I wasn't going to

I wasn't going to even bother this afternoon. Was a crazy day again at work, and again no Indian. Stopped by his house on the way home and he's looking better, although drugged, not really a bad thing. The Indian drugged, that is. Harry and I managed to blow one up on the dyno today doing an inspection, a couple gallons of 225 degree antifreeze all over the floor in 100 degree heat. We weren't happy campers. Then I got a guy bring me his car because he gets a clicking noise when he touches the brakes. Listen to me, Lugnut. If you really have to do your own brakes in the driveway, don't throw away all the little clips and springs and shit that attach to the pads. Those little shits are there so you don't get a clicking noise when you step on the brakes, you bonehead. Yeesh.

The reason I did is because President Dipshit is on TV live with that moron Tom Ridge. What's with Ridge? Does he have Down's Syndrome or something? I mean, I know he's an ex-jarhead, but he looks even more vacant than the average Marine. Did President Numbnuts want one person in his cabinet that was dumber than he is? Oh wait, he has Tommy Thompson already. And then there's Ashcroft. You know, come to think of it, we got a lot of stupid at the top.

Oh, and get the 9/11 Commission Report here. It's a PDF so you'll have to download the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader. Go get it and read it.

Contessa Brewer is an airhead and a moron. Pretty girl though.

Finally found a pic of the Freedom Stone, the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower that will rise from the pit at Ground Zero:






Gotta go get the Mrs. and then I'm gonna relax. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

Now this pisses me off, again

Via Pandagon:

Making a tough choice with U.S. troops still in Iraq (news - web sites), the House on Wednesday sided with the chamber's Republican leaders to embrace spending restraint over an expansion of a program to improve family military housing.

In a near party-line 212-211 procedural vote, lawmakers signaled their willingness to remove a $500 million expansion of the housing program from a $10 billion military construction bill for next year.

The housing expansion provision; supported by President Bush (news - web sites), most Democrats and many Republicans; was expected to be formally deleted from the legislation on Thursday.

Hours after the first vote, though, lawmakers underscored the election-year sensitivity of the issue by voting 423-0 for a separate bill doing exactly the opposite; expanding the same family military housing program by $500 million.

The back and forth underscored the GOP's ambivalence about which priority should gain the upper hand, controlling spending or helping the troops during wartime. It also illustrated the party's internal battle between conservatives and moderates, and the balancing act GOP leaders must often perform.

[. . .]

Ain't nobody on the Right gave a damn about the troops in the first place. Well, maybe McCain. These fucking assholes see our fighting men and women in terms of strength charts, not as human beings who have the needs all other humans have. They can't get the Reservists' pay situation straight and they don't care if military families have a place to live. Fight and die, that's it. What more does the military need? Motherfuckers.

Ugh

I woke up thinking it was Friday. What a letdown. The 9/11 Commission report comes out today, like all the best parts haven't been leaked already. While everybody's waiting for this fucking thing so expectantly, I figure it'll be forgotten in a couple months. Remember the Rudman/Hart Report? Didn't think so. That's been relegated to obscurity, though it forecast things pretty accurately. Three years from now, the 600-page tome will be relegated to doorstop or coffee table duty.

Well, have a good Thursday. I'm off to the mines. It'll probably be a day like yesterday. Hopefully, Dead Ed will make it in.

Later.

This is funny

Via Eschaton. It's time to play The Right Wing Squares.

Whew

Glad to be home. Not only wasn't the Indian in, but Dead Ed was out too. Harry and I were jumping all day. Thankfully, no stupid shit, just a lot of work and a hot day. Not much blogging this afternoon. I'm hot, I'm tired, and the world could blow up and I don't give a shit.

Good one

My brother in law sent this and it's good:

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation..

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness, and you need our prayers for your recovery.

You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

Friends don't let friends vote Republican!

Crap

I've been getting a lot of crap for supporting the judge who ruled against unreasonable searches of protesters by the NYPD. I'm gonna paraphrase Ben Franklin here.

Those who are so willing to give up their freedoms for security, deserve neither.

I'm done, gotta empty the dog and then I'm off. The weather nitwit says this is gonna be the hottest day of the year so far. That's great. Doubt the Indian will be in so Harry and I will be jumping once again. Let's pray the nutcase doesn't show up today. The bright side is that I'll probably sweat off 5 lbs.

Later.

Good night

I'm done. I'm tired and I got shit to do. If I post anything later I'll do it over at TAB. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

I'm not the only one

I know you think I'm crazy when I compare President Dipshit and his Administration to Nazis and that they will do something to affect the elections in November to their benefit. I did that here, here, here, here, here, and here. Well, Xan at Corrente does today too, so I stole his whole post:

Any Tom Clancy fans reading today? Take a look-see at this little item. A group called Citizens For Legitimate Government has an essay by one Wayne Madsen, described in the credits as "a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration."

This is long but worth it. He starts out:

You have to give the right-wingers credit. The fear tactics they learned from arch-Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels remain at the front of their political playbook. First, they put out the notion that in the event of a terrorist attack around the time of the November 2 election, a postponement of the vote may be necessary. Second, they start talking about the Federal government’s response to such a scenario. It’s the second item we must all be focused upon.

And then he tells you EXACTLY how they could steal it this time. (As Madsen notes, "Like bin Laden, these people never use the same tactic twice.") I cut to the conclusion:

That is what all this talk about a terrorist attack on Election Day is about. It is to prime the population and allow Bush surrogates at Fox News, CNN, and MS-NBC to begin their perception management campaign that an attack will occur around the election. But there will be no postponement of the election or cancellation – this is simply another plan to manipulate the public through the use of phony threats and fear tactics....

To paraphrase James Carville, “It’s California and the voter turnout, stupid!” Forget about canceling or postponing the election. Keep your eye on a “Red Terrorist Alert” on the West Coast for Election Day. That doesn’t take a constitutional amendment, merely an okay from Bush and his homeland security team. They must be stopped – the future of this nation is at stake!

Go read. Now. Take it as tinfoil-hat raving if you like, or start picking out the cast list for the movie version.

Yeah, keep calling me crazy. I made a career out of crazy, but I've dealt with too many power-hungry fools in the course of a lifetime. Desperate men commit desperate acts when their position is threatened. As everything Dubya touches goes to shit, you can bet he's desperate. As my German relatives say, Achtung! Minen!

And take Xan's advice. Go read the whole article.

Tough day

Well, the Indian is down with bronchitis so it was just Harry and me turning wrenches today. Oy! My ass is dragging. It's like super humid in NYC today and about 90 in the shade. That means the shop was about 100, not counting the times we had cars running on the dyno for inspections. The fans couldn't keep up

To top it off, the neighborhood nut was hearing noises in her car again. I know every shop has one of these, the crazy broad who hears things that aren't there. We feel bad for this one, her ex used to kick the shit out of her and she's a little twitchy. We feel bad, but she's making us nuts. We're not the models of sanity either so you can imagine. If she were a guy, we would have thrown her out already and we're beginning to understand why her ex beat her up constantly. Oy gevult! It's one thing humoring her when we have a full crew, but on days when we're short, the joint's jumping. The last thing you need on days like this is the nutcase coming in, terrified to drive her car.

"It made a horrible noise," she said.

"Let's go for a ride," I say. "Show me, you drive."

"But it made a noise," she said. "I don't want to drive it."

"But you drove it up here," I say. "Let's just go around the block and you point out the noise to me."

"O-okay, if you say so," she replies and we get in the car.

We drive. I don't hear a fucking thing except a great-running Volkswagen. "What noise?" I ask again.

"But I heard it when I drove to the shop," she said. "And it made the noise the other day. I had to go home."

"Well, this thing runs great," I say. "Drive the crap out of it."

"But what if it does it again?"

"Drive it directly to the shop," I reply.

"Can I leave it with you?" She asks. "Will you look underneath?"

"Fine."

"Will Harry and Indian look at it too?" She asks.

"Everybody will look at it," I assure her. "You probably snagged a branch and that's what you heard."

"But you'll look at it?" She asks again. "Maybe it's the transmission?"

Here's where I almost lost it, but I say, "If the transmission made a noise as bad as you say, the car wouldn't move under its own power. I'll call you." And I push her out the door after I remind her that combined, Harry, Indian, and I have more than a hundred years experience in the field. This takes up a 1/2 hour of my time. Did I mention we're a man down? Fine.

She goes and there are ten customers waiting to drop off their cars so I help Harry and Dead Ed the Office Bitch check them in. I get the keys from two of them and tag them, and as I turn around, guess who shows back up? The nutcase.

"I told you that it was a grinding noise, right?" She asks, interrupting the guy telling me about his fucking K-car and the sound it makes.

"Don't you see I'm busy with this gentleman?" I growl at her. Told ya she was twitchy. She starts crying uncontrollably. Oy gevult! Now she's crying and the women standing there are all looking at me with homicide on their minds. I need this at 7:45 in the morning? Thank god Harry offered her a ride home and gets her out of there. Now there are 5 women who hate me and two guys laughing, so what do I do? I take all their keys and chase 'em out. Peace at last. Now I can get to work fixing their piece of shit cars. Harry comes back 5 minutes later from dropping off the nutcase and he's ready to beat the shit out of her too.

PS: She calls around noon and goes through the whole thing again. Took me 10 minutes to get her off the phone and another 15 to get rid of her (no charge)when she showed up to pick up the car, the crying episode seemingly forgotten. We're praying she finds another place to look at her car but you know that ain't happening.

Seriously, and for all you feminists out there. We would never beat the crap out of any woman. You can ask our wives. I don't need you all in front of my house tonight with torches and a noose, singing 'I am woman, hear me roar'.

Sense

Well, some common sense finally prevails in NYC:

(New York-WABC, July 19, 2004) — The NYPD is being forced to ease restrictions on demonstrators at the Republican Convention. That means no handbag searches, unless officers can show a specific threat to public safety.

[. . .]

After a protest that became known for its violence on February 15 of 2003, protesters sued police for over-policing, accusing them of denying the public proper access on that day. And they sued over the use of metal pens, or barricades. And they accused the police of over-zealous searches of handbags and backpacks.

On most points in the case the protesters won. They include Annie Stauber, wheel-chair bound, who could not get out of a police pen on that day.

Annie Stauber, Peace Activist: "I'm thrilled. It makes it a lot safer to do further demonstrations, to do the Republican Convention demonstrations. I'm very happy not to be shut in anywhere."

[. . .]

Sorry, Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Bush, this is still NYC, the most diverse city in the world. We also don't put up with police state bullshit. You had to have your convention here? Well then, you'll have to put up with us. New Yorkers don't roll over because some village idiot from Texas tells us to.

I'm off to the mines. Later.

Good night

Gotta get Mrs. F. Fillet mignon tonight, one of the Mrs.' signature dishes. She makes it just the way I like it. As an old redneck told me once, 'I seen cows hurt worse than that who lived'. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

Oh really?

Oh yeah, we NEEDED to go into Iraq. This from the Jerusalem Post:

The risk of Iranian non-conventional weapons being transferred to the Hizbullah [Hezbollah] "exists," in the same way the group was supplied with long-range rockets, a senior IDF intelligence official said in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

The official, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kupperwasser, said that Iran has resumed its work on nuclear centrifuges needed to make nuclear materials after releasing themselves from a commitment to Europe to halt efforts. He said the development is "worrisome."

[. . .]

And let's see, what did the 9/11 Commission say? From Reuters:

[. . .]

The commission investigating the attacks will detail links between al-Qaida and Iran in its final report this week, raising new questions about why Bush turned his focus to Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001. The commission has found more al-Qaida contacts with Iran than with Iraq, officials said.[my emphasis]

[. . .]

So why are we in Iraq? Because President Mission Accomplished is a bully and a coward. If he went into Iran or North Korea, we'd lose ten thousand troops, maybe more. Iraq was easy and Bush knew it. Or rather Cheney knew it and he told President C-student to do it.

Girlie men?

For those of you who are upset about Arnold's comment? Just shut the fuck up. I'm no fan of the Gropinator either but there's bigger shit to worry about. If I had to apologize every time I said something off color or downright rude to someone, I wouldn't have time for anything else. Jesus H. Christ, do you know how many times a day I call someone an asshole? Just shut the fuck up, please.

Slow news day

In Knoxville. Via Bubba:

A Maryville man spent his 23rd birthday in custody after police said they found him early Sunday running nude from the John Sevier pool snack bar with a box of stolen snacks.

Authorities said the man had apparently scaled an 8-foot tall fence while naked and covered in nacho cheese and was seen running toward a Jeep in which officers found clothing and an open bottle of vodka.

. . .[The suspect, Michael P.]Monn was charged with burglary, theft of property less than $500, vandalism less than $500 and public intoxication. He was also cited with indecent exposure. . .

[. . .]

[Maryville Police Officer Scott]Spicer reported at 3:38 a.m. Sunday he saw a Jeep CJ-7 in the parking lot of the pool and saw an open bottle of vodka in the console along with various articles of clothing. Minutes later, a nude man carrying a cardboard box ran toward the Jeep before Spicer stopped him and found the box filled with Frito Lay snacks and a container of nacho cheese.

``In addition, the male had nacho cheese in his hair, on his face and on his shoulders,'' Spicer reported. ``The nude male had a strong odor of alcohol and was semi-incoherent.''

Details here.

They sure know how to have fun up in them thar hills.

Kill Arafat and get it over with

The Associated Press
Updated: 1:26 p.m. ET July 19, 2004

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Backing down in the face of violent protests, Yasser Arafat asked the ousted Palestinian chief of security to return to his job Monday, placing him in command of his controversial cousin, Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian leader phoned Abdel Razek Majaide and asked him to return to the office he left last week at Arafat’s request, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior Arafat adviser.

[. . .]

While this bodes well (that Arafat can still be swayed by the street), he ain't giving up power so easily. Can't like the Jordanians or the Egyptians take his ass out and make it look like his own people did it? It would open the door for moderates in the PA and spread the power out a bit. It could turn into an internal power grab, but I think it's worth the risk. Can't get much worse there. I'm a firm believer in 'better the Devil you know' but as long as Arafat is alive, ain't NOTHING happening in Palestine but more death and destruction.

Ron Jr.

Has the Republicans all fired up. From Digby:

Although Michael Reagan has consented to appear at the GOP convention, Ron Reagan's scheduled speech at the Democratic gathering is galling to many Republicans.

"Ron Jr. has either allowed himself to be used or he's knowingly partaking in something whose purpose is to damage the party his father spent all of his adult political life in," [former Reagan aide, Gary]Bauer said.

I think this is great! And I can imagine what Ron Jr. will say about the Republicans (chiefly the Jesus freak, Christo-Fascist, right-wingnut Republicans). Gotta tape it.

Vacation, not mine

From Clare at Kicking Ass:

Job security worries force Bush vacation cut backs

Don't misunderestimate George Bush's commitment to his campaign. For the first time since he took office, Bush will only spend half of the month of August at his Crawford, TX getaway, rather than the whole month. Though Bush took August off while there were terrorist warnings in '01, impending war in '02 and sustained job losses in '03, this August apparently necessitates an abbreviated respite due to the more pressing concerns of a campaign year.

With over 300 days of his Presidency spent on his ranch or at Camp David, Bush has spent more time on vacation in four years than most Americans take over their entire careers. While neither war nor terrorism warnings nor an ailing economy have ever made Bush cut his vacation short, now that his own job is on the line, he's finally willing to show up for work.

Aw, poor baby. Ain't like he's going to use the two weeks to better our lot. He's worried that he'll lose his no-show job.

Late

I didn't want to wake up this morning. Now I'm late and I still have to empty the dog. Wonder what shit got towed in over the weekend. Have a good one, I'm off to the mines.

Later.

Good night

Mrs. F made a great dinner and now I'm lazy as hell. I'll say goodnight and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Pleasant dreams.

Oh yeah, I'm still looking for someone to blog over at TAB.

The Aunts

I got two aunts. Not blood relative, father's or mother's sister type aunts, but two old German ladies who were my mom's closest friends since she and my dad moved out here from Queens in '62. This was a very European neighborhood when I was growing up, Krauts, Polacks, and Guineas. They tolerated my dad because he was married to my mom, a good German woman.

Anyway, one of these women is the mother of my best friend Steve and has always been a second mom to me, so I gotta keep in touch. They just live around the corner. So today was one of those days. We were summoned there on Friday becasue her cucumber crop was overly bountiful (it is every year because she plants so damn much) and she had so many extra, we had to take some. Fine.

Here's where the problem arises. They're just like all the other old German ladies in my family. They're not happy until you weigh 500 lbs. So we go over there and of course she had a fruit torte just coming out of the oven. Naturally, I wasn't allowed to do anything unless I had a piece (have I mentioned I'm 42 years old). Oh, yes, something to drink too. No, just a taste wouldn't do, she had to cut the damn thing up and put it on a plate in the middle of the table. I didn't need much coaxing to have a second and third piece as well. I swear it's more addictive than cocaine. These ladies can bake. It's why I gain 20 lbs in 2 weeks when I visit my real aunt in Germany. If you can resist the first piece you might succeed, but when you take the first bite it's all over. If you think it's easy to resist and old German lady pushing warm-from-the-oven cake in front of you, be my guest.

Now Mrs. F has cut the dinner menu in half because we're both so full we couldn't eat everything she had planned. Thankfully, they didn't insist we take any home otherwise dinner would have been the rest of the cake and a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Oy!!!

Good question

Tom at Corrente asks a question I haven't heard yet, let alone thought about.

As he campaigned around the country last week, President Bush asked voters to give him another four years to make the nation "safer and stronger and better." But with the election less than four months away, one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the president's campaign is what he would actually do if he wins a second term.
(via WaPo)

Here's a newsflash: He doesn't know.

There really are only a couple of possibilities: either they're waiting to craft their agenda in reaction to what Kerry says (meaning they have no plans of their own) or it's all so evil and twisted they don't want the rest of us to know about it.

Either one is pretty appalling, eh?

Well, we know he's gonna be at war for four more years, that's for sure. God knows the world won't run out of 'evildoers'.

Couldn't resist

I love this pic. It says it all:



Via Today in Iraq.

Told ya so

From Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway:

BAGHDAD—Leaning in close, the mid-level American administrator speaks more in a hiss than a whisper. His tone is confessional, drenched in frustration.

"We didn't hand over power to the Iraqis. We threw it at them," he confides, casting a guilty glance toward the many eyes filling the chandelier-lit room. Nobody else heard him. Good. This kind of talk could cost him his job.

[. . .]

If this doesn't piss you off, you haven't been paying attention. This is "postwar planning." This is what is or isn't going to get us out of the quagmire in Iraq.

These are not competent people. They are our representatives to the world. No wonder they hate us.

Entire post.

Told ya. Iraq got 'sovereignty' because President WMD needs someone to blame for the failures there come November. Who better than the Iraqis themselves? I can see it now, Bush saying "We gave them sovereignty months ago and look, they've done nothing with it. The Iraqi people don't want to be free, they don't understand democracy". Mark my words.

9/11 Final Report

Cross posted from The Alternate Brain:

From the Washington Post via Kos:

[. . .]

. . . In fact, the language of the final report suggests that the Bush administration had warnings of lower Mahattan being targeted. The graphic linked above sums this up nicely along with other discrepancies.

[. . .]

Here it is in graph form, comparing the Bush Administration's bullshit before the Commission to the facts the 9/11 Commission found.

Just a thought

Fred Barnes is a fucking asshole.

NYC Airspace

[. . .]

Here's what has some people worried. If you are the pilot of a low-flying private plane, there are no rules, no flight plans. All you have to do as you approach New York City is say: 'I'm here.' This is what Senator Charles Schumer wants to change.

[. . .]

Sen. Charles Schumer, New York City (D): "There's a gaping hole in New York's air security. It's small planes that fly below 2,000 feet, and they can go virtually wherever they want."

[. . .]

In fact, many New Yorkers are surprised and certainly worried to learn what a spokesman at the Air Traffic Controllers Association told us today on the phone.

Eric Chouinard, National Air Traffic Controllers Association: "Any plane can fly down the Hudson River or up the East River below 1,200 feet without even talking to air traffic control."

From WABC in New York.

Weren't we all worried about crop dusters and shit a couple years back? This is really good, some joker can fly up and down the Hudson Valley, from Staten Island to Quebec, and hose us down with whatever they want, and no one would notice until folks started dropping like flies. But New York is a blue state, so who in the White House gives a shit. Assholes.

Yawn

Got in too late last night but we had fun. I'm in bed already and the Mrs. is on her way. I'm still looking for a blogger over at The Alternate Brain by the way.

Pleasant dreams.

So, it's the Republicans

According to Digby:

[. . .]

I think it's very important to note that this is not something that's confined to the Bush administration alone as if they are some sort of GOP anomalies. The fact is that this is an ongoing, serious problem of the modern Republican Party in general. They are congenitally opposed to compromise which leads inevitably to rule by force.

[. . .]

But it's not the Bushies, it's the party. Removing Bush will not solve this problem. Indeed, I'm sure the GOP congress would love to get back into action and resume its natural investigative role which they have been shut out of while Republicans are in the white house. Their egos demand a little bit of the spotlight.

[. . .]

I have been repeating this "undemocratic" mantra since the mid 1990's. (You can google this blog for the word and you'll see that I've done my best to bore everyone to tears with it.) It is a huge threat to this country --- one that has been magnified a hundred fold by the events if 9/11. It's not tin-foil kookiness and it's not partisan angst. It's real. And while I have little doubt that many reasonable sorts (which, by the way, I am also) will shake their heads sadly once again at my shrillness and hysteria for taking this view, I'll continue to do it. The Emperor has no clothes. I see what I see. I'm glad to have some company.

Entire post.

I've been thinking this for a while, yet I hate to generalize, but yet I think the right-wing Jesus freak asshole brigade has taken over the party. There are many Republicans that I respect, but this leadership (Frist, Santorum, DeLay, and others) is off the wall crazy. In a third world toilet, these guys would be part of a ruling junta.

Private avaition

Man, I got a problem with recreational flying for the average Joe Schmo. Seems like every other fucking day, you hear about some nitwit putting a small plane down in a house, on the highway, in the water, or just augurs it into the ground. Remember JFK Jr.? Fucking asshole.

Don't forget, these are the same people you see every day on the road, the same fucking idiots with their heads in their ass. I don't believe the same people who have a problem dealing with left and right should have the option of working with up and down too. Hell, these folks get up and down with their cars and you want to give them a fucking plane? What the fuck are we thinking giving pilots' licenses to everyday assholes? Flying should be left to the professionals, not a bunch of pretentious retards with too much money and free time who think they're Chuck Yeager.

Dirty wars

Cross posted from The Alternate Brain:

Go over and read this. Lambert at Corrente details Bush's 'war on terror' and likens it to Ronnie-boy's fooling around in South America. This is a far more deadly game, however.

[. . .]

Blowback from the Middle East will probably take the form of the loss of an American city to a loose nuke in the hands of a fundamentalist. However, since most target cities (even Washington, DC) is not part of the base—that is, not SIC, more likely to be gay, more likely to be immigrant, less likely to be white, and much more likely to vote Democratic—they are almost certainly regarded by the Bush administration as expendable. (The rhetoric of "cleansing fire" was already prepared in the aftermath of 9/11. Please refer all comments involving the words "tinfoil hat" to the Department of "No! They would never do that!")

So, yes, the stakes are great in November. Bush—on no authority but his own—has initiated a dirty war in the Middle East that we are almost certain to lose, because a strategy built for Latin America isn't going to scale to the Middle East. In prosecuting this dirty war, which will involve not only "terrorists" but Europe, Russia, and the rest of the Middle East, the United States is going to lose its character as a constitutional republic, plant the cultural seeds of fascism, and lose a city or two to nuclear weapons through blowback.

If you want that, vote for Bush in November.

As I said, go read the whole thing.

New BDUs

Jumping on the bandwagon, the Air Force is phasing in new Battle Dress Uniforms. Via Air Force Link:
 



I always liked the tiger-stripe pattern, used to wear them regularly when we were on duty on the DMZ in the early eighties. It's the way we set ourselves apart from the rest of the Air Force weenies, grunts, and jarheads. Well, that was until some congressman came to visit and we reminded him too much of Vietnam, so that was the end of tiger-stripe for AF SOCOM PJs and TACP FACs in the Far East. I like 'em though, but more importantly, I hope the troops do.

My dog

Wanna see the princess I keep telling you about? Go here.

She's got a million of 'em

Another from Mrs. F:

Great Excuse!

A woman calls her boss one morning and tells him that she is staying
home because she is not feeling well.

"What's the matter?" he asks.

"I have a case of anal glaucoma," she says in a weak voice.

"What the hell is anal glaucoma?"

"I can't see my ass coming into work today"

I, Robot

If you're an Asimov fan like I am, you'll boycott this piece of shit. They threw the book away and only used the title. Ol' Isaac's gotta be spinning in his grave.

Maureen Dowd

Cross posted from The Alternate Brain:

Go read:

[. . .]

When the British report came out yesterday declaring that Saddam Hussein had no significant W.M.D., or perhaps no W.M.D., Tony Blair accepted "full personal responsibility" for "the way the issue was presented and, therefore, for any errors made."

Mr. Bush, by contrast, took full personal irresponsibility. Still pressing the preposterous case that he has made America safer, even though we are inundated with threats from Al Qaeda, and that he is winning the war against terror, even though there are more terrorist attacks, the president had to go farther afield to find a sufficiently enthusiastic audience.

Instead of fleeing to Canada to dodge a war, W. had to flee practically to Canada to defend a war. In the middle of July, the president was campaigning in the middle of nowhere, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — the first president to bother to trek up to Nick Adams country since William Howard Taft.

Mr. Bush must have left the buck in deer country because the White House keeps passing the blame to the same C.I.A. that Dick Cheney and his Pentagon henchmen leaned on to supply the rationale they needed for the war they were determined to launch.

They're trying to turn George Tenet from lapdog to scapegoat, while letting Dick Cheney, the 800-pound gorilla who tried to turn the little C.I.A. analysts into parrots, continue his rumble in the jungle.

If this sounds like "Animal Farm," it is. What is more Orwellian than President Bush's rhetorical fallacies?

Campaigning at the nuclear lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — he finally found nuclear-related capability — Mr. Bush defended the Iraq war: "So I had a choice to make: either take the word of a madman or defend America." He also said of the terrorists, "We will confront them overseas so we do not have to confront them here at home."

That's nonsense. Just because more terrorists are attacking Americans abroad doesn't mean terrorists aren't poised to also attack us at home. And in fact, Bush officials keep warning us that terrorists are planning "something big" here, as the acting C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, said yesterday in a radio interview.

It's just like the president's other false dichotomies: You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists. If we don't stop gays from marrying, it will destroy the institution of marriage.

[. . .]

I got nothing to add. Go read the full editorial here.

Yeah, on both counts

From WTF Is It Now??

The GOP: party of family values and morality

Serial harrasser Arnold the Gropinator and adulterer Rudy Guiliani will be the featured speakers at the reboob national convention this summer, along with faux-democrat Zell 'attention whore' Miller, 'former' democrat Mike Bloomberg, and Lynne Cheney, the author of a novel of hot lesbian love.

RNC spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said the speakers were selected to reflect the “strengths and breadth of the Republican Party… who underscore the president’s vision of leadership {Ed.: wtf???}, and to provide an opportunity for all Americans to see the best and brightest of the Republican party."

Well, there you are.





Note: looks like Blogger is trying something new again, which means this page will probably look #ucked up for a while.

Polls

I give a shit what polls say this early.  And it's still early, but the CBS has this:
 

(CBS) Senator John Kerry heads toward his nominating convention holding a slight lead over President George W. Bush in the CBS News/New York Times poll, and the ticket of Kerry and his vice presidential nominee John Edwards seems to have generated increased enthusiasm for the Kerry candidacy. This year the electorate is especially well tuned-in. Today, nearly half of all registered voters say they are paying a lot of attention to the race and nearly all voters are paying at least some. In 2000, just one-quarter were paying a lot of attention at this stage of the campaign. In fact, more voters in this poll say they are paying a lot of attention at this point in time than in any CBS News summertime election year poll.[my emphasis]

This bodes well for Kerry/Edwards in my opinion because the more people pay attention to what's going on, the more people will question the looters in office now. That's if they don't get their news from Fox.

New Yorkers

Yeah, we got attitiude and the average New Yorker doesn't take any shit, but we're good people, as we demonstrated after 9/11 and yesterday:
 

By Kemberly Richardson
(New York-WABC, July 16, 2004) — It's one of those situations in life that really tests your honesty.
 
A cabbie finds some jewelry in the back seat of his cab. And some serious jewelry this was -- rare South Pacific black pearls, worth $78,000.  This is a cabbie who makes $80 a day, has been mugged twice, and is behind on his rent. What would you do?
 
[. . .]
 
It was only his second week on the job. On Wednesday night Nester picked up Larry Policastro and dropped him off on the Lower East Side. Then Nester picked up another passenger who told him someone -- Larry -- had left a bag in the back seat.  Nester looked inside and found mounds of black pearls.
 
[. . .]
 
Nester admits he thought about keeping the gems for a split second. He's behind with his rent, and has been mugged twice, and the thieves took all of his money. But still, he couldn't. Since there was also a cell phone in the bag, it was fairly simple for Nester to track Larry down and return the loot.
 
[. . .]
 
Larry insisted on giving Nester a $500 reward, and has raised $5,000 towards his tuition for nursing school this fall. Nester says he would do the same thing again. This cabbie is now being called a gem of a driver.

 
Yeah.  And this is more the rule than the exception.  Have I mentioned that I love New York?
 

Looting Iraq

From Lambert at Corrente:

Republican looting: Don't follow leaders—watch the parking meters

Or, in this case, oil meters.This is one of those WaPo stories that starts out "He said, She said" but has the killer detail in the very last graf. Wait for it:

The Bush administration is withholding information from U.N.-sanctioned auditors examining more than $1 billion in contracts awarded to Halliburton Co. and other companies in Iraq without competitive bidding, the head of the international auditing board said Thursday.  The dispute comes as the board released an initial audit by the accounting firm KPMG on Thursday that sharply criticized the U.S.-led coalition's management of billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenue.  KPMG outlined a series of other shortcomings, including the coalition's failure to install meters on Iraq's Persian Gulf export loading platforms, making it impossible to determine how much oil Iraq was exporting.
(via WaPo)

Wow! Free oil! I wonder where it all went? Hey, freedom's untidy!Look out, Kid—it's something you did...

Iraq is a corporate raid, pure and simple.

Secrets to a long life

Another funny one from Mrs. F:
 
A passer-by noticed an old lady [one would guess about 80] sitting on her front step: "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look! What is your secret for such a long, happy life?""I smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day", she said. "Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint.  Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food.  On weekends I pop a huge number of pills and do no exercise at all." "This is absolutely amazing at your age!!!!", says the passer-by. "How old are you?" "Twenty four"
 

 

A quick one

It's halftime at the wedding and we got an hour and a half to kill before the reception.  Let me just say, I've been to a lot of Catholic weddings, here and in other countries, and this is the first one I've been to where it was completely in Spanish.  Anyway, got one from Bubba:
 

No U.N. inspectors for U.S. vote

Friday July 16, 2004 The House voted against allowing U.N. inspectors to observe voting in the U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) was not happy:

"I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again," Brown said. "Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said, 'Get over it.' No, we're not going to get over it. And we want verification from the world."

They then voted (along party lines) to have her remarks stricken from the Congressional record. I'm surprised they didn't vote to have her gagged, shackled and removed to Guantanamo. These are the times we live in, my friends.

We're screwed in November if Bush is allowed to pull off the same shit as in 2000.

Reminder

Just a reminder, I'm looking for someone to take over blogging duties at The Alternate Brain.  If you're interested, let me know in the comments or email me. 

Martha

Just this one on Martha Screwit.  If she wouldn't have been so fucking greedy, she wouldn't have got into this fucking mess to begin with.  Fucking Christ, she only made 40 grand on the deal.  When they caught her, she should have said 'so sorry, I fucked up' and given a hundred grand to the United Way.  The greedy bitch would be a hero today instead of a fucking convict. 

Update 18:30:  Just heard her whiny little speech outside the courthouse.  Fuck my ass!  Man if I finagled 40 thousand illegally, I'd be doing 2 1/2 to 5, and I sure wouldn't be allowed to whine about it afterward.  My ass would have been on it's way to Rikers, not Danbury Minimum.  Bitch.

 

No blogging today.

Got a wdding today at 4 and I gotta make myself pretty.  Trust me, I'll make up for it this weekend.
 

See ya!

I'm done for the day.  The Mrs. and I had dinner and martinis and now I'm done for the night.  Just a reminder, I'm looking for someone to take over blogging duties at The Alternate Brain.  If you're interested, let me know in the comments or email me.  Have a good evening.
 
Pleasant dreams.
 

Remember Fallujah?

From Asia Times:

[. . .]

Fallujah had always been a little different from the rest of Iraq. An American non-governmental organization project manager told me with bewilderment of his meeting with a women’s group from the town who shocked him by being more radical than the men. “We must be willing to sacrifice our sons to end the occupation,” they told him.

Combining rigid religious conservatism, strong tribal traditions and a fierce loyalty to Saddam Hussein, Fallujah battled five different US commanders who were brought in to tame the wild western province of the country. According to Professor Amazia Baram, an Iraq expert from the University of Haifa and the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace, Saddam found greater loyalty in the 300,000-strong city of Fallujah than he did even in his home town of Tikrit. He never executed Fallujans, though he did kill Tikritis who were his relatives, and Fallujans dominated his security and military services. Their proportion of the intelligence services was the highest in the country. . .

[. . .]

Situated on a strategic point bridging the Euphrates River in the desert, Fallujah is the center of a fertile region on the outskirts of the desert leading to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. Its location makes it a smuggling center. After the latest war, Fallujah did not suffer from the same looting seen in other parts of the country, as there was less reason to be hostile to the former regime and its institutions. Saddam had given Fallujah virtual autonomy. The religious and tribal leaders appointed their own civil management council even before US troops arrived. Tribes assumed control of the city's institutions and protected government buildings. Religious leaders, whose authority was respected, exhorted the people to respect the law and maintain order. Local imams urged the public to respect law and order. Tight tribal bonds also helped preserve stability. Trouble with Americans started soon after they arrived, however.

[. . .]

Referring to Iraq’s Highway 10, a former American marine currently working very closely in a civilian capacity with the marine commanders in Fallujah explained to me, “Fallujah sits on a major artery between Baghdad and the rest of the world. There is no fucking way we will let them stand in our path. We’re trying to rebuild the country. Fallujah is in the way. We will be moving massive amounts of people and material in the region. We would have been using the western route a lot more if it was safe.” I asked him who was in control of Fallujah. “I can tell you who is not in control,” he said. “The marines.” He told me of kidnapping incidents he knew about. “People disappear into the hole of Fallujah,” he said. “The mujahideen control the city.” He was suspicious of anointed warlord General Jassim's ability to control the city, telling me, “I don’t trust Jassim or the Fallujah model.” He was convinced that the status quo in Fallujah would have to be corrected. “The situation will change,” he said. “We should have never gone inside the city. This is not a Marine Corps mission. The marines are a mobile, self-sustainable fighting force. The Marine Corps doesn’t do occupation. We would kick ass shutting borders. The Corps does short displays of massive power. The Marine Corps goes into violent situations, kicks ass and then lets the army handle things. The Marine Corps cannot handle logistics or stay long.” The planned handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30 would not reduce the need to reassert control over Fallujah, he said, adding, “What will be gone after June 30? A three-letter acronym and some Bush flunkies and third-stringers.”

[. . .]

So this was Saddam's 'resource area', the pool from where he drew his most trusted people. Of course we didn't have any human intelligence assets on the ground, unless you count Chalabi's people who sold us a bushel of bullshit anyway. Did we think we could march in there and they'd just roll over? Of course we did. Fucking amateurs. Even the fucking Marines can't get in there without unacceptable losses. So what's this city gonna be when Iraq finally elects a new government? Or will the new PM Allawi just order the place leveled? Let's see what his new security force does. Don't be surprised if the bodies come out wholesale or, on the other side of the coin, turn into an autonomous region known as Fallujahstan or some shit.

Wisdom

From Kevin T. Kieth at Lean Left:

What people embrace, and what they shun, tells you who they are. In the last two days, Bush has heavily pushed a Constitutional Amendment to deny basic rights to gays, while Kerry and Edwards both spoke against it and refused to take part in the Senate-floor disgrace it represented. Simultaneously, Kerry spoke to a meeting of the NAACP leadership which Bush had explicitly refused to join.

[. . .]

White House communications director Dan Bartlett said . . . "Despite the current leadership's intolerant views, President Bush will continue to reach out to members of the NAACP and African-Americans from across the country."

The . . . NAACP . . . is too "intolerant" for the Bush White House. This was said the day after Bush's call for Senate support for a Constitutional Amendment to deny civil rights.

[. . .]

Entire post.

Like I said, Bush is so blatant about it that it's criminal. He's set the nation back 50 years. Asshole.

Prayers

Two that Mrs. F. sent me from work:

FRIENDSHIP PRAYER

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the
crotch of the person who screws up your day
and may their arms be too short to scratch...
AMEN

It is called the Gypsy curse and here is the rest of the poem.

"May crabs as big as lobsters infest their balls, and when they're old and feeble and just a physical wreck, may they fall right through their assholes and break their fucking neck!"

Remember

Kerry and Edwards on Imus this morning at 07:45. It's on MSNBC and 660 WFAN radio here in NYC. Click here to find the cable or radio outlet near you.

Dog's empty, I'm done, off to the fucking mines. It's Little Friday!!!!

Oh, BTW, I'm looking for a new plebe over at The Alternate Brain. If you want to be part of the team over there, email me (see my profile).

Why?

Why would this be a big deal to the Secret Service if they weren't expecting something? Yes, my tinfoil hat is on.

(New York -WABC, July 9, 2004) — For so many commuters it's a horrifying thought: The busiest commuter railroad in North America, the Long Island Railroad, has come up with a contingency plan to bypass Penn Station, its main drop off point, during the Republican National Convention.

If it's used, 274,000 daily passengers would be let out in Queens and Brooklyn. Eyewitness News' N.J. Burkett has the Eyewitness News exclusive story.

Eyewitness News has learned that the Long Island Railroad has been thinking the unthinkable for months. That plan has been handed over to the U.S. Secret Service, and clearly a total shutdown of Penn Station cannot be ruled out.

Commuters running for their trains tonight called it a nightmare in the making, and said they can't even think about a situation where they couldn't get to work or into the city.

Last week, in a secret meeting with railroad officials, the Secret Service asked for and was given a detailed contingency plan in the event Penn Station were to be shut down during

The Long Island Railroad can bypass Penn Station entirely with trains that terminate or originate in Brooklyn or Queens. Passengers can change over in Jamaica to the E, J or Z subway lines. In Woodside they can transfer to the Number Seven line. Trains to Hunters Point Avenue also can connect with the Number Seven line. And commuters to and from Lower Manhattan could connect at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn with ten different subway lines including the 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains.

New Jersey Transit has already announced plans to reroute some of its trains through Hoboken.

MTA officials confirmed to Eyewitness News today that their contingency plans exist. They're just hoping they don't have to use them.

MTA Spokesman Tom Kelly said today, "There's been on request from the Secret Service or any other law enforcement agency to close Penn Station. We expect to operate with normal service during the convention week."

Beverly Dolinsky, LIRR Commuter's Council: "It's the Secret Service that is calling the shots. The Long Island Railroad and the MTA have to do whatever they say. That's the bottom line. Is there room on the subways for all of these people? No one is saying we can't do it, it's just going to be a nightmare."

More than anything, commuters are worried they simply won't have any warning.

Tonight a spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service refused to comment on the story.

Oy, this is gonna be even more ridiculous:

(New York- WABC, July 14, 2004) — Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is making his final offer to an anti-war group planning a massive rally on the eve of the Republican Convention.

The group, United for Peace and Justice, wanted to use Central Park for a demonstration that could draw 250,000 people. Kelly says Central Park is out of the question.

Instead, he says demonstrators can march directly past Madison Square Garden and rally on the West Side Highway.

Closings here and here.

Health Care

Okay, I might sound like a Communist but I think there should be universal (socialized, if you will) health care for our seniors. What we're doing to people (I'm talking the government now, not these rat bastid corporations who fuck with their employee retirement benefits) on fixed incomes is disgraceful. I saw what my mom got from Social Security and the meager pension from 1199 (now SIEU) when she retired was a joke. Thank God that when she was stricken with thyroid cancer, she went quickly.

I know it sounds harsh, but a lot of my customers are old folks, and I see what they pay for medications (they may be old but they can sure talk). We know their situation and we work with them on their car repair bills, but that's beside the point. The problem is that they can't afford the necessaries, and on Long Island a car is a necessity, including food and medications. I wouldn't want my mom in that situation.

These people have worked all their lives, most of a generation who'd worked at the same company for 30 or 40 years, and they have squat to show for it, thanks to the care they need in their advancing years. I know many who've taken out reverse mortgages on their houses, just to pay medical bills that their Medicare won't. We can send billions upon billions of dollars overseas, run up the fucking deficit like money was free, and our seniors are starving to pay for medication.

I got an idea. Why not repeal the Bush tax cut and use it to pay for universal health care for seniors? These people have given the best part of their lives to this nation, why not take care of them when they turn 65? I'll pay more if I know the money would go there. You know, what we've given to Halliburton as we outsource yet another war would cover it. Or all the bucks wasted on the Star Wars shield. Or all the millions upon billions Bush has thrown away, or given away, in other places. It's not just the Republicans, but they've been so blatant about it it's criminal. And it's criminal to have our old folks cutting pills in half to make them last longer.

I swear, if you have a mom and dad, or aunt and uncle, or care about someone who's a senior, you have to vote Democratic in November. And then we all have to crawl up their asses until they do something. The rich will always be able to afford the best doctors and still eat. The rest of us will be old someday and probably will have to make the decision the Bush cronies won't have to.

At least with Kerry and a Democratic Senate (hopefully), more could be done than with the current situation. Not when the pharmaceutical corporations have the ear of the White House and Congress by the balls.

I feel better now. Gotta go get the Mrs. at the station. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

Can I get an Amen?

You have to, have to, have to go and read this from Jesus' General. Son of a bitch, I nearly peed myself laughing.

General J.C. Christian has outdone himself this time.

Bush daughters to work on daddy's campaign

I can just imagine what these two little party sluts are going to do. Fluffers for the guys working the phone banks? The Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie of the 'Political Life'. I can see the headline now:

Barb and Jenna found this morning in hotel room, passed out and nude. Police and Secret Service find multiple DNA samples. Larry Flynt claims possession of videotape.

I'm giggling my motherfucking ass off!

You must be shitting me, again

From Kicking Ass:

D-Bunking, Kerry/Edwards style
Last week, Ken Mehlman, manager of Bush's reelection campaign, sent a letter to the Kerry/Edwards campaign requesting that they release video of a fundraising concert that took place in Radio City Music Hall on July 7th. Republicans claim that they are "outraged" by some of the language used that night ever since.

Daily Kos readers quickly pointed out the hypocrisy. The Bush/Cheney campaign called for Kerry to condemn remarks made by entertainers — yet they showed no indignation when the Vice President of the United States used the same language on the Senate Floor.

Now, Kerry/Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill sends her own personal smackdown directly to the Bush-Cheney Campaign:

Over the past several months, allies of the President have questioned John Kerry's patriotism while your staff has criticized his service in Vietnam. Republicans and their allies have gone so far as to launch attacks against his wife and your campaign has run $80 million in negative ads that have been called baseless, misleading and unfair by several independent observers.

Considering that the President has failed to even come close to keeping his promise to change the tone in Washington, we find your outrage over and paparazzi-like obsession with a fund-raising event to be misplaced. The fact is that the nation has a greater interest in seeing several documents made public relating to the President's performance in office and personal veracity that the White House has steadfastly refused to release. As such, we will not consider your request until the Bush campaign and White House make public the documents/materials listed below:

Cahill goes on to list documents related to Bush's military records, Halliburton, Medicare, the prison abuse scandal, and more. She concludes:

We also wanted to wish you a happy anniversary. As we are sure you and the attorneys representing the President, Vice-President and other White House officials are aware, today marks one year since Administration sources leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent to Bob Novak in an effort to retaliate against a critic of the Administration.

In light of the fact that the Administration began gutting the laws protecting the nation's forests yesterday, we hope you will accept the paper on which this letter is written as an anniversary gift. (The one year anniversary is known as the "paper anniversary.")

Check it out for yourself!

Go Mary Beth! I love women who can roll up their sleeves and go at it with the big boys. I love capable women in leadership positions. So you can see why I'm so in love with Mrs. F. Ms. Cahill's significant other is a lucky person, just like me. You know, BTW, that I've nominated Mrs F. for Commerce or Treasury Secretary in the Kerry Administration. I haven't heard back. So on the off chance that anybody from the Kerry campaign reads my blog, take this as a reminder. And don't worry, the only baggage she has is me, and I promise to behave. Honest.

Ditka to replace Jack Ryan

Can you believe this? Mike Ditka, the asshole who is so out of it he can't find his ass with both hands tied behind his back, running for Senate. Yeesh! Thank God he's a Republican.

Wondering when this would happen

Stole this from Kos:

Dirty Tricks 'R Us are at it again.

Opponents of John Kerry have hired a Dallas-area private investigator to gather information aimed at discrediting his military service, say several veterans who served with the Massachusetts Democrat in Vietnam.

Several veterans who have been contacted in recent days accused the private investigator, Tom Rupprath of Rockwall, of twisting their words to produce misleading and inaccurate accounts that call into doubt the medals Mr. Kerry received for his service.

"They're just distorting things," said Jim Wasser, who served with Mr. Kerry. "They have nothing to go after John Kerry for, so now they're trying to discredit him."

Mr. Rupprath was hired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the recommendation of Merrie Spaeth, a Dallas public relations executive assisting the anti-Kerry group.

The Republicans are really sweating Kerry's war record. It's easier to attack Kerry's heroism than it is to defend Bush and Cheney's cowardice.

These nutless wonders have no shame.

I gotta remember this

A classic line, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Xan at Corrente. They've got a bunch of them, culled from the paper here, but this one I liked the most.

"Kerry and Edwards kind of remind me of Batman and Robin. Bush and Cheney remind me of Pinky and the Brain."

On the Gay Marriage Amendment

I listened to that certifiable idiot Rick Santorum's [R-PA] diatribe from the Senate Floor yesterday on the 'sanctity of marriage'.

Number one, I got a problem with the phrase 'sanctity of marriage' when 50% of the marriages in this country end in divorce. I know gay couples who are together twenty years or more, beautiful, loving relationships that would be the envy of heterosexual couples. Why shouldn't those relationships be looked up to? Why aren't they 'sanctified'? When two people, regardless of race, age, or gender, are so committed to each other that they want to spend the rest of their lives together, who are we to say it's bad?

Number two, why is it all these Christo-Fascist assholes who yell the loudest about this, are the ones who are caught with their pants around their ankles? Newt Gingrich was fucking an intern while he was still married, Ol' Rush, same thing. Where's the sanctity of their marriages, where is the commitment they made? And did they make the commitment so lightly, frivolously, and if so, where's the sanctity in that?

Call me a hopeless romantic, but asking someone to marry you should be the hardest decision of your life, next to deciding to have a child. I'll comment on that someday too. Marriage should be forever, or at least that's where your mind should be when you pop the question. If you want to preserve the sanctity of marriage, make it harder for heterosexual couples to get divorced.

That fucking moron Santorum, and the rest of his ilk, should think about the children of divorce, rather than a loving couple wanting to spend the rest of their lives together. If you want to do something good, enact laws to protect these children who are often used as pawns by people who shouldn't have been married in the first place. People who, were it not so easy to get out of a marriage, might have thought twice about it in the first place, let alone have children whose little minds they'll fuck up later.

Seems that everything's in play for use by these Jesus freak lunatics in the game of politics. This whole furor over gay marriage is political, and a waste of time, and after all the bullshit yesterday, the question will be decided where it should be, at the state level. Rat bastids.

Oy!

Well, the dog's empty and I'm off to the mines. Have a good day.

Update 14:05: From Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge:

Marriage, Cafeteria Fundamentalism, and the Rights of Straight Americans

The little engine that couldn't. Sound and fury conveying nothing. Whimpers. Pick your own apt phrase. Happily, the Federal Marriage Amendment is going nowhere. So far, proponents can't get a simple majority necessary to bypass normal rules and introduce this obscenity to the full Senate, where it will crash and burn again. Last I heard, eleven of the twelve senators from New England are lined up against it. (Sununu was being coy.) Most of New England's senators are Republicans. Good.

[. . .]

Yay!

Night

Got shit to do. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

Oh, am I really?

President Handpuppet said today that America is safer today than when he took office. Fine. Then how come we're basically expecting a terrorist attack before the election? Wasn't that nitwit Ridge on TV just the other day saying we have an almost-orange terror threat? I guess we're safer because we know this, but then they tell us to go shopping. President Shit-for-brains, Governor Pataki, Mayor Trollberg, they're all tell us to spend money. I mean it's our responsibility to keep the economy going, right? Gotta spend that fucking tax cut.

Call me silly, but I don't remember Bill Clinton or one of his minions telling me about an imminent attack and then to go shopping. That's the upside of these threats for the Mrs., although she doesn't need a Presidential decree to go shopping.

Now, I'm a 'kill 'em all and let God sort out the mess' kinda guy and that's the way I think we should fight any war against our true enemies. It's the way we should have fought the war in Afghanistan. Fuck 'em, level the place. Fuck that outsourcing shit we did there with the Northern Alliance. We should have carpet bombed from the fucking Pakistani border to Iran and all points north and south. If anybody survived, we'd send the infantry and armor in to determine friend or foe. Guess what? Odds are we should have got Osama bin Forgotten and most of the heirarchy. What do we do? We send 20,000 troops in and bribe the friendlier (or more mercenary) groups of cutthroats to kill the others. And then what do we do? We attack fucking Iraq.

Iraq who the U.S. Navy and the RAF flew Combat Air Patrols over 60% of the country. We had Saddam contained, we could watch him, and best of all, we weren't losing American lives. But no we have to take over. We basically looted them, and when the yelling started, we gave them 'sovereignty'. You know what we have there now? A mini-Afghanistan, before we rearranged the rocks. Yeah, I feel safer, now that more people have more reasons to blow my ass up. Fucking idiots. I think I'll go shopping.


Update 18:45: MaxSpeak has something to say on the subject as well:

There are people who want to kill us all, something to which I take exception. Now if you are spying on these people to find out and thwart their plans, why would you make announcements that hint at what information you have gleaned, in the absence of the wherewithal to actually round up the would-be miscreants? Doesn't that tip off the bad guys on where to tighten up their security?

[. . .]

Instead of holding dog-and-pony shows for the press, shouldn't that chump Tom Ridge be figuring out how to ascertain whether a small plane flying towards the Capitol is a threat or just the governor of Kentucky?

Yeah! Like he says, MaxSpeak, you listen!

Update 19:00: Juan Cole has his $0.02 to add:

Some honest US officials in Iraq are finally admitting that US forces are not meeting a vanguard of international terrorism there but rather some 20,000 angry Baathists who fear for the fate of Sunni Arabs in the new regime.

[. . .]

Ha-ha! again

Froomkin clarifies (and rocks).

The microfilm that was "inadvertently destroyed" is not the same as the microfilm that AP is suing to have released:

The microfilm that the Pentagon reported destroyed was housed at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Denver and consisted only of a few months of payroll records -- albeit some of them from during the hotly contested third quarter of 1972.

The Associated Press lawsuit that Tomlin filed is for the microfilm of Bush's entire personnel file from the Texas Air National Guard. Those records are in Austin.

Gee, I thought that "all" the Bush service records had already been released? That's what Bush promised, so it must have happened, right?

Missed one didja, you fucking asshole. Let's see how this archive gets 'inadvertantly destroyed'. I stole Lambert's whole post from Corrente, but you can see it here with comments.

Couldn't have said it better

Than the Democratic Veteran:

Preznit Incoherent Idiot was in the terra-tory of my fellow Rocky Top Brigaders yesterday...and he's still trying to avoid that the most obvious threat Iraq represented to Americans was the Death of over 800 of them at the hands of the 1600 Crew.

[. . .]

I guess his corporate and religious masters are still paying the bills at Stupid republican Speechwriters, Inc. If anyone believes that Preznit No Job Ever Done Right has succeeded in any aspect of foreign policy, please raise your hands now...ahhh, thought so.

Entire post.

Another one bites the dust

Manila says it will withdraw troops from Iraq
Philippines agrees to pullout ‘as soon as possible’

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 10:37 p.m. ET July 12, 2004

Philippine officials held an emergency meeting on Tuesday on saving a hostage in Iraq amid confusion after a senior official visiting the Middle East said troops there would leave, but the military said no such orders had been received.

The meeting at the foreign affairs department comes after Qatar-based al-Jazeera television station showed Philippine deputy foreign minister Rafael Seguis offering to withdraw Philippine forces “as soon as possible.”

[. . .]

Let's see, the Spanish, the Thais, and now the Filipinos. They are all beginning to realize they've been snookered by President Axis of Evil. I hope we can regain the credibility we've lost over the past four years.

I'm off to the mines. Later.

Wheels and Tires

Yeah, them big 20-inch wheels and lo-profile tires look cool, but know what you're getting into before you plunk down how many thousands for the privilege. Do any of these pertain to you?

Rule #1-You get snow and ice regularly.

Rule #2-You're hard on your sidewalls (using them as curb feelers to parallel park). You'll know this if your blackwall tires now have a whitewall.

Rule #3-You park against a curb stop regularly.

Rule #4-You drive off road a lot or on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway regularly.

Rule #5-You can't drive worth a fuck.

What do these five rules have in common? Well if I just reminded you of you, you're eventually gonna tear out a sidewall or bend a rim, or both. Think about what a wheel/tire combo will cost you and expect to buy a new one every couple years. Couple winters ago, had a guy wipe out three wheels and tires in a power slide down the Avenue bouncing off the curbs on both sides of the street. I watched a grown man cry when I told him the price to replace them. Think twice about it or have a set of winter wheels and tires if you live in a place (like NYC) that gets snow and ice. If you really gotta have 'em, consider going up one size in sidewall height and one size lower in wheel diameter. Can't tell the difference at 40 mph and it might save ya some money.

Wheels and Tires Redeux:

If you get aftermarket wheels on your ride, make SURE you have the correct offset for the wheels. Just 'cause your buddy will give you his old custom wheels and tires cheap, doesnt mean they'll work on your car. Listen to me, Lugnut. If your new wheels and tires sit OUTSIDE the fenderwells, you're asking for trouble. Wheel bearings, suspension parts, tires, they all get unduly stressed and they'll leave you on the side of the road waiting for the wrecker. Besides, it looks downright fucking stupid. If people tell you it looks good, they're lying. If you can't get the correct shit for your car, leave the stock rims and tires on it. You'll thank me, my little Lugnut.

My wisdom for today. Gotta go. Have a good evening.

Pleasant dreams.

It's Bubba's fault

That's what I'm gonna tell my wife when I show up at the station all fired up. Ol' South Knox Bubba raises some questions, the last one in particular got me going becasue finally someone else feels like I do and doesn't look at me like I got an extra eyeball.

[. . .]

Grand slam bonus question: Why hasn't this bum been impeached? The deaths of thousands because of a lie may not be as serious as hanky-panky in the Oval Office, but still...

I commented over there:

I'm with ya, Bubba. Impeachement and an 8 x 8 in Leavenworth for the murder of close to a thousand U.S. toops and Lord knows how many Iraqis. Cheney should be his prison wife, both of them in the same cell. Bastids.

I'm better now.

That's right, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld (along with that fucking moron Myers at JCS) should all be prison bitches, suck-boys for heavily endowed, black Marine Corps lifers. They deserve to squeal like the pigs they are.

Congratulations

Matt Yglesias got a promotion to staff writer at the Prospect. Both The Fixer and The Alternate Brain offer our heartfelt congratulations.

Your government at work . . .

Fucking the outspoken. From Kicking Ass:

The American people should be afraid

In the Bush administration, you're never fired for incompetence or held responsible for moral and ethical lapses. But it's become standard operating procedure for people who tell the truth to be thrown out on their butts. It happened to Paul O'Neill, it happened to Larry Lindsey, and now it happened to National Park Service police chief Teresa Chambers.

Chambers did the unthinkable: she pointed out that with the additional homeland security duties required of the park police after September 11, they needed more funds to do their job. The result was a seventh-month long suspension that ended in her firing when she filed for reinstatement.

Chambers put it best:

"The American people should be afraid of this kind of silencing of professionals in any field," she said. "We should be very concerned as American citizens that people who are experts in their field either can't speak up, or, as we're seeing now in the parks service, won't speak up."

Incredible. Well, I'm off to the mines. I can just imagine who broke what this weekend. Later.

"My dad crapped bigger ones . . .

. . . than George Bush." How cool is it that Ron Reagan Jr. will be making a primetime speech at the Democratic Convention?

Update 06:30: From Athenae, guest blogging at Eschaton:

Ron Reagan Jr. to talk about stem cell research at the Dem convention. In prime time.

I don't know much about Ron Jr. personally, but this is a savvy Dem move. Let's force the Republicans to discredit the son of their patron saint. Let's make popcorn, fill the cooler with beer, and watch the ideological contortions that ensue.

Credit to smarty jones.

Postponing the election

Remember what I said, and that I admitted I might be wearing a tinfoil hat?

Go over to Whiskey Bar and read this.

So? What do you think?

Update 14:12: Xan at Corrente has more on the subject here.

Update 14:30: Jesus' General put his two cents in too here.

Fat, dumb, and happy

Well, the barbecue was another unqalified success, thanks to the Mrs.' cooking. The kids were well-behaved and the monster was also. Now I'm watching NASCAR on NBC laying in bed next to the Mrs. I'm happy because NBC took over the coverage for the last half of the season from Fox. I'd just about had it with Darell Waltrip, obnoxious redneck asshole. Anyway, I'm laying here, fat dumb, and happy, and I'll say good night. Work tomorrow and I have to be up early. Hopefully the kid will be back from Jersey and I won't have to pick up his slack. Oy.

Pleasant dreams.

Screw you, nigga!

From Kos:

[. . .]

The bigger issue here is that George Bush is effectively saying "screw you" to one of the most prominent and esteemed organizations in America, an organization that is the most important representative of African-Americans and which still leads the fight for civil rights in America. This isn't a failure to send a message to supporters of civil rights, this is a deliberate decision to send a message that, forty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, there are still two sides to the debate on civil rights, and Bush is on the side of those opposed to "special" rights for people who aren't white, Christian, and heterosexual. By deliberately blowing off the NAACP four straight years, Bush has signaled that he doesn't view himself as President of all Americans. He's the President of just those Americans who look like him and agree with him. "Two Americas" indeed.

[. . .]

Read it all here.

Remember when President Fuck The Blacks said he was 'a uniter, not a divider'? All I know is he's a lying sack of shit.

Note to African-Americans: Vote this year and vote Democratic. Another 4 years of President Gentleman Farmer and we'll all be picking cotton again.

Terror threat

Just heard on the local news that they've intercepted phone calls detailing a terror plot on Wall Street. Remember what I said about them doing something to put my wife in danger. Homeland Security better get their shit together and lord help the terrorists if something does happen. I'm going after them myself, both Ridge and the terrorists and I'm gonna leave a lot of bodies in my wake. I can't do any worse than Bush, can I?

Welcome to the Blogosphere

There's a new contributor at The American Street. her name is Elayne Riggs and from reading her first post, it is obvious she will be an enjoyable read in the future.

From The Fixer and The Alternate Brain, welcome darling.

Tough guy?

Now, I'm a pretty tough guy, if I say so myself. Not bragging or anything, just a statement of fact. But there is one thing that scares the shit out of me. Little kids. Infants scare me because they're little squirmy things and I'm afraid I'm not holding them right or that I might drop them. I got two little kids coming over today, quasi-toddlers, they're like 3 and 4.

Toddlers scare me because my house isn't kid-proof. Mrs. F and I don't have any kids because we're still having too much fun and, in our mid-forties, we're too used to the life we've made over the last 15 years. The Mrs. has beautiful crystal and precious shit, antiques and all, and all of it is within the grasp of a toddler. Every time we have friends with kids over, all I do is wait for the crash, and Mrs. F asking me if I have some kind of epoxy to glue whatever back together.

Another thing is the dog, Mrs. F's little princess. She's short, but not little, muscular and strong as hell. If you know anything about Australian Cattle Dogs, they are smart, independent, and stubborn, sorta like me. Well, thanks to their breeding, Cattle Dogs herd cattle by nipping at their ankles to get them to go where the dog wants. Well, since our little Shayna has no cattle to work, she finds herself little jobs. One is getting us to the phone when it rings. If you've ever gotten a nip in the ass from one of these dogs well . . . let's just say it leaves a mark.

My point is that the dog looks at little kids as cattle. She tries to keep them together and won't let them run around. So today, not only do I have to keep an eye on the Mrs.' breakable shit, but I have to watch her little varmint like a hawk so she doesn't nip one of the kids. Can't break the dog of that habit, it's instinct.

So, my early afternoon will be spent playing child monitor. Great. But it will be a good day. Friends are here from Colorado, a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force with her kid and her sister and her husband with theirs. I grew up with them and it's always great to see them. Thing is, running after kids wears me out more than a full day of working for Harry. At least I'll sleep well tonight. That is, after I glue Mrs. F's broken shit back together.

Nuclear Israel

From Asia Times:

Nuclear Israel: Belling the cat
By Ehsan Ahrari

In an era of intense global support for nuclear non-proliferation, Israel's unspoken possession of a nuclear arsenal - euphemistically known as an outcome of its policy of "strategic ambiguity" - is coming under increased criticism and limelight. Mohammad ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the United Nations' nuclear watchdog - visited Israel on Tuesday to talk to the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon about making the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. Even though a spokesman of that agency denied that ElBaradei's mission was to ask the Jewish state to unravel its nuclear-weapons program, one is hard pressed to know how else that region would ever become a nuclear-free zone. According to the unclassified estimates of the US intelligence community of the late 1990s, Israel possesses between 75 and 130 nuclear weapons.

If one were looking for a gaping example of US nuclear non-proliferation policy double standards, that it lets Israel continue to modernize its nuclear arsenal without even a word of criticism would fit the bill. Not that Washington was ever oblivious to the existence of such Israeli capabilities. On the contrary, as the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) - a prestigious nuclear non-proliferation group - notes, "The United States first became aware of Dimona's existence [a nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of the same name] after U-2 overflights in 1958 captured the facility's construction, but it was not identified as a nuclear site until two years later. The complex was variously explained as a textile plant, an agricultural station, and a metallurgical research facility, until David Ben-Gurion stated in December 1960 that [the] Dimona complex was a nuclear-research center built for 'peaceful purposes'." One should recall similar explanations that India proffered in the aftermath of its so-called peaceful nuclear explosion in 1974, and until it became a declared nuclear power in 1998. Iran is currently using the very same rationale to pursue its own nuclear program.

[. . .]

From the Arab side, there has been a sustained endeavor to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. Even though it has been an uphill struggle, Arab states still view it as a major - and perhaps the only - way of putting pressure on Israel to unravel its nuclear-weapons program. But their dilemma is summarized in the adage, "Who'll bell the cat?" In this instance, the Arabs' side also knows that the US is the only power that has some - in fact a lot, in their assessment - influence in initiating a meaningful dialogue with Israel to materialize the emergence of a nuclear-free zone in their area. Even though the extant tremendous advantage of Israel in conventional military power over Arab countries makes its possession of nuclear weapons well nigh unnecessary, only Washington (at least in principle) can successfully make that argument and persuade Israel to contemplate dismantling those weapons.

The chief problem with the preceding is that there is no conceivable way any US president would ask Israel to unravel its nuclear capabilities in the era of a global "war on terrorism". Yet Washington had no compunction about putting similar pressures on India and Pakistan immediately after their respective nuclear-weapons programs came out of the closet in 1998, or demanding that North Korea unravel its nuclear-weapons option, or that Iran shouldn't even consider developing its capabilities to produce nuclear weapons.

[. . .]

There is no suggestion here that Israel would seriously consider abandoning its nuclear-weapons program in the near future. But at least it is willing to talk about the issue. The only way it would ever be persuaded to give up nuclear weapons is if the US decides to speak the truth to nuclear Israel. And that is also not about to happen in the short run. In the meantime, the involvement of the IAEA promises to serve as a compelling moral force in the potential emergence of the Middle East as a nuclear-weapons-free zone, especially if the issue remains under the international limelight on a sustained basis.

At least they're talking. Although Israel's posession of nukes is probably the only thing keeping them from being overrun by an Arab state with a grudge. A tricky situation. The problem is that Israelis like Sharon have no qualms about using them.

New look

Got a new look to both blogs, here and The Alternate Brain. Hope you like. I was one HTML fool.

I'm done for the day. Did I mention I'm glad the Mrs.is home? I am you know.

Pleasant dreams.

Haloscan

Just added Haloscan comments and I did it all by myself. Added it to The Alternate Brain too. Who da man!

Iraq report

Cross posted from The Alternate Brain:

The Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq.

Thanks to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

Not good

From guest blogger Conrad at The Head Heeb:

Disturbing the Tiger: Sri Lankan Cease-fire Shaken

The two year cease-fire which brought a halt to Eelam War III in Sri Lanka’s civil conflict was shaken on Wednesday when a suicide-bomber triggered her explosive belt killing herself and four other police officers in the process in Colombo on Wednesday morning According to police accounts, a Tamil woman came to the government offices on Wednesday—the official day for members of the public to meet the minister—and asked to speak to ‘Douglas’ Devananda. When security officials became suspicious and asked the bomber to undergo a full body search. As she refused she was taken to the nearby Kollupitiya police station. Again she refused to undergo a search and then detonated the explosives, killing herself and four police officers instantly and injuring 12 others. The target of the attack was almost certainly Devananda, the Cabinet Minister for agriculture, Marketing Development and Hindu Affairs in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.

[. . .]

Entire post.

I had hoped things were moving forward here after a generally succesful cease fire. Let's hope Osama bin Forgotten's fingerprints aren't on this.