Well...John Edwards admitted to cheating on his wife after lying about it for a couple of years to the Press. Makes one think that he is not presidential or vice-presidential timber, don't it? The only reason he 'fessed up is because the (of all rags) National Enquirer got wind and wouldn't let it go. Who'da thunk the Enquirer would actually be telling the truth for once? Makes me wonder about their other stories that I once scoffed at, like: alien babies, aliens visiting every sitting president since Truman, crop circles, every celebrity ever known in a life and death battle with AIDS/cancer/weight, two-headed babies, lizard men, 1,200-year-old people walking the streets of New York, placentas in our Cheerios, Kirstie Alley making a comeback, Tom Cruise really being straight...really out there stuff.
But since they got this one right I have to truly reassess.
Back on track, though, is John Edwards really washed up now, because he finally admitted to an affair he had in the not-so-distant past? He's been named as a possible vice-president nominee. He was promised speaking time at the Democratic national Convention this year. Is he no longer washable and saleable to the American Public, because he transgressed, because he commited adultery? Because he lied to a tabloid and then was forced to eat crow in a very loud manner?
Well, if you say "Yes, he is done. Turn him over and stick a fork into him, because he is a sinner/liar/adulterer/cheat/traitor to the ones he claims to love, then let me introduce you to someone who is, also, political and involved in a much larger arena of growth:
John McCain. Thirty years ago, John cheated on his wife. Not only cheated once, but many times. And he documented all of this in a book written in later years when he was safely married to the last woman he cheated with (so far as we know). And the last woman he cheated with and eventually married? A heiress to a catsup (or ketchup for you Indianans) fortune. I say, John: good time to stop and smell the 57th spice.
So, if one John is to be condemned for an affair, is the other not as well? Or does 30 years wipe out the sin? I can guarantee that the one John's sin is too new to allow him to accept a nomination if such were to be offered (which I can say with all conviction it won't be), because the American Span of Attention is especially strong and harsh within the first 24 hours unless Paris Hilton tapes a rebuttal and dilutes the initial idiocy with more.
Suffice it to say, Edwards is done and forked for the amount of time it will take to uncover at least two more politicians' personal scandals that don't involve money, yachts or cocaine. Where the hell is Eliot Spitzer when you need him?
But let's get back to the man running for the White House. He cheated numerous times on his first wife, then documented it in a book fer cryin' out loud. But only after he was safely married to a very rich tomato and suger combo heiress. And everyone seems to have forgiven or forgot.
This is McCain: a man who claims to be a maverick for many years and actually voted in a manner that supports that supposition, but who recently began to mirror everything that the current Bush stands for in order to placate his constituents. He actually told supporters that offshore drilling would benefit us at the gas pump within months. He has, also, resorted to attack ads against Barack Obama, which defy everything he said after his ill-fated 2000 run against Shrub. He claimed then that he would never engage in that type of behavior against anyone of any stripe. But, now, he has.
So, he is a liar, an opportunist and a hypocrite.
Yet, it will be John Edwards who pays for right now, because our national memory lasts only as long as the newest tabloid headline.
Personally, I can't wait to hear what happens next to Britney's hair.

Highest Paid List For 2007

Well, who woulda thunk it? Senor Mulva (rhymes with...) sits atop the heap. And it just gets better. Click here for the list of the top 100 and note how many are involved in the oil business. Of the top 25 I could only count 4 who are not directly connected to Big Oil. Pretty impressive for a group that annually cries at the door for government handouts. Y'know, all that "alternative research" for "alternative sources of energy" really leaves them in a hand-to-mouth existence. Oh wait, I read in yesterday's paper that last year the oil industry's percentage of profit spent on "alternative sources of energy" was under 3. Now, why is that? Hmmm, perhaps because they're counting on John McCain to replace Dumbya and push for offshore and Alaskan drilling. And if that becomes a reality...why, they can put off wind, solar and hydroelectric research for another (maybe) 20 years. Never mind that we control 2% of the world's finite oil fields while we consume 25% of the global product each year. And most experts agree that it will take 7-10 years before the oil companies can actually begin to pump oil from the ground and another three years to get it into our gas tanks. And that's if they started tomorrow.
And don't forget that McCain has blamed Barack Obama for high oil and gas prices. Not the current war or OPEC or China's, Indo-Asia's and Russia's new found thirst for it as they push forward in a mad race to replace us as the world's leading economy.
Nice to see that purchases of SUV's has hit an all-time low. Nice to know that registration of mopeds and scooters has hit an all-time high in the 'No.
Anyhoo, read on for the #1 douche in the top 100 bag o' buttspritzers (and don't get me wrong, I like what currency can help me do in this life; but there's a limit to how much anyone really needs. Enough to help out your children when you expire? Great. Enough to buy a third world country? Maybe a tad excessive).

Rank
1

James Mulva

Chairman, CEO and President

ConocoPhillips

Get current stock price
Total compensation
$50,549,026
Salary
$1,500,000
Bonus

Stock awards
$37,949,152
Option awards
$5,542,175
Non-equity incentive
$3,442,500
Change in pension value
$1,727,552
Other compensation
$387,647
Total cash
$4,942,500
Total long-term incentives
$43,491,327
Termination of employment
$28,557,587
Fiscal year end
December 31, 2007

Slow Food Nation 2008

Now, this looks like fun. Slow Food Nation 2008 in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend. Gavin Newsom (mayor hottie extraordinaire) even allowed the group to dig up a quarter acre in front of City Hall in order to grow crops as a learning tool for those seeking to be self-sustaining gardeners. Some people look on this group as elitist and non-diversified (mostly Left-leaning Whites), but who really cares? It will be a gastronome's delight and perhaps an environmental education as well.
Click here for the banner page of the festival. Click here to visit Slow Food USA's main web page.
Oh, but it ain't free. There are tasteshops, workshops, pavilions, trips, whatnot. And it can be a bit pricey. So, maybe they are a little bit snobby in terms of affordability. But I would love to attend the heirloom tomato tasting (they're served in wine glasses) just for the sheer weirdness of it. Hopefully, there's some free stuff to attend open to the public. Hopefully.
I, however, will be camping and being self-sustaining in a whole other way, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Watchmen in 2009

Rorschach from Watchmen (the greatest comic series ever; and, yes, I own all twelve books. I am uber-geek!):
9from MSNBC):

Based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, "Watchmen" has been in development for years but finally got the green light under the auspices of "300" director Zack Snyder, who took the story back to its roots by setting it in 1985, the year the graphic novel came out. The story depicts a world where superpowered humans slowly began to appear in the United States after World War II, and the Cold War still looms between the United States and the Soviet Union, which seem destined for a nuclear confrontation.

(from Wikipedia):

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback,[1] which popularized the "graphic novel" format. To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award,[2] and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present."[3]

The movie will premiere some time next year and I can only hope against hope that it partially lives up to the comic series. With "300"'s director at the helm with his unique stylization of graphic novel tableaus, though, it's very possible. Alan Moore (the writer of the series) is, also, responsible for the graphic novel "V For Vendetta".

A Love Story, Part Two: Unrequited Passion and Betrayal

(Emailed to me by my sister)
A Love Story In Three Acts:

Yes! From June 27th We Get Animals Who Hate Humans

One day after we left Yellowstone to journey back home a tourist of the smaller variety got what was coming to him. We witnessed total stupidity at the Park and it's a wonder this type of thing doesn't happen every freaking day (the above shot is Katie-did's):

Bison injures boy posing for photos at Yellowstone
2 days ago
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy is in the hospital after a bison he was posing near flipped him in the air at Yellowstone National Park.
The Pennsylvania boy's condition was not available after the attack Thursday.
Park officials say the boy was posing with family members within a couple of feet of the mature bull bison.
Park rules require visitors to stay at least 25 yards from bison.

Ha! Park rangers give everyone who enters the Park a complete set of rules concerning wild animals and no one reads it! So, when tourists are gored, mauled, trampled or just plain killed and eaten I say "YAY!!!!!" and "GO WILD BEASTS!!!!" and "ALL TOURISTS SHOULD DIE!!!", because I am not a real tourist. I am a law abiding drive by-er who parks in the designated area and flips the finger to those who don't abide. In fact, I think one of them has my digit on video from when they parked in a no-parking quarter mile that was protecting a nesting pair of bald eagles. Another has a vivid memory of more than one finger after they stopped in the road, got out and took a picture of a bison ambling down the East-bound lane ( and standing within 5 yards of the arrogant beast) and then stopped again within 45 seconds because (gasp!) an Elk was hanging by the side of the road.

Puttin' Your Trust In A Nonvengeful God

Allegedly taken at Alabama Medical Center:

I figured since we're going to Yellowstone for my family reunion, but staying in Idaho, this is a good image to leave on.

Ah, The Bedfellows We Sleep With; Sun Myung Moon Is The Man

As US Threatens Iran Over Enriching Uranium, Bush Promises to Give Enriched Uranium to Saudi Arabia
The Bush administration has pledged to support Saudi Arabia’s nuclear power program, including supplying enriched uranium for nuclear reactors. The agreement came out of President Bush’s visit to the Saudi kingdom last week, during which Bush also pledged new US assistance in guarding Saudi oil reserves. [includes rush transcript]

And this is just the Christians:
Jesus: Reverend Sun Myung Moon! Thou art the Second Coming who inaugurated the Completed Testament Age! The 120 people, who have brought light to the history of Christianity, pledge to take part in all that the True Parents do, and resolve to strive toward the ideal, the original garden where there is no original sin, through the guidance, the words of the Completed Testament, and the Unification Principle, of the Savior and Messiah, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. (2001.12.19)
Peter (Disciple of Jesus): I, Peter, representing the twelve disciples of Jesus, pledge to attend the Lord of the Second Coming, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, as Messiah and Savior.
Paul (Missionary): I, Paul, pledge to believe and attend the Lord of the Second Coming, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, as Messiah, Savior and True Parent, with the fire I felt when I met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. I will live with the words, "You must save the saints" in my heart.
John Calvin (Religious Reformer): God is the Parent of humankind and Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the Messiah, Savior and Second Coming. Therefore, I shall live by the teachings of the Lord, and I, John Calvin, pledge to become a pioneer in helping those who are still waiting for the Lord, who are in agony, following a theology of bigotry.
Martin Luther (Religious Reformer): I believe that God is the Parent of humankind. I believe that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the Lord of the Second Advent. I proudly proclaim that the Unification Principle is the new gospel for humanity. I, Martin Luther, pledge that I will believe in these truths, and live a life of attendance, to become a pioneer for humanity.
John Wesley (Missionary and Revivalist): I, John Wesley, proclaim that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the True Parent of all humankind and I pledge and pledge again to live according to the direction and teachings of the True Parents.
Karl Barth (Modern Theologian): Dear Reverend Sun Myung Moon: Although I am late in doing so, I, Karl Barth, wish to live a life of attendance to, and receive guidance from, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who is the Second Coming and Savior. True Parents, I wish to receive the messianic teachings. Please guide me in this. I pledge to live in attendance to the True Parents.
David Livingston (Missionary to Africa): Reverend Sun Myung Moon! O Second Coming of Christ! Dear True Parents, I, Livingston, wish to create a land of God's ideal, even if it is a modest place. Can you give me a place in which to do this? I pledge to live according to the guidance of the will of the Second Coming.
Jonathan Edwards (Leader of American Great Awakening): Reverend Sun Myung Moon! Lord! I am so grateful to you. Please forgive and save America with the magnanimity of True Parents. America is God's Garden of Eden. Let it remain as the eternal Eden on earth. I know that the ideal of the Lord is that of God, and only Godism can save America. I, Jonathan Edwards, promise to never change my heart attending the Second Coming.
John Smyth (Founder of the Baptist Church): O esteemed Reverend Sun Myung Moon! Please allow the grace of your blessing unto the whole of humanity, so that they may start a new life. Please open the way for humankind to be able to live together as brothers and sisters in a Garden of Eden without original sin as soon as possible. I, John Smyth, shall go anywhere, if the Lord goes with me.
John Harvard (Founder of Harvard University, Puritan): I, John Harvard, truly wish that not only the youth of Harvard University, but those of all the universities in the world, can be armed with Unification Principle and receive the guidance of Reverend Sun Myung Moon. I pledge to participate actively in Reverend Sun Myung Moon's movement for world peace.
St. Augustine (Bishop of Hippo, who laid the cornerstone of Catholic theology): I, Augustine, will move forward strongly in realizing the ideal of the Completed Testament Age, to allow all of humanity to have the Unification Principle as their truth and Reverend Sun Myung Moon as their Messiah. I respect, believe and depend on all the words and theology of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and I give my oath and pledge, raising my hands, to do all that I do together with the Lord.
Horace Underwood (American Presbyterian, first missionary to Korea): I, Horace Underwood, joyfully celebrate the fact that the Second Coming has come to Korea, an eastern country that takes polite etiquette very seriously. I put my hands together and bow to the Messiah. I pledge and give my word of honor to devote all that I possess in attendance to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

McCain and The Two Step Dissemble

Shortly after "repudiating" the Reverend John Hagee's statement that Adolph Hitler's actions were merely the Will of Gawd (but not necessarily last testament) John Mccain made sure to let everyone know:
"I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright's extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today."
All well and good, I suppose. Except that McCain actively sought this guy's endorsement at a time when he was neck and neck with the Reverend Mike Huckabee for the hearts and votes of evangelical psychos and used them to pull away and earn the Republican endorsement for President. Except that McCain's actual spiritual guide (the Reverend Rod Parsley) says this:
"Islam is an anti-Christ religion that intends through violence to conquer the world."
And
"America was founded with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed and I believe Sept. 11, 2001 was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore."
And McCain has yet to "repudiate" Parsley. Not that extremist Islamics don't intend to conquer the woeld and force Islam down everyone's throats, just like the extremist Christians intend to do (see Ann Coulter and "Let's go in and convert them or kill them").
Hmmm, "rupudiate Parsley" sounds like something one would do with a zester or a slicer or something. I'd be satisfied with a boiling and basting.

Worst Album Ever?

In no particular order (and many vomitous thanks to Generik for the link) are my votes for Worst Album Ever based on the list provided.
Supernova? Or Chevy Nova?

Convoy Pit Crew?

I think "He Touched Me" might not be about the Lord.

Featuring the smash hit: "Going Postal Blues".

...which made for very small sales.

Love Songs For Serial Killers

...ing.

Lick 'Em, Stick 'Em And Send 'Em

Something I blogged a bit about sometime previously has finally reared its ugly head in the mainstream Press (oh yes, do I ever feel omniscient and overbearingly important). This article from the Washington Post speaks to the secretive disloyalty of our government when it comes to openness and transparency concerning legal moves. Why is it so important to drug up illegal aliens when removing them from our soil? is it because they could be a danger to those around them? How? How, when they are obviously going to be unarmed and surrounded by CIA or FBI or Secret Service or Federal Marshal goons who are armed and the subject will have obviously been searched and relieved of anything that could be thought of as a potential weapon? Most likely, it's because those "officials" concerned don't want to run the risk that the detainee might talk to other passengers, because these "undesirables" are being deported on commercial flights (something the Washington Post did not report, but I did some time ago...ooh, that feeling of self-righteousness is getting even more powerful). This is so fucking Big Brother...if we are to be seen by ourselves and the world as a true (cough, cough) "beacon of hope", then we cannot allow our leaders to engage in or otherwise condone this type of action against anyone. And these are not necessarily aliens being flown to secret foreign prisons (renditions in case any one's forgotten those). They are often simply being kicked out of the country. If they are in the country illegally, by all means make them leave if it's such a dangerously big deal. But drug them, sedate them to the point of unconsciousness or inability to speak? That is not American, that is not the hallmark of a Democracy that wants to "spread" its "love" (ala OB/GYNs and female patients to semi-quote the Commander in Crawford) to every corner of the world. That is Syrian and North Korean and Iranian and Libyan and Lebanese and Israeli and Russian (okay, to be honest, most of these countries would just kill the poor son of a bitch and dump him just on the other side of their borders if they cared even that much, but you get the idea...).
But what are we doing here and why? And what message are we sending out? This, obviously, is an action that the administration hoped would never be seen in public print. It is, also, an action that someone in the Administration decided was not only good for our country, but was somehow potentially legally defensible like electronic eavesdropping without a warrant (national security trump card) or waterboarding because no international treaty we ever signed actually spelled that one out (although one or more did).
Are we truly being protected by this activity, because foreigners are outstaying their visas or lied on their applications about crimes committed in their home countries? The Saudis who flew planes into the Trade Center Towers didn't lie about past crimes. I don't know if any of them outstayed their visas. But they were doing stuff that should have raised red flags from here to the moon (like wanting to learn to steer a plane but not take off or land) and no one in power paid any attention to the alerts from field agents (FBI). Now, they're taking out anyone who doesn't toe the line to a T. And physically abusing them to boot whether it's warranted or not.
I am not a supporter of the Wall On The Rio. I think it's a waste of money and penalizes those who actually help our economy (keeping produce prices low) and do their best to stay on the right side of the law (minus that little matter of coming into the country illegally) and deflects our attention from more important problems like our economy crumbling because of a certain war in Iraq and a certain dependence on oil and politicians and Big Business stealing as many of our freedoms as they can in as short a time as they can by crying out that more people could fly a plane into a building at any given time and they'd love to tell us how many times they've saved us from this exact scenario since 9/11, but they are constrained by the National Security Act so we just have to take their word for it. How many times have we been told that, by the way? 100? 200?
But back to the Washington Post story. It's been reported many times before over two or three years and now, finally, a big paper is talking about it. Why? Are the big papers just now getting over their fear of Big Government? Or do they know that Bush is a lame duck and is too involved in putting out so many other fires created by his and his advisers' incompetency? Are they now truly pissed off at and shamed by their involvement in this Administration's Covert War On Americans that they feel a need to atone for their sins? I mean, I'll take it for whatever reason even if it's only this one topic. But there is so much more for the big papers and overall media to do before they can make it up to me for the last seven years of lapdog complacency.
But I'll take it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.
The newspaper said it has identified 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003.
Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees without medical justification is a violation of some international human rights codes, the Post reported.
Records show that the government has routinely ignored its own rules, which allow deportees to be sedated only if they have a mental illness requiring the drugs, or if they are so aggressive that they imperil themselves or people around them.
The Department of Homeland Security's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) took over deportations in 2003.
ICE has stepped up the arrest and removal of foreigners who are in the United States illegally, who have been turned down for asylum or have been convicted of a crime in the past, the Post reported.
A spokesman for the agency was not immediately available for comment.

McCain's Other Ear

"I can't begin to tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam. That we see it for what it really is. In fact...I do not believe that our nation can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam…I know that this statement sounds extreme. But I am not shrinking back from its implications. The fact is that...America was founded in part with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed. And I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we no longer can afford to ignore."

These are the words of Rod Parsley, a so-called Man of God, a Preacher, who is described by John McCain as John McCain's "spiritual guide". McCain refuses to denounce these words or any others uttered by Parsley or reject parsley's endorsement of him for President. I wouldn't normally care, because everyone famous has nutjobs riding their coattails. But, in this instance, McCain has called on Barack Obama to denounce Jeremiah Wright's feiry rhetoric and to reject Wright's endorsement.
And when exactly did our Founding Fathers decide that one of the overriding directives of our new democracy was to wipe out Islam? I don't recall reading that or being told that in school. While we, as a part of Western civilization, have been at odds and intermittent war with Islamic countries for quite some time I don't think that the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution call for the demise of Islam. Colonial monarchy, yes. Islam, not so much. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Please.
Other things Parsley has said:

"I just love to talk about your money. Let me be very clear -- I want your money. I deserve it. This church deserves it."
"Only 1 percent of the homosexual population in America will die of old age. The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States of America is 43 years of age. A lesbian can only expect to live to be 45 years of age. Homosexuals represent 2 percent of the population, yet today they're carrying 60 percent of the known cases of syphilis."

Like I said, I don't usually lend much of an ear to those who surround those who seek public office, because some are always going to be extreme in their opinions. But for McCain to publicly embrace Parsley and Hagee and basically tell the nation that these two people will have his ear if he's elected to the highest office in our land is irresponsible, unethical and downright two-faced when he's calling for Obama to completely reject Wright.

Full Court Press

U.S. lease of Waterloo fairgrounds raises questions
By WILLIAM PETROSKI • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • May 6, 2008

Federal officials have imposed a news blackout at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo, where they have leased almost the entire property through May 25.Tim Counts, a Midwest spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to say Monday whether an immigration raid is pending that would use the fairgrounds as a detention center.
"ICE never talks about our investigative activity or possible future enforcement actions," Counts said. "Regarding the exercise in Waterloo, there is currently no publicly releasable information about that, so we aren't releasing any."He declined to say whether the "exercise" involves training or an immigration enforcement operation."We expect that at some point there will be additional information available, but I can't speculate at what point that might be," Counts said.
In December 2006, ICE conducted an immigration raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown. Many workers were transported to Camp Dodge in Johnston, where military barracks were used as temporary detention facilities. A total of 1,282 Swift workers were arrested in Iowa and five other states in the biggest crackdown in history on immigration violations at one company.The Waterloo Courier on Sunday reported that contractors have installed generators adjacent to many buildings at the fairgrounds.
In addition, windows on many buildings have been covered up, blocking views inside. A number of mobile-home-size trailers have been transported to the privately owned grounds.Doug Miller, general manager of the Cattle Congress, declined Monday to release a copy of his group's rental contract with U.S. General Services Administration. He also indicated he was in the dark about what's happening inside the fairgrounds."I have no idea. They are conducting whatever exercise they are conducting without telling me all the details of it. I don't have any information to share with you, really," Miller said.
Representatives of Gov. Chet Culver and U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley said they had no information about what was happening at the Cattle Congress fairgrounds.At Grassley's request, his staff called ICE officials on Monday."During the call, the ICE officials would neither confirm nor deny anything to Senator Grassley's staff," said Beth Pellett Levine, a Grassley aide.Armando Villareal, administrator of the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs, said he hadn't heard any reports about impending immigration raids. But he added that many Latinos in Iowa are feeling tension and fear.
"Folks have resigned themselves that something terrible is going to happen between now and the election. It is more like a resignation that something is going to happen," Villareal said.

Directive 51 (just for us conspiracy theorists):
(from Wikipedia)
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive (National Security Presidential Directive NSPD-51/Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-20, sometimes called simply "Executive Directive 51" for short), signed by United States President George W. Bush on May 4, 2007, is a Presidential Directive which specifies the procedures for continuity of the federal government in the event of a "catastrophic emergency." Such an emergency is construed as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." [1]
The unclassified portion of the directive was posted on the White House website on May 9, 2007, without any further announcement or press briefings,[2] although Special Assistant to George W. Bush Gordon Johndroe answered several questions on the matter when asked about it by members of the press in early June 2007.[3]

(The Directive specifies that all three branches of government will work together, but be coordinated by the president even though all three branches are designated as equal in the Constitution and no one branch can dictate the actions of another.)

My Version Of Generik's Lyric Contest (And I Give you Both Answers Right Off)

Which of the following quotes was not spoken by the Rev. John Hagee and which two were spoken by Sen. John McCain. (Hint: McCain's is the very last two)
"The Quran teaches that [all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews]. Yes, it teaches that very clearly."
" I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans...I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that...There was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades...The Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment."
"...the president's support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state," which "will play a pivotal role in the second coming."
"Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist."
"[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God's pattern for the family."
"The military will have difficulty recruiting healthy and strong heterosexuals for combat purposes. Why? Fighting in combat with a man in your fox hole that has AIDS or is HIV positive is double jeopardy" (blogger's note: doing anything with someone in my "foxhole" would be difficult, so Hagee may actually have a point here)
"It [Gay marriage] will open the door to incest, to polygamy, and every conceivable marriage arrangement demented minds can possibly conceive. If God does not then punish America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."
"It is impossible to call yourself a Christian and defend homosexuality. There is no justification or acceptance of homosexuality.... Homosexuality means the death of society because homosexuals can recruit, but they cannot reproduce."
"Homosexuality means the death of society because homosexuals can recruit, but they cannot reproduce."
"As millions of people anticipate the release of the latest Harry Potter book and film, we're reminded once again of Satan's ongoing attempt to deceive and destroy. The whole purpose of the Potter books is to desensitize readers and introduce them to the occult."
"Only a Spirit-filled woman can submit to her husband's lead. It is the natural desire of a woman to lead through feminine manipulation of the man. .... Fallen women will try to dominate the marriage. The man has the God-given role to be the loving leader of the home"
On the Antichrist: “He’s going to make a seven-year treaty with Israel and set up his image to be worshiped in Israel. And that is where I’m convinced that a Jewish person who understands who he is shoots him, because the Bible says he’s wounded in the head and recovers wondrously, emulating the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this point in time when he comes back to life he has the personality of a Hitler. He now pursues the Jewish people. The Jewish people then go to Petra, which is a place in Jordan that is a natural fortress. And that God is going to provide for them there protection from him. And as he gets ready to pursue him, the Bible says that he, the Antichrist, hears tidings from the east that disturb him. The tidings from the east is that… the Chinese army is marching up the Euphrates River, 200 million of them, and they’re moving toward the battle of Armageddon, because they want the oil that will make them a superpower.”
On the Israeli-Palestinian peace process: “When the Annapolis Conference was being planned and the topic of dividing Jerusalem came up, one man asked me, ‘Where do you stand on this based on the Bible?’ I responded that ‘the plan of the Antichrist is to divide Jerusalem.’ If America puts pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem we are following the blueprint of the Prince of Darkness. Amos 3:2 states that any nation that divides the Land of Israel will come under the severe judgment of God.” (blogger's note: there's an Amos in the Bible? Really? Suddenly, Kevin Smith's 13th apostle Rufus has more credence)

“I am very honored by pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.”
“Anyone who worries about how long we’re in Iraq does not understand the military and does not understand war." (blogger's note: evidently, neither do Bush and McCain since they can't decide on how long we're supposed to be there or how long we might be there or why we're actually there or who we're supposed to be fighting or...well, dammit, what the you-know-what is actually going on at any given time)

Your Fingers, Fogeddaboutit!

Um...uh...wow...
QUESTION: Some are raising that the privacy aspects of this thing, you know, sharing of that kind of data, very personal data, among four countries is quite a scary thing.
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Well, first of all, a fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private.
Go here for the article.

I'm Just Dreaming: Kill Rush Limbaugh! This is a Joke, In Case the FBI Has Nothing Better To Do Like Prosecute Rush For Advocating Violence On Others

Rush Limbaugh 'Dreaming' Of Riots In Denver
Talk Show Host Wants America To See Actions Of 'Far Left'

DENVER -- Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments that appear to call for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.
He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.
"Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country.
Limbaugh cited Al Sharpton, saying the Barack Obama supporter threatened to superdelegates that "there's going to be trouble" if the presidency is taken from Obama.
Several callers called in to the radio show to denounce Limbaugh's comments, when he later stated, "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver."
Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called part of "Operation Chaos," the people on the far left would look bad.
"There won't be riots at our convention," Limbaugh said of the Republican National Convention. "We don't riot. We don't burn our cars. We don't burn down our houses. We don't kill our children. We don't do half the things the American left does."
He believes electing Democrats will hurt America's security and economy and appeared to call on his listeners to make sure that doesn't happen.
"We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We're the only one in charge of our affairs. We don't farm out our defense if we elect Democrats ... and riots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention will see to it we don't elect Democrats. And that's the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think," Limbaugh said.
Later, Limbaugh downplayed his "dreaming of riots in Denver" statement, and said that he wasn't calling for riots and was referring to warnings of trouble if superdelegates decide the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
Limbaugh's comments prompted Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to say, "Anyone who would call for riots in an American city has clearly lost their bearings."
Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar also responded to Limbaugh's comments Friday, asking Lee Larsen, senior vice president of Clear Channel Radio Rocky Mountain Region to reprimand Limbaugh.
"As I read Mr. Limbaugh's comments about riots at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, they appear to me to be a clear exhortation that those riots are exactly what he wants to happen," Salazar said in a letter to Larsen.
Denver will host the DNC on Aug. 25 to Aug. 28.

You want to know what I'm dreaming of? Riots outside Limbaugh's studio ala Fallujah and the contractors who were killed, quartered and strung up on a bridge. Not that I would ever call for or advocate it. That would be wrong. Right? And in no way should I ever be held responsible if the millions of people who listen to my treasonous tripe should act upon it. Because I'm just dreaming here. Pure fantasy, afternoon woodie stuff that reflects nothing other than my own moral turptitude and the fact that I have a huge johnson for the days of segregation and White is Right and my Daddy telling me that "this is our little secret". It's just me, folks, having a bit of fun. Just because I named it "Operation Kill Limbaugh" means nothing. What's in a name after all? Nothing. So, if any of you who read this decide to act on it, just remember that I'm joking. I don't want Limbaugh dead. No! And I don't seriously want him hacked apart and strung up. No! No! Even though he represents everything I find deplorable and amoral and dehumanizing and pettyminded and vindictive and anti-American and unpatriotic (whatever that means) and downright inbred and cowardly. Even though all of that. No! Don't go out and riot in front of his station or home and kill him and take machetes to him and hang him from the highest streetlight. No! That would be wrong. And it would be stooping to his level (if such a level could be stooped to without the minutest of calipers to judge the measurement). And I don't want that.
I'm just dreaming, after all.

Daily Kos Hits One Out Of The Park

Sometimes I just gotta love the Daily Kos:
(excerpted from her latest blog)
ME: First off, Mr. Ashcroft, I'd like to apologize for the rudeness of some of my fellow students. It was uncalled for--we can disagree civilly, we don't need that. (round of applause from the audience, and Ashcroft smiles) I have here in my hand two documents. One of them, you know, is the text of the United Nations Convention against Torture, which, point of interest, says nothing about "lasting physical damage"...
ASHCROFT: (interrupting) Do you have the Senate reservations to it? ME: No, I don't. Do you happen to know what they are?
ASHCROFT: (angrily) I don't have them memorized, no. I don't have time to go around memorizing random legal facts. I just don't want these people in the audience to go away saying, "He was wrong, she had the proof right in her hand!" Because that's not true. It's a lie. If you don't have the reservations, you don't have anything. Now, if you want to bring them another time, we can talk, but...
ME: Actually, Mr. Ashcroft, my question was about this other document. (laughter and applause) This other document is a section from the judgment of the Tokyo War Tribunal. After WWII, the Tokyo Tribunal was basically the Nuremberg Trials for Japan. Many Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. And among the tortures listed was the "water treatment," which we nowadays call waterboarding...
ASHCROFT: (interrupting) This is a speech, not a question. I don't mind, but it's not a question.
ME: It will be, sir, just give me a moment. The judgment describes this water treatment, and I quote, "the victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach." One man, Yukio Asano, was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor by the allies for waterboarding American troops to obtain information. Since Yukio Asano was trying to get information to help defend his country--exactly what you, Mr. Ashcroft, say is acceptible for Americans to do--do you believe that his sentence was unjust? (boisterous applause and shouts of "Good question!") ASHCROFT: (angrily) Now, listen here. You're comparing apples and oranges, apples and oranges. We don't do anything like what you described.
ME: I'm sorry, I was under the impression that we still use the method of putting a cloth over someone's face and pouring water down their throat...
ASHCROFT: (interrupting, red-faced, shouting) Pouring! Pouring! Did you hear what she said? "Putting a cloth over someone's face and pouring water on them." That's not what you said before! Read that again, what you said before!
ME: Sir, other reports of the time say...
ASHCROFT: (shouting) Read what you said before! (cries of "Answer her fucking question!" from the audience) Read it!
ME: (firmly) Mr. Ashcroft, please answer the question.
ASHCROFT: (shouting) Read it back!
ME: "The victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach."
ASHCROFT: (shouting) You hear that? You hear it? "Forced!" If you can't tell the difference between forcing and pouring...does this college have an anatomy class? If you can't tell the difference between forcing and pouring...
ME: (firmly and loudly) Mr. Ashcroft, do you believe that Yukio Asano's sentence was unjust? Answer the question. (pause)
ASHCROFT: (more restrained) It's not a fair question; there's no comparison. Next question! (loud chorus of boos from the audience)

Give Me liberty Or Give Me Gingrich!

What unmitigated gall! What chutzpah! What vanity! What a donkey's ass! That we would give up ALL of our liberties and freedoms to ensure protection from any unidentified and nebulous threats. We have been giving up our liberties for about 8 years now based on unjustified threats. And for what? So an illegally seated president and his cabal could line the pockets of Big Business. And foreign governments. Not that any other president hasn't taken advantage of uncertainty to reward loyal investors, but this one has taken the practice beyond the pale. And to have a disgraced politician (one who had divorce papers served on his wife while she was in the hospital undergoing cancer treatment) pushes it even further. To have this...this...this chihuahua of a man, this land piranha tell me that I would give up all of my most profound beliefs because hesays I would without even asking me is the epitome of arrogance.
But don't believe me. Please read:

Contradicting His Hero Ben Franklin, Gingrich Says Americans ‘Will Give Up All Their Liberties’ For Safety»
Yesterday, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich visited Drew University in New Jersey, where he took questions from 20 political science majors there. When one asked him how the government could justify stripping rights from Americans in such pieces of legislation as the Patriot Act, Gingrich said that the government has a “right to defend society,” and when under threat, “people will give up all their liberties“:
“If there’s a threat, you have a right to defend society,” Gingrich said. “People will give up all their liberties to avoid that level of threat.“
Gingrich is directly contradicted by Benjamin Franklin, who rejected the notion that one should give up one’s liberties out of fear:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
This disagreement is significant, because Gingrich considers Franklin one of his heroes. He prides himself on his Pennsylvania upbringing, where he says “it was easy…to imbue a deep sense of the freedom that is at the heart of the American tradition,” and he frequently invokes Franklin to buttress his conservative claims about individual responsibility and religion in public life:
“Only Franklin personified the striving, ambitious, rising system of individual achievement, hard work, thrift and optimism found at the heart of the American spirit. Only Franklin worked his way up in the worlds of business and organized political power in both colonial and national periods. Only Franklin was a…creator of the American mythos of the common man.”
“During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin (often considered one of the least religious of the Founding Fathers) proposed that the Convention begin each day with a prayer. … [T]he Founding Fathers, from the very birth of the United States, saw God as central to defining America.”
“Franklin, who was quite old and had been relatively quiet for the entire Convention, suddenly stood up and was angry, and he said: I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without His aid?”
Gingrich accuses “the secular Left” of trying to rid religion from public life, thereby “distorting the Constitution to achieve a goal that the Founding Fathers would have found to be a fundamental threat to liberty.” Yet it his own cavalier subordination of civil liberties in the name of national security that would truly offend the Founders.

Oh Goodness. Really. "Patriotic Zeal".

Mood turns ugly in Beijing
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 2:16 PMFiled Under: Beijing, China
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News producer
What a difference a couple of months can make.
As people returned to work following the end of the Chinese New Year holidays in February, there was a palpable sense of anticipation for the Olympic Summer Games. The intense winter cold snap lasted longer than the holidays, but there was a spring in everyone’s step.
Friends working in professions as diverse as business and the arts spoke of an accelerated rate of activity; people seemed to be jetting back and forth from the United States and Europe in a frenzy to meet deadlines on special projects before the Games begin August 8.
AP
Chinese youths protest outside a Carrefour supermarket, a French owned company, in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province on April 18.
My e-mail inbox was getting clogged on a more regular basis with press conference notices from the Beijing Olympic authorities, BOCOG. And I was fielding dozens of requests from far-flung friends to crash on the floor of my apartment in the months leading up to August.
It was as though Beijing had become the center of the world and everyone wanted to be here.
And then, the protests and violence in Tibet and surrounding regions happened.
In response to international condemnation of its policies in Tibet, the Chinese government has taken a hard line against critics. At the same time, Chinese people have become more upset over what they perceive as Western media bias against their nation.

Targeting the Western press CNN has been the target of intense criticism and threats for allegedly biased coverage of the protests in Tibet, and particularly for remarks made by commentator Jack Cafferty, who referred to China’s leaders – not the Chinese people – as a "bunch of goons and thugs."
On Thursday, CNN’s bureau chief in Beijing was summoned to China’s Foreign Ministry, where officials demanded an apology and a retraction of Cafferty’s comments.
CNN has apologized for any offence, and Cafferty clarified on air earlier in the week that his comments were referring specifically to the government and "not to Chinese people or to Chinese-Americans."
But even before this latest incident, we had heard from CNN staff that non-essential personnel had been asked to stay away from the CNN Beijing office because threats from angry Chinese activists were growing serious.
A Chinese friend who once worked for CNN learned Friday that his name and personal information had been posted on one of the more virulent anti-Western media Web sites in China. He said he was shocked by the coarse language people used to accuse him of being a traitor.
Not just CNNAn acquaintance at a top-selling U.S. newsmagazine described an incident in which someone rang the doorbell of her home and tried to set off a fire extinguisher in her face when she opened the front door.
NBC News hasn’t been subject to the same level of harassment as some other media outlets, but for several weeks now in the late evenings our bureau has received prank phone calls from Chinese people asking whether we are CNN or just randomly cursing all Western media.
The anxiety isn’t confined to journalists.
Chinese furious over how the Olympic torch was received in Paris on April 7 are planning a demonstration Saturday in front of a branch of the French supermarket, Carrefour. And a more widespread boycott of all Carrefour branches planned for May 1 is gathering steam.
A friend with French relatives coming to visit Beijing next week is anxious about how they might be treated and is reluctant to leave them on their own to explore the capital.
In a way, however, this French family is lucky they can even be here.
Crackdown on visitors and residents Chinese authorities are cracking down on entry visas. Reports are circulating among U.S. businessmen that many companies are starting to suffer from a restriction on business visas for legitimate employees.
Every foreign freelancer or independent contractor I know here is looking for a sponsor, as they’ve been warned their current – and legitimate – business visas are not likely to be renewed. Even a college student whom NBC agreed to take on for the summer has had to cut short his internship, because he won’t be allowed to extend his student visa beyond August 1; extending a visa was previously a common practice.
It’s believed that the visa restrictions are to prevent foreign activists from entering China ahead of the Olympics and staying through the games.
One of our local staffers told me that five security people showed up at her home at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, pounding on her front door and demanding to see her local residency permit. They were rude, she said, and they examined parts of her apartment without her consent.
"They wanted to know if I was the only one living here," she said.
Of course, some of this might appear trivial compared to the domestic political housecleaning taking place across China. Many dissidents or potential noisemakers have been rounded up since December.
In the wake of these incidents, one can only wonder if this is the image China’s government and its people really want to present to the outside world as they prepare to host an Olympics bearing the banner "One World One Dream."
Perhaps not. A commentary posted on the state-run Xinhua news agency Web site Friday urges the Chinese people to contain their "patriotic zeal."

Hee. Hee hee. Oh, the similarities between our two countries. Other than they make things for really, really cheap and sell their girl-children into slavery or something like that. Patriotic zeal, indeed. Sounds more like what we were doing to Muslims and all other dark-skinned folk after 9/11. Not to mention the attacks on those Cheese Eating Surrender (Hey Hey We're The) Monkeys, I mean Le French.
So, those of you who claim that we and the Chinks have nothing in common and they are just damn dirty Commies, think again. They are becoming more and more like us. Or us like them. Not sure. Hmmm....Either way, power do corrupt, do it not? And unchecked power, it do make for strange phrases. Patriotic zeal...ah crap, that's funny.