It's only going to get uglier and uglier. We're a divided, angry country.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Lament of the Bubba
LaBelle suggests we read South Knox Bubba's latest.
I think he's losing his patience. And maybe his last hope.
I've got nothing to add.
Well, except maybe this: I don't know how to stop them.
I think he's losing his patience. And maybe his last hope.
What's goin' on? We've spent the last two weeks talking about Dan Rather's superscript font and 1970s typewriter technology. Before that we were talking about swift boats and Cambodia. In the middle of all that we were talking about gay marriage and drowning hamsters and Jenna/Not-Jenna's wardrobe malfunctions. Now we're talking about Theresa Heinz-Kerry and naked hurricane victims and some Kinko's in Texas. And I'm so disgusted I'm reduced to posting pictures of cows and bunny rabbits.
What the fuck?
While the lapdog media and its 101st Fighting Keyboard Brigade whisper operatives are busy splooging all over their downloaded copies of fake memos and dancing their little happy dance over finally "getting" Dan Rather, there are a lot of other things they aren't talking about.
Like GOP run private detention centers in NYC....
[...Like...]
...But you know what they're REALLY not talking about? The war in Iraq. And you know WHY they're not talking about the war in Iraq? Because it's fast becoming a clusterfuck of biblical proportions.
...Plain and simple, it's the "fucking crazies" at the Pentagon and the imperialist GOP thugs in the White House with their reckless PNAC foreign policies and lust for oil and billion dollar no-bid contracts who are responsible for this outrage.
Then Dick Cheney has the nerve to say "vote for us or expect another terrorist attack," and the quivering little cowards living in the Bush Culture of Fear piss their pants as predictably as Pavlov's Dogs and stand there in a puddle saluting.
...But I'll give them credit. They have figured out that Americans are the stupidest, most easily distracted people on Earth. Look! Over there! It's gay Cambodian terrorists faking memos for Dan Rather! Mission Accomplished!
God, we are such a nation of idiots. If we let these creeps get away with this we deserve whatever happens to us.
Full post
What the fuck?
While the lapdog media and its 101st Fighting Keyboard Brigade whisper operatives are busy splooging all over their downloaded copies of fake memos and dancing their little happy dance over finally "getting" Dan Rather, there are a lot of other things they aren't talking about.
Like GOP run private detention centers in NYC....
[...Like...]
...But you know what they're REALLY not talking about? The war in Iraq. And you know WHY they're not talking about the war in Iraq? Because it's fast becoming a clusterfuck of biblical proportions.
...Plain and simple, it's the "fucking crazies" at the Pentagon and the imperialist GOP thugs in the White House with their reckless PNAC foreign policies and lust for oil and billion dollar no-bid contracts who are responsible for this outrage.
Then Dick Cheney has the nerve to say "vote for us or expect another terrorist attack," and the quivering little cowards living in the Bush Culture of Fear piss their pants as predictably as Pavlov's Dogs and stand there in a puddle saluting.
...But I'll give them credit. They have figured out that Americans are the stupidest, most easily distracted people on Earth. Look! Over there! It's gay Cambodian terrorists faking memos for Dan Rather! Mission Accomplished!
God, we are such a nation of idiots. If we let these creeps get away with this we deserve whatever happens to us.
I've got nothing to add.
Well, except maybe this: I don't know how to stop them.
Ooops, "forgot" to tell you that
With a new Medicare drug benefit set to begin in 2006, Americans 65 and older can expect to spend a large and growing share of their Social Security checks on Medicare premiums and expenses, previously undisclosed federal data show.
Information the Bush administration excluded from its 2004 report on the Medicare program shows that a typical 65-year-old can expect to spend 37% of his or her Social Security income on Medicare premiums, co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses in 2006. That share is projected to grow to almost 40% in 2011 and nearly 50% by 2021.
Unless Congress does something to hold down costs confronting seniors, the official projections suggest that health spending will consume virtually the entire amount of Social Security benefits when children born today reach retirement age.
USA Today article
Information the Bush administration excluded from its 2004 report on the Medicare program shows that a typical 65-year-old can expect to spend 37% of his or her Social Security income on Medicare premiums, co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses in 2006. That share is projected to grow to almost 40% in 2011 and nearly 50% by 2021.
Unless Congress does something to hold down costs confronting seniors, the official projections suggest that health spending will consume virtually the entire amount of Social Security benefits when children born today reach retirement age.
If there are any benefits by then.
Look on the bright side, oh ye of little faith (you doom and gloom Democrats) - maybe there won't be any children born today to reach retirement age if we reinstall BadAss Bush.
Presidential Auction 2004
I think Ben Sargent has an accurate overview:
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Wake up and smell the rotting flesh
We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the Party of Newt Gingrich’s Evil Spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch President, a Dull and Rigid Man, whose Philosophy is a Jumble of badly sutured Body Parts trying to Walk?
by Garrison Keillor
Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party...
...The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.
...Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedy—the single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the president’s personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully.
The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good.
...There is a stink drifting through this election year. It isn’t the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision. No, it’s 9/11 that we keep coming back to. It wasn’t the “end of innocence,” or a turning point in our history, or a cosmic occurrence, it was an event, a lapse of security. And patriotism shouldn’t prevent people from asking hard questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national security at the time.
More...
How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the Party of Newt Gingrich’s Evil Spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch President, a Dull and Rigid Man, whose Philosophy is a Jumble of badly sutured Body Parts trying to Walk?
by Garrison Keillor
Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party...
...The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.
...Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedy—the single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the president’s personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully.
The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good.
...There is a stink drifting through this election year. It isn’t the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision. No, it’s 9/11 that we keep coming back to. It wasn’t the “end of innocence,” or a turning point in our history, or a cosmic occurrence, it was an event, a lapse of security. And patriotism shouldn’t prevent people from asking hard questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national security at the time.
More...
Thanks to Tom for the link. And I don't know where he got the following, but I hope it's true:
Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards was about five minutes into his speech when he was interrupted by a group of six or eight leather-lunged persons who congregated in the nosebleed seats, chanting "Four more years!"
Edwards stopped, smiling slightly. The entire arena booed the interrupters (I hesitate to call them 'Republicans' because we know that the Republican Party would never condone rude election year behavior).
And in a moment the arena, about 10,000 people, responded with a brief chant,
"TWO MORE MONTHS!!"
Edwards stopped, smiling slightly. The entire arena booed the interrupters (I hesitate to call them 'Republicans' because we know that the Republican Party would never condone rude election year behavior).
And in a moment the arena, about 10,000 people, responded with a brief chant,
"TWO MORE MONTHS!!"
Worth repeating
From the Daily Mislead:
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Vice President Cheney has regularly attacked the national security credentials of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), calling him weak on terrorism. But...it was Cheney who actually did business with terrorist countries and traveled abroad to attack America's counter-terrorism efforts in the 1990s.
As The American Prospect documents, Cheney oversaw Halliburton's effort to do business with Iraq and Iran in the 1990s, despite American sanctions against those countries. During his time as CEO, he oversaw Halliburton's $73 million worth of business with Saddam Hussein. This, despite his claim that he had imposed a "firm policy" of not doing business with Iraq. Similarly, details of Halliburton's Iran business during Cheney's tenure was so egregious, it is being investigated by authorities today. Halliburton today admits one of its subsidiaries still "performs between $30 [million] and $40 million annually in oilfield service work in Iran."
On top of evading U.S. sanctions laws against terrorist countries, Cheney actually attacked the U.S. government in a series of trips abroad, demanding sanctions be lifted on terrorist countries so he could do business with them. In trips to Malaysia and Canada, for instance, he insisted the Clinton administration lift sanctions on Iran, despite that country being listed by the U.S. State Department as a state-sponsor of terrorism.
You can see the full American Prospect piece at http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1330816&l=55998.
As The American Prospect documents, Cheney oversaw Halliburton's effort to do business with Iraq and Iran in the 1990s, despite American sanctions against those countries. During his time as CEO, he oversaw Halliburton's $73 million worth of business with Saddam Hussein. This, despite his claim that he had imposed a "firm policy" of not doing business with Iraq. Similarly, details of Halliburton's Iran business during Cheney's tenure was so egregious, it is being investigated by authorities today. Halliburton today admits one of its subsidiaries still "performs between $30 [million] and $40 million annually in oilfield service work in Iran."
On top of evading U.S. sanctions laws against terrorist countries, Cheney actually attacked the U.S. government in a series of trips abroad, demanding sanctions be lifted on terrorist countries so he could do business with them. In trips to Malaysia and Canada, for instance, he insisted the Clinton administration lift sanctions on Iran, despite that country being listed by the U.S. State Department as a state-sponsor of terrorism.
You can see the full American Prospect piece at http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1330816&l=55998.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Femme blogs
A new blog is keeping "the mother of all blog rolls" - links to female leftist political bloggers. It's called What She Said! I'll put a permanent link to it in my sidebar, and you can check through the very long list of blogs at your leisure.
....or do what you want....you will anyway.
....or do what you want....you will anyway.
MVR consolidating power
Pro-government deputies in Venezuela's National Assembly (AN) may propose changes to the country's 1999 Constitution to permit President Hugo Chavez Frias an unlimited continuum of mandate periods as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Under the current system, reformist Chavez Frias is limited to two 6-year terms.
Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) congressman William Lara says that although Chavez supporters hold only a small majority in the unicameral AN [National Assembly], representatives are already viewing as many as 21 constitutional amendments to be introduced as early as next year.
VHeadline article
Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) congressman William Lara says that although Chavez supporters hold only a small majority in the unicameral AN [National Assembly], representatives are already viewing as many as 21 constitutional amendments to be introduced as early as next year.
Man, I hate to see that. Twenty-one amendments in one year! They hammered out what they've claimed (and seems to be) a very good Constitution. And the move to remove limits on presidential terms, while arguably not without merit, also has great potentional for corruption. And a huge problem at this time is that in the fight with the opposition for control of the country, it seems to be playing into their charges that Chávez is a Castro wannabe.
The lawmakers, who are supporters of President Hugo Chavez, proposed
amendments to 21 articles in the constitution that would, among other things, change the vote currently required to pass new legislation from two-thirds to a simple majority.
The constitution was drafted in 1999 by a special assembly packed with allies of Chavez and overwhelmingly approved by voters that year. It has repeatedly been touted by Chavez as "the best constitution in the entire world."
The reform would also make it significantly more difficult for government opponents to pass a referendum on whether or not the president must step down.
Amendments, according to the current constitution, can be approved with a simple majority vote in the legislature. To go into effect, the amendment must be approved by a simple majority of voters in a nationwide referendum.
...Several government-friendly legislators disapproved of the amendment proposal, which lawmakers are slated to begin debating next week.
"I don't agree with presidential re-election without limits," said Ricardo Gutierrez, who is vice president of Venezuela 's National Assembly.
Jesus Torrealba, a representative of the Democratic Coordinator opposition coalition, said the reform would weaken one of the oldest democracies in South America.
"We are facing a legislative onslaught that aims to keep Chavez in power and undermine the principles that establish consensus in approving laws," said Torrealba.
Wall Street Journal article
amendments to 21 articles in the constitution that would, among other things, change the vote currently required to pass new legislation from two-thirds to a simple majority.
The constitution was drafted in 1999 by a special assembly packed with allies of Chavez and overwhelmingly approved by voters that year. It has repeatedly been touted by Chavez as "the best constitution in the entire world."
The reform would also make it significantly more difficult for government opponents to pass a referendum on whether or not the president must step down.
Amendments, according to the current constitution, can be approved with a simple majority vote in the legislature. To go into effect, the amendment must be approved by a simple majority of voters in a nationwide referendum.
...Several government-friendly legislators disapproved of the amendment proposal, which lawmakers are slated to begin debating next week.
"I don't agree with presidential re-election without limits," said Ricardo Gutierrez, who is vice president of Venezuela 's National Assembly.
Jesus Torrealba, a representative of the Democratic Coordinator opposition coalition, said the reform would weaken one of the oldest democracies in South America.
"We are facing a legislative onslaught that aims to keep Chavez in power and undermine the principles that establish consensus in approving laws," said Torrealba.
The idea that any amendment has to be approved by citizen voters is, I think, a wonderful Constitutional law that encourages participatory democracy. But I'm not sure a simple majority is a good idea at all. Close contests would be destined to cause extreme battles and strife. And in the parliament, imagine if you only had to buy one vote instead of 40 or 50 or whatever. But, that's just my instinct. I haven't any evidence to offer to show that it's a bad idea.
....but hey, do what you want....we do.
Previous Venezuela posts
More on Venezuela
Define the Bush administration
| kak·is·toc·ra·cy
n. pl. kak·is·toc·ra·cies
[Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad; see caco- + -cracy.] |
Pronunciation: käk-uh-STÄH-kruh-see
Is that where we got the word "kaka"?
Anyway, I thought this was a joke at Culture Ghost, (via Blanton's and Ashton's), but apparently not. I got the above right off the Dictionary.com page.
Holding back the tide
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A judge has dismissed charges against a war protester who was arrested during a visit by President Bush (news - web sites) last spring.
The disorderly conduct charge against Joe Scott was dismissed after witnesses and a videotape contradicted police testimony about his actions.
Scott, 57, claimed he was being singled out by Nashville police during the May 27 visit. "I'm very relieved," he said Tuesday. "I've not been tried as a criminal before."
During the trial, police testified that they wanted Scott, who was holding a "Fire Bush" sign, to move away from the shoulder of the road because he was creating a safety problem and because the U.S. Secret Service wanted protesters at least 10 feet from the street.
Mounted patrol officer Rita Harden testified that Scott had resisted and had run across the street. A videotape of the confrontation showed that Harden used her horse to bump Scott into the street, but it never showed him running away.
Police testified that they asked both Bush supporters and Scott to move, but the video and still photographs contradicted that claim, defense attorney Mary Parker said.
Yahoo article
The disorderly conduct charge against Joe Scott was dismissed after witnesses and a videotape contradicted police testimony about his actions.
Scott, 57, claimed he was being singled out by Nashville police during the May 27 visit. "I'm very relieved," he said Tuesday. "I've not been tried as a criminal before."
During the trial, police testified that they wanted Scott, who was holding a "Fire Bush" sign, to move away from the shoulder of the road because he was creating a safety problem and because the U.S. Secret Service wanted protesters at least 10 feet from the street.
Mounted patrol officer Rita Harden testified that Scott had resisted and had run across the street. A videotape of the confrontation showed that Harden used her horse to bump Scott into the street, but it never showed him running away.
Police testified that they asked both Bush supporters and Scott to move, but the video and still photographs contradicted that claim, defense attorney Mary Parker said.
Lucky for Mr. Scott the judge in Nashville isn't as corrupt as the police. Or at least he couldn't find a way to claim the video inadmissible.
Next needs to come proceedings against those police officers.
Another Bush protestor arrest was recently dismissed by a judge in Crawford, Texas.
I'm keeping a page of links to stories I come across where courts are refusing to uphold outrageous arrests and cases denying people their civil rights. Here. I'm not doing such a good job on it. If you know of other cases that ought to be recognized, tell Nell (always in the sidebar).
....or do what you want....you will anyway.
AWOL
White House press secretary Scott McClellan hinted that more documents regarding Bush's National Guard service may soon be released. Asked whether officials in the White House have seen unreleased documents, McClellan called that "a very real possibility." Other officials with knowledge of the situation said more documents had indeed been uncovered and would be released in the coming days.
WaPo article
Remember when they said all the documents had been released?
September 8, 2004
MR. McCLELLAN: See, that's why I pointed out that all the personnel, payroll and medical records have been released.
Q How do you know that?
MR. McCLELLAN: They've assured us that all those records are out, and in fact, you have those records.
Q How do you know that?
MR. McCLELLAN: They've assured us that all those records are out, and in fact, you have those records.
September 8, 2004: Months after insisting it could find no more records of President Bush's Air National Guard service, the Defense Department has released more than two dozen pages of files, including Bush's report card for flight training and dates of his flights.April 28, 2004
MR. McCLELLAN: And it's been fully addressed, and all the records have been released, and the President fulfilled his duty and was proud to serve and be honorably discharged from the National Guard.
February 13, 2004
Russert: But you would allow pay stubs, tax records, anything to show that you were serving during that period?
President Bush: Yeah. If we still have them, but I — you know, the records are kept in Colorado, as I understand, and they scoured the records.
And I'm just telling you, I did my duty, and it's politics, you know, to kind of ascribe all kinds of motives to me. But I have been through it before. I'm used to it. What I don't like is when people say serving in the Guard is — is — may not be a true service.
Russert: But you authorize the release of everything to settle this?
President Bush: Yes, absolutely.
We did so in 2000, by the way.
President Bush: Yeah. If we still have them, but I — you know, the records are kept in Colorado, as I understand, and they scoured the records.
And I'm just telling you, I did my duty, and it's politics, you know, to kind of ascribe all kinds of motives to me. But I have been through it before. I'm used to it. What I don't like is when people say serving in the Guard is — is — may not be a true service.
Russert: But you authorize the release of everything to settle this?
President Bush: Yes, absolutely.
We did so in 2000, by the way.
February 14, 2004: After days of hesitation, the White House last night made public what it said were all of President Bush's military records.February 10, 2004
MR. McCLELLAN: No. When you serve, you are paid for that service. And these documents outline the days on which he was paid. That means he served. And these documents also show that he met his requirements. And it's just really a shame that people are continuing to bring this issue up. When --
Q I understand --
MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, no, no. People asked for records to be released that would demonstrate he met his requirements. The records have now been fully released. The facts are clear --
Q I understand --
MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, no, no. People asked for records to be released that would demonstrate he met his requirements. The records have now been fully released. The facts are clear --
They just keep lying, because you'll believe anything they tell you.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
They're baaaaaaaaaaack....
You first.
And, hey, LaBelle, don't think I'm going to be holding your dead hands to the screen. Sorry.
And for God's sake, don't be doing it for me. In fact, I'm going to spontaneously combust just in case this article gives you any ideas.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
And, hey, LaBelle, don't think I'm going to be holding your dead hands to the screen. Sorry.
And for God's sake, don't be doing it for me. In fact, I'm going to spontaneously combust just in case this article gives you any ideas.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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