hurricaine

2006-07-10T19:06:00.000-05:00

This one is is worth watching: it could set a precedent for collection of insurance damages not just for Katrina, but for all future hurricaines. It could also reak havoc in the insurance industry - I predict the federal judge makes limited ruling a la Bush v. Gore (in a Foghorn Leghorn voice): "This is non-binding for the future, sons, but you need to pay reasonable, I said reasonable, damages, I stress this is a special circumstance and should not be construed, I said construed, as representing a carte blanche to retroactively rewrite contracts willy-nilly. You also need to educate your sales reps about the limitations of the policies and make your wording about water damges more explicit, you chicken hawks."

On a parrallel tangent - apparently earthquake insurance is going up in the Memphis area. Makes me want to invest in Alcoa as well, Roy - no wait, they're terrible about EPA regs and cleanup. Never mind - maybe Reynolds Wrap?

A.

The Snipe Hunts at Dawn

2006-07-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

Ken Lay dies in Aspen.

Within days, Colin Powell takes ill while eating with Clinton (of all people) while in Aspen.

Coincidence?

Or is Cheney TCBing?

Pandering to their Euro customers

2006-07-07T00:55:00.000-05:00

This is the Sony PlayStation Portable billboard running in Europe. With the title "White is Comming!" to promote PSP's with white casings. Guess it's good advertising for a place where fans throw bananas at their own black soccer players. They didn't allow people to bring bananas to the games at the World Cup.

Bush Cuts and Runs

2006-07-04T23:43:00.000-05:00

on Osama

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060704/ts_nm/security_cia_dc_2

400,000 vote lead with less than 4% uncounted Calderon Wins!

2006-07-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

And much to his credit Lopez Obrador has backed off his statements from last night saying he will accept the outcome and helped to ease fears of civil unrest, very statesmanlike.

WTF!!! Is this Florida or Mexico? Fox calling for calm

2006-07-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

IFE has declared the election too close to call and will start a manual recount starting on Wed! Hopefully Fox will close the market, the idea of two days with the chance of Lopez Obrador and there will be nothing left of the IPC.

Long night ahead in Mexico!

2006-07-02T22:52:00.000-05:00

With 24.3 % in

Calderon, PAN 38.7%

Lopez Obrador, PRD 35.6%

Madrazo, PRI 19%

others 9%

Some pictures from Cuba

2006-07-02T01:48:00.000-05:00

Post-Castro Cuba

2006-07-01T00:48:00.000-05:00

JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ-UUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The friggin' gall! And some people wonder why other countries don't like the US or won't trust the US. Here's the story from cnn: Report: Get ready for post-Castro Cuba

So, apparently someone in the admisitration has spotted buzzards over Havanna and figures that they must have some inside info about Fidel. This triggers a report which says, and I paraphrase, that when Fidel croaks the US should be ready to swoop in and save the place by making it a democrasy. (since we've had such recent success with installing Democrasy throughout the world)

Of all the nerve... of all the gall... which just can't be content with sweeping our own porch (and there is more than enough dirt here to keep us busy). We have to make plans to go screw with another nation. WE haven't finished screwing up the middle east yet.

I know that a nation has to be concerned with it's own well being, there for we sould be concerned about what we should do when Fidel falls off his perch. Yes, there very well could be a power-vacuum created there and that could cause all kinds of problems. I'm not naive enough to think that our goverment isn't going to have a plan in it's ownself interest. But jeepers, do they have to release/leak it? My god, I already picture Bush wearing a Napolean hat writting "mine" in crayon on a globe. I'm sure this report will do alot to help the US image abroad, and help ease tensions between the US and Cuba. Yeah, right.... it's like someone said "gee, what can we do to make sure that Cuba is on DefCom9 when(if) Castro dies?.... I know! Lets let the people there know that has soon as he dies, the US will charge in on a white horse and save them from themselves."

I don't know.... maybe Bush really wants to save Cuba from Fidel's neice. Social liberals are universal dangers after all.

It's not that I think Fidel is a great person or a great leader. I'm not Cuban, and I don't live in Cuba, so I'm not really a person to judge that. What concerns me it that the US has this elitist, imperial attitude that WE know best for the rest of the world, and it is up to us to fix things. It's one thing if a country asks us to step in. It's a whole other beastie if we assume that the people will want us to simple because we are so wonderful. How often is that a person becomes what they hate with out really noticing it? Is democrasy truely democrasy if it forced on people? It's all very well and good to say that the ends justify the means if it is in the best interests of "the people". But was that ever a principle of the founding fathers of this nation?

Bench Slapped

2006-06-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

Bench Slapped - review of major newspaper coverage of the SCOTUS rebuke of presidential over-reaching (I love that title!)

Here are some excerpts from some nice writeups on the Hamdan decision:

"Secrecy for its own sake, arrogation of power for its own sake, is not a sufficient executive argument." and "The administration isn't really asking for constitutional blank checks. Why should it, when the president thinks he has his own constitutional Swiss bank account?" - Dahlia Lithwick on Slate (she's my fave SCOTUS analyst. The fact that I have a fave -well, that's just sad, I know)

"This administration has taken the astounding position that if the president has "inherent authority" to do and act whenever Congress is silent, then it follows that any act of Congress that regulates such an authority is an invalid impingement on his "inherent power." This conflation of what a president can do if no law prohibits his action and what he can when the law forbids it is a truly insidious legal doctrine." - Walter Dellinger

"What the Court has done, rather is use the democratic process as a lever to discipline and constrain the President's possible overreaching. Given this Administration's history, that's not necessarily a bad thing." - Balkinization

"Moreover, in the eyes of the world, this decision by his hand-picked Supreme Court simply makes Bush look more and more like the little American Dictator he really is." - Hoffmania.com

On a down note, most reports are now saying that Roberts would have backed the gubmnet - but I'm going to double-check that. (googling) Shit - the bastard is not the level-headed guy I thought he was. At least he recused himself - that's somewhat redeeming. Even if he had participated, the shrub still would've gone down in flames.

Oh Loren - Unlce Tom read his dissent to "show his strong disapproval of the decision." whatever.

Let History Judge?

2006-06-30T07:17:00.000-05:00

Bush wants history to judge his presidency. Sorry but I know the outcome of that if it is judged correctly. The failure to capture Bin Laden, everything else should be a side note for their speciality. Easy if you look at history, Linclon won the civil war, saved the Union. The constutititonal issues are a side note.

Holy Crike!

2006-06-29T09:33:00.000-05:00

SCOTUS tells him no! My my this is not working out the way Shrub intended at all. heh heh And his ace in the hole, John Boy, didn't participate because he heard the case on the appeals court last year - where he voted against the administration - so this was was very, very very sharp rebuke - essentially 6-3(counting Roberts).

I'll post excerpts of the opinion as they are released - I bet John Paul Stevens or Ginsburg wrote it. And I'd wager a $1 that Thomas, Scalia, and Alito sided with the government.

This is huge - if the admin defies the Supreme Court and keeps Guantanamo prisoners in cognito and refuses to implement habeus corpus, which I think is essentially what the justices will nail them on, that and a breach of seperation of powers - that's coup d'etat - at least the beginning of one. We'll see how much Shrub respects the Constitution won't we. If he defies them - man, there will be some pissed off conservatives - and I think that Roberts is actually extremely able as a jurist and will have no problem coming down like a hammer on the admin is it comes to that.

oooh - I love Constitutional law! I wonder what Paula thinks.

UPDATE I was right - Stevens wrote the majority and the three stooges dissented.

Stevens: "The military commission at issue is not expressly authorized by any congressional act . . . [the tribunals] must be understood to incorporate at least the barest of those trial protections that have been recognized by customary international law. . . . In undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the executive (Bush) is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction."

Bush's response: "To the extent there is latitude to work with the Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give people their day in court, we will do so."

Cuba back on the horizon

2006-06-29T00:57:00.000-05:00

I know you all remember my and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s plan to enter Cuba, string up and gut Castro on the Havana fishing docks and rule the island as “White Gods” for life. Well turns out Tray has started making contact with me through back channels lately. Seems he wants to implement our plan in the near future. I don’t know what his fears are but he seems hell bent on securing a nation of our own for his operations.

I’ve tried to tell him that we will need more than just us to successfully take over a country but he seems convinced we can do it. Appears from the nude pictures he has sent he has been working out, I don’t know if it was his intention to prove to me that he is in shape for the mission or if he just sends them with every message. Trips does have some nice bearskin rugs by the way. He seemed to like the idea of using some of them as decorations for the presidential palace, along with the crushed velvet tiger piece I recently acquired. It is quite a piece of work, ahh, the detail in the whiskers. Should our plan work it will be the focal point of the art in the palace.

I have thought about the “dictator problem” in Cuba. It is my plan to bribe the people. We will give some money to Americans that owned land, not much, just enough to get the US government off our backs. Then we will simply cook the books at the state run casinos, and give the people some of the slimmed down profits. Tray has completely balked at sharing any of his gun running money, but there should be plenty from the casinos, not to mention all the kickbacks as the casinos and resorts are built.

So as of tonight the plan is to move forward but I am still trying to convince Tray we need more people, just a few. But he just about has me convinced we can do it on our own and save the money we would have to pay the mercenaries, greedy fucker.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2006-06-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

Man - FEMA trailer manufacturers are in high cotton this year. I feel sorry for these people - at least in LA you know what to do, and not do, in these sutiations. I'm not sending any money to the Red Cross, though. They're getting what they deserve for living in a flash flood zone. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

60 Minute Man

2006-06-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

"I'd rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep."
-- Sen. Joe Biden, on the idea of being president

Apparantly conservatives don't watch HGTV

2006-06-27T01:09:00.000-05:00

Actually, it was Brian that noticed this. He was wondering when someone was going to crack down on HGTV. See, we just finished watching an eppy of International House Hunters and it featured a Swedish Lesbian couple. Which goes to the point that HGTV probably has more everyday type gay couples than any other channel. And SURELY this can't be allowed to continue. HGTV will subtly corupt the morals of the nation!

Check it out, I won something!

2006-06-27T00:40:00.000-05:00

Hey Roy!

Congratulations! You 're the winner* of a Custom New Zealand Lambskin SUPERMAN Returns^TM Jacket in the Frito Lay “You Could Win an American Adventure” Instant Win Game!

Your prize will be awarded immediately upon verification and should arrive no later than ten (10) weeks after the conclusion of the instant win game.

Final claim verification is subject to the validation of the random number generator's digitally encoded audit log.

Thanks for playing Superman's American Adventure!

*all winners are subject to verification.