an open letter to Europe

To all of the countries of Europe, NATO, and the United Nations:

George W. Bush, the illegitimate president of the United States, is currently on a visit to several countries in Europe in the effort to drum up support for his ill-considered and nightmarish foreign policies, including the illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign country, Iraq. Many European leaders seem to be swayed by his latest batch of empty promises. You are encouraged to read about what happens after George W. Bush engages the support of others for his pet projects. Do not believe a word he says. Our president is a liar without the merest shred of a conscience, and so are the obsequious minions with whom he surrounds himself. Once he has achieved his own duplicitous purposes, he discards those he uses and takes every opportunity to stab them in the back to discredit them and ensure they cannot rise up against him after they realize his treachery and hypocrisy. As a patriotic American, it pains me greatly to say that this man is a dangerous menace to the United States, to the world, and to the very concepts of peace and freedom.

Feed the beast and it will eat you as well. Look at what he has done in the last four years. Do you think he has changed overnight? You have been warned.

no more fear

Good-bye, Hunter S. Thompson. Sadly, we need you more than ever right now.

pieces of silver

Ahmad Chalabi is openly declaring that he thinks he will be the ultimate victor in the Iraq elections. Considering he was pretty discredited in the last year and was never a favorite of the Iraqis to begin with, it seems strange that he would be popular enough to be this close to winning the vote. There are reports that he has largely bribed his way and used various other means of achieving his current revitalization, begging the question of where he got sufficient resources to be able to accomplish this in such a short time. With Chalabi's obvious connection to the Bush administration and the fact that under Bremer's good stewardship, some nine billion dollars are unaccounted for in the financing of Iraq's "reconstruction" does it not seem reasonable to assume there might be some connection between the two?

at last

The first robin. Let the world be renewed!

uncivil servant

In a wonderful display of Republican courtesy, Lord Donald Rumsfeld walked out of an Arms Committee meeting in which he was being uncooperative in his responses to the important questions that he was being asked, to which "we the people" have every right to demand the answers. He stated as he was departing that he had to "do lunch" and go to another meeting afterwards. If this incredibly arrogant behavior doesn't demonstrate what this administration thinks of their government jobs as royal appointments. Or perhaps we just don't know that they are...

got wood?

Let's talk about erections. Supercharged, chemically enhanced erections. Now, don't think this is a gripe about morality or a rant against Viagra commercials and their ilk, as smarmy as they may be. No, this is about the disclaimer that you seem to hear from all commercials selling erection-assistance drugs. You know the one:

"Erections lasting longer than four hours, while rare, require immediate medical attention."

Why is that line in these commercials, without exception? They explain right in the middle of the sentence that these incidents are rare. You would think that your consulting physician would warn you of the potentially serious side effects of a drug while prescribing it to you and would be able to explain that to you in the privacy of the medical office. I'm sure it must be printed on the prescription label and with the accompanying data sheet that all pharmaceutical companies include with their products. It's hard to find a reasonable rationale for incessantly warning people of an admittedly rare side effect in every single advertisement. I find it difficult to imagine that they are putting it there for the benefit of the few men wandering around with a chemically-induced erection that won't go away and wondering what they should do about it.

No, I can't think of any good reasons for putting that line there. Except for this one, that is. They put it in each and every advertisement without exception because it is a successful selling point. They are planting in the minds of men viewing these advertisements the understanding that this drug can give you erections that last four hours, and that you don't really have to start getting concerned until three hours passes. Since the companies can't tell you directly and overtly that these drugs will make it possible for you to restrain nature for hours on end, they use this method to sneak it in under the radar by telling you that if you go more than four hours, it's a bad side effect!

And we wonder why the pharmaceutical companies spend so many millions on advertising...

genius, my ass

The consistently dishonest Condolleeza Rice has finally been outed as the worthless, empty tailored suit that she is. Held-back portions of the 9/11 commission just released show that there were 52 warnings issued of a likelihood of suicide hijackings in America, about half of the total FAA warnings for that period of time, before the actual domestic attacks on September 11th of 2001. There can be no doubt that dire security warnings like these were forwarded to our country's National Security Adviser, one Condolleeza Rice. No action was taken on this important information.

We really need to figure out how to impeach this president and remove this administration from authority before they kill us all.

another one

Thank you to Representative Louise Slaughter of New York for very publicly asking George W. Bush to account for the highly suspicious placement of James "Jeff Gannon" Guckert in the White House press corps. Although it isn't likely that the administration will have the guts or the integrity to respond to her, once again the only Democrat to exhibit any masculinity and courage is a WOMAN.

Folks, it's time for a new political party. This one is broken beyond repair. I suggest calling the new one the "America Party."

royalty

RIP Jimmy Smith, the king of the Hammond organ. While I'm not particularly into jazz, as a keyboard player, I can only say that Jimmy Smith was unique and dazzling. He will never be replaced. Thanks, Jimmy. Even we rock players owe you a debt of gratitude for expanding the boundaries and giving us new musical vocabulary to use.

paying for free speech

According to serial liar and Colorado governor Bill Owens, who, during an interview with Paula Zahn clearly demonstrated that he is on an obvious crusade to eliminate the outspoken Ward Churchill from his tenured college position, one of the biggest arguments against retaining Churchill on the educational staff is that "no professor has the right" to advocate "armed conflict." By that logic, that means that any and all professors in Colorado who supported the invasion of Iraq should also be under threat of firing. Ahhh, Colorado, where all speech is free, but some speech is freer than other speech.

Of course, Paula Zahn couldn't part the Zoloft haze to notice that little sequitur.

we are in trouble

Watching "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann tonight, I counted seven "questions" to Scott McClellan at White House press briefings, and one "question" to George W. Bush asked by the suddely infamous "Jeff Gannon." Every single "question" was a ranting position statement barely disguised as an interrogatory, and without exception the pool of reporters sitting there with him didn't bat an eyelash at the astonishingly overt propaganda this man oozed every time he had an opportunity. While it's frightening enough that a man with no press credentials gets a White House press pass under a pseudonym after being turned down when he applied in his own name, a man who seems to have clear ties to internet domains involved with male prostitution, who showed clear evidence of having had access to secret CIA documents, and with even more interesting reports no doubt to come, what's truly terrifying is that our own press corps were apparently unable to recognize that a mole had been planted in their midst. Listen to or read the questions this person asked during these important communications between the government and the watchdog of the rulers, the press, and tell me that they wouldn't have set alarm bells ringing in your own head long ago. Yet, somehow this man was able to sit in briefing after briefing and bail little Scottie out time after time, and nobody commented on it or even looked at him askance. Our press is now just symbolic and decorative, and the truth is only going to come out from the utterly populist independent reporting found via media like the internet. And, if you think it's bad now, it's going to get a lot worse over the next four years, just watch.

talon-ted

My guess is that when all is said and done, conservative pundit Robert Novak is going to be outed as a frequent client of gay prostitutes supplied to him by one Jim J.D. Guckert, also known as Jeff Gannon of Talon News. It will be fun to watch this story unfold.

buck up, little guy

There's a lot of breast-beating and gnashing of teeth amongst the Democratic party in between lamentations and attempting to figure out how to make the liberal point of view more relevant. Folks, it's just like the late 60's right now, and once people start to weary of the ever-costlier social and economic impact of eternal war, the liberals will once again be crucial to the self-correction of the country. The rats will be cleaned out just like the last time.

This time, however, we need to make sure that they are not permitted to return.

then why do they call it...

According to the newly-enthroned Abu Gonzales, "terrorism remains the top priority for the Justice Department."

Huh?

Isn't that what the military and Homeland Security do? Isn't the Justice Department supposed to, you know, concern itself with legal matters? Things like making sure the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are rigorously adhered to, and that the freedoms of the American citizenry are protected?

here's to John Galt

Happy Birthday, Ayn. And, thank you for explaining it all and helping me realize that I'm not the crazy one.

proper credit

In tribute to little w., I've dyed the first knuckle of my middle finger purple.

Mr. Chimp-in-Chief, I salute you.

next

Prediction - it's not Iran, it's not Syria, it's not North Korea, it's not any of the countries openly talked about. Our next target is Venezuela. Think about it. Then we have our marker on the two largest oil fields in the world and can be reckless with relative impunity, or so these people seem to think. Venezuela has less military strength than Iraq did, and the other South American countries are too poor and too fearful of the United States from their little object lessons in the Reagan and Bush 1 days.

Andalay, andalay, arriba, arriba!

a modest proposal

I would like to propose that we designate January 31st each year as "Astronaut Day" in honor of the crews of Apollo I, the Challenger, and the Columbia, as well as any future brave souls lost in furthering the boundaries of humanity's sphere of influence.

truth in labeling

Why don't we rename the Republican Party "the Crooks" and the Democratic Party "the Fools" and at least just be honest about all of this bullshit?

hawk ptooey

Why isn't the bulk of the American citizenry incredibly scared by the fact that the party in power uses the phrase "anti-war" as a pejorative?

hey, big tipper

The Bush administration wants to raise the stipend paid to the families of U.S. military personnel killed in action from $12,000 to $100,000. This certainly shows how strongly the patriots in this administration support the troops. They call this payoff to the grieving the "Death Gratuity."

The death tip. Heart-warming, isn't it?

a conversion

After decades as a strong atheist, one who finds no evidence and no need for anything supernatural, I've had a conversion and have found the sect to which I realize I belong.

I'm a Methodist.


A Scientific Methodist.