But the Police Did Not Arrest Him??
Associated Press
CRAWFORD, Texas (Aug. 15) - A man fired a shotgun into the air as about 60 anti-war protesters held a religious service on the road to President Bush's ranch.
Sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents in the area of the demonstration site Sunday rushed to the home of Larry Mattlage after the shots were fired but did not arrest him.
"I ain't threatening nobody, and I ain't pointing a gun at nobody," Mattlage said. "This is Texas."
_______
A few years ago on New Year's Eve, a friend of mine celebrating at an outdoor party was shot in the head by a bullet which fell from the sky. She was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, and thank God she survived.
Police said someone, somewhere, apparently fired a gun into the air to celebrate the New Year. They said the bullet could have come from as far as a mile or more away.
This also happened in Texas, but the police were unable to find the moron who fired the weapon that injured my friend, otherwise they would have arrested him.
Police in Crawford failed to arrest Bush's neighbor, or even cite him for recklessness.
Why?
Gee, what a mystery.
I wonder what the police in Crawford would have done if Mattlage had fired his shotgun in the sky as the Bush SUV limo was passing by?
No mystery there.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Sunday, August 14, 2005
A True Story That Made Me Laugh For Days
I have a good friend I'll call Whitney.
No, not THAT Whitney, this is an upper middle class Caucasian woman I am calling Whitney.
Until recently, Whitney was married to a successful dentist whom I'll call Dick.
Whitney and Dick had a pretty good marriage until Dick hit age 48 or so and started male menopause.
As part of his male menopause, Dick started attending meetings of one of those cults where they talk about how everyone at the meeting is great and has even greater potential, limited only by how much members are willing to pay to be programmed for said greatness.
Long story short, Dick, who is sort of a goofy looking but well-to-do introvert, began to feel so great about himself, he started going to modern dance classes, taking tango lessons and other sissified classes where he could prance around, feeling young and free again.
Whitney, meanwhile, was busy setting up a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the sick and needy in third world countries.
Predictably, they started to drift apart, mostly because Dick fell in love with his fox trot teacher, Guadalupe, a spicy, heavily made-up Latina woman 12 years his junior, with a couple of kids and living with her mama in a modest little house.
Now Dick and Whitney are divorced.
They are on civil terms, primarily because Whitney is a kind person, so kind, she politely declined my offer to go over and kick Dick in his unfaithful balls.
Dick is now openly romancing Guadalupe, her mama and her kids, with all sorts of gifts and outings to places they never before could afford. Lupe acts like she struck gold with el dentista con muchos de dinero, and Dick acts like that dorky all-smiles guy in the ads for male enhancement pills.
Whitney, meanwhile decided to scale down post-divorce.
She traded in her Mercedes SUV for a Prius, a little hybrid car that uses solar power and gas so it's easier on the environment and gets a lot more miles per gallon.
Dick, who is still trying to project an environmentally responsible image, decided to trade in his Infinity gas guzzling SUV on a Prius, too.
So he tells Whitney, "Hey I am getting a Prius, too!"
Whitney replied, "Good for you."
But Dick, whose Mister Environmentalist image is basically just a front for a materialistic little showoff, told Whitney, "Yeah, but I'm getting the leather seats in mine."
Whitney, chuckling to herself that Dick wants fancy animal hides in his hybrid car so his can be better than hers, said, "Do they even make Prius's with leather seats?"
Dick answered, "No, they're aftermarket add-ons, can you believe that?"
Whitney answered, "Nope. Hard to believe, Dick."
I just hope for Dick's sake that Lupe knows how cool a Prius is, so she can still think she hooked up with Señor Dinero.
I suspect she was hoping he'd get a big, red Cadillac Escalade with those fancy wheels that spin at red lights.
And Whitney's little cloth seated Prius is still cooler than his fancier one, because she's in it... and he's not.
I have a good friend I'll call Whitney.
No, not THAT Whitney, this is an upper middle class Caucasian woman I am calling Whitney.
Until recently, Whitney was married to a successful dentist whom I'll call Dick.
Whitney and Dick had a pretty good marriage until Dick hit age 48 or so and started male menopause.
As part of his male menopause, Dick started attending meetings of one of those cults where they talk about how everyone at the meeting is great and has even greater potential, limited only by how much members are willing to pay to be programmed for said greatness.
Long story short, Dick, who is sort of a goofy looking but well-to-do introvert, began to feel so great about himself, he started going to modern dance classes, taking tango lessons and other sissified classes where he could prance around, feeling young and free again.
Whitney, meanwhile, was busy setting up a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the sick and needy in third world countries.
Predictably, they started to drift apart, mostly because Dick fell in love with his fox trot teacher, Guadalupe, a spicy, heavily made-up Latina woman 12 years his junior, with a couple of kids and living with her mama in a modest little house.
Now Dick and Whitney are divorced.
They are on civil terms, primarily because Whitney is a kind person, so kind, she politely declined my offer to go over and kick Dick in his unfaithful balls.
Dick is now openly romancing Guadalupe, her mama and her kids, with all sorts of gifts and outings to places they never before could afford. Lupe acts like she struck gold with el dentista con muchos de dinero, and Dick acts like that dorky all-smiles guy in the ads for male enhancement pills.
Whitney, meanwhile decided to scale down post-divorce.
She traded in her Mercedes SUV for a Prius, a little hybrid car that uses solar power and gas so it's easier on the environment and gets a lot more miles per gallon.
Dick, who is still trying to project an environmentally responsible image, decided to trade in his Infinity gas guzzling SUV on a Prius, too.
So he tells Whitney, "Hey I am getting a Prius, too!"
Whitney replied, "Good for you."
But Dick, whose Mister Environmentalist image is basically just a front for a materialistic little showoff, told Whitney, "Yeah, but I'm getting the leather seats in mine."
Whitney, chuckling to herself that Dick wants fancy animal hides in his hybrid car so his can be better than hers, said, "Do they even make Prius's with leather seats?"
Dick answered, "No, they're aftermarket add-ons, can you believe that?"
Whitney answered, "Nope. Hard to believe, Dick."
I just hope for Dick's sake that Lupe knows how cool a Prius is, so she can still think she hooked up with Señor Dinero.
I suspect she was hoping he'd get a big, red Cadillac Escalade with those fancy wheels that spin at red lights.
And Whitney's little cloth seated Prius is still cooler than his fancier one, because she's in it... and he's not.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
File This Under: Petty, Chickenshit Republicans
Group Dedicated to Counter Clinton Library Folds
By DAVID HAMMER, AP
LITTLE ROCK (Aug. 12) - There will be no museums at Little Rock and Washington to counter the information available at the Clinton Presidential Library, Richard Erickson of Houston says, at least none organized by him.
Erickson said a group he put together to build two museums to rebut the displays at the Clinton Presidential Library is folding.
"I'm giving up," said Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
"I was very passionate about this, but also very naive as far as fundraising procedures go," he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
He said the Counter Clinton Library's Web site would be shut down soon. In addition to railing against the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the site touts what may have been the failed organization's biggest moment - a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in which a fake news reporter makes fun of the group's very mission.
That same show joked that presidential libaries (sic) draw "tens of visitors a year," but the Clinton Library has exceeded most expectations since opening in November, drawing more than 400,000 people in less than nine months..."
Can you believe these pathetic GOP bastards?
Group Dedicated to Counter Clinton Library Folds
By DAVID HAMMER, AP
LITTLE ROCK (Aug. 12) - There will be no museums at Little Rock and Washington to counter the information available at the Clinton Presidential Library, Richard Erickson of Houston says, at least none organized by him.
Erickson said a group he put together to build two museums to rebut the displays at the Clinton Presidential Library is folding.
"I'm giving up," said Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
"I was very passionate about this, but also very naive as far as fundraising procedures go," he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
He said the Counter Clinton Library's Web site would be shut down soon. In addition to railing against the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the site touts what may have been the failed organization's biggest moment - a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in which a fake news reporter makes fun of the group's very mission.
That same show joked that presidential libaries (sic) draw "tens of visitors a year," but the Clinton Library has exceeded most expectations since opening in November, drawing more than 400,000 people in less than nine months..."
Can you believe these pathetic GOP bastards?
WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME, BITCH?
Resident Bush and his motorcade passed the growing camp of war protesters outside his ranch on Friday.
The resident passed by the protesters on a trip away from the ranch but did not stop.
To his credit, however, he refrained from rolling down the window to shoot the finger. Instead he was said to have made the vulgar gesture from behind the dark glass of his SUV limo.
He was on the way to a neighboring "ranch" to attend a $25,000 a plate barbecue fundraiser for the GOP.
The motorcade didn't stop because none of the protesters held out giant checks for the resident, who only "visits" with Americans who wish to donate thousands of dollars to him.
A high level Crawford official who spoke on conditions of anonymity said, "Dubya hadn't never seen no genuine protesters before and he got so derned het up, Laura had to search through her purse to find him a few Valium to go with the thermos of Jack Daniels he likes to keep in the car with him.
"Jenna, one of his twin daughters, offered to leave the SUV and 'go out and kick some Vacaville mama ass,' but the president declined her offer, saying she might stain her new Clint Black 'I Raq & I Roll' T-shirt."
On the return trip to his Crawford ranch following the barbecue, Bush was said to be passed out in the rear of the vehicle, so sources say he was not bothered again by the sight of the anti-American protesters.
Resident Bush and his motorcade passed the growing camp of war protesters outside his ranch on Friday.
The resident passed by the protesters on a trip away from the ranch but did not stop.
To his credit, however, he refrained from rolling down the window to shoot the finger. Instead he was said to have made the vulgar gesture from behind the dark glass of his SUV limo.
He was on the way to a neighboring "ranch" to attend a $25,000 a plate barbecue fundraiser for the GOP.
The motorcade didn't stop because none of the protesters held out giant checks for the resident, who only "visits" with Americans who wish to donate thousands of dollars to him.
A high level Crawford official who spoke on conditions of anonymity said, "Dubya hadn't never seen no genuine protesters before and he got so derned het up, Laura had to search through her purse to find him a few Valium to go with the thermos of Jack Daniels he likes to keep in the car with him.
"Jenna, one of his twin daughters, offered to leave the SUV and 'go out and kick some Vacaville mama ass,' but the president declined her offer, saying she might stain her new Clint Black 'I Raq & I Roll' T-shirt."
On the return trip to his Crawford ranch following the barbecue, Bush was said to be passed out in the rear of the vehicle, so sources say he was not bothered again by the sight of the anti-American protesters.
Friday, August 12, 2005
One More Nail in the GOP Coffin:
Republicans paying legal bills of Bush campaign official accused of voter suppression
By JOHN SOLOMON Associated Press Writer
(AP) - WASHINGTON-The Republican Party has quietly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide private defense lawyers for a former Bush campaign official charged with conspiring to keep Democrats from voting in one northeastern state's Senate race.
James Tobin, President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for the northeastern U.S., is charged with four felonies accusing him of conspiring with two other Republican officials to jam Democratic and labor union get-out-the-vote phone banks ahead of 2002 elections.
A telephone firm was paid to make repeated hang-up phone calls to overwhelm the phone banks in the state of New Hampshire and prevent them from getting Democratic voters to the polls on Election Day 2002, prosecutors allege. Republican John Sununu won a close race that day to be New Hampshire's newest senator.
At the time, Tobin was the party's northeastern regional director, before moving to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
A top Republican Party official in New Hampshire and a Republican consultant already have pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors. Their testimony directly implicates Tobin.
"The object of the conspiracy was to deprive inhabitants of New Hampshire and more particularly qualified voters ... of their federally secured right to vote," says the latest indictment issued in May.
Since charges were first filed in December, the Republican National Committee has spent more than $722,000 to provide Tobin, who has pleaded innocent, a team of lawyers from the high-powered Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly.
Political parties have wide latitude on how they spend their money, including on lawyers.
Republican Party officials confirmed to The Associated Press they had agreed to underwrite Tobin's defense because he was a longtime supporter and that he assured them he had committed no crimes.
"Jim is a longtime friend who has served as both an employee and an independent contractor for the RNC," a spokeswoman for the RNC, Tracey Schmitt, said Wednesday. "This support is based on his assurance and our belief that Jim has not engaged in any wrongdoing."
The Republican Party has repeatedly and pointedly disavowed any tactics aimed at keeping citizens from voting since allegations of voter suppression surfaced during the Florida recount in 2000 that tipped the presidential race to Bush.
Earlier this week, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, the former White House political director, reiterated a "zero-tolerance policy" for any Republican official caught trying to block legitimate votes.
Paul Twomey, a volunteer lawyer for New Hampshire Democrats who are pursuing a separate lawsuit involving the phone scheme, said he was surprised the RNC was willing to pay Tobin's legal bills and that it suggested more people may be involved.
"It originally appeared to us that there were just certain rogue elements of the Republican Party who were willing to do anything to win control of the U.S. Senate, including depriving Americans of their ability to vote," Twomey said.
"But now that the RNC actually is bankrolling Mr. Tobin's defense, coupled with the fact that it has refused some discovery in the civil case, really raises the questions of who are they protecting, how high does this go and who was in on this," Twomey said."
Wow! Makes me want to send in my contribution to the GOP.
Too bad I've already spent all my charitable money on the pedophile Catholic Priests' legal defense fund.
Republicans paying legal bills of Bush campaign official accused of voter suppression
By JOHN SOLOMON Associated Press Writer
(AP) - WASHINGTON-The Republican Party has quietly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide private defense lawyers for a former Bush campaign official charged with conspiring to keep Democrats from voting in one northeastern state's Senate race.
James Tobin, President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for the northeastern U.S., is charged with four felonies accusing him of conspiring with two other Republican officials to jam Democratic and labor union get-out-the-vote phone banks ahead of 2002 elections.
A telephone firm was paid to make repeated hang-up phone calls to overwhelm the phone banks in the state of New Hampshire and prevent them from getting Democratic voters to the polls on Election Day 2002, prosecutors allege. Republican John Sununu won a close race that day to be New Hampshire's newest senator.
At the time, Tobin was the party's northeastern regional director, before moving to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
A top Republican Party official in New Hampshire and a Republican consultant already have pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors. Their testimony directly implicates Tobin.
"The object of the conspiracy was to deprive inhabitants of New Hampshire and more particularly qualified voters ... of their federally secured right to vote," says the latest indictment issued in May.
Since charges were first filed in December, the Republican National Committee has spent more than $722,000 to provide Tobin, who has pleaded innocent, a team of lawyers from the high-powered Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly.
Political parties have wide latitude on how they spend their money, including on lawyers.
Republican Party officials confirmed to The Associated Press they had agreed to underwrite Tobin's defense because he was a longtime supporter and that he assured them he had committed no crimes.
"Jim is a longtime friend who has served as both an employee and an independent contractor for the RNC," a spokeswoman for the RNC, Tracey Schmitt, said Wednesday. "This support is based on his assurance and our belief that Jim has not engaged in any wrongdoing."
The Republican Party has repeatedly and pointedly disavowed any tactics aimed at keeping citizens from voting since allegations of voter suppression surfaced during the Florida recount in 2000 that tipped the presidential race to Bush.
Earlier this week, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, the former White House political director, reiterated a "zero-tolerance policy" for any Republican official caught trying to block legitimate votes.
Paul Twomey, a volunteer lawyer for New Hampshire Democrats who are pursuing a separate lawsuit involving the phone scheme, said he was surprised the RNC was willing to pay Tobin's legal bills and that it suggested more people may be involved.
"It originally appeared to us that there were just certain rogue elements of the Republican Party who were willing to do anything to win control of the U.S. Senate, including depriving Americans of their ability to vote," Twomey said.
"But now that the RNC actually is bankrolling Mr. Tobin's defense, coupled with the fact that it has refused some discovery in the civil case, really raises the questions of who are they protecting, how high does this go and who was in on this," Twomey said."
Wow! Makes me want to send in my contribution to the GOP.
Too bad I've already spent all my charitable money on the pedophile Catholic Priests' legal defense fund.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Source: DemocracyNow.org
Can You Believe This Shit??
Rumsfeld Planning 9-11 Party/Country Music Concert
For many, the upcoming September 11th anniversary will be a time for somber reflection. Apparently not for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
This week, he announced the Pentagon will hold a massive march and country music concert to mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11.
Rumsfeld is calling the event the "America Supports You Freedom Walk." The march will start at the Pentagon and end at the National Mall with a show by country star Clint Black.
Black is the man behind the song "I Raq and Roll," a song that conflates Saddam Hussein with "the devil" who attacked the United States on 9/11.
One verse of the song goes, "We can't ignore the devil, he'll keep coming back for more ... If they won't show us their weapons, we might have to show them ours. It might be a smart bomb -- they find stupid people, too. And if you stand with the likes of Saddam, one just might find you."
The announcement of this 9/11 celebration and concert outraged victim's family groups and veterans organizations.
Can Rummy possibly be this blasé and insensitive?
Hell, yes, he can.
He's a Bush administration member- and just as worthless as the rest of those imbeciles.
How about you? Do you plan to join in Rumsfeld's 'celebration' of 9/11?
Can You Believe This Shit??
Rumsfeld Planning 9-11 Party/Country Music Concert
For many, the upcoming September 11th anniversary will be a time for somber reflection. Apparently not for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
This week, he announced the Pentagon will hold a massive march and country music concert to mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11.
Rumsfeld is calling the event the "America Supports You Freedom Walk." The march will start at the Pentagon and end at the National Mall with a show by country star Clint Black.
Black is the man behind the song "I Raq and Roll," a song that conflates Saddam Hussein with "the devil" who attacked the United States on 9/11.
One verse of the song goes, "We can't ignore the devil, he'll keep coming back for more ... If they won't show us their weapons, we might have to show them ours. It might be a smart bomb -- they find stupid people, too. And if you stand with the likes of Saddam, one just might find you."
The announcement of this 9/11 celebration and concert outraged victim's family groups and veterans organizations.
Can Rummy possibly be this blasé and insensitive?
Hell, yes, he can.
He's a Bush administration member- and just as worthless as the rest of those imbeciles.
How about you? Do you plan to join in Rumsfeld's 'celebration' of 9/11?
Bank of India? India Online? Indian Express?
Dear Bank of America, America Online and American Express:
I have had occasion to call all of you in the last quarter to ask questions pertaining to my accounts.
Each time, a person sounding like Apu, the lovable Indian convenience store clerk from The Simpsons, has answered my call.
The difference is, Apu is fictional and lives in a fictitious American town, paying fictitious income taxes to America's coffers.
The three genuine Indians, with whom I spoke about my genuine accounts, had dubious names like Mark, Debbie and Bill.
They were most likely talking to me from their cubicles in Punjab, making low wages so the American companies who pay them can save money by not having to pay Americans (who use their services and pay taxes on their American wages).
I resent outsourcing.
I resent an administration which rewards big business by not taxing their offshore business dealings.
While I am sure Mark, Debbie and Bill are grateful for the pittance wages they earn from Bank of America, America Online and American Express, I just thought I'd remind everyone that those three corporations are fucking us by sending our jobs to third world countries like India.
And how can they get by with it?
Because George W. Bush, the man who couldn't care less about American wage earners, made sure they could.
Good day!
Dear Bank of America, America Online and American Express:
I have had occasion to call all of you in the last quarter to ask questions pertaining to my accounts.
Each time, a person sounding like Apu, the lovable Indian convenience store clerk from The Simpsons, has answered my call.
The difference is, Apu is fictional and lives in a fictitious American town, paying fictitious income taxes to America's coffers.
The three genuine Indians, with whom I spoke about my genuine accounts, had dubious names like Mark, Debbie and Bill.
They were most likely talking to me from their cubicles in Punjab, making low wages so the American companies who pay them can save money by not having to pay Americans (who use their services and pay taxes on their American wages).
I resent outsourcing.
I resent an administration which rewards big business by not taxing their offshore business dealings.
While I am sure Mark, Debbie and Bill are grateful for the pittance wages they earn from Bank of America, America Online and American Express, I just thought I'd remind everyone that those three corporations are fucking us by sending our jobs to third world countries like India.
And how can they get by with it?
Because George W. Bush, the man who couldn't care less about American wage earners, made sure they could.
Good day!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
The NY Times' Maureen Dowd Nails Him Again
Why No Tea and Sympathy?
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 10, 2005
WASHINGTON
W. can't get no satisfaction on Iraq.
There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside his Crawford ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be carefully choreographed.
A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now think that going to warwas a mistake and that the war has made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. So fighting them there means it's more likely we'll have to fight them here?
Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that sophisticated bombs were streaming over the border from Iran to Iraq.
And the Rolling Stones have taken a rare break from sex odes to record an antiwar song called "
Sweet Neo Con," chiding Condi Rice and Mr. Bush. "You call yourself a Christian; I call you a hypocrite," Mick Jagger sings.
The N.F.L. put out a press release on Monday announcing that it's teaming up with the Stones and ABC to promote "Monday Night Football." The flag-waving N.F.L. could still back out if there's pressure, but the mood seems to have shifted since Madonna chickened out of showing an antiwar music video in 2003. The White House used to be able to tamp down criticism by saying it hurt our troops, but more people are asking the White House to explain how it plans to stop our troops from getting hurt.
Cindy Sheehan, a 48-year-old Californian with a knack for P.R., says she will camp out in the dusty heat near the ranch until she gets to tell Mr. Bush face to face that he must pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Her son, Casey, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in a Sadr City ambush last year.
The president met with her family two months after Casey's death. Capturing W.'s awkwardness in traversing the line between somber and joking, and his love of generic labels, Ms. Sheehan said that W. had referred to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting, and given her the sense that he did not know who her son was.
The Bush team tried to discredit "Mom" by pointing reporters to an old article in which she sounded kinder to W. If only her husband were an undercover C.I.A. operative, the Bushies could out him. But even if they send out a squad of Swift Boat Moms for Truth, there will be a countering Falluja Moms for Truth.
It's amazing that the White House does not have the elementary shrewdness to have Mr. Bush simply walk down the driveway and hear the woman out, or invite her in for a cup of tea. But W., who has spent nearly 20 percent of his presidency at his ranch, is burrowed into his five-week vacation and two-hour daily workouts. He may be in great shape, but Iraq sure isn't.
It's hard to think of another president who lived in such meta-insulation. His rigidly controlled environment allows no chance encounters with anyone who disagrees. He never has to defend himself to anyone, and that is cognitively injurious. He's a populist who never meets people - an ordinary guy who clears brush, and brush is the only thing he talks to. Mr. Bush hails Texas as a place where he can return to his roots. But is he mixing it up there with anyone besides Vulcans, Pioneers and Rangers?
W.'s idea of consolation was to dispatch Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, to talk to Ms. Sheehan, underscoring the inhumane humanitarianism of his foreign policy. Mr. Hadley is just a suit, one of the hard-line Unsweet Neo Cons who helped hype America into this war.
It's getting harder for the president to hide from the human consequences of his actions and to control human sentiment about the war by pulling a curtain over the 1,835 troops killed in Iraq; the more than 13,000 wounded, many shorn of limbs; and the number of slain Iraqi civilians - perhaps 25,000, or perhaps double or triple that. More people with impeccable credentials are coming forward to serve as a countervailing moral authority to challenge Mr. Bush.
Paul Hackett, a Marine major who served in Iraq and criticized the president on his conduct of the war, narrowly lost last week when he ran for Congress as a Democrat in a Republican stronghold in Cincinnati. Newt Gingrich warned that the race should "serve as a wake-up call to Republicans" about 2006.
Selectively humane, Mr. Bush justified his Iraq war by stressing the 9/11 losses. He emphasized the humanity of the Iraqis who desire freedom when his W.M.D. rationale vaporized.
But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute."
Why No Tea and Sympathy?
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 10, 2005
WASHINGTON
W. can't get no satisfaction on Iraq.
There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside his Crawford ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be carefully choreographed.
A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now think that going to warwas a mistake and that the war has made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. So fighting them there means it's more likely we'll have to fight them here?
Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that sophisticated bombs were streaming over the border from Iran to Iraq.
And the Rolling Stones have taken a rare break from sex odes to record an antiwar song called "
Sweet Neo Con," chiding Condi Rice and Mr. Bush. "You call yourself a Christian; I call you a hypocrite," Mick Jagger sings.
The N.F.L. put out a press release on Monday announcing that it's teaming up with the Stones and ABC to promote "Monday Night Football." The flag-waving N.F.L. could still back out if there's pressure, but the mood seems to have shifted since Madonna chickened out of showing an antiwar music video in 2003. The White House used to be able to tamp down criticism by saying it hurt our troops, but more people are asking the White House to explain how it plans to stop our troops from getting hurt.
Cindy Sheehan, a 48-year-old Californian with a knack for P.R., says she will camp out in the dusty heat near the ranch until she gets to tell Mr. Bush face to face that he must pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Her son, Casey, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in a Sadr City ambush last year.
The president met with her family two months after Casey's death. Capturing W.'s awkwardness in traversing the line between somber and joking, and his love of generic labels, Ms. Sheehan said that W. had referred to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting, and given her the sense that he did not know who her son was.
The Bush team tried to discredit "Mom" by pointing reporters to an old article in which she sounded kinder to W. If only her husband were an undercover C.I.A. operative, the Bushies could out him. But even if they send out a squad of Swift Boat Moms for Truth, there will be a countering Falluja Moms for Truth.
It's amazing that the White House does not have the elementary shrewdness to have Mr. Bush simply walk down the driveway and hear the woman out, or invite her in for a cup of tea. But W., who has spent nearly 20 percent of his presidency at his ranch, is burrowed into his five-week vacation and two-hour daily workouts. He may be in great shape, but Iraq sure isn't.
It's hard to think of another president who lived in such meta-insulation. His rigidly controlled environment allows no chance encounters with anyone who disagrees. He never has to defend himself to anyone, and that is cognitively injurious. He's a populist who never meets people - an ordinary guy who clears brush, and brush is the only thing he talks to. Mr. Bush hails Texas as a place where he can return to his roots. But is he mixing it up there with anyone besides Vulcans, Pioneers and Rangers?
W.'s idea of consolation was to dispatch Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, to talk to Ms. Sheehan, underscoring the inhumane humanitarianism of his foreign policy. Mr. Hadley is just a suit, one of the hard-line Unsweet Neo Cons who helped hype America into this war.
It's getting harder for the president to hide from the human consequences of his actions and to control human sentiment about the war by pulling a curtain over the 1,835 troops killed in Iraq; the more than 13,000 wounded, many shorn of limbs; and the number of slain Iraqi civilians - perhaps 25,000, or perhaps double or triple that. More people with impeccable credentials are coming forward to serve as a countervailing moral authority to challenge Mr. Bush.
Paul Hackett, a Marine major who served in Iraq and criticized the president on his conduct of the war, narrowly lost last week when he ran for Congress as a Democrat in a Republican stronghold in Cincinnati. Newt Gingrich warned that the race should "serve as a wake-up call to Republicans" about 2006.
Selectively humane, Mr. Bush justified his Iraq war by stressing the 9/11 losses. He emphasized the humanity of the Iraqis who desire freedom when his W.M.D. rationale vaporized.
But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute."
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Where's Waldo?
A woman from California named Cindy Sheehan is camped near Bush's Crawford "ranch" to protest her soldier son's death in Iraq. She wants to talk to Bush and ask him some questions.
The nearest Ms. Sheehan and her group can get to "the ranch" is about five miles away.
Bush has refused to come out and speak to her, but he has sent out some State Department flunkies to assure her Bush does care about her son, whatzisname.
No he doesn't.
He doesn't even care about the daily news coverage of Ms. Sheehan's snubbed vigil, making him look like the chicken shit he is.
He's unaccountable.
One more reason to resent the spineless, draft dodging, booze and dope addled coward.
A woman from California named Cindy Sheehan is camped near Bush's Crawford "ranch" to protest her soldier son's death in Iraq. She wants to talk to Bush and ask him some questions.
The nearest Ms. Sheehan and her group can get to "the ranch" is about five miles away.
Bush has refused to come out and speak to her, but he has sent out some State Department flunkies to assure her Bush does care about her son, whatzisname.
No he doesn't.
He doesn't even care about the daily news coverage of Ms. Sheehan's snubbed vigil, making him look like the chicken shit he is.
He's unaccountable.
One more reason to resent the spineless, draft dodging, booze and dope addled coward.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Television Blog
Six Feet Under
Does Brenda get to keep Maya now that Nate's dead?
Does she get his share of the funeral home?
Weeds
Has anyone seen this show yet?
I saw it for the first time last night. I think it might send marijuana sales soaring.
Queer As Folk
That was a pretty damn good final show. I will miss QAF and I don't think The L Word comes even close to filling its shoes. You?
The Surreal Life
How has Janice Dickinson survived this many years without being killed?
Why do people keep hiring Omarosa to be on reality shows?
Peter Jennings
I was shocked by his death. I knew he had cancer but I thought he'd be cured. I liked him.
I guess Charlie Gibson will replace him. That's fine with me.
Six Feet Under
Does Brenda get to keep Maya now that Nate's dead?
Does she get his share of the funeral home?
Weeds
Has anyone seen this show yet?
I saw it for the first time last night. I think it might send marijuana sales soaring.
Queer As Folk
That was a pretty damn good final show. I will miss QAF and I don't think The L Word comes even close to filling its shoes. You?
The Surreal Life
How has Janice Dickinson survived this many years without being killed?
Why do people keep hiring Omarosa to be on reality shows?
Peter Jennings
I was shocked by his death. I knew he had cancer but I thought he'd be cured. I liked him.
I guess Charlie Gibson will replace him. That's fine with me.
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