Only in Cuba

Castro Leads Protest Against U.S. Embargo

While past state-organized demonstrations have compared other world leaders to Adolf Hitler, Friday's march brought the level of hostility toward Bush to a new level.

Scores of printed posters - apparently distributed by the march's organizers - bore swastikas and portrayed Bush in a Nazi uniform with a mustache similar to Hitler's.

There were hand-lettered signs as well: A middle-aged man carried a handwritten sign saying, "Bush, you are crazy, find yourself a psychologist."

...And if you find one, please give his number to Karl, because he's getting pretty creepy.

Follow Up

While I agree with Sheebur about how distasteful the KNRK segment was, I think we're missing a larger point. Right wing radio hosts all over the country continually broadcast crap as bad or worse than this. Just take a listen to Michael Savage sometime, and we all know about Rush's latest comments. Does anything happen to them? Does Michael Powell ever let them know that they crossed the line? Of course not, because the right wing hosts, as nasty as they can be, will never question this administration, even acting as back door propaganda. By being so nasty they even serve to make members of this administration seem like moderates.

And what purpose do two local hacks serve? Not much, but do I think they should have been fired? Not if that means there are two standards for judging decency on the airways. I am not going to be outraged at one case of indecency, while countless others go unpunished, just because of the power they serve.

The definition of Tact

Dictionary.com: Acute sensitivity to what is proper and appropriate in dealing with others, including the ability to speak or act without offending.

Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to be tactful, not at all, people should be free to speak their minds. But this is completely unacceptable. As a radio DJ you have the responsibility of being mindful of your audience, who in this case, is middle school and high school kids. If you wanna make fun of the tragedy surrounding Nick Berg, fine, be a prick, but to play the audio of the beheading on the radio while laughing and adding instruments, that crosses the line. That station has always sucked anyway.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Two Portland disc jockeys were fired from a local radio station after playing an audiotape of the beheading of American Nick Berg by Iraqi militants, and cracking jokes about the grisly death.

The DJs, known as Marconi and Tiny, were fired Thursday afternoon from their morning show perch at KNRK-FM, which is owned by Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based Entercom Communications Corp. Station employees would not release the legal names of the DJs.

Listeners who heard Berg's bloodcurdling screams in the audio broadcast, followed by the two DJs laughing and playing musical accompaniments, immediately called the station to complain.

One of the DJs apologized on his Web site, posting a statement that read, "I have become so numb to the horrific things that happen in this world that I sometimes forget there are still people who feel. I in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone. My comments on this were inapropriate (sic)."

No shit, asshole.

Policy shift?

Bremer: U.S. Will Leave Iraq if Requested

"If the provisional government asks us to leave we will leave," Bremer said, referring to an Iraqi administration due to take power June 30. "I don't think that will happen, but obviously (emphasis added)we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome."

This sounds like a major policy shift, because OBVIOUSLY we DO stay in lots of countries where we're not welcome...

Late Night Ramblings

You know how sometimes you read something that points out flaws in your argument and you're pissed off cause you thought your argument was bulletproof? Well, when I read Charles Krauthammer's column in today's Washington Post, I was pretty pissed, but not because he showed me why I'm wrong, but because of his pure stupidity. He tries to poke holes through liberal arguments, but fails miserably. It's painful, because he so clearly doesn't realize how fuckin stupid he is. His three main points, and why they are wrong:

Point 1: Janet Reno fucked up Waco and didn't get fired, so why should Rummy?

This is kind of a tricky one, these situations do have one thing in common, ignorance of the beliefs of those they challenged. The FBI, led by Janet Reno, ignored advice of theologists and played directly in to the reality created by David Koresh. Interestingly enough, Rumsfeld and gang are doing the same exact thing with Osama bin Laden by doing everything he said we would do. Yet Janet Reno acknowledged her ignorance. Rummy and gang still don't get it. But the bigger point here is the difference in intentions. If we are talking intentions, these two events aren't even comparable. In both situations, we acted hastily and without regard to the beliefs of either group, however, in Iraq (and elsewhere) there existed a systematic pattern of DELIBERATE torture and abuse that WAS known by Rummy and nothing was done, except maybe for the gathering up of those rogue cameras. Nice try with this one, Chuck, you did get me thinking, but sorry, no holes yet. Too bad, too. It was the best one you had.

Point 2: Liberals called for an apology from Bush for the prison abuse and when one was given it was ignored

Much easier...Bush was given ample opportunity to apologe directly to the Iraqi people (albeit on US run propaganda television), instead he passed up that chance and chose to apologize to the King of Jordan, the neighboring country. In other words, Chuck, I come over to your house, sexually and physically humiliate you and your family beyond belief and then go next door and tell your neighbor that I'm sorry it happened. Would you be satisfied with that apology? No, I can't believe you would.

Point 3: The abuse was only among an isolated few...

This point almost needs no response because it has become so evident with all the reports, such as this of two Britons and an Australian held at gitmo, or here, which discusses the systemic abuse in Afghanistan, not to mention the over 1600 photos gov't officials had the chance to view on wednesday, it's CLEARLY not isolated. I mean, seriously, who the hell are you kidding? Further, in most work environments, employees respond to the tone set by their superior, in the military I imagine this is even more extreme. Therefore, either the superiors (all the way up) have no control in Iraq or they simply allowed it. Neither of which is acceptable.

So there you go.

For more info on Waco, Frontline has a great piece available online here

Give it your best shot, Rove

"My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Michael Berg said in an interview with radio station KYW-AM two days after a video showing the execution of his son was shown on an Islamist Web site.

Waingroh doesn't pretend to imagine the pain and rage felt by Nick Berg's family; he only knows that nauseous jab to the gut when first reading of the beheading. It's only human that Berg's father is looking for someone or something to blame. With politics the last thing on his mind, Berg doesn't put his blame onto the radical Islamic militants who murdered his son - he blames the Bush administration. The quote above is an amazing reflection of honesty from a grieving parent. There is no way for Rove & company to spin this. There can be no snappy comebacks or character attacks. It is a black and white issue, for everyone to see. The image of this execution will grow to legendary proportions in the months and years to come, and along with it the caption should always be remembered as well: "My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld."

Scientific Study Explains Bush's Incompetence

Pollution Linked to Genetic Mutations

We all know about the pollution in Texas.

Heads We Win, Tails You Lose

Frist finger on 'nuclear' button

Senate Republican leaders are considering rewriting the chamber's rules to limit what they call Democratic obstructionism that has slowed the pace of work in the Senate to a trickle.

In particular, Republicans want to eliminate the ability of Democrats to filibuster consideration of the president's executive and judicial-branch nominees, as well as bar filibusters that block the naming of conferees prior to House and Senate negotiations.

To do so, Senate GOP leaders are considering resorting to what they call the "constitutional option" and what Democrats deride as the "nuclear option" because they charge it would amount to a Republican declaration of all-out war against them.

Here's a good one later in the article:

Todd Webster, Daschle's spokesman, said: "For the majority to change the rules instead of playing fairly by them would be a colossal admission of obstinacy. What's their next power grab... replacing the president with a king?"

I would bet you can expect to see this if Dinky's poll numbers continue to fall and if it looks like Kerry might win. One final power grab, and a recipe for Kerry to accomplish nothing in office.

Makin' Friends Fast, Rush

Check out the new Limbaugh add by Media Matters here.

Grover Norquist Uber-Alles

This totally passed me by, but Bremer imposed a 15% flat tax on Iraqis nearly 6 months ago. We always knew this was a ideological war for the administration, but I did not fully understand that we invaded a defenseless country to apply Steve Forbes' economic policies.

Jon (as always) knows best

Once again, the Daily Show last night proved why the fake news is more believable and informative than the real news. Jon Stewart summed up the circular logic that has gotten us into this downward spiral of violence in Iraq:

Jon Stewart: As I've been watching TV the past couple of days and I've seen the disturbing photos out of Abu Ghraib prison and then yesterday to see this videotape, just absolutely despicable videotape, a horrible act, it really occurred to me that no matter how hard we try, we cannot out-psychopath al queda, it just can't be done, I mean we do things, that in this country we go, "Oh my god. How could we do that?" and then those guys go, "Oh, you think that's something?"...(long pause).... So....... Yikes....

Yeah, yikes indeed. For both sides AND everyone helplessly stuck in the middle.

And Now, for the Good News

Link
Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup poll, said Bush's slowly sinking job approval rating, down to 46 percent in his latest survey, was similar to the dropping trajectory of the last three incumbents to lose their elections -- George Bush, the current president's father, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

In contrast, the five most recent incumbent presidents who won their elections never dipped below 50 percent in their job approval rating at any point in the election year, he said.

"The Bush campaign has to be concerned and worried at this point," Newport said. "When you look at the trend, you certainly see that Bush is beginning to track the trajectory of the three losing presidents rather than the winners."

The 46 percent who approved of Bush's handling of the job in Monday's Gallup poll was the lowest of his presidency. An NBC/Wall St. Journal poll last week put his approval rating at 47 percent, with 49 percent saying he did not deserve re-election and 50 percent saying the country was headed in the wrong direction.

UNDECIDEDS OFTEN GO TO CHALLENGER

Low approval and re-election numbers are particularly bad for an incumbent, who already is well known to voters. Undecided voters, who have had plenty of time to evaluate the incumbent, often break heavily for the challenger.

Polls have found growing majorities of Americans, confronted daily with depressing pictures of death in Iraq and abuse of Iraqi prisoners, disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq and of the economy.

The events of the past week or so have been surreal, but we need to stay focused. Getting the asshole who caused this mess out, and putting the grownups back in charge.

Berg

For the record, I watched the Berg video and was totally disgusted. But, I felt it was important to see, in the same way the torture photos are important to see. Both instances visually embody the indescribable mess our country now finds itself in. A cycle of violence so horrific it would be almost unimaginable if it weren't for the internet and the mass proliferation of digital cameras.

And the answer to this is not "bomb the fuck out of them". We saw how well that worked in Fallujah, and it was wrong, too. Just like the top brass in the military are trying to blame the torture on a select few, this instance was obviously the case of a few horrible individuals. We can't blame the Berg murder on the whole country of Iraq. You can be sure that the people of Iraq are equally outraged by this event as well.

The best thing we can do has been said a thousand times, we need to interantionalize the effort as soon as possible. This war was lost the minute the torture pictures surfaced. The US has lost all credibility to build anything resembling a stable country. Not that I think the sociopaths in this administration are gonna do that, they went in by themselves, they fucked it up by themselves, and they're gonna wallow in this shit hole by themselves. They have fucked things up so badly, that even if another country wanted to help us they couldn't...

I don't want to turn this into another rant about the Dipshit Administration, we've got plenty of those around here, I just saw the video last night and felt I had to write something. What a world they've created.

The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld

SAN FRANCISCO - After hearing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dress down the media at Pentagon press briefings, two San Francisco musicians came to an inevitable conclusion: his words simply must be set to chamber music.

"What we show in the songs is that we believe that Rumsfeld is telling a story that doesn't hold up -- that he is trying to sell a war that is not justified," Kong said. "These classically based forms are a great way of doing that."

You can listen to song clips here or purchase the cd here.

The Iraq is not Enough

The Bush Administration imposed sanctions on Syria yesterday. Ever since the fall of Baghdad, the neo-cons have been clamoring for a confrontation with Damascus. Bob Dreyfus over at Tompaine.com has a good post on the brewing mess.

I guess if blundering one war is bad, then 2 would be great.

Mock the Vote
According to Rolling Stone this week, college students are being turned away from voter registration because they MUST register in the state in which they have permanent residence, not where they live. In other words, 18-22 year olds need to register to vote in the state where mommy and daddy live... how many students are going to put forth that much effort to vote? Not many, that's for sure. Which sucks cause college kids tend to vote democrat... what a shitty policy... BUT... turns out it's not even true... in fact it's illegal.

But at the election office, a county official told Han that only "permanent residents" may register to vote. College students, she informed the clean-cut twenty-year-old, must vote where their parents live. "This is just how we've always done it," county election commissioner Patricia DiSpirito told Rolling Stone. "A dorm is not a permanent residence -- it just isn't."

In fact, DiSpirito is flat-out wrong. Federal and state courts have clearly established that students have the right to vote where they go to school, even if they live in a dorm. But interviews with college students, civil-rights attorneys, political strategists and legal experts reveal that election officials all over the country are erecting illegal barriers to keep young voters from casting ballots...

In many cases, however, there's more than ignorance at work. In small college towns, students often outnumber all other voters combined -- raising fears that they could determine the outcome of local elections. The colonial town of Williamsburg, Virginia, has only 6,000 registered voters -- and 7,600 students at the College of William and Mary. In January, when campus leaders began pushing students to register and vote, the city responded by requiring every student to fill out a two-page questionnaire detailing everything from their personal finances to where their car is registered. Of an estimated 150 students who completed questionnaires, only four have been registered. "They don't want students involved," says Rob Forrest, who quit school and moved off campus so he could run for a seat on the city council. "It's a cop-out to interpret the law like this -- and if the law says that we're not supposed to get involved, then the law is wrong."

There's no way to tell how many college students are being turned away by local election boards -- but observers say it could be enough to re-elect George Bush this fall. Voters under the age of twenty-four favored the Democrats by at least twenty percentage points in each of the past three presidential elections, and polls this year indicate that they favor John Kerry by as many as ten points. If the race is as close as last time, keeping turnout down among voters at one major college campus in each battleground state could tip the election to the Republicans.

Un-frickin-believable...

Perfect Timing

This is pretty cool if true... The Mexican air force videotaped 11 UFOs in March and the videos just hit the media scene...

MEXICO CITY - Mexican Air Force pilots filmed 11 unidentified flying objects in the skies over southern Campeche state, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

"This is historic news," Maussan told reporters. "Hundreds of videos (of UFOs) exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. ... The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."

The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds? I'll let that slide because it's too early this morning and I'm tired...

Say goodbye to wild salmon.

Once again our "Environmental President" has scoffed at science and sided with industry in an attempt to side-step the Endangered Species Act...

New York Times: Three years ago, Mark Rutzick was the timber industry's top lawyer trying to overturn fish-and-wildlife protections that loggers viewed as overly restrictive. He outlined to clients a new strategy for dealing with diminishing salmon runs. By counting artificially created fish along with wild salmon, the government would help the timber industry by pulling salmon off the endangered-species list, Rutzick wrote.

Now, as a high-ranking Bush administration political appointee who is a legal adviser to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Rutzick is helping to shape government policy on endangered Pacific salmon. And in an abrupt change, the Bush administration has decided for the first time to consider counting fish raised in hatcheries when determining if some species are going extinct.

To most biologists, salmon born and raised in a concrete tank are no replacements for wild fish, even if they share a common genetic makeup. The new approach, contained in a single-page draft, leaked to reporters last month, ignores the findings of the Bush administration's panel of outside experts, as well as long-held views within the fisheries service.

These biologists say that including hatchery salmon in the calculation for when a fish can be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act is akin to counting animals in a zoo. By this reasoning, river or forest habitats of a rare species never will be protected, so long as the animal can be reproduced artificially.

But hell, when Iraqi prisoners are being raped with broomsticks and American civilians are being beheaded, why would anyone care about the salmon...

No words...

Pa. family angry with American government over son's brutal death

Michael Berg lashed out at the U.S. military and Bush administration, saying his son might still be alive had he not been detained by U.S. officials in Iraq without being charged and without access to a lawyer.

Nick Berg, a small telecommunications business owner, spoke to his parents on March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30. But Berg was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. He was turned over to U.S. officials and detained for 13 days.

His father, Michael, said his son wasn't allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer.

FBI agents visited Berg's parents in West Chester on March 31 and told the family they were trying to confirm their son's identity. On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He told his parents he hadn't been mistreated.

Michael Berg said he blamed the U.S. government for creating circumstances that led to his son's death. He said if his son hadn't been detained for so long, he might have been able to leave the country before the violence worsened.

"I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of civil rights this thing has caused," he said. "I don't think this administration is committed to democracy."

Deja Vu

U.S. promises to track down and punish killers who beheaded American in Iraq

It's almost like they're cutting and pasting statements they made after the mercenaries were slaughtered in Fallujah. And what did that solve anyway? Over 1,000 Iraqis dead, increased resistance, and a much bleaker outlook. Now they want do it all over again.

Mark Noonan, go fuck yourself.

Over at Blogs for Bush, Marky Noonan blames the beheading of Nick Berg on... drum roll please... the Democrats. His impeccable logic is paraphrased as follows. "Terrorists watch the news and they see Democrats in a tizzy about the abuse. Therefore, the terrorists think Americans lack courage, so consequently their best course of action is to chop off the head of an American contractor." As they say about good non-fiction, you can't make this shit up. According to Marky, Al-Qaeda isn't pissed off about the abuse or the pictures of abuse... it's that they have been watching too much C-Span and Hardball.

Give Thugs for Bush a quick visit, let 'em know what you think, accept that fact that you'll be banned after one comment, and remember that this is the mentality that we are up against.

...I have to say that the jackoffs at Thugs For Bush certainly do not believe in the free exchange of ideas. I've seen plenty of good comments on their site deleted faster than you can say "freedomship."

Undecided?

The local paper's website, Oregonlive, has been pushing blogs quite a bit lately, which is great. They also sponsor 5 Undecided Voter Blogs. I've been looking through them, and they don't seem all that undecided at all.

The blogs are written by a registered Republican, a Libertarian(Republican), a Green who wants Kucinich to run as a Green, a unabashed Republican, and someone who splits his votes evenly between the two main parties.

Would it have been too much just to get a registered Democrat? Oh yeah, that would have been biased.

You can get to the blogs here.

Uh-Oh

Link

Video seems to show beheading of American

The Associated Press
5/11/2004, 9:53 a.m. PT

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A video posted Tuesday on an Islamic militant Web site appeared to show a group affiliated with al-Qaida beheading an American in Iraq, saying the death was revenge for the prisoner-abuse scandal.

The video showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit who identified himself as an American from Philadelphia.

After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and cutting off his head with a large knife. They then held the head out before the camera.

Let's hope this is faked, like the bogus rape pictures that have been circulating.

6 or 7

I listened to the hearings for a little bit this morning, and they keep going back to the 6 or 7 soldiers involved in the torture. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there are a lot more than 7 people in the photographs released thus far.

Evil doing do-gooders

Senator 'Outraged by Outrage' at Prison Abuse

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As others condemned the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe on Tuesday expressed outrage at the worldwide outrage over the treatment by American soldiers of those he called "terrorists" and "murderers."

I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment," the Oklahoma Republican said at a U.S. Senate hearing probing the scandal.

"These prisoners, you know they're not there for traffic violations," Inhofe said. "If they're in cellblock 1-A or 1-B, these prisoners, they're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents. Many of them probably have American blood on their hands and here we're so concerned about the treatment of those individuals."

Coalition military intelligence officers estimated that about 70 percent to 90 percent of the thousands of prisoners detained in Iraq had been "arrested by mistake," according to a report by Red Cross given to the Bush administration last year and leaked this week...

"I am also outraged that we have so many humanitarian do-gooders right now crawling all over these prisons looking for human rights violations, while our troops, our heroes are fighting and dying," he said.

So let me get this straight, not only are evil doers bad, but so are good doers. Huh. Now I'm really confused. What about evil doing good doers or good doing evil doers? How do we feel about those?

Zogby

The Election Is Kerry's To Lose

Finally, if history is any guide, Senator Kerry is a good closer. Something happens to him in the closing weeks of campaigns (that obviously is not happening now!). We have clearly seen that pattern in his 1996 victory over Governor Bill Weld for the Senate in Massachusetts and more recently in the 2004 Democratic primaries. All through 2003, Kerry's campaign lacked a focused message. He tends to be a nuanced candidate: thoughtful, briefed, and too willing to discuss a range of possibly positions on every issue. It is often hard to determine where he actually stands. In a presidential campaign, if a candidate can't spell it out in a bumper sticker, he will have trouble grabbing the attention of voters. By early 2004, as Democratic voters in Iowa and elsewhere concluded that President Bush could be defeated, they found Governor Howard Dean's message to be too hot and began to give Kerry another look. Kerry came on strong with the simplest messages: "I'm a veteran", "I have the experience", and "I can win". His timing caused him to come on strong at the perfect time. As one former his Vietnam War colleague of told a television correspondent in Iowa: "John always knows when his homework is due."


Though he is hardly cramming for his finals yet and is confounding his supporters, possible leaners, and even opponents with a dismal start on the hustings, the numbers today are on his side (or at least, not on the President's side).


We are unlikely to see any big bumps for either candidate because opinion is so polarized and, I believe, frozen in place. There are still six months to go and anything can still happen. But as of today, this race is John Kerry's to lose.

It's a start...

Washington Post: Conservatives have become unusually restive. Last Tuesday, columnist George F. Will sharply criticized the administration's Iraq policy, writing: "This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts." Two days earlier, Robert Kagan, a neoconservative supporter of the Iraq war, wrote: "All but the most blindly devoted Bush supporters can see that Bush administration officials have no clue about what to do in Iraq tomorrow, much less a month from now."

Michael Franc, vice president of the Heritage Foundation, said the criticism by O'Neill, Will and Kagan has a common thread: a concern that the administration is "using an old playbook" and not coming up with bold enough ideas, whether the subject is entitlement reform or pacifying Iraq. Conservative intellectuals "are saying, 'Don't do things half way,' " he said.

"It's the exhaustion of power," said a veteran of conservative think tanks who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Ideology has confronted reality, and ideology has bent. On the domestic side, it has bent in terms of the expansion of the government embodied in the Medicare prescription-drug law. On the foreign policy side, it has bent because of what has transpired in the last few weeks in Fallujah."

I may not agree with the Heritage Foundation on most issues, but hey, if they want to go after Dinky and gang, for any reason, I won't object. If the Dink man continues to piss off his own base, it helps Kerry out. Some conservatives may choose not to vote or vote third party. Keep it coming...

predictions for the future
Waingroh's Crystal Ball

June - Donald Rumsfeld finally succumbs to his own circular reasoning and steps down, after his attempt to defend the use of Iraqi torture in front of the Senate by shoving a broomstick up his own ass proves devastatingly wrong....John Kerry names former Senator Bob Kerrey as Vice President, running on a Kerry/Kerrey 2004 ticket. Unfortunately, media attacks on Bob Kerrey's own Vietnam record force him to withdraw, as one of his purple hearts was discovered to be "more of a lavender" in color....the June 30 handoff to the new Iraqi government goes off as planned, with Iraqis throwing flowers and praises upon US troops for freeing them...

July - The White House retracts the June 30th press release, stating a grammatical error: "flowers" and "praises" was actually "grenades" and "screams of death"...

August - Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly claim that Liberal agents have infiltrated the Iraqi underground, and both travel to Iraq to embed themselves with the troops to prove the Saddam/Al-Qaeda/Liberal Triangle of Terror....The new Iraqi Flag is announced, consisting of a giant Nike symbol, wrapped around the Texaco star with a Starbucks emblem in the center, with the new name "Iraqiburton"....Attorney General John Asscroft is discovered in a hotel room with two naked 12-year old Honduran boys; he steps down despite his claim that he was trying to "solicit" information for a personal investigation into John Negroponte's Honduras death squads....John Kerry announces Jim Carrey as VP, but quickly dismisses Jim after finding out that he doesn't actually have that "cool green Mask"....

September - Photos are released of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly from Abu Ghraib prison, naked, bruised, and masturbating in each other's mouths. Strangely, there is no public protest this time around....John Kerry announces Sissy Spacek as his Vice President candidate, but was disappointed to find out that those were just special effects during the prom scene of Carrie....Donald Rumsfeld becomes the oldest Burger King employee to be called a "cocksucker" at the drive thru window.......

October - The Liberal Media reports that Bush and Condoleeza Rice were found sleeping together in the White House. Bush later hold a press conference, while sitting on Cheney's lap, and says that he has always been for cross culture bigamy, and this is just another attack by the "desperate" Kerry campaign. "Besides, we're skirtin' away from the real important issue - we're gonna drill down to the Center of the Earth! Man has always wanted to see the Earth's core! Freedom!"

November - Amid controversies, neither Mars nor Earth Core drilling can save the Bush campaign, and John Kerry wins the election with his Vice President, a bottle of Heinz Ketchup.....Cheney flies to Iraqiburton to get a blood-oil transfusion.... Karl Rove is discovered in the White House basement, and when forced to leave, Rove bursts into flames at first contact with sunlight....DJ Asscroft releases his first album from his private jet....

January 2005 - Iraqiburton's first public election is held, and it's a smashing success! Nearly 99% of the population turned out to vote for America "getting the fuck OUT of our country."

One can hope, anyway.

Getting Serious

AP: Army Drops Brigade From Medal List
In the Army's 800th Military Police Brigade, tainted by the prison abuse scandal, 80 percent of soldiers slated to get the Army's Bronze Star medal have been told they will not receive them, says the brigade's commander.

Here's one more way the Pentagon is trying place the blame for this scandal on the common soldier. The first reaction is always to blame subordinates,and this shows how scared they are. But as more information comes out, like Hersh's latest article, they'll only be able to shield themselves for so long.

When the Music's Over..
It's time to pay the fiddler.

One thing that has not been explored is how this torture scandal,and the war policy in general, is going to affect the soldiers involved. Sure, any participants involved need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but the psychological affects of witnessing or participating in these acts are going to reverberate in their lives for many years to come.

These soldiers, young kids mainly, are under so much pressure that they have no idea about the impact of their actions. I'm not a psychologist, but I do know that most humans who kill innocent civilians, or sodomize a helpless prisoner, are eventually going to have to reconcile their actions with themselves.


And for what? While these kids are busy "defending our freedom" our representatives are busy cutting any programs that might help them upon their return.

Par for the Course

Just when you think these guys might do something smart, like fire Rumsfeld, Cheney comes to the rescue.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney rushed to the aid of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- under fire over Iraqi prison abuses -- by saying people should "get off his case" and let Rumsfeld do his job.

"Don Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had," Cheney said in a statement from his office late on Saturday. The statement appeared to signal a White House push to rally Republicans behind the embattled Rumsfeld.

Mother's Day

Call your mom.