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Monday, June 30, 2008

 

Liberals, Liberals, Liberals

Liberals, Liberals, Liberals

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want a confrontation with a union that is dedicated to improving their members' workplace and standard of living.

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Sunday, June 29, 2008

 

Liberals Are Ruining America

If Sandy is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she'll get a regular check from her state's workers' compensation department or unemployment agency because some stupid liberal didn't think she should lose her home because of a temporary misfortune.

America is going to Hell in a handbasket with all of these tax-and-spend-liberal schemes.

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

 

G%$#&@~#@n Liberals, Again

Jamal walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for the government-subsidized ride to work. It saves Jamal considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation.

While he's using public transportation, he's a commie-pinko-fag-junkie because he's helping to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil.... not to mention his contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. Only Al-Gore-Lovers think that's important.

Jamal's actions fly in the face of prosperity. He has forgotten the words of a wise Wall Street mega-billionaire: "Pollution is a by-product of industry. Without pollution, there would be no industry, no profits. Let the tree-huggers clean it up if it's so important."

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Friday, June 27, 2008

 

Another Day Ruined By Liberals

Let's watch while Jane prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs.

Jane's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Like the meat-packing industry, the egg producers resisted regulation. "It will cost too much!" "It's un-American!" "Only Commies require food production to be safe at every step along the way!" "We should let the marketplace will sort it out!"

Uh-huh.
  1. There is always a reason when the US government imposes safety regulation; most other regulations tend to be suspect, but safety regulations are there because far too many businesses cut corners (to put it kindly)
  2. Don't take my word for it; read (or re-read) this
  3. See this this, this, or this. Or if you have some spare time, this, which reinforces what I'm saying about 2,560,000 times
Has anyone noticed that even with regulation, the entire food production industry is still thriving?

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

 

G*d d*mn*d Liberals

G*d d*mn*d Liberals

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee.

The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

Sit tight folks. In the next few days I'll give you plenty of opportunities to hate liberals and Democrats and commie pinko fag junkies.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

 

What I'm Reading These Days

Dead-Tree Periodicals
Recycled Books (true, they are made from massacred forests, but these are used)
On-line Stuff
Hybrid Books (downloaded PDFs)
The Menu & Directories on TIVO

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

 

My, How Time Flies When You're Having Fun

It was 5 years ago today.

According to the President, we had accomplished the mission in Iraq 2 months earlier. Although he didn't use the word "occupy", the fact is that our military was occupying Iraq.

Iraq citizens (NOT Al Qeada!) had a problem, nay they had resentment with U.S. Troops occupying their country. The were also unhappy about how many innocent civilians died because of our actions. They responded just as we citizens would respond if foreign troops occupied our land. They conducted a guerrilla war against the occupiers/killers.

U.S. citizens were rightly concerned:
  1. why were we occupying Iraq?
  2. why had we not asked for a true international coalition to help rebuild the nation that we vanquished?
  3. why were we staying in a place where the people didn't want us or our help?
The rumbling amongst U.S. citizens was growing louder: what about those insurgents?

The President responded to his countrymen on July 2, 2003, five years ago today, 1825 days prior to now. His response? he said it loud and clear: "I say, Bring Them On."

Thanks, George. They DID bring it on.

At the time, we had suffered deaths, a few hundred, and wounded, a few thousand. Now we have lost 4100. Tens of thousands of our finest have wounds which are serious, some critical, and some permanent. Add to that hundreds of billions of dollars.

What do we have to show for it? Has the mission been accomplished any better that it was before George's Public Display of Arrogance?

We're told that this war was "Operation Iraqi Freedom." How free are the people of Iraq? When reading the following, exclude the 3 1/2 millon Kurds in Northern Iraq, because they have had little to do with the original and subsequent destruction of a nation and a people.
  1. They have had 1 national election. How many local elections have they enjoyed? Count them on your fingers.
  2. Death and migration have taken away many of Iraq's future leaders in commerce, education, government
  3. 60% of Iraqi doctors have left the country
  4. Nearly 3 million people left the country
  5. 2.5 million Iraqis have been forced to relocate within Iraq
  6. Those who remain have less electricity available than before we invaded
  7. ALL cities have raw sewage in the streets
  8. ALL Iraqis struggle with the daily issue of finding safe water
  9. Unemployment is 50%, while over 100,000 foreigners are working to support the occupying troops and to make a small effort at rebuilding a destroyed country
  10. Billions of dollars went AWOL while in the care of the USA. Those billions were oil revenues that had been reserved by the United Nations for the people of Iraq - once Saddam Hussein was out of power
  11. NO highway is safe to drive
  12. There are warring factions - private militias - in most of Iraq (including Kurdistan). No neighborhood is safe; walled communities are attacked with missles and mortars. "Open communities are victimized by gang violence on a scale unimaginable in the USA.

    I can go on, but I hope you get the picture.

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Monday, June 23, 2008

 

Words of Wisdom

Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat 11th grade.

-- George Santayana (sort of...)

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

 

Why Are We Still There?

George Bush's To-Do List

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Saturday, June 21, 2008

 

Those Who Can, Do. Those Who Can't, Teach.

If you can't do either, at least you can sound like an educator.

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Friday, June 20, 2008

 

General: Bushevics Committed War Crimes

2-Star General Taguba: There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes.

In a Physicians for Human Rights report published yesterday, entitled "Broken Laws, Broken Lives," two-star former General Anthony Taguba, wrote, "After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

[ General Anthony Taguba is ] the Army general who led the investigation into the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. Taguba's comments shed new light on the horror of Bush's crimes, and are a striking confirmation of what the impeachment movement has been saying for years. Taguba's report comes right on the heels of a McClatchy newspaper report that showed gross abuses of human rights occurred under Bush's watch, primarily at prisons in Afghanistan where detainees were held en route to Guantanamo — and that many of the prisoners were wrongly detained.

In the report released yesterday, Taguba said, "This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture." After submitting his original report, General Taguba was predictably forced into retirement.

Taguba closed his comments with a direct call to action: "These men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution."
Sources include CNN

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

Become Irresistable To Your Gender of Choice

The latest, most bestest, sexiest pickup line:

yin-yang
My Yin, Your Yang?
yin-yang
(Image liberated from
www.puramaryam.de/)


Your mileage may vary.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

Top 10 List: Benefits Of Being An Iraqi

We were told that we invaded Iraq to, in part, bring a better life to the people of Iraq. How have we done?
  1. They no longer have to live under Saddam Hussein, with his torture and killing of Iraqi citizens.
  2. There are no Weapons of Mass Destruction in their midst.
  3. They had a national election a few years ago
  4. There are no terrorists collaborating with Saddam.
Now the Iraqi people enjoy the best of the dreams of American conservatives. Here's a Top Ten (or so...) List of the coolest things about living in Iraq:and the number one cool thing about living in Iraq

No Democrats.

Dick Cheney: if you're reading this, try to not get any on the keyboard. It makes the keys all sticky.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

 

Everybody Must Get Stoned

Oliver Stone began filming his movie about President Bush Monday. It comes out this fall. The movie covers his entire life, from his days as black sheep of the family and screw-up all the way to his days as black sheep of the family and screw-up.
-- Argus Hamilton

Everybody Must Get Stoned is a line from Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 by Bobbie Zimmerman

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Monday, June 16, 2008

 

Computers Aren't Just For The Elite Anymore

Computers For Bubbas

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Sunday, June 15, 2008

 

What's the difference.....

What's the difference between salmonella poisoning and John McCain?

Salmonella has an exit strategy.

-- Argus Hamilton (more or less)

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More Stupid Than Bush?

"The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country."
-- John McCain, 2008.06.13

Really?

Does that bonehead really think protecting the right to be heard in court is...
Does John McCain
There is a lot of misunderstanding about that recent Supreme Court decision.

That decision confirms right basic human right that says if you are accused of a crime, you have a right to a hearing before an impartial court.

That's all. No more, no less. If we are going to detain people SUSPECTED of illegal behavior, then we have to put them on trial.

That decision does not send lunatic terrorists out into the streets with no restrictions on what they want to do. It simply says that the accused has the right to a trial. Period. Well, not period. It also says that such human rights have been established for a thousand years (10 centuries, 100 decades, 500 generations), and that it's not appropriate to dump that right just because the government is running a fear campaign against its citizens.

How many 'detainees' have been convicted of any crimes connected to terrorism? None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Given that track record, I'm inclined to think that your gubmint knows that it can't convict very many - if any at all - of those detainees. If they're not guilty, why are we holding - and torturing - them? The government has had 6 1/2 years to build cases against those suspected terrorists.

Let's get a grip on this. Those people are suspected terrorists. The government has shown no inclination to prove that those detainees are guilty of anything. Innocent until proven guilty, yada, yada, yada. Flag, apple pie, Mom, baseball, and the best legal system in all of the time this species has been on the planet.

I say we should put them on trial. If they're found guilty in a legitimate court, put 'em in a hellish prison. If they're not guilty, well, we made an oopsie. A one-way ticket home would be nice, an apology with the ticket would be nicer. No, wait. I forget. We're supposed to be a nation built on Christian principals. WWJD?

Does anyone remember how we got the detainees to detain?
  1. Some were actually caught in situations where it was reasonable to arrest them and try to build a case against them. It's time to put them on trial and resolve it: guilty or not guilty?
  2. Some were completely innocent of anything except being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were rounded up by US troops or intelligence agents.
  3. Most - this is so outrageous - were rounded up by bounty hunters and handed over to US troops with no evidence that they were bad guys . Again, wrong place, wrong time. The bounty hunters were Afghan tribesmen who worked on piece-rate. They got paid by the head, but didn't have to show any kind of evidence against the people they sold to the US government. Piece-rate with no quality control is a disaster waiting to happen, whether the product is clothes, cars, or humans.

    By the way, trafficking in humans- isn't that slavery?
Again, the recent decision by the Supremes doesn't free anyone from prison or overturn convictions or anything else nefarious. It's no more than an affirmation of human rights.

It also says to the US government that it's time to put these people on trial - or release them. Do something or get off the pot!

If those people really are terrorists, it shouldn't be hard to convict them. A speedy trial is the best thing for all Americans and for America's place in the world. After all, why should we try to out-do such dictatorships as China, Burma, the old USSR and Chile and Argentina, and dozens more rogue nations?

Let's regain some of the basic decency for which the USA had always been famous.

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

 

0-for-3

The war (in Iraq) was wrongly threatened and wrongly declared and wrongly waged, but it's better than no war at all.
-- Argus Hamilton

Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time.
-- me

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Pick Your Battles (Part 31874)

war,Pick Your Battles (Part 31873 ) - 6/13/2008 had a punch line: when using might to make right, 'conventional wisdom' goes out the window. The reality is that as troop levels go up, the probability of succeeding goes down.

Does this mean that it was a stroke of genius for Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney to move troops from Afghanistan to Iraq? Hardly.

When the big switch happened, we were
  • successfully not hunting terrorists in Afghanistan
  • only slightly more successful at Kabuling Together (bad pun for 'cobbling together') the Karziad government (supposedly the new national government) in tiny corner of Afghanistan
  • struggling against insurgents after the damned fool said "BRING THEM ON" (July 2, 2003)
What are the odds?
Propping up a foreign regime? 2:5
Routing insurgents to bring democracy? 1:4

In the parlance of games of chance, that is more stupid than than raising the bets while hoping to improve a 3-flush into into a straight flush on the next card.

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Friday, June 13, 2008

 

Civil War, Presidents, and Ford's Theater

President Bush went to Ford's Theatre last Sunday, where he enjoyed a performance by the great actor Hal Holbrook. It's part of a long tradition. Every Republican president who starts a civil war has to visit Ford's Theatre during the last year of his presidency.
-- Argus Hamilton

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Pick Your Battles (Part 31873)

Is this the hill for which you want to die?

Soldiers have the good sense to wonder (privately). Even the generals sometimes contemplate that question. It's too bad that the politicians don't stop to think.

Professor Patricia Sullivan (U of Ga) studied the topic. She Investigated 122 military 'interventions' involving the world's big guys: USA, UK, France, USSR/Russia, China - between 1945 and 2003. Using factors such as
  • troop levels
  • alliances
  • troop levels
  • length of conflict
she developed a method for determining the probability that the intervening country will achieve its goals. Hint: Vegas gives much better odds.
  1. Intervention as a means of getting compliance by another nation? 1:6 (that one is a sucker bet).
  2. Propping up a foreign regime? 2:5 (stick to roulette or keno)
  3. US vs North Vietnam & friends? Less than 1 in 4 (put your money into Ponzi schemes - late in the Ponzi racket - or penny stocks)
  4. Overthrow Saddam? 2:3 (duh!)
  5. Routing insurgents to bring democracy? 1:4 (and the damned fool said to go on)
The Big Kuhuna of using force to achieve political goals: as troop levels go up, the probability of succeeding goes down.



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Thursday, June 12, 2008

 

Caution: This Might Be Depressing

Everybody has a bad day now and then; everyone gets sad, everyone will deal with grief. People who are suffering from the real thing, however, know that their illnesses aren't just temporary feelings caused by unpleasant events. If you're not suffering from clinical depression, your most trying day might just be more pleasant than what someone with that malady would consider a good day. When someone who is depressed has a bad day, the emotional (and sometimes physical) pain is beyond anyone else's understanding.

While a person's immediate situation does make a difference in his or her mood, it can't explain away chronic or persistent, recurring depressed moods.

Depression is one of the most misunderstood illnesses. As a result of the misunderstandings about depression, there are many myths about depression. For instance, Inspired by an article at Neurotransmissions

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

 

Truth For Dummies (and the not-so-stupid)

All truth passes through three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
-- Arthur Schopenhaur (1788 - 1860)

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And Another Thing......

Random Gripe #62963, More Things That Should Be Capital Crimes:

The verbification of nouns, e.g., incentivize

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

 

Dick Cheney's Slur

West Virginia lawmakers demanded Monday that Dick Cheney apologize for cracking a joke about West Virginians being inbreds. The state only has one marriage law. Gays are not allowed to marry in West Virginia unless they can prove they are related.
-- Argus Hamilton

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Monday, June 9, 2008

 

Shooting Fish In A Barrel

It's good to be back. Family issues, travel, work (computer consulting) , and health have all conspired to keep me away from the keyboard.

Here's a make-up offering:

Senator McCain takes all the sport out of poking fun at politicians.

In his first TV ad of the real campaign season, he states:

"Only a fool or a fraud would romanticize war."

"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said."
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1333111120080313?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews -- George W. Bush, March 12, 2008

So, John....
is the President a fool or a fraud? Or both?

mcain-bush snuggle-upThat hug is not a cursory, obligatory hug. That hug shows gratitude and admiration - perhaps even LOVE .

John: who is that guy hugging the one who romanticized war?

Who is that guy hugging the 'fool or fraud'?

Senator McCain: who was the guy who parodied a Beach Boys' song at a political rally? He was groveling in front of potential partisans, trying to drum up support for his candidacy. He sang for us, "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran." Gee, that was hilarious. Since we were not at war with Iran, isn't that an act of glorifying war and what we do in war? That sounds to me like "romanticizing" war.

So which are YOU, John? Fool or Fraud? Or both?

I could go on, but this is way too easy.

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