Dancing with Myself

Quote of the Day

At another propaganda stop at an Air Force base outside Reno yesterday, the worst American military leader since Custer and proud architect of the “greatest strategic disaster in United States history” demanded that his captive audience “feel each day as you did on Sept. 12, 2001.”

Interesting choice of dates. While the president can hardly fall down without saying “September the 11th,” the truth is that Sept. 11 wasn’t all that great a day for an administration that was widely seen as a bunch of old Nixon-Reagan Era crooks who had managed to slither into the White House one last time.

With Bush on the run like a little girl, Cheney holed up in his bunker, Rumsfeld hiding in his office and the entire U.S. military curiously unable to halt the progress of a few hijacked passenger jets lazily looping over dozens of Air Force bases, Americans were so desperate for some kind of leadership that they turned to an opera-loving New York mayor with gay roommates.  -- Alex Pareene Wonkette

Senator Feinstein Endorses Ned Lamont

Barely.

"I congratulate Ned Lamont for his victory in the Connecticut primary and endorse his candidacy in the November General Election."  - Dianne Feinstein

I Got a Crush on You, Yes I do

This dude totally rocks.

Quote of the Day

"It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile." - John Hinderacker back in July 2005.

We know John can suck up, but can he give head?   Thanks to Kossite Bill in Portland Maine for reminding us of this lovely example of blind-hero-worship-induced stupidity. 

Missing in Action

I've been feeling incredibly frustrated by world events these past few weeks.  The world's going to hell in a hand basket, but it's really all about me, right?  Me, me, me.  I am unable to influence the outcome of any of the conflicts or tragedies in any real way.  My country is at war.  We are being led in this war by a simpleton president who is controlled by evil and cynical men. 

I have many neuroses and psychoses, okay, but I've never been given to paranoia before, but my reaction to this past week's latest terrorist conspiracy bust is cynicism and suspicion.  How the fucking hell is lip gloss going to be turned into a bomb?  Talk about disproportionate response.  Who determined this level of reaction to yet another plot on the heels of the idiots in Miami who were going to blow up the Sears tower?  Or maybe the dolts in Toronto that wanted to seize the Canadian Parliament.  Do you think maybe perhaps that some people within the government of the United States, some people with an agenda, might want to jerk the chain of enough people who have shown themselves to be easily manipulated by fear, to ward off political defeat in an upcoming election just a few months away?  Huh?  Do you think?  British authorities report they weren't quite ready to begin arrests, but that the Americans insisted.  Hmm.  The Bushites manipulating terror threats and warnings?   

How terrible not to be able to trust your own government.  That's why I think I've become paranoid.  Have you ever known someone who suffered from paranoia?  It's sad what happens to them.  They withdraw from polite society.  They become delusional.  It's just a matter of time before I start imagining that I'm being watched. 

Fucking asshole Bush.    On top of everything else, he left me paranoid.  The bastard.  It's bad enough that he and his thugs fucked us all over, but it's like he left us with herpes as well.

Fucking Republicans.  I started out as an angry, irrational Liberal!  Now I'm a  paranoid, angry, irrational liberal.

Post-Katrina Mississippi Coast Tour

Two months ago I drove across the Mississippi Coast to see what Hurricane Katrina had wrought.  Here we are almost a year later and for about a quarter of a mile along the coast it looks like there was some sort of nuclear explosion.

Where there were once thriving industry there are now empty foundations, stairs that go to nowhere, and most eerily, trash and debris hang in the trees, left there as the storm surge pulled much of Mississippi's coast back into the Gulf as it subsided.

The mighty were vanquished, just as were the small.

Seawitch, a casual pilgrim passing through, was curious about my impressions of Gulfport, Mississippi.  I did spend the night in Gulfport.  My impressions of Gulfport were not that favorable.  First, I got there tired.  Second, we actually had to go the at least three places to find a vacancy.  Thirdly and finally, our hotel (the Marriott) didn't have a bar and I had to cross the busiest, most dangerous highway in the world to get to the chain-restaurant across the street to have a drink.  So scary was that experience, that I walked a quarter of a mile to an intersection with a traffic light to cross back over.  Usually the two martinis would have emboldened me and I would have darted across that dangerous strip of highway.  Usually.  Maybe it's just that every other vehicle on the road in Gulfport was a huge SUV or 4-wheel, 4-door pick-up.  Could also be that the people there drive like maniacs, all in a hurry, all with some sort of chip on their shoulder about pedestrians.  Maybe the culture there just doesn't  trust people on foot.  I swear they were aiming at me when I crossed the street, with and without the light.

Or it could have been that I was tired, cranky, and annoyed at everything and everybody I encountered.  Maybe the shoulder that had the chip was mine.  Could of been. 

There seemed to be a disconnect between the devastation on the beach and Gulfport two miles inland.  What I saw in Gulfport was a lot of money being spent.  There were plenty of construction projects, big and small, public and private.  I saw more new vehicles than clunkers, so a lot of people are working.

As far as the few people I actually spoke to while there, Mississippians have a very pleasant public face.  "Hi, how you doin'?  Where y'all from?" seems to be the most natural and common greeting.  You got the impression they really did want to know how you were doing and where you were from.  They don't, of course, but they're real polite about it.

War Is Hell

People go to war, not just armies.  Hezbollah has been operating with the full support of the Shiites of Southern Lebanon for all of its 24 years.  Weeks ago, the Lebanese in southern Lebanon were in the streets dancing at the prospect of bringing death to the Jews.  It didn't go that way for them.  It did, however, go exactly the way the Hezbollah imagined it.  For Hezbollah to win all they need do is to not be completely wiped out.

The Hezbollah have nothing to lose.  The infrastructure of Lebanon does not belong to them.  The economy of Lebanon does not belong to them.  The only thing the Hezbollah possess is an agenda based on an extreme Islamist ideology.  However, like it or not, the Hezbollah is the army of the people of Shiite Lebanon. 

The Hezbollah depend on the infrastructure of Lebanon to supply their forces and the move their rockets around.  They hide their missiles in homes, businesses, even mosques.  The Lebanese are not owning up to that.  As I watched the news last night on television, I heard no one take any responsibility for beginning this war.  To listen to the Lebanese, they were all sitting around watching television when suddenly Israel started bombing their villages.  They are all innocent and it's all the fault of the Israelis.   I think not.

I do feel sorry for the children of Lebanon, just as I feel sorry for the children of Israel.  War is hard on children.    Unfortunately for the children of Lebanon and Israel, the adults in charge of the Hezbollah have treated them as expendable pawns in their game of war.  It was the Hezbollah who used women and children to shield their war machine.  The civilians in southern Lebanon blessed the Hezbollah and their promise to bring death and destruction to the people of Israel.  They have no reason for complaint.  This is their war.  War is hell.

Sorry if the truth makes you uncomfortable.  I offer no apologies for my support of Israel.  I am uncomfortable with the company it places me in this country, but I supported Israel long before Bush was President.   As long as the Palestinians and their Arab and muslim allies wish death and destruction to ALL Jews and Israelis, I stand fast with Israel.