Fair and balanced

You may have noticed that I called the president an asshole yesterday. He is an asshole. Anyone that lies to take his country to war and then doesn't have a strategy to win that war qualifies as an asshole in almost anyone's book. Unless, of course, you are a radical Christian fascist (On an unrelated note, check out Rocco's photo essay on Saddam's viewing stand at that website. The last picture of this chickenhawk standing there holding his pistol like Rambo on land payed for in American blood is a perfect example of the neocon). Yesterday's labeling of our worthless president as an asshole was a direct result of the reporting to which I linked. The Washington Post reports the story a little differently and to make sure I give each asshole his day in the sun you can read the story here.

Asshole in Chief

"Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange
By Emily Heil

President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.

Webb, a decorated former Marine officer, hammered Allen and Bush over the unpopular war in Iraq while wearing his son’s old combat boots on the campaign trail. It seems the president may have some lingering resentment.

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

“Jim did have a conversation with Bush at that dinner,” said Webb’s spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd. “Basically, he asked about Jim’s son, Jim expressed the fact that he wanted to have him home.” Todd did not want to escalate matters by commenting on Bush’s response, saying, “It was a private conversation.”

A White House spokeswoman declined to give Bush’s version of the conversation."

Our new fascist president

Ladies and gentleman, Newt Gingrich!

Frank Robinson speaks the truth

Robinson did not shy away from the steroid discussion when invited to talk about it. He is one of baseball's most outspoken players and a champion of the right way of playing the game.

"Let's take Barry Bonds," Robinson said. "You don't get better as you get older."

Consumer violence

I'm sure you have all heard about the violence at the department stores in the wee hours of November 24th, Black Friday. If you scan down a bit you can see where one of the commenters mentions how frightening this is to him and I agree. Remember back to Katrina and word got out here in Charlotte that there was the possibility of a slight interruption of gas shipments to the Carolinas? You know what happened, lines at the gas stations and fist fights breaking out amongst the nimrods waiting in those lines. I said a little prayer that night that I had enough gas in my car to get through the two days of madness this erroneous information caused.

Every year that I see these displays by my fellow Americans at the mall I just pray that technology keeps pace with our appetites because if the people in this country ever taste even a smidgen of want, let alone true hunger, there will be riots in the streets. These cow people will sit by idly and reelect a wanton killer but god forbid you should get between them and a piece of plastic from China listed at half the retail price. It's chilling.

Listen, do me a favor, if you were at the mall before it was light out on November 24th, please, next year lay down in front of the mob and let them trample you to death so we can be rid of you. Maybe if enough people do this the crowds at the mall will thin themselves out and then when the oil runs out I won't have to defend my home from the mob with a shotgun.

Bush considers NATO not war-like enough

Only President Bush would see this as their probelm and not possibly a problem with our outrageous defense spending. This guy is truly insane.

And here's a great quote from Joe Haldeman's blog, "The CIA bought hundreds of thousands of AKs, mostly Chinese, for the mujahadden in Afghanistan, back when they were fighting Russia, and most of them are still in service. We should have given them M-16s. They wouldn't be shooting back at us with them."

Quote from an interview with Tom Waits

Pitchfork: Do you have a favorite sound?

Tom Waits: Bacon. In a frying pan. If you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording. Almost exactly like that. You could substitute it for that sound.

They may be dying at least they ain't sinning

Amazing. No matter what our president does he manages to create death.

Seymour Hersh, saving the world one article at a time

In case you were wondering just how dangerous Bush and Cheney are, Mr. Hersh has got you covered.

The real Kramer with a zinger

This whole Michael Richards thing is being blown just a tad out of proportion but I couldn't help but read an article on Yahoo! news about the Kramer that inspired Richards' character on Seinfeld. The comment by him at the end of the article was inspired.

'Kramer managed to find a silver lining in the confusion.

"You know what the good news is?" he asked. "Judith Regan is now on a plane to California, trying to sign Michael Richards to a book deal: `If I Were a Racist, Here's What I Would Have Said.'"'

An open letter to George W. Bush

Dear President Bush,

You completely suck. You are so clumsy that there is probably collateral damage when you take a shower. I bet every time George Bush steps into the shower a baby dies in Iraq. But you needed to be clean and cleanliness is on the march so that baby had to die because in order for that baby to die in a free world you had to "not quit taking showers." Your hands are so bloody I wish I could curse you like Tenskwa-Tawa cursed the settlers that slaughtered the indians in Orson Card's "Red Prophet." Whenever a participant of the massacre met a new person their hands would bleed until they explained to their new acquaintance why such a curse was placed upon them. In a way that is your curse. You are going to spend the rest of your life traveling around this country talking about your failure in Iraq. Unfortunately, knowing you, instead of apologizing you will waste our time trying to justify your actions. That will be yours and our shame.

As I watch Iraq collapse I sometimes wish I could enjoy your complete failure, but I can't. Too many American fighting men and Iraqi people have already perished due to your incompetence and it looks like it's only going to get worse. And as things are getting worse I can only sit back and watch you stumble through another press conference and display to the whole world that you have no idea what you are doing.

Maybe now your father can pull your worthless ass out of the fire. I only hope for the sake of our country and the world the he does.

Up yours,

Ed McDonald
Charlotte, NC

Howdy

Last night I finished that Le Guin young adult novel. What a satisfying book. I think I might follow this news series for a while. I am definitely going to read the first book in the series since it features two characters that play a major role in this book. From what I have read they are in their teens in the first book. I wonder if that will be a motif in these novels, a character or characters from earlier novels interacting with teens that are the main characters in later novels? That would be a great idea. Instead of a linear series of books you can explore a world through story and show younger readers that adults were once teens like themselves. It's also a good way to show how fleeting is youth.

Today I went to a nearby retirement community to deliver a book talk. It was received well but I feel like a screwed the pooch this time out. I said "um" a lot more than is acceptable. I need to have better notes next time. I used these same books for a program last month that went well and I thought I was ready. I need to remember to bring notes because they bail out when I get nervous and lose my place. If I look down for a second at my notes and take a swig of water I can move on smoothly. Without notes I jump around too much and the presentation loses its flow. I don't like making notes but going without doesn't work that well.

The Horror

Patron: I'd like to find this on the internet.

Shows me a note with an email address written on it.

Me: That's an email address. You can contact the person who owns that email if you have an email account. Do you have an email account?

Patron: No.

Me: Have you ever used the internet before?

Patron: No

Me: (Screams inside my head.)

Forty five minutes later I have walked her through creating a Yahoo! email account, she sends an email to the address she showed me and, of course, it bounces back.

Sunday Night Quiet Time

I decided last night that I needed to spend some major time catching up on my reading since I had been slug-like and couch-potatoey for a majority of the weekend. I cleaned my room up a little first and, while doing that, listened to some internet radio over Itunes. I am so enjoying internet radio now that I have a computer in my room. After cleaning I read for a while, listening to KEXP out of Seattle. It's a station that is just as good as our regional gem, WNCW. After a few chapters of that wonderful Le Guin book I went out in the living room and watched the last quarter of the Sunday Night Football game and then returned to my room, connected to 3WK through Itunes and spent a couple of more hours in Le Guin's new world. I also heard a band on 3WK that really intrigued me. They are called Awesome Color. I might buy their CD. It's a cool name also.

Bobbing Bobcat

Maybe it's because I am tired but I didn't do too well on this cool flash test.

Tired of it

Quote from Bush during his recent trip to Asia: '"We hear voices calling for us to retreat from the world and close our doors to these opportunities," the president said in a speech at the National University of Singapore. "These are the old temptations of isolationism and protectionism, and America must reject them."'

You know I am getting sick of this. Those that criticize this ass are not calling for a retreat into isolationism. We are just sick of his complete bungling of our international affairs. He knows that, too. He is lying his ass off when he says crap like this and I am tired tire tired of it. I can't believe people still support this clown that couldn't tell the truth if he was being water boarded.

A couple of days ago I saw that Ursula Le Guin has a new book out called "Voices." It's a fantasy novel (second in a series) that is centered on a secret library. A library that is keeping reading and learning alive in a city that has been conquered and occupied by a people that think reading is a sin.

Each time I pick up a book by her I am always amazed at her ability to create cultures. In less 150 pages has created two distinct cultures, people who live in those cultures, conflict with each and even start to see the shared humanity in someone who is their enemy. Amazing. Le Guin is a genius at world creating.

I called it a series but it is a series that is set in the same imaginary land, not necessarily the adventures of the same characters. "Voices" is the second book in this series and it looks like it's going to be a good one. I'm always on the look out for good fantasy and science fiction I can recommend to kids and I got another one.

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Headline of the Day

N.C. Baptists shove their heads further up they asses

Let the party begin

Anyone want to join me on a Creationist Cruise? Only in America.

Spooky and scary

There is a woman sitting at one of our internet computers and for the last half hour she has been watching videos of horses running in slow motion. Not horse races, just horses running around. Sure, horses are majestic creatures but can't she find some car crashes to watch?

Bip Bap Boom

I don't, as a rule, watch much boxing. The way the sport chews up and spits human beings out is a turn off but, that being said, it's hard not to watch a big heavyweight fight. The heavyweight championship holds an allure unlike any other in sport. He's the biggest and baddest person in the world, the one guy no one wants to mess with.

This weekend a couple of friends and I watched the Klitshcko vs Brock match. It was pretty obvious that Brock was overmatched very early in the fight. Klitschko was taking his time and wearing Brock down. The crowd got a little restless but there was no reason for Klitschko to risk engaging Brock since he knew once the out of shape Brock wore down he could take him out pretty quick. That is exactly what happened.

As far as Brock, you have to ask why someone would attempt to fight this big Russian dude and be as flabby as he was. I'm no Adonis but boxing isn't my job. You don't get very many shots at boxing titles, why not be as ready for it as you can be? He had a stomach and he looked soft. Heck, his man boobies were flopping around some.

After the fight Klitschko was interviewed by the HBO people and he came off as very intelligent and gracious. I came away an admirer and I am interested to see if this guy can unite all the boxing titles and just where he'll take this ride. He's got the potential to be a huge star, I think. He's already big and he may just explode.

Another pano of Freedom Park

Let's track the change of seasons.

Mmm...indignant rage

What's my favorite thing about working with the public? Today it's the lady who sent the wrong 35 page print job to the printer and got pissed off at me because I wouldn't refund her money. The best part was when she was adding money to her printing account so she could attempt her printing again and her cell phone started ringing. She looked up from the cash machine for a second and let the phone ring so I could see how angry she was. Good for her.

This is a first

I can't recall ever quoting Jay Leno before on this blog: "President Bush demanded that Kerry apologize. Can you imagine that -- Bush demanding an apology for someone stumbling over his words? ... Kerry should have tried the Bush strategy: say so many stupid things, no one cares anymore."

More politics, yummy.

There is a particular danger with a war that God commands. What if God should lose? That is unthinkable to the evangelicals. They cannot accept the idea of second-guessing God, and he was the one who led them into war. Thus, in 2006, when two thirds of the American people told pollsters that the war in Iraq was a mistake, the third of those still standing behind it were mainly evangelicals (who make up about one third of the population). It was a faith-based certitude.

I have no headline for this

Remember, if you are tortured by a minion of George Bush it's a state secret. Did people really cast votes for these guys?

Forward this, please

If anyone has George Bush's and Rumsfeld's emails could you forward the following quote to them. Maybe it'll wake their dumb asses up: "The object in war is to attain a better peace.... If you concentrate exclusively on victory, with no thought for the after-effect..., it is almost certain that the peace will be a bad one, containing the germs of another war." B.H. Liddell Hart

Time Gone By

Last night I poured a few hours of my life down the toilet by enjoying in full Civilization IV, a game for the PC. I hadn't bought a new PC game in a couple of years because I have an Xbox and the computer we had wasn't fast enough to run new games. Last weekend, we were hooked up by Randy, my roommate's old college buddy, with a new computer. I decided that a new PC game was in order. I'm a big fan of simulation games and I spent a week going over reviews and it appeared to me that CIV IV was the cream of the crop. I took a jaunt down to EB Games yesterday and dropped a few bucks and went back home. After I got the game back home I spent the rest of my waking hours hunched over the keyboard.

The game is incredibly deep. In the basic campaign mode you start at 4000 BC and with a small town and a few workers and then try to create the dominate society in the world. Along the way your people discover religion, civics and various technologies and you can even build a few wonders like the pyramids and stonehenge. Stonehenge was the first wonder I built. It's my favorite. I quite in the early 1900's with a city just getting established in the New World. I'll try to be nice to the natives but I can't promise anything. If they get in the way they will just have to go. It's a tough world.

Seymour Hersh blasts Bush

Thank god there are people like Hersh around: “In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.

Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a “neo-conservative agenda” and dictate the U.S.’s post-September 11 foreign policy.

“You have a collapsed Congress, you have a collapsed press. The military is going to do what the President wants,” Hersh said. “How fragile is democracy in America, if a president can come in with an agenda controlled by a few cultists?”

Throughout his talk Hersh remained pessimistic, predicting that the U.S. will initiate an attack against Iran, and that the situation in Iraq will deteriorate further.

“There’s no reason to see a change in policy about Iraq. [Bush] thinks that, in twenty years, he’s going to be recognized for the leader he was – the analogy he uses is Churchill,” Hersh said. “If you read the public statements of the leadership, they’re so confident and so calm…. It’s pretty scary.”

A new poll

Everyone into the pool.

Are the police at my door? No, it's the army!

This is pretty scary. Even scarier since we have an incompetent boob in charge. Of course if the guv'ment can now use the military as cops how is that any different than the paramilitary type of police force we now have that busts through doors to serve warrants? I reckon this is a mere formality since the sanctity of the American home died years ago because of our fake war on drugs.

Are the police at my door? No, it's the army!

This is pretty scary. Even scarier since we have an incompetent boob in charge. Of course if the guv'ment can now use the military as cops how is that any different than the paramilitary type of police force we now have that busts through doors to serve warrants? I reckon this is a mere formality since the sanctity of the American home died years ago because of our fake war on drugs.