...more recent posts
Friday, Aug 27, 2004
Varmint
I blame JimL and his lurid tales of rodent abattoirs.
I was walking in the kitchen, and the floor began collapsing under my heels, in linear patterns. This is a familiar feeling, as D's plot in the mountains is shared with a gopher colony. While ambling about, I often feel gopher tunnels just below the surface compressing under foot.
By invading the kitchen, these varmints had gone too far. Luckily I had a shovel handy, and began digging up the floor, trying to catch one in the act. I made quick work of the floor, and soon had a shallow pit, from which a few deeper tunnels radiated. A bit beyond my reach, in one of the deeper tunnels, a furry little face appeared, snickered at me in a mocking tone, and then was hidden by a quick flutter of paws resealing the opening.
"God damn you little fucker, undermining my kitchen floor! I'm coming after you, you little flea covered pelt! You fucked with the wrong man, varmint."
That's when he charged. Several ounces of furry fury flew up at me. I stunned him with the shovel, and pinned him down with my work boot. That's when I called the critters over to finish him off, as sort of a predator refresher course. The cats looked at me like, "Yeah, right. We don't work here." Even Louie the Catahoula, fully qualified to hunt wild boar, stood his ground. I looked down, and just then noticed that this aggressive little rodent had misshapen horns on its head, and emitted strange rasping noises as it struggled to free itself.
"Fine, I'll finish him myself." I wailed on him with the shovel, careful not to take a chunk off my own foot. A horrible, guttural howl and shriek came out of this devil gopher, not from pain, but from anger. He struggle to turn and bite me with his hideous jagged teeth. I had about enough of this, and resolved to asphyxiate the creature, with something, I wasn't sure what. Perhaps a overturned casserole?
Then NPR intruded on my conciousness, and I opened my eyes.
Isn't there some kind of war thing going on in Iraq?
Hey, nice picture of some guys washing a plane. Looks peaceful enough, but isn't there some sort of combat operation going on somewhere?
Oh, wait, there it is ...
Right here.
Must not be a very big deal, if it's way down there in the fine print.
Sunday, Aug 15, 2004
Hesiod's Meme
Hesiod, in a comment on Digby's blog, suggested the revival of his "Bush is a piss-stained coward" meme. Sounds good to me. Here's a new pissy bumpersticker and an old pissy phototoon.
previous in series of Republican bumperstickers
Thursday, Aug 12, 2004
Banner
I've scouted the best locations. I've sketched out the engineering for low cost tamper resistance. I put together print ready artwork about a week ago, with CYMK color space, and full bleed margins. But I couldn't upload the file to my chosen print shop. Now I hear Bush is gonna be in CA (southern) in a few hours, and I don't have the banner ready.
I submitted to another print shop. Assuming they like .ai files, I should have 20 square feet of grommetted vinyl in my hands in just over a week.
The New and Improved Mujuhadeen
Wolfowitz wants $500 M to build a global network of militias to do the bidding of the US. Well, Reagan's Mujuhadeen thing in Afghanistan worked so well, lets go global with the concept.
This is yet another reason these people have to go.
More Fun With Amazon
While shopping, I came across an unusually frank assessment of a book. See the first review.
The company is question is no more.
Aided by His TiVo, Percussionist Narrowly Averts Death
TiVo gets a mention at the end of the article.
By the way, did I mention I feel safer now?
Light and Fluffy Rice
Condoleezza Rice, a key bulwark in our national security, gave a laundry list of largely specious justifications for the invasion of Iraq on Meet the Tim. Among these was: "[Saddam] was tying down our forces in Saudi Arabia."
Glad we don't have that problem any more. Thanks Rice!
Asked if she would serve in a hypothetical second Dubya administration, Rice said "Tim, I'm trying to get through the next few, uh, weeks."
Her intestinal fortitude is awe inspiring. I feel so much safer knowing we have a strong, resiliant person like Ms. Rice looking out for us.
Roll Over
The government just released the long awaited results of its new rollover safety rating. The good news? Other than one vehicle, everything got three out of five stars or better! Why heck, three out of five is mighty fine. I feel safer already.
The one laggard? Aw, come on, you can guess. The Ford Exploder Explorer, or at least one of the variants of that vehicle, got only two stars. That's like a D+, which ain't too shabby.
Now people might be suspecting some sort of grade inflation with this here new system, and I'd like to lay that nonsense to rest. Let me give you an example. The Toyota Tacoma 4 x 2 tipped up onto two wheels during the driving test (yeeee-haaaaww!!!!), and was judged to have a 20% chance of landing on its side or lid during a single car crash. Well, that sort of two-wheeling and flipping over behavior might frighten people, so it got only four stars.
See, the system works.
Microsoft Outlook is Evil
I can summarize the problem like this: Microsoft does not like nor do they comply with this kinda popular thing called "The Internet Protocol". Mr. Gates, you are either an idiot or are evil for trying to thwart the use of SNMP, POP3, MIME, UUENCODE, etc. Go Cheney yourself.
Ah, that feels better.
Update: And Microsoft Exchange Server is the spawn of Satan. No, really.
Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom
Supporters such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz were not available for comment.
previous in series of Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom
Bush Sucker Punches Rugby Player, 1968
Profiles in Ineptitude
D bought the 9/11 commission report, I just finished with "Chapter 8 -- The System Was Blinking Red, or How They Fucked Up by Missing Obvious Opportunities to Stop the Plot".
Some have accused the commission of being a whitewash. But it's not entirely so. There are enough details buried in the report to paint a very clear picture of the failures. These weren't just "institutional failures." There are several specific individuals, e.g. John Ashcroft, whose failures should lead to banishment from any significant position with responsibility for the safety of the U.S. public.
Below are a few "highlights" from Chapter 8.
page 257
page 257
page 259
page 261
page 263
page 264
page 264
The Attorney General told us that he asked Pickard whether there was intelligence about attacks in the United States and that Pickard said no. Pickard said he replied that he could not assure Ashcroft that there would be no attacks in the United States, although the reports of threats were related to overseas targets. Ashcroft said he therefore assumed the FBI was doing what it needed to do. He acknowledged that in retrospect, this was a dangerous assumption. He did not ask the FBI what it was doing in response to the threats, and did not task it to take any specific action. He also did not direct the INS, then still part of the Department of Justice, to take any specific action.
In sum, the domestice agencies never mobilized in response to the threat. They did not have direction, and did not have a plan to institute. The borders were not hardened. Transportation systems were not fortified. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat. State and local law enforcement were no marshalled to augment the FBI's efforts. The public was not warned.
page 265
page 272
page 275
If John Ashcroft wasn't keeping the country safe in the summer of 2001, just what the fuck was he doing?
Previous post on the 9/11 Commission report: Deputy Secretary of What the Fuck?
Saturday, Aug 07, 2004
Harmification
The gaffes, I'm used to. Running right through a gaffe without consciousness, I'm used to. But Jebus H. Christ, he was
reading from notes!
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
Friday, Aug 06, 2004
Small Government
I've been thinking about how to explain to a Republican-leaning Libertarian why Bush is so bad. It might go something like this ...
I've also never been a big fan of either party, in part because I'm not a fan of big government. When the Republican party says they want small government, you know they're lying. They just want a different kind of big government. The two major aspects of this are fundamentalist theology enforced by law, and the military-industrial complex, which Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about in his farwell address.
I worked in the defense industry during the Reagan years, and let me tell you, I saw all sorts of money being spent on stupid things. Mass transit for missiles, outer-space laser beams, all sorts of nonsense. Vast sums of money went down the toilet, for no good reason. And Ronny didn't kill the Soviet Union. Gorbachev did it. Glastnost and perestoika did the trick, not Star Wars.
And don't forget the power of the religious right. Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberston and the like have access to the corridors of power through the Republican party, and want to impose their twisted beliefs on you and me -- like creationism. Hey, it's not the job of the public schools to teach supersition and ignorance. That's the job of the church.
But what motivated me to register as a Democrat for the first time is that lying sack of shit in the White House. I just don't know what to believe coming out of the mouths of any of these bastards. I may disagree with McCain on a number of things, but for a politician he shows some sense of integrity. In contrast, the Bushies will say and do anything. They're completely amoral when it comes to the pursuit of power.
The whole WMD thing in Iraq is perhaps the most blatant lie in what has become a pervasive pattern of deception. In the run up to the invasion, I always suspected that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith and the rest were making it all up as they went along.
There were voices of dissent, saying, "Hey wait a minute, we took out all of Saddam's capabilities during the Gulf War and during the inspections." "Iraq is a broken country, not a threat to their nearest neighbors, much less the US".
But the administration was insistent. "We know where they are." "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." "He's got tons and tons of this stuff. Hell, we kept the receipts!"
When it became clear that this WMD blather was all bullshit, that they were talking out their asses, what's their defense? Incompetence? Like that's supposed to be better than lying?
And then they compound that defense by saying that everyone else fucked up too. "Well, Tony Blair was just as much of an idiot." That's supposed to help?
It's not very surprising to hear that kind of attitude from a C-student like G.W. Bush. For years he got through school with C's based on being a popular moron, a charming idiot, a cheerleader mimbo. He's asking to be graded on a curve, out of habit. Well, I'm sorry, when it comes to being President of the United States. we don't grade on a curve.
And frankly I don't believe he's quite that stupid. So it comes down to lies. Lies that killed 900 Americans for no good reason. That ain't what I call "small government."
I thought it would be good to have a guest blogger, just like those big time blogs sometimes do. From D, a rant on the Republican Loyalty Oath program ...
I Pledge Allegiance* to a Dick
I was driving home ruminating over the "endorsement of Vice Prince Dick and King George" thing. By the time I got home I was pretty irritated about the very concept let alone the reality of their existence. The level of arrogance that these people have is beyond belief. Well I did a little googling to see what the News coverage on this was. Here are some results...
The much read Wyoming Star had this little article..
Some Democrats seeking Cheney tickets had to sign oathDemocracy Now had this little bit on August 2nd ...
Bush Campaign Requires Loyalty Oath to Attend EventI had to dig to find this mention in the Washington Post.
Meanwhile outside Albuquerque, the Bush-Cheney campaign has come under criticism for requiring members of the public to sign a loyalty oath to the President in order to attend a campaign event held at a public middle school. Tickets were limited to past Republican supporters and to people who would sign the pledge. One local Democrat told the Albuquerque Journal "I am furious. This reminds me of communism. I am appalled. This is supposed to be a free country."
Republicans Sign Along the Dotted LineNow maybe my inexperience at digging things up in cyber space accounts for the seemingly light coverage of this despicable policy...I did my google search under liberal press covers loyalty oath....
*al·le·giance
Etymology: Middle English allegeaunce, modification of Middle French ligeance, from Old French, from lige liege
1 a : the obligation of a feudal vassal to his liege lord
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004
Terror Attack Leaves Over 900 Americans Dead
Full Story at 11, with Sports, Weather and Mundane Chit Chat
Last night I spent some time trying to come up with a new bumpersticker or two, and came up dry. One topic that I pondered was the Chicken-Little Alert that came on the heels of the democratic convention. I couldn't think of anything that I hadn't done already. I don't know that I can surpass the Be Afraid animated GIF.
The other topic is the ongoing loss of life in Iraq. It's hard to distill that topic down to something pithy. The best I could think of is "Well, NOW Iraq is a Danger."
Bush is clearly not keeping the US safe. He's taking Americans out of their civilian lives, shipping them into a hostile environment, and letting them get killed for no good reason. Saddam was contained, and wasn't a threat even in Kurdistan, much less the US. In the end, we're substituting a new Ba'athist thug in place of the old Ba'athist thug, at a great cost in American treasure and blood.
Update: Tom posted on exactly the same two topics.
Monday, Aug 02, 2004
older posts...