LTE: May 31, 2007

Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen needs to re-examine his definition of courage before applying the word to Delaware Senator Joe Biden, "Biden's vote for war funding a profile in courage," May 31,2007 .

Biden's stated reason for siding with the president and Congressional Republicans is that he wants to give our troops all the tools they need to do their job in Iraq, a sentiment often echoed by our own Congressman Leonard Boswell. Yet does the good senator think we, the voters, are so naive as to think our soldiers' job in Iraq is to hand out chocolates and flowers, and build hospitals and schools? The job of our troops in Iraq, quoting Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk, as profiled by John Carlson, is to "...bust and kill the enemy[.]"

The unstated reason Biden and a majority of Democrats in the Senate and the US House voted for the Iraq ward funding bill is, the Defense Department and defense contractors do business in every state and congressional district in the country. The opportunity to bring home the pork while getting hefty campaign contributions from DoD contractors is simply too good to pass up.

It did not take much backbone for the Democratic presidential candidate to cast his vote with the 80-vote majority of U.S. Senators who handed President George Bush a $100 billion check to continue the occupation of Iraq, at least until September of this year. But do not expect any change then, as White House spokesman Tony Snow, to little press notice on May 30, said President Bush envisions a U.S. presence in Iraq similar to that of South Korea, where American troops have been stationed for over fifty years and counting.

Bush: US to be in Iraq forever

Here y'go peacniks. I been saying for months now that the United States would be in Iraq for a very long time and, the only way out would be a complete and total defeat and surrender of American forces or a general mutiny. Well cast your orbs on this:

WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush would like to see a U.S. role in Iraq ultimately similar to that in South Korea.

"The Korean model is one in which the United States provides a security presence, but you've had the development of a successful democracy in South Korea over a period of years, and, therefore, the United States is there as a force of stability," Snow told reporters.
AlertNet.org

Gee, how soon we forget this oft ignored and poo-poo'd news story from 2004

14 `enduring bases' set in Iraq
Long-term military presence planned

By Christine Spolar

From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years.

Now U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 "enduring bases," long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years. The bases also would be key outposts for Bush administration policy advisers.

As the U.S. scales back its military presence in Saudi Arabia, Iraq provides an option for an administration eager to maintain a robust military presence in the Middle East and intent on a muscular approach to seeding democracy in the region. The number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq, between 105,000 and 110,000, is expected to remain unchanged through 2006, according to military planners.
from Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2004 posted at Globalsecurity.org

Obviously with Congressional Democrats giving Bush the pocket change he nedds to continue the Iraq occupation, the administration must feel safe that it can stop the lying about long range U.S. plans for Iraq.

Joe Biden: War profiteer

Just about the time I was ready to give Joe Biden a little slack the jackass votes to give Bush all the frickin' money he wants to continue the Iraq occupation. Then the Delaware-slick has the balls to say he's committed to supporting the troops while at the same time pressuring the pResident to end the occupation. What fucking utter nonsense.

Combover Joe is pushing the introduction of "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles" to keep our soldiers and Marines safer, so they can do their job more efficiently. Might I remind you that the solider's "job" is to kill some people, capture and incarcerate the ones not killed and oppress the rest. The Iraqi occupation is warfare more in line with Ceasar's conquest and occupation of Gaul than the liberation of France in World War II.

But, of course, seeking to keep his Democratic anti-war bono fides in tact, following handing Bush a blank check on Iraq last week, Combover Joe introducted legislation to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization. Somehow that seems to me to be tantamount to letting the horse out of the barn after it has burned down.

Iraqi refugees "westernize" Syria

Now here's a bit of news that should get the reactionary crowds' hearts atwitter:

For anyone living in Damascus [Syria] these days, the fact that some Iraqi refugees are selling sex or working in sex clubs is difficult to ignore.

Even in central Damascus, men freely talk of being approached by pimps trawling for customers outside juice shops and shawarma sandwich stalls, and of women walking up to passing men, an act unthinkable in Arab culture, and asking in Iraqi-accented Arabic if the men would like to “have a cup of tea.”
New York Times

This is wonderful news, is it not? The business of sex is one of the salient features of a "westernized" democracy. And thanks in large part to the U.S. intervention and continuing occupation of Iraq :

Many of these women and girls, including some barely in their teens, are recent refugees. Some are tricked or forced into prostitution, but most say they have no other means of supporting their families. As a group they represent one of the most visible symptoms of an Iraqi refugee crisis that has exploded in Syria in recent months.

O', my yes, don't you see how this development could foster better relationships with the Middle East. Think of it, vacation junkets for sex-starved Calvanistic American and just plain whacko European perverts to Damascus. Closer than Bangkok, more exotic than Las Vegas! What an exciting business opportunity for people in the travel business!

You see, George Bush has brought a bit of "democracy" to the Middle East.

Bush sends conflicting signals on troop withdrawal

Heard last night on television news on way out to dinner:

...the White House is now said to be talking about slashing its combat presence in Iraq by roughly a third, from about 150,000 soldiers to 100,000 — just in time for the 2008 election.
WJZ.com

What a cowinkydink. But wait!

The White House said on Saturday it was premature to talk about reducing troop levels in Iraq after a newspaper report suggested the US administration was considering a drastic cut in force levels next year.

"The business at hand is to complete the mission, and to pursue the present strategy, and any decision for future force levels will be made by the president based on advice from commanders in the field and his national security advisers," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told AFP.
RawStory.com

So, which is it? My personal political cynicism leads me to believe that Bush may pull off such a stunt to thwart the presumedly anti-war Democratic candidate in the presidential election. With a preceived withdrawal of American forces from Iraq much of the wind would be taken out of an anti-war presidential candidate's sails, leaving the field open for a decidedly pro-war Republican.

And my instincts tell me that Bush's heir apparent is none other than pampered, billionaire Willard Mitt Romney. My instincts also tell me that should the Democrats commit another political faux pas, like the recent Iraq war funding vote, or descend into bitter internecine squabbling then the Mittster will be our next president.

It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

Why Dems capitulated to Bush on Iraq

Danny Schechter nails the real reason Congressional Democrats wimped out in Thurday's Iraq war budget vote.

...[I]t is sometimes hard to remember that war is business, not just politics. The Military Industrial Complex does business in every state and in every congressional district and the politically distributed pork or war booty employs constituents in every district (emphasis added.) Members of Congress are very aware of that.

The MoveOn’s and anti-war groups are not the only lobbyists in this game. Behind the scenes, employees of war industries and their lobbyists are pressuring the Congress too. Their pressure comes in the form of threats to cut off political contributions unless those they patronize act “responsibly.” They don’t have to make too many threats to the natural born compromisers on the hill for whom selling out is part of buying in. They know who butters their buns.

And then, forever lurking in the background and in foreground, there is the unbrave world of media that gives endless newsprint and airtime to debates about whether the war has been managed well enough. In a media filled with crime shows, this crime goes uncovered as such. Instead, CBS fires a General whose politics they fear may blowback in their face. The reporting is still mostly one-sided and the anti-war movement is barely heard from or seen. No wonder the public is sending mixed messages. They are still being lied to by our weapons of mass deception. There are more new faces in Congress than on the networks.
MediaChannel.org

There. Schechter has written the undeniable truth which the MSM forget and most progressive and liberal commentators seem to ignore. For example, Working Assets blogger David Sirota is highly incensed by Congressioanl Democrats' vote, and righty so. Yet in his blog entries no mention of "The Military Industrial Complex" and its hold over Congress.

Likewise at the anti-war After Downing Street.org, retired US Army Reserves Colonel, Ann Wright, writes:

Thursday, May 24 the US Congress voted to continue the war on Iraq. They called it “supporting the troops.” I call it stealing Iraq’s oil-the second largest oil reserves in the world. The “benchmark” or goal the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is the privatization of Iraqi oil. Now they have the US Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.

And, yes, the rape of Iraq's oil resources is of overridding consideration for Bush and many in the U.S. Congress, but as Schechter points out the tentacles of The Military Industrial Complex stretch into every nook and cranny of the country.

So keeping in mind the power of The Military Industrial Complex, it was an extreme act of political courage for Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd to cast a no vote for the Iraq funding bill. "Although the State of Connecticut is the third smallest state in the union, it is the home of many major defense contractors, including Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Sikorsky Aircraft, and Electric Boat." (US Department of Justice.gov)

It just goes from bad to worse

I had my angiogram Wednesday and after I got the results I was feeling pretty cocky.

Well, the other shoe dropped yesterday. The routine chest x-ray found a "nodule" on one of my lungs. Don't know how it got there. I haven't smoked a cigarette since 1982 or '83. I know it was the year of my famous "Ronald Reagan mugging Santa Claus" Christmas card. I quite because I'd run out of cash at the same time I'd run out of cigarettes. But, you know, the medical community no matter what you tell them always thinks you're a liar.

We support our troops because...

I had an angiogram yesterday so I could not comment on The Des Moines Register neocon columnist John Carlson's latest effort, or lack thereof. Really, Carlson literally phone-in this piece since all he did was quote in toto an e-mail from one Warrant Officer Jim Funk of Ames, IA serving in Iraq with the Iowa National Guard.

Funk is a helicopter pilot, so he's one of those death ex machina guys who very rarely ever soils his hands as he deals out destruction and mayhem on those below. So without further ado let's sample and examine WO Funk's missive as related by Carlson:

"Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers every day? You inspire and report the enemy's objective every day. You are the enemy's greatest weapon.

First WO Funk plays the typical reactionary opening gambit of blaming the media. It's not the president's fault that American soldiers are getting killed in Iraq, it's the media's. That's logical.

WO Funk follows with testosterone laced chest thumping:

The enemy cannot beat us on the battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you continually break the will of the American public and American government.

"We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He doesn't see any accomplishments of the U.S. military (FOX, you're not exempt, you suck also).

Care to read more of this example of machismo gone mad letter? Oh, let's do. This is like watching a bad horror flick.

Funk continues:

A couple of days ago we conducted an air assault. We lifted troops into an area for an operation. The operation went well and our ground troops killed (insurgents){why do you suppose the word "insurgents" is surrounded by parenthesis marks?} and took several prisoners, freed a few hostages and uncovered a weapons cache containing munitions and chemicals that were going to be used in improvised bombs.

Ah, yes, here WO Funk describes the good works our fighting forces do in Iraq. Nothing like whacking a few hajis, eh, WO Funk?

The good warrant officer continues his bellicose rant in a similar vein and concludes:

"Media, we know you hate the George Bush administration, but report both sides, not just your one-sided agenda. You have got to realize how you are continually motivating every extremist, jihadist and terrorist to continue their resolve to kill American soldiers."

What a mature observation. The media is all to blame. God forbid that the mere prescence of your august self, WO Funk, and that of your comerades has anything to do with the Iraqis' ire. If it weren't for the meddling of the "liberal" media Richard Perle's prediction that the Iraqis would greet their American liberators with flowers and chocolates would become true. Embedding those pliant journalist in the initial invasion was a mistake, WO Funk. Hell, the "media" should just get the hell out of Iraq and re-run clips from old John Wayne movies and tell us it's actually footage from the front, shouldn't it WO Funk!

The good warrant officer's attitude and that of 29% of Americans who share it, many of whom will never come close to wearing a BDU, plus the timidity of Congressional Democrats means the United States will never get out of Iraq until either one of two things occurs: A complete and total defeat in detail of a major unit of America forces in Iraq, as the German army at Stalingrad, or a unit wide mutiny by disaffected American troops. I'm not holding my breath that either of these ever occurs.

Face it folks, we're stuck. We're stuck in Mesopotamian muck for a very long time.

Al Sharpton, agent provacateur?

Today the news is ga-gah over Willard "Mitt" Romney's rise in the Iowa poll at the expense of national front-runners Rudy "America's Mayor" Giuliani and Hanoi John McCain.

So but the sensible say, America will never vote for a Mormon, even if he is the scion of wealth and privilege with the looks of a movie star. Looking like a movie star, or at the very least a television mellodrama president counts for a lot these days. But still, say the pundits, America's loonie fundamentalist Catholics and born-again Protestants will never vote for a Mormon.

Enter the Reverend Al Sharpton.



Back on May 7, in New York, journalist Christopher Hitchens debated Sharpton at forum hosted by the New York Public Library. Hitchens is hawking his latest book God Is Not Great:How Religion Poisons Everything. And it was a pretty straight forward discussion between a leftist journalist, trying to regain his credibility after soiling himself over support for Bush's invasion of Iraq, and a half-assed theologian. That was until the Reverend Sharpton opened his mouth and uttered the memorable line:“As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary – that’s a temporary situation.”

Then the shit hit the fan.

Now to put the statement in context Sharpton was discussing the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, in his opinion decidedly church-based, faith-based and god-based. Then followed, seemingly out of nowhere, the jab at Romney.

Of course the equal and opposite reaction followed shortly.

Take for example this blog entry from the comely Erin Di Paolo

I take exception to Sharpton's comments and I am not a Mormon.
I am a Christian whose beliefs do not disagree, on many levels, with Mormons. But I would never accuse Romney of not believing in God.

Who does Sharpton think he is and why does he feel he should be able to get away with such comments when he holds everyone else to a strict code of moral behavior? Every time I turn around, he is on television or in the newspaper, lambasting everyone who makes a comment that he determines to be racist. Now here he is, questioning a presidential candidate's belief in God, yet he feels justified in doing so.

It sickens me, which brings me to my last point: why is Sharpton not receiving as much negative press in this situation as he does positive coverage when he is attacking others for intolerance?

Also Sprach the hot white suburban lady from Denver.

Which brings me back to the title fro this little rant of why I am beginning to suspect the Rev. Al Sharpton is an agent provacateur.

Sharpton from gained fame from his involvement in the Tawana Brawley case, which has been subsequently labeled a hoax. Since that time Sharpton has involved himself in any and all incidents which may have the merest whiff of racial undertones which will garner maximum television facetime. Sharpton, besides his roles as part-time minister of the gospel and fulltime demagogue, was also for a time an FBI informant.

In short, the man should have no credibility, yet to this day he remains a favorite of the MSM.

And this is why I am coming around to Charles Barkely's view of Sharpton. You see, the reactionary right has a contarian streak as wide as the yellow streak down its collective back. So even if in the recent past fundamentalism Protestant and Catholic leaders denounced Mormonism as a cult or worse, once the Rev. Al opens his yap all previous anti-Mormon statements are conveniently forgotten. Much to the benefit of Willard Romney. And, I might add, the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Business of politics & Florida follies

The worst thing to be said about early twenty-first century politics is, like so much else that is wrong with America these days, that it is mired in free market fundamentalism and infantileism.

For your examination, the Los Angles Times reports:

WASHINGTON — For front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Florida looked to be a major battleground in the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

But now, because of an unexpected glitch, those delegates could go to a candidate most Americans don't even know is running: a crusty former senator from Alaska named Mike Gravel. Or maybe to Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, the quixotic peace candidate who barely registers in the polls.

I guess things aren't all that bad if Florida's Democratic delegates go to either Gravel or Kucinich. The problem stems from the fact that Florida Democratic politicians, like California and Illinois Democrats, feel that their state is being left out of the party's presidential nominating process; by the time their state primary comes around it's all over but the shouting. America's more populous states loath little Iowa and New Hampshire's presidential political clout.

What leaders, or at least the business-minded among the Dems, in America's more populous states may also be jealous of is Iowa getting an economic windfall due to the early caucus. After all, Iowa is not a tourist destination in January by any stretch of the imagination. And I have heard Iowa Democrats say that an overriding reason for keeping the early caucus date is to bring dollars into the state. All those professional Democrats and Republicans from out of state need to eat and sleep, and Iowa's restauranteurs and innkeepers are more than happy to oblige. And it keeps illegal immigrants toiling in the food service and hotel/motel industries working and out of sight.

But, y'know, television news crews and presidential candidates would rather be in Flordia than Iowa or New Hampshire in January so

...Republicans in the Florida Legislature — supported by many Democrats — pushed through a measure setting Jan. 29 as the date for their state's presidential primary. Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill.

See the rub is that the Democratic National Committee has a rule that says that, following the Iowa and the new Nevada caucuses, and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, no state primaries can be held until February 5 of 2008. And there are other DNC rules that strip presidential convention delegates from any candidate raising funds in a state which jumps the gun on the primary season. And since there's oodles of campign contributions to be gathered in Florida, Hillary, Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson just can't resist making the rounds of the retirment centers, trailer courts and nursing homes to squeeze a few more shekels out of elderly New Dealers.

Of course Florida's legislative Republicans absolve themselves of any blame. "I don't think anybody made us aware of that until the very end of the process," said Marco Rubio, the Republican state House speaker. *wink*wink*

And, of course, the state's Democrats are only interested in carrying out the will of the people:

"If the choice is Florida is relevant and has no delegates versus being irrelevant and having delegates, I'd choose being relevant with no delegates," said [Jeremy Ring, a Democratic state senator from Broward County and co-sponsor of the legislation]. "We did this so 18 million Floridians could take part in the presidential primaries, not so a few hundred people can go to a party in Denver."

So I say, go for it, State of Florida! Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich can use the support.

Becareful to whom you forward a joke

Jeeze, all I did was forward a joke. This joke:

This piece of information may clear up a lot of things:

On July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.

This is a well-known incident that many say has long been
covered up by the U.S. Air Force and the federal government.

In the month of March 1948, exactly nine months after that historic day, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice, and Dan Quayle were all born.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep.

Yeah, it's stupid. It's purile. It's nothing more than a joke. Sometimes a joke's a joke, like a cigar is just a cigar.

Now I'm usually pretty careful who I forward e-mail jokes to, but this time I accidently clicked on an e-mail address of someone to whom I never forward jokes. This person seems to think he is some sort of ultra-liberal, therefore above humor of any type. This particular person also fills my e-mail inbox with news stories and e-mail updates, many of which are duplicates.

So last evening I got this reply

You do know though this seems funny, it's entirely inaccurate and completely fiction. I'm for sure the same joke is circulating with a bunch of Democrats and liberals of near the same ages. This takes advantage of those who wouldn't do a simple Goolge or Wiki search to verify birthdates.

George Bush Jr. was born in 46 (July 6, 1946). I know that because I do horoscope stuff and Clinton and Bush were born in the same year of 46 the year of the Dog in Chinese (emphasis added by me.) Cheney's I will always remember because it's that same day not year, as FDR's.

Naturally, I responded in an adult manner, requesting no more spam, thank you.

But here's what really burns my butt. I don't know if the author of the above e-mail is being sarcastic or has no sense of humor. I suspect the latter on the basis of the sentence:This takes advantage of those who wouldn't do a simple Goolge or Wiki search to verify birthdates. It's a joke. If one does not like it, delete it. Don't get on one's moral highhorse and preach. AS I've observed all my life, when one comes to the further shores of politics the ocean becomes a lake; there are Puritans on both the far right and far left. And I say fuck'em both.

LTE: May 18, 2007

The Des Moines Register's editorial staff evidently could not wait for the ink to dry on Jane Norman's May 18, 2007 report about Tom Harkin's low opinion of junk food advertising tie-ins to the popular animated film character Sherk before castigating Iowa's Democratic U.S. Senator, for being insufficiently enthusiastic about the "free market" economy.

Senator Harkin has every right to his opinion, it's guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, that's the way things work in our land of the free. And he is correct to point out that advertising of sugary snacks and breakfast cereals, with little real nutritional value, is contributing to the nation's increasing girth and declining health. Realistically one senator can do little about the United States' so-called obesity epidemic other than voice his opinion.

Yet the Register editorialist takes the Senator to task for taking on the marketing-junk food complex and counters with the puerile libertarian creed that the nation's mothers bear total individual responsibility for the nation's health. And, of course, the irony that The Register derives a portion of its revenue from selling advertising space for sugary and/or fatty snack and junk foods is apparently lost on this editorial writer.

R.I.P., asshole

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.
Yahoo.com

Unfortunately, this asshole's evil will not die with him. His organization is too well funded by right wing business interests and useful idiots and true belivers. It will take a hundred years to undo all the damage Falwell and his ilk have done to this country.

Reagan, the god

If this were 2007 B.C. instead of 2007 A.D., this stupid motherfucker would be a god. Oh, what am I saying, this stupid motherfucker already is a god! The only thing missing are the temples and priests, there are already plenty of worshippers.

By many measures, Reagan's administration was a disaster. A disasterous foreign policy in Central America, the repercussions of which we feel today in the form of undocumented immigrants. A disaster for working America, as "the Gipper's" administation signaled the beginning of twenty-seven years, and counting, of unremitting union busting, global outscourcing and stagnation in hourly wages and benefits.

Oh, but he is a hero. He ended the Cold War. Ha, ha! Against a Soviet Union tottering on the brink of economic collapse to begin with! America's baddest of badass presidents picked a fight with a tottering, old geezer, with a walker, and won! And he secured the Free World's supply of nutmeg. What a fuckin' man!!

Which brings me to the reason for the above tirade. As you many, or many not, already know the Republican presidental hopefuls held their first circle-jerk of the '08 campaign season at the Reagan Library. Needless to say it was a veritable love-fest, the inept, inane and under-qualified field of ten "...invoked the name of Ronald Reagan 19 times[.]" However, this wasn't good enough for some conservatives. Especially fulltime GOP fund-raiser Richard Viguerie.

E-mails the Manassas, VA direct-mail king:

“The three leading Republican presidential candidates continue to fail ‘the Reagan test,’” says Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, referring to the debate aired over MSNBC. “The only thing genuinely Reaganesque about the performances of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney was their physical location at the Presidential Library.”

“We won’t have conservative policies with any of the three leading candidates, and most of the others, so I continue to urge conservatives to withhold their support,” Viguerie said.

Viguerie’s Full Statement:

“For the past ten years Giuliani, McCain, and Romney—as well as most of the other presidential wannabees—have given conservatives no leadership against the Big Government policies of the Republican Congress and President Bush. Well, it’s too late. We’re now at the pandering stage of the campaign—pandering for conservative support—and if they wouldn’t speak out before, how can we believe them now?


They Fail “The Goldwater Test”

“Senator Barry Goldwater became the first political spokesman for the conservative movement because out of all the Republican politicians who claimed to be conservative, he and he alone was willing to confront the sitting Big Government Republican in the White House. President Eisenhower’s policies were ‘a dime store New Deal,’ he said on the floor of the Senate. He spoke truth to power.

“Well, again we have a Big Government Republican in the White House, and now it’s no longer a dime store New Deal—it’s a supersized Wal-Mart of a New Deal. The Republican welfare state is far worse than anything the Democrats achieved. To Giuliani, McCain, and Romney I say, ‘I knew Barry Goldwater, and you’re no Goldwater.’

They Fail “The Reagan Test”

“Throughout the 1960s and ’70s Ronald Reagan walked with us. He was there at our conservative functions, and not just at the head table—he mingled with us, listened to our concerns, and made it clear where he stood. Also, our friends were all around him as he governed in California and then ran for president—people like Dick Allen, Ed Meese, Lyn Nofziger, Marty Anderson, Judge William Clark, etc., etc.

“Where are the long-time conservative activists today around Giuliani, McCain, or Romney? I’m not talking about ‘campaign consultants’ who sell themselves to the highest bidder at campaign auctions. I mean dedicated and recognized conservative thinkers and activists who will work only for truly conservative candidates.

“If conservatives were not part of the Giuliani, McCain, and Romney inner circles before they ran for the presidency, we cannot expect them to have conservatives advising them if they get elected. And in politics, personnel is policy.

“P.S. Leave it to the Stupid Party to have Chris Matthews, a liberal Democrat, moderate a debate to select the Republican nominee for president!”

Jesus christ, how far right does this asshole want to go? Attila The Hun! Will you be satisfied, Dick, when little old ladies and little kids are begging on the streets for food? Will you be satisfied when the only programs funded in the federal budget is the military? And Chris Matthews "a liberal Democrat"?!

Look, Dick, I have a way so you can get out of your dilemma. Why don't we exhume Reagan's moldy corpse, get the Disney Studios to re-animate him and you and Grover Norquist can pull Ronnie's strings to your heart's content. And there would be plenty of the braindead who'd vote for Ronnie again, even if he were a zombie.

Acceptable Register comment

Here's a little update on the posts below and what constitutes acceptable an post at The Des Moines Register:

Thank you trooper for your proud service. I have been honored to be in the same army as all of you brave lads, and lasses!
This saddens me like no other!
You kids do not get the recognition you deserve from so many out in the "world" but in your hearts you know you have done the right thing!
Hoohaaah for giving the ultimate sacrifice, you and your family will be in my prayers today. May you R.I.P.!
May hell readily accept these savages that have done this despicable act. The cowards they are!(emphasis added)

Obviously the above poster does not understand the simple dynamics of the Internet, or why it's called the World Wide Web (that's the "www" preceeding every URL.) I don't know how many times I have admonished our reactionary friends that more speakers of Arabic, as a first language, can read and speak English than Eglish speakers can read and speak Arabic.

Here's another one from a different perspective on the same story:

Try to come and hang me, you SOB. I dare you..

What a tool. Sorry about your dead kid, but that kind of rhetoric has consequences, pops, and they are not good.

And here's another sample:

. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. -Jesus Christ.

"There's people that want to pull (the troops) all out," Soenksen said. "Those people should be taken out and hung. It's a slap in the face to every American."

Christ died in vain.

Guess who will feel the wrath of Mr. Michael Cory, Digital Content Editor, next.

Register on top of Iowa news.

This news story was posted at the BBC's Web site two hours ago:

US prison sees keys sold online

A prison in the US state of Iowa has changed its locks after a set of keys was sold online for $12.

The state spent $6,000 on refurbishing the Anamosa State Penitentiary after keys that belonged to a guard who retired in the 70s were auctioned.

Officials at the 135-year-old jail were not sure if the keys still worked but could not take any chances, a warden told KCCI-TV in Des Moines.

Anamosa is a medium-security jail but holds a number of violent criminals.
BBC.co.uk

When I did a Google search for this story, even though, from what I can see, it's a day stale, the "Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon" deigned not to cover it.

The worst man in America

19-year-old Davenport, IA native Katie Soenksen was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq Wednesday. Her grieving father said of his daughter's sacrifice:

"There's people that want to pull (the troops) all out," [Ronald] Soenksen said. "Those people should be taken out and hung. It's a slap in the face to every American."
The Des Moines Register

Thank you, Mr. Soenksen, for your mannered and well-reasoned defense of the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Badge of honor

One of my many Internet personae has been banned by The Des Moines Register. Here is a stern e-mail of warning from a Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor:

I'm writing to inform you that you due to violations of our terms of
service you're being banned from posting to the blogs or forums for 30 days.

The Register's conversation standards say, in part, that we may remove comments that include:

- Sexually explicit or crude sexual comments about someone.

- Nasty name-calling (language such as "moron" and "white trash").

- Swearing or obscenity.

Here's a few comments we've recently deleted:


Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:00 am
When the government bans guns, all you NRA dudes' d*cks will fall off!

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 10:11 am
Laughing Laughing Laughing slycotton82! Sounds like a tampon!!!!
Laughing Laughing Laughing
Gotta go, dude! Laughing Laughing

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject: AvgDude or AvgDoofus?

I don't wanna take anybody's gun. I don't care if Les Baer moves to
LeClair. Kinda hope they do.

I just wanna know why you bad*asses think you have to walk around with
a pistol in yer pants? I mean, the more you guys talk about bein'
bad*sses with firearms, the more you sound like p*ssies. Wink


If after 30 days you feel you can stay within the bounds of the terms
of service and would like to be able to post again, please contact me
then to be reinstated.

This is in reference to a story concerning the firearms manufacturer Les Baer relocating from Hillsdale, Illinois to LeClaire, Iowa. The gist of the news story was that a local LeClaire minister and his wife, J. Elmer Brunk and Cynthia Vaughan, oppose the move and are attempting to block same. So what.

But, of course, that brought out the Second Amendment nuts. And, of course, they began posturing about how big their guns are, and how they love to carry their gun and stroke its barrel, and how everybody should walk around with one. So I decided to have some fun and troll.

Now trolling is more usually a wing nut sport so I thought I'd turn the tables on our reactionary friends. They didn't like it. And, apparently, neither does Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor. But then again, "THE" Des Moines Register has always tired to maintain an air of gentility in a state full of foulmouthed dirt farmers, hicks hayseeds and white trash. Moreover, I've read some pretty vile things posted at "THE" Des Moines Register in response to comments from my other, non-offending persona, which, unfortunatly, is also blocked because they share the same IP. And some of these same wounded little boys, whom I've so deeply offended, regularly use veiled racist and ethnic slurs, and advocate mayhem, violence and the death penality for criminals, expecially minorities.

Aww, well, even I thought I may have gone too far. But Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor is merely being fair and balanced.

Lump of the day

There's new hope for couchpotatoes:

Nodaway, Ia. — J.R. Cook would not be the first person to credit a video game system with bettering his life.

He just may end up as one of the first to be right.

Nine weeks and 120 rounds of air boxing, 80 games of air tennis, and several dozen lanes of air bowling into his "Nintendo Wii weight-loss plan," the 27-year-old Nodaway native says he's shed a little more than 20 pounds.

He's shooting for 80 by the end of the year.

News of Cook's quest has reached an international audience, thanks to his blog, www.wiiweightlossplan.com, which registers as many as 25,000 hits a day.
The Des Moines Register

Now don't get me wrong, the fact that this rotund young man is exercising is good. But the question remains:Why does he need a computer video game to accomplish it? Well let J.R. speak for himself:

The idea behind Wiiweightlossplan.com came to me the first day that I had received and started playing my Nintendo Wii back in early January. I knew after a couple hours of playing Wii Sports (and a few sore muscles later) that this gaming system could really be a good workout and could probably help me get back into shape. Best of all though, it was FUN.

However, I'm lazy(emphasis added by me).Wii Weight Loss Plan.com

Nodaway, Iowa is a town of 132 people, out in the middle of nowhere, with plenty of open spaces in which to wander. But this young man, until he received his Wii, perferred the life of a couch potato.

Now, granted, the nearest fresh pizza to be had is at the Casey's General Store in Villisca. That's a hike of five and four tenths miles! Not an ungodly distance, mind you, but by the time one walks the return trip the pizza will either be stone cold or consumed. That is a dilemma.