Molly Ivins 1944-2007

Molly passed today after her third battle with breast cancer. Others have and will put it more eloquently than I so I shall take my leave with this:Molly on fear: "Fear is the root of most evil. As Boots Cooper, age eight, said after a close encounter with a chicken snake: 'Some things will scare you so bad, you'll hurt yourself.' We cannot make ourselves more secure by making ourselves less free."

Godspeed Molly, your wisdom will be missed. Here is an early tribute from Molly's syndicate. And more from the New York Times and Thought Theater. Amy Goodman replays an interview with Molly from 2004 and finally Molly's last column. From Molly's January 11th column:

Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge.

If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"

H/T to RF for the photo and links

Soldier Suicide

The DOD does not count suicides as 'war casualties'. Tell that to the families who lose a loved one ignored by the military medical syatem. One percent of the citizens are doing 99% of the sacrificing to make BushCo and his cronies very rich. A young Marine, 25 year old Jonathan Schulze killed himself after being turned away from a VA hospital for lack of space. He was put on a waiting list and sent home after telling emergency staff that he was suicidal. He returned the next day to the same lack of response. Four days later he was dead. Read his story here.

I'm The Decider (koo-koo-ka-choo)

Brilliant parody by Paul Hipp to the tune of the Beatles "I am the Walrus" Listen here.

Fact Checking The President

Crooks and Liars as always, video-posts Keith Olbermann's Special Comment.

I Hear You Senator Feingold

Two minutes of Russ Feingold (WI-D) explaining the hearing process on Iraq getting underway inside the beltway.

Best. Quote. Ever.

'Nuff said. h/t to Corey

Cheney:Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

NYT has some great letters to the Editor up in reaction to Herr Cheney. Here's a sample taste:

To the Editor:

Regarding Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney said the biggest threat is that Americans may not “have the stomach for the fight.” One has to wonder if he feels that the failure in Vietnam was merely a result of the American people’s not having “the stomach” for 10 years of combat and 58,000 American dead.

In classic Republicanspeak, Mr. Cheney obfuscates the premise of why we are at war and narrows the argument to a misplaced matter of courage.

The nauseating irony of someone who did not have the “stomach” to go to war himself accusing the rest of the country of the same failing serves to reveal the extent to which this conflict is without true rationale.

Pier Giacalone
Ridgewood, Queens, Jan. 27, 2007

All I can say is thank God the people are waking.

Dubya Stands for "Dangerous"

It's become kabuki theatre, this macabre dance Bush and Cheney do on a daily basis. It's like watching someone on a bad acid trip. Kabuki shares traditions with Bunraku, traditional Japanese puppet theatre, and these days it's becoming hard to tell who's pulling who's strings. The New York Times Maureen Dowd wraps the bow nicely with this bit:"Delusional is far too mild a word to describe Dick Cheney. Delusional doesn't begin to capture the profound, transcendental one-flew-over daftness of the man." Here's what Robert Byrd (W.V.-D) Chair of House Appropriations had to say yesterday about Jr. Isn’t the first sentence I’m quoting below tantamount to the legal definition of insanity?

This President - a President so cavalier that he once crowed “Bring ‘em on” to terrorists in Iraq - no longer appreciates the consequences of his actions. George Bush is leading us down a path that can only end with more American blood, treasure and stature lost.

Not only does Mr. Bush intend to plunge us deeper into what is now clearly a civil war in Iraq, but he is now increasing his belligerence towards Iran and Syria. In his State of the Union address, Mr. Bush called out Iran no less than seven times.

I fear that what we are seeing now is an administration intent on laying the groundwork for a wider war in the Middle East. That is why it is so important for us to reject Mr. Bush’s plan for more troops in Iraq. Once escalation in Iraq begins, there is no telling what ruinous consequences await this nation.

Right now, Mr. Bush must hear a siren call from every corner of America that we will not allow an imperial president to defy our will. Please stand with me.

Impeachment? Bring it on.

Dick Cheney is Dangerous

The only antidote for the venom espoused by this hateful man's rabid dog approach to foreign policy, congress and the American people is impeachement. Cheney is the roadblock to success in Iraq. How anyone can argue that "supporting the troops" is to keep them in harm's way? And increase their numbers? This is not only foolish but dangerous. If Dick Cheney weren't so scary and wasn't the vice-criminal in charge, people would point and laugh at his ridiculous posturing. "We have had tremendous successes in Iraq and will continue to have tremendous success..." Pure delusion. Jeffery Feldman has a great piece up on Reframing Dick.

Stop the Escalation

Vote Vets has a new ad out. Don't forget that your voice joined with mine and others is what turned the tide in Vietnam and will be the thing ultimately that makes the powers that be end this occupation.
Contact Congress.

H/T to Mary for the link.

Rise Up With Fists

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, introduced by Sarah Silverman. I love the "Hee-Haw" directorial interpretation.

Spin This...

...Or the thing I do to unwind. God Is A DJ.

Unwind...

Ain't This A Bitch?

Two Year Old Boy Loses Father In War; Mother Scheduled To Return To Active Duty
I found this over at Steve Gillard's new place.
It's hard to keep up, but I trust that that which I need to pass along will appear as it is needed. I know virtually everyone that reads here are already 'part of the choir' but very few have or know people that are in Iraq or scheduled to go to Iraq. I am in the one percent of the American people "sacrificing" for this illegal, immoral quagmire. My loved one is going. Not today, but soon enough to be of concern. Read this story and then think about how every little bit of support for ending the war, any energy put forth toward ending this fiasco counts. Read it then do something, anything to add your voice to the public outcry. Please do something, we that sacrifice are counting on you.

He Speaks for Me

...with about the same kind of editing, but you get the point, no?

Pissed Off my NSA Guy--Again

My computer has been down since yesterday. I have a window right now so I'm using it. Odd how I tend to crash every 3 months or so. Last time it was when I emailed Kurt Weldon to tell him, "Pack your bags fat boy...maybe you can share a cubicle with that skanky daughter of yours on K Street, but don't count on it." I guess I should watch my mouth, umm, or make that my typing hand.

One-Trick Pony Boy

WaPo's Harold Myerson opines about the "Delusional Hedgehog." He reiterates another criticism of Chimpy's "stay the course."

The decline in Bush's support to Watergate-era Nixonian depths since he announced that his new Iraq policy was his old Iraq policy, only more so, stems, I suspect, from three conclusions that the public has reached about the president and his war. The first, simply, is that the war is no longer winnable and, worse, barely comprehensible since it has evolved into a Sunni-Shiite conflict. The second is that Bush, in all matters pertaining to his war, is a one-trick president who keeps doing the same thing over and over, never mind that it hasn't worked. In Isaiah Berlin's typology of leaders, Bush isn't merely a hedgehog who knows one thing rather than many things. He's a delusional hedgehog who knows one thing that isn't so.

SOTU? STFU!

Chimpy...Bad. Webb...Good. Me....Exhausted SOTU '07 finished....Priceless
The youngish drunk celebratin' umm, something.

I am so going to bed. A girl has her limits.

Lead by Example

Dennis Kucinich is a leader. Read a quick interview with him done by Bob Garfield od "On the Media" and see what you think. The presidential hopefuls field will sort itself out but I'm backing the darkhorse Kucinich because he speaks for me. I will back him until he wins or drops out of the race. If what he says moves you, think about doing the right thing and back him instead of who the corporate media tells us is the 'right candidate'. Listening to him speak is a welcome alternative to chimpy and his loser speech tonight. Hear the audio of this interview here.

BOB GARFIELD: Dennis Kucinich is a Democratic Presidential hopeful. He joins us now. Congressman, welcome to On the Media.

DENNIS KUCINICH: Thank you very much.

BOB GARFIELD: Last time around, the major media scarcely covered your candidacy, and when they did, it was as an oddity. Did you think that you were a victim of the Media – with a capital M – or what was going through your head?

DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, I don't believe in victimization, but I do believe that, you know, there's a tendency on the part of the media in this country to try to pick whoever's going to be the nominee early on, and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think that it's important for people who run for public office to be ready to take a stand, whether the media wants to favor them or not.

BOB GARFIELD: Are you suggesting that, you know, a bunch of guys at, you know, major corporate-owned media were actively trying to squelch your campaign? You know, these guy's too dangerous. We can't let him succeed. Is that what you're charging?

DENNIS KUCINICH: I'm not saying that, you know, there's any kind of official policy. There doesn't have to be. But I'm also saying, as someone who has a bachelor's and master's degree in communications, that there is such a thing as a gatekeeper theory, and everyone understands that. The Internet's changed a lot of that, but corporate-owned media, in a society where there are fewer and fewer media companies, has an ability to be able to control the debate.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 said that the electronic broadcast licensee should function in the public interest, convenience and necessity. Now, we've gone a great distance from that goal, and I do believe that this country is capable of a much more vigorous political debate than we're seeing.

BOB GARFIELD: Other candidates – Hillary Clinton comes to mind – spend years and millions of dollars gauging the electorate and measuring every word and every action. That's evidently not your strategy.

DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, you know, my poster is Ralph Waldo Emerson, who once wrote, in his essay on self-reliance, "Above all, to thine own self be true. Every heart vibrates to that iron string, to believe that what's true for you could be true for everyone."

I think we have to have a sense of our own humanity and how it merges with all of humanity. And my life experience has given me a great gift, and that is that I really understand what people go through, and it's given me the ability to connect with the hearts of people and to be able to not just represent their hearts but their voice.

So I don't need the focus groups, the poll groups, the coterie of advisors. While it's always good to get advice, I think there is something about listening in the quiet moments to the universal that is available to all of us.

BOB GARFIELD: Well, God bless Ralph Waldo Emerson, but he never backed a winner. In your first interview with The New York Times, the interview in which you actually announced your candidacy, the paper comes out and apparently nothing had changed. You know, notwithstanding the vast movement in the American popular opinion about the war, you were still treated as, you know, a joke.

DENNIS KUCINICH: Let me just say something. I think The New York Times is going through a learning curve itself. Everything that I said about the war was discounted by them because they were The New York Times and they knew better than anyone else. It's a real burden, by the way, to be, in effect, the final arbiter on public opinion in America. It must be very hard for them, because they've set themselves up as being the sine qua non and the arbiter of all that's right and holy. I mean and you have to get a nihil obstat or an imprimatur from The New York Times to be able to run. It's okay. I'm okay with that.

BOB GARFIELD: Do you reject the idea that if you actually want to win a race that there are certain things that you have to do to create a sort of mass appeal?

DENNIS KUCINICH: Yes. I think truth has its own mass appeal. And I've come back to run again, to show people that you can have someone who has the right judgment, who has clarity and foresight and a willingness to stand up and speak out when others will not, because that's not the popular thing to do.

It was popular to be for the war in 2002. It's popular now to be against the war. The question is, do you have the courage to be able to hang in there and continue to let people know what's going on, because sooner or later, if you write, it's going to be borne out. And that's exactly what's happened.

BOB GARFIELD: Congressman, thank you very much.

DENNIS KUCINICH: Nice talking to you. Kucinich dot US.

State of the Union

What I would like to hear tomorrow night...Mike Luckovich speaks for me so often...

DOD Lays Off Case Workers for Injured Troops

Yes sir, I am afraid of you...
Another story you won't see on the evening news, certain to be preempted by the State of the Union Address. This president finds soldiers useful as backdrops or for publicity photos but not important enough to take care of in spite of the promises made by the federal government.
The liar president who crows about supporting the troops has allowed the Department of Defense to lay off numerous case workers which effectively ends a program to assist injured troops. The Army Times writes it up.

Defense Department officials have laid off most of their case workers who help severely injured service members, sources said.

The case workers for the Military Severely Injured Center serve as advocates for wounded service members who have questions or issues related to benefits, financial resources and their successful return to duty or reintegration into civilian life — all forms of support other than medical care.

“They did a fabulous job for these families,” Buckley said. “The kind of work they do for these families who are hanging by a thread ... no other organization helped service members and their families like they did.”

Money, Media and Misadventure

Dennis Kucinich is running for President. You may have heard that bit of information in the last couple weeks, or maybe not. Most likely not and if you did, it was in the passive way one hears an unremarkable weather report. Welcome to the campaign of long-shot candidate Dennis Kucinich.

Why doesn't it matter to the public, and especially the media, that Congressman Kuchinich has been right? He has been correct in his positions that were political 'hot potatoes' in 2004, yet are currently being called "conventional wisdom" on both sides of the aisle. Dennis Kucinich has gotten it right and recieved a raw deal from almost everyone. He has been scorned and derided by pundits and the public, political junkies and journalists and it can't all be about his ears. I can think of two Texans who are all ears, and they nonetheless made it through the media minefield. The virtual snubbing of Dennis Kucinich is about money and media misadventure.

Congressman Kucinich doesn't pander by implicitly promising favors to special interests nor beg for money at the corporate trough. He has joined the Howard Dean school of internet campaign finance reform and raised about 13 million dollars primarily from individuals over the internet for this, his second run at the White House. Thirteen million dollars is a paltry amount by standards of election spending today, and difficult to run a winning campaign on.

I began to notice, in the last twelve years or so, the mainstream media seemed to decide they were no longer the public's watchdogs, but cocktail weenie-munching insiders to the political process and powers-that-be. The media stopped trying to 'get the story' and started caring only about 'getting access' to the circuit of parties and power events that oil the social machine inside the beltway. Public information is the casualty. Reporters have begun to act like pundits, prognosticators of the future, purveyors of wisdom. They must know best what information and who we the public have access to because they are 'in the know.' They limit a candidates access to media because they have pre-determined 'the loser,' and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

The NPR program, "On The Media" talks to Rep. Kucinich and his communications director from his 2004 run for the presidency. The audio begins: "When Dennis Kucinich announced his candidacy off-handedly in an interview with the New York Times, the resulting article treated the announcement as an amusing oddity and led to something less than the publicity windfall enjoyed by Obama." From the Times article:

Never mind that he did not come close to winning any primaries or caucuses in 2004. Mr. Kucinich, who plans to announce his candidacy formally on Tuesday in Cleveland, said he liked his chances.
“Why not?” he said, adding a horse-racing metaphor, “I run very well on a sloppy track.”
He trotted out this line in 2004, too, for what it’s worth.

Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, and former communications director for Kucinich's 2004 run, when asked to characterize the media coverage during the 2004 campaign calls it, "dismissive, sneering...and (they) ignored the candidate alltogether."

I hear constantly how America needs a "real leader". One comes along, and he is virtually ignored, because he doesn't have the right bone structure, is deemed not tall enough, or does not whet the public fascination for a candidate that is a woman or person of color. Dennis Kuchinich reflects the opinions the voters said they wanted in the mid-term elections. The so-called "front-runners" for 2008 have demonstrated pandering or no opinion at all, yet remain at the head of the pack. If America doesn't get over its piquancy for "Dancing With The Stars," come 2008 another republican will be sitting in the Oval Office and they'll have no one left to blame but themselves.

Dennis Kucinich has just been made chair of a new subcommittee; one with the broadest oversight authority of any subcommittee in the federal government, with jurisdiction over all Domestic Policy in the United States. Regardless of the results of his presidential run, it is comforting to know that Dennis Kucinich has a personal stake in returning fairness and access to a government that has turned its back on the public regardless of the fact that same public that has turned its back on him. His eagerness to restore the balance and fair play we have been raised to consider 'American values' is what may save us from ourselves. Maybe his integrity and sense of duty will rub off on his colleagues and the American people.

Relieved of Duty --Updated

Now that is a phrase I would like applied to virtually everyone in BushCo, but today it applies to a USN sub commander was relieved of duty for bad judgement. One can only assume he wasn't one of chimpy's cronies because when they exhibit bad judgement they get promoted. Two sailors were lost due to this crazy man's orders. Read the tragic story here, here, here,here.
I guess I should add that one of the sailors who died was my cousin. He was "Chief of the Boat" and didn't need to be outside. I believe he was outside in harm's way, to protect his men. RIP Tommy. Godspeed.

Sure, You Can Trust The Government

If Tyranny and Oppression Come to this Land, it Will be in the Guise of Fighting a Foreign Enemy -James Madison

They that can Give Up Essential Liberty to Obtain a Little Temporary Safety Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin

It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government is Wrong. -Voltaire

When the government fears the people, there is liberty; when the people fear the government, there is tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson

Unthinking Respect for Authority is the Greatest Enemy of Truth -Albert Einstein

A State of War Only Serves as an Excuse for Domestic Tyranny. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. -Thomas Paine

The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is for Good Men to do Nothing. -Edmund Burke

Save SMU!

Calling all United Methodists SMU needs your help. Please sign the petition.

"Kinda sad when the Methodists don’t want you"

Time to saddle up cowboy, looks like you may be looking for a new pasture. Maybe you could build your library in Paraguay...

Art Buchwald: Rest In Peace

Art Buchwald the Pulitzer Prize winning Humorist and Columnist, died Wednesday night in Washington. The New York Times has written it up beautifully and included the feature "The Last Word" a video presentation of Art talking about his life--and death.

This Can't Be Missed

Found this at Les Enrages.org and apparently it's everywhere.

Single Fish

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.

In other news, fish are reported to be getting along swimmingly without bicycles.

Thank you RF for the chuckle.

50 Things

50 things we know now ( that we didn't know last year).
Interesting article that motivates me into finding 50 additional evils BushCo has perpetrated in the world that we don't know about yet.

Here's one of the fifty things that explains a lot:
Number 15: Americans spent almost $32 billion on toys during 2005. About a third of that was spent on video games.

I'm glad that shopping thing is working out.

When it says Libby, Libby, Libby...

...On the label label label. Remember that TV commercial from the 70's? Label the Scooter Libby trial file under Partisan Politics.







An observation, if you will (oh, I will...)
With the nation at a new and possibly unprecedented level of partisan polarization, will it be possible for Scooter Libby to get a fair trial? I don't think so and here's why.

A jury trial used to be about who made the best argument and presented the facts of the case in a way that convinced a jury. That criteria seems to have vanished. Now it would seem that stocking the jury with fellow ideologues and spinning a story you know panders to an ideological belief system is all that is required. One's ability to appeal to the public's 'common sense' for a fair and just outcome, to paraphrase Voltaire, is no longer so common. The ideological split has become so deep and the chasm so wide in this country that 'common sense' no longer has to do with the facts only with how they are spun. Keep in mind, this is without considering or opining on the partisanship of the bench.

It shocks me that 'facts' no longer seem relevant. In the world of Fox News the 'information' is clearly at the level of propaganda. The other mainstream media outlets fair only slightly better. If you listened to Bill Moyers yesterday or read any number of articles here, at Media Matters or a dozen other websites that report on media disinformation and misrepresentation (links on my site), you will find this to be true.

Then we come to the issue of dead-eye Dick slated to testify. Try and pick an impartial juror for that bit of testimony. Is the vice president credible? According to the latest polls his approval ratings are so low, the only people who find Cheney "credible" are already drunk on koolaid. One of the questions posed to potential jurors is, "During this trial, you will hear testimony about some of the evidence the Bush administration considered when deciding to go to war in Iraq" one question states. "Based on what you know at this time, do you believe that the administration misled the American people to justify going to war?" Are you fucking kidding me? This question literally precludes the facts that are known to be true. We know BushCo "cherry-picked" intel, we know they lied, what was the question again? Am I retarded? With questions like this, the fix is in from the get-go.

Will Scooter get a fair trial? If he does, he'll go to jail. If it isn't, there's always the presidential pardon.

Bill Moyers on Media Reform

Amy Goodman does it again hosting on Democracy Now! veteran broadcast journalist Bill Moyers who spoke on Friday before 3,500 at the opening of the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis. He announced his return to the airwaves and outlined his vision of media reform.

"As ownership gets more and more concentrated, fewer and fewer independent sources of information have survived in the marketplace; and those few significant alternatives that do survive, such as PBS and NPR, are under growing financial and political pressure to reduce critical news content and to shift their focus in a mainstream direction, which means being more attentive to establishment views than to the bleak realities of powerlessness that shape the lives of ordinary people."

"It is absolutely stunning, frightening, how the major media organizations were willing, even solicitous hand-puppets of a state propaganda campaign cheered on by the partisan, ideological press to go to war."

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

In my rush to get to work this morning, I neglected to acknowledge a true American patriot who would have turned 78 today had he not been cut down in the prime of life and at the apex of his power by an cowardly assassin's bullet in 1968. I was an innocent, six year-old on that April day and what I remember most is that everyone was crying. The kind of tears you cry when a beloved family member dies, because that is what Martin Luther King Jr. was, a father of civil rights and human dignity in the United States.
He is sorely missed and desperately needed in an America that he might think, if he were alive today, was reminiscent of the time before he began his civil rights campaign. Numerous others have written and orated beautifully today, so I won't bog the eloquence. Suffice to say, Happy Birthday Dr. King and thank you for all you have done for our country.

From Op99: a link to MLK's "Beyond Vietnam". Timely. Brilliant.

When a Smile Says it All

This is a photo of the Dunham Family at the Medal of Honor Ceremony for their son, Marine Corporal Jason Dunham. Let's play the game from Sesame Street, "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong..."
WTF is wrong with Peter Pace? Why is he smiling? Is something funny about a 22 year-old man who dies after falling on a live grenade to save his companions? Clearly the effects of the diabolical koolaid the top brass in Washington have been drinking has set in. Notice the appropriately somber faces of the Dunham family and how terribly wrong Pace's smiling pie-hole looks.

Pace seems to think he's at an "American Idol" audition
while the scope of this tragedy hits the Dunham family.

Newsweak does an interesting story on the top brass and how we should blame them for our failure in Iraq. I say there is plenty of blame to go around.

H/T to Lotus for the Newsweek link.

Spilt Milk--Updated

The idiom, "cry over spilt milk" refers to crying or complaining about something that has already occurred. The Bushes have never cried over the tragically spilled blood of over 3000 Americans doing their duty in an unnecessary, illegal war, but it would seem that there is quite a history of them crying for themselves. They remind me of the convicted vicious murderer who finally confesses, breaks down and cries, not for his victims but for himself for getting caught.

George W. Bush is the ultimate piece of shit. Virtually everything he has done since being in office has ruined this country in one way or another. He is a sick, sick man from a sick, sick family. If you are unaware at the breadth and depth of the evils conjured and perpetuated by this family, don't believe me, do some homework. You can start anywhere, but a good launching point is the Bush family connections to the Nazis. The trail is long and unnerving.

Frankly I don't know where to start, but let's begin with Barbara Bush chuckling slightly while describing the conditions for Katrina survivors. Can someone tell the Quaker Oats Man stand-in that when people who own their homes lose EVERYTHING, are ignored for 5 days, left thirsty and hungry, and end up in an arena with 50,000 others in the same situational nightmare, it's not funny. Nor is it something that is "...working very well for them." "...because they were underprivileged...." as she said to reporters.

Then we have Pappy Bush breaking down as he speaks in the Florida assembly about Jeb "The Good Son" Bush. Interesting how Pappy begins to choke-up on "...he didn't complain...", broke up at, "how you handle defeat...", and then loses it on the word,"...decency". It's as if he is having a visceral, emotional response at the realization that the "Bush legacy" is over. US history and politics will be tainted with the disgrace of the current administration for decades, possibly forever, depending on the final disposition of Baby George. Will it be prison with his friends or Paraguay with the Nazi murderers he shares a common history with? Ask the American people about impeachment. Deal or no deal?

"A White House spokesman said Bush has not attended any memorials or funerals for soldiers killed in action during his presidency as his predecessors had done, although he has met with families of fallen soldiers and has marked the loss of soldiers in Memorial Day and Sept. 11, 2001, remembrances." -Washington Post

There exists not a shred of common decency in this boy-tyrant. Not only does he not show up to a single funeral, but he publicly conflates 9/11 with these soldiers deaths. Shameless. He issues signing statements making it illegal to show the American public the carnage of war, the thousands of coffins containing dead Americans. The Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice will not be seen, lest they evoke the proper response of horror from the American public. Instead fucking asshole Bush encourages the American public to "go shopping." Less than one percent of the American people have made any actual sacrifice for war and peace in the current debacle. Buying yellow ribbons made in China just doesn't count. I'm not sure how such evil is cultivated but I'm certain that in the Bush family it is standard and flourishing and has begun setting roots in the American psyche.

The most recent example of the liar-in-chief's shamefully manipulative behavior are the fake-ass crocodile tears Chimpy cried while in attendance at Marine Corporal Jason Dunham's Medal of Honor ceremony. You know how he was able to dredge up tears from his amoral soul? Here it is, wait for it: Chimpy, while speaking with Jason's mother said this of Jason, “He grew up with the riches far more important than money,”. So the poor, little, rich boy that nobody cared about reveals he is actually crying for himself. His sick-ass family dynamics of a never-home father, and bitch-from-hell mother, led him to the bottle and cocaine. Not such a unique story in America but the emperor-king has gone on to wreak havoc and seek revenge for perceived wrongs with an unprecedented amount of power. Power to ruin the world. Let that sink in for a moment. Power to ruin the world.

Finally though, it seems the herds of sleeping Americans have begun to wake. November's election showed Americans were no longer willing to let BushCo continue 'business as usual'. The latest outcry from virtually every quarter in response to Chimpy's "New Way Forward", is that it is ass-backward. With The Decider's approval numbers ebbing to their lowest ever, thirty-two percent, the mentally-retarded unreachable lemmings that will follow bush-boy over a cliff are quantitatively identified. Interesting that it is virtually the same percentage John Dean identified in his book "Conservatives Without Conscience" as the "authoritarian type personality" that cannot be reached through reason or emotion.

I'm not certain if the United States can regain all that has been lost over the BushCo era or if we've only uncovered the slimy underbelly of truth about what "America" really stands for and always has in one form or another. All the things we were taught to believe about America and us as Americans has been trashed, abused and twisted almost beyond recognition. Has it been a smoke-screen all along to obscure what we never really wanted to know or believe about ourselves? Greed, avarice, mendacity, apathy, and a number adjectives I don't care to mention seem to be the coin of the realm in Dubya's America. We can only work and hope there is a shred of truth left in what we used to think America stood for.
I wish us Godspeed.

Update: In a weird confluence of energies Maha has a better written piece on a related topic. Go to Mahablog and see. Do click on the Glenn Greenwald while you're there. Great. If you get a chance, read down the comment thread at this wingnut blog, Free Republic. There are some touching tributes to Cpl. Denhan and and many Chimpy cultists. Interesting.
The photos at the Memory Hole need to be seen. Please look. Go. Now.





Why has the American public been restricted from access to show our care for the fallen?

Homage

Quote via MoDo, ala Watertiger
"I’m hungry … I wonder what time the game starts on ESPN? …Has anybody read all these books?"

Cheney Has Another Gun

Texas Monthly have outdone themselves. Give their "Bum Steer Awards" a looky-see. Oops...you need a subscription, but a picture is worth a thousand words.
See the Video!!! (h/t to Op 99 the magnificent and RF for the TM link)

Why "The Way Forward" Won't Work.

I'm certainly no policy wonk nor an insightful insider, just your average, politically curious, angry American. I don't have any 'inside' information or a certain, secret source. I do have every faculty necessary to understand the simple human dynamics involved in the ludicrous "new plan for Iraq" as outlined (does he do more than outline, ever?) by the chimp-in-charge. Most apparent is that it has a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything more than escalating the American death toll in Iraq more quickly than ever before, and that it is another futile attempt to 'win' a war that is already lost. Secondly, this escalation is all about chimpy's megalomania or what Keith Olbermann calls "messianic certitude" and how no one is going to tell him what to do, least of all 'spineless democrats', those 'traitor' friends of Pappy Bush' or those 'whiny Generals', after all, he's "The Decider," and don't none of y'all forgit it.

Beyond all the usual objections to the "way forward" I listened to all day in the news, and the stunning statements by prominent republicans, the basic truth is that regardless of whether Maliki gets his political shit together or not, whether he shows up in the short-term by reining in the militias or not, whether American soldiers start crackin' heads on Shi'ite death squads or not, American Soldiers Will Leave Iraq. Sooner or later, next month or next year, but we will leave. Maliki knows this. Sadr knows this. Even the thick-skulled fucktard in the White House knows this.

Maliki knows what side his bread is buttered on-- the Moqtada al-Sadr side. Shi'a ARE the majority. Moqtada al-Sadr runs the Medhi Army which is the most powerful Iraqi militia, and Iraq is engaged in a civil war, whether chimpy la-la-la's about it or not. If, as new secretary of defense Robert Gates says, the political favors will end and arrested Shi'a will no longer be released, American soldiers will stop looking the other way when Sunni insurgents are arrested or worse and if American soldiers embedded in Iraqi units go into Sadr City to arrest, kill or look cross-eyed at the Shiite inhabitant/followers of Moqtada al-Sadr, guess who's going to end up dead in a ditch? Bush' new way of saying "stay the course" will accelerate the death toll at a higher rate than ever before. Both sides will turn against us. As a side note, I know I'm not the only person to notice in Condyloma* Rice's comment today that she said the same thing about Maliki and "breathing room" as Hitler said about Germany in Mein Kampf. My doctor-husband made an interesting comment today; he said the main problem with Bush is that he never doubts himself. He spoke this to a colleague at the hospital who responded, "A doctor who doesn't question himself kills people."

The only way forward in Iraq is straight out of Iraq.

Keith Olbermann had a great special comment on this tonight, my bet is that Crooks and Liars will post it soon. What'd I tell you, here it is.

The subtext of all of this is of course, is launching a new war on Iran, possibly Syria. Somebody better put the brakes on the crazyman soon. Think Progress has some good stuff on this current situation.

The NYT Anthony Cordesman has a great interactive analysis of the boy-king's speech.

*Do Condy's parents know they named her after an anal wart? Inquiring minds want to know...

Music for the Masses

This an anti-war song called "Can I Leave Alive?" by Eoghan Colgan. Check out his site and give this a listen. Beautiful song.

A Lion's Kiss

Something heartwarming to start the day. Times of London reports on a woman who saves abused animals in Cali, Columbia.

Ana Julia Torres snuggles up to Jupiter the African lion she rescued from a circus six years ago. (Inaldo Perez/AP)

UPDATE: Falafel man linked my "Lion Kiss" as his "Most Ridiculous of the Day"
ah, the smell of greasepaint...

Beach to Impeach!

photocredit:John Montgomery

Raw Story...geez..they find all the good stuff. My home district, CA-08 is Speaker Pelosi's turf and today over 1000 protesters lined up on Ocean Beach to spell out the word, "IMPEACH!" complete with exclamation point. KGO7 News has the video. Beach Impeach has photos.

H/T to Mary for the heads up.

KIng George

NYT editorial today: The Imperial Presidency 2.0

"In 2006, the voters sent Mr. Bush a powerful message that it was time to rein in his imperial ambitions. But we have yet to see any sign that Mr. Bush understands that — or even realizes that the Democrats are now in control of the Congress. Indeed, he seems to have interpreted his party’s drubbing as a mandate to keep pursuing his fantasy of victory in Iraq and to press ahead undaunted with his assault on civil liberties and the judicial system."

Israel to Nuke Iran With US Approval-UPDATED

The Times of London reporting that Israel has a secret plan to bomb Iran if they receive the tacit approval of the US government to "intercede". With the installation of Admiral William Fallon as the new commander in the Middle East, and the Bush administration's "urge to surge", what could be more clear than BushCo plans an acceleration of war to which we have no comparison. Fred Kagan, the Bush advisor credited with planning the "New Way Forward" has written an article detailing his plans for Iraq. This administrations infamous, "stay the course" shows blatant disregard for the will of the American people to end our participation in this illegal, immoral war, and has become as euphonious as Cheney's rejoinder to Patrick Leahy, "Go fuck yourself".

This is not 1944. Global interdiction by the US in support of Israel in the midst of an ongoing war, one with the added compliment of a "culture war" component will make WWII look like a walk in the park. If you care about your country, your future, the future of the planet, write your congressperson and senator demanding "no joy" to the bombing of Iran.

Nancy Street

A small, bright spot on an otherwise sunless day.

File Under: FTA*

I have to post this because it must be read. Water Tiger has linked this tidbit that once digested will definitely cause stomach upset.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.

Raw Story has a video report.

*Fuck The Army

Mad Cowboy Disease

Buzzflash has done a terrific interview with Justin Frank,M.D., author of "Bush on the Couch", a scathing indictment of Chimpy's mental health from the view of a psychiatrist. His conclusions are chilling. Dr. Frank: "I really think that Bush is not competent to be President. He is unconsciously destructive. He is out of touch with his cruelty. He is unable to think clearly when presented with new information. He cannot do it."Read it here.

Funny thing is Dr. Frank is not the only professional to consider the mental instability of the boy-king. Will Thomas writes his piece, "Is Bush Nuts?" and speaks with Carol Wohlman,M.D. about the rat-boy's "suicidal tendencies". Dr. Wohlman: "There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others: 1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; 2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; 5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others; 7) lack of remorse by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated or stolen from others." A good read.

"Ah am startin' ta look a little crazy..."

Iraq: The Naval War?

WTF? I could have sworn I have heard a gazillion times how Dubya "...listens to his Generals on the ground in Iraq". I guess when he doesn't like what they say he just changes the generals (and the intelligence tsar, and the White House Counsel). Except this time he switching to an Admiral. Smooth move ex-lax. Last time I checked Iraq has a sliver of coastline you could spit across. Not exactly where I would choose to launch a naval invasion. But then I'm not "The Decider". Also, I'm not a dick with asprirations on Iran. Laura Rozen of "War & Piece" has a good take on the sitch. Give her a read. As does Froomkin on the "musical chairs" in th WH.

In anticipation of his appointment, Fallon has already begun to moblize for the surge:Graphic and caption courtesy of Mary.

Jack Cafferty has a thing or two to say about the "Surge".

Should The GOP's Policies be Reversed?

Is there any question whether or not the multitude of BushCo's monsterous policy decsions, ignorance of fact, and shredding of constitutional rights and freedoms needs to be changed? The New York Times explores this question while my blood boils. Read it here.

Speaker Pelosi

I just wanted to convey my congratulations to the new Speaker of the House, the Honorable Nancy Pelosi. I am a CA 8th congressional district voter and I couldn't be happier. Godspeed Speaker Pelosi on your mission to change this, the 110th congress, into something all Americans can be proud of. I also want to convey my support for the new Democratic Congress and Senate, most particularly to our first Muslim Congressman, Representative Keith Ellison.

"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men." -Goethe

KO: Sacrifice:Special Comment

Those of you who haven't seen this "Special Comment" by Keith Olbermann, simply must.
If you've watched it already, watch it again. KO was voted "Most Dangerous Liberal" or some such nonsense by the wingnut blogosphere and in this special comment he proves it.
Crooks and Liars has the video, watch it here.

The Four Agreements

At the dawning of a new year, in spite of the continuing trouble in the world, I feature today a post from an incredible woman that I call a friend: Meta. She comments on the import of a word we have heard oft repeated today in regards to the Ford funeral: Integrity. She writes about the Don Miguel Ruiz bestseller of a few years ago, "The Four Agreements©". Give this post and its ideas the integrity of your attention and please let me know how you intended to live with integrity in this new year.

Although I haven’t read the book, there are the 4 Agreements from Don Miguel Ruiz, who is a Toltec spiritual leader. I heard about him a few years ago.

They’re pretty basic, if stated in an overly simplistic way:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

From Father to Son to You

While I prefer to start a new year on a positive note, no good beginnings can come to pass without first ending the horror of our occupation in civil war-torn Iraq. This NYT story is a wake-up call for those of you who feel no personal connection to the soldiers, airman, marines, sailors and millions of Iraqis in mortal danger daily. This is the story of a soldier who wrote a journal for his infant son in case he didn't come back from Iraq. If you know no one that serves in the military, certainly you do have family; sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, parents. The people that serve are all of those family members. Click through the 3000 dead faces of war. There is a slaughter and a virtual holocaust going on in Iraq. There is a full-blown holocaust ongoing in Darfur, but while the American public has virtually ignored that tragedy, we didn't create it. We made Iraq.

Drawing from Charles Monroe's journal to his son. Watch the multimedia of the journal.

Please for the love of all that is good and honorable about Americans, make your New Year's resolution to do what you can to participate in ending the US participation in Iraq. Contact your Senators and Congress. Insist they cut funding and bring our troops home now. When are enough dead bodies enough? 3000 and counting.

[H/T to Meta for the NYT link]