2005 Review in Haiku

Bumbling Junior Bush
Just when he couldn't get worse
He got a lot worse

That sneaky Karl Rove
Meets Saint Patrick Fitzgerald
Cue up: Theme from COPS

Paris Hilton WOW
She's been all the rage this year
Like a Chia Pet

Ahmed Chalabi
Takes the reins of Iraq oil
Bush and Dick's puppet

Uh oh- Katrina
Exposed FEMA's lack of prep-
Bush's racism

Scooter Libby leaked
Got indicted for his acts
...to be continued

Tom Delay's a crook
He got indicted too, HA!
God Bless Ronnie Earle

Bill Frist, well, he's next
Crooked as a witch's nose
Watch for indictment!

Bad Jack Abramhoff
Gave dirty funds to Repugs
He'll squeal like a pig

Barbara Bush: racist
Said Katrina victims pleased
Living in big dome

Condoleezza Rice
Face like an angry Pug dog
Mean like a Pit Bull

Fucking Dick Cheney
Halliburton scam artist
Heart attack soon, please

Runaway Bride, please
Get on some medication
For those insane eyes

Teri Shiavo
Bill Frist said you were okay?
A thriving veggie.

Michael Jackson's free!
Free to molest more lil' boys
Hide your kids, parents

Poor Judith Miller
Embedded with Bush cabal
Woke up with big fleas

Creepy Bob Woodward
His fifteen minutes were up
Thirty years ago

People watch Fox News
Because they're patriotic?
No. Idiotic.

FEMA's Michael Brown
"Doin' a heckuva job"
Just like Junior Bush

Our culture has failed
Kathy Griffin proves that fact
So does Ann Coulter

Bush got second term
One again, proving to all
Election was rigged

No gay marriage, friends
A threat to the sanctity
Of uptight zealots

'05 was insane
Our country is all fucked up
Impeach Bush next year!

Please feel free to add your own, and Happy New Year to everyone.

Ballsy Bush Administration Going after Domestic Spying Whistleblowers

"The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President Bush's secret domestic spying program, Justice officials said Friday. The officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, said the inquiry will focus on disclosures to the New York Times about warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency since the September 11 terrorist attacks..."

If Bush wants to find some treasonous leakers, he needs to get to the bottom of the Valerie Plame leak and see that the perpetrators (in addition to Scooter Libby) are brought to justice.

Whistle blowers are not leakers- they were merely drawing attention to illegal spying activities in the Bush Whitehouse.
If Bush didn't want his illegal activities brought to light, he shouldn't have done them.
His righteous indignation is not righteous, nor does he have the dignity over which to get indignant. He got caught. Suck it up, dude.

Oranges, Anyone?

I went out for Thai food earlier this evening and in the parking lot were two guys selling big bags of oranges and grapefruit from a truck.
"How much?" I asked.
"Five dollars for eight pounds of Valencia juice oranges," he said.
I must have heard him wrong.
It turned out to be five dollars for EIGHTEEN pounds of oranges.
And they are delicious, sweet and easy to peel.
Now all I need is a great recipe that requires 20 or 30 oranges.
Anyone?

Where Are All the Indictments?

If Bush has been illegally spying on thousands of people for the last four years, where are all the indictments?
And more importantly, if someone were to get indicted based on Bush's illegal wiretaps, wouldn't the fact that the taps were illegal be grounds for the defense to get the case thrown out of court?
Or maybe indictments weren't the true aim of Bush's illegal wiretaps.
Maybe he just likes to spy on people.

Christmas Loot

Well, I did just fine in the Christmas loot department.
I got cash and two gift cards to the Homo Depot. I'm about to remodel my house, so that'll come in very handy.
I went to Homo Depot online and the selection was so vast I became overwhelmed and logged off.
What would you get if you had $70 worth of HD gift cards?
So far, I've decided on a laser level/stud finder.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, Everyone

A prayer that each of you finds peace and contentment in your hearts and in your homes on this special day.
Pray for peace and enlightment.

Neo-con Pretzel Logic?

A few weeks ago, Sen. John Murtha called for the U.S. to start to withdraw troops from Iraq.
The right went bananas, with GOP spokeswoman, freshman Sen. Jean Schmidt saying, "Cowards cut and run, heroes do not."
That's right, this skinny, hawk-faced tinhorn chick from Ohio, only a few months in office, implied that retired Marine Col. Murtha, a much decorated, 20-year military veteran and a widely respected Senator with close ties to top military brass, was a coward.
Today Donald Rumsfeld announced the upcoming redeployment of two brigades out of the 17 the U.S. has in Iraq. Yes, he said he wants to get two brigades out of Iraq asap.
Which is it?
Is he bending to popular opinion, or as he claimed, trying to force the Iraqis to expedite the training of their own forces?
Who cares?
The guy's a two faced asshole who has been the worst, most dishonest, incompetent and despicable Secretary of Defense in history.
Fuck him. He has the blood of more than 2,000 American soldiers on his filthy hands.

The Wit and Wisdom of Ann Coulter

"Which brings me to this week's scandal about No Such Agency [NSA] spying on "Americans." I have difficulty ginning up much interest in this story inasmuch as I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."

Why the Union Strikers in NYC Need to Get a Grip

A friend from NYC called me last night-- that is, a pro union, liberal left-wing friend-- who said the metro strikers already get to retire at age 55 with a pension that amounts to 100 percent of their pre-retirement salaries.
They are striking because, among other reasons, they want the retirement age to be lowered to age 50, with the same 100 percent pension benefits. Please.
If they got back to work, someone could throw Ann Coulter onto a hot subway track just in time for Christmas.

Not a Bad Sampling...

An MSNBC poll with more than 85,000 responses so far says that 86 percent of those polled believe that Bush's actions justify impeachment.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904#survey

She's So Pink

Friends, if you haven't visited Princess Sparkle Pony's Blog, please go check it out.
Just her byline photo alone makes me laugh each time I see it.
Even her comments box is hilarious.
I suspect she may have had a hand in the now-dormant Harriet Miers Blog.
She's linked on the right hand side of my page.

Oh, you're welcome.

Stand Up Then, McCain

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) revealed Monday that he had written to Vice President Cheney the day he was first briefed on the program in July 2003, raising serious concerns about the surveillance effort. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she also expressed concerns in a letter to Cheney, which she did not make public.
The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), issued a public rebuke of Rockefeller for making his letter public.

In response to a question about the letter, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested that Rockefeller should have done more if he was seriously concerned. "If I thought someone was breaking the law, I don't care if it was classified or unclassified, I would stand up and say 'the law's being broken here.' "...

If McCain really means that, the time for him to stand up is now.

It's getting to the point where Chipmunk Cheeks is starting to look like a ventriloquist dummy, being held by a bigger dummy, being held by Dick Cheney.

Bush, You Fucking Dirty LIAR.

“Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”
-George W. Bush, April 2004

Here is the link:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/r...20040420- 2.html

IMPEACH NOW

Sickly Odds n' Ends

Yeecch. I have one of those hearty winter headcolds that could have turned into bronchitis at the drop of a snotty Kleenex.
It stated out innocently enough, with some nasal congestion and a light cough on Saturday night. By Sunday night, I was coughing so hard as I tried to sleep, I actually strained my ab muscles.
Yesterday morning, I knew if I didn't see the doctor right away, I'd be as sick as a dog for the next two weeks. For me, a cold is just a harbinger of darker, much sicker days.
But the trouble is, my doctor is based at a local Army hospital where appointments have to be made a month or more in advance.
That meant the dreaded triage, where you go in and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
I arrived at 11 and by 3:30 I was ushered into an exam room, where an LVN took my vitals.
By 4:15 I was turfed to an RN, who lacked the RX power to prescribe what I really needed--some damn narcotic cough medicine.
Ha!
He tried to palm off some OTC Robitussin on me and I stared at him and said, "Kid, if I thought Robitussin would do it, why would I have waited here for four hours to see a doctor?"
By 4:45, I finally got to see a doctor, who at first interviewed me as if he suspected I was planning to sell the killer cough medicine I was seeking to neighborhood kids.
Sensing his trepidation, I risked tearing another ab muscle by unleashing a series of deafening coughs as he stethoscoped my back. I think his broken eardrums convinced him I was truly ill.
In fact, I may have overconvinced him because he wrote me prescriptions for Entex expectorate, Zithromax antibiotics, two Albuterol inhalers and a bunch of Tylenol with Codeine for the coughing.
I left the hospital as dusk was falling, laden with a bagful of stuff I'd never dreamed of needing for a common cold. I took everything as directed, then watched as all my symptoms faded.
Did I cough as I slept last night? Who knows?

By the way, for anyone who still thinks Bush's war in Iraq is a good idea, I highly recommend a visit to a nearby military hospital. As I waited to be seen, I saw so many tragically wounded young soldiers I wanted to cry.
Iraq is not a place where our troops get simple bullet wounds.
It's a place where crude roadside bombs skin people's faces off. It's a place where healthy men and women serving our country come back without arms and legs.
In the waiting area, CNN was playing on the TV mounted above the crowd,
An excerpt from Bush's latest speech came on, and I watched the crowd to get their reactions. Even the men and women in uniform were scowling and shaking their heads.
They may respect the title of Commander in Chief, but they don't respect the man in office.
We gotta get this guy away from the red button, fast.

From Progress Report:

The Truth About Bush's Warrantless Spying

On Saturday, President Bush acknowledged that he had personally authorized a secret warrantless domestic surveillance program more than three dozen times since October 2001. Bush's actions run contrary to the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forbids "unreasonable searches" and sets out specific requirements for warrants, including "probable cause." They demonstrate a dangerous disregard for the basic liberties that serve as our nation's guiding values. They are also in violation of federal law. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, to conduct electronic surveillance, except as "authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order." Moreover, since 1978, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2511(2)(f) has directed that Title III and FISA "shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance...and the interception of domestic wire and oral communications may be conducted." The President's actions were not necessary; if he had legitimate concerns about FISA, "the appropriate response would have been to go to Congress and expand it, not to blatantly violate the law." Below, we debunk the administration's attempts to justify Bush's actions.

FACT: BUSH PROGRAM WOULD NOT HAVE PREVENTED SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS:
Vice President Cheney said of the surveillance program, "It's the kind of capability, if we'd had before 9/11, might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11." This claim is false and sensational. The secret surveillance program authorized by President Bush did not provide the government with any new "capability." The government "already had the capacity to read your mail and your e-mail and listen to your telephone conversations. All it had to do was obtain a warrant from a special court created for this purpose. The burden of proof for obtaining a warrant was relaxed a bit after 9/11, but even before the attacks the court hardly ever rejected requests." Indeed, from 1979 to 2002, the FISA court issued 15,264 surveillance warrants. Not a single warrant application was rejected.

FACT: BUSH PROGRAM DID NOT IMPROVE SPEED OF OBTAINING WARRANTS:
Another claim made by members of the administration is that President Bush needed "to skirt the normal process of obtaining court-approved search warrants for the surveillance because it was too cumbersome for fast-paced counterterrorism investigations." This argument has several flaws. For one, the New York Times notes, "government officials are able to get an emergency warrant from the secret court within hours, sometimes minutes, if they can show an imminent threat." More importantly, Section 1805 of the FISA Act states that the government can begin a wiretap as soon as it determines a need and can wait up to 72 hours before obtaining a warrant. The Bush administration "did not seek to do that under the special program."

FACT: DISCLOSURE OF PROGRAM DID NOT UNDERMINE NATIONAL SECURITY:
After the New York Times published its story, President Bush and other top administration officials refused to confirm the existence of the surveillance program, arguing that doing so would endanger the American people. Bush said on Friday he wouldn't "comment about the veracity of the story...because it would compromise our ability to protect the people." Press Secretary Scott McClellan and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both repeated this line. Within hours, however, President Bush not only confirmed the existence of the program in a Saturday morning address, but provided details about how it worked. In other words, the administration's initial refusal to comment was motivated by public relations, not security, concerns. The scope of surveillance under FISA -- which has long been public -- is the same under President Bush's secretive program.

FACT: RICE UNABLE TO EXPLAIN WHAT GAVE BUSH AUTHORITY TO EAVESDROP WITHOUT WARRANT: Yesterday, Condoleezza Rice was asked a simple question: what is the specific statute or law that gives President Bush the authority to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant? She had no answer. Instead, Rice referenced unspecified "authorities that derive from his role as Commander in Chief and his need to protect the country," then explained she was "not a lawyer and I am quite certain that the Attorney General will address a lot of these questions." Indeed, Rice said several times that she is "not a lawyer." That fact is irrelevant. Rice was the National Security Adviser when President Bush authorized the NSA program, and said today that she was aware of Bush’s decision at the time. Shouldn’t she know why it was legal?

FACT: SOME CONGRESSIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS NOT TOLD OF PROGRAM:
Yesterday, Condoleezza Rice defended the eavesdropping program by arguing that congressional leaders -- specifically "leaders of the relevant oversight intelligence committees" -- had been briefed on the NSA activities. This is apparently not true. At the time the program was initiated, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee was former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL). On Friday's "Nightline," Graham made clear he had never been briefed by the administration about the program: "There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to...begin unwarranted, illegal, and I think unconstitutional, eavesdropping on American citizens." Additionally, in a letter issued last night, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she had been "advised by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), Ranking Democrat on House Intelligence Committee, that the Bush Administration reversed its decision to brief the full House Intelligence Committee on the details of the activities."

FACT: IN CONFIRMATION HEARING, GONZALES DENIED BUSH WOULD ACT BEYOND CRIMINAL STATUTES:
In a classified legal opinion, the administration argued the President had the power to order the warrantless search pursuant to his authority as commander-in-chief to wage war against al-Qaeda. During his Attorney General confirmation hearings in January 2005, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) asked Gonzales specifically whether the president "at least in theory [has] the authority to authorize violations of the criminal law under duly enacted statutes simply because he's commander in chief?" After trying to dodge the question for a time, Gonzales issued this denial: "Senator, this president is not — I — it is not the policy or the agenda of this president to authorize actions that would be in contravention of our criminal statutes." Later, Feingold asked Gonzales to "commit to notify Congress if the president makes this type of decision and not wait two years until a memo is leaked about it." Gonzales replied, "I will advise the Congress as soon as I reasonably can, yes, sir."

Go Murtha Go

CNN's Wolf Blitzer's interview Sunday with retired Marine Col. and Congress Rep. John Murtha really nailed down the facts about Bush and his quagmire in Iraq.
Anyone remember Bush saying during his first campaign that he wasn't into nation building? He lied then and he's still lying now.
Murtha said Saddam has been deposed, elections have been held; now it's time to get our troops the hell out of Iraq.
The Iraqis don't want us there.
They won't learn to fight insurgencies if American troops are there doing it for them.
They have their democracy now, it's time for them to take off the training wheels and do the work of growing THEIR version of democracy for themselves.

Bush's contuinual ranting about his demands for victory in Iraq is ridiculous.
He has no plan. He can't even define what a victory would look like.
He doesn't know what he's doing, and never has.
He speaks of democracy but he denies it to the American people by his illegal, unconstitutional activities.

Anyone who still believes in Bush as a leader is seriously delusional.
Murtha completely debunked Bush today, without rancor and with old fashioned common sense.

Bush is giving yet another speech tonight. Recycling cliches and meaningless slogans, no doubt. Anyone care to make bets on how many times he mentions 9/11?

An Impeachable Offense?
You're Damn Right it is.

At first I thought Bush admitting he had authorized illegal spying on Americans was just another scandal of the week that only a few million of us would find outrageous.
But the more I read about it, the more I see that this time he really showed himself to be the petty little dictator he is.

Sunday Newspaper editorials all over America are drawing the line-- not just with his arrogance in ignoring existing laws but for his unapologetic, even cavalier determination to continue tapping phones and reading e-mail without first going through the courts.

Here are a few samples:
NY Times Editorial: Bush "Secretly And Recklessly Expanded The Govt.'s Powers In Dangerous And Unnecessary Ways"…
Kansas City Star: “The Struggle With Foreign Enemies Does Not Simply Give Him A Blank Check”…
Denver Post Editorial: “Adm. Has Lost Its Sense Of Balance Between Essential Anti-Terrorism Tools And Encroachment On Liberties”…
LA Times Editorial: “Stunning,” “One Of The More Egregious Cases Of Governmental Overreach”…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Unacceptable Actions Of A Police State”…
St. Petersburg Times Editorial: “So Dangerously Ill-Conceived And Contrary To This Nation's Guiding Principles”…

From my research, there was no exigent reason for Bush to flout the laws and authorize wiretapping and e-mail spying without first getting court orders.
In fact, the way the laws are set up, the courts allow for the spying to commence even before they issue a warrant, just so long as a warrant is sought soon after the surveillance begins.
Bush never bothered.

Is he trying to tell us he didn't have the power to summon any judges quickly enough to obtain warrants? He's the president. He gets to wake up judges.

His arrogance and disregard for the law knows no bounds. This stunt proves it.

Authorizing surveillance without first seeking a court order is a crime, plain and simple.
The Federal Communications Act criminalizes surveillance without a warrant.
It is an impeachable offense.

If nothing is done to stop this maniac, that Constitutional right we Americans have to bear arms might become relevant even to gun-haters like me.

If Bush won't defend the Constitution, the American public may have to. This man has to step down, and soon.

Enough!

The Sleeping Giants Are Finally Awakening!
Dig this:

-A key Republican committee chairman put the Bush administration on notice Friday that his panel would hold hearings into a report that the National Security Agency eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United States. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he would make oversight hearings by his panel next year "a very, very high priority." "There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," said Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

-"The Patriot Act has gone too far. Secret renditions should be stopped. Torture must be outlawed. Our military should not spy on our own people. The Senate has spoken: Let us secure our country, but not by destroying our liberties." - US Senator Robert Byrd.

-Pentagon analysts appear not to have followed guidelines that require the deletion of information on American citizens and groups from a counterterrorism database within three months if they pose no security threats, Pentagon officials said on Thursday. As a result, dozens of alerts on anti-war meetings and peaceful protests appear to have remained in the database, even though analysts had decided that those involved presented no threat to military bases or personnel, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program is classified..."

It's about time these lazy old fossils in the Senate start wising the hell up.
Can charging BushCo with war crimes be far off? Pray.

Curses! Snidley Whiplash Bush Foiled Again!

The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.
In a crucial vote early Friday, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47...

This is great news.
Bush may consider the U.S. Constitution just a "goddamned piece of paper," but I'm glad to see the Senate is waking from its 5-year coma and tapping the brakes on this freak train run amok.

Secret Code

After numerous rounds of "We don't even know if Osama is still alive," Osama himself decided to send George Bush a letter in his own handwriting to let him know that he was still in the game.
Bush opened the letter and it appeared to contain a coded message:

370HSSV-0773H

Bush was baffled, so he e-mailed it to Condi Rice. Condi and her aides had no clue either, so they sent it to the FBI. No one could solve it so it went to the CIA, then to the NSA. With no clue as to its meaning, they eventually asked Britain's MI-6 for help

MI-6 cabled the White House:
"Tell the president he's holding the message upside down."

Project Runway

Ooooh, tonight the contestants were designing for the latest version of Barbie, whose eyes are now set wider and whose lips are suddenly plumped up through Barbie collagen injections. Barbie looks like a bit of a 'ho now, and I couldn't be more pleased.
The designers had to design an outfit for a live model and one to match for Barbie herself.
As usual, Santino designed a lovely little frock in shades of light blue and mauve.
But when he realized his dress wasn't chosen as number one, he glared at the judges like he wanted to murder them, then stomped off as well as any mincing queen can stomp.
Nick Vero's Barbie dress was by far the prettiest, hippest and best design, so he earned the win. But when he went backstage to the kisses and hugs of his fag hags and faggy peers, Santino was seen sitting on the floor in the corner, sulking like a little bitch.
Here's a nice link so you can see who I am talking about:
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=3735

And here's a Zipdrive rundown on each character:

Raymundo: Voted out tonight- horrible Barbie dress, the "Halloween table cloth w/ burlap bolero jacket"
Kara: She'll never make it unless JC Penney is short on designers
Chloe: She's got some real talent
Emmet: Now here is a faggot I could hang around with. He's classy.
Marla: Thin ice, baby.
Santino: The clear villain & design genius. Looks like Bin Laden. Acts like Liza Minelli, on and off the vodka.
Kirsten: Never mind her- she's gone.
Heidi: Zzzzzzzzzz is she gone? I forget.
Diana: Asian computer/techno fashion girl from RISD my sister likes, but I remain iffy.
Nick Veros: Talented and everyone loves him but Santino the prick.
Daniel Franco: Quit blinking, you scared rabbit. And stop using variations of the same pattern for everything, damn it.
Guadalupe: Too weird, bland color palette, dumb haircut.
Andrae: Crybaby who loves designing balloon skirts that would make Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen look like cows.
Daniel: Under the radar.
Zulema: Urban fashions for the BET set.
John: A fat boy won last season. Too bad, punkin.

A Snippet From Maureen Dowd

Never ask a guy who's in a bubble if he's in a bubble. He can't answer. 'Cause he's in a bubble.

But the NBC anchor Brian Williams gamely gave it a shot, showing the president the Newsweek cover picturing him trapped in a bubble. "This says you're in a bubble," Brian told W. "You have a very small circle of advisers now. Is that true? Do you feel in a bubble?"

"No, I don't feel in a bubble," Bubble Boy replied, unable to see the bubble because he's in it. "I feel like I'm getting really good advice from very capable people and that people from all walks of life have informed me and informed those who advise me." He added, "I'm very aware of what's going on." He swiftly contradicted himself by admitting that "this is the first time I'm seeing this magazine" - his version of his dad's Newsweek "Wimp Factor" cover - and that he doesn't read newsmagazines....

Brian struggled to learn whether W. read anything except one-page memos.

Talking about his mom, Bubble Boy returned to the idea of the bubble: "If I'm in a bubble, well, if there is such thing as a bubble, she's the one who can penetrate it." "I'll tell the guys at Newsweek," the anchor said impishly. "Is that who put the bubble story?" W. asked. First he didn't know about it, and now he's forgotten it already?

That's the alluring, memory-cleansing beauty of the bubble. The idea that W. is getting good advice from very capable people is silly - administration officials have blown it on everything from the occupation and natural disasters to torture.

In the bubble, they can torture while saying they don't. They can pretend that Iraqi forces are stronger than they are. They can try to frighten people with talk of Al Qaeda's dream of a new Islamic caliphate - their latest attempt to scare Americans into supporting the war they ginned up.

"Whether or not it needed to happen," the president told the anchor, "I'm still convinced it needed to happen." The Bubble Boy can even contradict himself and not notice....

W.'s contention that he's informed by people from all walks of life is a joke, as is his wacky assertion that he can "reach out" to the public more than Abraham Lincoln because he has Air Force One.

Lincoln actually went to the front in his war, with Minie balls whizzing by. No phony turkey for him. The president may fly over all walks of life in Air Force One or drive by them and hide behind dark-tinted windows.

In his bubble, he floats through a comforting world of doting women, respectful military audiences, loyal Republican donors and screened partisan groups - with protesters, Democrats, journalists, critics and coffins of dead soldiers kept at bay.

The president's bubble requires constant care. It's not easy to keep out huge tragedies like Katrina, or flawed policies like Iraq. As Newsweek noted, a foreign diplomat "was startled when Secretary of State Rice warned him not to lay bad news on the president. 'Don't upset him,' she said..."

.............................

Don't upset him? Is that what things have come to?
Why is our nation (and apparently our cabinet) walking on eggshells to protect this stupid little alkie tyrant from having temper tantrums?

Condi sounds like an indulgent mommy. "Don't upset our little Georgie, he has some teensy weensy anger issues."

Bubble Boy is a bitchy little punk. Can you imagine working for this guy?

I wish his ass-kissing cabinet would intentionally try to piss him off and place bets on the exact date of his implosion. They may as well; their association with him has forever branded them as creepy losers.

And I hope if the implosion occurs, it's televised. On Fox News.

More Tales of Earl Abel's

I went to a swell concert at Trinity University with some friends last night and afterwards most of us ended up at Earl Abel's soon-to-be-defunct coffee shop.
We landed at Earl's around 10 p.m. and the place was flooded with elderly people.
It looked like some old folks home had a rebellion, because there were dozens of blue hairs there, eating big dinners as if 10 p.m. was the early bird special.
After going there for the last 35 years, I was amazed to learn they are famous for their eclairs.
I'd never had one, and didn't even know they sold them there.
How could I have missed that?
Diabetes be damned, I love eclairs and will ride my stationary bike for an hour if it means getting to eat one...especially a famous one from Earl's.
Now that Earl's is soon to close, it seems they sell out of eclairs by around 10 a.m.
Greedy people come in early and order to-go eclairs by the dozen. It's become a frenzied shark race to see how fast they can clean them out of the damn things.
Now I feel challenged, so I simply have to cruise by early some morning and grab a pile of them, just to say I did.
When we left around 11 last night, the place was still hopping with geezers chowing down on fried chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes and soft yeast rolls.
The dessert selection was nearly depleted.
All they had left was a few slices of pumpkin, apple and pecan pie and a couple of three-layer cakes that were almost totally excavated.
Our waiter was a big Russian dude named Eugene.
He loved telling us the latest rumor-- that Earl's may stay open a few more months because Earl's son Jerry is raking in the dough hand over fist, and it's up to him if and when he sells the site to the big bad condo developer.
We asked why they don't just build the damn condo skyscraper and leave Earl's as the first floor tenant, but I have a hunch it can't be done because of parking space scarcity.
Condo developers don't make much off parking pavement, those greedy bastards.
Then we asked where the baker planned to go once the place shuts down. We are hatching a plan to hunt him down and pry the eclair recipe from his grip.
Damn. I am hallucinating eclairs now.
I can just picture that golden custard oozing out of its chocolate-iced puff pastry cylinder.
I must have one. Soon.

Tookie Williams: A Lose/Lose Solution

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today rejected clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, convicted murderer and one of the founders of the Crips. The decision was announced moments after a federal appeals court in San Francisco turned down Williams's request for a stay of execution.

Jesus. Both sides screwed up.
Tookie should have confessed to whatever he did and stop denying he did anything. He was the founder of the fuckin' Crips-- of course he did something to someone.
Ahnold should have commuted his sentence to life w/o parole with the proviso he (a) admit and show remorse for his crimes and (b) continue to educate kids against gangs.

Executing him will do nothing to soothe the bubbling cauldron of racism exchanged between black, brown, yellow and white in Colliefornia.

Way to go, Herr Governor.

Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper?

During a White House meeting with GOP congressmen, some warned Bush of resistance to extending onerous provisions of the Patriot Act. In anger, Bush may have revealed his true feelings – that the Constitution is just a inconvenience to be brushed aside. The reporter sources Bush’s quote, that the Constitution is just a “goddamned piece of paper” to three anonymous persons who were at the meeting.
The reporter who is the source for this is Doug Thompson, a long-time journalist with DC connections and the founder of Capitol Hill Blue. This piece appears in “The Rant” section of that Blog.

Assorted Rants

Since when does toenail fungus deserve 60-second commercials featuring some icky cartoon Troglodyte jumping in and out of infested toenails? Between that and the cartoon ad about a family of trailer trash mucus setting up housekeeping in some poor schmuck's lungs, I could almost gag.
You want healthy toenails? Stay out of Asian pedicure parlors.
You want mucus free lungs? Stay out of crowds and wash your hands a lot.

I also am tired of these scare tactics being used to warn us off beef, fish and fowl. I somehow doubt anyone will become afflicted with Mad Cow disease, mercury poisoning or Avian flu all at the same time.
I mean, if we listen to all the doomsday forecasters, all the meat we'll have left to eat is pork. Can you imagine? Swine is suddenly the only safe meat? Oy vey.

I love how Bush called a special meeting to tell us how fabulous the economy is doing. He failed to mention the all-time record bankruptcies filed in 2005, or the new banking laws designed to fuck the credit card consumer seven ways to Sunday.

And John McCain can just shut the hell up. He is rightfully against detainee or prisoner of war torture, yet he continues to snuggle up with America's Torture Trio: Dick, Bush and Rummy. Until McCain develops some balls and calls for an end to the Iraqi boondoggle, he can sit there in his bizarre chipmunk cheeks and stew.

As for Bill O'Reilly, I'd like to beat him with a club. The old pervert needs to retire and go into seclusion. His righteous indignation act is so phony, he had to come up with a fantasy left-wing war against Christmas just so he'd have something fresh to rant about. If he wants to be the angel on top of my Christmas tree, I'd gladly shove it up his ass.

Actually, I don't have a Christmas tree. My insane kitten Nick would dismantle a tree in 30 seconds. He's only 8 months old and already he's learned how to take down mini blinds, strip the upholstery off my loveseat down to the wood, carry a shoe in his mouth into another room and jump from the kitchen floor to the top of the refrigerator in one leap.

I had to put both my male cats on a diet. They eat like a couple of teenaged football players and James, the older one, was developing a belly that rivaled John Goodwin's. Alas, their diet results in empty bowls in the morning, which causes them both to conspire against my sleeping body way too early. They take turns strolling up and down my torso, meowing like banshees and putting their cold, wet noses on my face.
I may just have to settle for having two fat cats.
I need the rest.

Project Runway

Is anyone up for a weekly discussion of this fabulous show on Bravo?
The 90-minute season opener was really good.
I think there already are some front-runners- Santino, for one. But he's overly confident, so that'll make for a dastardly hero.

Then there are the crybabies. That bald guy who looks like a fetus is gonna be a real mess.
But I do miss Austin Scarlett. They don't get any gayer than her.
And watch for the Asian girl from Rhode Island School of Design- her computer aided, magnetized fashions make me want to smack her.

ADMINISTRATION -- PRESIDENT BUSH CAN'T FILL A ROOM:

The Washington Post reports that "only a few hundred members [of the Council for Foreign Relations] showed up for the hastily organized event at a Washington hotel and empty chairs were removed from the back of the ballroom before Bush arrived.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. ThinkProgress has published a desperate plea the Council sent out late Tuesday, asking people who were planning on coming to bring a friend.
Bush broke Council traditional by refusing to accept questions after his speech. Apparently, most people aren’t that excited about being used as a presidential prop. This may explain why Bush has preferred giving his speeches in front of military audiences, who are required to attend.

Toys for Resoundingly Average Tots

Finally, there's Baby Bush Toys, for not-so-intelligent little ones.

http://www.babybushtoys.com/

Voters Toss Out Spokane Mayor Over Gay Sex Scandal

SPOKANE, Wash.
Republican Mayor James E. West must leave office this month after voters recalled him in a special election sparked by allegations he used a city computer to woo gay men over the Internet.
West, 54, must leave his position when the election results are certified Dec. 16. He has not been charged with a crime, but FBI agents seized computers from his home as part of an investigation.

"I said I'd abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they've spoken," West told The Associated Press Tuesday. "I'm at peace with their decision and disappointed." The recall election was launched by a local resident, Shannon Sullivan, who said she felt vindicated by the results.

West, a former Boy Scout executive and sheriff's deputy, was elected mayor in 2003 after serving more than two decades as a conservative Republican in the state Legislature, where he voted against gay-friendly bills..."

Ooops, add another Republican to the closet queer list.

Now I know why the GOP got all jacked up about Monica Lewinsky blowing America's last legally elected president.

They didn't care that Bill was getting his dick sucked, they were just mad that a WOMAN was doing it!

From the New York Times
Secretary Rice's Rendition

It was a sad enough measure of how badly the Bush administration has damaged its moral standing that the secretary of state had to deny that the president condones torture before she could visit some of the most reliable American allies in Europe. It was even worse that she had a hard time sounding credible when she did it.

Of course, it would have helped if Condoleezza Rice was actually in a position to convince the world that the United States has not, does not and will not torture prisoners. But there's just too much evidence that this has happened at the hands of American interrogators or their proxies in other countries. Vice President Dick Cheney is still lobbying to legalize torture at the C.I.A.'s secret prisons, and to block a law that would reimpose on military prisons the decades-old standard of decent treatment that Mr. Bush scrapped after 9/11.

Pesky facts keep getting in the way of Ms. Rice's message. Yesterday, the new German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that Ms. Rice had acknowledged privately that the United States should not have abducted a German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, who says he was sent to Afghanistan and mistreated for five months before the Americans realized that they had the wrong man and let him go.

Mr. Masri tried to appear at a press conference in Washington yesterday to discuss a lawsuit filed in Virginia on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, a suit alleging wrongful imprisonment and torture - but the United States government has refused to allow him into the country.

At issue is the practice of extraordinary rendition. When a government captures someone really dangerous, like a terrorist leader, who cannot be charged under that government's own laws, it sends him to another country where authorities are willing to charge the suspect or at least can get away with locking him up indefinitely without charges.

It's been going on for decades, infrequently and selectively, but the United States is reported to have stepped it up since 9/11 and violated international law by sending suspects to places where it knows they will be tortured. Recently, European governments expressed outrage at reports that some detainees were held at secret C.I.A. prisons in Europe.

Ms. Rice, like other American officials, will not comment on these reports. But before leaving Washington on Monday, she read a statement implying that if there were any secret prisons out there, the host countries knew about them. She rather bluntly warned that European countries who want American intelligence had better not betray any secrets.

Certainly, some of Europe's shock at the news of the C.I.A. camps is political theater aimed at the widely anti-American European public. But that doesn't make it any less disturbing that the United States government seems to have lost its ability to distinguish between acts that may occur sub rosa in some exceptional, critical situations and the basic rules of proper international behavior.

Ms. Rice said Monday that rendition had been used to lock up some really dangerous bad guys, like Carlos the Jackal and Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But both men were charged in courts, put on trial, convicted and sentenced. That's what most American think when they hear talk about "bringing the terrorists to justice" - not predawn abductions, blindfolded prisoners on plane rides and years of torture in distant lands without any public reckoning.

GOP Pundits Trumpeting a Partial Victory? HA!
Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay

Pat Priest, a San Antonio judge, dismissed one charge against Tom Delay on Monday but let stand two more serious charges, complicating Mr. DeLay's hopes of regaining his post as House majority leader when Congress resumes in January.
Judge Priest dropped the lesser conspiracy charge, but he left standing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.

The decision moves DeLay and his co-defendants, GOP fund-raisers John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis, a big step closer to facing trial - perhaps as soon as January - on felony charges that carry long prison terms and fines.

The best part is, these two remaining serious charges will prevent DeLay from reclaiming his seat as House Majority Leader. Even if he's found not guilty, the trial alone will Simpsonize* his reputation for the rest of his miserable life.



*a Pulp Friction original

Plame Is Set to Leave the CIA
The Los Angeles Times

Washington - Valerie Plame, the diplomat's wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.

Plame, 42, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak.

Friends said the mother of 5-year-old twins wanted to spend more time with her family, and that although she agreed to be photographed last year with her husband for an article about the case in Vanity Fair magazine, she had no plans to speak out.

There has also been speculation that she would file a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration contending that it leaked her identity and damaged her career.

"She did not have a career left," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA officer and a friend of Plame since the two were in the same agency training class in the 1980s. "She was no longer able to work as a clandestine officer, which was her reason for being."

Johnson said that although Plame still had allies at the agency, her ability to function effectively was irreparably harmed after her status became publicly known.

"She is either a non-entity or radioactive," Johnson said. "Getting connected with her is not something that is going to enhance your career. She has been something of a leper."

---------------------

Ahem. Is that a lawsuit I smell?

I hope Plame uses the best plaintiff's attorney she can find to sue those responsible for ruining her career.

As I've said before, it takes some pretty chickenshit men to go after a man's wife to exact revenge. Not even Richard Nixon stooped that low.

In this no-holds-barred political cage match, here's hoping she wins such a large settlement, Plame's great-great grandchildren benefit from the proceeds of a lawsuit aimed at BushCo. God knows they have the money.

Reclaim Your Inner Bohemian

It's nice to step away from these never-ending political scandals du jour once in a while and do something to take one's mind off the greedy, inept criminals running our nation into the ground.
The movie RENT fills the escapism bill.
Originally adapted for the theater from the opera La Boheme and now translated to film, it's nice to be reminded that some people still consider art, sex, fighting AIDS and freedom from the materialistic rat race important enough to celebrate.
In a country where Bohemians, artists and liberals are often considered Satan's children, it's nice to sit in a dark theater for a few hours without having to see, hear or think about neo-con bilge.
When a culture dies, anthropologists measure art, music, science and literature as benchmarks for the culture's level of evolution.
Warmongering, neglecting the educational needs of children, religious and political intolerance and political graft are measures of a culture's devolution. Flaws like that destroy cultures, in fact.
Seeing RENT reminded me that this administration is an artless one. Cultural growth has stagnated. Artists and free thinkers are considered subversive to this government, like with most fascist governments. Nothing even remotely indicates the Bush clan gives a damn about culture, beyond patriotic Country music and NASCAR racing.
The movie is gritty and sexy and druggy and disturbingly exhilarating because nobody is judging anyone. Even the Big Business villains are relegated to background scenes and given no dialog. What a relief to see them muted.
Go see it.
For a few hours, you'll be set free and reminded that art still exists, despite neo-con efforts to destroy it.

A Karen Zipdrive Blogatorial:
Have a Holly, Jolly Bag of Neo-con Bullshit

Pinheads like Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson over at FUX NEWS are trying to make a big deal out of allegations that we liberals take umbrage with Christmas celebrations, preferring to refer to them instead as, "holiday celebrations."
Just like the gay marriage issue, these neo-con artists have come up with a new, nonsensical "crisis" issue designed to deflect the heat off the war and the criminals in the White House who lied to get us into it.

I am a bleeding heart liberal who has no trouble with what people call their holidays or how they celebrate them, as long as they don't shit on my lawn.
I know of no one who thinks the word Christmas is inflammatory or politically incorrect. In fact, I think it's very disrespectful to REAL Christians to use this topic as a political football.

Most liberals are tolerant of everything but intolerance.

If O'Reilly or Gibson had any integrity at all, they'd stop wasting air time on these silly, fabricated scams. This phony PC Christmas scandal is weak even for these foaming mouthed idiots.

O'Reilly jumped the shark when news of his bought-off sexual harassment lawsuit coincided with the release of his children's book.
And the eternally inconsequential John Gibson is making a fool of himself for 15 minutes of lukewarm fame.

May both their Christmas trees be highly flammable, and may their Christmas Open Houses include lots of clumsy, drunk smokers.
Fuckin' jerks.