Friday Night Video

...or the future life Larry Craig has to look forward to now that he's leaving the senate.

Katrina Today

Todd Beeton over at My DD has a great post and a video by Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. Watch this then go over to When The Saints.org and see if you can help. It's not too late. Do something before it is.

South Mississippi Keeps On Post Katrina

The Gulf Coast of Mississippi received the full force of Katrina's wrath 2 years ago today and a paucity of the federal recovery monies and support. We relocated to Southern Mississippi recently. We live within walking distance of FEMA trailers.

My mom just finished a visit here. I told her about all the troubles folks on the Gulf Coast are still embroiled in and all that hasn't been provided by the federal government. We went for a drive down highway 90. I pointed out all the still-present damage and all the empty slabs next to storm twisted remnants of buildings. She was shocked and said,"I didn't realize the devastation, the only reports you hear are about New Orleans..."

The Sun Herald has an article today on the two year anniversary of Katrina detailing among other things, how the the money spent so far could have purchased two houses for each family still displaced by the storm. Someone explain that to the politicians. I hope they have to explain it to God.

Read the Sun Herald article then click onto Jim Yancy's site Jackson County Community Services Coalition and please give whatever you can spare, even if it's just a prayer and a thank you to Jim for all his hard work. One current project is "100 Homes in 100 Days" see how you can help.

Also checkout SouthernStudies.org's Blueprint for Gulf Renewal

Some people are doing A-OK after Katrina. From reader Op99:Gulf Coast Cronyism or "Thanks Haley Barbour!!"...(Daddy, Uncle Haley, etc.)

Gooper Pooper

Yet another gooper gets caught in, dare I say it, ratfuckery, so to speak. Larry Craig (Idaho-R) tried to get his groove on with an undercover cop in an airport bathroom. WTF is wrong with conservative rethuglicans? Being Gay is fine but being hypocritical and making laws against Gays and basic civil rights is totally uncool. What a dick. And by the way, he has "Gay eyes". Don't ask.

Equally telling in the "GOP bathroom problem" is the inherent homophobia. Certainly expected on the right but sadly from the left as well, just more subtly. Already I'm pretty sick of 'gay jokes'. The Nation blogger Richard Kim pens that side of the story:

"...I wonder if the GOP's burgeoning "bathroom problem" isn't reflective of something larger than just a bunch of conservative dudes who couldn't come out of the closet. There's something palpably sad to me about what happened to Allen and Craig too, something oddly touching about their misplaced faith in the fading world of secret, anonymous gay sex. That world--once found in bathrooms, parks, piers and adult bookstores; the furtive refuges of adventuresome queers, married men, the curious--has been swept away by so many police raids, privatization schemes, quality of life campaigns and internet dating services. But mostly, it's fallen away as gays have become increasingly integrated into the mainstream, and also, paradoxically, more marked than ever."

Fat City

The news is out: my new 'home' state is the fattest in the country. Sigh. And adding insult to misery, in the state primary run-off election today, voting is expected to be very low.

It Ain't Over til the Fat Lawyer Sings

Beyond good riddance to bad garbage, my only commentary on the resignation of Abu Gonzalez is a reiteration of my, what has been called the highly improbable, poo-pooed notion, that Gonzo was gonna fold and blow the whistle on BushCo. I believe now that Gonzo has been throw to the wolves, and as pressure and more malfeasance in the Bush administration comes to light, Gonzo is gonna squeal like the stuck pig bastard he is.

My conjecture is based on what I perceive as Gonzo's internalized racism, his desperate desire to 'succeed,' and pursue the "American Dream" at any cost. His blind ambition has created a monster.

Alberto Gonzalez, the only child to go to college from a very possibly illegal immigrant Mexican family, hitched his wagon to Dubya in the early 90's. His star soared and he saw this gabacho as his way of setting himself apart from the pack.

Initially, Chimpy's c'mon-and-have-a-beer-with-me persona appealed to Fredo and his conservative Catholic values. His advances in career, all tied to monkey-boy, cemented his loyalty even as the moral ethical line moved. Alberto unconsciously tapped into his deep-seated inferiority complex and acted out all the evil impulses buried inside when egged on by the mean-spirited Bush. He was pulled deeper and deeper into the web of deceit, illicit behavior and depravity of BushWorld.

Now that he's been left outside in the cold, my guess is that he will bite the hand that fed him in an effort to redeem his own soul and possibly keep himself out of jail.

It's just a thought. I could be wrong. But what if I'm right? 'House of cards' will take on a new dimension.

Just for shits and giggles here is an eight minute montage Josh Marshall put together of the the lying liar's greatest hits, followed by a truly crestfallen Arlen Specter and the incredulity of Gonzo and Habeus Corpus.

Republican Ratfuckery

Palau over at Progressive Gold has posted a terrific piece on more GOP malfeasance:

A NY state Republican political thug ‘consultant’, Roger J. Stone Jr., is alleged to have been harassing the 83 year old father of the Democratic attorney general, Elliot Spitzer, with threatening late night phone calls - traceable directly back to aforesaid thug “consultant”.

The title of the article has also given me a terrific new tag for gooper wingnuttery:Modern Mobsterism, or Republican Ratfuckery or “Nice Family You Got there. Shame If Anything Happened to It…” Ratfuckery, indeed.

Are We There Yet?

More and more frequently these days, I hear talk and genuine fear regarding the possibility of Chimpy imposing martial law. It is expected he will suspend the '08 election, and essentially complete the power grab that has been politically engineered from day one of his illegal presidency. The martial law coup d'etat is presumably preceded by another 9/11 style terrorist attack somewhere in the U.S., wherein BushCo then acts out on NSPD-51.

While certainly a frighteningly fictional-sounding scenario, it is one I'm afraid is all too close to coming true..

There have been far and away too many specific acts of controversy. We have experienced an ever-increasing range of false flag fun-and-games to the dissolution of our fundamental civil rights; suspension of the 900 year old tenet of Habeas Corpus and illegal wiretapping; data-mining and the ever-present extreme secrecy regarding everything this administration has done since in office. The list of offenses is long and infamous.

I think we as Americans too often forget the recent lessons of history and precedent of this type of despotic behavior. In Southeast Asia, Pol Pot's wholesale slaughter of 2 million Cambodians; Hitler's extermination of 6 million Jews; and the most recent examples, the Genocides in at least eight other countries. We assume such things could never happen here.

I posit that assumption is extremely naive.

The most recent thing to cross my radar, albeit a bit dated, certainly fits tidily into the coup premise. Have you heard about the government operations conducted by the U.S. Marshall Service and 29 other government agencies called "Operation Falcon"? Not one exercise, but three which in toto "rounded up" 37,000 "suspects" and concluded with over 30,000 arrests of people whose disposition is unknown.

Things are starting to look more and more like science fiction, and the suspense dramas we read in novels. I wonder how much it will take for people to pay attention.

"Conquering The Drawbacks Of Democracy"

My friend Marc Lord at Adored by Hordes, has written a stunning piece directly addressing the wingnuttery of Philip Atkinson. Atkinson is the crazy responsible for the the article published and subsequently pulled, from the website Family Security Matters (see below post).

An example of Atkinson's 'work':"The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead.”

Marc has written a response to this madness, directly to Atkinson, and in the best snark possible:

No, Mr. Atkinson, the central problem with your proposal is not that it goes too far. Simply that it does not go far enough. I strongly suggest you lend your support to our Nuclear Die-Off Proposal (NDOP). Your talents of persuasion would be most welcomed, and I think you'll find an inviting and stimulating home for a classically minded intellect. Won't you join us?

Read Adored by Hordes and if so inclined, send your own response to this nutbag.

Family Security Matters: Make Bush President for Life

This story has since been removed from the Family Security Matters website. I want to know what wingnit Laura Ingram (she's on the board) has to say...The Newsvine posts the story.

If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestiege while terrifying American enemies.

Purple Heart--"out of stock" UPDATE

Passed on from Pandabonium who does an excellent job on the topic of peak oil at Floating Down Denial, is the story of a Korean War Veteran who after 55 years finally gets his Purple Heart Medal approved only to find out that they are "out of stock". Read the story here.

UPDATE:At least someone in BushCo can be shamed into action. After opting to buy his awarded Purple Heart, John Cornyn (R-TX)endeavored to find a medal for Veteran Nyles Reed of Texas.

Better late than never, dipshit.

3701

The number of dead American soldiers today and it's not even noon. Now, 3702.

Wednesday Night Videos

Inspired by an interview heard today on Fresh Air, here is Madonna and Gypsy sensation Eugene Hutz from Gogol Bordello collaborating in Romane, on "La Isla Bonita" at Live earth last month:
And in tribute to the anniversary of Elvis' death and the surrounding hoopla, I can't help but post his bouncing baby girl's "Lights Out" She insisted today that the lights be kept on at Graceland so that, "it would look like somebody was home...:

Fat Ass Issues Fatwah--Baptist-style

Dr. Wiley S. Drake, pastor of some cracker-ass Southern Baptist church, endorsed Mike Huckabee in a press release on church letterhead. For tax-exempt entities, that is a no-no. The Carpetbagger and Jesus General have the scoop.

Psychologists to King George's CIA: We Condemn Your Torture

Salon reports:

The American Psychological Association, the world's largest professional organization of psychologists, is poised to issue a formal condemnation of a raft of notorious interrogation tactics employed by U.S. authorities against detainees during the so-called war on terror, from simulated drowning to sensory deprivation. The move is expected during the APA's annual convention in San Francisco this weekend.

Read the rest.

Silver Lining

The new restrictions on obtaining a U.S. Passport have netted a few slacker-dad-fish.

Muggled

A little four minute something from Go Left TV featuring Jason Alexander and Company. A short film parody of "Harry Potter" called "The Plot to Bury Congress". It's funny and oh so right on the money. Give it a look.

"If the muggles are upset, tell them we're fighting them over there so...we can do whatever the hell we want over here."

"The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail...so, far it's working for us. The Democrats are taking the blame for not getting anything done."

-Trent Lott in Roll Call, April 7, 2007

For more info go to: The Campaign for America's Future. Go check out where your Senator stands in regards to being "obstructionist".

Idaho's Not Just for Potatoes

Wordsmith at Les Enrages has a great post up about the continued push for theocracy from the retarded-rightwing of the Reich. Rep Bill Sali ID-R, thinks were in trouble 'cause we gots ourselves a Muslim in congress, among other things... Read Wordy's wonderful piece.

GENERAL STRIKE IN USA on Sept. 11, 2007

“No School, No Work, No Shopping, Hit the Streets”

I'm in. How about you?

Welcome to the Matrix

PsyOps, you know, the psychological warfare the military uses to mess with the head; has it been unleashed on the American public? Sure would explain the narcoleptic quality to the American response in losing our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and the rampant criminal activities of BushCo.

Heard today on the Thom Hartman Program, Heather Wokusch, author of The Progressives Handbook. She writes up Welcome to the Jungle an expose on the PSYOP program which very well may be being used on the American public. Watch the video read her article, then WRITE CONGRESS.