One good reason for keeping Iraq War going

Now, hold on, hear me out for just one second.

Look, I've written here and in my eariler blogs my opinion that the invasion and subsequent, and continuing, occupation of Iraq is the worst foreign policy blunder ever. I've written in the past that the troops must be withdrawn, in order to cool the situation in Iraq itself.

But, after viewing the documentary Jesus Camp I've changed my mind.

Keep this Iraq occupation going. In fact, let's invade a couple of more Middle Eastern countries that are doing us no harm.

Let's keep this meat grinder going long enough so the kids in the motion picture can grow up and enlist in the military. Jesus Camp founder, true believer and useful idiot, Becky Fischer wants her kids to be as fanatical as the kids in Hamas, Hizbollah, al Qaeda and the Taliban; to be was willing to die for Jesus as Islamist kids are for Allah.

I say, rather than worrying about Bush's puppy dog terrorist, let's send as many right-wing fundamentalist Christian warriors off to the Middle East as want to go. Fuck, I'd be for deporting all of 'em. This woud be a helluvalot better country without 'em.

LTE: April 22, 2007

The cynicism exhibited by the anti-immigrant crowd, headed by U.S. Representatives Tom Tancredo, CO, and Iowa’s own Steve King, can only be topped by the Register editorial board's hypocrisy in its April 22, 2007 editorial “Iowa should lead way on immigration.”



It is a long held business school mantra; labor is the only cost variable which management can totally control. Low wages equal high profits and stock prices. Toward that end, for the past twenty-five years, business has engaged in a winning strategy of union busting, global outsourcing and encouraging illegal immigration.



Illegal immigrants flood into this nation from the world over, but the greatest numbers come from Central America and southern Mexico. It should be remembered that the adventurism of the Reagan/Bush I administrations in Central America is in large part responsible for the economic conditions in that part of the continent. Moreover, President Bill Clinton reneged on so-called “side agreements,” permitting organizing by American labor unions in Mexico, after signing the North America Free Trade Agreement.



The Register’s contention of a looming labor shortage, due to falling birth rates and the aging Baby Boomer generation, is as pernicious as the anti-Latino slanders throw round by the anti-immigrant crowd, and ignores the simple and contrary logic: The smaller the labor pool, the higher the wage for the laborer.

Stupidity triumphs

Ever since I discovered the late Carlo M. Cipolla's 1987 essay on "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" on the Web, I kept it bookmarked.

Cipolla's Third, or "Golden Law" of Human Stupidity is that the actions of the stupid always result in loss for the stupid person himself and quite often other around him. Or something like that. I'm quoting Cipolla's Third Law by memory, for his heirs, or at least someone who holds the copywrite, have caused it to be scrubbed from the Web. Obviously worldwide the business community has something to hide, Cipolla, after all, was a professor of economics at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley.

So any way, in total disregard and disrespect of Prof. Cipolla's heirs I have found the basic laws, without explanation. I suggest printing them for future reference.

First Basic Law: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

Second Basic Law: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

Third (and Golden) Basic Law: A stupid person is a person who caused losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

Fourth Basic Law: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be costly mistake.

Fifth Basic Law: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Corollary to the Fifth Basic Law: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

Certainly someone out there wants stupidity to triumph over intelligence, or at least common sense. Look are our current president, George W. Bush. He most certainly illustrates the "Third (and Golden) Basic Law" as do many, many of our so-called business leaders.

Gee, I hope I drop dead

Christ, I had an appointment for a "Nuclear Study using Treadmill Cardiolite protocol" this morning at ten.

I went. And I left. Why?

Because I refused to sign the release. And why did I refuse to sign the relase. Because I don't want any radioactive goo coursing through my veins for 48 hours, that's why! Oh, but it's in small doseages. Oh, but it's been used for fifty years. Oh, but when I send in my badge it shows my body's only absorded trace ammounts of radioactivity.

What a bunch of horseshit!

Cardiolite is radioactive, goddamnit! What the fuck doesn't the medical community get about that!

33 students, faculty member killed at Virginia Tech campus

That was the big news yesterday and the headlines yet reverberate today. This is, as the sob-sisters of the mainstream media are wont to tell us over and over ad nauseam, a tragedy of monumental proportions.

But the real tragedy of this terrible loss of life will not come today or tomorrow or even next week. No, it will happen within six months to a year when some self-serving young man or lady, who just happpened to be in Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus when the gunman began his rampage, writes a book on, "How God Saved ME." It will be the usual infantile drivel about how, as the bullets flew, "god reached down and touched ME," and "god saved ME because god has a plan for ME."

I reckon god didn't give a shit about the 33 other folks who died. Either that or god needed a quick transfusion, since we don't offer up blood sacrifices in the form of babies or lambs to the old boy these days. Or maybe god was short a few tenors in his heavenly choir, and an extra soprano or two couldn't hurt.

My guess is that god saved "ME" to write a sappy book to sell to suckers. My guess is that god saved "ME" so TV sob-sisters, like Diane Sawyer, Oprah and Montel Williams, can coo and oooo over how brave "ME" was in a scary situation. TV appearances, book signings and fat honorarium checks from fundamentalist "Christian" churches all for "ME." That certainly beats having to find a real job.

And that, to me, is the real tragedy of these senseless killings at Virginia Tech.

A litte more on "300"

An e-mail from a friend (I have a couple) said:

The last comment on I made Huff was in response to Iran's getting being insulted by the movie 300. I said how I missed all the Spartan slaves - they must have been hiding. I enjoyed the film like I enjoyed Sin City. Graphic novels on the big screen make for entertainment, not a history lesson. The old complaint about Hollywood is the botched job they make of stories and mood. Too many wanna-be's messing with the artistic vision. At least with 300, the vision seems pretty intact.

I responded:

Yeah, I liked "Sin City" too, and, naw, you can't convince me that "300" is anything other than neoFascist garbage with a pretty face, actually buffed and tanned bod. The worst feeling one can have on leaving a movie theater is boredom...and that's how I felt after leaving "300."

Anyway, I stand by my distaste for "300." Labeling it "art" or a "cinematic experiment" doesn't excuse the palpable racism. The 300 Spartants of "300"
are Goebbels-esque poster-boys. If film technology were such that this film
could have been made in 1937, I can imagine Himmler, Goering and Hitler all
creaming-in-their-jeans.

I was googling to find an image from "300" the original graphic novel to compare that with "Nazi" art, but I ran across this exchange at FreeRepublic.com :the(sic) writer of the graphic novel "300" of course !! HE IS ON OUR SIDE ! I was right !

The "writer" of the graphic novel "300" is artist Frank Miller, one of comic book fandom's reigning gods. A clip of a post-SOTU NPR "Talk Of The Nation" interview with Miller is posted at the chickenhawk Web site Little Green Footballs.com. There Miller complains that Twenty-first Century Americans are a bunch of whining, wimps, and spoiled brats; that we are at war with a "existential foe" who "genetically" (sic) mutilate their daughters. Listen to him. The wing nuts are praising him for his tough talk about waging war and making sacrifices.

This is brave talk for a 50-year-old man who never once spent a day in the uniform of any branch of the United States' military. This is bold talk for a 50-year-old guy who's too old to ever have to serve in the military. This is big talk for a 50-year-old man who sounds like a scared little boy.

Let's bury this Imus fool and ethnic slurs too!

For a week now, ever since an overaged cowboy called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed ho's" on his radio program, we've had to endure the soap opera of Don Imus and his bullshit mea culpas:

"Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry."
Maynard Institute.org
And:
"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," he said. "And because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean that it has to be that way for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that." CNN.com

Oh, just fuck you, Don Imus. Just look at that jackass, nearly 70-years-old and he wears a cowboy suit to work. Hey, this would be O.K. if he hosted the show from Phoenix or Las Vegas or Laramie, Wyoming! But he's lived and worked in New York City since 1971!

And he's a repeat offender in the racial/ethnic/gender slur catagory.

So this old fool is wiggling in a pathetic attempt to try and save his job. His employers, CBS Radio and MSNBC, are giving this aging asshole a two-week suspension. Wow! that's gotta hurt, especially for a 67-year-old man with a fondness for cowboy clothes (I ain't even gonna touch the homoerotic undertones of his particular fetish.)

But dumbass Don's reactionary friends are springing to his defense. Today, Michelle Malkin, the reactionary Filipina-American columnist, writes:

Let's stipulate: I have no love for Don Imus*, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson. I repeat: A pox on all their race-baiting houses.

Let's also stipulate: The Rutgers women's basketball team didn't deserve to be disrespected as "nappy-headed hos." No woman deserves that. I agree with the athletes that Imus's misogynist mockery was "deplorable, despicable and unconscionable." And as I noted on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor this week, I believe top public officials and journalists who have appeared on Imus's show should take responsibility for enabling Imus—and should disavow his longstanding invective.

But let's take a breath now and look around. Is the Sharpton & Jackson Circus truly committed to cleaning up cultural pollution that demeans women and perpetuates racial epithets? Have you seen the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart this week?

She then proceeds to merely copy a list of "gangsta" rap lyrics, verbatim. This is one little Flip ho' who knows how to work her ass off to meet her column's deadline. Malkin's implication, and a heavy-handed one it is at that, is that if it's O.K. for "gangsta" rappers to use offensive ethnic, racial and sexist slurs, it must be O.K. for old assholes who wear cowboy hats indoors to do likewise.

Of course Michelle doesn't question who buys the crap or why " gangsta" rap is so popular--suburban white boys be cause it erritates the hell out of a generation of adults who grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead. Or who makes it possible to market this crap--white MBA's who run the record/CD companies, radio stations and TV-music video channels! Michelle and her reactionary crowd seem to think that all African Americans condone the usage of "gangsta" rap and therefore "gangsta" slang and attitutes.

Writes Morehouse College English instructor Darren Rhym of "gangsta" rap:

Typically, gangsta rappers use sexist and misogynistic lyrics for three reasons. First, they are selfish and seek to empower only themselves. Second, they put business before art: Songs with misogynistic lyrics sell millions of CDs and tapes. Sales mean money. Money means power. Finally, gangsta rappers reinterpret their experiences into a packageable product that can sell. They peddle half-truths and fantasies that formulate a stereotypical mythology in which all black women are bitches and/or all gangsta rappers live the life of driving sports cars, collecting thong-wearing, gyrating women, and smoking chronic.
And:
In the end, this whole argument boils down to the fact that misogyny is ingrained into our culture and we allow it. We buy CDs and go to concerts where gangsta rappers call black women "bitches" and "hos." It is not just black women who are victimized. Since gangsta rappers disrespect our mothers, sisters, and daughters, every black man is a victim.

Excuses -- "I like the beat," "I don't listen to the words," and "They are only referring to certain types of women" -- are not acceptable. When gangsta rappers disrespect men and women and preach violence and hate to us, we must reject their messages. We cannot buy their CDs, albums, or tapes, or attend their concerts, or appear in their videos, or even support record labels or radio or television stations that advocate gangsta rap in any way. Malcolm X used to preach about the ills of airing "dirty laundry," and that is what gangsta rappers do when they disrespect black women in rap songs.

Rap is not just music; it is our African-American culture. It is the way we blacks perceive ourselves, and the way we are perceived by the world. The content of gangsta rap music in its current form is unacceptable. It cannot and should not be tolerated by anyone.
Womanist Theory and Research

The right's excuses to get Imus off the hook are bullshit and racist too boot. The reactionary thugs who run this nation know that racism is the easiest method of covering their crimes against the working middle class. Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter and the rest are ready to do their bidding because we let them. By excusing Don Imus we are excusing our own inherent racism, we legitimize it regardless if we are of European, African or Asian heritage. But not only should we, the United States' white community, bury Don Imus and all his reactionary "shock jock" ilk our black brothers and sisters must likewise bury the "gangsta" rap mystique. And all us together must bury the "N" word, now and forever. It can be done.
*Pure, unadultured bullshit. She wouldn't have "written" her stupid column if she weren't rushing to Imus' defense.

I'm sick of badasses. How 'bout you?

You want to know why I think the United States is losing respect in this world?

There are just too many people in this country who think they are badasses. Let me tell you what I mean.

Yesterday I went to my local Radio Shack store to exchange a telephone I bought there just after Christmas. Shouldn't have been that big of deal, you know. I tell 'em what's wrong with the phone and they give me a new one, smiles and thank yous all around.

But no.

This young gal, after I told her what was wrong with the phone, asked me why I didn't buy Radio Shack's extended service thingie, that this was the one and only time she'd allow me to return a telephone and yaddy-yaddy-yadda! I mean, why would you spend thirty bucks for an extended warrantee on a forty-five dollars phone? And I only want to exchange this phone, it's not like it's something I do every day! But on and on she lectured about extended warrantees, and in general being a young bitch.

She ended her lecture with a bit of advice, "Maybe you need to clean you phone lines. Have a nice day."

I might not be the shapest knife in the drawer, but I know an insult when I hear one. This gal might as well have added "asshole" at the end of that "have a nice day."

This isn't the first time I've run into this. There was the kid a the Menards store when I went to buy a replacement window. I didn't know shit-from-shinola about windows, I just knew I needed a window...aww, the window's in now and looks great, but you know, the fucking kid, not once, walked his lazy ass out from behind the counter to show me through all the windows on display so I might get a better idea of what I needed. He just asked me a bunch of questions, some of which I didn't think were relevant, and entered bullshit into a computer.

But I digress.

To take my mind off things I decided to watch a movie, Babel. Well, that was a mistake. It's not that it's a bad movie, but some of the heavies are US Customs and Border Protection guards. Now I've had some experience with these assholes, and let me tell you, even if we didn't have a jerk in the White House and an illegal occupation of a foreign country going on, these pinheaded bastards quarantee that anyone from another country gets a bad first impression of the United States.

To show you the kind of assholes you meet when you're crossing the border, here I am, a middle-aged, blue-eyed, white guy, with with a fucking Iowa driver's license, and this motherfucker in a black uniform asks me in a Mexican-Spanish accent, thicker than the waiter's at the restaurant were I just ate cabrito, if I'm a fucking American citizen! No, motherfucker, I'm from Venus! And there's these fucking signs all over the place saying, "No Jokes!" I'm not shitting you! And now, the fucking government demands everybody going back into the United States from Canada and Mexico produce a passport! Oh! like I'm gonna smuggle fucking' bombs into the country. Oh, won't that make us more safe from terrorists. Fuck you!

This fucking country ain't no fucking fun anymore!

Well, it's Tuesday and that means it's garbage day. Got to get the garbage out.

300 reasons to stay home

Finally saw 300 last night. What a piece of crap.

Here's a link to a review

Slant Magazine--Film Review:300

My advice: Don't throw your money away on this stinker if you want to see a motion picture. If you want to see comic book artwork immitating a motion picture, then maybe the ten bucks is worth it.

As for historicity, forget it. Yeah, there was a Battle of Thermopylae, and, yeah, there was a Spartan King Leonidas, and, yeah, he led three hundred hand-picked Spartan hoplites. And, yes, there also really was a Persian King Xerses. And that's about all the true history you'll garner out of this flick.

Our unofficial taboo animal

Don't get me wrong, I'm an animal lover and something of an animal rights sort of guy, but please this is going a little too far:

The line of horses stepping toward slaughter at a DeKalb plant came to an abrupt halt Thursday after a federal court order that animal-rights advocates hope may mark the end of the killing and shipping of meat overseas.

Animal advocates hope permanent action comes soon enough that the last horse butchered in the U.S. for human consumption was in Cavel International Inc.'s "killing box" on Wednesday.

[H]orses enjoy a warmer place in American hearts than the other hoofed livestock. Yet horses at Cavel are slaughtered just like cattle -- with a handheld "penetrating captive bolt" device applied to the skull that opponents consider barbaric but regulators consider humane. The meat is destined mostly for Europe, where it is considered a delicacy.
John Biemer, Chicago Tribune.com

As India reveres the cow, now America reveres the horse. If you thought the Hindu prohibition against eating beef was odd, here we see the process that transformed a food animal into a god in action in this country. Let us hope than some incurible disease never ravages America's livestock of beef cattle, pigs and chicken, leaving us only horses to eat. We'd starve.

Gonzales case gets curiouser and curiouser

Until this morning I never heard of Monica Goodling or that she is a top official in AG Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department. She is nothing more than Alberto's counsel and White House liaison. As near as I can figure out, she's the human conduit, or interface, officially masking any direct contact between the Attorney General's office and Karl Rove. One would assume that a person holding such an influential, though little know to the public, position would have a law degree from one of America's most prestigious law schools?

Goodling, 33, is a 1995 graduate Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., an institution that describes itself as "committed to embracing an evangelical spirit."

She received her law degree at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. Regent, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, says its mission is "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world."
Fort Wayne.com

Already Monica is making a difference in our world.

Christians promote holy war, religious hatred

I received this email yesterday:

A FORWARD!!

Can a Muslim be a Muslim-American?

My Friends..... I received this from a close friend who was engaged in the protection of our Country prior to his retirement. He was an Intelligence officer of some renown. This is something to ponder...Too many of our citizens think this is a minor problem, and if we ignore it, that it will go away...The threat is real !!!!!.........

Have you ever thought -- Is Muslim-American really an oxymoron? Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and a loyal citizen?
I forwarded that question to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. The following is his forwarded reply:

"Theologically, no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia. Religiously, no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)

Scripturally, no Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).

Geographically, no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

Socially, no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan.

Domestically, no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).

Intellectually, no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

Philosophically, no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or Autocratic.

Spiritually, no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names."

Therefore after much study and deliberation.... perhaps we should be
very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish.....it's still the truth.

If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.

The religious war is bigger and more complex than most Americans
currently know or understand

After scanning over this...hmmm...what is a good one word term for religious bigotry...I don't think there is one...if there isn't we certianly need one. Anyway, after cursory reading I composed this reply:

I had a very good friend in college, Eddie M______ (I'm not sure how to correctly spell his last name, really, because I never asked him), he was from Cedar Rapids; he liked to drink, smoke pot and party; and he was a Muslim. In fact, Cedar Rapids, Iowa is home to the Mother Mosque of America, the oldest mosque in the United States!

But bullshit like this e-mail is why I'm an atheist! Fuck Christianity. Fuck Judaism. And fuck Islam. All three are sick, twisted and perverted. If I had my way I'd drop a nuclear bomb on Jerusalem, Mecca and Vatican City! That would shut these religious assholes up but quick. And if the fucking Mormons said boo about it, I'd nuke Salt Lake City to boot! And if that fat fuck Jerry Falwell opened his fat yap, boom-boom Lynchburg, VA and the Thomas Road Baptist Church!

Actually my atheism goes much deeper than merely being anti-organized religion or anti-monotheism, though monotheism is at the root of the world's many problems.

Growing up, I was taught that monotheism was the evolutionary culmination of human relgious thought: First there was animism, the childish belief in spirits or lifeforces in everything; then came polytheism, the ancient Greek and Romans' misguided and superstitious belief in many gods and goddesses; finally, with the ancient Hebrews first getting it right, monotheism! Now why having one all-powerful, all-knowing god was preferable to having many not-so-powerful, not-so-all-knowing gods was never really explained fully to my way of thinking, but I excepted the premise. This, I believe, is as good of definition of "faith" as any: Accepting any premise which cannot be verified or quantified, by empirical measurment or experimentation, as true.

As far as I'm concerned monotheism is mankind's worst invention ever. Here's my thumbnail history of monotheism: A thousand or so years before the "birth of Christ" an paranoid, delusional, megalomaniacal Egyptian king, Ahknaton, invented a "one-god" relgion. Ahknaton's motiving idea was to strip politcal and economic power from anciet Egypt's powerful priestly caste, especially the priesthood of Amun-Ra, therefore he invented one all-powerful diety with himself as its sole mediator. Ahknaton, and only Ahknation had the direct line to god, in other words, much as popes do in our age.

Now here's were things get murky. It seems that a Semitic tribe living in Egyptian territory at that time, gravitated to Ahknaton's way to thinking, for reasons known only to themselves. This Semitic tribe may have been the reminent of the Hyksos, a people who dominated the Nile Delta region of Egypt nearly a century before Ahknaton's time. And there are tantalizing hints that later pharoahs encouraged Semitic tribes residing on Egyptian territory to migrate into ancient Canaan, now the State of Israel. However, currently historians and archaeologists have no definitive evidence to backup these claims, the Israeli government and elements of the Christian church and Islam continue to stymie archaeological research on Israeli territory for religious reasons.

But let's leave the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Judeans and even Jesus behind and fastforward to the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine is called "The Great" because he was the first Roman emperor to sanction Christianity as the official state religion. The question remains, why? It is on record that his mother, Helena, was a Christian but he never really was. Even his deathbed christening was rather lukewarm, he was just covering all bases. But like old Ahknaton, the idea of holding the one direct line to one supreme god appealed to Constantine. Having this direct line to the one god legitimized Constantine's concentration of all the Empire's political power and economic resources in his hands. In other words, like Ahknaton's "religion," Christianity, with, as one of its central tenents formulated during Constantine's reign, of one and only one individual with a direct line to the one god, lends itself to authoritarian forms of government. Islam, a descendant of Constantinian Christianity, at least in its Sunni guise, lends itself even more so to authoritarianism (this is the only kernel of truth in the above rant.)

By its very nature, monotheism is hierarchical (the supreme one sits at the very pinnacle of the universe followed by kings, popes, priests etc., on downward to the rest of us,)dictatorial (every utterance of the supreme one has the force of law to be obeyed without question,) and authoritarian (only select humans, kings, popes, priests, etc., with the direct line to the supreme one know and understand its edicts which everyone else must obey.)

I stand by my assertion that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are sick. I also stand by my assertion that the "holy spaces" of those three, great sick religions must be destroyed, not necessarily physically by nuclear weapons, though that would get the message across, but demythologized; leaving these so-called "holy cities" with no more religious significance than the Parthenon in Athens or the ruins of Delphi.

The Enlightenment of Eighteenth Century Europe was a reaction to the religous wars and civil wars of the Seventheenth Century. Our American Founding Fathers were products of that Enlightenment, and, as such, philosophically felt that relgion is an agent of disunity and discord, and therefore must be kept separate and distinct from civil discourse and the political realm. In other words, the supreme one orders the unknowable portions of creation while man orders the known. The supreme one rules the out-there, the cosmos, the unknowable future, the after-life; mankind rules the here and now.

But as you can see, from the above email if nothing else, there are now forces afoot, in Christianity, in Judaism and Islam, which wish to crush the past three hundred years of human achievement in the arts, culture and political democracy under the heel of a vengeful and dictatorial supreme one.

It is past time the human race grew up and cast off these dictatorial and imaginary supreme ones, be they Yahweh, Jehovah or Allah. They've been more trouble to us than they have been worth, and have been the root cause of much hatred, war and suffering over the course of two thousand years.

Jebby's boy joins Navel Reserve

Not exactly hot off the presses, but a little news story BuzzFlash.com and the HuffingtonPost.com failed to catch.

From Politico.com that:

George P. Bush, a nephew of President Bush who was a hit on the campaign trail, has been accepted in the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer and has begun the process of being commissioned for eight years of service.

Bush, 30, said in a telephone interview from his office at a real estate development firm in Fort Worth, Texas, that he was moved to join the service in part when he attended the rainy commissioning in October of the aircraft carrier named for his grandfather -- the USS George H.W. Bush.

Bush said he had not intended to announce his plans. "Honestly, I'm kind of a little disappointed that the word got out," he said. "I was hoping to keep this as confidential as possible. I'm not doing it for political purposes or anything along those lines.

Bush wouldn't talk about any political plans of his own, but friends say they believe the family may soon be in store for another gubernatorial campaign.

George P. is one of "the little brown ones" gandpa George H.W. spoke so lovingly about to wing nut diety Ronald Reagan and Dragon Lady Nancy at the Repub national convention in 1988. He is the older brother of Xanax junkie Noelle.

Here's what one reader, fubar43, of Poltico.com posted at the site's comments section:

Young George enlisted in the Reserve knowing full well that not many Naval Reservists are activated. It's primarily the Army and Marines that they call up. He knows that Uncle George W. will do the same for him that George H.W. did for junior. He will never see combat. This enlistment is just to quiet all of the people that have been wondering why no one from any of the Bush families is serving in the military in this "noble cause". It's everyone else's kids. Well, we will see if he is as noble as say, Prince Harry, who has asked to go to Iraq with his men. That is real courage. We will see if this Bush as any. It seems none of the other Bush's do. Where are Jenna and Barbara? They should join their cousin.

Nuff said.

Alford agrees to ruin New Mexico basketball

After eight lo-o-o-o-ng season as the University of Iowa's head men's basketball coach, Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports:

New Mexico and Iowa coach Steve Alford have agreed to the final details of a contract and Alford will be introduced as the Lobos' new coach at a news conference Friday, multiple sources in both camps said Thursday morning.

New Mexico targeted Alford within the past two weeks while also waiting to talk to Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall, whose team was playing in the NCAA Tournament. But according to multiple sources, New Mexico told Marshall on Tuesday that it would be committing to another candidate.


The courtship of Alford started in large part because of new university president David Schmidly's previous employment at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are coached by Bob Knight, who coached Alford at Indiana in the 1980s.

Sources close to Alford said he was looking for a new challenge following some stressful seasons in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have had some issues off the court, notably Pierre Pierce's legal troubles during Alford's tenure. Once the Hawkeyes' leading scorer, Pierce was charged with assault in 2002 and then in 2005 sentenced to prison on an array of charges involving an incident with a former girlfriend.

Actually, Alford should have been fired for his handling of the Pierce situation, but that's just my opinion.

But the real reason I grew sick of Alford was that he does not know how to develop players. I mean, Alford aplogists say he couldn't recruit good players at Iowa. That's bullshit. He recruited some very good players, very talented players, then squandered their abilities. But his real failure is that he can't take the kid with raw, underdeveloped talent and teach them. He pampered his stars and let the rest of the kids flounder.

Republican-Lite Reps may torpedo Iraq War bill

Jesus Christ! read this:

(03-20) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Only two things are certain as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic deputies prepare for this week's House vote on a war spending bill that seeks the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2008.

The Democratic House leadership will need near-unanimity among its members to pass the bill. San Francisco's Pelosi and the deputies face a challenge winning support from a caucus that includes conservative Blue Dog Caucus members worried the bill may restrict the president more than they want(emphasis mine) and ardent anti-war Out of Iraq Caucus lawmakers who think the bill's restrictions don't go far or fast enough.
SFGate.com

Why don't these Blue Dogs just change parties? Or, better yet, a name change to Lap Dogs.

Overheard at the McAllen Airport

Jus' got in from Texas, babe. Nice weather, friendly people. Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of the trip. Suffice to to say it was nice.

But when I was leaving Thursday morning, I found myself sitting next to a pair of sales representative types, and there's nothing unusual about that. But I couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

One guy was telling the other about a video he saw from Iraq, I can't remember where he said he got hold of this thing. He said it was of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle exploding after hitting an IED. He mentioned nothing of the soldiers who may have been trapped inside, who may have been wounded or killed, just the ammunition boiling up like fireworks. He thought it was really, really cool.

I felt like saying something, but I took Falstaff's way out.

Talk about your disconnect.

My flight doesn't leave until noon

My bag is packed, so I'm just killing time until my ride to the airport shows. I just got a nice email from that o', so nice conservative gentleman, Richard Viguerie.

Poll at CPAC Shows Overwhelming Support for New RepublicanLeadership;
Few Believe Bush or Congress Learned From Mistakes;
Tancredo, Gingrich, Brownback Seen as Most Conservative

(Washington, D.C.) A poll by ConservativesBetrayed.com of 526 persons attending the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. showed that an overwhelming 81.7% believe the Republican Party and Congressional Republicans need new leaders. Only 7.9% supported the present GOP leadership with 10.4% undecided.

When asked if President Bush had learned from his mistakes and will now govern as a conservative, only 18.4% agreed, while 58.8% disagreed and 23.1% were undecided.

When the same question was asked about Congressional Republicans, 30.3% thought they had learned from their mistakes and would revert back to conservative principles, 58.5% did not think so, and 23.1% were undecided.

Respondents were asked if various candidates for President, if elected, would govern as a conservative. Counting only those who had an opinion about a candidate, the results were:
Tom Tancredo 88.1%
Newt Gingrich 87.9%
Sam Brownback 85.8%
Duncan Hunter 83.5%
Mike Huckabee 73.8%
Ron Paul 62.3%
Mitt Romney 55.2%
Rudy Guiliani 24.1%
John McCain 16.8%

The opposition to McCain was so strong that, when asked if they would vote for him if he were the Republican nominee, only 43.1% said they would. The rest would either vote for the Democratic nominee, support a third party candidate, not vote at all, or were undecided.

When the same question was asked about Mitt Romney and Rudy Guiliani, 57.9% and 58.3%, respectfully, indicated they would vote for them for president in the general election.

Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, said the poll was bad news for the GOP.

“Only small percentages thought President Bush and the Republicans in the Congress had learned anything from the 2006 elections. It appears to be business as usual at the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. With less than 8% supporting the present Republican leadership, the 2008 elections could very well hand the GOP another thumping,” Viguerie said.

A separate poll conducted during CPAC, and a previous online version, asked which persons, groups, or factors were most responsible for the Republican defeats in the 2006 elections. Those results are posted on the ConservativesBetrayed.com website.

Tom Tancredo?! Hey, I hope he runs for president on the Republican ticket. He'd win. Close off the borders and then send all the welfare mothers to work in the lettuce fields, no health care, food stamps, Medicare or Medicaid, end the income tax, initiate a national sales tax (the so-called Value Added Tax), and meddle even more in the Middle East (After all, all Americans love Israel and those fuckin' Arabs are sitting on our oil!). With an administration like that this country would look like Mexico, without the Mexicans, in no time!

One comment before I leave

I'm all fired up for vacation, just about ready to finish packing and I read this:

WASHINGTON - In a direct challenge to President Bush, House Democrats are advancing legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of next year.

Democratic officials who described the measure said the timetable would be accelerated — to the end of 2007 — if the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does not meet goals for providing Iraq's security.
Yahoo.com

This appears to be a step in the right direction. As I mentioned the other day, setting a date for withdrawl is more meaningful that nipping around the edges.

However, with Congressional Democrats there is always the possibility of a fumble at the goal line, with the Republicans recovering and running the ball back for a touchdown.

Yet it also permits Bush to issue waivers of these standards. Democrats described the waiver provision as an attempt to embarrass the president into adhering to the standards. But they concede the overall effect will be to permit the administration to proceed with plans to deploy five additional combat brigades to the Baghdad area over the next few months.

This legislation sounds like a promising start. The hang up is with these unnamed "moderate" Democrats in the House. Will they screw the pooch?

[House Speaker Nancy]Pelosi and the leadership have struggled in recent days to come up with an approach on the war that would satisfy liberals reluctant to vote for continued funding without driving away more moderate Democrats unwilling to be seen as tying the hands of military commanders.

Mark my word, we are in for a season of Congressional dithering and the continued effusion of American and Iraqi blood.

Vacation

Off to warmer climes for the next eight days. But with global warming, by the time I get back to the Midwest it'll all be the same.

Not all Iowa vets are Neanderthals*

A letter in this morning's Des Moines Register speaks for itself.

Regarding Larry Disney's Feb. 25 letter to the editor, "Iraq Will Be Like Vietnam If Lefties Have Their Way": As a lefty, I will gladly accept blame for getting out of Iraq, if righties will accept blame for going into Iraq based on lies.

As a veteran of Vietnam, I recall that it was not just Democrats and the "left," but the American people who withdrew their support for that war. Funny how some on the "right" seem to leave that part out, just like their selective memory on how we got into the mess in Iraq.

I would also like to remind Disney that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was already operating in division-sized units in South Vietnam, despite the best efforts of the U.S. Air Force to stop the infiltration via the Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos and Cambodia.

Disney's closing point changes the parameters of his letter to the whole Middle East. If the whole Middle East explodes into violence, I hope that those of Disney's political persuasion have the courage to stand up and say we have reaped what we have sown.

- Mark D. Brooks,

master sgt. retired,

Carlisle.

We need to hear from more veterans like Mark Brooks. It's too bad we don't. I know they are out there.

*My sincerest apologies to any real Homo neanderthalensis who many yet be lurging in the mountains of southern France.