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August 05, 2005

Petition: Paid Vacation Act

If the president is entitled to five weeks of paid vacation, then so are YOU. Sign the following petition asking Congress to make it official:

The George W. Bush Paid Vacation Act

Imagine how this would help all those evil working mothers to spend more time with their families. Imagine how this would reduce health insurance premiums by relieving the physical symptoms brought on by work-related stress. Imagine how much brush would be cleared and how many armadillers would be smoked out of their holes. Imagine.

Via Kos.

09:22 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

August 04, 2005

The horror, the horror

We are torturing children in Iraq. We are torturing children in Iraq.

It was early last October that Kasim Mehaddi Hilas says he witnessed the rape of a boy prisoner aged about 15 in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets," he said in a statement given to investigators probing prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. "Then, when I heard the screaming I climbed the door ... and I saw [the soldier's name is deleted] who was wearing a military uniform." Hilas, who was himself threatened with being sexually assaulted in Abu Ghraib, then describes in horrific detail how the soldier raped "the little kid".

Read more about the brutal, child-torture atrocities of the United States and coalition forces in the Sunday Herald, courtesy of truthout.

08:58 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Why hate

I don't think "they hate us for our freedoms." I think they might hate us for other reasons, though.

If an army came to Los Angeles, where I live, and bombed the living shit out of it, I might be upset. If that army destroyed my city because they were looking for WMDs that didn't exist, WMDs which the army's commander in chief KNEW didn't exist, I'd be deeply upset and angry. If that army tortured my fellow Angelinos, most of whom knew nothing about any insurgency movement that had sprung up against said invading army, I would be outraged. If soldiers in that army did a search of my house and interrogated me, and stood over my shirtless son holding AK-47s, my six-year old son, a CHILD, I would be enraged.

I might even hate. I might be filled with hatred for that soldier.

But if I had time to talk to the soldier, one human being to another human being, I might realize that he was just following the orders of a horrible man, a man who had lied to him. A horrible man who sent the soldier around the world to see and do horrible things.

Given time to talk to the soldier, I might realize that that soldier joined the army because he was poor and needed work to provide for his family. Or that he was ignorant and unschooled. Or that he simply trusted the word of his lying boss. I might see that the soldier wasn't really free at all.

And I might have a chance, if we really talked, to ask him to tell his boss, "I don't hate you for any reason other than that you are in my country, destroying my home, and terrorizing my family. Wouldn't you hate someone who did that to you?"

03:11 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Laziest President Ever.

51 vacations. 5 years. Average of 10 vacations per year.

How many vacations does the average American take in a year? WHY DO VOTERS THINK THIS SUPER-RICH, PRIVELEDGED, NON-WORKER IS AN "AVERAGE GUY"?!?!?

Somebody, please, tell me.

03:04 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Future cannon fodder

"Hey, when I'm still President in 7 years, you fellas feel like going over to Iraqanistan to protect my oil dough? You might just have to take a bullet for me, but that's cool. You can get a merit badge for it! Unless you're dead, and then I'll think about you on one of my vacations!"

51 vacations in 5 years.

03:00 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Man, I couldn't golf with that arm!

51 vacations in 5 years. How many vacations do you think the guy on the right has had in the last five years?

02:58 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Awesome!

Well, well, well. According to the LA Times, it seems Supreme Court nominee John Roberts did a little pro bono work on behalf of gay activists back in '96.

Now everyone just sit back and watch the Christian right go absolutely MENTAL over this one.

Let the backtracking commence!!

02:42 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By

August 03, 2005

O'Reilly thinks scientists are fascists

O'Reilly, you moron. Via Kos:

The National Academy of Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science both reject Intelligent Design and don't want to mention it in science classes. That, in my opinion, is fascism.... All beliefs should be respected. But the science folks say the intelligent design doesn't belong in schools.

The definition of fascism:

A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

How could scientists be fascists? Falafel?

01:14 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

21 Marines on permanent vacation, Mr. Bush

Enjoy your golf, your bike, your dog, your huge ranch, and your 33-day paid vacation, Mr. Bush. You soooo deserve it. After all, it's hard work being a war president who extends tours of duty for men who have far exceeded their service to your pointless war (struggle).

And while the families of the 21 Marines killed in Iraq this week are mourning and burying their sons and husbands, I hope you recognize that whatever it is you do to feign the role you've been handed, it's NOT hard work. In fact, no president in recent memory has statistically accomplished LESS hard work.

So. Watch that back nine, and, what the hay, play over the water for once. Live a little. You deserve it.

21 Marines killed this week. Article here.

10:41 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

August 02, 2005

What the HELL? Schmidt leading in Ohio-2?

It's close but voters in Ohio's district 2 actually DON'T want an Iraq War veteran to go to Congress?

As of 11PM EDT:

753 precincts of 753 reporting
JEAN SCHMIDT 57,974 52%
PAUL HACKETT 54,401 48%

Latest results here. So much for supporting the troops. I'm stunned.

10:58 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

Record vacation for "The War President"

As the American death toll in Iraq surpasses 1,800, your self-proclaimed "war president" is poised to embark his longest vacation ever: 33 days. More from the Washington Post:

According to an Associated Press count, Reagan spent all or part of 335 days in Santa Barbara over his eight-year presidency -- a total that Bush will surpass this month in Crawford with 3 1/2 years left in his second term.

When was the last time you had a 33-day paid vacation? Now imagine taking a 33-day paid vacation while the men you claim to honor and respect are dying in a war you began for political gain. Next, imagine taking a 33-day paid vacation while proposing cuts in veterans benefits for those men who you sent to war for your own political gain.

It's impossible to imagine on any level.

And people from the "American Heartland" say they can relate to this hooplehead. This I will NEVER understand.

10:37 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

Global warming in your daily life

How are those northeastern and western state heatwaves affecting your daily life? How about the extra-early hurricanes down in the southeast?

The Bush administration wants to continue fiddling while the polar ice caps melt into the ocean, but you can probably confirm from your own personal experience that we have a gargantuan problem on our hands.

The American Progress Report has a good piece today on the scientific facts behind this global disaster in the making. Here's a tidbit:

AP reports on a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis that shows that "major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific...have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent" since the 1970s, trends that are "closely linked to increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface and also correspond to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures during the same period."

Download their well-done report here. Global warming is probably the single most important reason that we need a massive regime change in this, the most environmentally irresponsible of nations.

02:34 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

A smart comic book artist

In light of Bob's posting below on the egregioiusly dumb comic book "Liberality for All," I wanted to remind readers (especially comics fans like myself) that not all comics are created by ignorant hate-mongerers. Alex Ross, the acclaimed comics creator and artist who did this painting for the Village Voice, is brilliant.

Mike Mackey, who wrote "Liberality," is not. In fact, as far as I can tell, he's a moron. A moron who secretly wants to perform fellatio on a bionic Sean Hannity.

10:44 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

One reason why Letterman rules

"It was so hot down in Florida Jeb Bush was rigging ice machines."
David Letterman

Via Kos.

10:36 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

August 01, 2005

Worst. Comic. Ever.

Pictured left to right... Oliver North, Sean Hannity (the heroic guy in blue -- who is not only RIPPED but he's also a cyborg for some reason), and G. Gordon Liddy. Together, they fight the evil forces of liberalism in the year 2021. Yeah. I'm pretty sure this is for real.

Go here for a 5-page preview. And a full write-up here.

UPDATE - In the synopsis, the authors refer to the former WTC site as "hollowed grounds". Of course they meant to write "hallowed" with an "a" meaning "sanctified and consecrated". We'll forgive this ridiculous typo because after all, these are the same people who made Sean Hannity a super-strong cyborg hero. We can't possibly expect them to know the difference between hallowed and hollowed.

(Thanks to Josh Dobbin for the tip.)

11:22 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

Hypocrites

If they make a recess appointment, then I have to say, it's a finger in the eye of the Senate.

That's Senator Orrin Hatch, from way back in 1997.

Senator Hatch doesn't seem to have the same finger-in-eye-pain regarding John Bolton, though. In fact, none of the Republicans who strenuously objected to recess appointments in the past had anything to say today about the confirmation of a man who was part of the manipulation of WMD evidence in the lead up to the Iraq invasion.

Irony courtesy of Truthout.

08:16 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Don't forget the cover-up

Time hasn't. They have a piece out that has WH sources saying Rove learned of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity from WITHIN the White House, a MONTH BEFORE Joe Wilson's Op-Ed. This contradicts the claims made by Karl's bargain-basement attorney.

And if Bush's brain knew it, you can be pretty sure the rest of Bush knew it, too.

It's great to learn more about Rove, but do not forget: this is NOT ABOUT KARL ROVE. This is about the President knowingly lying to the Congress and the American people about Iraq WMDs. It's about an illegal war launched on doctored intelligence.

02:51 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Hand gestures speak louder than words

Hey, U.S. Senate, American people, and nations of the world, our President has a message for you:

FUCK YOU. Fuck you and your rules and regulations. Fuck you and your representative democracy. Fuck you and your separation of powers. And fuck you and your global diplomacy and your trying the make the world a more peaceful, equitable place where we can all live and survive for generations upon generations. Yeah, fuck all that shit.

Oh, and one more thing: John Bolton rules, man! He's gonna kick the top 10 floors of the UN in the ass, bro! Yeah! He's gonna open a can of whoop ass on Kofi Annan!

And finally, dear Lord, bless us in our global struggle against violent extremism.

PS - Sorry for all the swears, Laura.

PPS - Karl Rove rules, too! And nobody's paying attention to him and our cover-up anymore, because of my buddies Roberts and Frist and Bolton. So they all rule! Especially Bolton! He rules the hardest!

02:33 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Insane.

Who's more insane? The insane person or the insane person who installs him behind the back of Congress? Full story here.

10:08 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

Current

Al Gore's new cable news channel, Current, offficially launches today. It sounds like an interesting concept and it's great to see someone trying something different in a field that has lately begun to feel exceptionally stale.

So, tune in or surf on over, watch and get involved. Who knows, maybe this democracy thing might work out for us after all.

05:26 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By

July 31, 2005

This could be a bit of an issue, no?

Via Kos:

Satellite data for the month of June show Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a record low, raising concerns about climate change, coastal erosion, and changes to wildlife patterns.

Full article here. Graphic above from realtime data found here. I'm not a scientist, but the Arctic looks alarmingly dinky.

Post script... Bush has come up with one of his trademark nicknames for the melting Arctic ice cap: "Slurpy".

06:28 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca