Capitol Banter

He's All Done Growed Up

2007-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Shout out to Jeff! who has become a regular diarist at Kos.

Dude, you so rock the front page.

Shorter McJoan

2007-02-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

Senator Webb, will you allow your son to be the last man to die in Iraq?

Words

2006-07-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Talk to me:

"How can you say the invasion of Iraq was exactly the right thing to do to keep this country safe when it clearly was not, you god damn selfish arrogant vile loaf of stinking fascism?"

I think I'm in love.

An Open Letter To Peter Daou

2006-06-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Peter:

Please tell your new boss that it's equivocating bullshit like this that's pisses off voters like me -- a Democrat looking for some dogdamn leadership.

While she did not directly chastise Republicans for Congress' failure to increase the minimum wage, it was clear her criticism was directed at the GOP.

Clear to whom? The "Value Voters" Hillary's sucking up to so they'll vote for her in 08? Man, please.

Listen, voters on both sides of the political spectrum see right through Hillary's campaigning schtick; her cringe-inducing pandering for the 'religious' votes is as obvious to everyone as is the high hilarity of GW Bush "the cowboy."

For Clinton, it is a difficult tight rope to walk as she continues to talk openly on faith and religion without speaking directly about the controversial social issues.

Peter, trust me on this: Hillary's no Flying Wallenda.

But like Rothenberg, Green believes that Clinton does "have some religious credentials."

You see what I mean? Note the word "some" from the above statement. Nobody's fucking buying what she's selling. No. One.

Shorter: If Hillary doesn't get real, right the fuck now, mine is just one vote she won't receive Nov. 08.

All bestest,
Capitola

Flip Flop! Flip Flop!

2006-06-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Lieberman was against wacky lefties before he was for them.

What's that saying....about lipstick on a pig...

Go Ned!

Ain't Feelin' The Love

2006-06-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey Ho Ho

Holy Joe has got to GO!:

You might not know that some of Connecticut’s largest unions endorsed Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) on Tuesday night in his primary contest against businessman Ned Lamont. Not with some of the things they said about him.

“I hope that after this is over we can get Joe Lieberman, all of us, even the ones that get along greatly with Joe, and beat the s- - - out of him,” said Ken Delacruz, Metal Trades union, quoted by WTNH, the local ABC affiliate.

[snip]

Lieberman’s views, especially on Iraq, “will splatter our banner with the blood of innocent people,” said Bill Shortell, vice president of the Central Connecticut Labor Council. “No. No. We’ve got to go with Lamont.”

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

Oh For Fuck's Sake

2006-06-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

The White House is going ape shit about an article published in the NY Times because it makes them look like the crooks they are, but the White House had no problem spoon-feeding shit sandwiches to a hungry Judith Miller so that she could help them get their war on?

Give me a motherfucking break.

PS. Thank you O Snark Gods. Rush's LimpGate is the best laugh I've had in a long time.

Crashing The Crashing The Gate

2006-05-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

So last night I attended Kos's book signing at Tower Books here in Sacramento.

First off: Kos is as so many of his friends describe: friendly, funny, personable, informed, and looks twelve-years-old.

The crowd was standing room only, the tiny landmark bookstore packed with Kos's fans, all thrilled to be there to hear what Kos had to say about his and Jerome's book, about his experiences with the Democratic Party Establishment, how he thought Colbert's WHC's dinner schtick was "fuckin' funny", all glad to be there to hear Kos speak --

except one guy. One loud-mouthed pathologically-egotistical-democratic-party-establishment hack.

The hack stood next to me, behind the 4-5 rows of seated guests, holding his darling baby girl in front of him as he chastised Kos, er, spoke ... for a twisted sort of protection I suppose. Had he not had his child as sheild, I imagined he would have worn a T-Shirt with pictures of fuzzy puppies emblazoned on the front, for you see, the hack wanted everyone to believe he was 'sensitive to the issues', that he was 'one of us', 'speaking up on behalf of true progressives everywhere', only challenging Kos on Kos's turf because Kos wasn't giving his audience the straight party dope, which is to say Kos wasn't discussing the democratic party through rose-colored lenses. What was standing next to me last night folks, was a walking, talking, live-action real-time Concern Troll.

I'd heard about Concen Trolls, but I hadn't ever come into contact with one. If you don't know this type of person, they say things like:

"Trust the party establishment, they know best."
"Good things are happening in the party; don't be so negative or it'll hurt 'us'."
"Being angry won't do the party any good. "
"Blah Blah Play Nice Blah Blah."

On and on and on went the Concern Troll, about how he knows best, his 20 years' experience tells him he knows best, how we must support the establishment or be marginalized. Blah blah blah.

When Kos changed subjects, Concern Troll took his message to the guy to his right, annoying all of us in the back because all we could then hear was him blathering on about his vastly superior knowledge of what's best for the party until I, and several other attendees, gave him the evil eye that said STFU!, followed by a resounding shhhhhhh!

I've never shhhhhhhed anyone. But I fucking well did him. What an ego that guy had! So jealous of Kos. So wanting a packed bookstore of adoring fans of his own. Pathetic.

At one point, Concern Troll and Kos got into it because Conern Troll couldn't wrap his bald head around the difference between total votes and percentages -- back and forth they went, the tension between Kos and those in attendance and Concern Troll getting thicker by the nano-second -- until several folks finally said to Concern Troll, "you aren't getting it! Time to move on." Or as the woman seated in the last row, closest to me and Concern Troll said, "Are you done yet?"

And under his breath, Concern Troll said to the gentleman to his right: "I consider Markos a friend. He's just being a fucking asshole for his fans." Penis envy, anyone?

Aside from Concern Troll, it was a great event. Seeing Kos in person, hearing him talk about his and Jerome's experiences on the road while gathering the materials for the book, their meeting other progressives, his funny stories, was definitely worth the price of CTG.

As soon as I got home with my new book I did what any other political junkie would do.... I got on line and read one of my favorite blogs.

A Patriot Act

2006-05-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Liar!

Things That Make Me Want to Scream

2006-04-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Via Digby:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to have you here. I'm a first-year student in South Asia studies. My question is in regards to private military contractors. Uniform Code of Military Justice does not apply to these contractors in Iraq. I asked your Secretary of Defense a couple months ago what law governs their actions.

THE PRESIDENT: I was going to ask him. Go ahead. (Laughter.) Help. (Laughter.)

Q I was hoping your answer might be a little more specific. (Laughter.) Mr. Rumsfeld answered that Iraq has its own domestic laws which he assumed applied to those private military contractors. However, Iraq is clearly not currently capable of enforcing its laws, much less against -- over our American military contractors. I would submit to you that in this case, this is one case that privatization is not a solution. And, Mr. President, how do you propose to bring private military contractors under a system of law?

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that very much. I wasn't kidding -- (laughter.) I was going to -- I pick up the phone and say, Mr. Secretary, I've got an interesting question. (Laughter.) This is what delegation -- I don't mean to be dodging the question, although it's kind of convenient in this case, but never -- (laughter.) I really will -- I'm going to call the Secretary and say you brought up a very valid question, and what are we doing about it? That's how I work. I'm -- thanks. (Laughter.)

Comments JJF:

I saw the question from the student at Johns Hopkins on TV and the most shocking thing was the lack of seriousness with which it was received. Bush tried kidding about his absolute ignorance of the issue, which was shameful enough. By his attitude, you'd have thought they were talking about something completely insignificant like, say, the infield fly rule. But then the audience erupts in laughter, several times. Bush is about as inept as any president we've seen at being funny, his contempt for addressing any issue seriously is disgraceful, and people are laughing. Where in god's name do they get these people?...

Fuck if I know.

What HE said

2006-04-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Impeach!

In Neil We Trust.

Amen.

With Bells On

2006-04-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

Preznit.

Me.

Protest Sign.

Of Renewal and Unicorns

2006-04-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Shorter: Bush's presidency's fucked.

Too bad We the People are along for the ride.

Buckle up.

Best. Protest. Sign. Of the weekend.

2006-04-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Or....

Words to make a winger's ass pucker:

Today we march. Tomorrow we vote.

heh.

Brokeback Fristing

2006-04-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

VOLPAC's new slogan: Ya'll cum back now, ya hear?

Mr. Straight Talk...

2006-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

meets the Shut The Fuck up Express.

I love it.

After getting booed, heckled, and cursed, McCain sez:

"I can't tell you how much fun that was," he said.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

heh. Can't wait for his 08 road-show.

Spring Has Sprung

2006-04-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

December came and went.

Fitzmas sucked.

The WH scandals continue.

Bush is being Bush.

Russ rocks!

My boss is fucking my co-worker.

I wish I didn't know.

He lies to her.

Tells her he's mad for her.

His wife?

Shhhh.

Promises promises.

Always broken.

I'm thinking: The fallout's gonna be bad.

All I Want For Christmas

2005-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Is Rove's indictment.

Short of a last minute intervention by Rove’s attorney, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to ask a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say.

I've been a good girl, Fitzmas Claus, really, I have.

He's Dead Jim

2005-12-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

Tookie was executed this morning. Some on the left are upset by this, saying it's an outrage, the man had found redemption, his soul had been cleansed, death penalty bad.

I say good riddance. So long, Tookster.

Why?

Because Stanley Tookie Williams was a cold-blooded murderer.

So what if he found redemption in the decades he spent on death row, writing children's books like every other "celebrity" today. He had the time, unlike his victims.

Too bad Tookie didn't suck on the barrel of his shotgun and pull the trigger after he gunned down that 7-11 clerk for $120, or the three members of the Yang/Lin family for which Tookie netted a whopping $100; he would have saved California taxpayers a helluva lot of money, the families of his victims could have maybe found peace a long time ago, and Tookie could have spent the past couple decades begging his God for forgiveness instead of remaking himself into some sort of born-again, because in the end, his God is the highest court. It is He who will judge him, and no doubt did so in February and March, 1979.

Justice served.

Capitola Unplugged

2005-12-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hiya Banter babies.

Well, it's been crazy 'round RL the past few weeks. Remember that employee buy-out I crowed about in October/November? The one where I was gonna get to boss people around and double my paycheck? Kapoot. Over. Finished. Fucked. Why? My boss, the owner who was mentoring us in and him out, died.

Mr. B went from not feeling well, to being hospitalized, to dying, in four short weeks. Thus, no grand changing of the guards, no financial security, just condolences, a funeral, a last paycheck, hello unemployment. Merry fucking Christmas.

So what does a girl do when faced with impending debtdoom? Save, scrape, conserve every dime? Oh, hell no. She buys a new car! Whoohooo! Got me a silver 323ic BMW, and friends, let me tell you, it is smokin' hot. And I look gooooooood in it. Me me me me. It's all about me. Desperate times call for unrestrained spending. So there.

My resume hit the Architectural offices within a forty mile radius of my house, thrown from a plane in a well-coordinated spam -- I gotta eat in January! And then there's this nasty business of appeasing my mortgage lender.... but fuck it today, today I'm snackin' on condelence See's Candy, running errands, spending like I have a job... or a savings account that wasn't wiped clean by Roseville BMW, and awaiting Rove's indictment, because, sing it with me... it's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas, la la la la la.

A Quickie

2005-11-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

Freeway Bloggers rock.

Legalize Torture? Have a nice Uday.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Best. Smackdown. Ever.

2005-11-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

Murtha sticks a jackboot up Cheney ass:

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

Ouch.

Filet o'Bob

2005-11-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

The White House and its apologists/protectionists shoulda never fucked with the spooks. Now Big Joe Wilson's got Booby in his sights:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joseph Wilson, the husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, called on Thursday for an inquiry by The Washington Post into the conduct of journalist Bob Woodward, who repeatedly criticized the leak investigation without disclosing his own involvement.

"It certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. He was taking an advocacy position when he was a party to it," Wilson said.

Go Joe!

O Fitzmas Tree

2005-11-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

O Fitzmas tree
Much pleasure doth thou bring me
O Fitzmas tree, O Fitzmas tree
Much pleasure doth thou bring me

For every day the Fitzmas tree
Brings to us all both joy and glee
O Fitzmas tree, O Fitzmas tree
Your new grand jury pleases me

Can I get a hell YES!

Chuck Hagel (R-NE) Lets It Rip

2005-11-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

Pimpin' Raw:

"The Iraq war should not be debated in the United States on a partisan political platform," the Nebraska senator remarked. "This debases our country, trivializes the seriousness of war and cheapens the service and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. War is not a Republican or Democrat issue. The casualties of war are from both parties. The Bush Administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. Suggesting that to challenge or criticize policy is undermining and hurting our troops is not democracy nor what this country has stood for, for over 200 years. The Democrats have an obligation to challenge in a serious and responsible manner, offering solutions and alternatives to the Administration’s policies."

Chuck uses the "V" word:

"Vietnam was a national tragedy partly because Members of Congress failed their country, remained silent and lacked the courage to challenge the Administrations in power until it was too late," he added. "Some of us who went through that nightmare have an obligation to the 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam to not let that happen again. To question your government is not unpatriotic – to not question your government is unpatriotic. America owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices."

Take that Commander Codpiece.

Widdle Bushie Wushie Isn't Happywappy?

2005-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

Cry me a motherfucking river.

Fedora Boy reports:

The president’s reclusiveness in the face of relentless public scrutiny of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and White House leaks regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame has become so extreme that Mr. Bush has also reduced contact with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, administration sources said on the condition of anonymity.

“The atmosphere in the Oval Office has become unbearable,” a source said. “Even the family is split.”

INSIGHT: Sources close to the White House say that Mr. Bush has become isolated and feels betrayed by key officials in the wake of plunging domestic support, the continued insurgency in Iraq and the CIA-leak investigation that has resulted in the indictment and resignation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.

The sources said Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes.

So, Bush is Dickless. Tell us something we don't know!

Guttersnipe? Check.

2005-11-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

So Fallafel Bill wants San Francisco blown up. He wants Al Qaeda to kill every man, woman, and child living in San Francisco, and he wants my luxury top floor 1100 square foot condo with a view of the City by the Bay, my home away from home that is across from the Mark Hopkins Hotel and kitty-corner to The Fairmont Hotel, the one place on this planet nearest and dearest to my heart, blown to bits.

O’Reilly said “if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco.”

Now Fallafel Bill sez that far-left internet "smear" sites operated by guttersnipes who have the audacity to repeat his hate-speech will be going on a black-list he's establishing on billorielly.com (no linky for you, cocksucker).

We guttersnipes are going on Bill's big bad scary list.

Pick me, pick me!

Update: Taking a que from Hunter at Kos, here's the email I sent to Fallawful:

Dear Bill O'Reilly: Please oh pretty please put me on your Enemies List. It's "Capitola Banta" bitches!

Why do I want to be on your list? Because I think it'd be great for the GWOT if you had broken fluorescent lights shoved up your ass. USA! USA! USA!"

Thieves, Liars, and Bastards

2005-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Republicans. They attack Democrats for not having a plan to clean up the fucking mess Team Bush has made of Iraq, and when the Democrats DO present a plan, the thieving lying bastard Republicans take the Democrats' plan, edit out a paragraph that would hold Team Bush accountable to Congress, and pass the Plan off as their own.

Republicans largely adopted a Democratic-offered proposal as their own, but omitted one paragraph calling for the president to offer a plan for a phased withdrawal of the roughly 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq.

Will this be reported by the Talking Heads? I'm not holding my breath.

I watched John Fund on that bi'atch Paula Zahn's show last night, and my blood pressure went through the roof. Lie after lie after spin after spin from Fund's mouth, aided by that insipid cunt repeating the GOP talking points, both talking over the Democratic guest who could barely get a word in edge-wise. It was disgusting to watch. With everything we in the reality-based community know, all of Team Bush's lies and spin exposed, the blood of thousands of innocents on Bush's hands, STILL we're lied to, marginalized, mocked, talked over, and have our good ideas and solid plans claimed by the people we're against. Unfuckingbelievable.

And what of Bush. He attacks 70% of Americans from the safety of military bases and Air Force One? Calling US weak? Fucking pussy. Think he'll ever again hold a press conference? Me neither.

FUCK!

White House Jenga

2005-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Fun for the whole family.

Step One: Take series of lies and expose them (slowly) to the world. Hold breath and wait.
Step two: Take turns repeating step one until White House wiggles, wobbles, and finally comes crashing down. The last one to kick Team Bush when they're down is the next POTUS.

Merry Fitzmas. Let the Jenga bells ring.

Donald Rumsfeld Is Batshit Crazy

2005-11-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

Seriously. The Pentagon's No. 1 man is certifiably insane.

According to Rumsfailed, the Gitmo prisoners aren't on a hunger strike, they're on a diet.

"There are a number of people who go on a diet where they don't eat for a period and then go off of it at some point. And then they rotate and other people do that."

And his role in TreasonGate? Why, it's just like the kids' card game Go Fish.

"How would I know if I ever spoke about it with the vice president over five years?" Rusmfeld said at a Pentagon press conference Tuesday. "I don't recall speaking with him about it, and I don't recall the department being involved. Is it possible? I mean, my goodness, that's -- that question is such a -- it's -- what is that game? Fish. Give me all your sevens or something. I mean, that's not for me."

See what I mean? Batshitfuckinginsano.

Someone, please, get the hook!

Gummer

2005-10-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

That's Tom DeLay's Prison Bitch Name.

Going to prison soon? Wondering what it will be like? Or perhaps it's just time for a new nickname? Well, you've come to the right place! Simply enter your first and last name in the form below and click Submit. And remember... DON'T DROP THE SOAP

Lewis Libby = The Wanker

Typed in Bill O'Reilly for fun ... "Cream of Meat."

heh.

Submit, Bitches!

Answer: Not much

2005-10-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Question: How much longer will Scott McClellan be able to respond to questions about the CIA leak investigation, by answering "...not going to comment any further on an ongoing investigation."

First Gaggle question of the day:

Q Scott, did the President talk to Karl Rove two years ago about the leak?

heh.

Bush-League

2005-10-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

So in the White House's effort to discredit Joe Wilson, Bush was mad at Karl -- not for engaging in treasonous acts, Dear Reader, but for handling ...

...it in a ham-handed and bush-league way."

In Bushworld, it's okay to commit a crime, but it's not okay to get caught.

Up is down, black is white, war is peace...

Ooooooooo

2005-10-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Big Time's in big time trouble. He was in on IT.

I'm wordless.

Stunned.

Cheney!

One to go.

Be Still My Heart

2005-10-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Call me partisian, but anticipating Tom DeLay's mug shot makes me absofuckinglutely giddy.

"You are bidding on a mistake"

2005-10-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Friday funny via Hoffmania.

Frog March, Please

2005-10-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Armstrong Williams: A White House shill and a fraud.

Investigators at the Education Department have contacted the U.S. attorney's office regarding the Bush administration's hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams to promote its agenda.

The action was disclosed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who has pressed for a criminal fraud investigation focused on questions about whether Williams actually performed the work cited in his monthly reports to the Education Department.

Last month, congressional auditors concluded that the Education Department had engaged in illegal "covert propaganda" by hiring Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind Act without requiring him to disclose that he was being paid.

In an Oct. 6 letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Lautenberg and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said questions of fraud remained. Lautenberg also asked the Education Department's Office of Inspector General to more fully investigate the contract. The inspector general's office told Lautenberg in a letter released Friday that it was working with the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia.

"It's bad enough the administration bribed a journalist to promote their policies, but now it looks like taxpayer dollars were handed over for work that was never done," said Lautenberg.

Williams, a conservative black commentator, was paid to produce ads promoting the education program, and to provide media time to department officials and persuade other blacks in the media to discuss the law. GAO auditors could not find the work Williams listed or could not connect the work they found to his contract.

Williams' spokeswoman Shirley Dave said the commentator had not been informed about the latest development and had no comment.

Busted.

Testy Testy 1, 2, 3

2005-10-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Testy.

The Gaggler's are chowin' down on grilled Scottie. Go. Read. It'll do a reality-based heart good.

Big Al in 08?

2005-10-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

Washington Whispers sez word on The Hill It's Gore Time.

He had my vote in 00. He'd have it again in 08.

Ain't no way I'm voting for Hillary. I'll go green first.

Ha Ha

2005-10-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Melanie Morgan got canned.

heh.

"la la la la I can't hear you"

2005-09-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Gaggle-me-This:

Q Does that answer suggest the President just puts his hands over his eyes and over his ears and doesn't pay attention to what is going on in this town?

Ouch!

MR. McCLELLAN: No, absolutely not.

Q Well, then what about --

MR. McCLELLAN: What's going on in Washington is different from what may be going on in America. I know Washington --

Q Okay, in America, the President's political standing is significantly eroded; --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on. I'll come to you -- hang on, hang on --

Q -- one of the top Republicans in Congress is now under indictment; you've got the top Republican in the Senate who is under investigation; you've got a leak probe of this White House's activities of releasing secrets. These are difficult days, are they not, for the Republican Party? How does the President assess it; does he worry about it?

MR. McCLELLAN: These are days of important progress for the American people because we're pushing ahead on the priorities that they are most concerned about. The American people are most concerned about making sure that we win the war on terrorism and that we succeed in Iraq, and that we address the issue of high energy prices. And they're most concerned about making sure that the people who have been affected by these hurricanes are taken care of. And those are the priorities that this President is focused on.

There are other priorities, as well, and we continue to move forward on them. But I don't think you can take just a few instances, or a few matters, like you're bringing up, and make broad characterizations. The President isn't one who gets caught up in the weekly polls that go on in this town, or all the focus on who's up, who's down in Washington, D.C. He's focused on solving problems for the American people, and that's what he'll continue to do.

Q Easy for him to do. What about congressional Republicans who have to face voters?

06 elections? Bring. Them. On.

Imagine what will happen if We the People take back the House and Senate. Oh, the investigations! Oh, the IMPEACHMENT!

heh.

El Presidente!

2005-09-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Yes. It happened. The employee buy-out occured and I'm now a business owner with all the bells and whistles and headaches associated therewith. Woohoo!

This is the first time today that I've had to surf the Internets and what did I see the moment Yahoo's homepage popped up?

TOM DELAY'S BEEN INDICTED!!!!

Man, that felt good to write. May that fucking bastard be found guilty so his sorry ass can rot in prison, when it isn't being loved by a bigger, stronger inmate.

Rants may be a bit sporadic around here, but as always, I appreciate everyone who drops by and shouts out -- or lurks (I know you're out there), and hope that you'll continue to visit as I get my wits about me during this transitional period.

You, Dear Reader, are the bestest!

Serenity Now!

2005-09-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Okay. My purse was safe. My job? Who the fuck knows! I've gone from frantic worry, to stressful action, to where I find myself today: numb.

Come what may and all that shit.

Here's something to curl your toes ... Benator? Just stick forks in my eyes and be done with it, k?

Here's something to curl your stomach ... Let loose the hounds of hell.

And as we all know by know, Heckuva Job Brownie's ba'aaack. Shocked?! Me neither.

Times Like These

2005-09-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

So this week I've gone from employee working stiff to organizer of an employee buy-out of the company that has employed me these past five years -- a fuck of a week of sleepless nights and endless days of number crunching, negotiations, round and round and round and round and this afternoon, over a power lunch that ended with all parties STILL not in agreement and time running short and people's patience even shorter, I leave the restaurant without my purse.

Without my purse that has my ID.
Without my purse that has my ATM card.
Without my purse that has my credit cards.
Without my purse that has my car keys.
Without my purse that has my HOUSE keys.

FUCK!

I don't realize this disaster until it's time to go home, an hour and a half after the restaurant had closed.

FUCK! FUCK!

I get my mom to pick me up and get me in my house since she has a spare key, tracking her down a nightmare on top of my unfolding nightmare ... I get home.... no wine.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

The restaurant opens at 6a.m. It's a breakfast/lunch place. Will know by 6:05a.m.ish if all will be well or if the pain continues ... dmv for new license... cancel credit cards... order new atm card....keys...

Wish me luck.

It's Fun!

2005-09-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Watch Bow-tie Boy get handed his ass by Bill Maher. Here's some scraps from the transcript:

CARLSON: So in other words, anytime something bad happens to people, the federal government...

MAHER: No.

CARLSON: ... has a moral obligation to come rescue them and rebuild what they lost?

MAHER: Of course not. That's not what I am saying at all. I am saying in this case, let's be clear. There is a FEMA. And they are supposed to respond and they didn't.

Now, if we want to have a new sort of America where there isn't such a safety net, where there doesn't exist a FEMA, and people can't expect that kind of help, that's a different story.

But you know, as you heard from down there, they expected the cavalry to come, and they never showed up, because, once again, the president was on vacation. We couldn't interrupt that.

You know, I thought he had set a new standard after—on the day of 9/11, when he sat there for seven minutes. But obviously, he improved on his own record, and this time, he sat for four days.

CARLSON: Wait, I know people will never be convinced that Bush is not a right wing crazy, but just consider what he said in the last couple of days. We're going to spend at least $100 million, probably I would say $200 billion to rebuild this.

MAHER: Right.

CARLSON: He's come out for affirmative action. He said in his speech the other night that he thinks that poverty—or racism causes poverty. These are all liberal ideas. He is behaving like Lyndon Johnson. When at some point are liberals going to say, this guy is not a conservative, after all, he is talking like us?

MAHER: I don't think he has ever been a conservative. I don't know why you guys ever were so strong for him to begin with. He's obviously...

CARLSON: You guys, I never was.

MAHER: ... not up to—You never liked George Bush?

CARLSON: Yes, I always liked him, still like him now personally, I think he is a totally charming guy, but I never, ever thought, day one, 1999, that he was conservative. I never felt that.

MAHER: Right. Well, I mean, Bill Clinton was a charming guy too, and I seem to remember you going after him a lot more than you've gone after George Bush.

And doesn't Bill Clinton look a little better these days?

CARLSON: He looks worse.

MAHER: Don't you feel a little silly? Bill Clinton looks worse?

CARLSON: You have got to be kidding.

MAHER: Give me a break.

CARLSON: Clinton comes out the other day—Clinton comes out the other day and says, A, you shouldn't have gone into Iraq. Wait a second, he was for Iraq. He and his wife both supported the war. Now they're second guessing it and pretending...

MAHER: They didn't support the war. Excuse me.

CARLSON: Yes.

MAHER: They supported—they supported a resolution that said as a last resort, we are going to give you, Sheriff George Bush, a badge and a gun. That's not saying we want you to go in there blasting at the first sign of trouble.

But we're just talking about the hurricane. You can't really deny that under Clinton, FEMA was in a much better situation, that he didn't appoint somebody's college roommate, and this is after 9/11, to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

I understand that all politicians appoint their cronies to certain positions, but this isn't the ambassadorship to San Marino or Liechtenstein. It's the Federal Emergency Management Agency. You don't think that's a smoking gun for George Bush's administration?

CARLSON: I think it's totally negligent. I mean, some guy, who was, you know, the Arabian horse breeder lobbyist, absolutely. But my question · still, I think there's blame to go around.

MAHER: But don't you feel...

CARLSON: Why during the Clinton years weren't those levees shored up? I don't know. What else was FEMA doing? You know what I mean. There were no major emergencies. There weren't you know, major emergencies like this.

MAHER: It's not FEMA's job to shore up the levees. It's FEMA's job when the hurricane hits, as you well know. But, you know, that is local politics, and as I said, they deserve a lot of blame too.

CARLSON: Almost aesthetic level, aren't you repulsed by Clinton's never ending self-righteousness? The other day, over the weekend, he says essentially, I would have done a better job responding to Katrina because I am a better person, great guy, look at me, great administration. Doesn't the constant bragging make you want to throw up?

MAHER: You know what makes me want to throw up, seeing dead bodies floating in New Orleans, that makes me want to throw up.

CARLSON: Yes.

MAHER: That kind of stuff—that would not have happened under Bill Clinton. You can't tell me that you think that FEMA would have not been a completely different agency and that Clinton would have been all over this situation from minute one like white on rice.

You don't think that's who Bill Clinton is? He would not have slept from the moment this hurricane started to hit until we could do the best we could with the situation.

You're angry at his self-righteousness at a time when there are hundreds and hundreds of dead bodies that are on the tab of George Bush? Why don't you focus your anger on the guy who really deserves it?

CARLSON: Night after night after night my anger has been focused on the local, state, and federal authorities who allowed this tragedy to happen. Merely pointing out that Bill Clinton's opportunity to say something to America, devolves as usual into another, “Look at me, aren't I'm a great guy,” lecture. And it just makes me want to throw up. My only point.

MAHER: I'll hold the bag for you.

Better make it a Hefty, Bill. Tucker's got a of spew.

Work Sucks

2005-09-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days? You know the kind of day I'm talking about, where every single thing you try to accomplish just gets more complicated at every turn? One can o'worms after the next.

Damn!

Been reading the news in between shots of vodka and project job costing that's waaaayyyy over budget, and I gotta say, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH OUR DEMOCRATIC LEADERS?!

*hiccup*

Where's our Karl Rove? The one guy everyone in their party fears for one reason or another, the guy with the blackest eyes and coldest heart and super secrets that one look from him whips 'leaders' into bots who'll repeat party line come hell or Katrina or truth or fact?

Message discipline, people!

Why oh why is it so hard for Democrats to find a message and stick with it? Too complicated? Here's one for those message-challenged 'leaders' to parrot ad naseum:

Republicans are evildoers.

See? That's not so hard.

Makin' Noise

2005-09-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

PHAT John Edwards is on the radar, here

The former senator -- who was tapped by Kerry to be his running mate last year and, like Kerry, is contemplating a 2008 presidential run -- said the administration has long favored wealth over work. He criticized Bush for suspending a law requiring federal contractors along the Gulf Coast to pay prevailing wages on reconstruction projects.

"I might have missed something, but I don't think the president ever talked about putting a cap on the salaries of the CEOs of Halliburton and the other companies . . . who are getting all these contracts," he said in a speech at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. "This president, who never met an earmark he wouldn't approve or a millionaire's tax cut he wouldn't promote, decided to slash wages for the least of us and the most vulnerable."

And here

Along with MSNBC's Tom Curry, CNN's Jackie Schechner, the NYT's Matt Bai and a sprinkling of party operatives and interest group reps, The Note attended a regular meeting of the Internet Left at Townhouse Tavern in Dupont Circle on Sunday. Here is what we took away:

1. Mike Huckabee instills fear.

2. Hillary Clinton provokes scorn.

3. Russ Feingold inspires passion.

4. And John Edwards' early focus on poverty — coupled with Elizabeth Edwards' statement of support for Cindy Sheehan — is getting him a second look from this crowd.

Mike who? Ditto that, Hillary. Russ, darling of the grassroots!

And then there's John. I wonder how he'll play out the next three years....out of political office but in the political spotlight...can he make a go of it in 08?

Helen Thomas vs. Scott McClellan

2005-09-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

She's got him by the short curlies and she isn't letting go.

The rest of the Gagglers are picking Scott's bones. Me thinks soon he'll announce the desire to spend more time with his family.

Busted

2005-09-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

False statements, obstruction...

David Safavian, who oversees $300 billion of annual federal purchasing as director of the Office of Procurement Policy of the Department of Management and Budget, has been arrested for three charges relating to obstruction of a GSA-OIG investigation.

[snip]

Though indictments for criminal misdoings are not uncommon, the physical arrest of an administration official is rare.

The frog-marching has begun!

The Katrina Administration

2005-09-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

by John Kerry.

Gonna take a lot more kick-ass name-taking hit-em-with-the-chair words and actions to get Mr. Kerry back in my voting good graces.

A. Lot. More.

But I'm listening.

Update: RNC responds:

“John Kerry's attacks on President Bush's efforts to assist the victims and rebuild the Gulf Coast don't come as a surprise - armchair quarterbacking on tough issues has never been a problem for Senator Kerry. Such tactics haven’t served him well in the past and today is no exception. The American people have pulled together during a difficult time and Democrats’ efforts to politicize this tragedy are unsavory at best.”

*snicker*

What The Fuck

2005-09-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Is this We shit?

“We have never taken this operation seriously enough,” says a retired senior military official with experience in Iraq. “We have never provided enough troops. We have never provided enough equipment, or the right kind of equipment. We have never worked the intelligence part of the war in a serious, sustained fashion. We have failed the Iraqi people, and we have failed our troops.”

No. You never took the operation seriously, or You would have stood down when Bush stood up pre-emptively. You failed the Iraqi people. You failed our troops.

You.

And every single Bush supporter and apoligist failed. Got that? YOU failed. So cut this We business. I know bullshit when I see it. There's no blood on my hands. It's all Yours.

Oh, and memo to Time Magazine: Care to apologize for your fawning George W. Bush Man of the Year cover?

Fuckers.

Developing....UPDATE: Developed

2005-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Via Raw Story:

Document intended for Rove arrives on Democrat's fax....

If RS has been tipped, the doc's gotta be (hopefully) damaging or embarrassing. What could it be? More behind the scenes talking points?

This inquiring mind wants to know.

Updated. The memo's about Immigration.

I thought Team Bush didn't care about polls? Yeah. Right.

Understatement If Ever There Was One

2005-09-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Via the War Room:

George W. Bush, talking today about the work he can still accomplish with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "We do have three more years, which I've found out is a long period of time."

Laugh or cry. I post. You decide.

Know When To Hold 'Em

2005-09-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

No, no, I'm not talking about Condi holding Bush's wee wee while he goes pee pee, David Mamet, who penned one of YT's favorite plays, Glengarry Glen Ross, is talking about Democrats being the Poker Party:

In poker, one must have courage: the courage to bet, to back one's convictions, one's intuitions, one's understanding. There can be no victory without courage. The successful player must be willing to wager on likelihoods. Should he wait for absolutely risk-free certainty, he will win nothing, regardless of the cards he is dealt.

For example, take a player who has never acted with initiative — he has never raised, merely called. Now, at the end of the evening, he is dealt a royal flush. The hand, per se, is unbeatable, but the passive player has never acted aggressively; his current bet (on the sure thing) will signal to the other players that his hand is unbeatable, and they will fold.

His patient, passive quest for certainty has won nothing.

The Democrats, similarly, in their quest for a strategy that would alienate no voters, have given away the store, and they have given away the country.

Call, raise, or fold.

I say call the Reichwing's bluff. Raise the chair upside their heads. Fold them over the couch and shove accountability straight up their a$$e$.

Just sayin'.

Crackity Crack

2005-09-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

As I listened to Bush's speech last night ... okay, listened isn't entirely true as I had to mute the tv here and there cuz it's just too fucking painful to hear Bush yammer on for longer than a few minutes at a stretch (and what's with the jaw grind thing? Is he back on Cocaine? We know he's insincere, but .... any body language specialists out there care to enlighten -- what's a jaw grind mean?) I had to wonder how his winger base would react to what amounted to a very LBJish / liberal position -- $200 billion to feed, house, clothe, medicate, the poor? The poor?! Blacks?!!!!! I thought, Damn, the Freepies are going to flippie -- they went bonkers last week over the $2000 debit cards for Katrina's victims, how in the fuck are they going to stand by their man as he doles out billions of dollars to those people?

Some aren't. As Salon notes, there's cracks in the Bush foundation:

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn -- last seen working a crossword puzzle during the confirmation hearings for John G. Roberts -- bristled at Bush's plan for a $200 billion reconstruction effort. "I don't believe that everything that should happen in Louisiana should be paid for by the rest of the country," Coburn told the Times. "I believe there are certain responsibilities that are due the people of Louisiana." South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint chimed in that "throwing more and more money without accountability . . . is not going to solve the problem."

[snip]

Why are Republicans, who have spent the better part of five years marching in lockstep with their president, suddenly going sideways on him? Part of it is the president's unpopularity, and part of it is that Bush is -- relatively speaking -- a short-timer. He needs to put on a big show of helping the Gulf Coast to recover from his stumbling performance in the early days of the disaster, but he'll be enjoying his retirement on Trent Lott's new porch by the time the bill comes due. Members of Congress will have to deal with the financial ramifications down the line -- especially if they ignore them now -- and they aren't necessarily happy about picking up the tab then to get Bush out of a jam now. As one senior House Republican official tells the Times, "We are not sure he knows what he is getting into."

Oh, Bush knows, and like always, he doesn't give a fuck. He is the say-whatever-do-whatever-to-save-his-political-ass-guy -- the neocon's puppet -- short-timing to save face until his tour is up and he gets to go home and clear brush in 105 degree heat -- Home.

I've a feeling those GOP Congresscritters who are pulling back now are going to widen the distance between themselves and the WH every day that the 06 elections draw near. Don't you?

He's Insane

2005-09-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

And getting batshit crazier by the day.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - John Bolton's reputation as a difficult diplomat gave his boss, U.S. President George W. Bush, an opportunity to tease the new American ambassador to the United Nations.

"How's he doing? Has the place blown up?" Bush asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the president and Bolton arrived at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday for a world summit.

The president's jest was captured on videotape by a U.N. television crew.

Joking about the UN being blown up? Yeah, that's real fucking funny, Mr. Pretzeldent.

Oh Yeah Sure

2005-09-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Plenty of purified bottled water for Bubble boy. FEMA's doing a heckuva job!

Stretch Yawn

2005-09-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

I'm back. Well rested. Head cleared. Claws sharpened.

So wazzup?!

I see widdle Bushie wushie needs a go potty, yes he does.

I see dumb people.

I see a chickenshit coward behind the newspaper.

Iraq's still outa control. New Orleans is still gone. Bush's approval's at 40% in the brownshirt WSJ poll -- their lowest for him ever so you know it's bad on the Hill.

And I still hate Bush and his ass face.

Ah yesssssss, there's no place like home...there's no place like home....

Parting Shot

2005-09-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Drudge:

Eyewitness: Sec of State Condi Rice laughs it up at 'Spamalot' while Gulf Coast lays in tatters. Theater goers on New York' City's Great White Way were shocked to see the President's former National Security Advisor at the Monty Python farce last night -- as the rest of the cabinet responds to Hurricane Katrina...

Her father must be rolling over in his grave.

UnFuckingBelievable

2005-09-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm spent, Dear Reader. My bags are packed, I'm ready to go, I'm heading where the days are long and the Margaritas strong. Viva Mexico.

When my anger reaches fever pitch, when I find myself at a loss for words because the sheer unfuckingbelievabilty of current events is too much to process, when I feel like B, buried alive, fists punching through a plywood casket to claw and scrape my way out of a suffocating nightmare, it's time to check out of the US, log off, drink liberally, and regroup before I go postal.

What made me book a flight? Bush's appearance today on GMA. From Echidneofthesnakes:

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

And Diane Sawyer let him get away with it. That bitch let him lie, right to her face. Even as people, innocent children! are dying.

The Editorialists at the NYT are Waiting for a Leader. The Editorialists around the US have awakened to the failure of leadership -- the US is a leaderless nation -- and unless some elected official -- hello? any Democrat out there have a spine?! -- steps up to save us, We the People will continue to be stepped on and stepped over by a remorseless, unaccountable Bush Administration.

Blonde nod to the sweaty hunk for Echidneofthesnakes' post.

I'll be reading my favorite blogs here and here and here and all along the sidebar, from the computer area on the first floor of the Hotel la Posada Freeman, playa sul, Mazatlan. Thanks for keeping up the good fight.

See ya in two weeks.

Peace, out.

Devestation Overload

2005-08-31T08:06:00.000-07:00

So last night I was watching CNN's Aaron Brown interview a reporter we've all seen a million times but his name escapes me now, at the Pentagon, and Aaron asked the reporter about the MIA national guards -- why aren't they performing disaster relief, brining order to the city, etc., where ARE THEY? And this reporter actually said, "Well, you know, they're on their way, there isn't really much they can do at this point, they can't just, you know, go in to New Orleans and Mississippi, it's not like those places are foreign countries."

I kid you not.

I went to CNN.com to look for the transcript but didn't find it, cuz I got hung up on these headlines:

• Mississippi expects heavy death toll
• 'It's like being in a Third World country'
• Biloxi: We swam among floating cars
• Mayor blasts failure to patch levees
• Tensions rising in New Orleans
• States struggle with destruction
• Bush may visit hurricane sites
• Hospitals founder in Katrina flood

The AP is now reporting that the Pentagon is mobilizing "possibly an unprecedented rescue-and-relief mission for areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina."

Better late than never... Why does Donald Rumsfeld hate America?

He Proved A Good Prophet

2005-08-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

And I'm very, very sorry.

Via Raw Story and spreading through the blogesphere like a California wildfire, a soldier's blog post:

Posted on 2005.08.13 at 10:25
Current Mood: EEEARRGH!
Current Music: FUCK! my mp3 player is out o juice.

MotherFucker.

I'm back home.

Mahmudijah.

The Mahm.

St. Michael.

What have you.

My truck, which I left here in good working order, is destroyed mostly.

The insurgency is on the rise in our area, with a most impressive coordinated assault on one of my sister FOBs (St. Joe) under their belt. Apparently they have enough folks and sophistication in my back yard where they can simultaneously place accurate mortar rounds on three seperate locations (at least 30k apart) to tie up any ground mounted quick reaction forces, as well as offer up multiple RPG strikes on the guard towers at Joe. These RPG attacks really bring out the QRF who face their own ambush as they come out the gate, at least 12 insurgents occupying buildings with an overwatch position to Joe's only entrance armed with more rpg's and small arms. The only possible responses are tanks or Apaches. Luckily we have both on call. 12 dead insurgents, destroyed buildings, a compromised FOB, sustained, accurate and unaswered indirect fire and lots o unanswered questions later... I'm here.

What the fuck has my chain of command been doing? We were winning somewhat when I left. And now we're being pinned down in our own fucking homes? Insurgents are pushing locals out of their homes and taking over my area at will? What kind of fucktarded plan have we been half-assedly executing? Obviously the kind that neglects sound contact with locals. Obviously the kind that gives further distance to unbridged gaps between soldiers and locals. Obviously the kind that has shown enough weakness when confronted by the insugency that it has been encouraged to grow.

Back home (the USA kind) I have no home, no job, and my commander in chief is on vacation (he's about 20 days behind Ronald Reagan right now in the race to become the most vacationing president ever. Hey W! we all got our fingers crossed! Here's to you and two more years of presidency...er vacationing!). Luckily pretty much everything that is important to me can fit into the back of a truck. Luckily I just paid off one of those.

In their fear to build relationships and get out of their hiding holes the FOBbits above me have fucked my friends and I.

We've just completed the first 1/4 of our tour. we've sent 4 of 24 members of this platoon home with injuries.

Thankfully we're not like another who has sent 8 home in body bags...but we got 9 months to go.

Stay true lambs,
REV

Sgt. Thomas Strickland, 27, died two days later.

Fun With The Freepies

2005-08-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Or, When Freepers Heads Explode

Better still.... When Wingnuts Eat Their Own

Sacramento Radio Winger Eric Hogue dissed his fellow Sactown Wingers Move America Backward, er, Forward for their stupid fucking bus trip to Crawford last weekend (What do we want? War! How many dead? Who cares!), calling the move "another attention grabbing 'stunt' for their web site and future political campaigns."

As you know, Freepers don't like facts, truth, or anything resembling reality, especially if the one getting in their grill is one of their own.

After her ignorant offerings, she was exposed and marginalized. Sheehan decide to return to California and tend to her mother's ill health, leaving Crawford, Texas before the end of August. When she left - she was done. The story was fading, and her 15-minutes of fame were pushing 16-minutes, and the MSM news clock was looking for another angle to their anti-Bush, anti-military agenda.

Then, out of nowhere, 'Move America Forward' arrives to carry the water for the Cindy Sheehan story while she is licking her self inflicted wounds in Los Angles with Mommy.

MAF creates the caravan and the media 'camera candy', the story finds new life and Cindy Sheehan returns to her tents in Crawford with newly found emotions and victim hood.

Two weeks ago, Sheehan was a past tense story, waiting for the last line of newspaper ink. Today, now she has been returned to her endorsed 'Rosa Parks of the Iraq War' role by the self promoting organizers of MAF and those who desire a photo opportunity for their Congressional race in California.

We blew it folks...it was a dead story, and we breathed life into it again. We will live to regret this effort. It has afforded the MSM, Hollywood and the Left a spotlight they dreamed for.

All for the cause of a web site's (MAF) desire to raise money, gather an email list for future political campaigns, and name recognition. What a shame.

For once, I'm a believer. Check out this vastly amusing Freeper comment:

I listened to Melanie Morgan on her radio show this morning. She spoke about how there were many many reporters covering the event, and yet none of them dared to show any footage of her at all. I think the event was another attempt to out the MSM as Lefty partisans.
-PJ

19 posted on 08/29/2005 12:58:28 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)

heh. Melanie didn't get any media love. Poor baby boo hoo. If you're so inclined, you can show Eric some hippy pinko commie Liberal love here. It's all about attention, dontcha know?

Pat Buchanan Sez Impeach Bush

2005-08-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

The invasion is wrong!

No, no, not the US invasion of Iraq, silly. The Mexicans! They're everywhere! Working!

"What are these Bush Republicans afraid of?" he continues. "Dirty looks from the
help at the country club?"

Words fail.

He's Baaa'aaaack

2005-08-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Sorta. On Air Force One. This time Scottie has a human shield with him; his brother the doctor.

Shorter: Medicare blah blah blah.

Now watch this drive.

Get The Fork Already

2005-08-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Bob Bob Bob ... you're done.

If he wasn't so pathetic, his column would be funny: the lack of strong or suitable republican candidates for 06 races are the fault of Sen. Dole and the RNC because they suck at recruitment.
Yeah, riiiight, the sweeping republican losses Novak predicts have nothing to do with scandal after scandal after scandal in GOP controlled state after state after state, and that's before Fitz hands down an indictment or two or three, hopefully one with Novak's name on it.

Novak sure does love the blamegame. Wanker.

President Wet Brain

2005-08-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Justin Frank on George W. Bush, the untreated alcoholic:

Nobody talks about it – the press is afraid of it — but we are all enabling a man whose grasp of reality is tenuous at best.

Anxiety is always challenging; but when an untreated alcoholic’s behavior is challenged, his anxiety increases dramatically - and with it, the need to numb its sting. Anxiety is then a threat to his abstinence. Instead of learning new means to manage feelings, he has to spend energy fighting his fears. In Bush’s case, he fiercely rides his mountain bike.

Managing his anxiety is one reason presidential briefings have been so simple. USA Today reports on August 25 that Bush’s foreign policy briefings were, until very recently, presented to him with “snappy headlines” and simplistic perspectives leaving “little room for doubt or nuance.” No wonder it was so simple to invade Iraq.

Bush himself said that he doesn't do nuance. The truth is, he can't. Evading anxiety over all these years – whether with alcohol, religion, or exercise – has compromised his ability to think. Instead, Bush relies on daily routines. His bicycling routine is rigidly adhered to; but thinking—and a mechanism to facilitate it—are nonexistent.

Like every other aspect of George W. Bush's short-cut approach to life, he started at Step 3 and stopped climbing.

What He Said

2005-08-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's not often I'm pleasantly surprised -- not lately anyway, what with the lowest George W. Bush still occupying this country's highest office -- but today, today, glory be today!, I read something that surprised me indeed -- surprised me not shocked me, surprised me in that sit-up-and-take-notice kind of way, that internal jolt of inspiration that makes you say Yes! every voice counts, Yes! every smackdown of a reichwing bully counts, and that Yes! the long national nightmare of Team Bush will end and All that President's Men's political careers could wind up on the chopping block (Lorena Bobbit-style preferably):

From Joel Achenbach's road trip:

...not good to take eyes off the road, but if something bad happens, need to be listening to Neil Young...Neil won't let me down),

Truer words were never typed.

Can't wait for Prairie Wind. Coming September 20, 2005.

CircleJerk of Death

2005-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

President Shitstain sez that he'll stay the course in Iraq so that those servicemen and women who died will be honored by the servicemen and women who die after them. Spc. Joseph "Joey" Hunt, 27, of Sweetwater, and Sgt. Victoir P. Lieurance, 34 of Tennessee have died and so now two more servicemen or women must die to honor them, and they'll have two friends die, and they'll have two friends die, and so on, and so on...

The Hunt family issued a statement:

"Joey was a true East Tennessean who was proud of his family, hometown, state, and country. He enjoyed being involved in the many outdoors activities available in Sweetwater, and he always did so with a beaming smile on his face," the family said.

Hunt visited with his family while on leave in June.

"During that time he shared many stories and photos during his service there. He summed up his feeling during his break that it wasn't easy being there, but that he and his fellow soldiers were proud of their service to their country," his relatives said.
Hunt had two sons — 5-year-old Caleb and 3-year-old Josh.

"They don't have any idea what's going on," Hunt's aunt, Pat Thomas, told WATE-TV. "They went to be with their grandmother, Joey's mom, and she was just holding both of them in her arms. And they kept saying, 'Why are you crying, Mamaw? Why are you sad?'"

Lieurance leaves behind his wife, Penny, and four children, two sons and daughters.

Both his parents said their son's death makes their once-wavering opinions about the war in Iraq much more clear.

Andre Lieurance referred to Cindy Sheehan, the California mother of a slain soldier, who recently camped out in front of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in opposition to the war.

"She didn't speak for me. Now she does," the father told The Knoxville News Sentinel on Tuesday. "I'm with her. I believe we were lied to. (My son) did what he was supposed to. Bush didn't."

That sound you hear is my heart breaking.

Blonde nod to AHiddenSaint.

Mr. Bush: Stay The Fuck Out Of California

2005-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

You are not welcome.

The worst-kept secret:

Though White House officials would not confirm if the president would be stopping by Rancho Cucamonga on Monday as was the rumor, seniors at the James T. Brulte Senior Center have their ears to the walls.

And the walls are talking.

"For heaven's sake, they can sneak him into Iraq during a war but they can't sneak him into Rancho Cucamonga,' said Maureen McCall of El Monte, who was preparing for a Jazzercise class.

Classes, including Jazzercise and yoga, have all been canceled Monday for an important event that city officials are trying to keep quiet.

"I'm sorry, we can't talk about the president's visit,' said Ryan Samples, senior center supervisor. "All questions have to be handled through the White House.'

White House officials said this week that President Bush may visit the Inland Empire next week, but his plans would not be confirmed until Friday.

In the meantime, the senior center has been buzzing. Its schedule for Monday has been cleared and former state Sen. Jim Brulte spent several hours there Wednesday.
"It wouldn't be a good idea to go around asking residents what questions they would have for the president because the event will be by invitation only,' Samples added.

Seniors filtering out into the 90-degree heat shared what they'd heard about a presidential visit, but none of them had received any invitations to a special event at the senior center.

Mary Filippelli, a boisterous yoga student, wasn't shy about what she'd ask the president as she headed into the center.

"When will he be vacating his office?' laughed the self-described far-to-the-left liberal. "I won't be missing much on Monday, (Bush) usually says the same . . . thing.'

Invitation only. Coward.

Others have plenty they'd like to ask Bush if he dares show his face in this indigo state.

So do I, but my expletive wouldn't be in the form of a question.

Blonde nod to pucklady.

What's Beyond Insane?

2005-08-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Now the White House spin machine is denying Bush is on vacation?!

Via Political Wire:

The White House seems to be a little defensive about President Bush's summer vacation. According to the San Bernardino Sun, a spokesman insisted "the reason that Bush is in Crawford, Texas, is due to the renovation of the West Wing of the White House."

Said the spokesman: "He's operating on a full schedule; he's just doing it from the ranch instead of from the White House. The only week he had officially off was this last week."

Please. Someone. Just hook me up to an IV that's dripping Vodka and sober me up ONLY when this national nightmare is over.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Women

2005-08-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

If he doesn't mention them, they don't exist.

Dickhead.

Doing A Lynndie

2005-08-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

Bad Gas is still at it. Even has Top 10 Celebrity Lynndies.

Strike a pose, yo.

Breaking Ranks

2005-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Congressman Jim Leach (R, Iowa)...

...informed Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D, California) that he will co-sponsor her Resolution of Inquiry into Bush Administration communications with the U.K. about Iraq at the time of the Downing Street Memos. Leach is the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support a demand for an inquiry into the Bush Administration's pre-war claims.

Be the rain.

"Reinforcing Success"

2005-08-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

1500 soldiers added to the meat grinder.

"This deployment is in support of continued progress," he said. [Pentagon spokesman]

Sorry, but I don't think the nation can take much more of the Pentagon's 'progress'. I'm progressed-out.

Photo credit Raw Story.

Death Is Not Suport

2005-08-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

Sacramento, CA.

Conservative activists and military families embarked on the tour Monday, calling it "You don't speak for me, Cindy!" A verbal confrontation erupted when the caravan arrived in Sacramento and was met by anti-war protesters chanting for Bush to bring home the troops.

Sheehan supporter Dan Elliott, 71, confronted caravan members by waving a sign reading "Death is not support" and heckling one of the tour's organizers as she addressed the crowd.

[snip]

Some caravan members called the anti-war protesters communists and said they were "aiding and abetting the enemy." Those comments enraged Sheehan supporter Dee Ann Heath, who said she has two sons serving in Iraq and another preparing to leave.

"I don't support the war, but I support my sons," she said. "I simply want them to come home."

Here that? We're commies, aiding and abetting the enemy, all because we don't want any more human beings to die is Bush's war of aggression.

How fucked up these wingers are.

They Write Letters

2005-08-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

So Bush went to Utah and Idaho today to escape the Peace Movement that's gathering steam in Crawford and the reception he received from Americans in Utah wasn't all candy and flowers. Seems Idaho wasn't a pick-me-up bouquet for Bush either:

Now that you are in Idaho, perhaps you could answer a few questions:

1. Are the Iraqi people better off since you invaded their country?

2. Why don't you talk to Cindy Sheehan and the other aggrieved parents of soldiers killed in Iraq?

3. How will privatizing Social Security help to maintain this time-proven program?

I have more questions, but these are starters. Welcome to the great state of Idaho.

[snip]

Do nothing for Idaho

Please don't do anything for Idaho. Your being a "uniter not a divider" has done more than any other person in history to completely paralyze our political system. Your efforts to help the people of Afghanistan and Iraq are obvious to everyone who watches the nightly news. Your economic policies have spiked energy prices and stagnated or dropped wages for the average American.

I'm sorry you weren't allowed to open the Alaskan wilds to oil drilling. I'm sure your rich oil buddies could have used a few million more.

Thanks for the offer, but please, don't do anything for Idaho.

Allen L. Wenger,

Tamarlively hearts Idaho too and points us to more letters from the same paper and darned if there isn't a theme: Mr. President, RESIGN!

Protest: Utah Style

2005-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

basicJuice lives in Salt Lake City and attended today's anti-Bush pro-peace rally. Check out the pics. Not your typical pinko stinko commies carrying Liar Liar Pants on Fire signs, just 1200 or so average Joes and Josies demanding government accountability.

I like it!

Still Staying The Course

2005-08-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

War Room Tim doesn't need to but reminds us how Bush's speech before the VFW convention in Salt Lake City will begin, after he sez Good Morning:

"In a few weeks, our country will mark the four-year anniversary of the attacks of September the 11th, 2001."

Will someone please ask President Shitstain where the FUCK Osama Bin Laden is? Call me crazy but Osama Bin Laden's free-ranging bugaloo should be shoved down Bush's throat everytime he invokes 9/11.

Every. Single. Time.

Bush: September the 11th, 2001.
Americans: Where's Osama?

Bush: September the 11th, 2001.
Americans: Where's Osama?

Bush: September the 11th, 2001.
Americans: Where's Osama?

It's been 4 years. Where's Osama?

Breathe

2005-08-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Deep breaths. If this means what I hope it means, that John Edwards might soon come out swinging over Team Bush's Iraq travesty ... I'll burst from happiness. Go, Johnny go!

I was a Johniac in 2004, and not just because he's a bona-fide babe. I likes em smart, real smart, brilliant does it for me everytime, and John's got brain-matter in spades; don't even get me going on his yummy accent... but I digress!!!!

If John Edwards goes for Team Bush's jugular over Iraq and announces his Presidential run for 08, he'll get my unwavering support, my money, and my vote.

update: yes, yes, I know, Dear Emailer, that Edwards voted to authorize force in Iraq -- but whataya gonna do? If John Edwards stands at a podium and sez that he was misled by Team Bush, that he trusted his President and that his President lied to him, to America, that he never would have voted the way he did if he knew then what he knows now, and because he did vote yes when he should have voted no he'd like to put a boot up Bush's ass, well, fuckinA right John Edwards will get my support, my money, my vote.

John Kerry will not. Been there, done that, and that spanking still smarts.

Now We're Talkin'

2005-08-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

Bush's Watergate.

Wilson had debunked the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire a form of uranium from Niger to make WMDs. Wilson had to be discredited because, if the Niger information were false, it cast doubt upon many of the other intelligence claims made by neocons.

If special prosecutor Fitzgerald is going down this road, certain prominent figures could be indicted for obstruction of justice and/or for lying about classified national-security matters to Congress and the American people. Perhaps that is why leading neoconservative spokesman Bill Kristol said that Fitzgerald "is the problem for the White House; we have no idea what he knows ... "

The worst possible scenario for the administration would be if it turns out that the Niger documents in question (which all now agree were forged) were fabricated by individuals who may have had a motive for getting us into the war. Shadowy figures previously linked to the Iran-Contra scandal have been mentioned as possible originators of the forged documents.

If there is any truth to these charges, the lid will blow off Washington — and the Bush administration will be history.

[snip]

Pauken is a former Reagan official who served as a military-intelligence officer in Vietnam. He also was chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 1994 to 1997.

Please oh please oh pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let Fitz be working this angle.

Call It A Day

2005-08-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

The WaPo's Andrew J. Bacevich sez We've Done All We Can Do in Iraq and lays down the smack for pulling out. He concludes:

For Bush personally, the consequences of leaving Iraq might be the most painful. The prospect of looking antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan in the eye to explain exactly what her son died for will become even more daunting. But as it is, the president can't dodge that question indefinitely. Postponing the issue simply swells the ranks of those with similar questions to ask.

Like Celeste Zappala:

A week after my son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, arrived in Baghdad last year, President Bush held court for journalists at the 60th annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington. Part of the show that night was to pretend to look for WMD under the lectern. There were staged pictures of Mr. Bush looking for them under the rug in the Oval Office. Everyone present got a great laugh.

[snip]

I talked to Sherwood shortly after the President's circus show. He wasn't finding anything funny about his mission in Iraq. Sherwood was knee deep in the real search for WMD. He was providing security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was still looking for those weapons well beyond the admission by David Kay that they didn't exist.

[snip]

We bring with us here [Crawford] the desire to share our humble story. We want the President to hear us talk about Sherwood. Perhaps he can answer some questions for us. We want to know why Sher, a case worker for the mentally handicapped, had to say goodbye to his wife and 10-year-old son to participate in the negligent endeavor that is the Iraq War.

We'd like to know what he finds noble about instigating and maintaining a war with a country that posed no threat to our country.

We'd like to know if he still finds humor in the fabrications that justified the war that killed my son.

Like Bill from NJ:

I fought in Sadr City, Baghdad Iraq from Feb. 2004 to Feb. 2005. I served in C. Co 759th MP Bn 89th MP Brigade. I still wholeheartedly support the decision to remove Saddam from power, however I am completely against the continued occupation of Iraq.

When I landed in Baghdad, the US had roughly 350 deaths. When I left the number was close to 1300. I had 4 of my friends killed and another 27 in my company wounded, which gave us a 1 in 3 rate of being a casualty. I saw a good friend of mine have half of his face blown off when a RPG blew up on our windshield. Another friend of my was wounded twice in separate IED attacks and still wasnt allowed home. I killed 4 people during an 18 hour firefight, one of whom was a little girl that got caught by the burst of a 203 round.

I think about Iraq every day even though I've been home 6 months. And I still cannot figure out why I was there or why americans died over there. I'm all for war, but only "right" wars. I was decorated for valor and congratulated by Colonels, and it's all hollow because it is for nothing. That's why I'm against the war in Iraq.

[snip]

It just amazes me now that I'm home that for the most part (except families affected by the war), people don't even pay attention to it anymore. It's like we come home get a pat on the back and a smile and then poof, that's it. You're just supposed to get on with your life.

Gee. Where'd we hear that before.

And So It Begins

2005-08-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

PITTSBURGH

Two women protesting the war in Iraq were taken to a hospital Saturday after police broke up an unauthorized march involving about five dozen people on a busy one-way street near an Army (search) recruiting station.

David Meieran, who helped organize the protest, accused police of "inappropriate and excessive force."

Sgt. Clint Winkler, (search) a supervisor on duty, told The Associated Press that one woman who would not leave was subdued with a Taser. He also confirmed that a police dog bit another woman on the leg when she refused police orders to disperse.

Both women and a man involved in the march were arrested, Winkler said.

"They were told to disperse, peacefully disperse, and failed to do so, so we started down the sidewalk — officers in front, K-9's behind us, and started pushing the crowd down the sidewalk," Winkler said. He said the march broke up after the arrests.

The recruiting station was not open at the time.

Got civil liberties?

All Bull No Cattle

2005-08-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Joe at AmericaBlog writes that Bush is spinning furiously on Iraq since the Sheehan Express has derailed his rhetoric -- for Team Bush it's 9/11 or bust!

Same speech over and over. Scary that the only thing Bush has to can say to Americans about Iraq is: September the 11th.

What's scarier is that Dubya still has to use a script. He's no Ronald Reagan.

No Rest

2005-08-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

For The Wicked

"He'll probably be glad when his vacation is over," said Lynch.

He can run. But he can't hide. Next stop, Washington D.C.

Wacko In Waco

2005-08-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Waco Tribune Herald:

After the nearly hour-long prayer vigil, about 30 ordained and lay clergy took a letter to state troopers and U.S. Secret Service agents manning a blockade down the road from President Bush's Central Texas ranch.

The group was informed that no one was available to accept the letter, which called on the president to bring the troops home from Iraq. The clergy members then placed the letter and sprigs of carnations on the ground at the feet of a state trooper.

“I think if we wrote a letter (that said), ‘We support Bush,' 100 percent, we would be inside,” said Juan Torres, whose son, Army Spc. John Torres, was killed on a U.S. base in Afghanistan under questionable circumstances.

Yep.

Earlier in the day, about 50 people from Oklahoma and Georgia arrived near the gates of Bush's ranch and dropped off 32 white bed sheets signed with names and messages of support for the president. A White House staffer accepted the sheets, which were tied with yellow ribbons.

“The president has something tangible to hold on to. He has supporters,” said Valerie Duty, a local Republican who helped coordinate the effort, dubbed “I Give a Sheet.”

Stupid is as stupid does.

Irony

2005-08-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

In Crawford, the tent for "the benefit of supporters of President Bush" fronts a store called the Yellow Rose.

Hello Dolly

2005-08-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

Not quite Dixie Chicks sez Salon.com's Rebecca Traister on Dolly Parton's Vintage tour, but an excellent addition to the choir.

By comparison with last fall, the show was practically Spartan: no costume changes, no medleys, not so many spotlight pyrotechnics. Parton sang full, gorgeous renditions of songs like "Smoky Mountain Memories" and "Coat of Many Colors," as well as the poppier "9 to 5" and "Here You Come Again." Sure, she was clad in a dress of many rhinestones, and there were the requisite boob jokes. But there were also the reminiscences about her good friend Jane Fonda. And her well-worn memories of a poor upbringing in Tennessee, how her "mama always had one [baby] on her and one in her," were accompanied on Thursday by an unfamiliar nostalgia for "the old hippie days" of the 1960s.

About an hour into the show, Parton picked up a guitar that looked like it had lost a fierce battle with a Bedazzler and began to talk in earnest about that old-time activism. "I didn't necessarily agree with all the politics of that time," she said, "but I think a lot of the things they were talking about -- like peace and freedom -- are about as American as apple pie." She then performed the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn."

And she wasn't done. Barely pausing for breath, she moved to Dylan, talking about how important it was that he had sung songs that had mattered to the country. She'd recently been listening to his antiwar classic "Blowin' in the Wind," she said, and had thought, "Well this song is about what's going on right now! I've got to record this."

Parton's live cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" should probably have been cringe-inducing, but it wasn't. Stripped down to Parton's powerful pipes and a guitar, it worked. And she definitely enunciated particular verses, especially the questions "How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? And how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?" Parton, who had perfect silence for the first half of the song, finished it to a massive standing ovation from the New York crowd. And however unlikely the messenger, it was almost impossible to imagine the lyrics being about anything other than a direct message to George W. Bush.

Nice.

They Can Run. They Can't Hide.

2005-08-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Tim Goodrich's Post from Crawford; all of it, cuz it's that good.

The last five days have been like nothing I have ever experienced. When I made the decision to go to Crawford, Texas last week, I thought I was going to a protest against the war that would be similar to the previous ones I have attended. I couldn't have been more wrong. What I found at Camp Casey was something that can only be described by traveling there and experiencing it for ones own self. The feeling of love and peace permeated the air. The support from people across the United States has been breathtaking. The people and the stories they have of why they felt the need to make this peace pilgrimage will evoke emotion from me thirty years from now. This is a memory that will not fade.

A woman called her mother at the last second to let her know she would not be attending the family reunion in Washington as planned, but would instead be driving 24 hours from California. A man heard a Gold Star family member's story on the radio and was so moved that he promptly jumped into his car and drove from Florida to see and console this victim of an unnecessary war. Stories like this abound at Camp Casey. It is truly a life changing experience. I can't count the number of times I heard someone exclaim that they haven't had this feeling since protesting Vietnam.
I am on an airplane headed back to Los Angeles right now and am trying hard to keep myself from becoming emotional just thinking of these stories and the incredible experience. And this is coming from a veteran hardened and accustomed to witnessing stories of death, injury, fear, pain, loss, and hardship on a regular basis. (It was a futile effort; I didn't make it through this paragraph without having to dry my eyes by rubbing them and tilting my head back into the flow of dry air from my overhead vent).

Things have changed. This is a pivotal moment in the anti-war movement. We have Bush and his war mongers with their tails between their legs and on the run. They don't know how to respond or what to do. We must now continue to increase the pressure until the war criminals in our administration feel the political pain equivalent to that of the families who have suffered because of this war. In the battle between good and evil in the universe, the good will always prevail.

Thank you all for your support. It means the world.

Tim Goodrich is an Air Force combat veteran who helped with the intensified bombing leading up to the occupation of Iraq. After being honorably discharged, he traveled to Iraq as a civilian to see the human cost of war. Upon returning, he co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War and continues working to bring the troops home.

We're taking our country back.

A Hydra

2005-08-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

Called Mom.

It is traveling day for Evelyn Allen and Patricia Roberts, two mothers who lost their sons to the war in Iraq.

"We just don't know the truth behind the war," Allen told 11Alive's Jerry Carnes "We're at a standstill. Why is it going on? We want to know why."

Allen is the mother of Jonathan Shields who was 25 when he died in Iraq. Patricia Roberts is the mother of Jamaal Addison, who was killed at the age of 23. The mothers boarded a plane at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, bound for Crawford, Texas. They've joined in a protest there in front of President Bush's Texas ranch, demanding that president Bush end the war.

"I've never heard from the President," said Roberts. "He's never sent his condolences and never acknowledged my son personally, and that's what I ask of him."

Will the wingers slime, smear, and slander Mother Allen and Mother Roberts like they have Mother Sheehan? How many Mothers can Bush's base debase before the wheels fall off the Republican War Machine? I'm betting not many.

Ew

2005-08-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Normally Michael Jackson gossip is off my radar as celebrity what-have-yous aren't my thang, but this I did not know:

"Up close, Michael Jackson's appearance is amazing. He wears a black pageboy wig, and his face is caked with white makeup, which conceals a prosthesis that serves as the tip of his nose. One person, who has seen him without the device, says he resembles a mummy with nostril holes."

Yikes! His "nose" -- that thing on his face that looks too small and odd and misshapen -- is in fact a prosthetic device? What butcher of a doctor would continue to carve on a guy's face until parts go missing? Sick.

And sad.

The Tin Man

2005-08-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm betting it's an echo. And it isn't beautiful. It's as ugly as his soul.

Some Vigil Pics

2005-08-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

August 17, 2005, Sacramento

God Speed, Cindy

2005-08-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

Prayers for your mom's full recovery.

I Gaggle So You Don't Have To

2005-08-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Your and my tax dollars at work.

"I don't have anything for you..."

"I don't have an update"

"I have nothing to add from before "

"He's listened to their -- to views of people like Ms. Sheehan and he respects them, but he disagrees."

"I don't know anything about -- that's the first I've heard of that "

"I'll have to check into that. I don't know. "

"...he has met with her before and there's no change in the schedule "

"I don't know. "

"I don't have anything for you beyond that. "

"I saw the news reports on that, but I haven't -- I have to get back to you on it. "

"I don't know. "

"I don't think so."

"I don't know. "

"I don't have an update for you on that. Okay? "

"Q Can you give us an update on recreation?
MS. PERINO: I'll work on it."

Say nothing do nothing. Status quo. Stay the course. blah blah blah

Camp Casey Sacramento

2005-08-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

According to the sign-in sheet, 540 Cindy Supporters gathered between old City Hall and new City Hall downtown Sacramento last night. I'll have pictures up later today. The Bush Supporters? All blow and no go. Not a one. Nadda. Zilch. Zip. Move America Forward didn't show its ugly faces and the evening was one of quiet, respectful reflection on the sacrifices made by our military men and women and their families.

Man, did it feel great being around like-minded people. We were the old, the teenage, the children, the mothers and their babies, Vets for Peace, everyday Joes and Josies, coming together for a common cause -- stop. the. killing. It's so easy to feel alone in this effort, sitting in front of a computer, day after day, reading the news, usually bad news, on the papers of record, on blogs blogging about the bad news, interacting with friendly strangers through "comments," but stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 540 friends you've never met but who are as passionate as you are about the one thing that unites us -- PEACE -- and I know it sounds corny, but it's an overwhelmingly beautiful, uplifiting experience.

We are not alone.

We are legion.

And We, the People, will take our country back.

I believe.

Gaggle-Time

2005-08-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Not much has been happening Gaggle-wise, sporatic pressers at best, the corps asking questions that won't get answered, you know, biz as usual. Here's a peek at yesterday's do-nothing-say-nothing:

Q Does the President have any plans at all to meet with Cindy Sheehan? And what did you think about the latest, you know, thing where the crosses were destroyed along the road?

MS. PERINO: The President said in his -- last Thursday, when he spoke to you all after the defense meeting, that he sympathizes with her, he has met with her before. He said that one of the most cherished rights in America is the right to free speech and that she has a right to express her views. He does not agree with her views, but he says he respects her right to peacefully protest. But, other than that, I have nothing more to add.

Bi'atch won't even comment on criminal mischief done in Bush's name.

And then there's the underage sex suit:

Q Dana, this just came in -- lawyers for the Pope have asked President Bush to grant him immunity as a head of state concerning a church sex abuse lawsuit in Texas in which the Pope is named as a defendant. Reitzinger is named as an individual in the lawsuit, not as a cardinal or Pope, and was successfully served with the lawsuit earlier this year. Is President Bush inclined to grant him the immunity in that?

MS. PERINO: As you know, I've been sitting here. That breaking news just happened, so I'll have to get back to you.

Yeah, pardon the Pope, bike with Lance, ignore a grieving mother while the world watches. That's our Pretzeldent!

Downtown Sacramento For Cindy

2005-08-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

If you're in my town tomorrow night, I'll see you here.

17 Aug
07:30 Vigil at Sacramento City Hall
915 I Street
Sidewalk in front of old City Hall
286 registered participant(s)
Sacramento
CA
95814
Hosted by Benjamin Sher
Description Come vigil to protest the occupation of Iraq and to demand action of the Sacramento City Council to adopt a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

When I signed up yestderday, I was the 66th person... now there are 286!

1-877-We Got Ed

2005-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Ed Schultz show's going to Crawford ... because some of US can't make it.

Thanks, Ed!

Elizabeth Edwards

2005-08-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

Writes:

Dear Friend,

Casey Sheehan was born May 29, 1979, the first born child of Cindy and Pat Sheehan. It was a long labor. Fifty-one days after Casey was born, our first child, Wade was born, also after a long labor. They started school the same year, played the same games, watched the same television shows, loved the same country. On April 4, 1996, three weeks after going to Washington as a winner in a national contest about what America meant to him, Wade died in an automobile accident. On April 4, 2004, eight years later to the day, Casey, who loved his country enough to wear its uniform, died in Iraq. Cindy and Pat's hearts broke, as had ours.

We teach our children right from wrong. We teach them compassion and honor. We teach them the dignity of each life. And then, sometimes, the lessons we taught are turned on their heads. Cindy Sheehan is asking a very simple thing of her government, and she and her family, and most particularly Casey, have paid a very dear price for the right to ask this.

Cindy wants Casey's death to have meant as much as his life - lived fully - might have meant. I know this, as does every mother who has ever stood where we stand. And the President says he knows enough, doesn't need to hear from Casey's mother, doesn't need to assure her that Casey's is not one small death in a long and seemingly never-ending drip of deaths, that there is a plan here that will bring our sons and daughters home. He doesn't need to hear from her, he says. He claims he understands how some people feel about the deaths in Iraq.

The President is wrong.

Whether you agree or disagree with every part, or any part, of what Cindy wants to say, you know it is better that the President hear different opinions, particularly from those with such a deep and personal interest in the decisions of our government. Today, another voice would be helpful.

Cindy Sheehan can be that voice. She has earned the right to be that voice.

Please join me in supporting Cindy's right to be heard.

I grew up in a military family. My father and my grandfather were career Navy pilots. I saw what it meant to live a life every single day when the possibility of an honorable death is always there, at the dinner table, on the playground, at the base school. Will someone's father not come home tonight? And I didn't just feel the possibility, I saw the real thing, and, believe me, it stays with you, it changes you.

I also saw, then and more recently as I campaigned across this country and spent time with courageous military mothers and wives, how little attention is paid to the needs and the voices of military families. It has to change. The sacrifices that our military men and women make assure us that we have the strongest military in the world, but the sacrifices that their families make are too often ignored. The President's cavalier dismissal of Cindy Sheehan is emblematic of a greater problem. This is a mother who raised her son to love his country enough to serve. This is a mother who lived the impossible life of a mother of a soldier serving in Iraq, unable to sleep when he sleeps, unable to sleep when he is on duty, unable to watch the television, unable to stop watching the television.

And when the worst does happen, when the world comes crashing down and she puts the boy she bore, the boy she taught, the boy she loved in the ground, what does that government say to her? It says we'll do the talking; we don't need to hear from you. If we are decent and compassionate, if we know the lessons we taught our children, or if, selfishly, all we want is the long line of the brave to protect us in the future, we should listen to the mothers now.

Listen to Cindy.

Join me so Cindy knows we believe she has earned the right to be heard.

Elizabeth Edwards

That woman is a class act. No wonder her foxy husband adores her.