No Running on the Pool Deck!

1) Donald Trump must not have anything to do with regulating the morals of young women. It's just not right.

2) Hilliary must not run for President. Nobody wants it.

3) The deployment of a "surge" of troops to Bagdad is not a good idea. Bush says we're winning. He lies like a craven, yellow dog.

4) Giving money to televangelists doesn't help the poor or make Jesus like you.

Seasons Greetings

I just watched a Presidential news conference on Iraq. It is clear President Bush has no real understanding of the country, not it's history, not it's demographic make up, not it's current reality or what we are doing there. After four years of war in the country, the idea that the architect of the conflict, really hasn't taken much of an interest, is discouraging. The Fundies think these are the end times. One can only hope so. If Jesus comes down from Heaven, to lead the forces of the righteous, perhaps he will take a personal interest in what is happening and provide a little informed leadership. Revelate me, Baby!

Tom DeLay started a blog yesterday, for about 45 minutes. He had to shut it down, due to a deluge of harshly critical comments. I just wish I could get a level of traffic like that. Some people get all the luck. They'll probably have free wireless access at that prison he's going to.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which Bush packed with corporate polluters, has exempted the worst of the atmospheric mercury polluters, to ease the strain of increased urban development. The EPA has also signalled it is ready to declassify lead as an atmospheric pollutant, at the behest of Big Oil and the lead acid battery producers. Atmospheric lead has been strictly controlled since the Carter Administration, levels have decreased by 90% in the last thirty years.. Mercury and lead are known causative agents of neurological malfunction in the young. Wher's all that Culture of Life, Save the Children crap, when you need it.

They've sent Ted Haggard to Tucson, to cure him of being Gay. I understand there's something in the water, there, that does it. Good luck, Ted. After they cure that homo thing, you can work on the methamphetamine problem. That will help with all those religious delusions.

He Really is the President

It has become increasingly clear over the last couple of weeks that George W. Bush is not a figurehead. I had always assumed that there was some kind of cabal behind him, pulling the strings. I no longer believe this to be true. We now have ample proof that he has received council from the Vice President, Cabinet members, and Congressional leaders, advising him in the strongest terms as to advantageous courses of action to be taken in any number of areas, the mid-term elections, homeland security, Iraq and the bipartisan nature of the upcoming Congress, to name a few.

We know that he has disregarded this advice and continued blindly on with his previous course, with disasterous results in each case. The liberal conspiracy theories have been proved wrong. There is no secret government. There are only the masterbatory fantasies of a closeted, gay, frat boy, left too long alone, in a big, white, house.

My direst fears have been proved wrong but I am not relieved.

Traitor, Coward, Treasonous Dog

Iraq has ceased to exist, drowned in a sea of sectarian violence. Uncounted Iraqis have died. More than a million of it's citizens have left, gone for refugees to countries likely to prove only marginally more safe, in the long run. It's a sure bet that hundreds of thousands more will leave in the months to come, as the blood runs and the bodies rot in the streets. The coalition government and their families and friends may survive, but if they do so, it will be in the United States, along with the survivors of South Vietnam, Nigeragua, Cuba, and the Peacock Throne of Persia. If they have not yet stolen enough money to make a new start, in a new world, never fear, we will give them more.

George W. Bush, the Commander in Chief, says we will stay the course, until victory is won. There is no course to stay, no victory to be won. We still have money, lives and international respect to lose. He is determined to lose all he can. The American people have no one to blame but themselves for this failed adventurism. They delivered to George Bush and his evil cronies the baton of power and the keys to the treasury. Nothing short of impeachment will stop this madman from running our country onto the rocks and shoals of ignomy.

I do not gloat over these events. Iraq bleeds. My countrymen die to no purpose. My country is disgraced. It's resources squandered. I despair. I look for leadership that is not there.

I curse George Bush. I call him traitor. I call him coward. I call him a treasonous dog.

Can Do, Can Do. The Guy Says the Horse Can Do.

With the '08 elections staring us in the face, it would seem like a good time to make sure that we don't elect another President that falls into the Evil Robot category.

The Democrats don't seem to have much available to put into the race. It's been pretty well established that nobody is going to vote for Hillary and nobody really trusts her to be President. Edwards looks and acts the part, but he has very little experience, and the guy is, when all is said and done, an ambulance chaser. Barak Obama is the dark horse but nobody knows anything about him. They may go with him if he doesn't self destruct during primary season. The likelihood is that they will wheel out some old warhorse. I'd recommend Sam Nunn, myself, but there are a bunch of them out there and being President is every pol's secret dream.

The Republicans have a bunch of guys who could win easily but the base won't go for them. In a general election, Rudy could easily prevail, but his social liberalism is the kiss of death. Colin Powell has always had a big Democratic following and probably could win on either ticket. I have no idea how he'd play in the Republican primaries but it would be worth a shot. Lindsey Graham is a Red State dream but his repeated principled stands against the Bush administration and his ability to work in a bipartisan manner doom his primary prospects.

Who do you like and why?

The Jobs Not Finished Until The Paperwork's Done

In the aftermath of the midterm elections, we have been barraged by the media, internet gurus, and the politicians on both sides of the political fence with interpretations of the significance of the Democratic takeover of the House and Senate. These interpretations are often extremely complicated, not very comprehensible and clearly wrong. These guys weren't right before the election, why would they be right afterward? Let's start out by defining what the election was not about.

It was not about social issues. People feel the same way about race, sexual preference, immigration, reproductive rights, Social Security, healthcare, and all the other myriad social dilemmas our society faces, as they did when they elected Bush and the Republicans, two and six years ago.

It's not about corruption in government. Nobody really cares about corporate lobbyists with deep pockets or government contracts awarded to companies that take the money and give blue sky and bull shit in return. Nobody begrudges a congressman, or any other politician a Swiss bank account or a beach house in the Bahamas. It's as American as apple pie.

It's not about a mandate for Liberal government. Many of the most high profile Democratic candidates were as conservative, or more so, than their Republican opponents. Nancy Pelosi's battlecry is "Rule from the Center". I didn't notice anyone out there campaigning with Cindy Sheehan, Jane Fonda or Micheal Moore at their side.

It's not about the War in Iraq. Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman are still standing tall amidst the ruble of the American political landscape. What does that tell ya?

This election was all about George W. Bush. A Nero, who fiddled while New Orleans lost half it's population. A Josef Stalin, who instituted a system of secret prisons, torture, warrantless wiretapping, and indefinite imprisonment without criminal charges or trial. The man who invented the signing statement, whereby he may ignore any law he doesn't like. A Commander in Chief who spends the lives and resources of our military establishment, like a drunken sailor squanders his paycheck on a Hotel Street parlor girl. He is a liar, a cheat, a degenerate, a scoundrel. We have suffered bad Presidents, partisan Presidents, more than our share in the last half century. We have never had a President who worked so actively to subvert the very foundations of the Republic. He thinks now, that by scapegoating various members of his administration, he can buy time to continue his evil predations on the people of America. This must not be allowed.

In January of 2007, when the new Congress convenes, a carefully chosen, bipartisan, Speaker of the House must be appointed. Someone within the ranks of Congress with the respect of both sides. The President and Vice President must then be forced, under threat of impeachment and imprisonment, if necessary, to summarily resign their offices. The Speaker will then assume the Presidency for the next two years. It is an unprecedented move, but necessary. If it is not done, the cancer that is eating away at the guts of the American body politic, will continue, and more damage will be done.

No, it's not Mary Poppins.

The four or five regular readers of this blog will know that I have weighed in on Donald Rumsfeld before. He is one of the only members of the Bush cabinet with the intelligence and experience to play in the big leagues. That he has been able to hold the efforts of our armed forces in Iraq together this long, is a feat right up there with the loaves and fishes. He has been a responsible adult presence in an administration that has not been governing, as much as they have been dressing up in their mother's old gowns and playing tea party.

The new nanny has arrived, to take the children in hand. Her name is Nancy.

Old Donald has been asked to leave. It's probably the best thing, for him. For us? We'll soon see.

Farewell, old Donald. That crofter's cottage on the wintry moor awaits. I'm sure you will soon have it in good repair.

How big is that tent, really?

What, exactly, is the significance of Ted Haggard, founder of an evangelical megachurch in Colorado, snorting methamphetamine and purchasing the services of a gay prostitute? None, really, but it might be a good time to talk a little about the state of evangelical religion in this country.

These high profile evangelists, often leading huge, cult of personality, organizations, should not be confused with what they are not. They are not theologians, despite the fact that Doctor often appears before their name. They are not charitable, despite the fact that they are always asking for charitable donations. They are not good role models for people seeking to lead a better life, although they often present themselves as such. It is doubtful that many of them are even Christians at all. These people are salesman. It is apparent from their carefully crafted images, tailored to appeal to their target audiences. It is apparent from the structure of their organizations, and the way all available resources are directed to public relations and media exposure. It is apparent by the constant quest for new members, and the emphasis on donation of money, as the means to join and maintain status, within the group. It is apparent by the material rewards they reserve for themselves.

They are not selling religion. Religion is free. You can borrow it from friends or family. Try it out, keep it if you want. Modify it in any way you like or combine it with other religions. If all else fails, you can just make up your own religion. What these guys are selling is community. A place where people share beliefs and values. A place of comfort and security. A place where they help you up, if you fall down and help you along, if you fall behind. A place where you belong and where you're proud to belong. This is the product they sell. In a world where families and societies are increasingly diverse, it is a valuable commodity to have on offer. If this is what you want, put your money down and seal the deal. Just don't confuse it with religion.

When evaluating the intrusion of these evangelical Christian organizations, into the political system, it may behoove all of us to evaluate whether it has occurred because the members of these organizations really feel it is appropriate to imprint their particular beliefs into the law of the land and the actions of our national leaders, or whether the salesman who run these organizations, feel that combining their product with political power make it more salable, to larger numbers of people. I don't think there is any question that it does but is it the right thing to do? The concerns of the evangelical Christian community in America are populist. Getting into bed with the corporate interests that really control the Republican party may not be that good of an idea.

There should be no constraint on religious freedom in this country. There should be no constraint on personal freedom in this country by religious institutions that disagree with the political, moral or lifestyle decisions of citizens. I'm not saying it's easy but it is what we should all strive for. The key is mutual respect or at least acceptance.

The Emperor Has New Clothes

A troubling turn of events in Blogland. Anybody surfing around the internet is familiar with the phenomena of military blogs. Members of the Armed Forces, often stationed far from home, are able to communicate with family and friends, in real time, at low cost. They also use blogs as sounding boards to relate their experiences and to voice their opinions on a wide range of issues. Now comes word that the upper reaches of the military establishment is keeping tabs on these instruments, citing concerns of National Security.

It turns out that each of the branches of the service have agencies that monitor blogs. There is also a DOD agency which does this. Service members are now required to register their blogs with their commanding officer. Commanding officers are required to evaluate these blogs quarterly. There are apparently guidelines that the service member must adhere to, facing disciplinary action if these guidelines are violated. Anybody that knows anything about military rules and regs, knows that there is inevitably a catch all rule that translates as, " anything we don't like is prohibited".

There are already complaints from service members that they have been required to remove their blogs from the internet, that they have been disciplined or even reduced in rank, over publication of blogs. Anyone contemplating a career in the military knows how seriously these kinds of actions can effect the recipient.

The fact of the matter is that military bloggers take their responsibility to protect National Security very seriously. I have not seen anything that even approaches the inappropriate on a Milblog. Another sad fact is, that someone who wants to purposefully release sensitive material can all to easily find an effective and anonymous way to do it.

Nitpicky censorship of Milblogs stifles a much needed outlet for personal expression by the troops. It deprives the American public of a valuable source of information about the military. It makes the high command appear petty and mean. It does no good, for anyone.

Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Grace Slick is 67 years old today.

She gave us courage. She made us believe.

Good Job, Grace.

Democratic Sweep? Not in my neighborhood.

I live in Northern Coastal Orange County, California. It's part of the California 46th Congressional District, one of the most gerrymandered and Republican dominated districts in the country. Our Congressman is Dana Rohrabaker, currently running for his 10th consecutive term but you'd never know it.

There are no campaign signs on the streets. No adds on TV. There are no news stories or editorials in the local papers concerning the candidates or their positions on the issues. The Democratic candidate is a throwaway, has raised no money and received none from the DNC. Dana has plenty of money but prefers to let the non campaign continue. His last personal appearance, at a large public venue, that I am aware of, was last 4th of July.

Dana votes pretty much like you would expect a conservative Republican to vote. His only divergence from the Bush agenda is that he is strongly anti-immigration, but he has been strangely silent during the recent populist anti-immigration uprising.

He was Jack Abramoff's closest personal friend in Congress, or anywhere, as far as I know.

He has accepted massive contributions from CAIR, and virtually every other Islamic lobbyist group with money to spend. Several of his Arab American contributers are awaiting trial in Federal courts on charges of aiding terrorists. In 2002, he went to Afghanistan, for extensive private meetings with Taliban leaders, and travel throughout the country. He was not critical of the Taliban following this episode. He is not a friend of Israel.

He supports punitive prison terms for drug users and low level traffickers, while freely admitting a youthful background of drug use.

He is anti-abortion, anti-feminist and anti-gay rights. He is strongly supported by the Focus on the Family organization, led by the feminine acting, but, we are told, strongly heterosexual clergyman, James Dobson. Dana, himself a batchelor, never previously linked to a feminine companion, married precipitously, after a short courtship, in his fiftieth year, to a young, Republican staffer. Several years later, he became the father of triplets, which in this day and age, usually is the result of in vitro fertilization. He has not weighed in on the Foley scandal. Like they used to say in Florida, this a man with strong, thespian leanings.

Seems to me like the Democrats are throwing away a good opportunity here. Democratic sweep of the House? I'll believe it when I see it.

Vote early, vote often. Just not in the same election

A lot of people on the internet are putting up posts about the upcoming elections. They all have some kind of voting "strategy" that they are pushing. Vote the party line. Vote against incumbents. Vote anti-war. Vote moral issues. Vote immigration stance. Don't vote at all, in protest. They all have a "system". They all have an ax to grind.

I have always thought voting is a more or less private matter but since everyone is being so vocal, I guess I'll throw my 2 cents in.

What I say is this. Vote for candidates who love our country and who are interested in making life better for all of us here. Vote for people who are interested in building consensus, rather than accentuating differences. Where consensus cannot be reached, look for office seekers who want to allow people to follow their individual preferences to the greatest extent without impinging on the lives of others. Politicians who tout entitlement programs or budget earmarks that benefit one group at the expense of others are to be suspect. Politicians who play on our fears and stoop to name calling are not qualified to serve. Vote for candidates who believe freedom, democracy and the rule of law need to be fostered at all costs, here, at home, in our own country, now.

Minding your own business is not isolationism. Pensions that allow anyone to live at a level above genteel poverty are too high. Government funded healthcare coverage that provides unlimited services without regard to cost are foolish. A business climate free of oversight or accountability is not in our best interest. An educational system which attempts to force education on those apathetic or actively antagonistic to learning is criminal. The rich, the poor, the young, the old, the sick and disabled all cry out for special treatment but special treatment is special interest and special interest is the slipperiest of slippery slopes. Government is a framework, within which, we may strive for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is not an uber-nanny which provides us with protection from the realities of life and the fulfillment of all of our perceived needs.

Liberal/conservative, religious/secular, race, gender, sexual preference, economic status, drug use, age, disability, all of these things and others, we have allowed to divide and fragment us as a society. It is not necessary to like another person, or respect the choices they make, or believe they are morally correct in their beliefs, to coexist. We need to begin, among ourselves, and through our elected representatives, a national discourse on establishing rules that allow us, as a society, freedom to live as we choose and are able and for others to do the same.

There have to be laws. Some behaviors have to be proscribed. Enforcement and punishment for violators have to be implemented. Nobody gets a free pass in a free society. We need to elect people who are willing to honestly approach the problems, from the standpoint of the good of all.

Look for prospective office holders who are insightful, empathetic, humble. Don't worry about a lot of the other "important" stuff, at least not so much.

Execution/Poor-Degree of Difficulty/Extreme

Whitehouse Press Secretary Tony Snow yesterday announced that the term "Stay the Course", will no longer be used to describe the Bush administration's policy on the Iraq War.

This can best be described in their own terms as a "flip/flop", preparatory to a policy of "cut and run".

It's a Nguyen, Nguyen Situation

This a local story, I don't know how much national exposure it's getting. If you want to read about it, the Orange County Register is giving it good coverage.

The 47th Congressional District in California is composed primarily of the City of Garden Grove, plus adjacent sections of surrounding cities. The incumbent, Loretta Sanchez, changed her party affiliation a decade ago from lifelong Republican to Democrat to unseat the notorious B-1 Bob Dornan. She is being challenged this term by Tan Nguyen, a Republican candidate who hopes to become the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress.

Nguyen's staffers, with his approval, sent out to the 14,000 households in the district, in which reside registered voters with Hispanic surnames, a notice. This notice stated that immigrants are not allowed to vote. Further, it stated that immigrants who voted would be guilty of a felony and would be fined, imprisoned and deported. It conspicuously does not mention the citizenship requirement for voting, a clear attempt to frighten qualified voters from exercising their franchise. I am unable to stop myself, at this point, from mentioning that Mr Nguyen, is himself, an immigrant, while Ms Sanchez is not.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters, upon discovery that this mailing had taken place, moved to immediately send out a clarification, to these 14,000 households, as to the actual status required to vote, in unambiguous terms. He was constrained from doing so, by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, who voted, with the exception of one, that it was not appropriate. The Orange County Board Of Supervisors are, of course, with the exception of one, Republicans.

The Register printed a copy of this notice. It is very, very slick. It is very likely not a product of Nguyen's staff, but from an outside source. There will, of course, be an investigation. The publicity will probably counter any damage that was done and may in fact mobilize enraged Democratic voters in the district. It will also no doubt cause disgusted Republicans to either not vote, or to vote for Sanchez.

The real problem with this type of behavior, on either side of the political fence, is that it further polarizes a political landscape, in which both sides see the other as criminals, bent on winning at any cost, even that of subverting the democratic tradition that is our proudest possession. This is not a productive course for our nation to take. The kind of political tactics that are more and more being used in this country, while effective, come at a cost we cannot afford.

Who America's Politicians Must Answer To

The people that America's politicians must answer to are not the power elites. They are not the fundamentalist base. They are not the poor and disadvantaged. They are not the new immigrants.

The people that America's politicians must answer to go to work every day. They own homes. They are raising families. Every year, their dollars are worth a little less. Every year, their jobs become closer to being jobs Americans won't do. The question is never about getting out of debt. It's about how not to get too much deeper in. The house gets refinanced, again. The 401K gets cashed out, again. It isn't about luxuries. It costs to raise kids. It costs to get to work. The neighborhood where you can afford to live is not the neighborhood where you can afford to let your kids grow up.

They have cute names for it. Globalization. The New World Order. It Takes a Village. It doesn't hide the reality. The reality is that it's cheaper to produce goods in countries where people will work for $1.20 a day, and there are no safety or environmental regulations. The reality is that it's cheaper to hire immigrant labor and lower the wages to the point where you can claim it's a job Americans won't do. Don't kid yourself, it's not just fast food and farm work. It's construction, road work, assembly, clerking, truckdriving and on and on and on. The Auto industry is dying in this country, just as steel died 30 years ago. There haven't been American merchant seaman manning American flagged ships since the early '60s. Government is increasingly contracting out services to private industry, who use immigrant labor. They point to the millions it saves in salaries, benefits, and deferred pension costs. For the first time this year the Forbes Magazine list of the 400 richest Americans were all billionaires.

Where does this end? Have you been to Third World countries, where most of the people live in sprawling feral cities that look more like garbage dumps than habitats? Where the rich live up on hills far away, where the air is clear, the water is clean and the fields of fire are unobstructed. Is this the future of America?

I don't think so. The only choice we have is, will the government work with the people to fix things, or will the people have to do it on their own.

If we do it on our own, we won't need the government.

"When you talk terroristic to me Baby, it makes me uulate with desire"

As far as the Global War on Terror goes, I get the concept. Militant Islamic Jihadis, out to humiliate our culture and disrupt our way of life. We have to stop them. It's the execution that I have some problems with.

I keep getting visions of the Disney adaptation of the Tales of Uncle Remus. Osama is Brer Rabbit. We and our allies are the pursuing Brer Fox and Brer Bear. The mountains of Afghanistan are the briar patch and Iraq is the tar baby. Are you getting the picture? If one of the participants in a conflict, is able to gain control of the conflict, they have a huge advantage. Osama is all about control. It doesn't matter that he has almost no military resources or strength. He can keep us expending huge amounts of effort and resources, virtually indefinitely, and it costs him nothing.

While we are flailing around, we exhaust ourselves. We alienate large portions of the worlds population. Best of all, for Osama, we give him credence. He is the one, who has reduced the Great Shaitan to impotency. It is a terrorist recruiters dream come true. It is not necessary to promise the young terrorist boys virgins in heaven. They have become a very romantic and sexy commodity here on earth, to the emancipated, Islamic girls of today.

I can hear those Islamic girls now, " When you talk terroristic to me baby, it makes me uulate with desire."

It's not your father's Bill of Rights

Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Suspension of the right to a fair and speedy trial. Interrogation with torture. Evidence obtained by coercion allowed at trial. Wiretapping without a warrant. Nobody is naive enough to believe that a certain amount of this kind of thing has not always gone on. Now, it's legal, out in the open. Thanks to the Bush administration and the Republican Congress.

I'm not sure it's a bad thing. Polls tell us the public largely accepts this. It's not news to our enemies. It reminds us to be careful, because you never know. The Bill of Rights is still the same, just a little more aerodynamic. These changes will no doubt prove useful, after the elections, when the Democrats take over, and the investigations start.

Coalition Crumbling, British Grumbling

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of Staff of the British Army, called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, soon. He stated that the original plan, to establish a liberal democracy, was not going to be possible and we should decide on a lower ambition. He stated that foreign intervention was no longer welcome within Iraqi society and the consequences of continued presence in Iraq, by British troops, would not improve the situation within the country. He was not as negative in his outlook for continued British presence in Afghanistan. He also had some pretty grim opinions on the effects of the Iraq War on British domestic society.

Will this, do you think, cause George Bush and his advisers to rethink their position of staying in Iraq,"As long as it takes"?

How will this effect the status of the "Coalition Forces", that, George Bush tells us, are fighting with us in Iraq?

Will even more Republican politicians break with Bush's Iraq policy?

Will Bush's poll numbers go even lower, signifying the erosion of his heretofore impervious "fundamentalist" base?

Will the active duty military community, which has, up until this point, maintained solidarity with the President, begin to splinter?

Will he be able to refocus the countries attention on the GWOT, as an extranational, rather than a State to State, conflict?

Will this effect Bush's ability to deal effectively with Iran and North Korea, the other two hubs on his tricycle of evil?

Will he now focus his efforts on transforming Afghanistan into a liberal democracy in the Western style?

I am breathless in anticipation.

Next Liberal Anti-Bush Rant

Bush has a hundred and fifty thousand troops in Iraq and will send no more. If you add up the number of troops in the theater, Afghanistan, Kuwait, UAE, it's more like two hundred and fifty thousand. If you add the troops in support roles at home and around the world, then throw in the civilian contract personnel, it's probably closer to a half million. He has no more to send.

At home, he has a base that won't send their sons and don't want to pay. The politicians that have supported him in the past, being politicians, are deserting his camp in the night. The opposition is gaining strength and boldness as they see him weakening. The press perch like vultures in the Rose Garden, they know they will feed soon. Corporate interests can give him money but not the legitimacy he has lost in the eyes of the American people. George Bush forgot the first rule of the schoolyard bully. Never pick a fight you don't KNOW you can win. Now he will have to pay the price. The weakling who gets picked on and puts up a good fight, is admired, even if he gets beat up, even if nobody likes him. Nobody commiserates with a bully when his nose is bloodied.

Did you see him in the Rose Garden yesterday? No fighter jock in a multi-zippered flight suit. No mission accomplished braggadocio. No crowds of cheering sycophants. More like a cowering denizen of death row, just told by the warden that his appeals are exhausted and the date has been set.

He's going to try and cut and run. You can tell by the furtive darting of his eyes. The involuntary twitching of his upper lip. The fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. The rambling and disjointed answers, completely lacking their normal pugnacious snap. There is no place to cut. There is nowhere to run. There is only the ticking of the clock. The sound of time, running out.

And when he's gone, crawled away in disgrace, as he has in every other endeavor of his pathetic life, there she will be, Hillary Clinton, standing tough, ready to pick up the pieces.

I think I'm gonna puke.

Americans

Forty years ago, the War in Vietnam permeated American life. Journalists and cameramen were in the warzone, with the troops. Huge amounts of network and local news time was devoted to footage of war news, often narrated by those who were on the scene. With the draft in full swing, large numbers of young Americans did their two year hitch, cycling through South East Asia. Veterans were everywhere. They were glad to talk and they did just that, in churches, college dorms, construction sites, bars, everywhere you went. By the mid to late 60s, the American public had a pretty good idea what was going on in Vietnam, on a daily basis.

It's not the same with the war in Iraq. News footage and content is carefully censored. Access to the troops and the warzone is carefully controlled. The troops talk about doing their jobs. They don't speculate on the value of their presence, the quality of their leadership, or if the war was even a good idea, because they are professionals, just doing the job assigned to them.

It's a different war. It's playing out in a different way. I'm not sure the American public needs to be shielded from the reality of the war by the government. What I do know is that in the end, it won't make any difference.

American intervention in Vietnam started at the end of the siege of Dien Bien Phu. It started out very secret. The average American didn't even know we had troops there until 1959 and even then the government was careful to qualify our presence as advisory only. Things escalated quickly after that. What is important to remember is that the government enjoyed more or less unqualified public support for the war in Vietnam until 1966. There was a lot of civil unrest in the country in the early 60s. There were race riots, the free speech movement, and the great right wing backlash but none of it was about Vietnam.

When Vietnam became hopeless, the American public knew. Knew it had gone on long enough. Knew it was time to put a stop to it. The government was not responsive and that's when the trouble began.

You can't fool the American public. They don't like to be lied to. They won't be misled. Leadership that tries to are severely dealt with.

The Policeman is Your Friend

Let me tell you about an incident that happened in my town a couple months ago. An 18 year old girl was arguing with her mother in the early morning hours. By all accounts, this was a quiet, well behaved, young person. Did Ok in school. No problem with substance abuse. She was 5 foot 4 or 5 inches tall and weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. I am not sure what the altercation between mother and daughter was about, but she had told friends that night, that she had been sexually assaulted. She had not been to a hospital or reported this to the police, perhaps this was a date rape situation. For whatever reason, the situation with the mother escalated and the daughter cut the mother, on the forearm, with a knife of some kind. Following this, she left the house. A neighbor observed her as she left the house, still holding the knife and called the police.

The police confronted the girl in an otherwise deserted public park at dawn. The medical report by the MD on duty at the local ER where her body was taken afterward, stated that there were 23 bullet wounds in her body. The city police spokesman said afterward that the officers (plural), that fired on her, were in fear for their lives, and that no less than lethal methods of subduing this young girl were available. Whether or not the girl actually threatened the officers with the knife was not mentioned, nor was the length of the blade.

The information released about this incident was very limited and the mother is not talking. I suspect a settlement will follow. The officers involved have not been suspended, nor are they facing disciplinary action. A hold on the release of any additional information, continues, pending something, I'm not sure what.

I wish I could say that this is an unusual occurrence in my town, but it's not. There is a pattern of the use of lethal force, by the police, against suspects who pose a minimal threat, when witnesses are not present.

Denny Hastert, A Great American

I have not been posting because events have been too depressing to dwell on. It is simply easier to stay away. Better for the sanity and the stomach. Today though, I think I will post. I want to talk about Dennis Hastert.

Newt resigned as Speaker of the House. He resigned because he was a liar, a braggart, a thief, and because he has weenie control problems that eclipse those of Bill Clinton. The Republicans needed to replace Newt with someone who wasn't like him in any way. That was not an easy thing. The Congress is reflective of those they represent and I don't mean the voters. Most of it's denizens are involved in activities and have proclivities that would make a sewer rat gag. They got Dennis Hastert to do the job. He 's not a great communicator. He's old, fat and ugly. He's not an original thinker. He has not healed the rifts between the two parties. On the other hand, he's not a corrupt , money grubbing, sexual degenerate. He does OK, I like him.

Mark Foley is a closeted Gay man in the public eye. If he had been allowed to be who he is, it's likely that he wouldn't have titillated himself with dirty text messages to underage pageboys. Whatever he did, however is not Hasterts responsibility. He is not the arbiter of Congressional morals. If he called for the ouster of every congressperson engaged in some kind of nauseating, bestial, sexual perversion, no one would be left to make the law. Sometimes there just isn't an appropriate scapegoat on which to blame whatever inconvenient information that reaches the public eye.

Ultimately, the voting public is responsible for the behavior of the people they send to Congress. If they want to keep voting for the freak show specimens their parties put before them, they have no one to blame but themselves when these very same elected representatives despoil their children. Don't blame Denny Hastert.

The Congress is a terrible, disgusting place. It is peopled by drug abusing, sex obsessed, thieving, sociopaths,who, because of their position, are largely above the law. Denny Hastert runs it for us. It is not a job any honest man would covet.

I ask you this. If you oust Denny Hastert from the Speakership, the first honest man to hold the job in living memory, who will you get to do it then?

New Revelation by Legislative Leader

Senator Bill "Fillibusterer" Frist, this week blamed the ineffectiveness of the current session of congress on the Democrats, who he says are guilty of, " all kinds of underhanded, obstructionist tactics". Somebody should tell him that the Democrats chair no commitees and the Republicans need no democratic votes to pass legislation.

Next, he'll be telling us he's on the same Al- Quieda "Hit List" that Bill O'Rielly claims the FBI told him he is on.

What are these guys smoking?

Another Bush Diatribe

For six years, Bush has gotten everything he wanted. He has been the decider. He has control of both houses of Congress and has been able to pack the Supreme Court. That's the way it should be, because he's a uniter, not a divider. I'm not whining, boss. More power to him, I say. The only thing I ask is that you don't go blaming the evil moonbats when everything turns to shit.

He has started a war he can't finish. He could have raised taxes to pay for it. He could have instituted a draft to fight it. He doesn't because his base won't stand for it. They don't want to pay. They don't want their children to fight. What do I think? I didn't like this war from the first. That being said, once we're in it, it behooves us to kick the shit out of the enemy. First rule of the playground, every boy learns it by the first grade. Nobody respects a loser.

He has lost us every ally we had and damaged our position in the international community. There is no organized left wing establishment, undermining his position here at home. Cindy Sheehan is so far out there on the fringe that during her "March on Washington" last year, not one mainstream political figure stood up with her. The most damning criticism of Bush has come from the Right. William F. Buckley, David Broder, George Will, Pat Buchanan, Lindsey Graham, John Warner, John McCain, Colin Powell, The list keeps getting longer. The Democrats have no organized resistance to the Bush trail of tears and no one listens to them anyway. Bill Clinton and Laura Bush are sharing top billing at a conference for African relief. Hmmm, I wonder if that's all they're sharing?

George Bush has been a failure all his life, at school, at work, at play. There are no old friends telling anecdotes about Georges younger days, he has no old friends. There are no old girlfriends coming out of the woodwork, there are no old girlfriends. No past business associates talk of his savvy or acumen, he has neither. The truth is, his parents have smoothed the way for him and pulled his chestnuts out of the fire all his life. They can't help him now. He's way out of his depth and all I feel for him is sorry. All I ask is, when it all comes apart, don't point your finger at me and call me less than a patriot for not adequately supporting him. It's true I dispise George Bush but I'm just one old man. I mind my own business. I pay my taxes, all of them. I go to work. I give my time to causes I believe in, none of them political. I served my country in my time and will again when they start to take 55 year olds. I vote in every election, just not for George Bush.

I don't know what's coming up for the USA in the next cycle and to tell you the truth I'm fast coming to the conclusion that we deserve whatever we get. I don't think it's too much to ask of our leaders to act like responsible adults. I don't think it's too much to ask of the American people to treat each other with civility and respect but apparently I'm wrong. The warm fuzzy feeling that we get from blaming our problems on the other guy is just too good to pass up. Gee, I'm getting a warm , fuzzy feeling from all this Bush Bashing. Please disregard this post and resume bashing away at those nasty moonbats.

I Guess These Things Are Relative

Bill Frist, the Senate Majority Leader, is threatening to filibuster, in order to block the passage of an anti-torture bill that will be pushed through next week by Senators Graham, McCain and Warner. Does anyone but me think this is more than a little ironic?

If they do filibuster, does this mean we can go back and kick that bed wetting mamma's boy, Samuel Alito, off the Supreme Court?

All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA

This may be kind of a local story, so I don't know if all of you have heard about it. There is a church about 40 miles from where I live. It is a church attended primarily by people who tend to be politically liberal and has been for most of the last century. Shortly before the last presidential election, the minister gave a sermon in which he contrasted the views expressed by Bush and Kerry at a recent televised debate.

One of the points he brought up was that the US going to war against Iraq, a country that had not attacked us or posed a threat to us, was not a war that Jesus would have signed off on. He didn't go so far as to suggest that the congregation vote against Bush but I don't imagine that GW was presented in a very flattering light.

The interesting part is that now the IRS is seeking to remove the churches tax exempt status. I am not aware of the IRS seeking to remove the tax exempt status of any other religious institution on these grounds. If this is successful, the church will have to report all contributions for the last 2 years and in the future and pay taxes on them. They would also have to pay property taxes to the state and this would be a substantial amount. This will almost certainly drive the church out of business.

It seems to me that it isn't that unusual for churches to get pretty political. Jesus apparently told Pat Robertson that GW would win the last election and Pat passed the news along to the faithful. I heard some guy named Hagee on TV saying that the War in Iraq was ordained by God and we should do everything we could to support Israel and thwart Islam. There are Islamic mosques in this country where seditious activities are planned in the name of religion, nobody is lifting their tax exempt status.

I think the IRS may have tainted motives here. What do you think?

Time for a Warchief

We are into the 5th year of the Global War on Terror. By this time I would expect to see some changes in America. I would expect that by this time we would have identified the enemy and developed a strategy to fight them. I would expect that our borders would be secured. I would expect that through conservation, rationing and alternative technologies, we would be at or near energy independence. I would expect a whole new generation of weapons and strategies for their use, with which to fight this new type of war. I would expect to see a universal draft in place and the majority of the nations military age citizens under arms. I would expect that entire campaigns would have been fought and won, that the capabilities of the enemy would have been gauged, and our efforts adjusted accordingly. I would have expected that the world would have polarized into functional alliances.

I would have expected that the Islamic Jihadist population of the world would be much diminished.

I would have expected that the war would be over.

Why we have illegal immigration.

The problem with Americans today is that they want to live like, well, Americans. To do that costs money. Money that you can't make doing the jobs Americans won't do. Let's see how much it costs to live in my area.

Housing. A room with kitchen privileges and a shared bath. $800. That's the cheapest you can get. A car, insurance, and the gas to drive it around, $500 a month. We're talking 10 year old Ford escort. Food $200 a month. That's peanut butter, processed cheese food, beans and rice in bulk. No Micky Ds. Let's just stop right there.

To support this princely lifestyle you've got to have a full time job that nets you $9 an hour. With the standard payroll deduction package, your job needs to gross you $12 an hour. If you want the clothes, cell phone, the computer with the DSL connection, Friday night out on the town, whatever, then you're looking at another 20-40 hours a week of work, and most people do just that. The bottom line though is $12 dollars an hour. The problem is, of course, that 30-40% of the jobs in the economy pay less than $12 an hour. This is why we have illegal aliens.

The big fence won't stop them. Legislation won't make them go away. Anger will not make them afraid.

Crazy Moonbats are at it again

AHA! Just as I've always thought.

Lindsey Graham is a dangerous liberal.

John McCain is a loose cannon.

John Warner doesn't understand the need for a strong national defense.

We must listen to the voices of sanity in our government who support President Bush in the war on terror, like Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman.

Babylon is Dying

Vera Cruz-Warren Zevon-1978

I heard Woodrow Wilson's guns
I heard Maria crying
Late last night I heard the news
That Vera Cruz was dying
Vera Cruz is dying

Someone called Maria's name
I swear it was my father's voice
Saying "If you stay you'll all be slain
You must leave now, you have no choice
Take the servants and ride west
Keep the child close to your chest
When the American troops withdraw
Let Zapata take the rest"

I heard Woodrow Wilson's guns
I heard Maria calling
Saying "Vera Cruz is dying
And Cuernavaca's fallen"

Aquel dia yo jure - On that day I swore
Hacia el puerto volvere - To the port I will return
Aunque el destino cambio mi vida - Even though destiny changed my life
En Vera Cruz morire - In Vera Cruz I shall die
Aquel dia yo jure - On that day I swore

I heard Woodrow Wilson's guns
I heard Maria calling
Saying "Vera Cruz is dying
and Cuernavaca's fallen"

Some things never change, do they?

Donald Rumsfeld- A Great American

It is very popular right now for political pundits on the right and left to call for the ouster of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This points out the failure of the American public to understand the workings of our government. No one should allow frustration with American policy to mask the fact that Donald Rumsfeld is doing an outstanding job. He is an appointee of the President of the United States. His job is to support the Administration policy and to implement that policy with the Armed Forces. He has done exactly that and better than anybody else could have done. The invasion of Iraq went like clockwork. The occupation of Iraq, while not going well, is being carried out with skill and finesse. American casualties have been suprisingly and blessedly small. Morale in the Armed Forces remains high. These are things that he can influence in his position and he has done so. Everything else is political.

Donald Rumsfeld supports the Bush whitewash. Of course he does. That's part of his job. He's a political appointee. Solidarity with the administration is an absolute requirement. Anything less would require his resignation. His resignation would damage the military and military morale. This is something he would never do. He does the best he can every day, with what he's got. He doesn't quit. He doesn't try and make himself look good. He doesn't worry about what his historical legacy will be.

If you are looking for a hero in America today, you can look to the right or left, depending on your point of view. Screw the right and the left. I'll just go with Donald Rumsfeld.

Do we need more latch key kids?

America has changed. I don't think anyone will argue that point. The questions we need to ask are how and why? Can we or should we do anything about it? There are so many variables that have changed in the life of the American people over the last couple of generations. Let's just look at one.

For an old guy, I get out and about in my community. The streets, parks, stores, beaches, riverbeds of my community are places I traverse regularly. People are out recreating and going about their business. It's a pretty nice place, clean, orderly, well maintained. The weather is usually perfect. One thing you notice after a while though. There aren't any children.

There are children and you can see them if you look. You can see them in cars and vans, the younger ones ensconced in their safety seats and the older ones securely strapped in with seat belts. You see them in the school yards. On weekends you see them on the athletic fields engaging in organized activities. There are children in my little subdivision. They don't play in the streets or prowl the neighborhood. Their moms herd them out of the house and drive them away, eventually bring them back and herd them back into the house. You almost never see kids out and about on their own or in small groups, anywhere. They don't walk to school, someone drives them. The parents are just doing what they think they need to do to protect and nurture their offspring. This is not new, it has been going on for the last couple of generations. It is becoming more extreme. During the last fifteen or so years, more and more parents don't even trust the public school systems with the education, socialization and supervision of their children. They network with likeminded others and homeschool their children. These kids are not like Huck, Tom or Becky, living in a children's world but interfacing in a real and independent way with the environment and society. This has got to influence the kind of adults these children will become and the kind of nation America will become. The question is how?

Will children raised in this manner be likely to join the military, become mining engineers, seek opportunities in the developing world? It's something to think about.

Parkland, Washington

Does anyone besides me think the story about the National Guardsman, menaced with a gun and beaten by five young male "peaceniks", sounds fishy. If true, the perpetrators need to be prosecuted under hate crime statutes, because that is exactly what it would be. It seems unusual though, and the detective investigating the case says as much, in the account I read. The whole waving a gun around and calling him a "babykiller" thing seems just too bizarre.

If it is true and this was done by five young white males, they will talk about it and someone will turn them in. I wonder if it is not a hoax. This kind of incident does great damage to the morale of the servicemen overseas, irregardless of it's veracity. It did forty years ago in Vietnam and it will today. I hope it is not true.

Moonbat

As a nation we seem to be polarizing. People are increasingly staking out positions on one end of the spectrum or the other on almost every political, religious and philosophical issue. I find this troubling. What I find even more troubling is that people seem to be buying the complete package of whatever they view as "their side". It is too much trouble for them to examine even the major issues of the day and make up their minds on individual issues. They just accept the "blue plate special" and take whatever is being offered up for general consumption. If this is truly what is happening, real democracy and the rights of the minority, face a perilous future. Another unsavory aspect of this group think mentality is that we tend to view others in general terms instead of individuals capable of diverse opinions.

I recently told an associate that I had a very low opinion of our current President and his administration. From that point on, I became, to him, just another "moonbat". Yeah, me and William F. Buckley Jr. Just a couple of liberal moonbats.

Update to Murder Ink-August 21, 2006

The FDA has authorized the over the counter sale of Plan B, a morning after pill less controversial than RU 486 to women 18 years old or older. Those younger than 18 will have to present a doctor's note at the pharmacy. This is more than I ever expected from the Bush administration.

Most urban and suburban communities have free community clinics that will not only provide a doctor's note but also dispense the medication, free or at little cost. There's one in my town. I have worked there both as a volunteer and employee.
In small town America, I suspect that there are sympathetic physicians who are known to maintain confidentiality and discreet pharmacists.

George Bush is really going out on a limb with his Christian conservative base on this and I salute him for it.

Since I always try to be both honest and pragmatic, I would be remiss if I didn't bring up this point, which I am sure George Bush and James Dobson are both aware of. It's hard to imagine there are many sexually active teenage girls in this country who don't have a sympathetic older girlfriend who would be willing to buy the pill for them. So GW and Dr Jim aren't really giving up very much.

Update to Stem Cells-July 19, 2006

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Murder Ink

The first time I saw it happen was in the Fall of 1963. I was in the 7th grade and not quite 12 years old. The girl who had the locker above mine disappeared. I never saw her again, not in church, not in school, not around town. No one said a word. Her picture was never on a milk carton. After that it became more common. By the ninth grade, several a year were gone. By the 10th grade, they stopped disappearing forever. After a while, you'd see them around town again, at a bus stop, walking down the street. They looked older and didn't dress as nice. They kept their eyes down and wouldn't wave back. In the 11th grade, they'd talk to you when they came back. they'd be working around town at little jobs or attending continuation ed classes. Sometimes they'd talk about what happened to them. Sometimes the stories were even funny. Still, you almost never saw the baby. In College, you'd know before they disappeared. Their behavior was manic. They'd go to parties and drink too much and end up crying. Then they'd pack up their stuff and move out of the dorm. Then they legalized abortion and it all stopped. The clinic with no sign out front opened. The local Catholic St. Jude Home for Girls closed.

You hear a lot from the pro lifers about how abortion is murder. It's a sin. It"s not safe for Doctors who perform abortions to admit it in public. It's not uncommon for them to wear body armor to work and back. I think they ought to give them medals and put up statues of them in public parks. I'm not in favor of abortion. I think as a society we need to do everything we can to prevent it, but you have to have lived in America the way it used to be to feel the way I feel. No one has the right to force a pregnant girl to carry to term. I don't care if it's murder or not. A woman has a right to choose!

Why would anyone want to take the opinion of the religious community seriously about an issue of morality anyway? On the other great moral issue of our time they were dead wrong. It's true that the church was active in promoting the cause of civil rights in this country. The black church. Churches were all segregated in those days. Come to think of it , they still are for the most part. Come to think of it, it was the Christian community that drove young girls out of society during the days before legalized abortion. They are the ones who want to restigmatize unwed mothers today.

RU 486 was developed decades ago. It's safe, effective and widely used around the world. It has never been widely available in this country because of the controversial way in which it works. It prevents the implantation of the fertilized egg onto the uterine wall. It was instantly branded the "abortion pill" because of this by the Religious right. Now, largely in response to this complaint a new drug with the trade name of Plan B has been developed. This drug prevents the ovary from releasing an egg and makes eggs that are released unlikely to be fertilized. Gee, what could be wrong with that?

George Bush and his nominee to head the FDA, today voiced their opinion today that Plan B should not be made available to minors. Presumably, this is because somewhere in his philosophy of a "Culture of Life", there is a subtext that precludes young people from having sex. Of course they can get the pill, they just have to get a signed release from their parents to present at the pharmacy. I can just see it now, "Mommy, Daddy, about yesterday, after my quinceanera, my boyfriend and I had unprotected sex, could you please sign this release form so I can get the morning after pill", Yeah, right. There's a scenario that will be played out in living rooms all over America.

You can't have it both ways. If you don't want a lot of abortion/murder going on in society, you have to do every thing possible to keep these girls from getting pregnant in the first place. Education, birth control, whatever it takes. Stress abstinence all you want, but it's not the answer. I realize that all of the juice has dried up in your pasty, shriveled, God fearing gonads, but try and remember back in the day. Young people have sex. That's what they do. It's the first thing that happens after young people start to honestly express their emotions to each other and whether you like it or not it's completely natural. Growing up female in America is a far different experience than it was a couple of generations ago, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they all don't start to get pregnant as they emotionally mature. It's not going to change, so get over it.

Women make up over half of those graduating from college. They make up an even higher percentage of those going on to professional schools. Things have sure changed. Must be all that home schooling and abstinence training. I would use this opportunity, as I usually do in my posts to call George Bush a scumbag, but I guess he doesn't believe in those either.

They Only Call Themselves Terrorists

The "War on Terror" has been a failure. Nobody with a brain disputes this statement. Most are now disenchanted with the Bush administration's handling of the situation but many see no clear alternative. "At least he's doing something", is a statement you hear frequently in defense of the President. You gotta wonder though, who are we fighting? And why? And is it making any difference? Nobody is telling us this stuff and I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of it.

I see sound bites on cable of various Mullahs, issuing Fatwahs declaring Jihad on America. For some reason, I'm not too scared. These guys are obviously squirrels. They have such flat affects and don't seem mentally sharp. They look like they smell bad. Nobody would dress like that or grow those scraggly beards on purpose. Does anybody really think that a bunch of Q'uiran reading couch potatoes, who haven't figured out the mechanics of a toothbrush, are going to successfully lead the Armies of Islam in the destruction of the Great Shaitan. I'm having a hard time with it.

The Iraqis do not have their shit together. The only stable thing about Iraq is the American presence. It's clear that if we left, the whole country would explode like a cheap pocketwatch with an overwound mainspring. What's even more amazing, is that everyone there seems eager for it to happen. They don't even hate us, they just want us to get out of the way while they dismantle the country back into it's tribal components. So why don't we leave and let them get on with it.

Are we really worried about Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon? Say they do make one. It will be low yield and weigh about as much as a main battle tank. How would they deliver this bomb, by donkey cart? Say they managed to blow up D.C. It would be a tragedy, all those historic monuments, museums and libraries gone. Otherwise, no great loss. I've always thought Vegas would make a good Capital, or maybe Orlando. Our brave governmental officials might not be missed much, but they wouldn't go into that long, dark night unavenged. Just imagine it, a 630,000 square mile skateboard park, paved with a smooth, durable glass finish. I'd go.

Did you guys see those neat publicity films put out by the feared Islamofacist terrorist organization Hezbollah, at the beginning of the recent hostilities in Lebanon. I did, and they were GREAT! First, it had them marching down some street in close order. They were all dressed up in tailored uniforms, bloused boots and silk scarves. Very colorful. Then they broke into some kind of flashy, disco duck, double time. Man, I been to boot camp and I learned to march but not like that! That must have taken a long time to get down right. Next, these guys were way up in the air, hanging on ropes, doing all of these graceful, choreographed, twirling moves. I think they call it Hezbobatics. It was way better than Cirque de Soleil. It was very clever of them to put those films out. Almost nobody noticed that they didn't do any fighting. None, zero, nada. Their entire strategy was to fire a bunch of rockets in the general direction of Israel and then cower in basements. Their only other strategic move was to herd a bunch of retarded children into a building they were sure the Israelis were going to shell, and then call in the press corps to report on the predictably grizzly aftermath, complete with the ubiquitous, but always effective, wailing crones. That won the war for them, right there. I"m so scared of these guys, it makes the piss run right down my leg.

Are you guys tired of those long waits at the airport boarding gates? Contracting nasty fungal infections standing around in your stocking feet, while they X-ray your shoes? Having to buy back that gold plated manicure kit in the cool lizard skin case on eBay after every business trip? Not being able to find your favorite brand of replacement toiletry items in a strange city? Are you still sore from that last cavity search? I am and I've about had enough of it. How does this sound? Everybody that gets on a plane, over the age of eighteen, gets offered a complimentary taser for the duration of the trip. The flight attendant gives instructions for it's operation right after those for the seatbelts, O2 masks and flotation devices. I'd take one. It might not be the perfect solution but you can only do so much.

This is not a war of class. This is not a war of states. This is not a war of political ideology. Armies are of no value. This is JIHAD! Islam wants us to understand their disdain for us and requires only one thing in return, FEAR!

HEAR ME NOW, MY AMERICAN BRETHREN AND SISTREN. We have things to do and a country to run. Fear is not productive. Safety is not an option. Civility and trust are for those that are trustworthy and civil in return. You need not tolerate threats or aggressive behavior, from anyone, for any reason. A civilized society need not be weak or effete. We must put away our petty differences. One American threatened is a threat to all. Do not fight this threat alone. Form alliances with your fellow Americans at every level of endeavor. Be vigilant. If you see a potential threat, communicate it and gather more information. If it requires action, you'll know what to do and you won't have to do it alone. I'll help, I swear it. There are others that will too.

Will he Buff up or Punk out

In the case of the ACLU vs. George Bush yesterday a federal judge ruled, that by circumventing the FISA court and implementing warrantless surveillance, the Bush administration violated both the constitution and civil law and has done so in thousands of cases over the last 5 years.

It has been made public that the Bush administration is introducing draft legislation to negate the War Crimes Act of 1996 and to make this negation retroactive to 2001. The War crimes Act allows members of the US armed forces who violate the articles of the Geneva Convention to be brought to trial in American courts by those who they commit violations against. This is a tacit admission that American troops have been committing war crimes since the first days in Afghanistan. It has been US armed forces policy to adhere to the Geneva Convention, regardless of the nature of the opponent, for more than 50 years.

The significance of this is not that some American soldiers are committing violations of the Geneva Convention and George Bush wants to take it easy on them. It has been the policy of the Bush administration, from the very first days of the "War on Terror", to ignore the Constitution of the United States, the Geneva Convention, the prerogatives of the other two branches of government or any duly authorized authority, other than his own. These are not the actions of a chief executive who values the continuance of the democratic tradition in the society that he leads. These are the subversive and nefarious machinations of a tyrant, seeking to esconse himself as absolute monarch in all but name.

George Bush knows that if the Democrats take over the House in the mid term elections, there will be a special prosecuter. If the Senate falls as well he will be impeached. The level of the animus toward Bush by the Democrats is such that they will put him on trial after impeachment and he will go to jail.

The only choice for Bush at this point is whether to attempt to maintain control through the midterm elections using electoral fraud, which has worked well for him so far, or to declare martial law with some trumped up state of emergency as the pretext, and start rounding up the opposition and quietly putting the fear of God into them. The only other option is just to lay down for hard time and I don't really see him doing that.

Calling on the Holy Trinity

We are losing the struggle in Afghanistan. Al-Quaeda is secure in it's mountain strong holds. The Taliban regains it's ideological control over the cities and towns. The Narco-Warlords, sensitive to the shift in power, have slipped the bonds of their American masters. They were able to beat us because they have a terrible and secret weapon, their own version of Rambo. A moribund, cadaverous, six foot, eight inch, Bedouin super hero, able to slip stealthily through the American patrols, amid the caves and mountain passes, trailing behind him several hundred pounds of dialysis equipment and it's attendant electrical generator and medical supplies. How can you catch a guy like that?

Iraq is like something out of a Mad Max movie. The Sunnis are killing the Shiia, the Shiia are killing the Sunnis. The Mullahs are ordering the deaths of grocers who arrange their produce in a provocative manner. The Iraqi government is sending out Ministry of the Interior death squads to disappear anyone who calls for a return to sanity. At this point very few Iraqi deaths are the result of the action of American troops, who are mostly just trying to stay out of the way. George Bush says we've turned the corner. Yeah, but what a corner.

The Israelis are pulling out of Lebanon. George Bush is declaring a victory over Hezbollah. Hezbollah is still in place. Their secret weapon turned out not to be Iranian rockets, but the stategic placement of retarded children and wailing crones. Who can beat something like that? The fallout is just beginning. In Israel, the ruling coalition government will probably fail. In Lebanon, I don't even want to speculate on the future. I don't think anybody does.

You would think that this would be enough mayhem in the Middle East, even for George Bush. You would be wrong, Even now he is planning to bomb the Iraqi nuclear research facilities. It will be happening soon.

Newt Gingrich is going around telling anyone who will listen, that World War III has already started. Since no Arab country has much in the way of a functional army, I'm a little unclear as to his meaning. The TSA would seem to have the real threat to our shores under control. X-ray those shoes, confiscate that breast milk, full cavity search for anybody that complains.

I saw some fat, blowhard evangelist on TV, talking about how these are the end times. He said that Armageddon is coming to the Middle East and only the return of Jesus will end the slaughter. He said we all better call on Jesus to come soon.

He can call on Jesus if he wants. I'm going for the whole hog. The Holy Trinity!

LARRY! MOE! CURLEY! COME ON DOWN HERE NOW! GW NEEDS YOUR HELP!

If It Quacks Like A Duck

George Bush is a pathetic figure. Except for the fact that he was born into a wealthy and influential family, he has little to recommend him. Public speaking, intellectual attainment, business acumen, manners and social graces, in any of these pursuits, he makes Charley Chaplin's little tramp appear the most sophisticated and accomplished gentleman. As he approaches the end of his sixth of eight years as President, opinion polls show little support. Even Republicans in rural Red State America are leaving his camp. His war is a quagmire. His economic reforms have driven the country deeply into debt. The Republican controlled Congress is threatening to grow a spine. The Supreme Court, even with conservative new appointees, balks at his usurpation of power. His cobbled together coalition of the dumb and dumber is falling apart.

So, ask yourself this question. Why isn't he worried? He's continuing on his merry way as if he has all the time he needs and not a worry in the world. You know what? He just might. He has reconfigured the Executive Branch to include a huge new entity called the Department of Homeland Security, largely free of oversight or constitutional constraint, and answering only to him. He has a large, well equipped, army, trained and ready to fight a war of urban insurrection. This is an army unlike any America has ever seen. It is not drawn from the broad skein of the fabric of America, and these soldiers are not looking to return to the civilian world any time soon. How hard would it be for him to declare a state of internal security crisis in America. Who would speak up if opposing voices started disappearing in the night. Who would dissent if elections were postponed during the state of emergency. When elections were resumed, who would run against the men who controlled the death squads.

Are you sure you know what a duck sounds like when it quacks. Maybe you better brush up. Before you find yourself squealing like a pig in some damp basement.

Fidel Castro, if he lives, will turn 80 this year...

Fidel Castro, if he lives, will turn 80 this year. There is no arguing that he has been one of the biggest thorns in the side of the United States for the last 50 years. We have tried to topple his government many times and achieved only embarrassment. I was in the 6th grade in 1962 and vividly remember preparing to die in a thermonuclear conflagration precipitated by the Cuban missile crisis. CIA plots to shoot, stab, poison and explode him have become the stuff of legend. That same agencies support of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, is still a painful reminder of Fidel's ability to make America appear foolishly inept.

In the 3rd World, especially in subsaharan Africa , Cuban and American irregular troops have led opposing factions against each other in a succession of bloody, inhumane wars. Wars denied by World leaders and ignored by the press. Wars that nobody won. Forgotten. Nobody wants to remember the Congo in '65 or Bolivia in '67 or Angola or Ethiopia or Chad. Nobody remembers a Congolese postal clerk named Patrice Lamumba or who Jonas Savimbi was. They remember a young expatriate Argentinean doctor, named Ernesto Gueverra but not the revolutions he died trying to foment. They remember when he came down from the mountains into Havana, dirty, bearded, wearing fatigues, smoking a big cigar, with Fidel.

Everybody remembers Fidel. They have no choice. He's still there, dirty, bearded, wearing fatigues, smoking a big cigar, leading his country, as he has been, for five decades. Like all leaders of his ilk, he is a megalomaniac. He believes not in his people, country or political creed but only in himself. Even though he has failed in all his efforts to modernize, industrialize and force Cuba to thrive, the people still love him. Why? Because he works hard and doesn't steal, attributes they know they're not likely to see again in a Cuban leader. While the cities are crumbling, they're clean. The crime rates are low. While there isn't much to share, it's shared equally. Cuba's literacy rate is higher than America's. It's healthcare system is low tech but available to all. There is not much opportunity for advancement and people still seek to leave the country, in droves, but compared to it's neighbors in the Caribbean community, it's not so bad.

I sympathize with the Cuban people. Capitalism wasn't working out for most of them 50 years ago when it ended. Communism hasn't been the panacea that they hoped it would be. George and Condi are eager to sell them the franchise, crying crocodile tears over the fact that Cuba is the only country left in the American community that is not yet a "democracy". George Bush actually believes that democracy is an economic system and that it will "cure" Cuba's problems. He also believes he's rich because he's real smart and works hard. I would hate to see Cuba become a democracy like Jamaica, the Dominican Republic or, God forbid, Haiti. I suspect many Cubans hope Fidel does live forever and things just go on as they are. That won't happen. Still, there's no reason to push Fidel into the grave prematurely. If America was really so concerned about the welfare of the Cuban people it might consider lifting the economic sanctions and easing the travel restrictions that they have imposed on Cuba for the last 47 years.

My Religion is the RIGHT Religion

You shall have dominion over the earth. Fill the earth with your progeny.

Accumulate more material wealth than you can ever use and consume as many resources as you can then afford. Fill the atmosphere with so much carbon dioxide that the Sun burns down like a furnace. Then pump in more, so that it's forced into the water, until the rain and rivers and seas become so acidic they burn and dissolve the life they were meant to nurture. God gave us dominion over the earth.

Gather in your churches and sing the songs and chant the prayers by rote. Listen to the clergy while they tell you that anybody that doesn't believe exactly the way you do is a threat to you, then send your children out to kill them and die themselves in the process. The unbelievers must be punished.

Avert your eyes from the hungry, they're too lazy to work. Shun the sick, disease is a punishment sent by God. Despise the foreigners, they aren't like us. Keep yourself among the righteous, lest you stray down the path of unrighteousness.

Give your gifts to the church, it will decide who is deserving of charity. Live your lives within the tenets of the church, anything else is sacrilege. God made us in his image and gave us dominion over the earth. Only God may judge the righteous. It is the duty of the righteous to judge and chastise the unrighteous. Harden your heart. Do not feel guilt for participating in the punishment of sinners.

Do not take responsibility for alterations in the environment. The song of the birds in the dawn is not a hymn of praise to the Lord, do not mourn their silence. Green leaves rustling in the summer breeze is not a prayer to the Lord, ignore it's absence. The only species that venerates the Lord is ours, others are of no consequence.

Birth control is an affront to the Lord. Abortion is murder. The Lord demands an eye for an eye. Fill the earth with your progeny. Gods will be done.

Our Friends in the Middle East

While war rages in Iraq and Lebanon and Islamic fundamentalist control returns to the narco-warlord riven zona libre that is Afghanistan, it sometimes seems that all of the other Islamic nations of the region are on the sidelines cheering on the home team and threatening to spill onto the field and join the fray. It's not true, we still have many "friends" in the Arab world. Friends who remain above the fray. Let us for a moment cast a comforting gaze upon them.

First we travel to the south, along the coast of the Arabian Sea, home of those countries known as the "Gulf States". Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, land of the bedouins. No Sunni/Shiia conflict here. These are the Wahabi Arabs, played so picaresquely by Alec, Anthony and Omar in everybody's favorite 1963 movie epic. They are to the Sunnis and Shiites as snake handling, tongue talking holyrollers are to Lutherans and Methodists. Public beheadings and mutilations are not done here for the benefit of CNN news crews, but routinely for violation of Sharia Law. There is no problem with separation of religious and civil authorities here, they are one and the same. Slavery is legal. Women are rarely allowed out of the house. We are assured they are moving toward democracy, just very, very slowly. These are the lands where most of the 9/11 perpetrators hail from and this is where the money comes from. We can fool ourselves into believing that the money to fund Jihad comes from Iran, Iraq or someplace else but that would be a fantasy. All the money comes from the Gulf states. They are truly the engine of Islam. This function is too important to compromise with violent conflict, "The oil must flow, Maud-Dhib". George W loves these guys, he wishes he was one.

Next we move to the mighty Nile and Egypt, cradle of civilization, a populous but poor nation, gripped by an austere socialist military dictatorship. Coptic Christians here are forced to live as virtual untouchables in an underground society, barred from public education or formal employment. The slave trade also flourishes. Genital mutilation of young girls among the devout is the rule. American financial aid and frequent annihilation of their military by the Israelis keep them quiet. Hatred for the West seethes just below the surface at every level of society.

Finally let us look at Turkey, that most Westernized of Islamic countries. They have lately been calling themselves "Europeans", claiming that ethnic and religious discrimination keep them from taking their place in the EU. America considers them one of it's staunchest allies. For many decades they have sent their sons and daughters to the west, to do the jobs "Europeans won't do", then refusing to go home when their contracts expire, sound familiar? Their host countries are too polite to force them out and it would be bad PR. It is interesting to note that the Turkish minorities are responsible for virtually all of the violent crime in Germany and Scandinavia, including the huge increase in rape, in the countries of Sweden and Norway, where it was almost a non-existent crime a decade ago. Turkey also continues to hold the northern half of the Island of Cyprus, which it took from Greece in order to "protect" the ethnic Turks in 1971. Conditions are so bad there that the ethnic Turks long ago voted to return to Greek control. The Greeks, wisely, refuse to take them back. Turkey continues to deny that the Armenian genocide, where essentially every one of the millions of Turkish Armenians were driven, with only the shirts on their backs, into the burning wastes of the Syrian desert and died of thirst, even happened. All traces of Armenian culture in Turkey have been carefully expunged. When pressed Turkish spokesmen state simply, "they all moved away".

These are the "good' Arab countries. The ones that remain on "our" side. Pretty inspiring.

A Requiem for Israel

If ever there was a missed opportunity for the residents of the Middle East, it is the way they have handled the formation of the Jewish state of Israel. From the very beginning, they have misjudged and mishandled the opportunities presented to them. It's not like the Jews descended on Palestine like a horde of blood thirsty barbarians intent on rape, pillage and enslavement. Let's look for a moment at the way things could have been for the Palestinians.

They could have had infrastructure. One of the first things the Jews did when they got to Palestine was get the utilities turned on. The basic improvements the Jews brought to the area are almost too embarrassingly numerous to list. Water, power, roads, communications, public sanitation, none of these things existed before the Jews. The difference that they make in the quality of life is staggering. Once the utilities are on, other opportunities present themselves.

They could have had agriculture. Goats, and a date palm, are not agriculture. The Israelis grow grain, fruit and vegetables. They produce meat and dairy products, they fish. More importantly, they process and package these things so that they can be transported to the people who consume them in a wholesome condition.

They could have had industry. The Israelis make stuff, in factories. Real stuff, not just rugs, a few hookahs, and the odd camel saddle. They produce pretty much every thing they need, from furniture to electronics to pharmaceuticals. Oh yeah, and weapons, they make their own weapons, they don't get them from the US, except for aircraft, which they modify extensively.

They could have had commerce. Israel produces enough that they are able to export large quantities for sale internationally. There is no oil in Palestine and a fellah's got to make a living.

They could have had tourism. Huge numbers of people spend astronomical amounts of money each year to vacation in Israel, inspite of the enmity, destruction and random killing that occur there daily. Go figure.

I'm still leaving out a lot of stuff. Healthcare. Education. Peace. The list goes on and on. Israel has offered to share everything they have with their neighbors all along the way. They still offer it today. That Israel even exists as a sovereign nation is due to Palestinian enmity. The UN would never have partitioned Palestine if not for the fighting that was initiated by the Palestinians at the close of World War II.

Israel won't disappear tomorrow. They're there and they're not going to leave. There is no place for them to go. So they will fight. They will fight to the last little child. Ultimately, they will use every weapon at their disposal and that's a lot of weapons. There's not going to be much left of the Middle East when it's over. Israel will Nuke them back into the seventh century. That was the century when they still had relevance, and it's the century where they want to be. So the Arabs will get their way after all.

Is That A Fork In The Road Commin' Up?

Five Jewish American ladies were shot yesterday in an office building in Seattle. A leader at the mosque attended by the 30 year old Palestinian-American who shot these women down in cold blood stated that he was a quiet loner with few friends. Now there's a line we've heard before. Turns out this guy works at the Hanford Nuclear Facility, with his father, and "many members of the areas Islamic community". These guys all presumably have gone through extensive background investigation, received security clearances and have been pronounced to be loyal Americans. Can anyone say "Dirty Bomb". The areas Islamic community is still actively involved in facilitating the immigration of numerous family members from the Middle East. Yes folks, that's right, we're still letting prospective terrorists legally become residents of this country.

Let me make it real clear. George Bush is not a good President. The Department of Homeland Security is not doing a good job. The Iraq War is not having any positive effect on the War on Terror. There are a billion and a half Muslims in the World. They all regard us as Infidels. We have been exposed to the true religion and have rejected it. We have taken hostile action against Islam and supported the enemies of Islam. Killing us is not only sin free, bonus points are awarded. The next sound you hear may be the ululating cry of a 13 year old female suicide bomber, as she crowds in next to you in line at the Baskin-Robbins. You have given up your Constitutional Rights to George Bush, but he didn't make you safer, did he?

It is time for us as a nation to stop lying to ourselves, and to stop listening to the lies of the politicians on the left and the right. Terrorists aren't coming to this country, they're already here, but you know what, they could be convinced to leave. If needed, our Armed Forces can help to "Normalize" relations with Islamic nations, but it won't have anything to do with making them "Democratic Members of the World Community". The dealer calls the game and the game is terror. You got to play out the hand. You can't let some snotty, retarded frat boy and his bullying friends change the rules to what they want. The Muslim World wants terror? Deal it out.

Anybody Home?

Mr President:

Three Years, many hundreds of billions of the tax dollars that Americans entrusted to you, thousands of American servicemen dead, tens of thousands more maimed, that's what Iraq has cost us so far. You have told us why we needed to unilaterally invade Iraq. In fact, you've told us several times, and each reason proved to be, in turn, untrue. The most recent of your increasingly weak justifications for the flushing away of American lives and resources, into the toilet that is Iraq, involves our need to establish it as a "Democratic Ally", upon which we can build a "New Era"of peace in the Middle East.

So, this week, President Maliki of the new democratic state of Iraq, comes to Washington, criticizes Israeli "Aggression" in Southern Lebanon and won't utter the slightest rebuke of the international Islamofascist terrorist organization, Hezbollah. What's the next reason you're going to use to justify the Iraqi invasion?

HELLO! GEORGE! DICK! KARL! ANYBODY HOME! HELLO!

What about Lebanon?

Mr. President:

Let's talk a little bit about Lebanon. Of all the countries in the Middle East, only one shows any promise as a potential outpost of secular democracy and that is Lebanon. The reason for this is that they have a tradition of religious and social tolerance.
The population is a rich mix of racial and religious diversity. It is the center of the Maronite Christiam community, one of the oldest Christian sects. It has long offered sanctuary to refugees of genocidal persecution from Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as the Middle East. It is because of this tolerance and diversity that they are not well loved by their neighbors. The use of Lebanon as a battleground with the Jews, by Hezbollah, is a win-win situation for them. When it's over and done with and Hezbollah retreats into the sanctuary of Syria, they will leave behind the smoking ruin of a country they care nothing about. The cost to them? A few thousand obsolete missiles, and an insignificant number of casualties. What do they gain? A huge propaganda victory and further polarization of the Muslim world against the US and Israel. This kind of action has tremendous popularity in the Muslim World. It offers encouragement and a template for success to Islamic liberation groups from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Philippines.

Here's the sad truth, intervention is futile. My advice, stay away. Much smarter and more well thought of American Presidents than you have tried and failed to change the dynamics of the Muslim world. You want to make a difference, there's only one way, kill them all. Every Taureg in the Atlas Mountains, every juvenile delinquent in the slums of Marseilles, every bare breasted Balinese maiden of them. The number I hear most often is 1.25 billion but it may be closer to 1.5. Have at 'em, Cowboy! What's wrong? All hat and no saddle?

A Confession to Make

Mr President:

I approach you today with a heavy heart. I have a confession to make. When I'm done I will have lost any respect I may ever have had with my fellow Americans, but I can no longer remain silent. I must speak the truth, no matter the cost. Jimmy Carter was my favorite President. I thought he did a great job and I still miss him.

Jimmy began his professional life, like many American boys from the Heartland, by joining the military. He went to sea as a submarine sailor and was, by all accounts, a very good one. Being a submariner marks you for life in ways that it's difficult for the rest of us to understand or accept. Submarines are the most complicated, nonautomated, troubleprone machines ever devised by man. While submarines are an exclusively military piece of technology, no Rambo types inhabit their claustrophobic compartments and passageways. Submariners apply themselves to the task of mastering their environment and doing their jobs with an intensity that is not normal. The honesty and blunt frankness that characterizes the communication between submarine sailors is not often appreciated by outsiders. Half a century ago, Jimmy learned the secret that few know and fewer will admit. It doesn't matter what God you pray to, how much money you have, what your race is, or your sexual preference. What's important is that a shipmate will stand to his station, and do his job, and do it right, when the battle lanterns come on, and the air goes bad, and the water comes in.

I always thought that most of Jimmy's problems as President were related to his time as a submariner. There was never a lot of rosy scenario propaganda coming out of his Whitehouse. He told the truth as he saw it. When the corporations that ran the mines, mills and factories in the area we now call the Rust Belt, shut them down and took production overseas, there wasn't much he could do about it, and he said so. Nobody liked that. Today, we pretend that we can keep the economy going forever by cleaning each others swimming pools, selling each other cheap Chinese goods, and printing more money. We all know it's a lie, but we don't talk about it.

America might not be the place it once was and while I sincerely hope it's not true, you might be the President we deserve . As for myself, I'd be more comfortable with a man like Jimmy Carter. A man who would stand to his station, and do his job, and do it right, when the battle lanterns come on, and the air goes bad, and the water comes in.

Thanks for listening Mr. President. Why don't you go downstairs and have them make you a drink. Hell, have two, and a couple of lines of coke. I know, you won't be worth shit in the morning, but you're really not worth shit anyway.

No Moral Equivalence

Mr. President:

UN Ambassador Bolton, while still not making any sense in his public utterances, is at least becoming a little more interesting. He seems to be fixated on the concept of moral equivalence and finds that there is none between the various groups of the slain, whose subsets make up the butchers bill for the "Global War on Terror". For example, take the groups of the dead on our side, about 3,000 each 9/11 victims and American servicemen. According to him there is no moral equivalence between them and any Iraqi dead, whether combatant or noncombatant and whether the combatants were engaged in jihadi or factional violence. Likewise, he finds there is no moral equivalence between Israeli casualties and Lebanese casualties, whether civilian, military or Hezbollah. The main significance of the dead, is, according to Mr. Bolton, that they are dead.

Let us leave aside for now the Israeli/Lebanese conflict and focus on our own "War on Terror". One of the main "Truths" about this war, that we hear over and over again from you and your various surrogate apologists, is that it's better to fight the "Axis of Evil" over there, than over here. Given the absence of moral equivalence, why? It's better to kill Muslims here in America. It's cheaper, easier, more fun, less dangerous and more effective than going to Iraq to do it. Let's face facts, no Iraqi ever carried out an act of terrorism against the US. Most of the terrorists involved in 9/11 were more or less permanent residents of the US. Admittedly, they weren't citizens, but these days, who is. Besides, the country they did come from, Saudi Arabia, is one of your most valued "allies". I tell you what. If we had been keeping a close eye on the Arabs in this country over the last couple of years and had killed 30,000 of them who were engaged in "suspicious activities", and had several thousand more locked up, it seems to me we'd be a lot safer than we are. The Arabs that were left would be a lot less surly and better behaved.

The more I think about it, the more I think this no moral equivalence thing might be the key to winning the war on terror.

CREEPY

Mr. President:

A lot of people are using the occasion of your impromptu backrub of the German Prime Minister, to call you creepy. Creepy, in my book, would would require perverted or unnatural motivations and that is clearly not the case. This behavior is loutish, and sexually inappropriate. To engage in this sort of behavior while huge numbers of the international press are watching through live feed video cameras, indicates extreme stupidity. You were just being you. If you had lifted up the front of her blouse and kissed her on the belly, that would have been creepy. So rest easy, you're not creepy.

Lebanon

Mr. President:

I'm sitting here, with the TV on, waiting to watch Israeli troops cross into Lebanon. It doesn't take a psychic to know that in a few days, the country will be in flaming ruins, for the I don't know how manyeth time in my memory. There will be the usual atrocities; death, dismemberment, and rape. Soon after that the starvation and disease will begin. In the end, what will be left, is what is there now, seething hatred. Hatred for the Israelis and hatred for us. Since you and your puppet minions have been largely silent about what's happening in Lebanon, I feel obligated to alert you to some facts of which you may not be aware.

This is going to come as a shock to you, so you may want to sit down. There is a relationship between the War on Terror that you valiantly embarked us on five years ago and the state of Israel. I know it seems crazy, but things aren't always as they seem; like with that weapons of mass destruction thing. It really isn't our freedom, democracy, way of life, and guiltless consumption of alcohol that makes Arabs despise us and want to fly planes into our most prominent edifices. Think about it, if that were the case, would so many of them come over here to run liquor stores in bad neighborhoods, where they sell whiskey by the shot, cigarettes by the each and condoms by the gross to passing junior high school students. Except when we constrain them from genitally mutilating their daughters, they like America just fine. It is our support of Israel that they're really mad about. That's been the problem the whole time!

The way it got started was like this. Back about the time you were born, we had a President named Truman. World War II was over in Europe but we were still fighting the Japanese. This was back before the time when we weren't allowed to kill "innocent" civilians. So, to avoid invading Japan and getting a lot of American soldiers killed, President Truman nuked some Japanese cities. A lot of people got killed and lot more got sick, so the Japanese gave up right away. Everybody was so happy the war was over, that they elected him to another term as President and gave him a lot of political capital. It was kind of like your re-election, only with him it wasn't all pretend.

At the same time that was happening. It turned out that over in Europe, the Germans had killed a lot of Jews. Nobody in Europe was very fond of the Germans during the war but nobody was very fond of the Jews at any time, so no one had kicked up much of a fuss. This situation made the Germans ashamed, the rest of the Europeans embarrassed and the Jews anxious about staying in Europe, in case it happened again. Everybody was pretty relieved when a lot of the Jews began to pack up and leave Europe. Can you guess where they went ? YUP, Israel.

Only in those days, it wasn't called Israel. It was called Palestine and it was full of Palestinians! Soon, there were so many Jews in Palestine that the Palestinians became very distressed. First there were hard feelings, then quarrels, then they were duking it out in the streets. Before anybody noticed, the Jews had formed their own government, smuggled in guns, and put together a fair sized army. The Palestinians got even more upset, because they didn't have any of these things. Palestine was a British "Protectorate". Britain was supposed to be administering the country, but they were tired, the Empire was threatening to fall apart, and Palestine was not a big producer. The whole thing came to a head when the Jews demanded to cut out a big piece of Palestine and have their own country.

Now we get back to Harry Truman and his political "Capital". Harry had no great regard for Jews and felt no guilt over the fact that so many of them had been killed by Germans. He could see the writing on the wall, though. With all those Jews in Palestine and more coming every day, if they got run out, there was only one place for them to go. That's right GW, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free." Harry figured we had all the Jews we needed in America. so he went over to the United Nations and got them to cut up Palestine. We pretty much ran the United Nations in those days, having traded Eastern Europe for it to Joe Stalin at Yalta. He used his political "Capital" to secure the support of the American people. He probably should have saved it for Korea.

Things have never been right in the Middle East since that time. The other Arab countries have never accepted Israel. Israel hasn't helped matters by kicking the shit out of them umpteen times and simultaneously turning their little rock pile into a garden spot and tourist mecca, with a standard of living about the same as Switzerland. Through it all, mostly because we're the ones that started the whole shitball rolling down hill, we've been Israel's friend, sometimes a reluctant friend but their only friend. That's why the Arabs give us a hard time.

So, you can see that we are not in a world wide war on terror, we are in the middle of a 60 year struggle between the Jews and the Arabs. It's true that the Arabs are very ethnocentric and they have issues with many nations of the West. There is also a huge demographic migration out of the Middle East and into Western Europe. No other country has the same issues with the Arab Block as we do, however. That's why we don't have any Allies in this War. If you're going to fight a War, at least take the time to figure out who you are fighting and why. It's not any mystery as to why we're not doing so hot in the "War on Terror". It's because you don't have a GODDAMN clue as to what's really going on. This should prove to people once and for all, that the next time we elect a President, it should be someone who doesn't think that the best use for the pages in history books is to WIPE HIS ASS.


The Israelis will punish the Arabs into temporary quiesence this time and next time and the time after that, but it's only a matter of time. You just have to look at the difference in numbers and in birthrates. Like the Goodbook says, "The race is not to the swift". Who knows, maybe you'll solve the problem George. Say, do you think the Israelis would be willing to relocate to a 20 mile wide strip along the Mexican border?

I've kept you up long enough, goodnight. Maybe Laura can bring you a glass of warm milk. No more than two ounces of whisky in it though, or you'll feel it in the morning and just want more.