The Cheney Story

I guess you all know that the big story for the past few days is Dick the Slimy's shooting of a friend while quail hunting. This is good for Republicans because, of course, it keeps everyone's attention away from the genuinely serious problems like Iraq, warrantless spying, the Plame affair, DeLay, Frist, Abramoff, etc., etc., etc. There are as always many questions about this shooting affair. One speculation is that Cheney may have been drinking before hunting. And maybe they were shooting too late in the afternoon and the light wasn't what it should have been. Perhaps the victim just asked for it as he failed to tell them where he was. Perhaps whoever was supposed to be directing the hunt wasn't doing his/her job? Perhaps the victim was much closer to Cheney than has been claimed (some don't believe the tiny 28 gauge shotgun could have done that much damage at 30 yards)? The only information we have comes from Cheney and his friends so how would anyone know what truly happened?

There are, however, some serious questions that it would be good to have answers for. Did Cheney, who admitted to having one beer, have more than one? Remember, this is a guy who was kicked out of Yale for drinking beer rather than studying. And, he has the distinction of having had two DUI's. Makes you think doesn't it? Is this perhaps the reason the local sheriff was not allowed to question him? The Secret Service did not allow it when the sheriff turned up to do it. Why?

Another suggestion is that Cheney was trying to keep a lady friend out of it. It seems that Pamela Whittelford, Ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein, was one of the three quail hunters. It is said by some that Lynne Cheney does not approve of Dick's relationship with said lady. I have no idea if there is anything to this or not. But I think there is a good question that might be asked. What was Ms. Whittelford doing there as one of only three hunters? Do they commonly invite female hunters on these trips? Why her? Is she a renowned quail hunter? A real aficionado? Is she a close friend of the victim? The owner of the ranch? Or merely a friend of Cheney's? Personally, I don't care. But I would certainly like to know why the sheriff was not permitted to interview Cheney at the time. And I would also like to know why it took almost 24 hours before all of this started to be made public. Is it really because Cheney is so arrogant he doesn't think he has to be responsible to anyone. I think he is that, but I don't think that explains the delay.

I guess people think the Muslims around the world are rioting and destroying American stores and restaurants because they are upset about some cartoons. While the cartoons may be a convenient explanation there is obviously much more to it than that. They hate what we have done to them and have been doing to them for many, many years. This is an opportunity for them to express their pent-up rage and they are taking advantage of it big time. The publication of the cartoons was a deliberate act of provocation aimed at the Muslims in Denmark. This is not a question of the right of free speech versus Muslim fundamentalism. Muslims, contrary to what the MSM tries to peddle, are not simply a bunch of raving fanatics who cannot bear the idea of free speech. They have been truly offended in ways that go far beyond cartoons. It is long past time we arrived beyond pip, pip, old chap, white man't burden, brown skinned children, bringing civilization (democracy), and the like. We need some genuine respect for each other. But don't expect any respect for anyone from Bush/Cheney (except for their corporate masters).

The Vice-President shot someone

Dick the Slimy shot a hunting companion in the face and chest.

Iraq.

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

Afghanistan

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

Warrantless spying.

Dick the Slimy shot a hunting companion.

DeLay

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

Bill Frist

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

Abramoff

Dick the Slimy shot 70 pen raised pheasants in one day.

He's an avid hunter

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

Valerie Plame

Dick the Slimy shot a lawyer.

He didn't want to tell anyone until Rove had been consulted

Dick the Slimy shot one of his hunting companions.

He called to say he was sorry

Dick the Slimy shot him in the face and heart.

He had a heart attack of sorts

Dick the Slimy shot his lawyer friend.

I bet he really hopes he doesn't die

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

It was the victim's own fault for not announcing where he was

Dick the Slimy accidentally shot a hunting companion.

No one told him you were supposed to look before you shot

Dick the Slimy shot someone.

The Press wasn't notified until 24 hours later

Dick the Slimy shot a lawyer friend.

He doesn't want to talk about it.

Dick the Slimy is a real jerk. And totally dishonest.

Dick the Slimy believes he has absolute power.

He should be disabused of this idea, impeached, and tried for war crimes.

Republicans love him.

Republicans are just as guilty as Cheney.

All you can eat - essay

There will be no Morialekafa tomorrow as I am a victim of witchcraft.

Dick the Slimy accidentally shot another hunter while quail hunting in Texas, right in the face and upper torso. He's in the hospital and apparently doing okay. The explanation for this accident is now being offered by the press. You want to know who was guilty? The victim! Ha, ha, ha.

Consider the "All You Can Eat" phenomenon:

It is fairly common in the United States to come across a restaurant that advertises “all you can eat.” Sometimes this is all you can eat spaghetti, sometimes fried fish, sometimes fried chicken, and sometimes other particular dishes. This has to be a purely American custom. Can you even imagine a Frenchman or Italian, or any other European for that matter, who would treat food in such a disrespectful way? Food and eating are just not embedded in American culture as they are in European countries. In France and Italy in particular food is enormously important and eating is a ritual in which you savor everything: taste, seasoning, smell, preparation, appearance, dressings, the proper wine accompaniment, and so on. A meal is something to be truly enjoyed, not just gulped down in huge quantities in an orgy of gross overeating. The object of eating by this latter method is to consume as much as you can possibly hold, sometimes because it is thought of as a such a bargain and other times as a kind of test of one’s capacity. Of course it has to be terrible for you and clearly is a most unhealthy practice. But Americans, at least many of them, think gluttony of this type is just fine, even fun. They look forward to these (often Friday night) feast fests, and quite likely starve themselves in anticipation.
My only personal experience of this disgusting custom was when I was young, stupid and irresponsible, many years ago, and living in a Beach House with three other young men in Manhattan Beach, California. A few blocks from our house was a restaurant called The Little Bavarian Café (at least I think that is what it was called). On Friday nights they fed you all the fried chicken you could eat. The four of us, young and always hungry, could put away unbelievable amounts of this delicacy. Of course we paid no attention to how it was cooked or whether it was good for us or not, only how much of it we could eat, and who could eat the most. We gloated over our gluttony, so to speak. Obviously the restaurant couldn’t make any money doing this. But that wasn’t the idea. The place was always very crowded. There were no reservations. You had to wait, usually quite a long time, in the bar. Obviously that was the plan. They made so much money on drinks they didn’t really care how much we ate. And, of course, the more you drank before your meal, the less you were able to eat. It was a clever scheme and kept them in business for many years. I recall there was a piano player and a hostess who was a real knockout. It was all great fun and I do not recall any ill effects from this questionable diet other than spending Saturdays trying to recover. I don’t suppose this café exists anymore.
A variant of this custom of all you can eat are various eating contests. I’m sure you are aware of these. You know, who can eat the most pancakes in ten minutes, or who can eat the most hot dogs in some finite time, and most recently, a contest to see who could eat the most chicken wings in X amount of time. Sometimes there are pie-eating contests in which the contestants have to eat more pie than anyone else but they cannot use their hands or any silverware. These are really funny if you like watching people with lots of messy pie on their faces. Sometimes the winner of the hot dog eating contest turns out to be a 110 pound Japanese who defeats a 300 pounder. In fact, little guys often out-eat everyone else. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Another variant of this is the restaurant that advertises 24 ounce or even larger steaks and dares you to eat one (often you can get it free if you succeed – few ever succeed).
But doesn’t it also make you wonder what in the world is wrong with Americans? What is this desire to gobble down enormous masses of tasteless food as fast as possible? Do you think they worry about how the stuff was cooked? Or even how it tastes? Can you imagine someone sending back a 24 ounce steak because it wasn’t cooked to perfection? Or refuses to eat the hot dogs? Could this be a result of childhood starvation? Seems unlikely to me. Is it merely to emphasize the obvious fecundity of America? To prove to the world that we are, indeed, a land of plenty? I don’t think so. But it is clearly related to the fast food craze in our culture. It seems obvious that if you are a devotee of fast foods you don’t really care much about taste, quality, health, or appearance (consider the obesity epidemic). It all seems to be related in some way that I cannot understand.
As KFC, McDonald’s, and other American chains are moving into Europe and apparently finding at least some acceptance, perhaps we can hope that “All You Can Eat,” contests won’t be far behind. Maybe we could insist on this at the point of a gun? American culture uber alles!

A THUNDEROUS NO!

Bush/Cheney's latest plan to sell public lands in order to raise money to help with our various debts has to be the most stupid, asinine, ridiculous, disgusting, childish, irrational suggestion ever. The fact that they would even suggest such a thing reveals their utter contempt for our country and its citizens. Obviously selling public lands would be nothing but a one time fix for our serious inability to live within out means. Once those lands were gone (no doubt to Bush/Cheney's developer friends, if not to China or Japan) they would be gone for good. And we would still be in debut up to our eyeballs. So...why not just sell off some more public land. And then some more. This would be a solution to our obscene national debt. By the time we could sell enough of our land to get out of debt there wouldn't be much left. So then I guess we could start to sell our children as they have to do in Asia. After all, if you don't have any land, why would you need to have children?

Only an evil and and corrupt administration like our current one could come up with such a suggestion. It is part of their idea that everything should be privatized. But remember, land is just another word for the environment. Do you really want our environment to be placed in the hands of private developers? Is that somehow a good idea? If they have their way everything will be privatized: land, air, water, energy, health, transportation, education, you name it. It would never occur to any of these greedy capitalistic creeps that there are things that are just too important to be privatized - like health care, water, air, the environment, and so forth. We have just had a great example of what happens when energy is privatized in California, and the current oil situation is another great example. You simply cannot have an unregulated "free market" economy without sacrificing both workers and the environment. Of course you can placate the masses for a time "with a six pack of beer and a long-legged whore on Saturday night" (someone else's phrase), but when you reach the point when they can no longer even afford that pleasure something has to change. We seem to be approaching such a situation.

This says nothing about all of our other problems: Iraq, Afghanistan, Abramoff, DeLay, Frist, Hastert, Libby, Cheney, Katrina, spying, lying, and the dying or our Republic. Oh, well, there's always "Lost" on Wednesday night, what an apt description of our present condition. Do you think there will ever be a happy episode called "Found." I hope so but my hope is growing dimmer and dimmer with each passing forgotten scandal.

Should we just give up?

Day by day the evidence against the Bush/Cheney administration grows. But nothing happens. Paul Pillar, who was the National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, has now stated that Bush/Cheney "cherry picked" the intelligence to make a case for going to "war" against Iraq. Not only that, he says that the intelligence was largely irrelevant because they didn't really pay much attention to it anyway in their desire to illegally attack Iraq.

Libby apparently testified that he was "authorized" to leak information by his superiors (read Cheney and probably Hadley) in order to help justify their going to "war." It also has become clear that the attempt to smear Wilson originated in Cheney's office.

Abramoff has now said that he met Bush almost a dozen times and that they even discussed his family. He was also invited to Crawford but for some reason could not attend. Remember that Bush claims he never met Abramoff and doesn't remember him (even though there are at least five pictures of them together). Bush is a liar. Does that surprise anyone? Bush claimed he didn't know Ken ("Kenny Boy") Lay either and that Lay had supported his opponent when he ran for Governor of Texas - and absolutely blatant lie.

Michael Brown testified that the White House knew at least 14 hours earlier than they claimed that the levees were breached in New Orleans. They did nothing until the next day. Brown was pretty useless as director of FEMA but it clearly wasn't all just his fault.

Add all this to the multiple scandals involving the Republicans, the lying to start an illegal, unconstitutional and unnecessary "war," the torturing, hiding prisoners from the Red Cross, the illegal wiretapping, bombing civilians, the use of white phosphorous, etc., etc., etc, wouldn't you conclude that something needs to be done? But nothing happens. Nothing. No impeachment, no demands for resignations, nothing.

Our trusty heads up senior Senator Craig, in a letter to my wife, says there are no grounds for impeachment because there is no proof Bush lied to start the "war." I wonder what he would consider proof? Remember, this is our man who still thinks we are going to find WMD's in Iraq. There is no chance he will be replaced in the Senate by someone with a brain.

By the way, the Danish newspaper that printed the provocative cartoons about Muhammad, two years earlier refused to publish cartoons that depicted the resurrection. They said they would offend their readers. They clearly didn't worry about offending Muslims. This is a right wing paper and the publishing of these cartoons was a deliberate and provocative act designed to denigrate Muslims. It had little or nothing to do with free speech. You reap what you sow.

Will happy days ever be here again?

Cheney and anger

From the moment Libby was indicted it was obvious that he would not have acted on his own but was, in fact, following orders from Dick the Slimy. And now we know that is true. Fitzgerald now has testimony from several individuals that the whole roviating of Wilson originated in Cheney's office and that Cheney himself authorized Libby to leak information. I guess the question is, what is anyone going to do about it? And if Democrats run true to form I guess the answer is probably nothing. Just like they will probably do nothing about Bush/Cheney's unconstitutional power grab. Gonzales is going to brief both the House and the Senate on the spying. That will no doubt make the Democrats feel better (better to get a bit of information than none at all) and they will then drop the issue. Ah, Democrats. How I wish there was a viable third party.

As near as I can tell from the web most everyone (that I read) believes that Gonzales appearance was a marvelous mixture of horse shit, bull shit, with a generous dose of pig pucky. He managed to dazzle the Senators with his Alice in Wonderland style of driving them crazy. Clever fellow, Gonzales, still acting as the President's private attorney rather than as Attorney General of the United States. So what did you expect, Bush brought him along from Texas, just another crony appointment, another incompetent but loyal follower.

The Republican strategy at the moment seems to focus on the fact that Hilary and other Democrats are angry. And, according to them, angry people don't get elected. I guess they are unaware of the problem that a majority of the American electorate is angry. Angry as hell. And why would Hilary and the rest of us not be angry after five years of incessant lying, cheating, and a whole litany of war crimes? of course she's angry. So are the rest of us. And I hope we will continue to be angry as hell until these lying war criminals are held accountable for their murderous illegal and unconstitutional acts. I am not suggesting that we should support the warmonger Clinton, only that we should understand her anger. I do not believe that any Democratic candidate can be elected unless they are demonstrably anti-war. This means that Hilary, Kerry, Lieberman (heaven forbid), Biden, and several others are already out of the running. At the moment that would seem to leave Feingold, maybe Warner, perhaps Gore, possibly Edwards, as the only possibilities. The problem is, who in their right mind would want the responsibility of trying to clean up the mess Bush/Cheney have made?

I don't think I will live long enough to see this mess cleaned up. I fear infinity is not for me. But good luck to you all.

A Prayer Breakfast?

It seems that our esteemed Governor Kempthorne on March fourth is going to host a "Prayer Breakfast." Why do we need a prayer breakfast? What are they praying for - breakfast? I would hope they might pray that we can be delivered from the evil emanating from the White House, but given the nature of our State politics that seems highly unlikely. They are probably going to pray for deliverance from homosexuals and abortionists, the two "problems" that seem to occupy their minds the most (except when they are scheming to make sure they don't have to spend any money at all on education). We are apparently going to have a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. Not only that, we are going to even ban any rights at all for gay couples. There are already laws in the state of Idaho against gay marriage but apparently they need a constitutional amendment "just in case." But don't despair, we are trying very hard to enter the 20th century.

Apparently the featured speaker at this breakfast, whose name eludes me for the moment, believes that all Muslims should be converted to Christianity. Now this is an idea that leave naivete so far behind as it enters the realm of the unutterably stupid that it is absolutely mind-boggling. Why should any self-respecting Muslim want to convert to Christianity, especially the kind of Chrisianity so stupid as to believe they might want to do so?

Want to bet that the wiretapping and spying scandal won't just disappear along with all of the other Republican scandals? The Democrats, having had their moment in front of the cameras, will just lie down again, pretend that they tried to stop it, and allow it to be swept under the rug along with everything else. This works for the Republicans because they generate new scandals much faster than the old ones can be dealt with. Little wonder that Gonzales was trying not to laugh at those Senators who were so obviously frustrated they could barely speak at times. And why should they not be frustrated? Trying to deal with Republicans is like sliding down into the rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland where there is no logic, no reason, no common sense, no common ground upon which to base a conversation. This is exactly the kind of communication problem that leads men to kill their wives and vice-versa. You begin to wonder if it is not you who is crazy rather than those who are driving you crazy. The Gonzales hearing was an absolutely classic example.

Remember, Bush doesn't know Abramoff or Ken Lay. Pigs fly and Republicans always tell the truth, especially Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and McClellan.

The secret threat from outer space

The Bush/Cheney administration is well known for secrecy. I think they must have secret knowledge of an invasion from outer space. Otherwise I don't see how they could possibly justify a defense budget of 440 billion dollars. FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY BILLION DOLLARS! What country on earth could possibly be contemplating an attack on the United States that would justify such an obscene amount for defense? Russia? Nonsense. Iran? Even more nonsensical. North Korea? Don't make me laugh. China? Ah, yes, China. Does anyone in their right mind believe China is about to attack the United States? First of all, they don't have to do that as they already own much of the U.S. And with Bush's plan to sell off Public Lands they will no doubt literally own most of the United States. Actually, it's a great idea. Sell them all of our Public Land in return for cancelling our enormous debt to them. The only problem with that is that we would no longer own our own country. I guess Bush/Cheney wouldn't care. They could just take their ill-gotten gains and move to Paraguay or someplace. In any case, China can take over the United States without ever firing a shot. And they will soon if we don't get rid of Bush/Cheney.

Defense Budget is a terrible misnomer. It would be far more accurate to speak of the Offense Budget. All the money they want couldn't possibly be just for defense. Indeed, aside from paying our mercenaries and a bit of maintenance we could no doubt defend ourselves for years without spending much of anything. And think of all the good things we could do with all that money here at home. But, you say, what about our Empire? Well, what about it? Do most Americans want us to have an Empire? Do they want us policing all the rest of the world? Do you think they are even aware of the problem? I think most Americans want to live and let live. What business is it of ours to go around the world proselytizing? And why should we continue to support and defend Israel's occupation of Palestinian land? The American Empire is about to implode as we become just another third rate country in hock beyond our means to China and Japan.

Why was Alberto Gonzales not sworn in yesterday when he faced the Senate? Why were Bush/Cheney not under oath when they testified? Why was Condi Rice not under oath? As near as I could tell Gonzales was actually trying not to laugh at the Senators who were trying to question him. Our Republic is in great danger. Will the Senate just cave in to the Republicans once again? These would be exciting times if anything ever happened other than just talk and more talk. We're talking ourselves into oblivion. How about some action for a change?

Yes or no?

Watching this business about spying is like watching two children: yes, you did, no, I didn,t, yes you did, no I didn't, etc. etc.

Gonzales, the President's toady Attorney General, insists that what Bush has done is legal. Leahy, Spector, Graham, and others don't think so. So is it legal or not? My guess is that they will push this all the way to Bush's Supreme Court which they believe will act in their favor (that somehow it is legal). Remember, Alito was appointed specifically because he is a conservative who believes in the power of the Executive.

Notice how the Republicans have framed the discussion. They keep insisting that the spying is necessary (thus implying that Democrat don't think it is necessary). But that is not the issue. Everyone believes that some form of spying is necessary. The question is not whether or not it is necessary, everyone agrees that it is, the question is whether it is being done legally. And the answer to that question is almost certainly that it has not been done legally. The argument, apparently borrowed from Nixon, is that if the President does it, it must be legal. I doubt this is ultimately going to fly. But, of course, by the time anyone bothers to do anything about it we'll all be dead. The fact that justice (if there is any) moves so slowly certainly favors those in office, or those who are on trial (Ken Lay comes to mind).

You notice that Gonzales did not testify under oath. A very strange situation. Democrats, of course, wanted him under oath but Arlen Spector, in charge of the proceedings, refused to have him sworn in. Why do you suppose he did that? It couldn't be because he knew he would be lying - or could it? There are those suspicious folk like me who think the whole thing is simply being staged and the outcome has been totally predetermined. Would Republicans do something as sneaky as that? You bet your life!

Rove and the rest of the "gang" are apparently going to bet on painting the Democrats as soft on defense and terrorism, as they have up until now. They keep insisting in one way or another that Democrats don't really care if we get bombed and are too sympathetic to terrorists, etc., etc. Will they get away with this crap again? They will if we let them (again). It is long past time that we throw the whole bunch of them out. Bush/Cheney should be impeached and then tried for their obvious war crimes. But if we let Republicans steal the next election (again) that will never happen. So be prepared. If they send in their Brownshirts again, resist. If they try to force their crooked Diebold machines on us again, resist. I hate to be so corny but it is true: "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."

Iraq

First, the Seahawks lost to the Steelers, 21 - 10.

Tiger Woods won the Dubai, beating Ernie Els in a one hole playoff. So Tiger wins two in a row so far this year. Awesome.

Much more importantly, the British have now indicated they plan on a permanent base in southern Iraq. They have also allowed that they expect an American/British presence in that unfortunate land for at least ten years (is that when they expect the oil to run out?). As the Americans have constructed four permanent bases throughout Iraq, and have no intention of leaving, I wish people would stop tsalking about when the troops will come home. Such foolishness. This has been the American/British plan all along and the reason they illegally invaded in the first place. Give me crap like WMD's, a Hussein/bin Laden connectlon, spreading democracy, overthrowing a dictator, and whatever. The plan is to control the Mideast and the oil that just happens to be there. So prepare for years of resistance and an American/Iraq situation that parallels Israel/Palestine. Permanent "war" so that Bush can claim dictatorial powers forever.

The Attorney General will face the Senate tomorrow to defend the claim that Bush has a legal right to warrantless wiretapping. This should be most interesting. Of course you can't really watch it for long without going to sleep as it always moves at a glacial pace. Actually, I think the glaciers probably move faster.

A favorite verse:
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain
shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment
Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor
Birth,
When two strong men stand facae to face, though they come
from the ends of the earth!

Rudyard Kipling
The Ballad of East and West

Learning to read - reminiscence

Nothing much happens on weekends. Oh, yeah, on CNN yesterday they spent a lot of time on a tree that fell on a trailer in a trailer park. I will use this down time to reminisce.


My only remaining lifetime friend recently returned a book he borrowed, Rex, a Dog Story for Boys, by Fullerton Waldo, published in 1932. What makes this somewhat unusual and of interest is that I loaned him the book in 1940! Getting it back after only 66 years I guess is better than not getting it back at all. Of course I have long since outgrown such a book. But it has made me think about reading and about how I learned to read. Actually I don’t really remember how I learned to read. Although my parents loved me I do not remember either of them reading to me. But somehow I learned. I guess in school. I vaguely remember a teacher holding up flash cards with the vowels and consonants on them. In any case, I was an early reader and an avid and dedicated one at that. I read voraciously, just about anything I could find: Rex, Silver Chief, Carcajou, Black Beauty, Wind in the Willows, comic books, westerns, detective stories, the works. I remember when I was in the third grade there was a whole series of childrens’ books about various Indians. I read them all so quickly my teacher refused to believe it. I read at school, at home, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I even read after going to bed, using a flashlight under the covers so my parents would not know and insist I stop and sleep.
I was during all of this time a very indiscriminate reader. I read for the stories and, I guess, for escape. Questions of style, genre, or even verisimilitude never entered my mind. I simply vacuumed up prose wherever found. The only thing I didn’t read was poetry. I don’t know why but poetry never appealed to me – still doesn’t, really. My mother encouraged my reading and often bought me books. Books were cheap in those days. There was a series called Big Little Books. They were called that because they were only about 2 ½ inches tall and about 2 ½ inches thick. I believe they cost a nickel. I had many of them (I wish I still did as they are now collector’s items).
It was because of Big Little Books that I finally learned to READ, instead of merely read. It was like an epiphany, but a somewhat embarrassing one. When I was eleven my mother took me to Los Angeles to visit my eccentric Uncle Otto (a candidate for a much longer essay someday). Uncle Otto had attended Stanford University and taken a degree in Engineering. I guess he was a fine engineer but I don’t believe he was much of a reader. Nonetheless, one afternoon he picked up the Big Little Book I was reading, a western, and began to read it out loud. It went something as follows:
Bang! The slender young cowboy jumped to his feet.
Crash! He buckled on his six guns.
Boom! He mounted his trusty horse.
Hiya! He rode off like the wind into the night.

Need I say more? I suddenly realized for the first time there was writing and then there was WRITING. I became from that moment on a much more aware and discriminating reader. In a short time I gave up comic books and then, finally, Big Little Books. I was an entirely new person.
My mother must have perceived the change in my reading habits. The next time I was sick with some childhood malady, staying home with nothing to do, she brought me a chocolate milkshake (my mother had unbelievable faith in the curative powers of chocolate milk shakes), and the Studs Lonigan Trilogy! I think I was thirteen at the time.
Bang! I was off on a new life.

Of course I sometimes backslid a bit. During WWII we had paper drives (most of you won’t remember this). We kids went around town picking up old magazines, newspapers, and such, that we then brought to some designated old garages or houses to be eventually picked up for the war effort. As they weren’t picked up very often (if, in fact, at all) we indulged ourselves in various ways. We built forts out of magazines and threw them back and forth in mock battles. But we also read them. What an education that was! There were “spicy” magazines: Spicy Detective, Spicy Western, Spicy Science Fiction, and I guess Spicy Romance as well. The effect these tomes had on us makes Playboy pale into insignificance. These particular magazines have long since disappeared. Small loss. I’m certain there are others taking their place. Happily, they are no longer on my reading list.
Reading! What a wonderful thing.

Insanity prevails

The United States is several trillion (yes, trillion) dollars in debt. Bush is now asking for an additional 120 billion dollars for "wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time the Senate has just passed a 70 billion dollar tax break that will, once again, favor the filthy rich who don't need it. He is also going to submit a defense budget of 439 billion dollars, five percent more than last year. This is a defense budget that exceeds all the other nations' defense budgets put together. This is, in a word, insane. Please explain to me what it is we have gained or are gaining from pouring billions of dollars into the "war" in Iraq? We certainly aren't getting any oil. And the entire Arab world hates us with a passion because of what we have done to them. Why on earth should we spend another 120 billion there? And, of course, this won't be the end of it. He'll be asking for more later. Who has benefitted from this ridiculous and obscene Bush "war?" Halliburton, that's who. Corporations. War profiteers, mercenaries. Continuing this travesty, this celebration of war crimes, is just plain insane. Can no one put a stop to it?

World Can't Wait is at least trying. Tomorrow they are supposed to descend on the capital by the thousands demanding that Bush step down. You want to bet you will hear anything about it from the mainstream media. I bet not.

The Libby trial is now postponed until next January, conveniently after the 2006 elections. Of course the elections have nothing to do with the postponement, just like the New York Times sitting on the illegal wiretapping leak for a year so that would not come up before an election. How coincidental these things are. How long has it been since the Enron scandal was exposed? It is just now going to trial and you can bet by the time it is finished Ken Lay will have died happily in his old age. Justice in the United States is truly remarkable.

Whitman, who was head of the EPA, is now being charged with having deliberately misled New Yorkers about how dangerous it was to stay in or return to the area after the 9/11 attacks. The air quality was terrible and she claimed it was safe. Many New Yorkers are now suffering the consequences of this blatant lying. Who do you suppose was primarily responsible for this disgusting act?

House resolution 635, having to do with investigating the possibilities for impeachment now has 17 signatures. Will there be any more? If not, why not? If anyone ever deserved to be impeached it has to be Bush/Cheney.

Rumsfeld, our apparently senile Secretary of Defense, now has said the "war" in Iraq will not be a long one. Do you have any idea what he is talking about? We have built four permanent military bases in Iraq. In the past different people have said we would be there for ten years, maybe longer. No one has ever said, realistically, that it would not be a long and difficult "war." So now, Rumpot suddenly has announced it will not be long? Does he really have any idea what he is talking about? Perhaps he knows something the rest of the world doesn't, like, maybe we're going to pull out quickly? Seems most unlikely to me.

Does anyone, other than the hard core Bush supporters who would apparently support him no matter what he did (he is already responsible for murder, arson, rape and other assorted war crimes) believe a word he says? Or what anyone else in his administration says? We are living in a nightmare of Bush/Cheney's doing and so far there seems to be no end in sight. Forgive me for seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Today I was sitting and waiting for a prescription to be filled at our local Safeway pharmacy, minding my own business, not bothering a soul. An old woman, dressed in what I guess is Bonners Ferry chic: a sweatshirt over a longer shirt that hung out behind, sweat pants that had obviously seen better days and were a foot too short, ankle length black boots that were untied, and what appeared to be mismatched socks, stood nearby looking down on me. She had no teeth and was leaning heavily on a wooden cane. With absolutely no preliminaries she suddently asked, "what do you call a cow with two short legs?"
Taken aback, I answered, "I don't know, what do you call such a creature?"
"Lean beef!" She announced with glee.
I smiled. She then commanded, "what do you call a cow with no legs?"
"Beats me," I said. "What?"
"Ground beef!" she announced in her loud voice, then laughing heartily.
Before I could recover from that she went on, "what do you call a bunch of cows that have just had abortions?"
I just stared at her unable to even speak. "Decalfinated!" she cackled, opening her toothless mouth in uninhibited mirth. Her prescription in hand she limped off with her cane. "Have a nice day," she exclaimed.
God, I love Bonners Ferry.

I recall that when Addington was picked to replace Libby there were some raised eyebrows. But as most of us had never heard of him we didn't know exactly what to expect - other than trouble, of course. He is another one of Dick the Slimy's thugs, like Bolton, who will stop at nothing to get their way. He was also one of those who influenced Yoo to write his absurd legal opinions about totally unrestricted Presidential powers. He apparently also had great influence with our apparently pretty clueless Attorney General. Barring another grossly illegal Supreme Court ruling it is doubtful that these Presidential yes-men will be able to prevail. Surely there is nothing in the Constitution or American law, or International law, that would allow a President of the United States dictatorial powers. It has been asserted often enough, it seem to me, that "no President is above the law." What more needs to be said. In fact, it is absurd that this is even being questioned (unless, of course, we have already entered Wonderland). I find it terribly unlikely that international treaties that have been ratified by other branches of government can be simply ignored by the Executive. Similarly, as we are not truly at "war," which can only be authorized by Congress, Bush's claims to absolute wartime powers is more than merely questionable. However, with Democrats effectively castrated, and the American public anesthetized by television garbage, I guess most anything could happen.
Happy days, I fear, are not here again.

Just more words

Happily I was not able to watch or hear Bush's State of the Union speech. Actually, I would not have watched it even if I could because Bush's speeches make me nauseous. I always wait for the analyses. The problem with that, however, is they always play excerpts from the speeches so you cannot entirely avoid listening to the chief moron. Having now seen many excerpts from many of his speeches I know two things: first, there is no connection whatsoever between what he is saying and his brain. That is, he has learned to deliver the words he has been given by his speechwriters or whoever, and he says them with false sincerity and emphasis, but he has no idea what they mean. I mean, seriously, how could he believe we are "winning" in Iraq. Indeed, what in the hell would winning in Iraq mean? What could possibly be a "victory?" And when there are others, with recent experience in Iraq, who say we cannot possibly win, what are we to make of Bush's absurd claims? Second, there is no connection between what Bush says and what he and his henchmen do. Consider his now presumably famous pronouncement that "we are addicted to oil" (and presumably should try to not be)? At the same time one of his fellow Republicans, Allen of Virginia, says we should start drilling in the Arctic and along our sensitive coastlines for more oil. That will cure our addiction I am sure. Similarly, Bush says we have to become more competitive and train more scientists (actually, he doesn't really believe in science). I guess the best way to bring this about is to cut student loans by the largest amount in history. Think about it. When we had to confront falling behind the Russians when they launched sputnik, how far would we have gone if we had cut student loans? In any case, no one could possibly believe that Bush and his cronies would ever even consider giving up oil in favor of other sources of energy - at least not until they have bled the world's oil reserves dry and insured their obscene profits. Bush lies. Does that surprise you?

Alito was confirmed as we knew he would be. The Democrats late attempt to filibuster was just too late and too confusing - and too pathetic as usual. Republicans and Bush can count this as a great victory. Until it eventually comes back to bite them in the ass. Republican Senators will ultimately lose as much power and influence as Democratic ones. And Bush will become Emperor so they can all worship him on their knees.

Isn't it interesting to learn from Mr. Fitzgerald that many of Cheney's e-mails from the period around the Plame affair were not preserved, contrary to White House policy? How coincidental. How convenient. How disgustingly Cheneyish. God, these Republicans are a fine bunch. They make Al Capone and John Dillinger look like pygmies. And none of them ever knew or even met Abramoff.

In my last blog I mentioned the difference between stupidity and ignorance. I forget to mention that it is possible to be both stupid and ignorant at the same time. I have a few candidates in mind, one in particular. Guess.

More stupid than Bush?

Morialekafa will not appear again until Wednesday, February 1st. Another trip to the west.

According to the Los Angeles Times the reason Bush continues to get away with lying and duplicity is because half of the American public is more stupid than he is. Well, duh. I don't believe that so many Americans are stupid. I believe they are ignorant. There is a great difference between stupidity and ignorance. People in the New Guinea Highlands where I worked were not stupid, for example, when it came to the question of space exploration. They were completely ignorant about it and when once explained to them (however inadequately by me) they very quickly caught on fairly well. They were also ignorant about many things such as how automobiles and planes were made and etc. This does not man they were stupid. Similarly, I think the problem with so many Americans is that they are ignorant rather than stupid. And how could they not be ignorant with the utter useless trash they are fed daily by the mainstream media? They are given virtually no real information about anything of importance, fed instead on scandal, reality tv, disappearing blonds, celebrity pregnancies, and whatever. Why do so many still believe there was a connection between al Qaeda and Sadam Hussein? Because the media have not made a point to tell them otherwise. Why do they continue to believe that Sadam was behind 9/11? Because the media refuses to emphasize the truth. Why are they going to believe Bush didn't know either Ken Lay or Jack Abramoff? Because the media isn't going to tell them the truth, or anything about it at all if they can help it. For all intents and purposes the mainstream media are part of the Bush/Cheney administration and are equally guilty for the dismal state of the world at the moment.

Fifty thousand (50,000) American troops have been forced into extended duty under the military "stop-loss" program. But this doesn't mean that our military is spread too thin or than morale is suffering, or that the occupation of Iraq is not going well. Just ask your brain-dead Secretary of Defense. Things are going well in Iraq and we are making progress (aside from the complete chaos, the absence of security, the ongoing civil war, the failure to provide water and electricty, the alignment of Iraq with Iran, and other minor matters). And, as the billions that were earmarked for reconstruction have already disappeared into the coffers of war profiteers we will not be able to reconstruct much of anything. I guess we aren't going to reconstruct New Orleans for many of the same reasons. You're doing a hecka of a job Bush!

Tiger Woods wins again! Incredible.

Root for the Seahawks!

I don't believe there could be a lot of people more stupid than Bush. But what do I know about anything? Not much, I fear. But something tells me that things are not going well either in the U.S. or the world. Is this just my ignorance, or perhaps my imagination?

Republican shame

I don't think the founding fathers conceived of a situation in which one party would control all branches of government and be joined by the so-called "fourth estate" (media). Had they actually thought about this they would never have allowed one party to have absolute power (that is, the elimination of checks and balances). The most serious problem, however, is with the media, which has now become nothing more than a stenographer for the Republicans and has abdictated its responsibility to monitor the government and try to keep it honest.

What this means, as near as I can tell, is that Democrats are completely powerless and are increasingly just ignored. They have no power. They can do virtually nothing to interfere with the Republican agenda. What this also means, however, is that the Republicans now have an obligation to do what is best for the country and its citizens. And here they are clearly failing. Attacking a sovereign nation that is no threat to you is a war crime. Indeed, it is the premier war crime. Can anyone deny that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld did just that. Killing civilians is a war crime. Hiding prisoners from the Red Cross is a war crime. Torturing prisoners is a war crime. Using white phosphorous on individuals is a war crime. War profiteering is a war crime. There is no doubt that all of these crimes have been committed by the Bush/Cheney administration. But still the Republican party continues to support and defend these obvious criminals. The Democrats can do nothing. The Republicans can do everything. So why do they not do something? Are they proud that their party is being led by war criminals and liars? Have they no responsibility to the nation and the citizens? Are they, in fact, more committed to party than justice?

Not only is the above true, there is also the question of impeachable offenses. All of the above should be grounds enough for impeachment. But there is also the fact that they blatanly lied to Congress and the American people to bring this "war" about. They had to know Iraq had no WMD's. They had to know there was no connection between Sadam and al Qaeda. They had to know they were fixing the rationale for "war" that could not otherwise be justified. They knew Iraq was not a credible threat to us or anyone else. These are all impeachable offenses. Now, in addition, they have broken the law with illegal spying on American citizens (of course they claim it is legal - what else could they claim having been caught red-handed). Their so-called legal justification is no more than fantasy. And they lie to the point of pathology and expect us to believe it. Bush doesn't know Ken Lay? Bush doesn't know Jack Abramoff? There are pictures of the two of them together but the White House won't release them? There is all kinds of information about what went wrong with Katrina but they won't release that either? How much longer do we have to put up with this?

I guess the answer is forever, because there are no honorable Repunblicans committed to truth and justice and the Democrats are powerless. I hope these treasonous, dishonest, and totally unpatriotic Republicans are sleeping well at night. If there is any justice (which I am beginning to doubt) it will surely catch up with them.

"Every breath you take"

I would like someone to explain to me (in some detail) how it is that Honda and Toyota can spend a billion or so building automobile plants in the United States and make money hand over fist while American auto makers claim they have to outsource and shut down? One explanation I heard is that Ford and GM continued to make SUV's that the American public did not want to buy. As both Toyota and Honda make SUV's I do not find this a very satisfactory explanation although I grant it might have some relevance. Another explanation has to do with pensions and health insurance. Someone today claimed that if Ford only had to pay for health insurance what Honda pays they would have made a profit instead of a loss. They claim that the reason for the discrepancy is that Honda has a much younger work force and therefore their costs for health insurance are much less. In other words, Ford, a company that has paid its workers fairly well, and given them a decent pension system plus medical coverage, is being punished for such a noble attempt. One of the arguments across the board for virtually all businesses in the U.S. is that they can't compete because the costs of medical insurance are too great. You might wonder why they don't conclude that what we need in the U.S. is a single payer universal health care system like every other advanced country in the world. But, no, socialized medicine and all that. Can't have that. Let's just keep caving in to the pharmaceutical companies and the medical groups who will not allow anything sensible like universal health care. Frankly, I hope they all go under.

It is now known that we have at least four permanent military bases in Iraq. Permanent in the sense that they have their own Burger Kings, bowling alleys, swimming pools, and etc. So when you hear anyone say we are going to bring our troops home you will know that doesn't apply to all troops, just those who will not be part of a permanent presence in Iraq (and the Middle East). I have said from the very beginning the U.S. had/has no intention of giving up a presence in the Middle East. Have to protect all that oil, you know, that oil that had nothing whatever to do with why we invaded. We were really interested in just spreading democracy - and spread it we have. Iraq has now democratically decided they would like to be affiliated with Iran, and Hamas has won a landslide victory in Palestine. The march of democracy continues - except we won't accept it. Ah, democracy.

The somewhat belated attempt by the democrats to filibuster Alito is probably not going to fly. McClellan and other Republicans are ridiculing it, and most everyone who claims to know says that it will fail. They claim the democrats will be lucky to get 30 votes, let along the 41 they need. The head of Democracy.com says wait until monday before you decide. I will wait but I confess I am not sanguine about the possibilities. Democrats have become so inept I bet they have to ask Republicans to help tie their shoes in the cloakroom. How I wish there could be a viable second party. But it is obvious that the one party in power will not allow it. Oh, well, American democracy had a long run. Too bad it's all over.

While I was writing this I was listening to the new Republican theme song, Every Breath You Take. You know, the one that goes something like "every breath you take, every step you take, I'll be watching you." How appropriate.

Worry, justice, and John Kerry

I have an anonymous reader who worries about me. He/she thinks I should not worry about the size of envelopes but be thankful I can write checks to fill them. I guess that's true. I do worry about the size of envelopes a lot. Indeed, every night when I go to bed I worry about those envelopes. Actually, it keeps me from worrying so much about other things.

For example, A Chief Warrant Officer was just now tried for murder. He put an Iraqi General head first into a sleeping bag, wrapped it tightly with electrical wire, and sat on the General's chest until he suffocated. He was convicted of "negligent homicide." Negligent, as far as I know, means carelessness. I guess he was pretty careless. Anyway, for this abhorrent act he was sentenced to 60 days of home confinement (of course he's allowed to go to church). The fact that the General's face had apparently been beaten to a pulp for two days previously by CIA goons with rubber hoses was not an issue or, I gather, even mentioned. But I just can't help worrying about those tiny envelopes.

Those envelopes also help me to forget what happened and is happening in Iraq. Remember, we went to "war" (an illegal, immoral, unconstitutional, and totally unnecessary act) against Iraq because of a bunch of blatant lies fed to us by Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Powell/Wolfowitz/et al. There is no way to assess the horror and misery this "war" has caused, not only to Iraqis, but also to ourselves. I cannot watch films of what is happening there without bursting into tears. But when I do, I just think of those stupid envelopes and immediately feel better about things.

Then sometimes I worry about the national debt, poverty, the lack of universal medical care, the environment, the victims of Katrina, aids, abortion rights, homosexual marriages, unemployment, and other stuff like that. When it threatens to keep me awake I just remember the problem with the envelopes. Those envelopes are a real sophorific.

Tonight I will worry about something else. I will worry about whether John Kerry can find 40 other Senators to vote with him and sustain a filibuster so that Judge Alito can be denied a seat on the Supreme Court. While this is not as serious as the size of those envelopes I will worry about it nonetheless. I fear that Alito will allow the President to claim (and achieve) dictatorial powers that will mark the end of our Republic as we have known it up until now. It will also probably mean I will no longer be able to fill those envelopes with checks every month as he will have successfully brought about the complete bankruptcy of our nation.

But not to worry. Bush has managed to bring democracy to the Middle East. Iraq has democratically voted to institute an Islamic Constitution and in Palestine Hamas has won power in a virtual landslide. The U.S. is not going to recognize either of these democratically elected governments. So much for democracy. And oh, our own democracy doesn't seem to be doing very well either.

So dear readers, don't worry about me. I continue to be optimistic. I know that someday, when there are no more human beings on this planet, things will be just hunky-dory.

Payments - essay

Quite frankly, I am so disgusted with Democrats I don't even want to think about it. What a gutless, spineless, bunch of absolute wimps that lack even the intelligence to act in their own best interest (unless, of course, they see their own best interest in obsequiously doing the bidding of Republicans). Even Democrats like John Kerry who have said in the past they would filibuster candidates who wanted to reverse Roe vs Wade refuse to step up and do it. Maybe Republicans have so much "dirt" on some of them they simply do not dare to oppose Alito. I do not understand this (and I am not altogether certain I want to understand it). If Democrats can't filibuster Alito who in the world would they ever be able to filibuster? There is no longer a two party system in the United States and there is no viable democracy either. Prepare to prostrate yourself several times a day to our new King and give up your civil rights (which you no longer have in any case). Bush is above the law. No, he is the law. So submit and quit pretending your vote counts for anything.

As I cannot bear what is happening here is a simple-minded essay to distract you for at least a moment:


Paying bills is always a nasty business. Unpleasant, to say the least. But when the first of the month rolls around that's what we do. It's just like death and taxes. I guess that most companies realize this. That's why they often try to make it easier for you by providing return envelopes. Of course these are seldom prepaid. Even so, one has to appreciate the thoughtfulness, however profit motivated. There are, however, some interesting variations in the way companies handle this sensitive problem. The best and easiest system by far is when they provide you with an already addressed envelope, precisely the right size, in which you merely have to place your check and the return stub, lick the flap, put on a stamp, and that's that. Most companies do not make things quite so simple. More often than not the return envelope has a little cellophane window so that you must put the return stub in precisely the proper manner so their address shows through the little window. You have to be on your toes with these because if you make a mistake you end up having to try to steam open the stupid thing and reposition the contents, or, failing that, ripping the thing open and having to fasten it together with scotch tape, thus revealing your incompetence not only to the company but also to the postal employees who have to handle such things. I bet they entertain themselves by having contests over which mail routes have the most idiots per month.
I must admit, however, that I have much more respect for companies that provide return envelopes than for those, perhaps equally numerous ones, that provide nothing other than their bill. In these cases not only must you experience the pain of having to pay, you also have to furnish an envelope and go to all the trouble of addressing it yourself. What a drag! I confess to being very suspicious of companies too cheap to provide you with return envelopes. This strikes me as corporate arrogance carried to extremes. I suppose the stockholders like it, believing that it increases profits.
But all this is merely the tip of the iceberg (problem). What about those companies or individuals that send you bills in non-standard sizes. Like, if you get a bill on ordinary 8 and 1/2 by 11 inch paper, accompanied by an ordinary business size envelope, it's relatively simple. Both check and stub fit neatly into the envelope as one would assume they should. So why do so many businesses print their bills on nonstandard sized paper? Sometimes you get a tiny stub that fits more than comfortably into a standard envelope, along with your check - no problem. But conversely, sometimes you get a return envelope too small to accomodate the stub. My dentist does this. He's a really super dentist, best I ever had, has all the most modern up-to-date equipment, wonderful facility, the works. And he sends you a normal sized bill. However, the envelope is too small. You have to fold the stub three or four times to get it to fit. It's a pain. And stupid, to say the least. A standard size personal check will, however, fit, a blessing when compared with the bills I receive from our local veterinarian. This guy obviously has no sense of either design or function, but what is worse he apparently has no regard for his customers. He sends you a standard sized bill, with a standard sized return stub, but with an envelope so small you almost have to roll the stub into a ball. And worse than that, you can't even fit a standard check into the damn thing. You have to fold your check at least a quarter of an inch at one end to get it to fit. You'd think he'd get tired of having to unfold his checks and payment stubs. I suppose his secretary does it.
What's with these people? Have they no sense of function at all? No respect for their customers? Who sells them this stationery? Who designs it? Don't their secretaries complain? Who designs these ridiculous systems in the first place? Do the designers just assume that doctors, dentists, veterinarians, bankers and other professionals are just too stupid to realize what they are doing? Or is it just another example of "buyer beware?" It might be different if these irregular designs had some aesthetic virtue that the more ordinary ones lack, but they don't. They are just as dreary and ordinary as the others except for their size. I don't know about you, but I want my bills only on the first of the month, with addressed return envelopes, into which I can easily slip the payment stubs and my checks. No
hassles, no strain. I fear, however, that people stupid enough to use these user unfriendly systems are also probably too stupid to change.

Senatorial insanity

The Alito nomination was forwarded to the complete Senate by a completely partisan vote: ten Republicans for it, eight Democrats opposed. Now you might think that if we had a President interested in the best interests of the nation and the American public he might sense how divisive this is and withdraw the nomination. But who could possibly believe that Bush/Cheney have any interest whatsoever in the national interest or the American public? They have never shown any interest in anything other than enriching their already filthy rich cronies and the corporate interests that make their reign possible.

But what's with the Senate? It is understandable, I guess, why Democratic Senators are speaking out against Alito (but doing nothing meaningful about it), but what about other Senators? Why are they supporting this guy? Any of them? Alito is on record for supporting the so-called "unitary executive" concept. What this means is he believes the Executive (President) should have virtually unlimited power. What this also means is that the power of the Senate and the House will be diminished. Senators are going to vote for this? Are they completely insane? This is like voting for someone who has announced in advance he/she is going to eliminate your job (in this case, power). Frankly, I don't understand this. But, then, I don't understand how anyone could possibly continue to support this scandal-ridden, lying, torturing, criminal, incompetent, greedy bunch of self-serving nincompoops. Somewhere I saw today that Bush's approval rating was down to 36%. Does this mean that almost a third of the U.S. population has already had lobotomies?

If you somehow still believe that Bush acted legally to order warrantless wiretaps read the latest issue of the New York Review of Books and peruse the list of legal experts who have signed off on this. If you believe anything Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, or any of the other neocons say, please consult your nearest psychiatrist. And oh, yeah, the Iranians are someday going to have a nuclear bomb. When they do they will immediately drop it on Israel because...well, because they have a death wish and want their country immediately bombed off the face of the earth. You must understand, idiocy comes in really big doses in the United States. The Senate is a good example. The House is worse. But remember, always be of good cheer. Busy boys are happy boys, and never happier than when feasting splendidly on corporate largesse. Don't worry, all is not lost. That will come later this year.

Lies and deceptions

Bush is embarked on a week long trip apparently to assure the American public that "spying is necessary" in time of "war." First, we are not at "war." War has never been announced except by Bush himself. Bush's "war" on Iraq is no more meaningful than the "war on drugs," the "war on poverty," or the "war on bedbugs" (if you haven't noticed, bedbugs have become a serious problem under the Bush administration along with everything else). The fact is, no one disputes that spying is necessary in time of war. And even now, although we are not at war, spying is no doubt necessary when confronting terrorism. That is not an issue. The issue is, is ILLEGAL spying necessary? The answer is clearly no. There are procedures for spying that apply which have been totally ignored by Bush, who seems to believe that as "Commander in Chief" he has the authority to ignore any laws he wishes. In short, during times of war, he is a dictator. I doubt very much that this is going to fly. It might, as I gather the Democrats have yet to understand the problem, let alone deal with it.

And ho-hum, the White House is lying again. Bush doesn't remember knowing Abramoff, and yes, Abramoff may have been in the White House for Christmas parties or something, and yes, he may have had his picture taken with Bush, but Bush has had his picture taken with hundreds, maybe thousands of people, and he doesn't really know him, and blah, blah, blah. But how many people has Bush commented about both of them having twins? And, oh, yes, Abramoff was a Bush "pioneer," raising tons of mony for someone he never met? Especially when he arranged meetings between Bush and American Indians at $25,000 each? Bush didn't know Ken Lay either (see below).

Craig Murray, the ex British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, is a participant in the second Commission on the War Crimes of the Bush Administration (I'm not sure that is exactly what it is called) in New York. During his presentation, among other things, he displayed a letter to George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, written by no other than Ken Lay. The Governor of Texas was lined out and above was written simply, "George." I did not see exactly what the letter said but I know it began something like, "You will be receiving a visit from a delegation from Uzbekistan. We (Enron) have recently opened an office in Tashkent and are negotiating a two billion dollar oil deal." This revealing letter would seem to indicate that a man who Bush claimed supported his rival for the Governorship of Texas (a blatant lie), and who he claimed not to know (another blatant lie), addressed him as "George" and asked (or, it appears, rather directed him) to deal with the Uzbekistans. Perhaps this gives a clue as to how it is the CIA is involved with the Uzbekisan secret police in torturing people to get the information they want about opponents of the Dictatorial regime and about members of al-Qaeda. Murray reports than when he objected to the torturing he was told the official policy was, "if we did not do the torturing, and if we did not order the torturing, there is no reason we should not accept the information." I guess the fact that such information was most probably useless didn't bother anyone (this, of course, completely ignores the terrible moral and ethical implications involved).

The U.S. has apparently spent at least two million trying to influence the Palestian elections. We wish to guarantee a democratic election - except, of course, if Hamas wins, which we have announced we will not recognize. Ah, democracy. We also want to promote democracy in South America, unless, of course, Chavez wins two elections by democratic landslides and we try to engineer a coup to overturn them. Ah, democracy. Then there is the ongoing case of Haiti where we overturned a democratically elected President and are now trying to engineer a new government of our choosing. Ah, democracy. But never forget: we are good, they are bad. If you are not with us you are against us. Black is white. Up is down. Bad is good. We are always right and everyone else on earth is wrong.

Will anything actually happen?

Senators Kennedy and Leahy have made it clear they wish to have an investigation into the Bush/Cheney use of warrantless spying, which they believe is illegal and unconstitional. Even McCain, who has been photographed actually hugging our nitwit President, thinks the spying is probably illegal. So do Graham, Barr, Spector, and probably others. Do you believe anything will come of this? It probably is illegal and unconstitutional but they will no doubt fall back on their "we thought it was" argument. Like, we thought they had WMD's, we thought they were a threat, etc.,etc. Fact is, of course, they didn't think that. They knew perfectly well there were no WMD's, just as they know perfectly well they had no legal right to warrantless wiretapping. Does it surprise anyone to learn they lie? Constantly. Indeed, always. Will they get away with it again. Probably, if the Democrats have anything to do with it. Democrats who lack the backbone to even filibuster Alito who carries with him the ability to convert our democracy into a dictatorship.

Molly Ivins, bless her, wrote a piece in which she said she would not support Hillary Clinton. I gather this raised some eyebrows. I don't know why. How could anyone support Hillary at this point? Hillary wants more troops in Iraq. She wants to attack Iran. She wants to protect Israel. She wants permanent bases in Iraq. And the straw that breaks the camel's back, she has joined the completely moronic don't burn the flag bunch. Hillary is like the High School girl standing around the jocks trying to prove she is just as macho as they are. Pathetic. She has already blown any chance of getting the nomination. But let people like Laura continue to fantasize about a Condi Rice, Hillary contest. Why not, it wouldn't be much more ridiculous than running George W. Bush for President, the most unprepared, unqualified, ill-informed, mindless, and uninterested candidate in history. Just let Dick the Slimy do it, I'm cutting brush on my pig farm pretend ranch.

Now we have another beautiful example of American hypocrisy. The Pentagon, or the Department of Defense, or whomever, are upset that Venezuela wants to spend a hundred million dollars or so buying planes from Spain and also a bit of money to buy some rifles. This complaint/objection comes from a nation that is currently spending 442 billion dollars on defense!!!! It is truly hard to believe these people are real. The phrase "get a life" comes to mind. If you are not already aware of it, the inmates are now in charge of the asylum. Sleep tight.

Apologies and comments

I apologize! Let me explain. Morialekafa was receiving quite a lot of spam comments. In an attempt to stop the spam I inadvertently also created a situation in which no one could comment on Morialekafa unless they belonged to the blog. So for quite some time now I have been getting zero comments. While I never received a lot of comments it was unusual that I was receiving virtually none. I believe this situation has now been resolved and as far as I know anyone should now be able to comment. And I hope they will as I truly miss the comments.

Although I could not bring myself to look into the defense budget yesterday, today I learned that the actual sum is four hundred forty two billion dollars (442 billion). As I knew, this is larger than all of the defense budgets of all of the other countries on earth. Are we preparing to war against all other countries on earth? Perhaps we are preparing for an invasion from outer space? More likely we are just plain and simply insane. There is no explanation for this other than the absolute greed of corporations and members of the administration who control the purse strings. Anyone who doubts that we are at the mercy of a military-industrial complex that is blatantly wasting taxpayer money on military projects with virtually no purpose is just simply asleep. I repeat, this is obscene! Unnecessary! Stupid! Foolish! Ridiculous! Absurd! I have no doubt we could easily do with half this amount and perhaps even less. And think what we might do with all that money. I can't think about it. It makes me sick.

The White House is claiming that Bush doesn't even know Abramoff. They say he might have attended a couple of Christmas parties or something. They are of course trying desperately to distance the White House, and especially Bush, from this toxic lobbyist. It turns out, however, there are at least five photos of Bush with Abramoff, shaking his hand, and whatever. Remember, Bush didn't know Ken Lay either. How much longer are people going to put up with this absolutely blatant lying?

Under pressure from the public (I guess from the public as no one else seemed to be much concerned) the Pentagon has ordered 70 million dollars worth of body armor. Don't you think this is a little late? I mean it's never too late to try to help the troops but, really, after all this time they are just now ordering body armor? Rumsfeld is the most hopeless incompetent Secretary of Defense in history. He should have been fired years ago. I guess Bush/Cheney are waiting for him to destroy our military so completely it can never recover. Oh, I forget, things are going well in Iraq and Afghanistan. Silly me.

We are all learning now about the concept of the "unitary executive," otherwise known as the American Dictator. Alito is going to come on board the Supreme Court to insure that this will happen. The Democrats apparently don't care. A few of them say they will vote against his confirmation. But it is perfectly obvious that voting against him will amount to nothing. Apparently they will not filibuster, being afraid they might be accused of actually having some decency and interest in the well-being of the American public and democracy. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy living in a one party theocracy. Be prepared to show your papers on demand.

On the local scene: The local Democractic fundraiser last night, in spite of very inclement weather, was a resounding success. More people turned out than ever before and a substantial amount of money was raised. I'm not certain these people were all Democrats but the ones that might not have been were surely Bush haters. I believe that even here in Idaho, the most Republican state in the Union, we may have a real chance at last to elect some Democrats. Vote Brady for Governor. Vote Grant for the House.

The strange case of Osama bin Laden

I realized today that I have reached the rock bottomn of depression over the state of this administration and the world. There was an article on Antiwar.com entitled "How Large is the Defense Budget." While I don't know how large it is precisely, I do know it is larger than all the rest of the world's defense budgets combined. I knew I would not be able to even read about it and it has continued to depress me all day. Our defense budget is absolutely indefensible. It is obscene. It is insane. And for what? To produce huge profits for companies to manufacture items we will never, ever, need. We are at the mercy of an enormous military-industrial complex that we were warned about - but obviously didn't listen.

What is with Osama bin Laden? How is it he has never been captured, even though he has presumably been pursued by the greatest military organization in the world, plus help from many other countries, including Pakistan where he may, in fact, be living. This makes no sense to me. And how is it that he surfaces at just the right moment to help George W. Bush? Remember, last time he surfaced just before the election. And now, with Bush suffering from one scandal and problem after another, he surfaces again to remind the world that he is still alive and operating his terrorist base. This can only help Bush who will use it to argue how it is that we are under imminent attack from terrorists, only Republicans can defend us, and blah, blah, blah, bs.

I guess one could argue that bin Laden wants to keep Bush in power as he is such a numbskull and plays always right into bin Laden's hands. That is an argument that makes some sense to me. But what if bin Laden is in fact a deliberate player in the ongoing international scene? He must have been at one time a CIA "asset" (when they were fighting the Russians with our support). What if he is still a CIA asset? That would certainly explain why he has never been captured. And he would be playing an important part in keeping the Bush administration in power. And given the massive drug trade internationally, the pipeline problems in that part of the world, the involvement of American corporations with billions of dollars at stake, he may be an important player in all that as well. How about the attack of 9/11 that promoted Bush from a nonentity president to his glorious "war president" status?

I confess I don't usually think this way. I have never been a conspiracy buff. But after five years of the Bush/Cheney administration I fear I am prepared to believe anything. Having been fed nothing but lies endlessly, unprecedented secrecy, vicious attacks on anyone who even questioned this criminal enterprise, nothing, absolutely nothing would surprise me.

On the local scene: Tonight is the local Democratic party and fundraiser. It has been snowing all day. I fear it will affect the turnout. Perhaps not. Someone named David Weigel with reasononline.com predicts that "Butch" Otter is going to win the Idaho governership by a landslide. He thinks this because Otter opposed the Patriot Act (along with Larry Craig), that somehow this will make him a local hero. I suspect Weigel doesn't know much about the situation here in Idaho. Otter might win but I doubt it will be a landslide. Personally, I think he won't win. Brady is a strong candidate. Vote Brady for Idaho!

From petty to monstrous

How petty can you get? There is supposed to be some kind of international baseball tournament but Cuba, which quite likely has the best baseball team on earth, is not going to be allowed to play. I guess that will teach those Commies not to fool around with the greatest military power on earth. I mean, Cuba is just sitting there preparing to invade the U.S., and I bet this boycott will make them just angry enough to do it. So prepare yourself for an imminent "war" with Cuba over this monumental problem.

They won't stop with Cuba. Just watch. They're going to prohibit Iran's soccer team from international competition as well. That'll teach them a thing or two. Don't mess with U.S. or pay the consequences. If this kind of thing doesn't strike you as absolutely absurd you are just not thinking. Never try to reach out in friendship to anyone when you can just bomb them off the face of the earth. Why bomb them? Because they won't do exactly what we want them to do.

If you didn't watch Democracy Now today you missed it. Most of the time was taken up by an interview with Craig Murray, the ex British Ambassador to Uzbekistan. Murray was fired from that post because he spoke out and told the truth about what an absolutely murderous, torturing country it is. And all with the complete cooperation of the CIA. This is not merely his opinion, he has memos and evidence that prove it. Abu Ghraib seems to be small potatoes compared to the Uzbekistanis. But Bush and Karimov, the Uzbekistan dictator, seem to be buddies from the time Bush was Governor of Texas. And oh, by the way, Ken Lay and Enron were involved in this big time. Surprised? The irony of all this is that eventually Karimov signed a deal with the Russians for natural gas, and one of the provision of that deal was that the U.S. had to go. So Karimov kicked us out. The Bush administration claims we left because of human rights violations. The Bush/Cheney administration is the most vile, hypocritical, inhuman, dishonest, corrupt U.S. administration ever, and obviously incompetent to boot.

It is almost certainly going to stay that way if we have to depend upon Democrats like Biden and Feinstein who say they will not filibuster. If Alito should not be filibustered, who ever should? He is going to see to it that the Presidency becomes a dictatorship while the other two branches of government simply wither away. All hail Bush! King Bush the First. Actually, he might be better qualified as King than President. After all, Presidents are supposed to be somewhat competent whereas Kings can be as moronic and stupid as they wish, even insane.

More stonewalling

It is clear that Abramoff had extensive and direct ties to the White House. But of course the White House is refusing to provide any information about how he acquired access, how many meetings, with whom, and etc. The classic White House procedure when threatened with having to confess to anything. They always assume, and so far usually prove correct, that the attention span of the public is so short they will soon forget and this will gradually disappear just like Gannon/Guckert and others. We don't have to worry about the attention span of the MSM as they will refuse to even acknowledge the problem.

Hooray for Max Baucus, Democratic Senator from Montana, who has announced that he will not vote for Alito in spite of his impeccable credentials. Alito, Baucus says, is not good for Montana and not good for the country.

Bobb Barr, Grover Nordquist, and a number of other right wingers have apparently demanded an investigation of Bush's attempts to wiretap and spy without proper warrants. They claim to be very upset about what is going on. Let us sincerely hope they are serious about this and not just putting us on.

And isn't it interesting that at the very moment there are lawsuits and serious questions about Bush's attempt to assume dictatorial powers the Republicans are trying to hurry up the vote to install Alito, who is already known to have sided with the idea of Presidential power. Lunacy, I say. And if the Democrats don't filibuster in this clear cut case I fear all may be lost. Don't bet they will.

I remind you again that Al Gore, who has served his country honorably all of his adult life, as a Congressman, Senator, and Vice President, gave a major speech questioning the present administration's attempt to grab unwarranted and unconstitutional powers, and was completely ignored by the main stream media. I find this disgusting beyond belief. The MSM have continued to marginalize anyone who speaks out against Bush/Cheney. What do you hear from the MSM about Dean? Roberts? Gore? Kusinich? The MSM is enemy number one as far as democracy is concerned. No democracy can flourish or succeed without an informed public. The so-called fourth estate in the U.S. has failed us miserably and unconscionably. Protect the internet at all costs, it is about all that's left.

Attack of the Mental Midgets

Al Gore gave a marvelous speech on Martin Luther King Day in which he spelled out in no uncertain terms where the Bush Administration is trying to lead the country. That is, into a dictatorship with all power vested in the Executive. Forget checks and balances. Forget three separate but equal branches of government. All power to the President. In an effort to protect the Constitution and the American People Gore suggested we need an Independent Investigator to examine the legal ramifications of where Bush/Cheney are trying to go with this. The response from Republicans:

"Gore is more interested in desperately trying to get attention than he is in focusing on the facts of the law." This from Ken Mehlman, Chairman of the Republican Party. He also added that the President does have this authority.

From a spokeswoman for the Republican Party, Tracey Schmitt: "Al Gore's incessant need to insert himself in the headlines of the day is almost as glaring as his lack of understanding of the threats facing America."

It is virtually impossible for me to understand the complete idiocy that underlies these remarks. Al Gore has spent his entire adult life in the service of his country. He was a Congressman, a Senator, and for eight years the Vice President of the United States. He was, in fact, the legally elected President in 2000. He has no right to insert himself...? Who in the hell is this stupid twit? And what gives her any right whatsoever to denigrate someone as distinguished as Al Gore who, at this point, should be considered a National Treasure. I have noticed over the past few years that the Republican Party has somehow recruited a large number of female supporters and spokespersons with a collective I.Q., if you could total it, of perhaps 40 (that is perhaps too generous). Mehlman, of course, has already distinguished himself as the most mindless partisan of all time. Mehlman and Schmitt together wouldn't constitute a pimple on the ass of someone like Al Gore and they should keep their ridiculous blather to themselves or each other.

Our so-called Attorney General is no better. He has already asserted the President's right to dictatorship even before the legal questions have been examined. A real objective non-partisan view similar to Bush's claim that DeLay is innocent before a trial. These guys are real winners in a race to see who can be the most despicable. Someone said, you get the leaders you deserve. The American people did just that.

On the local scene: Clemont Leroy Otter, otherwise known as "Butch," aspires to be the next governor of Idaho. A divorced father of four, his credentials include a DUI, winning a bar's "tight fitting jeans contest," a $50,000 fine for violating the clean water act, a "chummy" speech to a militia group, and a $15,000 gift from none other than Tom DeLay, whom he has supported unreservably (He has also voted with DeLay 88% of the time). His latest move has been to support the idea of selling off 15% of Idaho land to, get this, pay off the Katrina debt. An absolutely marvelous idea. So good, in fact, that I suggest we sell off all the rest of Idaho to pay for reconstruction in Iraq. What a noble motive! You think it might just have something to do with selling off some choice Idaho land to his rich developer friends? Naw, Butch wouldn't do anything like that. It wouldn't be Cowboy-like.

On the positive side Butch...actually I can't think of any significant positive thing he's ever done for the State of Idaho. If someone knows of one please advise me. I just love politics, don't you?

Does Larry Craig have a brain?

Larry Craig, our senior Idaho Senator, recently gave a speech in Boise (I assume to a bunch of other Republican morons) in which he assailed the "liberal mainstream media." If he believes in such a media he must be idiotic beyond belief. If he knows better but is just playing to his Idaho Republicans (who wouldn't know a liberal mainstream media from a potato disease) he is being totally dishonest. Of course for someone who still believes we are going to find WMD's in Iraq what more might you expect? Unfortunately, he does seem to represent the citizens of the State of Idaho (at least as they were back in 1850). He also railed against Democratic "expensive ideas," like universal health care and higher education. My god, why should we spend money on such ridiculous things when we have to spend more money on defense than all other nations on earth put together, to say nothing of our "war" in Iraq that is such a resounding success? Larry Craig is so out of touch with reality he will no doubt continue to represent Idaho until it remains the only Republican State in the Union. As well as the only place on earth that believes WMD's are still hidden in Iraq, Sadam was in cahoots with Osama, and the earth is flat as hell.

Al Gore gave an excellent speech today (on Cspan, as none of the liberal MSM were interested) in which he outlined the problem of growing Executive power in no uncertain terms. He made it crystal clear what the threat is to our Democracy and Constitution and called for a special Independent Investigation (fat chance, I guess). Can you believe that this good man, probably the most highly qualified candidate ever for the Presidency, was passed over for the utter moron that was anointed by the (dishonest partisan Supreme Court)? This has to be one of the greatest tragedies of all time. We are in truth experiencing a genuine Constitutional crisis. Always in the past Democracy has prevailed when encountering such crises. Can it do so again, or are we doomed to live under a dictatorship? As Gore made clear, it is up to us, the American people. I say IMPEACHMENT NOW! With war crimes trials to follow.

Fellow Travelers

Although it is not completely certain as yet what Democrats may do with the Alito nomination, it is a pretty good bet they are going to do nothing. Supposedly they will meet this coming week to discuss their strategy but at the moment filibuster does not seem one of the options. If they do not filibuster and allow Alito to be confirmed they will be saying they basically are in favor of an Imperial Presidency - a virtual dictatorship. If this happens it will be all over for dissenters, those treasonous souls who are aiding and abetting the enemy by criticizing Bush's insane foreign policy and the "war" in Iraq. In short, they will be "Fellow Travelers," the label we formerly applied to communist sympathizers. Never mind Roe vs Wade, Republicans, for the most part, are no more interested in overturning Roe vs Wade, than Democrats. The danger is an Imperial Presidency and Alito has made it clear he subscribes to such a situation. As it perfectly obvious this is what the Republicans are trying to bring about, we should have no doubt whatsoever about opposing Alito's confirmation. Alito's credentials be damned, he is obviously a wolf in sheep's clothing and we know exactly what he has in mind. If the spineless Democrats don't stop this now it will quite likely be too late.

Of course it might already be too late. Bush/Cheney have already come dangerously close to destroying our country completely. We will soon be bankrupt if the Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans decide to "cash in their chips" and turn to Euros instead of dollars. And we are already persona non grata in virtually the whole world with respect to our foreign policy. Rumsfeld, that totally incompetent if not senile old man has just about destroyed our military. Cheney the Evil has managed to completely destroy any moral standing or good will we might have had. South America is in active rebellion against our rapacious "free market economy" that has kept them in poverty for so long. Iran is rightfully thumbing their nose at us, Iraq is a total disaster about to accelerate the already existing civil war, a majority of U.S. citizens have turned against Bush/Cheney but so far have been helpless to do anything, the Democratic "leadership" is no more than a bad joke. There is increasing sentiment for impeachment at the grass roots level which the MSM is ignoring, the scandals which exist everywhere there are Republicans are as usual being ignored, hoping like others in the past will just go away. We desperately need someone from "The Planet Krypton" to arrive and save us from ourselves. Probably the closest thing to it will be Al Gore, our honestly elected and illegally denied officeholder. Be sure to tune in to his speech tomorrow. And continue to hope for miracles, it's all we have left.

Laughter, the best medicine?

"A husband and wife were getting ready for bed. The wife was standing in front of a full-length mirror taking a hard look at herself. 'You know dear,' she said, 'I look in the mirror, and I see an old woman. My face is all wrinkled; my hair is gray; my shoulders are hunched over; I've got fat legs; and my arms are all flabby.' She turned to her husband and said, 'Tell me something positive to make me feel better about myself.'
He studied hard for a moment thinking about it and then said in a soft, thoughtful voice, 'Well, there's nothing wrong with your eyesight.'
Cribbed from the Bonners Ferry Brief, 1-9-06.

Funny, right? Well you should know that the Pentagon thinks laughter is very important. So important they have employed a laughter expert, "Scotty Scott," to promote "mirth as medicine." He does this presumably to "prevent hardening of the attitudes." He, and at least one other, are telling the parents of missing or dead soldiers they should learn to "laugh for no reason." Laughter is good and makes people feel better.

How could one argue with this? Just imagine the opportunities for laughter available at the present time. "Did you see the look on their faces when we told them their son had been killed in Iraq? They looked absolutely dumbfounded, sort of like Stan Laurel used to look in those early Laurel and Hardy things. Really stupid, you know, like they just didn't get it. Of course after we explained that when the Humvee was blown over and they were trying to escape it was really sort of like the Keystone Cops. You know, they hopped out of the burning vehicle and started running all over the place. As there was no water they just had to roll around in the sand trying to put out the flames on their clothes. It was hilarious! Three guys rolling around in the sand, getting in each other's way, they looked like the Three Stooges. It was soooo funny!

Even better though, remember the two guys we pushed off the bridge into the river, and they didn't know how to swim? God, that was funny. They just kept flailing away trying to get out but didn't have a clue how to do it. And those funny nightgowns and turbans they were wearing got all waterlogged and wrapped around the while they just started to sink. Served them right for not wearing decent clothes.

The best of all, though, was raping those boys in front of their parents. Man, did you ever hear anything like that before? All that screaming and begging for mercy? I mean, its not as if they didn't go around buggering each other all the time. I hadn't heard anything like that since grandma got her tit caught in the wringer. You know, people are really funny about such things. And when we piled them up on each other, you'd think they never saw naked people before.

It's strange that people don't really understand humor. Humor simply transcends everything else, just like the Pentagon says. Just laugh for no reason. It makes you feel better. Of course it helps if you have really funny situations, you know, like slapstick. I bet you could make a really funny movie about transporting children to the gas chambers if you had a bunch of old buses and some eccentric bus drivers that ran out of gas while pointing out the charms of Bavaria before delivering their cargo to Buchenwald or wherever.

I guess maybe the funniest sight of all might be when the white phosphorous starts to fall and everyone starts running in all directions, stumbling and falling and trying to run over everyone else to escape. Talk about Keystone Cops! And you know that most of them have no chance to escape. That is really funny. I guess that must be what Rumsfeld was laughing about in his picture on Antiwar.com this morning.

Anyway, just remember to laugh for no reason. If you find that difficult the Pentagon will provide you with a laugh instructor (but probably only if you are a Republican). Democrats, like me, have no real sense of humor.

Roviating Murtha

The Republican sleaze and slime machine is at it again. Now they are trying to roviate Murtha because he has come out for withdrawal from Iraq (apparently with the blessing of many of the senior Generals who cannot publicly do this themselves). The White House has actually called many of the Generals and asked them to repudiate Murtha but to their credit most of them have apparently refused. Not so all, however, and there are those who are attempting to discredit Murtha's purple hearts and other awards. This is the Swift Boats crap all over again. Why are they doing this? Because this is the way the Republican Party operates, positively Rovian. I doubt there is any real question about Murtha's medals but even if there were, what in the hell difference would it make now? Murtha is right. Iraq has proven to be a complete disaster and just keeps on getting worse, and will continue to do so until we get out. It's just like the monkey who reaches into the gourd to get the banana and is too stupid and/or greedy to let go and thus gets trapped by its own greed. Bush/Cheney and the neocons are never going to give up Iraq as long as there is a gallon of oil to be filched. We are building the world's most expensive consulate and four permanent bases in Iraq. Talk of withdrawing our troops is just nonsense, although there is little doubt they will withdraw some troops before the coming elections. The permanent presence of U.S. troops means permanent conflict just as in the case of Israel and Palestine.

Al Gore is scheduled to make a major speech on monday in which he will discuss how the Bush/Cheney administration has seriously and illegally overreached their authority, claiming the right to do things they have no right to do. If Gore had been given the Presidency which he rightfully won do you think we'd be in the terrible mess we are now in. No way! Personally, I believe Bush/Cheney should be forced to resign in favor of installing Gore who won the election. At the very least they should be impeached and tried for war crimes.

The Democrats are apparently meeting next week to decide on a strategy for the Alito nomination. They need to do whatever is necessary to block his appointment even if that means a filibuster. We cannot risk Alito on the Supreme Court, not because of Roe vs Wade (which I don't believe the Republicans truly want reversed), but because of his belief in an Imperial Presidency. This has got to be stopped now. Congress simply cannot give up their rightful duties and obligations to a dictatorship no matter what.

Filibuster or die

It appears to me that Alito is pretty obviously a wolf in sheep's clothing. While he comes across as a thoughtful, reasonable, personable, and intelligent candidate, it is obvious from his record that he is in the camp of the Imperial President faction. It is also pretty obvious that he isn't much into civil rights, preferring Presidential and Corporate rights instead. He will be a disaster on the Supreme Court and certainly cannot be depended upon to unphold Roe vs Wade. The Democrats have not been able to truly penetrate his defense of his questionable record and I believe will have no chance to defeat his candidacy short of a full blown filibuster (which I rather doubt they will have the backbone to carry out - I sincerely hope I am wrong). Given the fact that the Republicans have made no secret of wanting an ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice, and given the backing of Falwell, Robertson, and the other nitwit fundamentalists, it would seem very clear that Alito should be shunned without reservation by the rest of us. But the Senate has shown little more respect for the people than Bush/Cheney so anything might happen. If they capitulate on this, however, we will know that the Fascists have won and we will live only at the discretion of King George. Sieg Heil!

One of the things I found most interesting during the hearings was the discussion of whether or not Judges should look toward foreign law for help. Alito rather outspokenly said they should definitely not. I love the assumption here that obviously foreign law could not possibly have anything of merit to offer the U.S. We are, after all, the supreme fount of all knowledge and law. No one else could possibly have anything to offer us. I think this is a perfect example of Alito's approach to our laws and culture. Whatever white American males think and say is right, is right. Princeton is not to be diluted by women and minorities. We have to keep it like it was back in the 40's and 50's (all white, all male). Oh, I forgot, Alito says he can't remember being involved in this racist, sexist, ultra-conservative organization. Interestingly enough, he seems to remember in great detail most of the opinions he wrote, especially those he knew he would be asked about.

At the present time, when there is increasing talk of impeachment, and the Republican Party is imploding because of the blatant corruption of many of its members, it would seem to me the height of folly to appoint Alito the Court where he would be able to act on behalf of the Imperial Presidency. The Democrats cannot allow this appointment to be made no matter how Republicans bitch and moan. Indeed, if there were any honest and responsible Republicans they would themselves not allow this to happen. When was the last time you saw or heard of an honest and responsible Republican? Oh, yeah, when they impeached Clinton for a private sex act between two consenting adults. Certainly not for a President and Vice-President who blatantly lied us into a phony "war" that has unnecessarily killed, tortured, and maimed thousands of mostly innocent people. We certainly don't need a Supreme Court to defend these war criminals. Say no, no, no to Alito.