Romney said in a recent speech that those who serve their country in the military are in a league of their own. He's correct. Romney & sons are also in a league of their own.
It's called the League of Greed & Cowardice.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Romney & Sons-League of their Own
Thursday, September 20, 2007
To all traitorous, wimpy Democrats
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust."......Aquinas
There are no decent words that I can use to express my anger at the Democratic senators who waste valuable time & money pandering to the obnoxious, vile, vindictive Republicans and the holier than thou, crooked as the day is long, George Bush by voting to condemn the honest opinion expressed in the Move-on ad.
Every one of you is a traitor to the Constitution of the United States. How dare you join that little dictator in telling us to shut up? We, AND Move-on.org, have every right to express our disgust with this quack administration, it's supporters and enablers and any military member who steps across the line to play politics in an effort to expand his own political ambitions.
In the immortal words of Dick Cheney..... Go F**k Yourself!
Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor." --infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people. Wendell Phillips
There are no decent words that I can use to express my anger at the Democratic senators who waste valuable time & money pandering to the obnoxious, vile, vindictive Republicans and the holier than thou, crooked as the day is long, George Bush by voting to condemn the honest opinion expressed in the Move-on ad.
Every one of you is a traitor to the Constitution of the United States. How dare you join that little dictator in telling us to shut up? We, AND Move-on.org, have every right to express our disgust with this quack administration, it's supporters and enablers and any military member who steps across the line to play politics in an effort to expand his own political ambitions.
In the immortal words of Dick Cheney..... Go F**k Yourself!
Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor." --infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people. Wendell Phillips
Saturday, September 01, 2007
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS. . .
It is recommended that every person reading this petition send it to their elected officials, the media, friends......print copies to hand out...... These vermin need to be removed from office & prosecuted for their crimes. These self-serving crooks are destroying this country from the inside out. The answer is impeachment, removal from office, charged & convicted for crimes against the Constitution & other high crimes, life imprisonment with no parole & seizure of all their ill gotten assets to help offset some of the damage they have done.
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS. . .
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/490392320
Target:
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, US Congress
Created by:
Robert Kezelis
Two hundred thirty one years ago, our forefathers signed onto a petition that led directly to the birth of our once great nation. All of that has gone to waste under the current administration. We must renew our efforts and regain our country. So, in the spirit of those brave traitors to british rule, we amend their petition and apply it to these times.
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS. . . . it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men and Women were created equal, that they are naturally endowed with certain unalienable rights, rights which have been deliberately and repeatedly ignored, eroded, even destroyed. To re-secure these rights that our forefathers toiled so hard to create and support, we again state that governments are created for the people and solely by the consent of the people so governed.
Whenever, such as now, a form of government has become destructive to these ends, it is OUR RIGHT as citizens, to alter and/or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on the original ideals and ideas from whence this country was first imagined, then created through sweat, education, imagination, experience, tears, and toil. Likewise, it becomes our duty as citizens to strive to improve upon that foundation, eradicating the biases based on differences of sex, culture, religion, skin color, nationality, and other individual and groups traits that make individuals who and what they are. As our forefathers warned 231 years ago, Prudence continues to dictate that a government long established should not be changed for light or transient reasons.
However, the transgressions of the current administration against his own people and that against people of other countries are so serious and numerous in nature, that it becomes imprudent not to act immediately. We approach a form of absolute despotism of the kind suffered by our forefathers when they began their own revolution for reasons not dissimilar to ours. To prove our case, the facts below are without question:
* HE has refused his assent to law, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. * HE has obstructed the administration of justice, by politicizing the method and manner in which justice is sought across the states and in the federal courts. * HE has made US Attorneys dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. * HE has spied on citizens domestically and abroad without warrants or justification. * HE has repeatedly lied and misled his people into unnecessary, unjustified, and deadly wars, invasions and eventual occupations, causing untold death and destruction for all concerned.
* HE has attacked the very protections of the Constitution, the one document that he took an oath to uphold; and by passage of his Patriot Act, and his countless signing statements, he has destroyed the very protections to which each of us were and are entitled. * HE has erected a new office, misnamed the Department of Homeland Security, which does nothing to increase security, but instead impedes commerce, trade, communication, travel, and privacy to a degree never imagined by our forefathers. * HE has deprived us the benefits of a trial by jury.
* HE has held, without charges, many individuals who have no benefit of counsel, courts, or juries. * HE has cut off communication and trade with countries who have offered to aid us in a time of need, after the attacks of September 11, 2001. * HE has arrested, harassed and threatened groups of civilians who gather to protest the excesses of government. * HE has precluded and interfered with free speech of individuals and their right to meet safely. * HE has created a mercenary army, uncontrolled by the democratic process, to fight in actions both domestic and foreign. * HE has ignored long-standing treaties and pacts among other nations, particularly with respect to torture and basic human rights.
* HE has ignored the wisdom, experience and knowledge of scientists, replacing them with self-serving political and religious persons, intent on destroying the very knowledge base that serves mankind. * HE has caused the kidnapping and extra-ordinary rendition, followed by their transportation of individuals beyond seas to be held without counsel, trial or juries. * HE has permitted the plundering of our cities, the ravaging of our coasts, and the damage of homes and businesses without properly addressing the damage to individual lives, dignity and health.
* HE has imposed secrecy on most actions of goverment, in the name of national security, while precluding citizens from learning of repeated acts of wrongdoing, fraud, and crime. * HE has permitted political donors and supporters to make vast sums of profit from government funds, without requiring accountability, performance or successful endeavors in return. * HE has used religion and faith based initiatives as an attack on the very structure of government, rewarding only certain beliefs, and punishing all others. * HE has destroyed foreign ties with allies and friends, creating distrust and fear, instead of cooperation and friendship. * HE has permitted the destruction of our ecology, causing suffering and worse among us and guaranteeing that our children and our children's children will be forced to pay a dear price.
Our pleas and requests are ignored, our attempts to gain redress are attacked as unpatriotic, our cries are treated as an act of support of terror. A president whose character is marked by these and many other acts which define a tyrant, is unfit to be a ruler of a free people.
WE, therefore, citizens of these United States, and citizens of the world, finding our appeals to our elected representatives to be ignored, do in our name, and in the name of all other true patriots and citizens of this country, solemnly declare that George Walker Bush is unfit to be president; that his vice president is likewise unfit for office, and that both of them are most likely guilty of a multitude of war crimes, crimes against the Constitution, and crimes against humanity.
We hereby declare that their offices are now declared vacant and that they shall be delivered to the proper international court for imprisonment while the full nature and extent of their crimes are investigated and determined, thereafter which they will be tried for said crimes. We hereby commit to one another our best efforts to fulfill our forefathers' original intent, while removing the horrors of slavery, sex, race, religious and other forms of discrimination while we work together to repair the horrendous damage inflicted on our Country, its People and its Constitution.
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS. . .
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/490392320
Target:
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, US Congress
Created by:
Robert Kezelis
Two hundred thirty one years ago, our forefathers signed onto a petition that led directly to the birth of our once great nation. All of that has gone to waste under the current administration. We must renew our efforts and regain our country. So, in the spirit of those brave traitors to british rule, we amend their petition and apply it to these times.
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS. . . . it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men and Women were created equal, that they are naturally endowed with certain unalienable rights, rights which have been deliberately and repeatedly ignored, eroded, even destroyed. To re-secure these rights that our forefathers toiled so hard to create and support, we again state that governments are created for the people and solely by the consent of the people so governed.
Whenever, such as now, a form of government has become destructive to these ends, it is OUR RIGHT as citizens, to alter and/or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on the original ideals and ideas from whence this country was first imagined, then created through sweat, education, imagination, experience, tears, and toil. Likewise, it becomes our duty as citizens to strive to improve upon that foundation, eradicating the biases based on differences of sex, culture, religion, skin color, nationality, and other individual and groups traits that make individuals who and what they are. As our forefathers warned 231 years ago, Prudence continues to dictate that a government long established should not be changed for light or transient reasons.
However, the transgressions of the current administration against his own people and that against people of other countries are so serious and numerous in nature, that it becomes imprudent not to act immediately. We approach a form of absolute despotism of the kind suffered by our forefathers when they began their own revolution for reasons not dissimilar to ours. To prove our case, the facts below are without question:
* HE has refused his assent to law, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. * HE has obstructed the administration of justice, by politicizing the method and manner in which justice is sought across the states and in the federal courts. * HE has made US Attorneys dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. * HE has spied on citizens domestically and abroad without warrants or justification. * HE has repeatedly lied and misled his people into unnecessary, unjustified, and deadly wars, invasions and eventual occupations, causing untold death and destruction for all concerned.
* HE has attacked the very protections of the Constitution, the one document that he took an oath to uphold; and by passage of his Patriot Act, and his countless signing statements, he has destroyed the very protections to which each of us were and are entitled. * HE has erected a new office, misnamed the Department of Homeland Security, which does nothing to increase security, but instead impedes commerce, trade, communication, travel, and privacy to a degree never imagined by our forefathers. * HE has deprived us the benefits of a trial by jury.
* HE has held, without charges, many individuals who have no benefit of counsel, courts, or juries. * HE has cut off communication and trade with countries who have offered to aid us in a time of need, after the attacks of September 11, 2001. * HE has arrested, harassed and threatened groups of civilians who gather to protest the excesses of government. * HE has precluded and interfered with free speech of individuals and their right to meet safely. * HE has created a mercenary army, uncontrolled by the democratic process, to fight in actions both domestic and foreign. * HE has ignored long-standing treaties and pacts among other nations, particularly with respect to torture and basic human rights.
* HE has ignored the wisdom, experience and knowledge of scientists, replacing them with self-serving political and religious persons, intent on destroying the very knowledge base that serves mankind. * HE has caused the kidnapping and extra-ordinary rendition, followed by their transportation of individuals beyond seas to be held without counsel, trial or juries. * HE has permitted the plundering of our cities, the ravaging of our coasts, and the damage of homes and businesses without properly addressing the damage to individual lives, dignity and health.
* HE has imposed secrecy on most actions of goverment, in the name of national security, while precluding citizens from learning of repeated acts of wrongdoing, fraud, and crime. * HE has permitted political donors and supporters to make vast sums of profit from government funds, without requiring accountability, performance or successful endeavors in return. * HE has used religion and faith based initiatives as an attack on the very structure of government, rewarding only certain beliefs, and punishing all others. * HE has destroyed foreign ties with allies and friends, creating distrust and fear, instead of cooperation and friendship. * HE has permitted the destruction of our ecology, causing suffering and worse among us and guaranteeing that our children and our children's children will be forced to pay a dear price.
Our pleas and requests are ignored, our attempts to gain redress are attacked as unpatriotic, our cries are treated as an act of support of terror. A president whose character is marked by these and many other acts which define a tyrant, is unfit to be a ruler of a free people.
WE, therefore, citizens of these United States, and citizens of the world, finding our appeals to our elected representatives to be ignored, do in our name, and in the name of all other true patriots and citizens of this country, solemnly declare that George Walker Bush is unfit to be president; that his vice president is likewise unfit for office, and that both of them are most likely guilty of a multitude of war crimes, crimes against the Constitution, and crimes against humanity.
We hereby declare that their offices are now declared vacant and that they shall be delivered to the proper international court for imprisonment while the full nature and extent of their crimes are investigated and determined, thereafter which they will be tried for said crimes. We hereby commit to one another our best efforts to fulfill our forefathers' original intent, while removing the horrors of slavery, sex, race, religious and other forms of discrimination while we work together to repair the horrendous damage inflicted on our Country, its People and its Constitution.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Chuck Shumer's Outrage
I’m outraged. President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence wiping away two and half years of jail time with the stroke of a pen. President Bush ignored Libby’s felony conviction for lying to investigators, ignored the jury’s guilty verdict, and ignored the rule of law that governs our nation. We expect more from our President. We expect honor and integrity, we expect moral leadership. We expect our President and his staff to be held to a higher standard. Tell George Bush: I’m appalled by your actions. No man is above the law. ...... Sen. Chuck Schumer
http://www.dscc.org/makeadifference/petitions/20070702_libby.htm
Dear Chuck,
So what the hell are you outraged about? Hell, you have been patting that little pissant on the head and giving him everything he wants for the past 6 years. More money to continue his murderous war? You Betcha! Junior bankrupts the country and what's your answer..... Give him more money than he asked for. Hot Damn! We're on a roll today!
You expect honor, integrity and moral leadership from George Bush????? ROTFLMAO! Surely yee jest? Do you really think that we are so dumb that we haven't noticed that little drunken frat boy flipping you a bird for the past 6 years? Surely you must know that he and Tricky Dickie howled with laughter after he told Patrick Leahy to "Go F**k Yourself" on the floor of the Senate? Did you really think that we haven't heard about these shenanigans?
I'm also sure that you know that Bush called the Constitution "just a goddamned piece of paper"? Why on earth would you expect high standards from this gang of thugs after that comment is beyond me.
Appalled at his actions? I've been appalled at what this low-life scumbag has gotten away with since he was appointed president in 2000. It does not seem to have registered anyone in the hallowed halls of Congress. You have totally ignored the truth and the American people.
Our signature on this silly petition will give King George his laugh for the day? Congrats, Chuck. I'm sure the little puppet dictator & his evil sidekick are quaking in their shoes.
Magginkat....... Pissed Off Voter
http://www.dscc.org/makeadifference/petitions/20070702_libby.htm
Dear Chuck,
So what the hell are you outraged about? Hell, you have been patting that little pissant on the head and giving him everything he wants for the past 6 years. More money to continue his murderous war? You Betcha! Junior bankrupts the country and what's your answer..... Give him more money than he asked for. Hot Damn! We're on a roll today!
You expect honor, integrity and moral leadership from George Bush????? ROTFLMAO! Surely yee jest? Do you really think that we are so dumb that we haven't noticed that little drunken frat boy flipping you a bird for the past 6 years? Surely you must know that he and Tricky Dickie howled with laughter after he told Patrick Leahy to "Go F**k Yourself" on the floor of the Senate? Did you really think that we haven't heard about these shenanigans?
I'm also sure that you know that Bush called the Constitution "just a goddamned piece of paper"? Why on earth would you expect high standards from this gang of thugs after that comment is beyond me.
Appalled at his actions? I've been appalled at what this low-life scumbag has gotten away with since he was appointed president in 2000. It does not seem to have registered anyone in the hallowed halls of Congress. You have totally ignored the truth and the American people.
Our signature on this silly petition will give King George his laugh for the day? Congrats, Chuck. I'm sure the little puppet dictator & his evil sidekick are quaking in their shoes.
Magginkat....... Pissed Off Voter
Sunday, May 20, 2007
RE: NY Times Editorial - Their Master’s Voice
To: letters@nytimes.com
RE: Editorial - Their Master’s Voice http://tinyurl.com/345u4e
I feel obligated to point out the obvious....that the NY Times has done as much as anyone to promote that "master", to make him appear to be something he is not.
In that effort you have failed miserably. Try as you might you could not make George Bush intelligent or competent. Not only that but you promoted him as a great leader while he has been destroying this country from the inside out with the help of the real decision makers, Dick Cheney & Karl Rove. You shoved that useless piece of humanity down the throats of American citizens and the world.
He has shamed and embarrassed the United States with your help. He has bankrupted this country while enriching himself, his greedy family and friends. Billions have disappeared down the sewer line of the Bush gang of thugs and hundreds of thousands of innocent people have perished at his hands, including our own soldiers.
Still the NY Times & other media have given & continue to give him free reign to do as he pleases. You have done your utmost to grant his oft stated wish of being a dictator.
This bumbling, incompetent, know-nothing man operates beyond the laws of this land. Worse still makes his own laws to fit the occasion. He has violated ever single word of his oath of office. He has literally walked all over the Constitution of the United States and referred to it as "just a goddamned piece of paper".
If the NY Times & other media in this country had informed the American people what this nasty man was up to he would now be settled back at that phony ranch playing tiddlywinks with his friends, the Bin Laden family or if there was real justice, he would be sitting in prison looking at a life sentence with no parole. If there was justice he would serve that sentence at Guantanamo along with Cheney, Gonzales and a bunch more of the thugs in this shyster administration.
Why are you not calling for the impeachment, removal from office and prosecution of Bush, Cheney & Gonzales for starters? They have done their utmost to destroy what's left of our democracy. Are you going to continue to bow down to this fraudulent president and his goons or are you going to tell the truth for a change? In other words are you planning to get back to the business of reporting the news?
You did your part in trying to make it look as though former President Clinton has committed a major crime worthy of impeachment & removal from office when he was caught in a lie about a personal affair that was none of your damn business. Why have you given a free pass to the criminal who now squats in the White House, a criminal who started his damning administration by stealing not one but two presidential elections? Why are you molly-coddling a low-life thief?
I believe that the telephone tapping, email snooping, etc., conducted by the Bush-Cheney gang of thugs had one purpose and it was not to find a terrorist. It was done to blackmail those who might speak out against the crimes of this administration, including key members of Congress. We have seen the brazen efforts to operate this government of George Bush in total secrecy.
Unfortunately this has been the one success of George Bush.
I am left to ask, what did he have on the NY Times and other media outlets to not only shut them up but to make them become propaganda machines for the worst, most corrupt administration that this country has ever faced?
As I see it the only hope this country has is another Daniel Ellsberg. Are you looking for that person or are you just continuing to be a mouth piece for this criminal organization that has taken over the government of this country? Are you going to quietly stand by for another 19 months while they finish the job of destroying this country from the inside out?
Will you be continuing to post the lies about Iran and other countries who have the guts to speak out against this criminal?
What if the little dictator decides that he should be master of the universe for the rest of his life? What will you do if that happens?
Spare me the denials and exclamations of horror that I should say such a thing. Remember when Giuliani wanted to cancel elections and keep himself mayor of NY? True, it didn't happen but then Giuliani didn't have control of Congress, the media & the military.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Abstinence Education via Religious Fanaticism
Ideological arrogance is one way to describe abstinence education and another way is "down your throat" forcing of useless mythology into the minds of children too weak to resist. And yet another way is to define this ultimate child abuse which is brought into our lives by dogmatic religious fanaticism and reflect on the permanent damage it causes.
Don't think for once second that abstinence education is about education. It is 100% religious indoctrination and next to hatred, one of the Religious Reich's greatest accomplishments is pouring millions of dollars of taxpayer money into abstinence education and owes it all to having God's help putting George Bush in the White House.
It is positively inhumane to ask any human being to just simply ignore their arrival at puberty when they are hormonally at their peak of ripeness as the first indication for them to sacrifice their next ten or so years of their life retarding their sexual expression for the sole purpose to satisfy religious fanaticism. In the abstinence education classes you learn to hate gay and lesbians and how to snitch on your parents but not much else unless you want to get boiled in a lake of fire for messing around or wondering about your sexuality.
What is most important is to teach our young people how to avoid pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases using medical science in lieu of religion and we need to promote the use of prophylactics for disease prevention. Women's special health needs should be of primary importance and inoculation with the vaccine Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer should be mandatory.
Other than Voodoo and Reverend Jim Jone's Kool-Aid cures, the church has no medical background and its interference with women in regard to their health care needs is ill-advised. Imposing spiritual values through Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggert or Jerry Falwell we have all learned is hypocritical at its worst and even more hypocritical at its best.
Sexual expression is a physiological need just like breathing, eating and sleeping. In the long run, it doesn't make any difference what you do; there will always be a religion to criticize whatever you choose to do. Happy hormone hunting and this last LITTLE note;
I met a divorced woman once who confessed to me her biggest regret is she didn't follow her sexual urges when she wanted to. Being abstinent until marriage and then disposed of after thirty seconds made her feel like a used dishrag. "There had to be something "better" in all the no answers I gave after so many years of waiting and I will spend the rest of my life painfully wondering."
Larry Little
Sunday, April 01, 2007
UPDATE: Jane 'Invades' Iraq!
Update! No April Fool's Joke Here. Jane 'Invades' Baghdad!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Note: Wanna know what the camp outside of Baghdad where I am now billeted looks like? Go to Burning Man, out in the Nevada desert, and you'll pretty much get the look of this place -- only Burning Man is a lot more fun!Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1March 30 -- we finally received our orders to fly out of Kuwait and into Baghdad. Hurray! Now all I have to do is get my passport back from the Kuwait visa inspectors and I'm good to go.
"Stillwater? Here's your passport." Whew. "Now line up here and wait." I did. This is exciting. And perhaps a little too real. Two hours later, we boarded a plane. It was a big one, a real work of art. It was as big as a football field inside, no windows, no frills -- just one big warehouse. The pallets with our gear on them were stored in back of us and troops lined the walls and took up seats in the center.This plane is spooky. Forget everything you ever experienced on Continental, United or Delta. This plane is weird. Exposed pipes run along the 20-foot-high ceiling. Wires hang loose. There's a plywood floor. There's NOTHING decorative about this plane at all -- except that they gave us nicely-colored earplugs to baffle the sound.
While waiting in some tent or other for the plane to take off, the soldiers I sat next to took turns telling stories. I love these guys. Anyone who can tell a good story is all right by me. And these guys tell stories with flash and charm. Each one has an attention-grabbing introduction, an exciting and suspenseful plot, a gripping climax and a really great hook at the end.
Guys, I salute you. Now don't go out there and blow yourselves up. You have too many stories to tell.This plane holds a hecka lot of men. I'm not allowed to say how many but it's a lot -- more than the amount of people who live in my neighborhood, less than the amount of people at a Pussycat Dolls concert. There were a lot of women soldiers back on the base in Kuwait but I'm probably the only woman on this plane now besides some sort of stewardess wannabe in khaki fatigues whose main job appears to be handing out earplugs.1:15 am: This whole freaking embed experience is so weird, so bizarre. It's like nothing I can equate it with inside my realm of experience back home. It's bizarre. It's going to take me YEARS to digest all of this.
Just going to the freaking toilet on a troop transport plane is bizarre.Once the plane takes off, all the lights go out except for a handful of red ones lining the walls, giving the interior the look and feel of Hell -- Hell and the Battlestar Galactica, with a little bit of Road Warrior thrown in. The soldiers are all wearing helmets and flack jackets. To a man, all of them are asleep -- in awkward, unnatural positions. Only I am awake. And on the way to the toilet, I glide down the aisle like that Greek goddess of old who was kidnapped by Hades -- Persephone?Once inside the restroom, there's no light, only a red glow. I do my business by touch and get out as soon as I can, back to the jaws of death, back to the mouth of Hell.
And the troops sleep on, in exhausted, exaggerated positions, looking for all the world like they were dead.These men are my boys. Hurt them and you have to go through me. Hear that, George Bush? These men aren't just action figure toys for you to play with. These are real, living human beings. Sincere. Serious about doing their jobs -- and doing them well. They deserve better than the blunders of GWB. They deserve respect. They've got mine."Prepare for landing. Thank you." Obviously there's gonna be no in-flight movie and no in-flight meal. And I don't think we are going to have a spiffy arrival area and baggage carousel either.
"This is BIAP". Baghdad International Airport. "BIAP" must be short for "biopsy". That's what I think. The descent into BIAP is so swift and sudden, it feels like they cut out a piece of us. Yep, it's a good thing this plane doesn't have windows! But did all that decompression wake up the troops? Nope. I'm still the only one awake.Then "BOOM!" The plane touches down with a sonic thud. We've landed in Baghdad.
# posted by Jane Stillwater : 8:35 AM
More news from Iraq: Me, the Light Brigade & John McCainGood grief!
Iraq is just BRIMMING with news. I don't even know where to begin. At 4 am this morning, a huge armored vehicle moved us from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone in a convoy composed of vehicles that looked like they had just came out of a Toys R Us catalog.Nobody in Iraq seems to need sleep. Not even me. But they don't go without food. Did you know that the average American soldier in Iraq gains 26 pounds -- while the average insurgent lives on rice and beans? If that doesn't give our troops an edge here, then what will? If we are now entering the fourth year of this war and it still is bogged down even despite our tremendous Cheesecake advantage, the Bush guys are in big trouble.
But I digress.I've been here in Iraq for three days and this is the first day I have even seen -- let alone talked to -- an Iraqi. So I started at the top and interviewed an Iraqi general. His basic message seems to be that the Iraqi army now has about 25 new ways to kill people and/or make them go to their rooms. "We have more troops, more joint security stations, more ammunition, more tips from informants, more security...." Then his translator went on and on about how the Iraqi army is eliminating tourists. Tourists? Oh, he meant TERRORISTS. My bad.
Then I spoke with an American admiral who stated, "The people of Iraq need to be able to walk to the local coffee shop safely." By this does he mean that after four whole years of occupation, people still can't walk safely to the coffee shop -- or does he mean that what Iraq needs today is more Starbucks? I'm confused.After that, you will never guess what happened next! I got to interview John McCain! Seriously. He was here. Right here in the press room. Which is fifty feet down the corridor and around the corner from the cot where I had dumped off all my stuff this morning and is now my new home.
Senator McCain, Senator Graham, Rep. Pence and Rep. Renzi had put together what appeared to be the 2007 GOP Hype-the-War Tour. "Do you think that they will give us souvenir T-shirts of the tour," I asked some guy from CNN. Probably not.
Anyway, Sen. McCain and his backup singers were here and even though I don't agree with them, I was glad that they came. It takes courage to come to Iraq.
"Our new strategy is making progress," said McCain.
"We are doing things differently," said Sen. Graham. "We cannot let suicide bombers set the pace. If we talk about leaving and losing, the car bombers win."
Then Graham talked about how the four of them went down to the Baghdad market today and it was perfectly safe. "We bargained and bought rugs."Pence agreed about the safety of the market. Later, however, he added that they did have to travel there in Humvees and be escorted by soldiers and wear body armor -- but other than that...
Later I talked with an Iraqi reporter who said that the market they went to was the safest in the city and several American reporters added that walking around in Baghdad without troops backing you up was suicidal and anyone who did something like that had a death wish.Renzi then stated that, "We will not turn our backs on the Iraqi people," and the other Dream Boys agreed.
And apparently if the bill to end the war makes it through Congress, Bush will veto it. "The President [sic] will veto any bill that will cut the legs out from under the military," added Graham.So far, the group had talked a lot about how to make the "war" policy regarding Iraq succeed, but none of them talked about the elephant in the living room -- that the policy itself is fatally flawed.
But I did! Shut up, Jane.
Yes, even with all those Senators and reporters and everything there I still had to have my say. So. Exactly what DID I say to John McCain?
Sorry but you're gonna have to die of suspense a little bit longer. Someone just brought me some food!Fried chicken, meatloaf, honeyed carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans and cookies! Giant chocolate chip cookies, macadamia nut cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate fudge cookies. Hey! You forgot the cheesecake.
So. What did I say to Sen. McCain?
I gave him my famous "Light Brigade" speech. "I have been so completely impressed," I began, "by the quality, training, competence and skill of our troops here. They represent yet another generation in a long line of competent and capable Americans."
McCain smiled and nodded his head, thinking I had finished my speech. Not.
"But," I continued, just getting warmed up, "our troops are also like the heroes of Lord Tennyson's poem, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade.' They are fighting bravely and well in a situation caused by a blunder. So why should we senselessly continue to put our troops in harm's way for a mistake?" Or in order to appease some greedy, immature Lord Nelson wannabe. It doesn't make sense to destroy a whole generation of American soldiers just to support Bush and Cheney.
Then I got down to the heart of my question. Giving McCain that special look that us moms usually reserve for recalcitrant children, I said, "And after this terrible blunder in Iraq, are you then going to go ahead and make that same horrible mistake in Iran?"
McCain's answer was brief. "No comment."
BERKELEY WOMAN'S IRAQ QUEST
Sleeping bag in tow, she hopes to embed with Army and blog
http://tinyurl.com/3by3e4
Our friend Jane did it! She actually went to Kuwait and is hoping to make it to Iraq to see for herself what is going on. The above link is to the news article in the San Francisco Chronicle about her quest to be imbedded with a military unit in Iraq.
Best of luck Jane. We look forward to hearing from you often!
March 29, 2007
Greetings from Kuwait! This post is gonna be quick and dirty and not very coherent because I'm writing to you from a Kinko's at the Kuwait City airport. After two days on the plane, I arrived here around midnight and, since I can't even begin to try to arrange to get picked up until 6 am tomorrow morning, I'll be spending the rest of the night in a Barca-lounger in the airport offices of Kellogg, Brown & Root. How surrealistic is that!
Here's my first dispatch:
The Great American Dream still exists -- in Iraq!
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
You know how we all thought that the American economy was going down-hill? It's not true! We're just not looking in the right places. Look closer -- the 1950s American economic miracle isn't dead. It's still going on. People are still getting well-paying jobs. Mortgages are still being paid off. Jobs are available everywhere. You can find one just for the asking. Three cars in your garage? No problem. No money worries, no debts. Decent jobs are out there begging. Yes, the 1950s American economic miracle is still happening.
Only it's happening in Iraq.
How spooky, how weird, how de-ja-voo. While American cities are rotting and American children go to sleep hungry at night, there still is a land -- far far away -- where everything is as it was before our present economic American Easter egg cracked.
Where is this simple, illusionary, holiday place? Iraq.
Yesterday, escorted by two large handsome bodyguard cameramen supplied by the San Francisco Chronicle, I took a BART train to the San Francisco airport and boarded a plane to Amsterdam.
"Jane, your flight from Amsterdam to Kuwait has been canceled," said the guy at the KLM check-in counter. "Would you mind spending a night in Holland?"
Would I mind? Hecka no! But when I got to Amsterdam, they told me something else. "Tomorrow's flight has been canceled but you can still get on yesterday's flight." Huh? "And it leaves in two hours." So I trundled off to Gate D-7 -- and while I was waiting for yesterday's flight, I chit-chatted with four really nice Department of Defense and Blackwater "contractors". They talked about perks.
"I'm making a fabulous salary."
"I've saved up enough to put my daughters through college. And also my wife!"
"We have a mini-van, a sedan and an SUV."
"I just got back from a week at Disney World and next year we're taking the family to Europe."
Sounds just like the good old days, doesn't it. Guys working hard, guys getting ahead.
On the flight from Holland to Kuwait, the entire PLANE was filled with contractors, pursuing the American Dream -- in Iraq.
Who am I to try to put an end to this perfect world -- just because it is based on the quicksand of a million dead bodies?
"Not I," said this little white duck.
On the way to Kuwait, I watched an in-flight movie entitled "Bobby" -- about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. And what RFK said in that film hit the nail exactly on the head. "Too often, we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of other human beings."
PS: While I was flying across the Atlantic, getting leg cramps, eating rubber chicken and watching "Casino Royal," I also read an article in The Guardian about the ghastly slaughter that is happening right now in Darfur. Don't even get me started on that one -- wondering who else is making a profit off of all those grisly deaths.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Note: Wanna know what the camp outside of Baghdad where I am now billeted looks like? Go to Burning Man, out in the Nevada desert, and you'll pretty much get the look of this place -- only Burning Man is a lot more fun!Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1March 30 -- we finally received our orders to fly out of Kuwait and into Baghdad. Hurray! Now all I have to do is get my passport back from the Kuwait visa inspectors and I'm good to go.
"Stillwater? Here's your passport." Whew. "Now line up here and wait." I did. This is exciting. And perhaps a little too real. Two hours later, we boarded a plane. It was a big one, a real work of art. It was as big as a football field inside, no windows, no frills -- just one big warehouse. The pallets with our gear on them were stored in back of us and troops lined the walls and took up seats in the center.This plane is spooky. Forget everything you ever experienced on Continental, United or Delta. This plane is weird. Exposed pipes run along the 20-foot-high ceiling. Wires hang loose. There's a plywood floor. There's NOTHING decorative about this plane at all -- except that they gave us nicely-colored earplugs to baffle the sound.
While waiting in some tent or other for the plane to take off, the soldiers I sat next to took turns telling stories. I love these guys. Anyone who can tell a good story is all right by me. And these guys tell stories with flash and charm. Each one has an attention-grabbing introduction, an exciting and suspenseful plot, a gripping climax and a really great hook at the end.
Guys, I salute you. Now don't go out there and blow yourselves up. You have too many stories to tell.This plane holds a hecka lot of men. I'm not allowed to say how many but it's a lot -- more than the amount of people who live in my neighborhood, less than the amount of people at a Pussycat Dolls concert. There were a lot of women soldiers back on the base in Kuwait but I'm probably the only woman on this plane now besides some sort of stewardess wannabe in khaki fatigues whose main job appears to be handing out earplugs.1:15 am: This whole freaking embed experience is so weird, so bizarre. It's like nothing I can equate it with inside my realm of experience back home. It's bizarre. It's going to take me YEARS to digest all of this.
Just going to the freaking toilet on a troop transport plane is bizarre.Once the plane takes off, all the lights go out except for a handful of red ones lining the walls, giving the interior the look and feel of Hell -- Hell and the Battlestar Galactica, with a little bit of Road Warrior thrown in. The soldiers are all wearing helmets and flack jackets. To a man, all of them are asleep -- in awkward, unnatural positions. Only I am awake. And on the way to the toilet, I glide down the aisle like that Greek goddess of old who was kidnapped by Hades -- Persephone?Once inside the restroom, there's no light, only a red glow. I do my business by touch and get out as soon as I can, back to the jaws of death, back to the mouth of Hell.
And the troops sleep on, in exhausted, exaggerated positions, looking for all the world like they were dead.These men are my boys. Hurt them and you have to go through me. Hear that, George Bush? These men aren't just action figure toys for you to play with. These are real, living human beings. Sincere. Serious about doing their jobs -- and doing them well. They deserve better than the blunders of GWB. They deserve respect. They've got mine."Prepare for landing. Thank you." Obviously there's gonna be no in-flight movie and no in-flight meal. And I don't think we are going to have a spiffy arrival area and baggage carousel either.
"This is BIAP". Baghdad International Airport. "BIAP" must be short for "biopsy". That's what I think. The descent into BIAP is so swift and sudden, it feels like they cut out a piece of us. Yep, it's a good thing this plane doesn't have windows! But did all that decompression wake up the troops? Nope. I'm still the only one awake.Then "BOOM!" The plane touches down with a sonic thud. We've landed in Baghdad.
# posted by Jane Stillwater : 8:35 AM
More news from Iraq: Me, the Light Brigade & John McCainGood grief!
Iraq is just BRIMMING with news. I don't even know where to begin. At 4 am this morning, a huge armored vehicle moved us from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone in a convoy composed of vehicles that looked like they had just came out of a Toys R Us catalog.Nobody in Iraq seems to need sleep. Not even me. But they don't go without food. Did you know that the average American soldier in Iraq gains 26 pounds -- while the average insurgent lives on rice and beans? If that doesn't give our troops an edge here, then what will? If we are now entering the fourth year of this war and it still is bogged down even despite our tremendous Cheesecake advantage, the Bush guys are in big trouble.
But I digress.I've been here in Iraq for three days and this is the first day I have even seen -- let alone talked to -- an Iraqi. So I started at the top and interviewed an Iraqi general. His basic message seems to be that the Iraqi army now has about 25 new ways to kill people and/or make them go to their rooms. "We have more troops, more joint security stations, more ammunition, more tips from informants, more security...." Then his translator went on and on about how the Iraqi army is eliminating tourists. Tourists? Oh, he meant TERRORISTS. My bad.
Then I spoke with an American admiral who stated, "The people of Iraq need to be able to walk to the local coffee shop safely." By this does he mean that after four whole years of occupation, people still can't walk safely to the coffee shop -- or does he mean that what Iraq needs today is more Starbucks? I'm confused.After that, you will never guess what happened next! I got to interview John McCain! Seriously. He was here. Right here in the press room. Which is fifty feet down the corridor and around the corner from the cot where I had dumped off all my stuff this morning and is now my new home.
Senator McCain, Senator Graham, Rep. Pence and Rep. Renzi had put together what appeared to be the 2007 GOP Hype-the-War Tour. "Do you think that they will give us souvenir T-shirts of the tour," I asked some guy from CNN. Probably not.
Anyway, Sen. McCain and his backup singers were here and even though I don't agree with them, I was glad that they came. It takes courage to come to Iraq.
"Our new strategy is making progress," said McCain.
"We are doing things differently," said Sen. Graham. "We cannot let suicide bombers set the pace. If we talk about leaving and losing, the car bombers win."
Then Graham talked about how the four of them went down to the Baghdad market today and it was perfectly safe. "We bargained and bought rugs."Pence agreed about the safety of the market. Later, however, he added that they did have to travel there in Humvees and be escorted by soldiers and wear body armor -- but other than that...
Later I talked with an Iraqi reporter who said that the market they went to was the safest in the city and several American reporters added that walking around in Baghdad without troops backing you up was suicidal and anyone who did something like that had a death wish.Renzi then stated that, "We will not turn our backs on the Iraqi people," and the other Dream Boys agreed.
And apparently if the bill to end the war makes it through Congress, Bush will veto it. "The President [sic] will veto any bill that will cut the legs out from under the military," added Graham.So far, the group had talked a lot about how to make the "war" policy regarding Iraq succeed, but none of them talked about the elephant in the living room -- that the policy itself is fatally flawed.
But I did! Shut up, Jane.
Yes, even with all those Senators and reporters and everything there I still had to have my say. So. Exactly what DID I say to John McCain?
Sorry but you're gonna have to die of suspense a little bit longer. Someone just brought me some food!Fried chicken, meatloaf, honeyed carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans and cookies! Giant chocolate chip cookies, macadamia nut cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate fudge cookies. Hey! You forgot the cheesecake.
So. What did I say to Sen. McCain?
I gave him my famous "Light Brigade" speech. "I have been so completely impressed," I began, "by the quality, training, competence and skill of our troops here. They represent yet another generation in a long line of competent and capable Americans."
McCain smiled and nodded his head, thinking I had finished my speech. Not.
"But," I continued, just getting warmed up, "our troops are also like the heroes of Lord Tennyson's poem, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade.' They are fighting bravely and well in a situation caused by a blunder. So why should we senselessly continue to put our troops in harm's way for a mistake?" Or in order to appease some greedy, immature Lord Nelson wannabe. It doesn't make sense to destroy a whole generation of American soldiers just to support Bush and Cheney.
Then I got down to the heart of my question. Giving McCain that special look that us moms usually reserve for recalcitrant children, I said, "And after this terrible blunder in Iraq, are you then going to go ahead and make that same horrible mistake in Iran?"
McCain's answer was brief. "No comment."
BERKELEY WOMAN'S IRAQ QUEST
Sleeping bag in tow, she hopes to embed with Army and blog
http://tinyurl.com/3by3e4
Our friend Jane did it! She actually went to Kuwait and is hoping to make it to Iraq to see for herself what is going on. The above link is to the news article in the San Francisco Chronicle about her quest to be imbedded with a military unit in Iraq.
Best of luck Jane. We look forward to hearing from you often!
March 29, 2007
Greetings from Kuwait! This post is gonna be quick and dirty and not very coherent because I'm writing to you from a Kinko's at the Kuwait City airport. After two days on the plane, I arrived here around midnight and, since I can't even begin to try to arrange to get picked up until 6 am tomorrow morning, I'll be spending the rest of the night in a Barca-lounger in the airport offices of Kellogg, Brown & Root. How surrealistic is that!
Here's my first dispatch:
The Great American Dream still exists -- in Iraq!
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
You know how we all thought that the American economy was going down-hill? It's not true! We're just not looking in the right places. Look closer -- the 1950s American economic miracle isn't dead. It's still going on. People are still getting well-paying jobs. Mortgages are still being paid off. Jobs are available everywhere. You can find one just for the asking. Three cars in your garage? No problem. No money worries, no debts. Decent jobs are out there begging. Yes, the 1950s American economic miracle is still happening.
Only it's happening in Iraq.
How spooky, how weird, how de-ja-voo. While American cities are rotting and American children go to sleep hungry at night, there still is a land -- far far away -- where everything is as it was before our present economic American Easter egg cracked.
Where is this simple, illusionary, holiday place? Iraq.
Yesterday, escorted by two large handsome bodyguard cameramen supplied by the San Francisco Chronicle, I took a BART train to the San Francisco airport and boarded a plane to Amsterdam.
"Jane, your flight from Amsterdam to Kuwait has been canceled," said the guy at the KLM check-in counter. "Would you mind spending a night in Holland?"
Would I mind? Hecka no! But when I got to Amsterdam, they told me something else. "Tomorrow's flight has been canceled but you can still get on yesterday's flight." Huh? "And it leaves in two hours." So I trundled off to Gate D-7 -- and while I was waiting for yesterday's flight, I chit-chatted with four really nice Department of Defense and Blackwater "contractors". They talked about perks.
"I'm making a fabulous salary."
"I've saved up enough to put my daughters through college. And also my wife!"
"We have a mini-van, a sedan and an SUV."
"I just got back from a week at Disney World and next year we're taking the family to Europe."
Sounds just like the good old days, doesn't it. Guys working hard, guys getting ahead.
On the flight from Holland to Kuwait, the entire PLANE was filled with contractors, pursuing the American Dream -- in Iraq.
Who am I to try to put an end to this perfect world -- just because it is based on the quicksand of a million dead bodies?
"Not I," said this little white duck.
On the way to Kuwait, I watched an in-flight movie entitled "Bobby" -- about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. And what RFK said in that film hit the nail exactly on the head. "Too often, we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of other human beings."
PS: While I was flying across the Atlantic, getting leg cramps, eating rubber chicken and watching "Casino Royal," I also read an article in The Guardian about the ghastly slaughter that is happening right now in Darfur. Don't even get me started on that one -- wondering who else is making a profit off of all those grisly deaths.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Jane Stillwater - - I'm off to Iraq & need Kevlar by Wednesday!
Dear Jane,
I don't imagine that having a recommendation from the Proud Liberal Bitch or Grannies Against George would earn you any brownie points! :) :)
Jane, my dear, I still think you have flipped your wig but I wish you the best of luck. Sorry I don't have a Kevlar vest.
On this occasion I am just as big a coward as King George so I will not be volunteering to go with you. However, I did complete the military service that I signed on for years ago!
I wish you luck and great success on your trip.
Magginkat
From: Jane stillwater Woman of Steel: I'm off to Iraq & need Kevlar by Wednesday!
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com When you are a reporter, you gotta go where the good stories are. And everyone knows that the hot stories today are in Washington DC and Iraq. Well, maybe in the Bahamas too -- but mostly in DC and Iraq.
I've been trying to embed in Iraq with the Department of Defense since last July. At first my senator, when she inquired on my behalf, was told that I couldn't be embedded because I was "opinion-based and not fact-based" but as America's goddess of accurate-yet-fun reporting Molly Ivins used to say, "That dog don't hunt" -- not after the DoD itself got caught telling bold-faced lies about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction! But when the Dems took over Congress last November, I was informed by several sources that, under pressure from above, the DoD has now developed a whole new policy wherein progressive reporters are no longer being actively discriminated against and that I had a good chance of being embedded if my credentials were good.
After getting four online news services, a nationally-known crusading regional editor, my hometown newspaper and a major metropolitan media giant to sponsor me -- The Lone Star Iconoclast just sent me the most beautiful press pass in the world -- I finally got the green light from DoD! Sorta.
To get to Iraq, you fly into Kuwait and the Department of Defense's MNFI comes to pick you up. So I went online to www.bargaintravel.com, the best source of cheap international airfare there is, and scored a fabulously inexpensive round trip flight to Kuwait for a price that even I could afford! I was all ready to go, leaving on Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Sorta.
"Sorry, Jane," the DoD media guy just wrote me. "We haven't finished processing your paperwork yet." Oops. So here I am with a non-refundable ticket to Kuwait and no green light.
What to do? Whether or not I have DoD clearance, I HAVE to leave for Kuwait on March 28. I can't afford to waste that kind of money. I lived off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a YEAR to save all that up. And when I get to Kuwait, either the MNFI will have completed the paperwork and I will be whisked off to their training and staging area near Kuwait City and then off to Baghdad to write fabulous stories for YOU all about how our brave troops are doing a bang-up job over there despite the fact that their bosses in the White House are sadistic bastards, terribly inefficient crooks and totally nuts -- or I will spend three weeks wandering the streets of Kuwait City waiting for my flight home, searching for internet cafes and trying to sell boot-leg Girl Scout cookies.
If, however, I do get embedded in Iraq, I will need a Kevlar bullet-proof vest. Can anyone loan me one by Wednesday? I'm serious! Would you send me into a combat zone without Kevlar? Who do you think I am? The Woman of Steel?
PS: Of course the main reason I'm going to Iraq is to bring you back stories about what it is actually like over there -- but there's also another special bonus inducement: I hear that the commissaries over there serve a dynamite (to-die-for) chocolate cake.
PPS: Just because George W. Bush happily sends our troops into combat without adequate body armor, this doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea.
Got Kevlar? I can be reached at jpstillwater@yahoo.com or 510-843-0581. And if you know anyone in Kuwait who can sponsor me just in case I need an emergency visa when I get to Kuwait City, please let me know! Thanks.
I don't imagine that having a recommendation from the Proud Liberal Bitch or Grannies Against George would earn you any brownie points! :) :)
Jane, my dear, I still think you have flipped your wig but I wish you the best of luck. Sorry I don't have a Kevlar vest.
On this occasion I am just as big a coward as King George so I will not be volunteering to go with you. However, I did complete the military service that I signed on for years ago!
I wish you luck and great success on your trip.
Magginkat
From: Jane stillwater Woman of Steel: I'm off to Iraq & need Kevlar by Wednesday!
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com When you are a reporter, you gotta go where the good stories are. And everyone knows that the hot stories today are in Washington DC and Iraq. Well, maybe in the Bahamas too -- but mostly in DC and Iraq.
I've been trying to embed in Iraq with the Department of Defense since last July. At first my senator, when she inquired on my behalf, was told that I couldn't be embedded because I was "opinion-based and not fact-based" but as America's goddess of accurate-yet-fun reporting Molly Ivins used to say, "That dog don't hunt" -- not after the DoD itself got caught telling bold-faced lies about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction! But when the Dems took over Congress last November, I was informed by several sources that, under pressure from above, the DoD has now developed a whole new policy wherein progressive reporters are no longer being actively discriminated against and that I had a good chance of being embedded if my credentials were good.
After getting four online news services, a nationally-known crusading regional editor, my hometown newspaper and a major metropolitan media giant to sponsor me -- The Lone Star Iconoclast just sent me the most beautiful press pass in the world -- I finally got the green light from DoD! Sorta.
To get to Iraq, you fly into Kuwait and the Department of Defense's MNFI comes to pick you up. So I went online to www.bargaintravel.com, the best source of cheap international airfare there is, and scored a fabulously inexpensive round trip flight to Kuwait for a price that even I could afford! I was all ready to go, leaving on Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Sorta.
"Sorry, Jane," the DoD media guy just wrote me. "We haven't finished processing your paperwork yet." Oops. So here I am with a non-refundable ticket to Kuwait and no green light.
What to do? Whether or not I have DoD clearance, I HAVE to leave for Kuwait on March 28. I can't afford to waste that kind of money. I lived off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a YEAR to save all that up. And when I get to Kuwait, either the MNFI will have completed the paperwork and I will be whisked off to their training and staging area near Kuwait City and then off to Baghdad to write fabulous stories for YOU all about how our brave troops are doing a bang-up job over there despite the fact that their bosses in the White House are sadistic bastards, terribly inefficient crooks and totally nuts -- or I will spend three weeks wandering the streets of Kuwait City waiting for my flight home, searching for internet cafes and trying to sell boot-leg Girl Scout cookies.
If, however, I do get embedded in Iraq, I will need a Kevlar bullet-proof vest. Can anyone loan me one by Wednesday? I'm serious! Would you send me into a combat zone without Kevlar? Who do you think I am? The Woman of Steel?
PS: Of course the main reason I'm going to Iraq is to bring you back stories about what it is actually like over there -- but there's also another special bonus inducement: I hear that the commissaries over there serve a dynamite (to-die-for) chocolate cake.
PPS: Just because George W. Bush happily sends our troops into combat without adequate body armor, this doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea.
Got Kevlar? I can be reached at jpstillwater@yahoo.com or 510-843-0581. And if you know anyone in Kuwait who can sponsor me just in case I need an emergency visa when I get to Kuwait City, please let me know! Thanks.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Scooter Libby, convicted felon
Matthew Rothschild: "Finally, some comeuppance for at least one of the folks who brought us the Iraq War. Finally, some justice for at least one of those who engaged in illegal, slime-ball tactics to smear opponents of that war. And how rich to see Libby’s allies squirm now."
Needless to say a right winger turned up to try to drag our last legally elected President into the mess:
Troll: "Okay, Matt, while we have you in an anti-perjury mood, could you please tell us once again how Bill Clinton did not perjure himself and did not coach Betty Curry on how to perjure herself?"
Magginkat:
You just knew it was bound to happen ....there come the rabid righties whining about a Clinton lie. Yep, he lied about a consensual affair. But the fact is that he could have sued Monica for sexual harassment! LOL ..
Now watch them whine & scream in righteous indignation!
This entire administration has consisted of a massive pile of lies cheered on by Faux Spews and their brain dead morons who don't have a clue. Do these people not realize that this country is being run as a dictatorship for the Bush/Cheney gang of thugs and that the mess they have created will take years & more years to try to undo IF we can undo it?
What about Democracy? What makes this secretive government by the incompetent Bush and the insane Cheney so good for these fools? I am truly puzzled at these people who screeched and screamed for 8 yrs plus about Clinton's little lie but when the monumental mountain of Bush/Cheney lies is mentioned they go into hysterics calling those who question those two vile people traitors and other names.
To me there is nothing more traitorous than those who have walked all over the Constitution of the United States and those who cheer & encourage them to continue. May you reap what you have sowed.
To quote Abby Hoffman, "Just wait till Jesus gets his hands on you, you little bastard". :) :)
Needless to say a right winger turned up to try to drag our last legally elected President into the mess:
Troll: "Okay, Matt, while we have you in an anti-perjury mood, could you please tell us once again how Bill Clinton did not perjure himself and did not coach Betty Curry on how to perjure herself?"
Magginkat:
You just knew it was bound to happen ....there come the rabid righties whining about a Clinton lie. Yep, he lied about a consensual affair. But the fact is that he could have sued Monica for sexual harassment! LOL ..
Now watch them whine & scream in righteous indignation!
This entire administration has consisted of a massive pile of lies cheered on by Faux Spews and their brain dead morons who don't have a clue. Do these people not realize that this country is being run as a dictatorship for the Bush/Cheney gang of thugs and that the mess they have created will take years & more years to try to undo IF we can undo it?
What about Democracy? What makes this secretive government by the incompetent Bush and the insane Cheney so good for these fools? I am truly puzzled at these people who screeched and screamed for 8 yrs plus about Clinton's little lie but when the monumental mountain of Bush/Cheney lies is mentioned they go into hysterics calling those who question those two vile people traitors and other names.
To me there is nothing more traitorous than those who have walked all over the Constitution of the United States and those who cheer & encourage them to continue. May you reap what you have sowed.
To quote Abby Hoffman, "Just wait till Jesus gets his hands on you, you little bastard". :) :)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Take YOUR Job & Shove It !
Are you sick of the form letters from your rabid right elected (we think) officials. This morning I received one too many of those condescending monstrosities from Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, spewing the usual bu$h lies about Iran. Some days the stomach can handle only so much.
Dear Mr. Martinez,
I thought george bu$h was a horse's ass (with apologies to horse's asses everywhere) but I do believe that you are trying to lay claim to that title. Do you really think that U.S. Citizens are so damn stupid that they are going to continue to buy into yours and bu$h's lies?
Well, if you do Mr. Martinez, you are in for the education of a lifetime. We don't believe your lying asses anymore. Unlike the squatter in the White House we can and do read. We know that most of the world disputes your brazen lies.
Yes, Iran has a cocky little brat as president but so do we. George bu$h, with your help & unlike the cocky brat from Iran, has murdered over 3000 U.S. soldiers & injured over 20,000 more, some of them are maimed for life. You have murdered over half a million Iraqi citizens for no reason other than to appease that spoiled brat in the oval office who wants to prove that he is a bigger man than his daddy.
Bullschitt! Junior was, is and always will be a lying, cheating, conniving, thief & loser and the minute you latched on to his apron strings you became the same. That goes for everyone else who is singing the praises & repeating the lies of cheney & bu$h. In my humble opinion you are all a bunch of cowards and traitors. I look forward to the day that most of this administration is tried as war criminals & convicted.
The world's worst terrorist, according to articles I have read from multiple countries, is george bu$h and cohorts, doing business in the name of the American people. I'm tired of being considered a terrorist because of the inane and insane actions of the leadership of this country.
As for the President of Iran making harsh comments about Israel, the truth hurts doesn't it? We the People know that the leadership of this country has been supplying the corrupt Israeli government with weapons to murder the Palestinian people and we know that includes nuclear weapons, so can the crap about a Middle East Peace process. It's as phony as a george bu$h speech. The people of Israel may want peace, as do the people of the United States, but unfortunately both countries are headed by two of the most corrupt governments in the history of mankind.
You, Mr. Martinez, did not respond to my concerns. You tried to sell me a pile of bu$h/cheney bullschitt and I'm not buying. Spare me the cock & bull story about this shyster administration working with it's European allies & the U.N. I hate to tell you but telling the world to Go F**k yourself is not considered "working" with anyone and that is all this good for nothing administration has done.
Please do not insult my intelligence by sending me another of your damned form letters with it's george bu$h approved lies and bullschitt. Yes, I am aware that I wrote bu$h with small letters and a dollar sign.... same for cheney.
I write their names with small letters because it is appropriate for the kind of people they are, very small indeed. AND you, Mr. Martinez are the same as you support the murder and mayhem created by bu$h and his thugs.
What will it take to convince you war loving fools to get your heads out of your ass and stop the insanity?
Dear Mr. Martinez,
I thought george bu$h was a horse's ass (with apologies to horse's asses everywhere) but I do believe that you are trying to lay claim to that title. Do you really think that U.S. Citizens are so damn stupid that they are going to continue to buy into yours and bu$h's lies?
Well, if you do Mr. Martinez, you are in for the education of a lifetime. We don't believe your lying asses anymore. Unlike the squatter in the White House we can and do read. We know that most of the world disputes your brazen lies.
Yes, Iran has a cocky little brat as president but so do we. George bu$h, with your help & unlike the cocky brat from Iran, has murdered over 3000 U.S. soldiers & injured over 20,000 more, some of them are maimed for life. You have murdered over half a million Iraqi citizens for no reason other than to appease that spoiled brat in the oval office who wants to prove that he is a bigger man than his daddy.
Bullschitt! Junior was, is and always will be a lying, cheating, conniving, thief & loser and the minute you latched on to his apron strings you became the same. That goes for everyone else who is singing the praises & repeating the lies of cheney & bu$h. In my humble opinion you are all a bunch of cowards and traitors. I look forward to the day that most of this administration is tried as war criminals & convicted.
The world's worst terrorist, according to articles I have read from multiple countries, is george bu$h and cohorts, doing business in the name of the American people. I'm tired of being considered a terrorist because of the inane and insane actions of the leadership of this country.
As for the President of Iran making harsh comments about Israel, the truth hurts doesn't it? We the People know that the leadership of this country has been supplying the corrupt Israeli government with weapons to murder the Palestinian people and we know that includes nuclear weapons, so can the crap about a Middle East Peace process. It's as phony as a george bu$h speech. The people of Israel may want peace, as do the people of the United States, but unfortunately both countries are headed by two of the most corrupt governments in the history of mankind.
You, Mr. Martinez, did not respond to my concerns. You tried to sell me a pile of bu$h/cheney bullschitt and I'm not buying. Spare me the cock & bull story about this shyster administration working with it's European allies & the U.N. I hate to tell you but telling the world to Go F**k yourself is not considered "working" with anyone and that is all this good for nothing administration has done.
Please do not insult my intelligence by sending me another of your damned form letters with it's george bu$h approved lies and bullschitt. Yes, I am aware that I wrote bu$h with small letters and a dollar sign.... same for cheney.
I write their names with small letters because it is appropriate for the kind of people they are, very small indeed. AND you, Mr. Martinez are the same as you support the murder and mayhem created by bu$h and his thugs.
What will it take to convince you war loving fools to get your heads out of your ass and stop the insanity?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Carl Rants.................
Much of Florida should be abandoned unless honest and trust worthy building codes are enforced. Year after year the state becomes nothing but flying sticks from match box construction that should be outlawed. Close to sixty year ago it was Jim Bailey calling, "Come on down the pompanos are jumping out of the bays and lagoons right on the plates to welcome you suckers. Contrary to what we see from the helicopters after the storms pass can only be the results of a Republican population reduction scheme could allow what just happened. The plans are by builders and lobbyist who live in Switzerland, the Andes and Manhattan.
American's are spending billions to see their children blown to bits in the sands of Arabia. Those who come home have no lives. "Look at me I got my new legs. Look at them 40/50 year later if the live that long not even able to get out of bed when the God damn building is burning down. There stands Bush like the colossus of Rhodes saying it cannot hurt me I have on my water proof underwear.
A radio is just another gadget from China with 150% markup. Buy some of the new hooks. A baby can push them through the sheet, but look what happens when Mommy goes to push one in and she hits steel lollicolumn. Blood all over the basement but that bastard with his high pitched voice is long gone.
Carl Johnson .... NY
American's are spending billions to see their children blown to bits in the sands of Arabia. Those who come home have no lives. "Look at me I got my new legs. Look at them 40/50 year later if the live that long not even able to get out of bed when the God damn building is burning down. There stands Bush like the colossus of Rhodes saying it cannot hurt me I have on my water proof underwear.
A radio is just another gadget from China with 150% markup. Buy some of the new hooks. A baby can push them through the sheet, but look what happens when Mommy goes to push one in and she hits steel lollicolumn. Blood all over the basement but that bastard with his high pitched voice is long gone.
Carl Johnson .... NY
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Musings of PBC
..to attempt to "clarify", estimation of Bush is that is a self centered , callous , calculating sort who does NOTHING for others unless needed to get something for self but has NOT the capability to actually FORMULATE the whateverings....He has "street smarts" of sorts, the type that have allowed hi, especially due to family connectivity, to wonk whatever he whims for own selfish whateverings...He cares NOT a whit for OTHERS....he really does NOT TRULY CONNECT, he is a user and abuser and self centered...ego centric/figures just HIS just due just he IS...sociopath fits him...
He has shown that disdain for "others" , he gets cover and protection from those inside the circle for there is the devil to pay if deemed disloyal and he does extract revenge at many levels with NO REGRET. He washes others hands in so much only to have his own back scratched/hands washed as well...if nothing in it for him, he walks away...
He gets aligned via ego stoke and even likely realizes that IS done to some extent but figures he actually is smarter than those others ...More than willing to have others do the "grunt" work at ALL levels....He has learned and honed his skills of glad hander to an artful dodgerability of responsibility....No way did Bushie come up with the neoconic agenda, it was easy for him to go along with it as he figured it served him and they did that in large part by knowing how to stoke/stroke him....
He MAY think much was his, but doubt he that delusional but when it was percieved and sold as a sure fire WINNER, he was more than eager/willing to have it set in motion for it would settle some other scores of his...Still figure Cheney is a truely nefarious character....Rummy as well as such as Wolfowitz , Perl and others who have never really gone far away even if not in "original " positions...Newt G. is another one to watch out for, another who NEVER EVER REALLY WENT FAR AWAY let alone away at all.....
There are a whole range of issues just how Bushie did go along and why...some of it quite the outcome of his dysfuntional family environment...He was the screw up, and they let him know that estimation often in exasperation and etc but they did continue to clean up after him time after time after time but did realize him as an embarassement, a major disappointment and actually esteemed as not all that bright/etc....
He was out to show "them" and Dad too and part in the mix was, he too himself , out of family loyalty/values --which they do have but are semi perverse but abided by none the less...the fact that Poppy yet got derided in regards to the first Iraq venture for NOT getting into the heart of Bagdad, well Junior took that as an offense against the family honor/etc and too, he wanted to show Dad that HE could "fix" things in hopes of making Dad proud /etc....that indeed was in the mix plus the grandiose sell he got sold of going to be THE one attributed with remaking the ME ..a nyah to the Carter/Clintons and even Regan who gets credit for bringing down that wall and ending the ColdWar...this was to surpass them all....but they/the plans/the agenda of HIS MAKING or HIS CALCULATIONINGS, he merely got to be the one who "signed off", it was expected to be an overwhelming SUCCESS and he was to receive full credit...
Interesting that so many were MORE than willing to have it be such--they, those that formulated and etc...were content to just get so much implemented and remain anonymous , they in essence did not need PUBLIC adulation but they held the greater power...George, a facade, the front man...an important enough role of sorts, for he was to front it all for the PUBLIC so that the public would buy on to it all and lets face, according to polls, some 30% still do even after so much HAS become known, revealed and how wrong so much has gone.
He has shown that disdain for "others" , he gets cover and protection from those inside the circle for there is the devil to pay if deemed disloyal and he does extract revenge at many levels with NO REGRET. He washes others hands in so much only to have his own back scratched/hands washed as well...if nothing in it for him, he walks away...
He gets aligned via ego stoke and even likely realizes that IS done to some extent but figures he actually is smarter than those others ...More than willing to have others do the "grunt" work at ALL levels....He has learned and honed his skills of glad hander to an artful dodgerability of responsibility....No way did Bushie come up with the neoconic agenda, it was easy for him to go along with it as he figured it served him and they did that in large part by knowing how to stoke/stroke him....
He MAY think much was his, but doubt he that delusional but when it was percieved and sold as a sure fire WINNER, he was more than eager/willing to have it set in motion for it would settle some other scores of his...Still figure Cheney is a truely nefarious character....Rummy as well as such as Wolfowitz , Perl and others who have never really gone far away even if not in "original " positions...Newt G. is another one to watch out for, another who NEVER EVER REALLY WENT FAR AWAY let alone away at all.....
There are a whole range of issues just how Bushie did go along and why...some of it quite the outcome of his dysfuntional family environment...He was the screw up, and they let him know that estimation often in exasperation and etc but they did continue to clean up after him time after time after time but did realize him as an embarassement, a major disappointment and actually esteemed as not all that bright/etc....
He was out to show "them" and Dad too and part in the mix was, he too himself , out of family loyalty/values --which they do have but are semi perverse but abided by none the less...the fact that Poppy yet got derided in regards to the first Iraq venture for NOT getting into the heart of Bagdad, well Junior took that as an offense against the family honor/etc and too, he wanted to show Dad that HE could "fix" things in hopes of making Dad proud /etc....that indeed was in the mix plus the grandiose sell he got sold of going to be THE one attributed with remaking the ME ..a nyah to the Carter/Clintons and even Regan who gets credit for bringing down that wall and ending the ColdWar...this was to surpass them all....but they/the plans/the agenda of HIS MAKING or HIS CALCULATIONINGS, he merely got to be the one who "signed off", it was expected to be an overwhelming SUCCESS and he was to receive full credit...
Interesting that so many were MORE than willing to have it be such--they, those that formulated and etc...were content to just get so much implemented and remain anonymous , they in essence did not need PUBLIC adulation but they held the greater power...George, a facade, the front man...an important enough role of sorts, for he was to front it all for the PUBLIC so that the public would buy on to it all and lets face, according to polls, some 30% still do even after so much HAS become known, revealed and how wrong so much has gone.
Monday, December 11, 2006
"Taking S Step Forward"?
The new catch phrase from the White house is "taking a step forward"
This is coming from someone who for the past five years has asked us to look back to 911 to give credibility to his " God lead" War of Miss-instruction, Wars of Terrorism, and War for Drugs (Northern Alliance Afghanistan)
Is he asking the families of the 3,000 dead soldiers, the thousands of wounded, or the tens of thousands civilian casualties to step forward with their lives? For the American people to step forward to pay for the trillions of dollars of dept that he has gotten us into, while his friends and family enjoys record oil, military contracts, and heroin production? George Bush and Dick Cheney please take a step forward, down....... Down from office and face the consequences of your irresponsible leadership. So that we Americans can take a step forward and not be left to pay for your blunders alone.
By Bim at www.BimWillow.com
This is coming from someone who for the past five years has asked us to look back to 911 to give credibility to his " God lead" War of Miss-instruction, Wars of Terrorism, and War for Drugs (Northern Alliance Afghanistan)
Is he asking the families of the 3,000 dead soldiers, the thousands of wounded, or the tens of thousands civilian casualties to step forward with their lives? For the American people to step forward to pay for the trillions of dollars of dept that he has gotten us into, while his friends and family enjoys record oil, military contracts, and heroin production? George Bush and Dick Cheney please take a step forward, down....... Down from office and face the consequences of your irresponsible leadership. So that we Americans can take a step forward and not be left to pay for your blunders alone.
By Bim at www.BimWillow.com
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
A Christmas Story - Bah Humbug!
A Christmas Story
'Twas the night before Christmas--Old Santa was pissed.
He cussed out the elves and threw down his list.
Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks.
I have a good mind to scrap the whole works!
I've busted my ass for damn near a year,
Instead of "Thanks Santa"--what do I hear?
The old lady bitches cause I work late at night.
The elves want more money--The reindeer all fight.
Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids.
Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS.
And just when I thought that things would get better
Those assholes from the IRS sent me a letter,
They say I owe taxes--if that ain't damn funny
Who the hell ever sent Santa Claus any money?
And the kids these days--they all are the pits
They want the impossible--Those mean little shits
I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds
Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads
I made a ton of yo yo's--No request for them,
They want computers and robots...they think - I'm IBM!
Flying through the air...dodging the trees
Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees
I'm quitting this job there's just no enjoyment
I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment.
There's no Christmas this year now you know the reason,
I found me a blonde. I'm going SOUTH for the season
'Twas the night before Christmas--Old Santa was pissed.
He cussed out the elves and threw down his list.
Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks.
I have a good mind to scrap the whole works!
I've busted my ass for damn near a year,
Instead of "Thanks Santa"--what do I hear?
The old lady bitches cause I work late at night.
The elves want more money--The reindeer all fight.
Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids.
Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS.
And just when I thought that things would get better
Those assholes from the IRS sent me a letter,
They say I owe taxes--if that ain't damn funny
Who the hell ever sent Santa Claus any money?
And the kids these days--they all are the pits
They want the impossible--Those mean little shits
I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds
Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads
I made a ton of yo yo's--No request for them,
They want computers and robots...they think - I'm IBM!
Flying through the air...dodging the trees
Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees
I'm quitting this job there's just no enjoyment
I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment.
There's no Christmas this year now you know the reason,
I found me a blonde. I'm going SOUTH for the season
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Is everyone happy this morning?
Are you now convinced that the system works?
Even those hackable touch-screen machines from Diebold?
Well, they must work because the Dems won big and the Reps had control of them . . . so obviously we don't need to change anything there . . .which would be too expensive anyway. Right?
And now that the Dems have the house Conyers can start some REAL investigations, with subpoenas and everything . . .Right?
And we can now get our selves out of Iraq, and impeach the despicable asses that made this problem in the first place, and send them off to the Hague for their war crimes trials wrapped in chains, and repeal all the unconstitutional stuff Dubja pushed through. Right?
I don't believe it for a minute, and you shouldn't either.
This "bigwin" was because we were on the edge of actually doing something real and that had become publicly obvious. These election results will calm everyone down while we all congratulate ourselves and then go home toforget about it.
And our Fascist masters will continue along their merry way as always, but perhaps with less exposure than before.
Keep in mind that NOBODY can get elected to anything without corporate money behind them, and that money comes with the expectation of a return. This fact applies to Democrats and Republicans alike.
NOTHING has changed except that the general perception of our very real problems has now been blunted to the point where everyone will (with great relief) go home and forget about the mess yet again without actually doing anything.We certainly won this battle and it did indeed feel good . . . but I fear it is going to cost us the war in the long term. And now it is time for all to loudly proclaim that Cushman is just a crank and can be safely dismissed. It is all so sadly predictable.
William B. Cushman, Ph.D
Not likely Bill, read on............No one but no one is paying attention to this: The Bush Administration has quietly stolen the National Guard away from the states.
Our Long National Nightmare Has Just Begun: Like Cornered Rats, GOP Losers More Dangerous Than Ever
As ugly secrets surface, Bushists will turn desperate. Democracy has failed their grand schemes; token resignations like Rumsfeld's come too little, too late. Only tyranny can save their skins. Will the beleaguered neocons led by Cheney and Bush, cornered like rats, unleash their brand-new police state on their political opponents? Or will they tough it out and suck up the fines and prison sentences to come? The next year or two could go either way.
The nightmare is not over.
full article at:
by Ted Rall permalink http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/2816
Even those hackable touch-screen machines from Diebold?
Well, they must work because the Dems won big and the Reps had control of them . . . so obviously we don't need to change anything there . . .which would be too expensive anyway. Right?
And now that the Dems have the house Conyers can start some REAL investigations, with subpoenas and everything . . .Right?
And we can now get our selves out of Iraq, and impeach the despicable asses that made this problem in the first place, and send them off to the Hague for their war crimes trials wrapped in chains, and repeal all the unconstitutional stuff Dubja pushed through. Right?
I don't believe it for a minute, and you shouldn't either.
This "bigwin" was because we were on the edge of actually doing something real and that had become publicly obvious. These election results will calm everyone down while we all congratulate ourselves and then go home toforget about it.
And our Fascist masters will continue along their merry way as always, but perhaps with less exposure than before.
Keep in mind that NOBODY can get elected to anything without corporate money behind them, and that money comes with the expectation of a return. This fact applies to Democrats and Republicans alike.
NOTHING has changed except that the general perception of our very real problems has now been blunted to the point where everyone will (with great relief) go home and forget about the mess yet again without actually doing anything.We certainly won this battle and it did indeed feel good . . . but I fear it is going to cost us the war in the long term. And now it is time for all to loudly proclaim that Cushman is just a crank and can be safely dismissed. It is all so sadly predictable.
William B. Cushman, Ph.D
Not likely Bill, read on............No one but no one is paying attention to this: The Bush Administration has quietly stolen the National Guard away from the states.
Our Long National Nightmare Has Just Begun: Like Cornered Rats, GOP Losers More Dangerous Than Ever
As ugly secrets surface, Bushists will turn desperate. Democracy has failed their grand schemes; token resignations like Rumsfeld's come too little, too late. Only tyranny can save their skins. Will the beleaguered neocons led by Cheney and Bush, cornered like rats, unleash their brand-new police state on their political opponents? Or will they tough it out and suck up the fines and prison sentences to come? The next year or two could go either way.
The nightmare is not over.
full article at:
by Ted Rall permalink http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/2816
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Bush owes troops an apology
Bush ‘appearing to be stupid’ about Kerry’s joke
By Keith Olbermann
On the 22nd of May, 1856, as the deteriorating American political system veered toward the edge of the cliff, U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina shuffled into the Senate of this nation, his leg stiff from an old dueling injury, supported by a cane. And he looked for the familiar figure of the prominent senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner.
Brooks found Sumner at his desk, mailing out copies of a speech he had delivered three days earlier — a speech against slavery.
The congressman matter-of-factly raised his walking stick in midair and smashed its metal point across the senator’s head. Congressman Brooks hit his victim repeatedly. Sen. Sumner somehow got to his feet and tried to flee. Brooks chased him and delivered untold blows to Sumner’s head. Even though Sumner lay unconscious and bleeding on the Senate floor, Brooks finally stopped beating him only because his cane finally broke.
Others will cite John Brown’s attack on the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry as the exact point after which the Civil War became inevitable.
In point of fact, it might have been the moment, not when Brooks broke his cane over the prostrate body of Sen. Sumner — but when voters in Brooks’ district started sending him new canes.
Tonight, we almost wonder to whom President Bush will send the next new cane.
There is tonight no political division in this country that he and his party will not exploit, nor have not exploited; no anxiety that he and his party will not inflame.
There is no line this president has not crossed — nor will not cross — to keep one political party in power.
He has spread any and every fear among us in a desperate effort to avoid that which he most fears — some check, some balance against what has become not an imperial, but a unilateral presidency.
And now it is evident that it no longer matters to him whether that effort to avoid the judgment of the people is subtle and nuanced or laughably transparent.
Sen. John Kerry called him out Monday.
He did it two years too late.
He had been too cordial — just as Vice President Gore had been too cordial in 2000, just as millions of us have been too cordial ever since.
Sen. Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California. With bitter humor he told the students that he had been in Texas the day before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he lives in the state of denial.
He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education — that “if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you can get stuck in Iraq.”
The senator, in essence, called Mr. Bush stupid.
The context was unmistakable: Texas; the state of denial; stuck in Iraq. No interpretation required. And Mr. Bush and his minions responded by appearing to be too stupid to realize that they had been called stupid. They demanded Kerry apologize to the troops in Iraq.
And so he now has.
That phrase — “appearing to be too stupid” — is used deliberately, Mr. Bush.
Because there are only three possibilities here.
One, sir, is that you are far more stupid than the worst of your critics have suggested; that you could not follow the construction of a simple sentence; that you could not recognize your own life story when it was deftly summarized; that you could not perceive it was the sad ledger of your presidency that was being recounted.
This, of course, compliments you, Mr. Bush, because even those who do not “make the most of it,” who do not “study hard,” who do not “do their homework,” and who do not “make an effort to be smart” might still just be stupid, but honest.
No, the first option, sir, is, at best, improbable. You are not honest.
The second option is that you and those who work for you deliberately twisted what Sen. Kerry said to fit your political template; that you decided to take advantage of it, to once again pretend that the attacks, solely about your own incompetence, were in fact attacks on the troops or even on the nation itself.
The third possibility is, obviously, the nightmare scenario: that the first two options are in some way conflated.
That it is both politically convenient for you and personally satisfying to you, to confuse yourself with the country for which, sir, you work.
A brief reminder, Mr. Bush: You are not the United States of America.
You are merely a politician whose entire legacy will have been a willingness to make anything political; to have, in this case, refused to acknowledge that the insult wasn’t about the troops, and that the insult was not even truly about you either, that the insult, in fact, is you.
So now John Kerry has apologized to the troops; apologized for the Republicans’ deliberate distortions.
Thus, the president will now begin the apologies he owes our troops, right?
This president must apologize to the troops for having suggested, six weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the slaughtered Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will, to history, “look like just a comma.”
This president must apologize to the troops because the intelligence he claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably and irredeemably wrong.
This president must apologize to the troops for having laughed about the failure of that intelligence at a banquet while our troops were in harm’s way.
This president must apologize to the troops because the streets of Iraq were not strewn with flowers and its residents did not greet them as liberators.
This president must apologize to the troops because his administration ran out of “plan” after barely two months.
This president must apologize to the troops for getting 2,815 of them killed.
This president must apologize to the troops for getting this country into a war without a clue.
And Mr. Bush owes us an apology for this destructive and omnivorous presidency.
We will not receive them, of course.
This president never apologizes.
Not to the troops.
Not to the people.
Nor will those henchmen who have echoed him.
In calling him a “stuffed suit,” Sen. Kerry was wrong about the press secretary.
Mr. Snow’s words and conduct, falsely earnest and earnestly false, suggest he is not “stuffed,” he is inflated.
And in leaving him out of the equation, Sen. Kerry gave an unwarranted pass to his old friend
Sen. John McCain, who should be ashamed of himself tonight.
He rolled over and pretended Kerry had said what he obviously had not.
Only, the symbolic stick he broke over Kerry’s head came in a context even more disturbing.
Mr. McCain demanded the apology while electioneering for a Republican congressional candidate in Illinois.
He was speaking of how often he had been to Walter Reed Hospital to see the wounded Iraq veterans, of how “many of them have lost limbs.”
He said all this while demanding that the voters of Illinois reject a candidate who is not only a wounded Iraq veteran, but who lost two limbs there, Tammy Duckworth.
Support some of the wounded veterans. But bad-mouth the Democratic one.
And exploit all the veterans and all the still-serving personnel in a cheap and tawdry political trick to try to bury the truth: that John Kerry said the president had been stupid.
And to continue this slander as late as this morning — as biased or gullible or lazy newscasters nodded in sleep-walking assent.
Sen. McCain became a front man in a collective lie to break sticks over the heads of Democrats — one of them his friend, another his fellow veteran, legless, for whom he should weep and applaud or at minimum about whom he should stay quiet.
That was beneath the senator from Arizona.
And it was all because of an imaginary insult to the troops that his party cynically manufactured out of a desperation and a futility as deep as that of Congressman Brooks, when he went hunting for Sen. Sumner.
This is our beloved country now as you have redefined it, Mr. Bush.
Get a tortured Vietnam veteran to attack a decorated Vietnam veteran in defense of military personnel whom that decorated veteran did not insult.
Or, get your henchmen to take advantage of the evil lingering dregs of the fear of miscegenation in Tennessee, in your party’s advertisements against Harold Ford.
Or, get the satellites who orbit around you, like Rush Limbaugh, to exploit the illness — and the bipartisanship — of Michael J. Fox. Yes, get someone to make fun of the cripple.
Oh, and sir, don’t forget to drag your own wife into it.
“It’s always easy,” she said of Mr. Fox’s commercials — and she used this phrase twice — “to manipulate people’s feelings.”
Where on earth might the first lady have gotten that idea, Mr. President?
From your endless manipulation of people’s feelings about terrorism?
“However they put it,” you said Monday of the Democrats, on the subject of Iraq, “their approach comes down to this: The terrorists win, and America loses.”
No manipulation of feelings there.
No manipulation of the charlatans of your administration into the only truth-tellers.
No shocked outrage at the Kerry insult that wasn’t; no subtle smile as the first lady silently sticks the knife in Michael J. Fox’s back; no attempt on the campaign trail to bury the reality that you have already assured that the terrorists are winning.
Winning in Iraq, sir.
Winning in America, sir.
There we have chaos — joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoints at Sadr City, the base of the radical Shiite militias, and the Americans have been ordered out by the prime minister of Iraq … and our secretary of defense doesn’t even know about it!
And here we have deliberate, systematic, institutionalized lying and smearing and terrorizing — a code of deceit that somehow permits a president to say, “If you listen carefully for a Democrat plan for success, they don’t have one.”
Permits him to say this while his plan in Iraq has amounted to a twisted version of the advice once offered to Lyndon Johnson about his Iraq, called Vietnam. Instead of “declare victory and get out” we now have “declare victory and stay indefinitely.”
And also here — we have institutionalized the terrorizing of the opposition.
True domestic terror:
Critics of your administration in the media receive letters filled with fake anthrax.
Braying newspapers applaud or laugh or reveal details the FBI wished kept quiet, and thus impede or ruin the investigation.
A series of reactionary columnists encourages treason charges against a newspaper that published “national security information” that was openly available on the Internet.
One radio critic receives a letter threatening the revelation of as much personal information about her as can be obtained and expressing the hope that someone will then shoot her with an AK-47 machine gun.
And finally, a critic of an incumbent Republican senator, a critic armed with nothing but words, is attacked by the senator’s supporters and thrown to the floor in full view of television cameras as if someone really did want to re-enact the intent — and the rage — of the day Preston Brooks found Sen. Charles Sumner.
Of course, Mr. President, you did none of these things.
You instructed no one to mail the fake anthrax, nor undermine the FBI’s case, nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times, nor threaten to assassinate Stephanie Miller, nor beat up a man yelling at Sen. George Allen, nor have the first lady knife Michael J. Fox, nor tell John McCain to lie about John Kerry.
No, you did not.
And the genius of the thing is the same as in King Henry’s rhetorical question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
All you have to do, sir, is hand out enough new canes.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15519404
Bim Willow Speaks......................
Be sure to void this erection. Yes it seems that both democrats and republicans have a hard on for each other but it is usually some segment of the population that gets screwed no matter who wins.
With campaign advertising looking more like the Coke or Pepsi Challenge when all you wanted was a good beer, it's like shopping for shoes where they only sell shoes for the left foot and you being a right footed one legged man you can make one fit but they always rub you the wrong way.
Should we vote? Yes if for no reason other than to void the lesser of the two. If you voted your conscience you would have to vote for yourself.
With campaign advertising looking more like the Coke or Pepsi Challenge when all you wanted was a good beer, it's like shopping for shoes where they only sell shoes for the left foot and you being a right footed one legged man you can make one fit but they always rub you the wrong way.
Should we vote? Yes if for no reason other than to void the lesser of the two. If you voted your conscience you would have to vote for yourself.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Children of Men -- they stole my plot!
Movie review: Children of Men -- they stole my plot!
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
http://www.opednews.com/author/author41.html
I was bored on Saturday night and went off to see the movie "Man of the Year". The plot revolved around Robin Williams running for President. It was a good movie, the popcorn was good and Williams told some really funny jokes -- far more funny than the Joke who is currently pretending to be our President.
That night, the UA Berkeley also showed a preview of the movie "Children of Men" -- a sci-fi thriller that takes place about a generation from now, when there are no more children and babies are no longer being born.
"OMG, they stole my plot! Stole it right off my blinking blog!" was the first thought that ran through my head. But then I calmed down. Probably they didn't. But even if they did, I could hardly blame them. It's a great plot. The freaking way that humans abuse children around here and pollute the air and cut aid to education and murder orphans in oil-rich regions and exploit child labor in third-world countries and chase pages around Congress, we're lucky that we have any children left at all!
Anyone with half a brain in their head could of thought of that plot. But just in case the producers of "Children of Men" want to share their royalties with me, here is the article off my blog:
What if there were no more babies?
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
April 28, 2004
It was your typical peaceful day in Heaven. Babies were all lining up to get born.
"Say WHAT?" an unborn baby said to God. "You want ME to go down there and get beaten, bombed, starved, abused and amputated? Or get locked in overcrowded classrooms and babysitted by sit-coms while my mother works three jobs to keep the family afloat? I DON'T THINK SO!"
"But," replied God, "you gotta get born. It's in My Plan." "Not this little pink duck. Until human beings stop doing everything they can to abuse, torture and murder children, I'm staying right here."
Hell no! We won't go!
And no other child was ever born again.
Trillions of dollars continued to be spent on weapons of mass destruction instead of healthcare and education. Testosterone-filled men happily bombed and polluted and irradiated the world to their hearts content. But not one baby was ever born again. Are all the weapons in the world worth the price of NEVER knowing what it is like to hold a baby in our arms? It is time for the Hard-Right and the Hard-Left and the Soft-Middle to come together and work for the preservation of democracy before we all just become so much meat in the eyes of the heartless corporations who now rule our future.
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
http://www.opednews.com/author/author41.html
I was bored on Saturday night and went off to see the movie "Man of the Year". The plot revolved around Robin Williams running for President. It was a good movie, the popcorn was good and Williams told some really funny jokes -- far more funny than the Joke who is currently pretending to be our President.
That night, the UA Berkeley also showed a preview of the movie "Children of Men" -- a sci-fi thriller that takes place about a generation from now, when there are no more children and babies are no longer being born.
"OMG, they stole my plot! Stole it right off my blinking blog!" was the first thought that ran through my head. But then I calmed down. Probably they didn't. But even if they did, I could hardly blame them. It's a great plot. The freaking way that humans abuse children around here and pollute the air and cut aid to education and murder orphans in oil-rich regions and exploit child labor in third-world countries and chase pages around Congress, we're lucky that we have any children left at all!
Anyone with half a brain in their head could of thought of that plot. But just in case the producers of "Children of Men" want to share their royalties with me, here is the article off my blog:
What if there were no more babies?
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
April 28, 2004
It was your typical peaceful day in Heaven. Babies were all lining up to get born.
"Say WHAT?" an unborn baby said to God. "You want ME to go down there and get beaten, bombed, starved, abused and amputated? Or get locked in overcrowded classrooms and babysitted by sit-coms while my mother works three jobs to keep the family afloat? I DON'T THINK SO!"
"But," replied God, "you gotta get born. It's in My Plan." "Not this little pink duck. Until human beings stop doing everything they can to abuse, torture and murder children, I'm staying right here."
Hell no! We won't go!
And no other child was ever born again.
Trillions of dollars continued to be spent on weapons of mass destruction instead of healthcare and education. Testosterone-filled men happily bombed and polluted and irradiated the world to their hearts content. But not one baby was ever born again. Are all the weapons in the world worth the price of NEVER knowing what it is like to hold a baby in our arms? It is time for the Hard-Right and the Hard-Left and the Soft-Middle to come together and work for the preservation of democracy before we all just become so much meat in the eyes of the heartless corporations who now rule our future.
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