Been Pretty Heavy on the Discourse, Light on the Monkeys Lately...

So, here goes...

Hmm, maybe they're right....

Let's recap his Administration so far, shall we?

Stolen elections in 2000 and 2004, 9/11, rampant cronyism, failed Katrina response, blacks used only for photo-ops, "townhall" meetings where everyone must be a pre-screened Republican, payign political pundits to push their plans, record-setting vacations, hubris, lies, distortions, red state/blue state, "compassionate conservatism," push-polling, negative campaigning, smear campaigns, "plants" (aka: Jeff Gannon/James Guckert) in the white House press corps, surrounds himself with yes-men, won't allow dissent, doesn't read newspapers, guts environmental, health, and safety protections, promotes industry lobbyists to regulate the industries they lobby for, invades countries that pose no threat to us because God told him to, ignorance of global warming, double the number of lobbyists in DC since taking office, demoralized and weakened military, lack of armor for soldiers, illegal war in Iraq, renditions, Patriot Act, no WMDs, can't find Osama Bin Forgotten, everyone around him getting indicted or under investigation, outing CIA operatives, treason, war crimes, torture scandals, tax cuts for the rich, 3 million jobs outsourced so far, deflation of the U.S. dollar, record budget surplus gone, 1.2 trillion giveaway to big pharma, failed attempt to destroy Social Security, can't speak clearly, can't admit when he's wrong, can't get through a speech or debate without wearing a wire, sat like a deer in the headlights for 7 minutes after being told a 2nd plane just hit the World Trade Center, $2.5 TRILLION additional deficit since taking office, $300 BILLION spent in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight, has yet to veto a spending bill, "free speech zones," over 1,900 U.S. troops dead in Iraq so far, about 20,000 U.S. troops permanently wounded in Iraq so far with missing arms, legs, eyesight, burns, brain damage, estimates of 100,000+ Iraqi civilians killed so far, terrorism on the rise instead of dropping, FEMA gutted and useless, Dep't of Homeland Security a joke, "terror alert level" used for political purposes, oil prices, rising gap between the rich and the poor, rise to power of religious fundamentalists, Gitmo, refusal to fund No Child Left Behind Act, US soldiers trading sick photos of dead and mutilated Iraqis online for access to amateur porn...

I could go on, but it's Friday. I'm out!

My Letter To O'Leilly today - Let's See If He Has The Courage To Answer It

"Hey Bill,

Saw your Talking Points Memo last night, in which you decried the court-ordered release of the additional Abu Ghraib photos/videos as a "disgrace."

One of the real disgraces is that you don't go after an administration that condones sodomizing young Iraqi boys and raping Iraqi women on camera with the same zeal that you go after district attorneys in Florida you feel are weak on child molestation and rape cases.

This type of behavior was condoned at the highest levels, and will not end until the Bush Administration's feet are held to the fire. You can help, or you can go down in history as one of the enablers. Your choice.

Respectfully yours,

[deleted]"

"Supporting The Troops" Does Not Mean Sporting a Yellow Bumper Sticker!

It means preventing horse-pucky like this from occuring: "A group of House Republicans have proposed a plan to offset the costs of relief and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina that includes trimming military quality-of-life programs, including health care."

And this: "Pentagon still not reimbursing troops who buy own body armor"

And this:

""What is shown on the photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon has blocked from release? ”

We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.'"

A report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba on the abuse at the prison outside Baghdad says videotapes and photographs show naked detainees, and that groups of men were forced to masturbate while being photographed and videotaped. Taguba also found evidence of a 'male MP guard having sex with a female detainee.'"

Rumsfeld told Congress the unrevealed photos and videos contain acts 'that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.'" The military later screened some of the images for lawmakers, who said they showed, among other things, attack dogs snarling at cowed prisoners, Iraqi women forced to expose their breasts, and naked prisoners forced to have sex with each other.

In the same period, reporter Seymour Hersh, who helped uncover the scandal, said in a speech before an ACLU convention: "Some of the worse that happened that you don't know about, ok? Videos, there are women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men .... The women were passing messages saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened.'

Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/ children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror it's going to come out.""

No, sorry -- putting a yellow ribbon on your car, calling anyone who protests our unnecessary and illegal little war in Iraq un-American and a traitor, and backing at all costs this corrupt administration that lied our troops into this war to begin with and refuses to make it official policy that torture is not acceptable -- is not supporting the troops.

Refusing to allow this Republican administration to claim that they support the troops -- while at the same time they are reducing soldiers' family-leave allowances, combat pay, and health care, refusing to provide them with updated body armor other than Vietnam-era flak jackets despite 2 1/2 years -- and an order from Congress -- to do so, re-upping these guys with their back-door draft, failing to instruct them on the strict prohibitions against torture in the Geneve Conventions, and punishing any whistle-blower who dares to have the courage to speak out about some of the horrors they've witnessed -- is supporting the troops.

Pressuring the psychopaths that are running our country to make it concrete policy that the troops cannot torture and rape detainees, is supporting the troops.

Refusing to buy into the right-wing echo chamber's (yeah, that means you Bill, Sean, Rush, and all your "fair and balanced" friends) attempts to discredit anyone who speaks out about this war, whether it's Joe Wilson, Cindy Sheehan, Richard Clarke, Paul Hacket, or any of the brave soldiers willing to testify to the attrocities being committed by our own, is supporting the troops.

Calling for an immediate end to this occupation is supporting our troops.

Delay Indicted, Finally!

From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.

You might recall our Republican friend Tom Delay (aka: the "Hammer") from his days as a bug exterminator in Texas. No? How about when he was investigated by the (Republican-controlled) house ethics committee on several occasions? No? How about when he tried to use a brain-dead woman as a political tool to distract from his ethics violations and blame them on a vast left-wing conspiracy?:

One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the
visibility of what is going on in America," Mr. DeLay told a conference
organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A
recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans
United for Separation of Church and State. "This is exactly the issue that is
going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me
and against many others," Mr. DeLay said. Mr. DeLay complained that "the other
side" had figured out how "to defeat the conservative movement," by waging
personal attacks, linking with liberal organizations and persuading the national
news media to report the story. He charged that "the whole syndicate" was "a
huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in."

1 corrupt wing-nut down, many more to go...

(For a good summary of all the current corruption scandals plaguing Republicans right now (and believe me, there are a LOT), check here.)

UPDATE!!! They replaced him with what, you ask? More of the same! Are you kidding me? Check out this 2003 Washington Post article about Delay's new interim relacement, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The title sums it up pretty well: "GOP Whip Quietly Tried to Aid Big Donor - Provision Was Meant To Help Philip Morris" -- here's the link.

Only hours after Rep. Roy Blunt was named to the House's third-highest
leadership job in November, he surprised his fellow top Republicans by
trying to quietly insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the
475-page bill creating a Department of Homeland Security...

Ahh, another Republican with all our best interests at heart. While some lawmakers busied themselves trying to create a Department of Homeland Security to help protect us from terrorist attacks, this piece of work was busy coddling to the cigarette company that "contributed more than $150,000 to political committees affiliated with Blunt since 2001, according to Federal Election Commission records." Maybe it also helps that "Andrew B. Blunt, one of the lawmaker's sons, is a lobbyist for Philip Morris" ???

Our democracy has been bought and paid for.

UPDATE (Pt. Deuce): Turns out this Blunt guy paid a "consultant" who just happens to be one of those indicted along with Delay in Texas. (Click me!)

These people are dirty.

Dear God...

Could you please tell your followers that when you kill or displace 1 million people, destroy billions of dollars in property, and cause America to look like a bunch of fools on the world stage with one of your mightly huricanes, that's it's not really a "miracle" when a frigging puppy is later found alive? Thanks.

Proof That You Can't Keep a Good Crony Down!

Michael Brown has been rehired by FEMA "as a consultant" to evaluate FEMA's response following Hurricane Katrina, according to CBS news.

Are you kidding me? I'll tell you why he's been "Re-hired," it's because today (Tuesday) he's testifying in from of the Republican whitewash, I mean investigation, into the hurricane response. It's called "hush money," people...

There ya go, there's a nice little reward for your incompetence, Brownie.

What a joke. Let's add him to the list of incompetent imbecines Shrub has awarded for their incompetence: George Tenet, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, 2 two intelligence analysts that thought those pesky aluminum tubes could be used for centrifuges...

Did I mention these people are incompetent?... Hey, at least they're loyal Republicans. That's all that matters, right?