Quote

From Stephanie Zacharek's New York Times Book Review review of Jean Thompson's book "City Boy."

"Plausibility is overrated in novels. Fictional characters should be allowed to do things that real poeople never would, if only because fiction is a way of flexing the what-ifs of life, of assessing the consequences of mistakes we hope we'd never dare to make."

Get your war on

I haven't checked in with my favorite clip art political cartoonist in a while. Man, don't read this while eating or drinking because you will spit food and or drink all over your computer screen and, quite possibly, the front of your shirt. You might even get a little mess on your trousers too.

These colors don't run

"In Iraq, we now have pictures of American soldiers degrading captives. The brazenness with which the soldiers conducted themselves, snapping photographs and flashing the "thumbs-up" sign as they abused prisoners, suggests they felt they had nothing to hide from their superiors. Indeed, there are now reports that their higher-ups in military intelligence urged such behavior to create better conditions for interrogation. "

Not only should Rumsfeld resign but so should our president. Oops, he won't because he's never made a mistake.

I'm linking to the O'Reilly Factor? Jesus...

"Seymour Hersh: And I could tell you something else. Let me just say this. I believe the services have a -- look, the kids did bad things. But the notion that it's all just these kids [doing these things]... The officers are "in loco parentis" with these children. We send our children to war. And we have officers like that general, whose job is to be mother and father to these kids, to keep them out of trouble. The idea of watching these pictures, it's not only a failure of the kids, it's a failure of everybody in the command structure."

For extra fun look how O'Reilly tries to assert his unfounded opinions as facts but Hersh does not let him. That is how O'Reilly works.

Almost enough to cause you to pull an Elvis and shoot your Teevee

Last night while flipping before Southpark came on I came across Hannity and Colmes on Fox Infotainment. They were interviewing a defense attorney that was representing one of the soldiers being scapegoated for the rampant abuse of Iraqi prisoners by our military. The whole point of the interview seemed to be the point at the end made by Hannity that John Kerry claims to have violated the Geneva convention in Vietnam. He gave the attorney a nice opening and allowed him to say something to the effect, "Yes, killing noncombatants and shooting unarmed enemy in the back is worse that the mistreatment of POW's." So, there you go; anything taking place in Iraq is better than John Kerry's behavior in Vietnam. How do these creeps sleep at night?

I was appalled that these two "journalists" did not even bother to question the insinuation of this attorney. I have heard some of the quotes by Kerry when referring to atrocities. The way he stated it was that the Vietnam War was an atrocity and by participating in it he committed an atrocity. The way that statement has been twisted is shockingly dishonest.

Oh, and from what I've read, if the only people who get convicted of any crime in this prisoner abuse thing are low-ranking enlisted folks then we have a big problem because it goes a lot higher than that.

How long will we be in Iraq building democracy?

Democratization is a noble goal. I was involved in democratization efforts for most of my diplomatic career. It is a long and hard road that requires institution-building and a significant investment on the part of the local population in a new and different system of governance that is often at odds with tradition. The best description I have heard for the process is that it is like a fine English lawn: you must seed it, you must water it, and if you want it to look really good, you must roll it -- for six hundred years. It is not a task that comes naturally to our military, however excellent that institution is.

Quote by Joshua Marshall

"This isn't a matter of the aesthetics of leadership. It is another example of how this president is a passive commander-in-chief, how he demands no accountability and, because of that, allows problems to fester and grow. Though this may not be a direct example of it, he also creates a climate tolerant of rule-breaking that seeps down into the ranks of his subordinates, mixing with and reinforcing those other shortcomings."

Mmmm....Hugos

Off and on for the last ten years I have been going to a diner on South Blvd called Hugos. It's owned by a Greek gentleman named George and, although they do serve meals other than breakfast, I only get breakfast there. My buddy Chris tells me that their pita burgers rock but I haven't sampled one of those yet. I'm pretty happy about the couple that owns the joint because in the last two years they bought the building from the company they had been renting it from and then remodeled the place. They serve my favorite hashbrowns in the city. Nice and crispy on top and warm and moist in the middle, like a turtle.

Lately I've been screwing up when I go to work at noon. I have been leaving at the last minute and then I end up having to rush to work. Today I decided to leave at 11 and run by Hugos for breakfast. I got me a ham, green peppers, onions and cheese omelet. Oh yeah, their omelets rock. I read the paper while waiting and devoured my food when it arrived. It worked about perfectly except that I forgot to bring a tie with me and had to run by my home to grab a tie. I was five minutes late. The best laid plans...

Unfair and biased

I just flipped over to Fox news and they were covering the story about John Kerry adding Warren Buffett as an economic advisor. The Fox analyst, some guy named Smith, said he didn't know what Kerry was thinking because Buffett wants to raise taxes. I read a column by Buffett last year where he said he thought taxes on the rich (people like him) should not have their taxes cut. Of course the fox analyst didn't mention that fact. All he said was "raise taxes" several times. Buffett is willing to raise his own taxes because he knows he doesn't pay his fair share. That is dishonest news reporting and so far from "fair and balanced" that one can only laugh.
If there was a god and you were lying so blatantly in front of so many people snakes and worms would crawl out of your ears, nose and mouth.

My mother loves Fox news and even thinks that Bill O'Reilly is a great man. Do you have any idea how depressing that is? I have been campaigning with her for over a year to turn that goddamn network off.

Speaking of scum fucks

I did some partying down in Savannah and I don't like to go to sleep while still a little messed up so I did some late night television viewing. I came across CBN and got to watch Satan's little helper, Pat Robertson. There is a special place in hell for people like him who hide behind Christianity and the ignorance of others in order to spread lies. They actually showed a 'news' story about a little boy who had a nasty cancer that up and went away. That may be true, cancer is funny that way. It's happened before. It can also come back just as quickly. Of course CBN portrayed this as a miracle from god because an angel supposedly appeared to the boy's parents and told them everything was going to be alright. Heck, maybe it was Muddy Waters. I do have to give CBN some credit the piece was very well put together. The doctors they interviewed were mystified and referred to the boy's recovery as miraculous which, of course, later translated to miracle when the parents were interviewed. It was a marvelous bit of propaganda.

People like Robertson sometimes cause me to hope there is a god because she's got some payback for him when he finally croaks. I hope he's enjoying his worldly goods while he can.

Howdy

OK, so it's been a view days since I done blogged. I was waiting for emails asking why I hadn't blogged. None arrived so I have to motivate myself to write. I am posting a lot of pictures this time and I hope you dial-up bastards don't have too much trouble with it.

I've been on vacation the last two weeks. What did I do? I Xboxed, dicked around on the computer, ate out a lot, self medicated, read, played guitar, played tennis once, went to the park, spent a couple of days in Savannah, slept in, traveled twice to eat genuine North Carolina barbecue.

My first trip, in my first week of vacation, to eat barbecue was to a place called R.O.'s located in Gastonia. Oh my fucking god, was it good. What makes their barbecue so good is the coleslaw they put on the sammich. It's to die for. Yesterday Chris, Wendell and I drove out to Albermarle to go to a place called Whispering Pines. Oh my fucking god, that was awesome also. Let me say that if you live in North Carolina and don't seek out and eat at one of the local family-owned barbecue joints near where you live you are doing yourself a disservice. They are one of the perks of living in this area like dirt tracks and sweet tea.



I went to Savannah with an old buddy I hadn't traveled with in ages. You know how sometimes you feel the need to spend time with a person? He hadn't been to Savannah before and I have been there several times. I hadn't been in a while so I wasn't sure if I still knew my way around. I did, which was cool because it made me look cool. In front of Savannah's courthouse there is this eternal flame kinda thing called the Flame of Freedom. I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Chris getting burned by the Flame of Freedom. Yes, we had had a few drinks that night.


Earlier that same day we went out to Tybee Island and did some sight seeing. I hadn't seen the ocean in several years and it's good to be near the ocean now and then. It's where we all came from. It's like going back to the womb but with more wind.


Even earlier that same day we stopped by the Bonaventure Cemetery. Although we got there at midday with a strong sun that detracted from the potential gothicism of the place it still has a magic to it even at high noon, baby.


I just thought I would do a little vacation wrap up so you don't think I just slept in everyday until noon and then went and got a plate of hashbrowns at Waffle House. I only did that twice.