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Fresh Wind Journal
freshwind.easyjournal.com
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Austin,
TX
United States
Insightful, often sardonic musings on politics, life, and whatever.
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7.1.2008
Bloodsuckers. Preying on their own kind.
Now, the following item may not keep some people from actually VOTING for Republicans, but it SHOULD make them think twice before sending them any money.
Seems there’s this outfit called BMW Direct (BMW doesn’t stand for nothin’ - just ... BMW). They’ve raised OODLES of money for GOP congressional candidates in various parts of the country, all of them pretty much lost causes. $700,000 for Charles Morse to oppose Massachusetts liberal, Barney Frank (Morse got a whole 145 votes!). For his part, Morse says he only got, maybe, $30,000.
This year, they’ve raised $1.7 million in support of Deborah Honeycutt (R-GA) who lost to Democrat David Scott in 2006 by 38%, but is running against him again. Campaign reports show she’s spent all but $200,000 of that money. But Honeycutt has seen less than $17,000 of it.
These are but two of apparently many examples. Where HAS all that money GONE?
Why, it’s gone back to BMW and it’s “business partners," of course, who, we can only assume, have used it to support a lifestyle commensurate with being “uppuh crust” GOP supporters. Apparently, their business model calls for them to keep 96% of their collections to cover “expenses.” Good work, if’n you can get it.
Well, there is some – however scant – comfort in knowing that these Bush administration-enabled vultures - like Halliburton, KBR, Enron, WorldCom, Bear Stearns, etc. - are not feeding solely on the great unwashed among us, but are cannibalizing their own, as well.
Got no issue? No problem. Make one up!
Quiz time. What’s the difference between this:
Our soccer team manager is a great guy. We all appreciate the great job he’s done for the club. He collects the money, pays the fees, posts the schedule, organizes the players, and – most importantly – brings the beer. But this in no way qualifies him to be coach of the men’s national team. He’s never had to lead a team in a game above the recreational level and, frankly, he doesn’t have the knowledge and understanding of the game required to compete at that level.
And this:
[John McCain] is a true hero to me. I honor his service to the country. [But] The truth is that, in national security terms, he's largely untested and untried. He's never been responsible for policy formulation. He's never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff.
Both are fair and accurate assessments. But if anyone had uttered the first one, neither I nor my family or friends would disagree, much less make an issue of it. After Wesley Clark made the second statement in a nationally televised interview, however, if you hadn’t seen the piece, you’d think he’d said McCain was a coward who ate his own children and was a closet Muslim for all the vitriol that spewed forth from the right-wing attack machine.
For the record, Clark essentially said that McCain was a great soldier and an American hero, but that in and of itself does not qualify him to be president. In fact, many of his words and actions over the last 20 years render his fitness for the highest office seriously questionable.
Like I said, fair and accurate. Now, can we talk about some REAL issue?
6.28.2008
Who's Looking Out For You?
I don’t have to tell you that gas is $4/gallon. I PROBABLY don’t need to tell you the stock market is down almost 500 points in the last two days. Home prices are in free fall, inflation and unemployment are up, and we’ve already had more 100-degree days in my neck o' the woods this year than any year in recorded history to this date. And what-EVER you believe about the Iraq Beautification Project, the sad fact is we’re STILL pissing $15 billion/month down that rat hole with not a hell of a lot to show for it, save 25,000-30,000 Purple Hearts.
But FEAR NOT! Your Republicans in Congress are still working their butts off to protect you, the public, from the most insidious threats to your physical, economic, and, of course, moral well-being. In response to all this chaos, trepidation and tumult, they have introduced – yes, again – a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to protect you from the menacing malediction of … gay marriage.
Now, the fact that ten senators – all Republicans – would squander the precious agenda space of the government that’s supposed to do something about the REAL problems facing us all is ludicrous enough, on its own. But a close look at a couple of the bill’s sponsors reveals just how truly laughable this whole charade is. In addition to the “usual suspects” (morality police Brownback, Inhofe, Thune), we also have THESE gems:
Exhibit A: David Vitter (R-LA), best known for listing his HOME PHONE NUMBER with notorious “Washington D.C. Madam” (and suicide victim), Deborah Jeane Palfrey.
Exhibit B: Larry Craig (R-ID), yes, THAT Larry Craig, who garnered national fame for pleading guilty to charges related to soliciting a male police officer for sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room (but he’s NOT GAY!). Yeah, and William Jefferson is not a crook.
Wow. Family values, indeed.
Hey, morons! That was LAST week's total bullshit!
If you can count yourself among those who still buy the fear-mongering canard that the cure for $4 gas is simply ANWR and offshore drilling, consider this: About three weeks ago, Vice Decider Dick Cheney got right-wing talkers to howling about “tree-huggers” and “enviro-facists” when he claimed that the Chinese were already drilling on the U.S. outer continental shelf, just 60 miles off the Florida coast. The story was total bullshit, of course, and Cheney was forced to admit so in news items that appeared a week later.
Two weeks hence, not one, not two, but THREE Republican congressmen – who apparently get their news from the same source as the average trailer park denizen - are STILL repeating the story as if it were gospel.
One of these is Virgil Goode (R-VA). You may remember him as the guy who ungraciously derided congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) for taking his oath of office using a Koran instead of a bible (he’s a MUSLIM for Christ’s sake!), claimed that anti-war protests would lead to “In Muhammad we trust” on U.S. currency, and wanted to drastically curtail or eliminate immigration from “non-European countries.”
Another was “Mean Jean” Schmidt (R-OH), also known for calling decorated Marine Vietnam vet and fellow congressman Jack Murtha a coward on the House floor for advocating withdrawal from Iraq and absurdly accusing her Democratic opponent, Dr. Victoria Wuslin, of participating in “grotesque medical experiments on human guinea pigs.”
The third, Sam Graves (R-MO), aside from accusing his Democratic opponent of the heinous offense of “sharing San Francisco values,” is otherwise best known for a $273,000 federal earmark he helped secure to “curb Gothic subculture” in Blue Springs, MO. Now THERE'S some tax money well spent!
Where DOES the GOP find these people, and why would anyone in their right mind actually want to see them in public office?
5.14.2008
News & Comment. Mostly Comment.
HILLARY PUMMELS OBAMA, 67%-25% in a state with, um, 28 delegates at stake and, well, less than 10% of the electoral votes of California, giving her a net gain of, oh, maybe 12 pledged delegates. wow. Hillary’s “more determined than ever” victory speech afterward was about as over-the-top as buying the bar a round of drinks because you won $3 on a scratch-off.
The REAL election news from yesterday probably went by on the screen crawler while you were taking the obligatory trek to the porcelain kiosk between the 4th and 5th Bud Lites. In Mississippi’s 1st congressional district, a place so crimson red that George W. Boosh eked out a 62%-37% win in 2004, Sean Penn look-alike Democrat Travis Childers throttled Republican Greg Travis, 54%-46%, giving Democrats three of Mississippi’s four congressional seats.
Read that, again. It’s not Massachusetts or Minnesota or Michigan. It’s Mississippi! MISSISSIPPI, for Christ’s sake!!
In the special congressional elections since 2006, Democrats have won all three, two in the deep south (LA and MS) and the other that of beached whale and former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, a seat which the GOP had held for some 30 years.
What does this portend for November elections? Besides that all Republican members of Congress hoping to remain on the public teat should change their affiliations to “Independent,” I mean? Well, for one thing, the GOP ran virtually non-stop ads attempting to tie Childers to Barrack Obama (featuring – guess who? – Reverend Jeremiah Wright!). So, if you’re a Democrat, hoping for a landslide and congressional supermajority come November, by all means, email the RNC and exhort them to please spend all their money this fall on these same type ads for John McLame, as well as all Republican congressional candidates.
*****
In related news, the Washington, D.C.-based political publication, The Hill, this week surveyed the 97 sitting senators NOT running for president to see which, if any, were interested in being number 2 on somebody else’s ticket. Interestingly, three GOP senators, Thad Cochran, 70; Pete Domenici, 76; and Chuck Grassley, 74; all replied that they were TOO OLD to be Vice President. We’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions concerning exactly what that implies about 72-year-old John McLame’s qualifications for the top job.
*****
President Mushwit has never had to serve in combat. The number of minutes he has been subjected to the anguish of separation and fear for the lives and limbs of immediate family members due to their service in his ill-conceived Iraq war is … zero. In fact, despite the fact that the federal budget has gushed red ink during both his terms he nonetheless enacted generous tax cuts for himself and all those in his income/donor class, all the while passing the costs of the war, bridges to nowhere, and even the $600 “economic stimulus” checks taxpayers received this year on to the next generation in the form of national debt.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t sacrificed anything for his war.
“I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Yes, that’s right. The prez has given up golf for the war. What a guy.
*****
John McLame is about to discover that the Republican "tent" is not near wide enough to hold all the people he wants to cram into it. The wing-nuts like Rush Limpbag are already obsessing over his mere acknowledgment that there is such a thang as (gasp!) GLOBAL WARMING! And Family Research Council demagogue, Tony Perkins, is aghast that McLame wants to modify the GOP party platform to allow exceptions to banning abortion for cases of rape, incest, and the health of the mother.
Basically, every time the guy tries to stuff a few more people under a tent flap on one side by moderating some position, he knocks a bunch out on the other side. Pretty soon, that fucking tent is just going to fall down altogether.
5.7.2008
Voter Fraud, Voter Suppression
I’m sure all of you noticed a couple weeks back that the Supreme Court upheld on a 6-3 vote an Indiana law requiring that voters show some form of government-issued ID before being allowed to vote.
Never mind that research demonstrates unequivocally that actual, in-person voter fraud is virtually nonexistent. The State of Indiana was able to convince the activist judges of the Big Court to uphold the law on the basis of the following anecdotal evidence: an 1868 quote from legendary political kingpin, Boss Tweed; fraudulent absentee ballots that appeared in a 2003 mayoral election; and an investigation into the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election in which there was shown to be ONE case of fraud by impersonation.
Well, at least there wasn’t any voter fraud in yesterday’s Indiana election, right? Hard to say for certain. But we do know that at least a dozen individuals – all suspiciously wearing the same black-and-white “uniforms” - who may have been attempting to subvert our treasured democratic process, were turned away from a precinct in South Bend across from the campus of Notre Dame University. Yes, poll workers refused to allow 12 nuns, all between the ages of 80 and 90, to vote in yesterday’s Indiana Democratic primary, because NONE of them had any valid form of government-issued identification (although several had expired passports).
So a law upheld by our somewhat political, activist Court, on the basis of a SINGLE verifiable case of voter impersonation, in its first live application resulted in the suppression of the right to vote for twelve elderly brides of Christ. Good job, guys.
Now, you may think that’s the end of that, but – no, not by a long shot. Some people – in this case, our friends at National Review – just can’t seem to let a steaming turd lie. Like a kid with a stick, they're compelled to stir it up until ALL the stink fills the available space. Contributor Kathryn Jean Lopez asks the question, “What were any Catholic sisters doing voting for either Clinton or Obama?” And goes on to add that the sisters should, “take seriously the Church's teaching on innocent human life.”
Well, perhaps is hasn’t occurred to Ms. Lopez that, in casting their votes for a Democrat, the sisters were doing JUST that, by taking QUITE seriously the church’s numerous condemnations of the Republican-owned-and-operated war in Iraq. Or maybe they were simply moved to do so on impulse after reading this and viewing this.
The Entitlement Mindset
"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell. And it's cleverly disguised as having a tender heart, [but] it's ripping the heart out of this country."
--Texas state representative, Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball).
Actually, as a duly elected state official, you would think that Ms. Riddle would have given the Texas state constitution – which DOES require the legislature to provide free public education to all – at least a cursory glance. That aside, this stands as her contribution, however pathetic, to the unremitting, sanctimonious, right-wing harangue against the legendary liberal “entitlement mindset.”
There are SOME things that it is fair and reasonable to expect your government to at least ASSIST its citizens to gain access to, basic education and health care being two notable examples. Barring an unlikely state constitutional amendment, education is already there, and health care – whatever your personal perspective – is GOING to happen sooner or later, one way or another.
However, education and health care are hardly “entitlements” in the sense that frothing-at-the-mouth, “conservative” hypocrites like Representative Riddle would have you believe. In our modern, technological, capitalist society, where “living off the fat of the land” is no longer an option, those two items are nothing less than basic prerequisites to any HOPE for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Let me suggest a few REAL entitlements being granted right now, entitlements that have nothing to do with any “liberal mindset:”
· Being vocal cheerleaders for an unpopular foreign war and being entitled to opt out of actually FIGHTING IN IT because of convenient family connections.
· Starting an oil company that goes tits up and then being entitled to have your dad, his wealthy friends, and your unfortunate investors bail your nappy ass out.
· Giving yourselves and your wealthy friends fat tax cuts in the face of expensive foreign wars and soaring deficits and then being entitled to more of the same because you won the midterm elections.
· Committing a crime for which other people are spending up to five years in prison and yet being entitled to have your sentence commuted, because it was “too harsh” (oh, and otherwise the Commuter-in-Chief might just be criminally implicated by testimony you could possibly give under immunity).
· Leading your company and its investors to the brink of financial ruin, but being entitled to a golden parachute of hundreds of millions of dollars.
But then there’s the ULTIMATE entitlement, one which you have paid for in advance, in actual cash. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court overturned an $800,000 arbitration award, previously upheld by two lower courts, to Bob and Jane Cull of Mansfield. Seems that Bob, who’s 70, and his wife had bought this here house from upright, respectable homebuilder, Bob Perry, of Houston for $233,000 in 1996. By 2001, structural and framing defects had rendered the assessed value of the house a paltry $41,000, but Mr. Perry refused to correct the problems. Guess he figgered Bob wuzn’t gonna live long enough to enjoy any repairs, anyway.
Yeah, THAT Bob Perry. He’s the same guy who has bankrolled GOP politicians and PACs nationwide, including the infamous Swiftboat Veterans for Sliming John Kerry. His contributions include $260,000 to sitting members of the court that delivered the ruling.
Next time you got nothing to do, check the construction contract on your house. Thanks to efforts of Mr. Perry in the Republican-controlled Texas legislature, the language makes it prit-near impossible to sue your homebuilder in this state. You’re typically required to submit to binding arbitration administered by a commission of political appointees, most of whom are – SURPRISE! – executives and/or lobbyists for the homebuilding industry.
Well, even THOSE guys thought Perry’s efforts so recalcitrant they ordered him to pay the Culls. But Perry had the last laugh. You see, when you pay to get people their jobs, you’re entitled to the pick of the fruits of their labors.
4.22.2008
What's at Stake, In a Financial Nutshell
One thing that never ceases to amaze me: When we have a Democrat in the White House, things seem to get better for everybody. But then, seemingly because the Democrat can’t keep his pants zipped or fails to post a few hundred marines to guard an embassy in a country that had been staunchly pro-American for decades, the electorate votes in the latest incarnation of Herbert Hoover and we have to re-learn old lessons all over again.
Consider the following economic statistics from the past three decades:
Job Creation
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 10.5 million new jobs
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 11.6 million new jobs
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: 12.4 million new jobs
Total: 33.6 million jobs created over 12 years, or 2.8 million jobs per year
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 5.2 million new jobs
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 10.8 million new jobs
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 2.6 million new jobs
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.2 million fewer jobs
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 5.5 million new jobs
Total: 24 million jobs created over 19 years, or 1.3 million jobs per year
Government Spending
How much did the government spend for every dollar of tax revenue?
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: $ 1.16
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: $1.25
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: $1.01
Democratic Average: $1.16
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: $1.31
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: $1.38
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: $1.34
George W. Bush 2001-2004: $1.27
George W. Bush 2005-2007: $1.24
Republican Average: $1.29
Now, the difference between $1.16 and $1.29 may seem like so much chickenfeed, but remember that we're talking about the DIFFERENCE here between the amount spent and every $1 of taxes collected. So Republicans are overspending by almost twice as much as Democrats and have been doing so for 19 years, versus 12 for Democrats.
Increases in Government Debt
Growth In Debt Held By the Public [$US trillions]
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 0.2
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 0.7
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: -0.3
Democratic Total: 0.6
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 0.6
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 0.7
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 0.9
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.9
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 1.1
Republican Total: 4.3
The financial markets only pay attention to the amount of debt held by the public. This is the number that helps drive down the value of the dollar and makes bankers nervous about inflation down the road.
Growth of Debt Held By "Government Accounts" [$US trillions]
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 0.00
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 0.4
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: 0.8
Democratic Total: 1.3
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 0.1
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 0.3
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 0.5
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.8
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 1.4
Republican Total: 3.0
Now consider that John McCain plans to not only make the Bush tax cuts permanent that have rendered American financial stability subject to the whims of Chinese leaders, but also to cut taxes even further AND to increase the biggest discretionary contributor to deficits: the defense budget. Oh, he SAYS he’ll cut spending by eliminating those wasteful, pesky congressional earmarks. Of course, earmarks currently constitute a whopping $18.3 billion (a little over one-half of 1%) of the $3.2 trillion 2008 budget. And Senator McCain was forced to acknowledge last week that he supposes he can’t eliminate ALL earmarks since a huge portion of military aid to Israel is provided via that mechanism, and, well, after all his candidacy DOES hang on the war hawk vote.
Oh, just wait. It gets even better. A senior adviser to McCain, Steve Schmidt, cogently explains why the country will go for Senator Septuagenarian in a big way: "People in the country are in a very bad mood, and they want to have change."
Okay, I’m down with that. But what I can’t see is why anybody would use that as an intelligent rationale for voting for McCain. The man wants to “fix” the teetering economy by exacerbating the current problems. I.e. he wants to INCREASE the deficit. He wants to reward Wall Street’s greedy peccancy with even LESS government oversight. If you thought the savings & loan, corporate malfeasance (Enron, WorldCom, et.al.), and subprime mortgage scandals were fun, let’s see what mischief our financial miscreants can create with even FEWER teachers on the playground with them.
The man also wants to turn Bush’s “weeks-not-months” Iraq cakewalk into a “decades-not-years” epic production. Of course, he makes his case NOT by explaining how he’s going to provide the manpower, equipment, and otherwise PAY for it, but by saying we can’t afford to wave the “white flag of surrender” to our enemies. I got news for him: The only guy in Iraq who likely considered himself an enemy of the U.S. BEFORE we invaded is dead now. Most of those Iraqis who have reclassified us as persona non grata SINCE the invasion, will be a lot less concerned with our Yankee asses as soon as we are the hell OUT of their country, so they can get on with the messy process of killing each other.
This is not rocket science. Look at the debacle of the last seven years. Look again at the numbers at the beginning of this article. A severely retarded DEAD PERSON could see that persistent vegetable TERRY SHAIVO would make a better president than John McCain. Why does anyone in their right mind think this guy has a snow-FLAKE’s chance in hell of being elected?
4.16.2008
Fully Qualified To Be Moron-in-Chief
Last May, Barrack Obama came under attack from John McCain for improper use of the word “flack” when pointing out that the senator had to wear a flak jacket while shopping a Baghdad street bazaar. This, the McCain camp asserted, was proof positive that Obama didn’t know enough about all things military to hold down the somewhat critical post of Commander-in-Chief. Never mind that a more salient national security question might revolve around the facts that Obama had called the invasion of Iraq a bad idea before it became fashionable to do so, while McCain was calling a neighborhood “safe” where he not only required body armor, but also an escort of Cobra gunship helicopters and more than 100 armed and fully battle-dressed soldiers.
On Monday, McCain responded to a reporter’s question about whether, as president, he would shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. McCain proffered that he would not, unless General Petraeus thought the situation “called for that.”
The problem, as Patraeus had JUST TESTIFIED in front of McCain’s own Senate Armed Services Committee, is that he has absolutely no say in the matter, as his command is focused SOLELY on Iraq. Strategic decisions concerning the wider War on Turbans, including where troops are most needed, are subject to the discretion of the Pentagon brass, not David Petraeus.
You would think that stuff such as this – as well as a few other minor details like the difference between Sunnis and Shi’ites - might be a tad more relevant to the question of fitness for command than whether it’s “flack” or “flak.”
“Terrorist Cult” Fiends Foil Feds for a Second Time!
Yes, fellow trembling citizens, it’s true. For the second time in as many tries, the diabolical “Seas of David” terrorist group/religious cult/support group for sociopathic misanthropes (pick one) has hanged its second consecutive jury, leading the judge to declare yet another mistrial in the case.
Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. After all, the defendants were six weird-looking black guys who hung out together at a warehouse “temple” in a degenerate Miami neighborhood and practiced a murky religion that combined elements of “Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, and Taoism.” Their leader answered to the ominous moniker of Narseal Batiste and often roamed the streets in a cape or bathrobe, carrying a crooked wooden cane, looking for itinerant – and, ostensibly, bored – recruits for his “organization.”
The group allegedly planned to blow up the Sears Tower (which is not even remotely close to Miami, but rather, in Chicago, a city to which none of the six had apparently ever traveled), and also vowed to “take over the world.” Reasons why two juries failed to convict the six on any of the various counts against them apparently centered primarily around court testimony that the ideas for most – if not all – the club’s “plans” were initiated by two FBI informants who had infiltrated the group. Also factored in was the fact that the men had no weapons, no money, no true al Qaeda or other terrorist group contacts, and no actual means of carrying out any attacks.
So, the Bush administration's Department of Justice can't even bring in a conviction against Moe, Larry and Curly Meet al Qaeda. Elsewhere, Osama bin Laden is reportedly still safely at large somewhere in Pakistan, key U.S. ally in the War on Turbans, 2,409 days after some 3,000 Americans were killed in the September 11 attacks.
4.11.2008
McBush
Okay, the Democrats are still busy cutting each other up while their presumptive competition, John McLame, gets a free ride trying to make everybody think he’s a straight-talking, tree-hugging, “moderate conservative,” all-around good guy, and will keep your family safe from terrorist Iraqi boogeymen, besides. As usual, I just can’t let bullshit like this go completely unchallenged until Hillary finally comes to the inevitable conclusion that, “Oh, fine, Barrack. Go ahead. BE the nominee. But nobody’s getting any pussy from any of MY supporters for the next four years! So THERE! It’s on you, pal.”
The national treasury’s jugular is already bleeding profusely from the gaping double wounds of the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war, each of which gushes some $200 billion a year. John McCain’s answer? Well, FIRST of all, instead of closing the wounds, he wants to INCREASE the flow of blood by making those tax cuts permanent and keeping the troops in Iraq for 100 years. Theodoric of York, medieval barber, who “cured” ailing patients of various ills by a process known as bloodletting, would doubtless approve.
Senator McLame also wants to open one of these wounds even further by increasing the defense budget. Now, as I have said many times, I’m all for a strong defense. And to be sure, if, as Mr. McLame asserts, radical jihadists are the biggest threat to our security, we could certainly use additional resources like Arabic speakers, special forces, and intelligence operatives.
However, the defense budget of the United States is already larger than ALL OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE WORD, COMBINED – friend and foe, alike. At least a third of this $550 billion (which DOESN’T include the funding for Iraq and Afghanistan) is for weapons systems of extremely dubious value – e.g. advanced fighters and anti-ballistic-missile systems - most of which were designed to counter systems planned by the former Soviet Union. Last I checked, al Qaeda’s air force consisted IN TOTAL of 4 hijacked - albeit no longer airworthy - airliners, and 0 ICBMs.
The primary benefits of this criminally misdirected largesse accrue NOT to the security of our country, but to the wallets of the companies who build these systems. McLame doesn’t propose to correct this misappropriation of funds. He plans to INCREASE it.
Oh, but at least he has a BIG problem with earmarks. Don’t we all? After all, I didn’t get a bridge to nowhere or a teapot museum. Did you? So, by all means, let’s get rid of that wasteful crap. After all, if we eliminate EVERY SINGLE ONE of the 11,780 earmarks in the 2008 budget we’ll save a whopping … $18.3 billion. Let me do the math for you. That’s less than one-half of 1% of the government’s total expenditures for 2008 and less than 5% of what the total budget deficit will be. Eliminating earmarks, while a good idea in principle, is about as significant as trimming a fat guy’s toenails to get his weight down.
Senator Senile’s flagship issue, however, is that we’re “winning in Iraq,” that “the surge is working.” Bullshit, plain and simple. The most that the surge has attained is a temporary downturn in the level of violence. It will only last as long as the already overstretched army can manage to hold the lid on a boiling cauldron of ethnic and religious hate. Sooner or later, their strength will succumb to basic fatigue and the full fury of all that long repressed venom will spew forth like puke from a salmonella victim.
Like Bill Mahr says, there are any number of effective ways to defend our country against angry young Muslims hell bent on going to see Allah and taking a bunch of Americans with them. Invading and occupying their countries and killing their families and friends is not one of them.
General Geritol claims that we are fighting al Qaeda in Iraq and that they are aided, supported, and encouraged by Iran. No matter how many times Joe Lieberman politely corrects him, he doesn’t seem to understand that al Qaeda is a Sunni organization responsible for destroying the al Samarra mosque, one of the holiest Shi’ite shrines in Iraq. It is beyond comprehension that Iran, a Shi’ite theocracy, would merely shrug off a travesty of this magnitude. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the cognitive dissonance inherent in his logic fails to register with Mr. McCain. A sign of creeping trans-synaptic dysfunction brought on by age-related dementia, perhaps?
But at least he’s a “green” guy, right? He’ll support efforts to keep the earth from becoming a Mars look-alike (as in devoid of life), right? Guess again. For 2007, he received a grade of - get this: ZERO - from the League of Conservation Voters. Now, granted, that grade is largely due to the fact he FAILED TO SHOW UP for most of the votes, but nonetheless, if he actually cared as much about the future of the planet as he does the future of wealthy Republicans’ balance sheets, you’d think he might show up to vote on issues like oil subsidies or fuel efficiency standards. But, no, he apparently considers those less worthy than, say, funding for the F-22 fighter or anti-ballistic missile system.
If you like the way things have gone for the last 7 years - then, hey - vote for this moron. You’ll get more of the very same and deserve every minute of it. But if you’re NOT an investment banker, energy company executive, or one of the many-but-waning it’s-all-Clinton’s-fault Fox News zombies, vote for the OTHER guy. Regardless of WHO (s)he is.
3.28.2008
Jesus Christ!
Way back in 1970, a federal court issued an injunction enjoining the Houston ISD from conducting prayers at school events. It took a while, but the Texas legislature last year passed something called the Schoolchildren's Religious Liberties Act, ostensibly so that valedictorian Susie could thank Jesus in front of mom, dad, and thousands of bored-witless spectators at her baccalaureate for her academic achievement, $500 scholarship to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and her – presumably – as yet untouched hymen (because true love waits, you know).
Proponents of the bill argued that it would protect school districts from lawsuits by atheists, human secularists, and sundry other minions of Abaddon simply because they were forced to bear agonizing witness to brainwashed students’ acting out of their parents’ ancient and regimented superstitions.
Apparently, however, Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott (a man himself certainly not above pandering to religious extremists), didn’t get the memo. It seems that, in the tempestuous wake pf the new law, HISD asked Abbott to rule on whether the school could now have prayers at school events. Abbott responded that they’d just have to go to federal court to find out.
So, let’s get this straight. In its infinite wisdom, the Texas legislature has – ONCE AGAIN – enacted a law which has had the EXACT OPPOSITE of its intended effect: to keep state school districts out of court over religious issues. As a result, instead of spending the taxpayers money on educating our children, and God knows they need it, HISD will now be spending it on LAWYERS to determine whether it’s okay for Susie, virgo intacto, to thank Jesus at a graduation event or football game.
Lord help me!
3.27.2008
One Man's Minister Is Another Man's Terrorist
Early-onset senility/political competence test: Identify the author of the following quotes:
"If there is a legitimate reason for the use of force [against the US government]... then at a certain point force is justifiable."
“There does come a time when force, even physical force, is appropriate... It is time we consciously realize that when any office commands what is contrary to God's law it abrogates it's authority. And our loyalty to the God who gave this law then requires that we make the appropriate response in that situation..."
Was it said by:
A. Reverend Jeremiah Wright
B. Osama bin Laden
C. Abbie Hoffman
D. Karl Marx
E. None of the above
Well, as Fox News informs us – and informs us, and informs us - Barrack Obama’s minister of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright has made a number of controversial, even incendiary statements, NONE of them directly advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government.
The answer to the question is “E.” The author was Reverend Francis Schaeffer (no known connection to the lite beer), a hellfire and brimstone spokesman for the religious right. For his efforts along these lines, Reverend Schaeffer was invited to lunch at the White house with presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush I.
For having Dr. Wright as his minister, Barrack Obama will be castigated relentlessly by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Charles Krauthammer, and sundry other minions of the right-wing noise machine, not just until the November election, but likely well into his first term. In stark contrast to their never-ending sanctimonious blather, these men have no true sense of right, justice, or – for that matter – any shame whatever.
3.19.2008
Economic Justice
“Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.”
--Herbert Hoover, State of the Union Address, December 2, 1930
“The market now is in the process of correcting itself, and delaying that correction would only prolong the problem.”
--George W. Bush, weekly radio address, March 15, 2008
“Government is not the solution to your problem. Government IS the problem.”
--Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1st inaugural address.
That is, apparently, unless you’re a major Wall Street investment bank and your problem is that you bet a buttload of your stockholders’ money on mortgage-based “investment vehicles” that are now, for all intents and purposes, worthless. In such a case, the solution to your problem is for the government – or, to be more precise, AVERAGE TAXPAYERS – to bail your sorry ass out with an unprecedented $30 billion worth of loan guarantees.
Can’t make your mortgage payments? Too bad. $4.00 gas? Can’t help you. Crushing credit card debt? Cry me a river. No health insurance? I’ll see if I can get you some “tax credits.”
But, wait - your major financial institution has made some unfortunate – okay, REALLY STUPID – investments? Hey, no problemo, amigo. I know this guy, Joe Taxpayer. He has what they call “a job” and earns what’s known as “a salary.” Yeah, I know: How quaint. Naturally, he don’t make a LOT of money, but he has a BUNCH of friends. If we shake each and every one of them down for, you know, a few hundred bucks each, and no payments until, say, 2015, we can cover you. We’ll just borrow the 30 bil from these Chinese guys I know. By the time Joe and his pals figure out they’re paying for it, we’ll both be on a beach somewhere. Oh, and since you’re hurtin’, we’ll just lower YOUR tax bite on capital gains, hedge fund income, and such to – aaaaa – call it 15%. Joe and his pals will cover you with the 25%-30% that they pay.
BTW, the guy generally credited with this little … oops? Former Bear Stearns president, Warren Spector? Guy walked with $382 million when the liberal press outed him last August. He’s ALREADY on the beach!
And the employees of the bank? You know, the ones with most of their nest eggs in company stock? Well, when Spector resigned, it was over $100/share. Last Friday, it was at $30.00. On Monday, J.P. Morgan bought the company for $2.00. You do the math. Suckers. They –ahem- WON’T be joining us on the beach.
Now, a bunch of liberals will soon be complaining that every time we get to play our games the way we like – which is to say pretty much with no rules and with nobody watching to ensure we don’t kill or bankrupt too many innocent bystanders – that “unpleasant stuff” happens. They’ll cite all sorts of ridiculous examples like the S&L scandal, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, the stock bubble, and on and on. Whiners.
These commies will demand that the government watch us and make sure that we don’t do things like hide vast amounts of debt in a labyrinth of corporate structure or –um- “fib” a little about our true fiscal situation. Just keep reminding them that it’s important to a strong economy to keep the government OUT of the way of business. Hey, we’re competing with the Chinese and Indians, for Christ’s sake. You don’t see THEIR governments making them tell the truth to their stockholders, sell safe products, or force them to provide decent working conditions, wages, and benefits to their serfs – I mean employees – do you?
Oh, one last thing. A lot of people will be hollering for something called “accountability.” They’ll want somebody’s head on a plate just because a few million people with lunch pails got stiffed and the rest had to pick up the tab while we retire on an island. They’ll call it “justice.” They’ll use terms like “plutocracy” and “oligarchs” that poor old Joe Taxpayer will just assume are obscure references to characters in some Walt Disney cartoon. Just keep accusing them of “class warfare” and being “intellectual elitists.” Insist that this is the “conservative” thing to do. It HAS to be done in order for the economy to remain strong and for them to remain employed. What do they want? This or unemployment? Pick one.
3.18.2008
News and Comment - Mostly Comment
Eliot Spitzer is a moron. Anybody knows you don’t pay $4,000 for pussy.
Okay, seriously, I have little sympathy for the ex-governor. Stupidity and recklessness are cruel teachers for Darwinian reasons. However, the whole incident doesn’t quite pass the smell test. Perhaps, as the DoJ contends, the investigation actually WAS triggered by “curious” bank transactions. Maybe it will come out that the guy was punching out $9,000 withdrawals and money orders (to avoid the $10,000 reporting limit) like most of us do $50 ATM transactions. If so, I can understand why the man always seemed so energetic and upbeat: He was getting his bologna buffed more often that George Bush mangles a metaphor.
It couldn’t POSSIBLY be that somebody over at the NSA noticed – among the billions of phone calls and emails they monitor with NO WARRANTS OR JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT OF ANY KIND – that, hey, the extremely popular Democratic governor of New York is slapping the donkey with painted ladies! A quick check of his bank accounts and – BINGO! – probable cause!
Maybe, maybe not. But it begs the question: How are those of you who insist that the president must have this awesome power going to feel if the one wielding it next year turns out to be oh, say, Hillary Clinton?
The people who put the Constitution together feared unchecked power for a reason. Given the opportunity, power-mad people – and isn’t that the definition of a politician, ANY politician? – will use it for their own benefit, and to the detriment of our Republic. That is why you can’t give ANYONE carte blanche to circumvent Constitutional protections. They WILL abuse it. How many times do we have to LEARN this lesson?
*****
Yesterday, President Mushwit held a videoconference to see just how swimmingly things were going in Afghanistan while most of our army is desperately trying to keep a lid on smoldering ethnic and religious turmoil in Iraq. This is what he told the troops:
I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.
It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.
Exciting and romantic? Seems like he’s had a change of heart since about 1970 when his father got him into the Texas National Guard specifically for the purpose of AVOIDING all that excitement and romance in Vietnam.
A show of hands, now, HOW many of you voted for this moron?
2.29.2008
Hey, This Guy's a Lover AND a Fighter!
Okay, so Barack makes all the girls need to change their panties. What else has he really got?
Well, one thing you got to hand him, he’s no John Kerry. When the Swiftboat Veterans for Bush claimed he was “unfit for command,” did Kerry reply, “Why, thank you. Thank you for this EXCELLENT opportunity to compare MY Vietnam War record with that of my opponent?”
Um, no, he just kept on talking about the $87 billion he voted for, before he voted against it (or was it the other way around? I forget). Not terribly inspiring.
So earlier this week, Hillary’s hit squad (reportedly) passes the famous picture of Obama in his inauguration suit to Drudge. The Obama campaign wastes no time returning fire, accusing Clinton of “the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election,” and “the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”
Touché.
So today, they’re back at it. Hillary runs an ad implying that Obama is too wet behind the ears to be trusted to handle emergency situations. The Obama campaign’s response? “Senator Clinton already had her red phone moment -- to decide whether to allow George Bush to invade Iraq.” And goes on to suggest that what Americans want most when the “red phone” rings at 3:00am is somebody with demonstrated good judgment.
Hey, bring on those Republicans!
And speaking of Republicans, yet ANOTHER Junior Samples clone with a southern drawl so bad you cain’t hardly tell if’n he’s akshully talkin’ English, Jack Kingston of Georgia, shows up on MSNBC to chide Obama for – among other things - not wearing an American flag lapel pin. Of course, for this interview, the moron isn’t wearing one HIMSELF!
2.27.2008
Too Little, Too Late, Too Insincere
Watched the Hillary swan song debate last night. The way Tim Russert beamed and gloated afterward, and Chris Matthews gushed “atta-boys” and slapped him on the back, you’d think he was the football captain who had just scored the prom queen’s cherry.
So, exactly what did he do that was so great? Get her to admit the race was a lost cause? Get Obama to confess he was a closet Muslim and the turban/Somali getup were his real clothes? Come up with video of John McCain diddling telecom lobbyist Vicki Iseman? You are WRONG, ballot box breath! He got Hillary Clinton, for the first time, to say that, if she had a vote to take back, it would be the one for authorization of the Iraq war.
Say what? THIS is news? This is the-pope-is-Catholic level stuff. This is the main reason why her campaign has fizzled, why her inevitability has become, well, evitable. The biggest miscalculation her campaign has made is the failure to realize the extent to which the electorate thinks Bush has fucked the country up beyond all recognition and is desperately searching for SOMEBODY TO FIX IT!
If only, four years ago, she had stood up and said, “You know, I voted for this crap and that was a BIG mistake, a SERIOUS mistake. I regret it and I’m going to do everything in my power to make up for it!”
And if she then proceeded to bitch slap George Bush at every turn for not only the war, but detainee abuse, extraordinary rendition, jailing prisoners without judicial review, warrantless wiretapping, deficit spending, failure to force oversight of the financial system, trashing the environment, failing to act on global warming, and a host of other constitutional, fiscal, regulatory, and moral outrages, Barack Obama would just be one more guy jockeying to introduce her for her acceptance speech in Denver this summer. As it is, she will go down in history merely as the first woman to be a serious CONTENDER for the presidency.
At this point in the game, Hillary Clinton saying she’d like to have that vote back is like you telling your wife – after years of denials and marriage counseling – “Okay, if I had it to do all over again, I guess I wouldn’t have boinked that dancer, after all.”
2.21.2008
John McCain and Moral Turpitude
So John McCain was boffing some woman 30 years younger than him. Who gives a rat’s ass? Yeah, okay, I wasn’t going to vote for the old coot, anyway, but even if I was, the possibility that he might have had a fling with some K-Street coquette would weigh in my decision right behind whether or not he ever farted in an elevator car I was riding in at the time.
If you check out the New York Times piece on it in today’s paper, it reads like something written for a high school journalism class: overlong, disjointed, and accusatory, while lacking sufficient coherence and supporting evidence to justify implications of infidelity and corruption by a major presidential candidate in what is arguably the most respected newspaper on the planet. But it wasn’t. It was written by a team of very seasoned Times reporters, one of whom has left the paper in the backroom infighting over the story. Another highly regarded Times staffer covering the McCain campaign also left for related reasons.
The story reads as though someone went through it with a meat cleaver before it was published. And maybe they did. More telling is a piece about the piece in today’s New Republic. The reporters clearly thought they had evidence of infidelity and conflict of interest. For whatever reason, the story as published is less than convincing. Now, the NY Times is NOT the National Enquirer. Rush Limbaugh's diatribes to the contrary, they do not publish stuff like this lightly or without strongly believing that they are onto something. It leaves you suspecting that there is much to this that they couldn't - or wouldn't - print, whether owing to legal pressure or sources too fearful to speak for attribution.
Apparently, rumors have circulated about the relationship between McCain and telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman going back to when she used to work the Senate Commerce Committee – then chaired by McCain - for her firm back in the late 90s. Late last year, information became available to the Times that apparently lent considerable credibility to the rumors. The McCain camp - not being entirely stupid and having been very famously kneecapped by Karl Rove in South Carolina during the 2000 campaign – couldn’t help but notice the army of NY Times reporters flitting about, asking questions about the senator and Ms. Iseman. So McCain does what every lawmaker with something to hide does – he lawyers up: Bob Bennett.
Why does that name sound familiar? No, it’s NOT the porcine political pundit, Fox News commentator, former drug czar and education secretary, moralizing ethicist, and serial gambler. That would be William “Butterball Bill” Bennett. Bob Bennett was Bill Clinton’s lawyer for the Monica Lewinsky ordeal. Can you say “irony?”
To the point: John McCain can pork whomever he wants. It’s not my business, I don’t care, and it speaks virtually nothing to his qualifications to lead this country further down the road of ruinous public policy. I AM, however, seriously concerned about what influence McCain may have wielded on business before his committee to the delight of Ms. Iseman’s colleagues at Alcalde and Fay in return for whatever favors she may or may not have performed for him. Of a lesser concern, albeit not to be dismissed altogether, is the issue of the senator’s public head-shaking and tut-tutting over Bill Clinton’s similar – if somewhat more relentlessly, torturously, unendingly vilified – acts of moral turpitude.
Hey, if the guy did something illegal or unethical, indict and punish him. Otherwise, let him and his wife sort it out behind closed doors.
And then make it into a three-part Movie of the Week!
1.25.2008
News & Comment - Mostly Comment
Okay, highlights from last night’s Republican circle jerk on MSNBC:
My fave, Rudy Julie Annie. This man is nothing less than pathetically desperate. Anointed as the presumed nominee last summer, his candidacy is over before he even got to a primary he actually campaigned in. Fox Noise included him in their debate a week or so ago, while refusing to do the same for Ron Paul despite the fact that Paul was kicking Giuliani’s butt in the primaries. Expect him to come up a lame third or fourth in the Florida primary next Tuesday, then return to the white collar crime world of Giuliani Partners shortly following a humiliating performance on Super Tuesday, February 5.
Desperate man, desperate measures. Julie Annie’s suggestion to stimulate the economy? Repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Oh, don’t have time or patience to follow the link? Lemme help: It was enacted in response to the scandals at Enron, WorldCom, et.al. in order to make CEOs and boards of directors accountable for cooking the corporate books and thus visiting financial ruin upon tens of thousands of retirees, employees, and stockholders.
And why are we on the horns of an economic dilemma right now anyway? Could it have anything to do with greedy bankers acting irresponsibly in doling out tens of thousands of high risk loans and then rolling them into “structured investment vehicles” for equally greedy – if not terribly intelligent – investors, while the Federal Reserve and securities ratings services ignored the warnings of economists who suggested that the whole mess was a house of cards as far back as 2005? Earth to Rudy: The most recent and compelling evidence appears to suggest that what we need right now is MORE oversight of the money changers, not less.
And then there was Reverend Huck. The guy floats one of the few seriously good ideas of the night: to effect economic stimulus by rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure using American labor and manufactured goods. Creates jobs, pumps money into businesses, puts paychecks in peoples accounts, and bestows benefits like health insurance on their families. What a concept!
But what does he do for an encore? Well, first he floats the Fair Tax concept, which would be much more aptly named the Hair-Brained Tax for reasons so lengthy they will be relegated to the subject of a separate rant. But then comes the major stinker of the evening. It seems that, just because we didn’t find any WMDs in Iraq, that doesn’t mean they weren’t there. They could have been spirited away to … Jordan! (note to readers: I think he actually means Syria).
Now think about this for a minute. The cops come to your house with a probable cause warrant. They kick down your door, kill the dog, injure various family members, ransack the place, and find … nothing. Then they say that, just because they didn’t find any contraband doesn’t mean there wasn’t any there, and haul your ass to jail, anyway. Forget the Fair Tax. Forget the business of amending the Constitution to please God. Forget his just-as-bad-as-George-Bush mastery of geography. This guy has no business being President of the United States just based on his predilection for faulty logic.
Predictions:
Romney ekes out Florida over McLame and pretty much wraps up the honor on Super Tuesday of leading the Republicans to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
The electorate reacts to the Clintons’ vitriolic tactics against Obama by giving him a 10-point win in South Carolina on Saturday. What happens after that depends on whether they change to a tactic of playing nice.
You read it here, first!
The Men Who Would Be King
Hey, how about we review that list of GOP presidential hopefuls, just for the fun of it, huh?
First, of course, there’s Mike Huckleberry. He’s just what America is no longer looking for: yet another incurious, bible-thumping, southern goober who doesn’t believe in evolution, thinks we need to amend the Constitution to conform to God’s law, has no idea where Pakistan is, and knows less than the average CNN viewer about the Iran’s inactive-since-2003 nuclear weapons program.
This guy is Republicans’ worst nightmare: He’s a true Jesus freak who’s not in on the scam. The plutocrats and warmongers are scared shitless of him. They can stomach that “born again” stuff as long as the government contracts and bellicose international rhetoric keep on coming, and the regulatory scrutiny doesn’t. But JESUS! This bozo really BELIEVES that creationist crap! If Reverend Huck gets elected, those no-bid contracts for Halliburton and Blackwater are history, not to mention the open bar and that pricey Beaujolais at White House dinners.
The question is, would anyone who has come to the inescapable conclusion that, yes, the earth really DOES go around the sun actually vote for this guy? (Catholics take note: Pope Benedict has said that Galileo’s trial was “reasonable and fair.”) Okay, next candidate.
Then, there’s The Mittster. Compared to this guy, John Kerry was a model of consistency. He’s been on both sides of abortion, gay marriage, and gun control, to name just a few. As one of his opponents noted, he’s “an agent of change,” alright.
And when he’s not hunting “varmints,” he’s showing affection for furry creatures by driving across country with the family dog strapped to the roof of the station wagon (stopping periodically to wash a measure of the dog’s state of mind dribbling from the terrified animal’s carrier).
According to Romney, we need to “double” Guatanamo and unburden automakers from costly government regulation (read: fuel economy standards) so that we can return to an America with almost exclusively American made vehicles on its roads. Earth to former governor: The main reason Detroit can’t compete with imports is the cost of health benefits it pays its workers and retirees, NOT any government-mandated requirements. This guy is so bad on his own merits, I don’t even HAVE to mention his religion.
And back from the dead, there’s John McLame, fresh from wiping the floor with Romney in New Hampshire. I wouldn’t go out and buy new tires for the “Straight Talk Express” just yet, however. The Bill Kristols and Rush Limbaughs may be scared of Huckleberry, but they HATE this guy.
http://glennz.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/john_mccain_1.jpg
Yes, true to his warrior hero reputation, McLame may have bought large into the Iraq tar baby, but the “political donor class” that funds the GOP cared about as much for how McCain-Feingold hobbled their ability to buy politicians as the Tom Tancredo-Lou Dobbs-Pat Buchannan crowd did for his support of comprehensive immigration reform, or “amnesty,” as they like to refer to it.
So the right-wing crazies hate him. Ditto the left-wing zealots. He’s fresh off public comments that he’d be happy to stay in Iraq for “a hundred years.” This at a time when seventy percent of the public still thinks the war was a mistake from the start. Plus, he’s older than God. Scratch the youth vote. Even if he somehow manages to back into the nomination due to the many and varied negatives of his competition, this guy stands to generate about as much national excitement as Cream of Wheat on crackers at a culinary convention.
Now comes Rudy Julie Annie. He’s definitely the UN-Huckleberry. He’s despised by the crowd for whom “God, guns, and gays” define the agenda because he’s pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-gun, dresses in drag, and has a personal life that makes Desperate Housewives look like an episode of Lassie. On the other hand, the Bomb Iran Club loves him for his uncanny ability to deftly work the terms “9-11” and “radical jihad” into a discussion of health care reform - or for that matter, the practical advantages and fashion implications of jockey shorts versus boxers.
And the reason the guy is still around can only be attributed to stubborn support from trembling hand-wringers who hold fast to the belief that only Rudy can protect their dainty necks from an army of scimitar-swinging Islamo-crazies streaming in from Mexico disguised as fruit pickers. He’s certainly getting no love from the electorate. In Michigan, he finished 6th behind Fred Thompson with 2.8% of the vote and less than HALF the votes tallied by … Ron Paul? On the other hand, he DID receive just short of 3,000 votes more than the Democrats’ answer to Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich.
But buck up, Rudy fans, he’s all the way up to 3% in South Carolina and a whopping 12% nationally!
Okay, then there’s Ron Paul. Yeah, sure. He’s against the war. He’s for eliminating the IRS. He’s for “freedom.” He’s a FREAKING LIBERTARIAN for Christ’s sake! Libertarians are just one Rorschach test short of certifiably irrational. Yeah, they want to get the government off your back. In fact, they pretty much want to get rid of the government. Had diarrhea lately? Afraid to drink water from the tap? No? Thank the EPA. Think your savings account is safe? Pretty much? Thank the FDIC. Feel like if an “investment vehicle” is rated AAA, it’s a safe place to park your money? Well, okay, somebody has to ACTUALLY DO THEIR JOB for government regulation to work, and sometimes that depends on the who’s in office at the time.
Getting near the bottom of the barrel, there’s Fred Thompson. No, that’s NOT his daughter. Recently, a reporter asked him what he thought his biggest accomplishment was. “Trophy wife.” Now, at my age I’m not one to take a mature man to task for having a way with the ladies, but if you’ve been in and out of politics for 40 years and that’s the best you can come up with, well, maybe you’d be put to better use making bad TV movies or something.
This guy was supposed to be the conservative savior, the second coming of Ronald Reagan. But he generates about as much electricity as Karen Hughes approaching the pole on amateur night at Sugar’s in her size 14 FMPs. His biggest fans are members of the National Association of Narcolepsy Therapists for the amount of business he has generated. The Beltway buzz on Thompson: Lazy. Empty suit. Takes every other play off. Mails it in. Not entirely unlike the guy we got now.
Oh, never mind. He dropped out a fewdays ago. zzzzzzzzz.
12.4.2007
Stupid Question Answered
Those of you who visit this page from time to time - and there likely aren't many given that I haven't posted regularly of late - may know that I manage a men's soccer team. Recently, our last game of the fall season was cancelled, depriving some players of the opportunity to pay me the spring season fees in person at that game. One player, the oldest one on the team (and who naturally drives a middle-age-boy-toy red corvette) emailed to ask whether this meant he had to spend 41¢ to send me his check. The rest of the team liked my response enough that they thought it should be retained. So here it is for posterity:
No, you don't HAVE to spend 41¢ to send me the $60. You have several alternatives:
1. You could just hop in your "torch-red," 427 cubic inch, global warming accelerator, DRIVE over to [my address], and deliver it personally. However, I estimate that, from your house in north San Marcos, this would consume some 2.3 gallons of gas, costing approximately $7.41 and probably contributing enough greenhouse gases to melt the last couple of ice cubes remaining in Glacier National Park on its own. I would call this the least practical option.
2. You could place the check in an envelope, write MY address in as the return address and YOUR address in as the addressee, and drop it in a mailbox with no postage. However, one-to-five at Club Lev and a $5,000 fine for defrauding the U.S. Postal Service being the potential downside, this would appear to be the least prudent option.
3. You could take the George Bush approach and place the check in a bottle, toss it into a nearby creek, and hope it floats UPSTREAM somewhere near my house and that I just HAPPEN to find it (you know, sort of like sending your army to invade a country where everybody not only hates everybody else, but they hate you, as well, and then hoping that your army will be the catalyst that makes everyone hug and sing Kumbaya). More than likely, however, the check will be cashed by someone in Cibolo with an Hispanic surname and you will not wind up on the roster. This, then, is probably the least tenable option.
So there you have it: impractical, imprudent, untenable, or the USPS. Your choice.
10.31.2007
Hey, If You Like the Guys We Got Now ...
Many of you may remember that I was less than despondent after the 2000 election. After all, Al Gore was about as charismatic as cold noodles and, as I've said many times, I always thought George Bush was way too stupid to cause much trouble. I should have paid much more attention to the guys he was bringing with him, like this guy, this guy, and this guy.
Now comes Rudy Julie Annie. Well, how bad could he be? After all, he likes gay people, dresses in drag, is pro-choice (but will appoint anti-choice judges), and, in keeping with the traditions of Clinton and Kennedy, has a long history of a serial adultery. Well, let's just review a list of people giving HIM "advice" these days. Frankly, they make the aforementioned triumvirate look like the Brotherly Love caucus at a Quaker convention:
First of all, there's Norman Podhoretz, one of the founding members of the neoconservative movement. Stormin' Norman's major obsession these days is that the U.S. must attack Iran "as soon as logistically possible." In his view, "there is no way of stopping them short of military action." Norman doesn't explain how we are going to "conquer" a country of 70 million people when we have been unable to come anywhere close with a nation of only 26 million and a much less capable military. Nor does he say much about how this will sit with a force of 168,000 combat-weary American soldiers when they find themselves sandwiched between an Iranian army of 250,000 and a coterie of Iraqi militias they have yet to bring to heel. I can only assume his view is that, after we blow up their nuclear facilities, their attitude will just be, "Oh, shit! I guess we better not fuck with THOSE guys!"
Next there's hysterical Islamophobe, Daniel Pipes, whom even Iraq war hawk, Christopher Hitchens, seems to think is crazy. One of Pipes' arguments is that, whenever a Palestinian suicide bomber strikes, the Israeli military should destroy the entire village he originates from. He doesn't explain how justice is served by the deaths of many innocent, uninvolved, and/or even Christian (as many as 5% of Palestinians) inhabitants of said villages, but presumably, a bunch of wrongs do make a right, so long as retribution is the goal.
Then there is Thomas Joscselyn, who STILL insists that not only Saddam Hussein, but also the government of Iran, are supporters of al Qaeda. Never mind that no credible evidence exists for the former and the latter is simply ludicrous based on elementary knowledge of Islamic history and culture. He apparently also believes that Elvis was on the grassy knoll and was killed by Nixon to cover up his involvement in the Kennedy assassination (no, not REALLY!).
Finally, there is Michael Rubin, Julie Annie's "expert" on all things Iranian. Now, up to this point, Rubin's main claim to fame has been as a "cherry picker" of intelligence in support of going to war in Iraq, both as a major supporter of the self-absorbed, pathological liar, Ahmad Chalabi, and as member of the infamous Office of Special Plans, set up by Rummy to justify the whole project in the first place. His new project, now that the old one is not much fun anymore, is to advocate - you guessed it - that we now attack Iran, because, after all, what are the chances of yet ANOTHER war going bad for us, anyway?
So, want a THIRD war on your plate when you haven't made much of a dent in the first two? Then vote for yet ANOTHER Republican moron with a bunch of crazed, war-mongering advisers whose blood lust he'll have to sate after he's elected. From the looks of this crew, you won't have to wait past inauguration week.
Check it out.
10.25.2007
Waste, Fraud, and Incompetence
I’m sure you all noted with mild amusement recently when the Prez said, “Oops! Did I say $150 billion? My bad. I MEANT $196 billion,” when discussing his appropriation request for Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008. Buuuut – it turns out that’s no more than chump change. Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office did something it’s supposed to do – figure out how much stuff is going to cost – and estimated that the total for this little experiment in having our way with people who don’t particularly want to be had will be –ahem- on the order of $2.4 TRILLION through 2017.
You DID know we were going to be there en masse for “decades” didn’t you? If not, you had better read these posts more carefully in the future. You’re clearly not getting it from whatever fair-and-balanced news service you’re occasionally listening to for the latest Britney updates.
Now, I’ve listened to Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, et.al. yammer ceaselessly the last 5 years about how we’re fighting al Qaeda in Iraq. But, as I’ve noted on several occasions, the Pentagon’s own analysts estimate the number of al Qaeda at between 850 and 2,500.
Let’s say for the sake of argument they’re WAY off, and the actual number is, oh, 5,000. Or even 10,000. If 168,000 American troops, plus the military contractors actually under arms – say 60,000 of the 180,000 total – if 220,000 American troops (or at least 220,000 fighting under the American flag, since half the mercenary contingent consist of foreign nationals) can’t dispatch a few thousand rag-tag jihadis in a few months, we might as well just disband the DoD, take its budget and – I don’t know – fix Social Security or Medicare, give health insurance to everybody, have one HELL of a bitchin’ picnic – ANYTHING but squander it pissing off the rest of the world for no good purpose.
But the problem is, of course, NOT that we can’t beat a few desert bandits, but that we’re stuck between multiple factions fighting for power in a chaotic, albeit oil-rich country. We’ve created the chaos. And they just want us out of the way so they can get on with their version of Last Man Standing. There’s no way to “win” that, I don’t care HOW many Republican presidential candidates claim that’s what they’re going to do.
So, with all that money floating around, there has obviously been some waste, fraud, and abuse. In the 1930s, bank robber Willie Sutton famously told FBI agents that the reason he robbed banks was because “that’s where the money is.”
These days, however, it’s MUCH more cost effective to rob the U.S. taxpayers. The government has a LOT more money than banks. Plus, banks are too well guarded, mostly because rich people keep their money there, much of it apparently looted from the taxpayers.
But, not to worry. The State Department and Condi Rice are on the case! They have, not one, but TWO offices working to ferret out and eliminate corruption in Iraq: The Anti-corruption Working Group (AWG) and the Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT). You would think that, having the same - or at least similar - objectives, the two would get along swimmingly. Not the case, it seems. For months the OAT people were apparently so pissed at the AWG that they just refused to attend joint meetings. Asked about this little note of discord in her agency where diplomacy is supposed to be the raison d’etre, Rice replied that she was “unaware” that the little spat had been going on right under her nose.
Oh, but it only gets better. Apparently even those in the individual offices can’t live together. The OAT has been through no less than four directors in the last ten months. The most recent one isn’t a diplomat, isn’t an attorney, and has no particular anti-corruption qualifications or experience. Rather, she’s a goddam PARALEGAL from the U.S. Embassy, for Christ's sake.
Rice’s comment? “I should get back to you with a sense of how we mange these programs.”
GET BACK TO US!? You should fucking RESIGN, you moron! This is WAY beyond incompetence. This is EMBARRASSINGLY, caught-with-your-pants-down-in-a-public-restroom bad! Why does the rest of the world hate us so much? Why is everything so distressingly fucked up? Because our foreign policy sucks lemons AND the people “managing” it can’t find their own asses with both hands and a flashlight! When is the country going to realize what a bunch of clowns these people are and DEMAND that Congress remove them from office?
Oh, wait. I forgot. Then who’d be president? Why, the brilliant architect of last week’s proposed resolution condemning the Armenian genocide (Don't know what that is? See the last item in the previous post). Never mind.
10.16.2007
News & Comment. Mostly Comment.
To the following litany of terms, none of which requires any additional explanation or attribution, add the term “Irreversibly crippled,” which the Washington Post yesterday quoted members of the military command in Iraq as using to describe the status of al Qaeda in Iraq:
“The surge is working.”
“… last throes …”
“What civil war?”
“Stay the course.”
“Bring ‘em on!”
“… greeted as liberators ..”
“Slam dunk!”
“We know where they [the WMDs] are.”
“ … smoking gun … in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
“ …he has, in fact, reconstituted his nuclear program.”
“… significant quantities of uranium … from Africa …”
And, of course, “Mission accomplished.”
*****
Yes, John Edwards had his $200 haircut. Decadent. Obscene. To hear Fox Noise and thug radio tell it, you’d think the guy took champagne baths in a solid gold tub. So compare it the following list of Rudy Julie Annie’s “indulgences” on the campaign trail in just the third quarter of 2007. It’s enough to make you want to throw your hat in the ring:
Greenbriar hotel in West Virginia - $2,010
La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, CA - $4,034
Fairmont hotel, San Francisco - $5,730
Reimbursements for use of corporate jets - $565,000
Private charter jets - $800,000
Goes right along with the lush digs he had built at the World Trade Center for the NY City Emergency Command Center over the objections of his staff who fretted that the location was a perpetual terrorist target. Bah! Nervous Nellies. His personal suite sported a cigar humidor and monogrammed towels. Of course, it was walking distance from City Hall, convenient for rendezvous with his infidel mistress, now the third Mrs. Julie Annie.
*****
And while we’re on the subject of morons, how about those congressional Democrats? They can’t do anything about ending the war. They can’t eliminate congressional pork. They can’t give health insurance to poor kids who don’t have it. Even given all the high crimes and misdemeanors there are to go around, they can’t seem to send anybody to prison, remove them from office, or for God’s sake, even bring them to account for the mess they’ve created.
But boy, they can sure as hell pass a nonbinding resolution condemning something that happened almost a hundred years ago and that manages to REALLY piss off one of our closest, most critical allies, the only secular Muslim country in the world at a time when we need all of the friends in the Middle East region we can get.
Yes, I’m talking about the House resolution admonishing Turkey for slaughtering a million or so ethnic Armenians at the end of World War I. Yeah, yeah. The Turks did it. Yeah, yeah - they deserve to be called out. But many people have asked Nancy Pelosi whether there might not be a better time for this. To which she replies, “If not now, when?”
To which I would say, “Oh, how about 1916? 1924? 1932? 1950? How about 2157? How about some time when we don’t have 70% of the stuff necessary to support 168,000 American soldiers and 180,000 contractors going through bases in their country? How about some time when we’re not desperately trying to get them NOT to invade northern Iraq in reprisal for incursions by Iraqi Kurds and killings of dozens of their soldiers, thus adding yet one more ridiculous dimension to an already out-of-control situation?
Better yet, how about getting all self-righteously indignant at another country sometime after we’ve repurchased some of the moral authority we’ve squandered through invading sovereign, nonthreatening countries, torturing detainees, and suspending Constitutional protections against warrantless searches, detention without charge, and the right to confront and refute your accusers.
People who live in glass houses maybe shouldn’t even CARRY rocks.
8.22.2007
Okay, It's Been 4 Years - Who You Gonna Believe?
You have no doubt detected that, the abrupt departure of Karl Rove notwithstanding, the Bush Crime Family has cranked up the “surge” rhetoric noticeably. A couple weeks ago, they actually held a group grope of right-wing radio blowhards at the White House. While no transcript of the proceedings was released for public ridicule – I mean scrutiny – a brief soirée through the usual suspects’ programs in the days that followed made it abundantly clear that they were asked (dispatched? commanded? sent forth?) to POUND the message that “we are now winning.” In other words, they responded obediently.
The next week, a couple of “foreign policy analysts” from the center-left think tank, The Brookings Institution, returned from Iraq and published an op-ed piece in, of all places, the New York Times, suggesting that we not leave Iraq now, just when we are beginning to win. In the days that followed, Brookings “Senior Fellows” Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack were featured on virtually every TV show that dares to associate its name with the terms “news” or “journalism.” In every case, the drill was identical: these two “Iraq war critics” now claim that the surge is working.
Either the so-called journalists who have covered this story are too lazy do any more than simply take whatever bullshit Bush’s aides dole out to them and merely pass it along to you and me as “news,” or they’re just plain and simple on the White House payroll. O’Hanlon and Pollack are ANYTHING but “Iraq war critics.” Oh sure, from time to time they would lament the fact that the war has not exactly been the cakewalk or fiscal bargain it was originally sold as, and periodically they would point to some particularly bone-headed decision, e.g. firing every professional in the government bureaucracy because they were members of the Baath Party or sending 300,000 armed and trained former members of the army to the unemployment line. But for the most part, they have never abandoned any notion that the whole idea was folly doomed to failure from the beginning. In short, these guys have been cheering the Mishap in Mesopotamia all along, and any notion that they are “liberals who have seen the light” is nothing more than a canard floated by the Bush administration through our snoozing media “watchdogs.”
Meantime, in this past Sunday’s New York Times, seven American soldiers who have spent most of the last year actually FIGHTING in Iraq, painted an entirely different picture, arguing that analysts, reporters, and politicians who spend a few hectic days being escorted around Iraq by U.S. military PR types, wearing flak jackets and buying “five rugs for five bucks” in the open-air market, have no earthly idea what is really going on in that country, much less whether “the surge is working.” By their accounts, Iraq is not and will never be controlled by the U.S. military, the Iraqi army, the Iraqi “government,” or ANY central, unified authority. Rather, it is controlled piecemeal by local, competing militias: the Mahdi army of Moqtada al Sadr, the militia of Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the Kurdish peshmerga, various Sunni insurgents, various jihadist groups, and, of course, AQI (al Qaeda in Iraq).
And HOW many TV shows did these soldiers appear on? HOW many "journalists" sought them out for interviews? Ummm, none. They're still in Iraq. MUCH too dangerous for "serious" journalists.
Why won’t the democratically elected Iraqi government DO something about the country’s problems? It's very simple: They have absolutely NO INCENTIVE to do so. The Shi’ites are the majority and have most of the power. The rest of the country can go fuck themselves! The administration and the press have proudly touted the fact that Sunni tribesmen in al Anbar province have “turned” on local al Qaeda insurgents and we have responded by enthusiastically arming them to the teeth. Is THIS going to bring them together with the Shi’ites in Baghdad? HELL, NO! After making a brief show of shooting what few al Qaeda operatives there actually ARE in Iraq (according to Pentagon analysts, less than 1,500), they’re going to tell us, "Hey, thanks for the guns!” and turn them on the Shi’ites.
And later, people will ask why we left Iraq and caused such a bloody mess. Hell, we basically went to a country with many factions that hated each other and spent billions arming them and stoking their hatred even further. And soon people are going to claim that the bloodbath was caused because we didn’t have the stomach to stick it out. That will clearly be the right-wing spin. But I'm here to tell you that's complete bullshit. The bloodbath will occur because WE totally enabled and encouraged it!
Who are you going to believe? Some empty suits who spent a few days in Iraq? Or seven soldiers who’ve been living it for a year?
8.17.2007
The Sky Is Falling! Or Why People Behave the Way They Do
According to anthropologists, our species, homo sapiens, appeared some 200,000-250,000 years ago. Our closest forebears, homo erectus and a few others, go back 2, maybe 3 million years. It wasn’t until perhaps a few thousand years ago that we actually became the predominant predator on the planet, meaning that before that, hominids were generally prime candidates for becoming lunch for other creatures that were stronger, faster, and invariably armed with the ultimate weapons of the time – flesh-rending claws and incisors.
The primary factor driving our ancestors to use their most effective countermeasure – wiles, savvy, intelligence – to avoid the ignominy, not to mention physical pain, of becoming bear scat, was a simple human emotion: FEAR. In other words, we are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of survival of the fittest, driven – and I would argue very effectively so - by fear. Those who were desperately frightened of being eaten, survived. Those less motivated by fear were likely to be more cavalier, and hence, less likely to pass on their “brave” DNA to a new generation.
Okay, I’ll get right to the point: There’s a perfectly logical, scientific explanation why it’s so damn EASY to scare us. Having worked so well for the last several million years, fear is hardwired into our DNA. Some of us are not stupid. They have figured this out and use it to their advantage effectively in ways we very often don’t readily recognize. Examples:
Afraid of dying? Hey, don’t worry about it. See, there’s this Guy who made everything and everybody you can see. I got this book He “authorized” right here. It says that all you have to do is follow a few rules, give me some of your money, and everything will be okay. Yeah, sure, someday you’ll die, anyway, but you won’t actually “die.” You’ll go to a place where everything will be perfect and everybody you love will be there. Yeah, sure, the book is a little cryptic and could be “interpreted” in a number of ways, but I’ve been studying this book for a long time so just leave that to me, and I’ll take care of all that crap for you. What? Not buying it? Hey, you don’t even want to THINK about that, pal. Imagine being set on fire, raped by a rhinoceros, and skinned alive - all at the same time - only it lasts … forever. Never ends. EVER. That’s the alternative. That’s right, just put some money in this plate and don’t vote for no liberals or infidels. See you next Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday (varies according to prophet and sect).
More? Okay, how about: 9-11. Mushroom cloud. Weapons of mass destruction. Poison gasses. Anthrax. EBOLA! Al Qaeda. Terrorists. Muslims. Sunnis. Shi’ites. Islamo-facists. Killers. Suiciders. Caliphate. They want to come here and kill your kids! We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them HERE! Cut and run. Follow us home. Iran. Nuculer. Hillary!
There’s a lesson here, being literally screamed into our faces: Either we have to “evolve” to a point at which we begin to use our intelligence to sift through what we should and shouldn’t actually fear, deal with the true dangers in a logical, reasoned manner and laugh at the rest, or we will have become metaphorical lunch for the current crop of fear mongering “predators” who peddle us this stuff. I for one suggest we cease with the Chicken Little routine, sort our perceived demons into categories – real and imagined – and begin to deal with them accordingly. It’s our choice.
7.17.2007
News and Comment - Mostly Comment
Everyone is painfully aware that the Bush administration has embroiled the country in an Iraqi conundrum from which there is no immediately evident or graceful escape. They have likewise managed to alienate most of the rest of the countries in this part of the solar system, squandered a budget surplus they were handed, funneled a substantial quantity of the treasury to their political benefactors, and concomitantly altered the mission of the Department of Justice from that of catching bad guys and upholding the rights of the citizenry to one more focused on ensuring that public events are preceded by Christian prayers, that replicas of the Ten Commandments (which curiously forbids “graven images”) are plastered about more copiously that Keep Austin Weird stickers, and that people least likely to raise hell about it are quietly purged from voter registration rolls.
This being the case, is it any wonder that that the i-word (as in “impeachment") is on the lips of roughly half the voting age population? Rumor has it that the Baskin-Robbins flavor-of-the-month for September will be a concoction to be called, “Mmm Peach Mint.” Gimme a gallon. Make it two.
*****
Word in the press is that the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) will make the case that Al Qaeda is stronger than before 9-11 and more determined than ever to attack us here in the U.S.
Hell-O?! It takes an army of intelligence analysts half a year to come up with THIS? For the last four-plus years we've been carrying on the largest, loudest, most flamboyant and expensive “be all you can be” ad campaign in Iraq for recruitment of Muslim jihadis, al Jazeera plays it repeatedly 24 x 7 all over the Middle East, and – just in case there aren’t quite enough potential suicide bombers in THAT audience – the Western press does the same for the entire rest of the world, all at virtually no cost to the organization reaping the membership windfall. All the while, the Hole-in-the-Warziristan Gang regroups practically unmolested in their safe haven in the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Saying you’re attacking al Qaeda by invading Iraq is like treating your dog’s mange by shaving the cat.
And as for the conclusion that al Qaeda is more determined than ever to attack us here? That headline should appear on the front page of the Sunday edition of the New York Times – right next to others proclaiming “Pope Believed to Be Catholic!” and “Bear Excrement Discovered in Woods!”
7.13.2007
Hey, It's Working for Rudy ...
Now, I'm certain that all of you are acutely aware of how bad a job Bush wannabe and self-described "lawn order" candidate, Rudy Julie Annie, has done at vetting his personal cronies - I mean staff. First, of course, there was Bernard Kerik, Rudy's recommendation to President Smirkly for Director of Homeland Scrutiny, who quickly withdrew when his sleazy business dealings and personal foibles came to light. He has since pled guilty to multiple criminal counts and faces numerous others as yet unresolved.
Okay, everybody has at least one buddy who's got a little dirt under his fingernails, right? Well, but then there was the head of his campaign in South Carolina, Thomas Ravenel, indicted for distributing "less than 500 grams" of nose candy.
Oops! Did he say THOMAS Ravenel? He must have meant his father, former SC congressman, ARTHUR Ravenel, whom he subsequently appointed to replace his wayward son whilst Ravenel the younger grapples with the enforcers in our national War on Drugs. The elder, no drug addict he, nonetheless has his own issues, e.g. careless public pronouncements like referring to the NAACP as "the National Association of Retarded People" and declaring that "I love, revere and cherish the Confederate battle flag." Guess he didn't get the memo on that one.
Then there is Monsignor Alan Placa, who has been a consultant for Giuliani Partners since 2002. Ah, at last. A man of God. Only problem is, a 2003 grand jury accused Placa of being a pedophile and of covering up similar activities of other priests. Is there NOWHERE an honest politician can turn to find good help? Ehhh, apparently not. As of last month, Padre Placa was still on the payroll. Rudy's a lib on gay rights, you know. Apparently he has a similar hands-off attitude on the issue of man-boy love (or should that be … hands-ON?).
No, not through, yet. This week there is Senator David Vitter (R-LA), one of the staunchest anti-gay, abstinence-only, "family values" members of Congress and southern regional director of the Julie Annie for Decider-in-Chief campaign. Vitter has copped to being a client of one Deborah Jane Palfrey, also known as The D.C. Madam. The senator was apparently - pick one: careless, foolish, stupid - enough to give her his HOME PHONE NUMBER. Ironically, Vitter had inherited his previous job as representative from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, from Representative Robert Livingston (yes, OF COURSE he was a "family values" Republican, as well), who resigned when his own lurid sexual history was revealed. Must have something to do with all those hurricanes down that way or something.
Okay, I admit, DESPITE all this, Rudy is leading the field. But John McCain - whose campaign is practically on a death watch, what with most of his staff being laid off or quitting and campaign coffers rumored to be as low as $200,000 - must have noticed how well all this is working for Rudy. Last night, his campaign co-chairman in Florida, Congressman Bob Allen, was arrested in a park restroom for solicitation of sex from a male undercover officer. Reports are unclear, but some appear to indicate that Allen offered to PERFORM the act for $20. Given the McCain finances, I guess they REALLY need the bread.
7.6.2007
And Now, the Latest News ...
Dateline: Washington, D.C. October 27, 2006 – George Bush’s approval ratings are 35%-38%, depending on whose numbers you like. NBC political director Chuck Todd predicts:
If the Democrats take control of Congress and Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker of the House, the president's approval ratings will shoot to "over 50 percent by the Fourth of July next year."
Ummm … that would be this week. And you have to search pretty hard to find a poll that shows the guy above 29%. So much for that myth about “the liberal mainstream media?”
Or maybe those of us have been right all along who contend that George is too stupid to find his own ass with both hands and a flashlight, much less, it goes without saying, to be entrusted with operating the machinery of government of that single nation which all the others on the planet once-upon-a-time considered a touchstone for noble concepts like public integrity, justice, and human rights.
******
And how far our stock has slipped on this man’s watch. A few examples of how much the image of our country has slipped since 2000 in the eyes of the rest of the world – percent of those polled who view the U.S. favorably, in 2000 – in 2007:
Canada 71-55
Argentenia 50-16
Bolivia 66-42
Venezuela 89-56
Britain 83-51
France 62-39
Germany 78-30
Spain 50-34
Czech Republic 77-45
Turkey 52-9 (that’s right, 52-9!)
Indonesia 75-29
More detail here (requires a subscription, but you can get a 24-hour pass by watching a short commercial).
******
By the way, the public is now just about evenly split - 45%-YES, 46%-NO - as to whether the House should take up articles of impeachment against the Commuter-in-Chief.
Cheney? Ehhhh – not so much: 54%-YES, 40%-NO. LINK Bring ‘em on!!
7.5.2007
And the Winner Is ...
Good news to those of you resolute "true believers" out there. A national polling organization has determined that George Bush IS NOT the most unpopular president of all time. No, that distinction goes to Richard Nixon, who, as we all remember, resigned office in disgrace. (Of course, there are some who give Nixon some credit for at least having the decency to do so for the good of the country.)
Sixty percent of those polled viewed Nixon unfavorably. Coming in second, a precariously slim one percentage point behind at 59%, is – no surprise – our own President Mushwit. Lyndon Johnson (42%), Bill Clinton (41%), and Mushwit the Elder (41%), were the only other presidents in HISTORY whose disapproval ratings topped 40%.
For those of you who think that second place is just another term for “the first loser,” not to worry. He still has a full 564 days to piss off another 1% of the population. So you know where the smart money is.
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