...more recent posts
Thursday, Oct 28, 2004
Jerry Sunshine
Jerry Falwll on CNN October 24, 2004
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004
Weapons Grade Weapons
It irritates me greatly that Blinky McFuckup and Team ClusterFuck let 300+ tons of brisant material walk away from an ammo dump in Iraq. Why not just hand out RPGs and shoulder launched missiles on the street corners and declare Iraq a free fire zone?
This news nugget also revives an old anger. So how did Saddam get so good at the art and science of armaments? Among the many reasons I left the defense industry for good was disgust with the Reagan/Bush foreign policy of mollycoddling tyrants, so long as they were "friendly" to our short term interests.
Saddam was Ronnie and Poppy's bulwark against radical Shi'ism, and this mess is the fruit of almost a century of failed policies, including the 16 year Reagan-Bush Reign of Error.
I may be a bit early, but let me be the first to say: Four More Days! Four More Days!
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight Strikes Again!
Okay, well now Saddam's weapons may be in the hands of terrorists ...
By JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.
Rove, Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Powell
Planning for Success
I hate war, but I am not a passivist. I think there are times that justify the use of overwhelming force. But the U.S. is and has been entirely too trigger happy.
My favorite example is Manuel Noriega. The U.S. military burned down a shanty town with an errant attack that was intended for a Panamanian Defense Force installation. Hundreds of innocents were burnt to death to exectute a felony arrest warrant -- of our own operative. That was a stupid, rash over-reaction.
But Tora Bora? Fuck yeah. A fast, firm, targeted attack by U.S. special forces, backed by the Marines, backed by the Army and Air Force, backed by NATO. And perhaps a "hot pursuit" or two into the tribal regions of Pakistan. I would have bought into that. And I'd consider it a patriotic duty to pay the taxes necessary to finance such a war.
The broader question of an aerial bombardment, invasion, urban warfare and overthrow of the government is different. These are very blunt instruments. The Bush administration's record in re-building an Afghan nation shows the effect of giving short-sighted, ham-handed people access to the most powerful blunt instruments on the planet.
And Iraq? Saddam was an impotent schmuck who didn't pose a threat to his nearest neighbors, much less the U.S. He did all his ethnic cleansing, civilian gassing, and nuclear technology development under Reagan and Bush 41. By the late 90's he was muzzled.
And to overthrow the Iraqi government without a plan to set up a new one in its place? Oh wait, they did have a plan. After the parade with flowers and chocolates, Chalabi would be treated as returning a deity, and summarily crowned the Queen of Baghdad. Or something like that. What a gaggle of morons these people are. They are mad as hatters. And just to be clear about that metaphor, I literally mean that they have degraded brain function caused by exposure to neurotoxins. Or at least Bush does.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice and Powell have to go. I often wonder what they will do after January. I imagine Bush will fall back into an Elvis-like reclusion, drinking whiskey and shooting at televisions. Dick and Lynne will retire somewhere quiet to agonize in the shame of being parents of a lesbian. Wolfowitz will take an emeritus position at a think tank, where he will regale the interns with the tale of his night of terror in Baghdad -- over and over again. Rice will be a provost at a small college near Kokomo, that will be honored to have a reknowned Sovietologist in their midst. Powell will join Adam West and Danny Bonaduce on the late night infomercial circuit, monetizing the last scrap of his integrity.
They Call It Camp Victory
Seitz Had Been In Iraq Less Than 3 Months
POSTED: 4:59 pm EDT October 24, 2004 BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The war in Iraq is hitting close to home again.
NewsChannel5 reported an attack at Camp Victory, the main U.S. base near Baghdad International Airport and what is supposed to be the most secure area in Baghdad has claimed the life of a U.S. State Department agent from northeast Ohio.
Saturday, Oct 23, 2004
A Hat Trick of Kitten Blogging
Double Dose of Friday Kittens!
Friday Kitten Blogging
previous Friday Kitten Blogging
Comments Policy
Just like Kos and other big time bloggers, it turns out that I need a comments policy. Well, let's keep it short and simple.
2. Anyone who calls me a "dickwad" is banned.
If you must have war, at least be civil about it
The Arabs who were brought to Kirkuk must be resettled to where they came from -- with compensation from the Iraqi government, and the same should also happen to the Kurdish refugees.
Nechirvan Barzani, Kurdish Prime Minister
Friday Chimp* Blogging
*This is satire, and is not intended to denigrate apes of any species.
Birds of a Feather
DESPOTS AND WACKOS DECLARE: HE'S OUR BOY
Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran
Putin endorses Bush
Doodle
Since I came across some sketches on line, I've wanted to do my own rendering of a prescient allegory.
The Scarlet Pimpernel Speaks
Dear Freewaybloggers,
We Did It! More than 700 of us posted freeway signs and banners in over 200 cities in 48 states on October 25th. I can only speculate how many people saw what we had to say, but I guarantee you it was well into the millions.
Congratulations, you are now a political force.
Freeway “Can You Feel A Draft” Day – Oct 25th
Next Monday we’re focusing our freeway messages around the Draft. Go to http://www.freewayblogger.com/stopthedraftday.htm
for more information.
Your Stories from the 13th are Amazing
You can read them at…http://www.freewayblogger.com/yourstories.htm.
A Word on Strategy
Those of you who've put up signs know how fun it can be, as well as the suspense of seeing how long they stay up. Consider doing several small signs placed strategically on several freeways. Smaller signs generally stay up longer on overpasses, and are easier to make and post discreetly. They’re also a lot of fun. You'll see.
Newsgroup
To communicate with one another we have started an invitation only yahoo newsgroup, which I encourage you to join here:
Freewayblogging-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Donations
This project began as a very small thing, and has become a very big thing. If you'd like to support it, please visit the home page and click on the PayPal link. Thanks.
Thanks again to all of you for standing up for your right to be heard. Full and unfettered freedom of political expression is what keeps democracy alive, but it only works if we use it. I hope you’ll continue to be part of the action.
-Scarlet P. -- The Freeway Blogger
Friday Cat Blogging
DubyaD40
We Know You Have a Choice in Government, and Thank You for Choosing Delusion and Desperation
AFP via Yahoo! -- October 7, 2004
Kay told CNN television "Right now we have a lot of people who are desperate to justify the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq.
"They will focus on issues such as intent. You will also hear that although we haven't found the weapons or manufacturing capability, they could have been shipped across the border. You can't ship that which you haven't produced. You can't bury that which you haven't obtained or produced."
"Look, Saddam was delusional. He had a lot of intent. He wanted to be Saladin the Great, of the Middle East yet again. He wanted to put Iraq in a preeminent position to remove the US from the region," Kay added.
"He had a lot of intent. He didn't have capabilities. Intent without capabilities is not an imminent threat."
Sunday, Oct 10, 2004
Sometimes When He Has Those Pregnant Pauses, I Fill in the Blanks for Him
BUSH: Yes, that's a great question. Thanks.
I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period. The all- volunteer army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well. It works when we make sure they've got housing, like we have done in the last military budgets.
An all-volunteer army is best suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century, which is to be specialized and to find these people as they hide around the world. We don't need mass armies anymore. One of the things we've done is we've taken the -- we're beginning to transform our military.
And by that I mean we're moving troops out of Korea and replacing them with ... killer robots ... enormous killer robots ... with huge claws and powerful death rays. We don't need as much manpower on the Korean Peninsula to keep a deterrent.
Aside from the killer robots, we have Bush's tacit acceptance of the idea that the U.S. is the world's police. Wow. Now that's Conservative. Or wait, it's Neo-Conservative!
Saturday, Oct 09, 2004
for anyone keeping score, the story so far is:
irritated retard
snarling liar
the angry presnit
E-e-excellent
 |  |
stolen from SimoneDB
Thursday, Oct 07, 2004
Dick Cheney: Master of War
As previously discussed here, Bush the Smarter wrote that invading Bagdad was a dumfuck idea. Bush the Shorter's excuse is that he don't read so good. What's Cheney's excuse? And how many more kids are going do die because of their hubris?
NEWARK HIGH GRAD, KILLED DURING FINAL MISSION IN IRAQ, LEAVES BEHIND WIFE AND UNBORN SON
By Lisa Fernandez
Mercury News -- October 7, 2004
Brandon Aaron Boyles will never meet his father.
He will never know Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Robert Boyles, the wild-boy-turned-Marine, whose 25th birthday was today. Instead of a birthday/welcome home party, his family buried him Wednesday at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.
Boyles died Sept. 24 in Iraq. His baby boy, due to be born in 10 days, was a large bump under his mother's black dress at the funeral in Hayward's Chapel of the Chimes Mortuary-Cemetery. Boyles learned that his wife was pregnant with a boy when he was overseas and chose the name Brandon, simply because he liked it. The middle name -- Aaron -- is in honor of his dad.
Boyles was scheduled to return from Iraq on Oct. 10, Sunday, before he called his wife to say one more mission would delay his homecoming.
When he did arrive home, it was in a flag-draped coffin.
Boyles died in an explosion while riding in a Humvee with his unit in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq.
More than 250 mourners attended Boyles' funeral, where his wife and mother never stopped sobbing.
Strength from family
``He was a man of uncommon strength and character,'' said Marine Capt. Ron Warfield, who at one time was Boyles' platoon commander in Iraq. ``His strength comes from his family. I see it in the faces of his sisters and brothers. In the voices of his cousins, aunts and uncles. I see it in the eyes of his mother and father. And most of all, I see it in the face of his wife.''
Prabha Boyles, 25, a native of the Fiji Islands, was too distraught to speak at her husband's funeral. She met him two years ago at Union City's Wal-Mart, where they both worked. But one day, her son will hear the story of how his father often kissed her belly over the phone from Iraq.
``I told him I couldn't do it alone,'' Prabha said a few days before the funeral after she moved from the military base in Twentynine Palms in Southern California to Hayward to live with her parents. ``His job was to help me focus and help me breathe. I don't know how I'm supposed to do this.''
Boyles enlisted in the Marines in December 2002 and was a driver for the Headquarters and Service Company Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division. He spent part of his senior year in high school in Newark, graduating from Newark Memorial High School, living with his mother, Wanda Kealaiki, who also was too grief-stricken to speak at the funeral.
Earlier this week, his mother said Boyles spent a good deal of his teenage years very angry: angry she was diagnosed with a terminal illness that he could do nothing about. Angry that when he was 14 years old, she and his stepfather moved from the family's hometown of Hood River, Ore., for jobs in the Bay Area as Wal-Mart managers. Angry he hadn't seen or talked to his biological father for a long time.
Kealaiki, a native of Oahu, said the Marines had transformed her son into a good man. He straightened up, shed his bulk and lost his scruffy goatee. He seemed to be letting go of his anger.
``He used to not care about anybody,'' Kealaiki said. ``The Marines made him open up.''
Boyles and Prabha were married July 4, 2003, on a rare weekend off for Boyles. At the funeral service, photographs of their Reno wedding, with Boyles dressed proudly in his blue Marine uniform, were displayed on a screen against the backdrop of some of his favorite country music.
Turning life around
It didn't matter to Alex Gallardo that he had never legally adopted Boyles as his son. Together with Boyles' mother for 14 years, the native Chilean still calls Boyles his ``son,'' in the present tense, and considers Kealaiki's two daughters his own. Gallardo said Boyles drank to excess when he was younger, and they had several long discussions about his turning his life around.
``He needed discipline,'' Gallardo said. ``After he was in the Marines, he started calling me `sir.' ''
But Anna Schneider, 25, who still lives in Oregon and was Boyles' close confidant, said earlier this week there were things the Marines never changed about her baby brother. He never lost his love of snowboarding, playing football and listening to the odd mix of rap and country music. She said she also hoped that one day Brandon Aaron will meet Boyles' other son, Derik, 5, who lives with Boyles' old girlfriend in Oregon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
To make a donation to a trust fund set up for Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Boyles' family, send checks in care of Prabha or Brandon Boyles, Account No. 0861110793, Bank of America, 24700 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, 94545, or call 800-622-8731.
The Surly Liar Who Works for the Petulant Idiot
A Christian Has a Prayer Breakfast with George and Dick
February 1, 2001
Actually, Burns Looks Spry by Comparision
I Was Thinking Vader
People Like Debates
from Democratic Underground
Tres Mas
seen at Bartcop
Dos Mas
seen at Bartcop
A Real-time Debate Thread
... that's almost as good as mine, from Boborini Novakaroni
DKos Caption Contest
I unilaterally and pre-emptively declare "Hollywood Liberal" to be the winner of the DKos Bush Debate Caption Contest.
I can't believe he's going to ask me to talk about North Korea and stuff for 90 whole seconds. Geez, that's like 3 whole minutes. I don't DO talking, I do the deciding. I'm a leader, a decisive leader...talking is for pussies like Kerry. He just goes on and on...I wanna ride in the boat at Kennebunkport. Boats are fun. I like boats.
stuff I would do if I had more time
Video of Bush doing the blinky-eyed stare at the camera for 2-3 full seconds, after he had demanded 30 seconds to follow-up -- with a "thought bubble" superimposed, and a tumbleweed blowing through that "thought bubble", over and over and over, and some wind whistling in the background
raphlie wiggums vs. kerry (I did ralph giving the state of the union previously)
Video of a fast forward of the debate, isolation on G.W.B. I noticed this while fast-forwarding on the TiVo to get a particular screen shot. Oh my god, "twitchy boy" is funny as hell. After last week's performance, just ask yourself, who would you rather play poker against?
More from the DKos caption contest
All Issues, All The Time
Substance and Issues ONLY!
Okay, no more of this silly crap about style points, zingers and bloopers. From this point forward, all content on this page will be substantive and issue oriented. Goals and policies must be our focus.
For example, let's consider Kerry's proposals to secure loose Russian weapons grade nuclear material, enough material to build thousands of bombs, much more quickly than Bush's pace.
Substance. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Update:
Daily Kos is having a caption contest, which by the way is the Funniest Thread Ever.
Did Someone Say "Testy"?
or was that petulant?
stolen from jimbo2d2 at DKos
Real-time Debate Commentary
Mmmmm ..... "multi-prawn strategery"
Mmmmm ...... "Eye-ray-nian moooo-las"
Mmmmm ...... "vlader-merrrr"
Mmmmm ...... "missked messages"
Update ...
Update again ...
I saw the debate with a split screen, on C-Span. Most excellent. Kerry had a calm debater demeanor while Bush spoke. Bush just had a testy, irritated work while Kerry spoke.
I don't know if the rest of the country saw Bush the same way. If they didn't have a split screen, they missed a big chunk of the debate.
If I were a demographer (oh, would that it were), I would hypothesize that the multi-angle vs. single angle (or radio) difference would result in a difference in perceptions similar to the 1960 TV-vs.-radio perceptions.
Sweaty Nixon, Testy Bush.
older posts...