STFU Address
posted by The Vidiot @ 8:53 PM Permalink
While I have no intention of watching Bush once again invoke 9/11 as a reason to violate the constitution and kill more Americans than Osama Bin Laden, I would like to point out that every time you hear about a SOTU bounce in the next few days, that even the rotting putrescent corpse of irony could 'bounce' from
39%. No doubt they will both be spinning at the same time and for days to come.
Drive bys...
posted by The Vidiot @ 5:02 PM Permalink
Track the republican scandals
here.
What does your phone number spell?
And I thought I was
clumsy.
Flash of the week. (Ties in nicely with
this.)
A
librarian is a hero of the week.
Beer
guzzling idea.
If I were still riding my motorcycle this winter, I'd want
this and
these.
Sad day today.
posted by The Vidiot @ 3:54 PM Permalink
Scalito is a
Supreme Court Justice Alito now (roll call
here). So now, when
this case on partial birth abortions is heard, Justice Alito will be part of the decision. [Please Note: Partial birth abortion is rarely done and if done, traumatic and necessary. Nobody volunteers to have a partial birth abortion.]
Also, there's a rumor that Alito is part of
Opus Dei
Excerpt: Why, then, is an Alito membership in Opus Dei of major significance? In addition to his activist record on the federal bench and his conservative ideology, Alito is deemed to be a menace to the balance of power as well as the constitutional rights of Americans. Judge Alito's affiliation with Opus Dei may be a factor in the strident opposition from Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, both progressive Roman Catholics who do not approve of the influence of religious dogma on political ideology. The majority of Americans believe in the separation of church and state, while many religious conservatives such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell would transform America into a theocratic state. Robertson and Falwell are staunch supporters of Judge Alito.
Oy. That makes 2.
Scalia is a member as well.
Behold. The
physical manifestation of the soul of the Bush Family.
Repeat the lie enough...
posted by The Vidiot @ 2:26 PM Permalink
I'll tell you what. Last night, when I was watching the CBS Evening News, (tough decision between NBC's Rush Limbaugh loving sycophant, ABC's gravitas-lacking duo and CBS's gravitas, though boot-licking aged howler monkey) and I got all excited because they were going to spend a week on "The state of the scandals" and I thought "Finally. They're paying attention."
So I watched with some earnestness until the blonde bobblehead said something to the effect "even though the republicans got the majority of the Abramoff money, Democrats also recieved funds directed to them via Abramoff clients."
Now, everyone who knows me knows that for me, it's a short trip to insanity to begin with, but this really made my head explode.
Not only have democrats received ZERO dollars from Abramoff, they received ZERO dollars from Abramoff clients at Abramoff's behest. If the dems received any money from an Abramoff client, it was likely the result of a long-standing, pre-Abramoff setup.
This Abramoff thing is a REPUBLICAN scandal. For once, the dems have no taint from this one. (From others, to be sure, but not from this one.)
Read
this and the next time you hear one of these idiots spouting the same "the dems did it too" crap, call them on it. I did.
Excerpt: The analysis shows that when Abramoff took on his tribal clients, the majority of them dramatically ratcheted up donations to Republicans. Meanwhile, donations to Democrats from the same clients either dropped, remained largely static or, in two cases, rose by a far smaller percentage than the ones to Republicans did. This pattern suggests that whatever money went to Democrats, rather than having been steered by Abramoff, may have largely been money the tribes would have given anyway.
A Call for Judicial Restraints ...
posted by The Vidiot @ 1:48 PM Permalink
... as in a straightjacket for this judge:
MUSKEGON, MI, United States (UPI) -- A Michigan appeals court has ruled that downloading child pornography from the Internet can be charged as 'making' the material
This is good news for all those folks the RIAA has sued for 'stealing' music. Who knew that they were actually
making music!?
In other news, today I published the New York Times, painted the Mona Lisa and authored the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Cognitive Dissonance ...
posted by The Vidiot @ 12:58 AM Permalink
... Is the sound of one hand clapping, inside your head, in space, where no one can hear you scream.
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/2001
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush pledged anew Friday that Osama bin Laden will be taken "dead or alive," no matter how long it takes, amid indications that the suspected terrorist may be bottled up in a rugged Afghan canyon. The president, in an Oval Office meeting with Thailand's prime minister, would not predict the timing of bin Laden's capture but said he doesn't care how the suspect is brought to justice. "I don't care, dead or alive — either way," Bush said. "It doesn't matter to me."
- USA Today- 12.14.2001
"I don't know whether we're going to get him tomorrow or a month from now or a year from now. I don't really know. But we're going to get him," the president said. "The American people must understand that I have no timetable in mind. There's no — I don't have a calendar that says, 'Gosh, if he's not gotten by this certain moment, then I'll be disappointed."'
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, (The New American, 4/8/02)
"When he says he's going to hurt the American people again or try to, he means it. I take it seriously and the people of NSA take it seriously and most of the American people take it seriously as well,"
Bush 1/6/2006
Foooomph! [/sound of head exploding]
Swiftboats in Space!
posted by The Vidiot @ 11:14 PM Permalink
While the Bush administration has always been a supporter, nee a bastion, of free speech
*1, the most forthcoming
*2 and honest
*3 administration in history, and has always defended the right of the professionals in any agency to overrule crass, incompetent political appointees
*4, apparently some rogue in the admin has decided that the people on our planet needs to be killed all at once and not just one country at a time.
According to James E. Hansen, director of the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he now is supposed to submit all of his lectures and papers and even postings to the Goddard Web site to the PR department of NASA.
Dr. Hansen has refused and went public. According to the
NYT, (another bastion of free speech
*5):
The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
[...]
Dr. Hansen said he would ignore the restrictions. "They feel their job is to be this censor of information going out to the public," he said.
While NASA PR denies the charge*6, I can't see any other explanation for having a flack 'peer' review a scientist's paper.
All of our thoughts and sympathies go out to Dr. Hansen, he is about to experience a storm of defecation the likes of which have never been seen, even on Jupiter.
Imagine if the red spot became a brown spot and encompassed you, your family, your friends and your colleagues. Every statement, allegation or even just plain lies from folks you have never met will soon be fodder for an uncaring echo chamber.
e.g. 'Facts be damned! I once heard someone say that someone said he rescued poor defenseless kittens from the pound only to perform horrible medical experiments on them!'*7
Dr. Hansen is my hero of the week. While I admire the doctor for his many accomplishments, he is awarded hero of the week for doing his job, which means in this bizarro world, that he is risking his job.
1) See 'free speech zones.' [back]
2) See 'WH scrubbing of photos with Jack Abramoff." [back]
3) Oddly enough, I was able to write that with a straight face ... if you consider the post-retching grimace a straight face. [back]
4) Ya gotta admit, I'm doing a heckava job. Especially considering I have absolutely no experience or aptitude. [back]
5) Judy, Judy, Judy. (If you didn't get it, just ask for an explanation in comments.) [back]
6) I'm shocked, shocked to find there is gambling going on here! [back]
7) Oops, that one's true ... except it was Bill Frist. [back]
Saturday Sailboat Blogging
posted by The Vidiot @ 1:27 PM Permalink
In honor of all the cat, ferret, orchid and basset blogging in blogtopia, (
y, wksctp!), I thought my first post should be about something close to
MY heart, sailing!
Constructing our Reality
posted by The Vidiot @ 11:33 AM Permalink
Don't you feel like they're priming the pump?
Excerpt: There is a "very high" probability that a terrorist group will strike using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said in comments published Tuesday.
Everything is being made out to sound so imminent.
Excerpt: World renowned investigative reporter and terror expert Kenneth R. Timmerman, author of the bestselling book "Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran," and Carl Limbacher, reporter for NewMax.com, reveal that the US and Israel will destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in less than 10 weeks from now.
"Boo!" said bin Laden, unconvincingly.
Excerpt: The reason the tape is as phony as Niger yellowcake documents and Saddam's weapons of mass destruction is as plain as day. Bin Laden quotes from the introduction of a book written by long-time Washington, DC progressive author and journalist and a friend of mine, Bill Blum. Bill was once an editor and contributor to Covert Action Quarterly, a magazine devoted to exposing CIA operations like the arming, funding, and training of Bin Laden and his mujaheddin guerrillas during the Afghan-Soviet war.
(Lot of words to come from a dead man, huh?
And even though it's pretty obvious the Iran couldn't do much of anything for years.
Excerpt: I've seen this coming for a while now. Despite the fact that Iran is still probably years away (ten years away according to a recent NIE) from producing even one nuclear weapon, right-wing threat mongers are trying to convince the public that even one Iranian nuclear weapon could bring America to its knees.
No matter how hard they try to make us think they are capable of nuclear mayhem.
Excerpt: Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 ñ the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel
It's also obvious that this administration needs something bad to happen in order to justify attacking Iran. One their end, they're doing as much as they can to shove Iran into a corner.
Excerpt: Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday brushed aside suggestions about a possible resumption of negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program.
(Prediction: There will be a terrorist attack in Italy.)
Why the rush? I'll give you one guess.
Excerpt: The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate "nuclear" weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam's, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system
(Here's one article on the bourse and here's another.)
Meanwhile, Syria and Iran are forming their own mini-NATO.
Excerpt: Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad closed ranks in talks between the two allies on Thursday, both nations facing growing international pressure.
How much you want to bet Russia and China are part of it?
And this latest comment by France:
Excerpt: In the broad address, Chirac warned unspecified "leaders of states that would use terrorist means against us" that they could face "a firm and fitting response." Analysts and presidential aides said he had no specific country in mind, but newspaper editorialists widely read them to be directed at Iran, and possibly North Korea.
At whom was it REALLY directed?
Well, it's part of the narrative they want us all to be swallowing: Iran is evil. They can bomb us at any time. Terrorism is real...
Excerpt: Terrorism is the weapon used in a new type of war. At the same time, international terrorism, in complicity with the media, becomes the manager of global processes. It is precisely the symbiosis between media and terror, which allows modifying international politics and the existing reality.
So when some sort of staged terror event followed by war happens, it's perfectly logical and believable and not out of the blue.
But remember, al Qaida means "base" or database which means its probably just a database of guys the CIA has used to destabilize various and sundry regimes.
Excerpt: But the Arabs commonly used the short word Al Qaida which is the Arabic word for "base." The military air base of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is called 'q eidat 'riyadh al 'askariya.' Q eida means "a base" and "Al Qaida" means "the base."
"In the mid-1980s, Al Qaida was a database located in computer and dedicated to the communications of the Islamic Conference's secretariat.
