Newsflash: The Senate May Go Nuclear on Itself!

May the walls come tumblin' down, and the Days of the Sharp Elbows come to a grinding halt. It's not enough to use Rove's minions to attack AARP's stand against the Bush Social Security smokescreen with USA Next and the SwiftBooters screaming "Look Out! Here come the gay grannies spittin' on the troops as they come back home!" It's not enough to go off on a "window dressing" package tour of Brussels, Berlin, and Slovakia, eat a plate of french fries IN France, cancel the staged "town hall" meeting with "normal Germans" in favor of a round table "dish-cuss-shun" with HappyTalkers, then have Pootie basically say "Who the hell are you to talk to me about democracy?" Naw, we need to attack the filibuster, or cloture rule in the Senate, so a simple majority of Senators can stop debate on the judicial nominees Bush wants to ram through confirmation, many for the second time.

You go, Boy! Get after it! Get 'er done! YeeHaw and HowdyDoo!

Take a look at Jeffrey Toobin's piece, " Blowing Up the Senate," in The New Yorker. Read on as Arlen Specter waxes poetic, remembering the moderate Republicans who once roamed the earth:

---

“We had a lot of senators,” he said. “We could go on and on and on,” and he named, as examples of this group, Bob Packwood, Mark Hatfield, Lowell Weicker, Charles Mathias, and John Heinz. “And we don’t have them now. So it’s not good for the Party, and it’s not good for the country. It’s not good for the Party because you need balance. You need to be a national Party.”

Read on some more as Specter reverse-ruminates over taking the teeth out of the filibuster:

“If the Republican caucus decides to consider it, I’ll give it some serious thought.” (on the very next day) Specter said he would use his “best efforts to stop any future filibusters... If a rule change is necessary to avoid filibusters, there are relevant recent precedents to secure rule changes with fifty-one votes.”

---

I've got it! Let's not call it the "nuclear option." Let's call it the "constitutional option!" Yeah, that's the ticket - who needs to compromise with the Democratic minority, and "cool the coffee in the saucer" anyway? We've run roughshod over the country and the world for more than three years now. We're firmly entrenched at the state and local levels. We own patriotism. We own Jesus. We own the Ten Commandments. "We are the world, we'll kill your children." Ah, the beauty of "compassionate conservatism." Makes ya feel all cold and hairless, don't it?

I say do it! Try it on for size, see how it fits. Give every Republican Senator, Congressperson, Governor, Mayor, and County Commissioner a reason to run for the hills as the hollow hellhole you've made of our government collapses in on itself, insulated in puffed up punditry and hypocritic hogwash. Go on with your bad self like a half-assed Jaycee speaking at the Lions Club luncheon in AnyTown, USA. I dare you.

We just had more than one hundred Iraqis killed today south of Baghdad, lining up to get medical certificates in order to apply for work. We can't find Osama. People are beginning to forget what September 11th was all about. Who's gonna notice a little ol' thing like a "minor tweak" to the "cloture rule?" I'll tell ya who - millions of us, Mr. Specter, so grow a pair and regain the self confidence Jeffrey Toobin refers to in his article. Or get out of the way ~
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Excerpt from The New Yorker is © Copyright 2005, CondéNet. All rights reserved, and used here for contextual purposes only.

The State of the Black Union

(a quickie entry in case you happen to stop by this evening, first posted at dailykos)

In case you missed it, C-Span's coverage of The State of the Black Union just concluded.  Tavis Smiley said that there should be a replay of the entire day's events beginning at about 8 p.m. Eastern tonight on one of C-Span's 3 networks (see schedule link above).  I don't care who you are, or whether you're a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist, or a heathen like me, there were moments today that could not be denied. Just like Mahalia Jackson's voice, G.E. Patterson's sermons (sometimes), The Mighty Clouds of Joy,The Dixie Hummingbirds, and the Blind Boys of Alabama can't be denied.

Unlike The Boy's State of DysUnion speech where he continued to piss down our backs and tell us it was raining, this day, this program, was rich with real issues, real emotion, and real demands. Set your vcr/tivo's or stream the audio tonight with your dialup while online.  Either way, I dare you to sit on your hands while listening or watching. Hell, I'm on my way to my dusty old cassette library to find some Rev. James Cleveland right now!

There's No Escape From Tolerance

For some of us it's damned hard to tolerate these intolerant times. Intolerance works. It works like a charm, but only when its believers hold power. And those intolerant souls who wield that power do great damage to the collective psyche of their country, their religions, their schools, and their children. Intolerance disregards the history, culture, and institutions of any country that stands in its way. Sometimes with a gun, sometimes with a dollar. Sometimes with both.

But intolerance takes a lot of energy. Sustaining hatred is hard work. Constantly shouting down anyone who asks an honest question is exhausting. Turning the tables on your opponents by accusing them of the very misdeeds you've committed gets tricky once your command of betrayal begins to sag. Arrogance becomes intolerance's undoing. And today, the arrogance of intolerance is in full bloom following BoyGeorge's election to four more years. But it's beginning to wear thin. When ads appear online claiming that if you support AARP's position on social security you basically hate our troops and "love the gays," psychosis can't be far behind. Once-fervent believers begin to recognize the madness and the method of the message of intolerance. And many start to shy away from the blowhards.

In recent history we've experienced many short-lived periods of intolerance. But under pressure from citizen activists, a few brave souls in government and the press (and once upon a time on television), intolerance always seemed to lose out in the end. Women won the right to vote, can you believe it? Senators became the "victims" of election by popular vote. Prohibition was revoked. Collective bargaining became a reality. The anti-communist witch hunt died with the exposure of Joe McCarthy's small town bully bullshit. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act brought hope to millions. So today, while tolerance may be behind on the judges' scorecards, in my opinion we're just now heading into the championship rounds.

Tolerance is downright vital for any group of individuals to survive. And we know it. Deep down, we all know it. Even those who've co-opted what they believe to be tolerance for their own purposes, whether from the hyper-politically correct left or the "hate the sin, love the sinner" right, learn the meaning of authentic tolerance if they bloody themselves enough from banging their heads against the wall time and time again. That is, unless they lose consciousness.

So take a moment and consider the possibility that intolerance burns itself out under the weight of common sense. Understand that this country still passes on the almost genetic belief in the fundamental rights of the individual. Know that tolerance is not idealism, it's a practical reality constantly in search of a new model for peaceful coexistence. Unless my ears deceive me, the code words of intolerance are beginning to ring hollow. The intolerance in power has overreached, deluded itself through its own insulation, dismissed anyone inside its camp who dared to be thoughtful, and become the laughing stock of the rest of the world. The intolerant are fast running out of friends and making new "enemies" every day. Sure they've created a global mess and left countless tragedies in their wake. But tolerance always grows back from the muck of intolerance. And Spring is right around the corner.
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Screen capture, American Spectator home page, before the anti-AARP "ad" was pulled, courtesy of comments posted at There Is No Crisis.

The Drugstore Cowboy Goes a Mendin' Fences

Howdy! How ya'll doin' out here in ol' Europe? Good to seeya. France put on a fine spread in Brussels. Sure was good eatin' too! Did you folks hear me when I said how important a strong Europe is to America and all? Allrighty then. Well, I hate to eat and run, but I need to head on over to Slovakia and "look into the soul" of my buddy Putin. Now, I know he's put an end to the free press and all, but hell, so have we, so what's the big deal? We're gonna talk about how freedom is good, and how everyone who doesn't agree with me and the PNACers hate us for our freedom. I'll probably have to do a little dressin' down with Pootie in public, but he'll understand. After all, I'm a statesman now - ain't that somethin' ~

Let's take a look at the fences that need mending, shall we?

Under BoyGeorge's watch we've:

Walked away from the Kyoto Accords and various treaties that were just plain inconvenient for our "new" Doctrine of Preemption. Now our own leaders have to watch where they travel so they won't be arrested for war crimes.

We labeled France and Germany "Old Europe," endearing us to them like an angry, drunk stepfather.

We told the UN to basically go to hell. Now THAT'S what I call bold diplomacy!

We lied, and lied, and lied again to our own citizens and the world about Iraq, "an ally of Al Qaeda," then later said with a straight face that we "never said there was a connection between Iraq and September eleventh." Then we went to war without an exit strategy.

We called for an independent Palestinian State, while winking at Sharon as he built his security wall and targeted Palestinians for assassination, including an old leader in a wheelchair.

We told North Korea to wash their hands and come to the dinner table with our buddies or face the consequences.

Now we're saber rattling our way into the next skirmish with Iran, who's linking up with Syria for self defense.

We may have cooked the books in the Iraqi election to prevent a Shiite majority, but of course, if we did that, we did it in the name of democracy.

We began the privatization of our own voting process while Ukraine threw out the fraudulent leaders who tried to hold onto power.

We concentrated on gay marriage, "intelligent design," dismantling social security, making tax cuts for the wealthiest among us permanent, and taking class action lawsuits away from the states in order to better protect corporations. We did all of this under the banner of "values."

The list goes on and on, and my fingers are starting to blister, so forgive me if I left out a few issues heralded as part of The Boy's "vision" for America. But I will say this - When it comes to mending fences, you're pretty much shit out of luck once you've demonstrated that you have absolutely no respect for your neighbors' property lines, not to mention their mineral rights.

p.s. Feb. 23rd: As part of his "fence mendin' ways" The Boy made this startling statement in Brussels -

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous," Bush said after meeting with leaders of the European Union. "And having said that," he added, "all options are on the table."

We love you, we love you not...KABOOM!

p.p.s. Feb. 23rd: Aw, golly gee, BoyGeorge cancelled the "town hall" meeting in Germany when it was learned that some questioners might go "off script." What's a fence mender to do?
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Quote from IndyStar comes from a story by David Jackson, The Dallas Morning News, and is assumed to be the copyrighted material of its rightful owner, used here for contextual purposes only.

It's "Giuliani Time" in Afghanistan

In an article from the February 18th issue of The Guardian, former Bagram "detainee" Hussain Adbulkadr Youssouf Mustafa told an all too familiar story to his attorney:

---

He claims to have been blindfolded, tightly handcuffed, gagged and had his ears plugged, forced to bend down over a table by two (US) soldiers, with a third soldier pressing his face down on the table, and to have had his trousers pulled down.

"They forcibly rammed a stick up my rectum," he reports. "It was excruciatingly painful ... Only when the pain became overwhelming did I think I would ever scream. But I could not stop screaming when this happened."

---

With all of the Valentine's Day and President's Day goings on, I'm not sure how much coverage this story will get in American newspapers and cable snewz channels, but I couldn't help but be reminded of another, more domestic case of Phelpsian interrogation tactics - The Abner Louima case in New York. You might remember this from the New York Daily News' Pulitzer Prize-winning commentary:

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From his bed in Coney Island Island Hospital last week, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, and his wife, Micheline, told me about the Aug. 9 horror of being beaten with radios and having a toilet plunger shoved up his rectum through his intestines into his bladder.

"The cops who came here that Saturday morning told a nurse they found me bleeding on the ground," Louima said. "They told her, 'He was half naked and bleeding when we found him. Something happened in the club.' They said it was a homosexual thing. The coverup started there."

---

When asked whether he was one of the officers who told Louima "This isn't Dinkins time, it's Giuliani time," accused officer Justin Volpe denied ever having said that. But it was too late. "It's Guiliani time" had already entered the legend of American FolkGore. And now it seems to have worked its way around the world as a sodomistic symbol of torture in the name of "getting answers" and "saving soldiers lives."

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-cop or anti-soldier. I'm anti-abuse and anti-torture. Where I live the Travis County Sheriff's Department is considered one of the finest departments anywhere. For the most part, their professionalism, courtesy, and one-on-one approach to every citizen they encounter is remarkable. And my late grandfather was a deputy sheriff in West Texas during the height of the oil wildcatter's days. A small, soft-spoken man, he commanded respect because his reputation for fairness preceded him wherever he went.

But today, with Alberto Gonzales now heading up the Justice Department and BoyGeorge heading off to Brussels, Germany, and Slovakia, I can't help but wonder if some passengers somewhere aboard Air Force One aren't saying to themselves - "This isn't Clinton time, it's Bush time!"

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Excerpts from The Guardian and the New York Daily News are the copyrighted property of their rightful owners, and are used here for contextual purposes only.

Forget Politics, Where's an Inter-Faith Summit?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the midst of hardening fundamentalism from both Muslims and Christians around the world, I have yet to hear about any serious international summit of religious leaders designed to find common ground and a counterbalance to the bloody stalemate we find ourselves in today. Quoting from the overview comparing Christianity and Islam at ReligiousTolerance.org:

---

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are three closely related religions. Because they all revere Abraham and certain other patriarchs mentioned in the Bible as their spiritual ancestors, they are called Abramic religions.

---

And again (if I have my facts straight), aside from their differences and the various sects that have grown out of their original faiths, all three religions mentioned above seem to believe in the same God - the God of Abraham. While Christians worship Christ as the Messiah, and many trust in the softening of the Old Testament's "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" teachings, Jews reject Christ as the Messiah and continue to wait for His coming, while Muslims believe Abraham, Moses, and Christ to be authentic prophets - and yet consider it blasphemy to think of Christ as the Son of God - the same God all three religions believe in.

It also seems to be a part of human nature to belong to a group, whether based in faith, culture, family, or politics. And for the most part, groups have learned how to coexist with one another through moderation and tolerance. So where are the moderate religious leaders? And why aren't they holding international summits in order to address fundamentalism and search for solutions to our present dilemma?

While acknowledging the cultures and various sects within each of their faiths, why is it that we don't hear from these leaders as they:

1. Lay claim to the moderate views expressed by the vast majority of their followers?

2. Denounce fundamentalism, the violence of suicidal martyrdom, and occupation?

3. Present real, concrete solutions to these critical problems?

4. Remind us all of the thousands of false claims made by "End Timers" over the last 2,000 years?

5. Petition their country's governments to educate and promote religious tolerance to their citizenry?

In my judgment these potential summits should be high-profile and ongoing. It is not possible for governments to solve deeply-held religious conflicts. It is up to the religious leaders whose faith allows for other faiths to exist. And the silence these leaders exhibit is deafening. Perhaps they should consult their dictionaries and re-examine the definition of the word "leader."
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Excerpt from ReligiousTolerance.org is copyright © 1995-2005, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. All rights reserved. Used here for contextual purposes only.

A Valentine Wish For Mary Mornin

You may have seen or heard BoyGeorge's back and forth with a single mom working three jobs, who has one mentally-challenged adult son, and two adult daughters. She and all of the attendees at this staged Social Security "Town Hall" seminar had been screened and invited to attend. I've seen and heard the exchange between BoyGeorge and Mary Mornin, and DubyaSpeak.com has an accurate transcript of the the comments as shown below:

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DUBYA: Mary is with us. Mary Mornin. How are you, Mary?
MS. MORNIN: I'm fine.
DUBYA: Good. Okay, Mary, tell us about yourself.
MS. MORNIN: Okay, I'm a divorced, single mother with three grown, adult children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.
. . .
DUBYA: There's a certain comfort to know that the promises made will be kept by the government.
MS. MORNIN: Yes.
DUBYA: And so thank you for asking that. You don't have to worry.
MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.
DUBYA: You work three jobs?
MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
DUBYA: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. Get any sleep?
-- Dubya takes pride in the fact that in America, this woman has to work three jobs to stay afloat, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005.

---

Bush ended his exchange with Ms. Mornin this way: THE PRESIDENT: "Well, hopefully, this will help you get your sleep to know that when we talk about Social Security, nothing changes."- Oh really, nothing changes, Mr. Bush? (read the entire transcript here)

Perhaps the most blatant lie in that exchange came when The Boy said to Ms. Mornin: DUBYA: "And so thank you for asking that. You don't have to worry."- YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY - a callous misrepresentation if ever there was one.

---

Forget the bizarre "compliment" that it's "uniquely American" to be working three jobs, and how it's "fantastic that you're doing that." Worry, and worry each and every day this administration remains in power.

And now, tonight, I saw the first barrage of slick, "presidential" messages hawking all of the talking points promoting the privitization of Social Security.

Let me make myself clear. A brief, understandable challenge to the Bush administration's first major salvo designed to begin the dismantling of Social Security is avaiable at my entry at "Hustle, Desire, and Want-To". Links from that piece take you to sites where you can do your own homework on Social Security "reform." But, as always, it's up to each and every one of us to dig for the truth as classic Republican code words like tort "reform" and devious doings like the latest bankruptcy Bill make another pass in the Senate as chronicled in a recent diary at DailyKos.

Make no mistake. The Chamber of Commerce made history with their record $53.38 million dollar contributions to both the Executive and Legislative branches during 2004. Attempts are being made to end class actions suits, transferring legal redress from the State to the Federal level, where stricter rules will effectively bring an end to your right to hold corporations accountable for their mischief that's already ruined millions of lives. The people who claim to represent you and me are fast becoming no more than the whores of corporate interests and BoyGeorge's "vision" for America's future.

And so, I offer these alternative challenges to the glossy, spoonfed media fluff pieces that permeate our airwaves, in hopes that Mary Mornin and others will take the time to question our government's real motivations, rather than simply take the word of media-savvy propagandists bent on consolidating power much in the same way multi-national corporations continue to consolidate power in the hands of the few.

To me, Valentine's Day means making a commitment to the ones we love and care about. I care about the possibility that Ms. Mornin has been fooled by the scripted HappyTalk in Omaha. And offer this gift to look beyond the rhetoric in an effort to uncover the truth, the motivations, and the cynical attempts to erode citizens' abilities to hold our government accountable for its attempts to shut down debate, label dissenters as "liberal elites" and continue the brazen plans to steamroll their anti-New Deal, anti-Great Society, even the anti-Nixonian EPA legislation. Ms. Mornin, don't be fooled, don't give up or give in. Seach out and test the voracity of the many intelligent, well-researched challenges to this nightmare of fear, intimidation, and Orwellian DoubleSpeak.

Puddles Gets A Press Pass!

Whee! Hiya boys and girls! It's me - Puddles! (oops) - the Incontinent Clown! And today we're gonna put on our press passes and take a field trip to the Circus! But first, Puddles needs to take his medicine, so close your eyes, kids, while Puddles pops the pills Dr. FeelGood gave him, and then we'll be on our way!

(later that day, near the Capitol)

Oh goodness me oh my - look at The Big Top, boys and girls! (oops) That's the place where all the smart, good people work to make sure you grow up strong and free! Everyone here looks and sounds real important, and they know how to talk through both sides of their mouths - but let's move on, Puddles isn't feeling so well...

(later still, across from the White House)

And here's where the Leader of the Free World lives, boys and girls! (oops) He's almost always up early, just like every good boy and girl, and sometimes he even spends the night here! Why, there's even a room where you can ask him questions, boys and girls - Let's go!

(WH briefing room, Puddles' medicine is wearing off)

Oh boy! Look at all the TV lights, and the cameras, and the fancy podium, boys and girls! This is where the tough, curious, and unrelenting reporters ask all the hard questions to Mr. Scotty and Our Leader! (oops) And they do it so mommy and daddy can make informed decisions, boys and girls! But they're always polite, just like you should be, and they never, ever make Scotty budge from that day's Talking Points! Oh boy, Puddles is startin' to feel a little dizzy, boys and girls - maybe he should sit down for a minute...

(the kids wander off, Puddles takes off his wig, his shoulders sag)

Yeah...whee (oops). This is where reporters sat with straight faces while The Ringer, Mr. Jeff, asked all the loaded questions, and if it weren't for the blogosphere he'd still be here today! Whee...here's where reporters are supposed to ask the tough questions on behalf of mommy, daddy, and all the boys and girls - and who am I kidding? Who are they kidding? Puddles feels sick, boys and girls. Puddles needs to take a nap, just like the rest of America...where'd ya go, kids?

(later that night, in Puddles' rented room)

Think I'll crack the seal on this bottle of Night Train and watch the news! Oh boy - the Grammy Awards are on this weekend! Half the press corps is camped out at the Michael Jackson trial! The baseball steroid scandal is everywhere! And everyone pretends they know who Arthur Miller was! (glug, glug) Well, I'm half drunk and world-weary, boys and girls. Puddles has been through one big upheaval already, back in the 60's and early 70's, boys and girls. But this time it's even worse - one part of one Party runs the circus, and everybody seems to work for the Big Five: GE, News Corp, Time-Warner, Disney, and Viacom. And they don't wanna bite the hand that feeds 'em, boys and girls - their sponsors! So excuse Puddles while he stretches out on the Murphy bed and goes to sleep - the fitful, wine-soaked sleep of a semi-retired clown who used to enjoy getting all made-up for the Three Ring Circus, back when his buddies worked there too. You remember them, doncha boys and girls? (oops) Checks and Balances? They were always Puddles' favorite clowns.

Jeff Gannon - Man of Illusion!

He's here, he's gone, he never existed. Jeff Gannon, White House reporter for Talon News! Apparently the Roveian Regurgitators forgot that Google and the Internet Archive and lots and lots of other RSS FeedSnatchers have reached out and captured all the Web pages someone is trying to delete. There's a crack in the Grand Delusion, and WebRiders everywhere are digging for gold as the story unfolds. Need to do a little catch-up? Simply looking for a QuickStop where you can drop the latest tidbit? Need to take a break from this incredible bullshit? (okay, okay, that was a shameless plug for a few entries in this BabyBlog, please for-friggin-give me!) SlowServers make for FrayedNervers, so feel free to click from this SlapUp entry as you travel on the Train of Thought - desination: Darkness. Just a mile down the road from Breaking Point ~

In case the DailyKos servers get a little bit overloaded, be sure to stop by the forum at AlterNet and leave your links and thinks for other cub reporters ~
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DailyKos has a fine place to start doing your research:

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Overview

White House-credentialed fake news reporter "Jeff Gannon" from fake news agency "Talon News" was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing.

These facts have led the Kos community to research the following questions:

Who/what is Talon News?

Who/what is Jeff Gannon and how did he get credentialed for the White House?

How is this "reporter" and "news agency" being used to disseminate information?

What exactly is the relationship between all the various outlets/GOP groups/individuals?

What does all this information have to do with the Plame leak?
---

February 17, 2005: Update & Press Release from DailyKos here.

February 10, 2005: Press release & primer for the press from DailyKos here.

February 9th resource from Kos on the tortured journey of "Gannon, Talon News," Valerie Plame, and the White House here. Keep up with the story at Daily Kos. And let's not forget World O Crap, and Media Matters

Excerpt from dailykos.com is Copyright 2005, Daily Kos. Enjoy their copyright notice: "Steal what you want." Don't abuse the privilege.

Hustle, Desire, and Want-To

They've got a good ball club. Plenty of intestinal fortitude, speed AND quickness. But The Boy's front office may have forgotten a key element of any team's philosophy - "We're gonna take it one game at a time." From the look of things, the Drugstore Cowboyz might have decided to try that one gadget play a little too early in the second half of the Big Game - Social Security.

Paul Krugman lays out the potential for future Hall of Shame Games in his column today, "Spearing the Beast," and he does it in layman's terms:

---

Here's how it would work. First, workers with private accounts would be subject to a "clawback": in effect, they would have to mortgage their future benefits in order to put money into their accounts.

Second, since private accounts would do nothing to improve Social Security's finances - something the administration has finally admitted - there would be large benefit cuts in addition to the clawback.

---

He goes on to cite Jason Furman from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who game plans a not-so-rosy picture of retirement for Social Security's rookies, a picture not unlike the one that's all too familiar for retired Players who left the Game before free agency and a strong player's union came into being. Many ended up broke, with chronic pain from their playing days, and in some cases were simply left to fend for themselves on the streets, drinkin' and druggin' with the best of them.

Smirking Chimp pulls a lot of the Team's scouting reports together as well. Both Krugman and The Chimp listened in on a recent Team meeting when Stephen Moore from the BallClub For "Growth" stepped up to the chalkboard:

"Social Security is the soft underbelly of the welfare state. If you can jab your spear through that, you can undermine the whole welfare state."

I can just hear the QuarterBush as he breaks the huddle - "Far right, Far right, code Welfare State - Fuck 'em on two! Hup one (rule the world) Hup two (screw the Citizenry). Ready? (new budget proposal), Set (smear with fear). Hike!" (naked bootleg to the right of center).*

Yes, BoyGeorge & The Dicks have a great bawl club. But they may have forgotten the fact that The League now has free agency. And if some of the player's agents decide to put their Clients out on the free market rather than re-sign with the Home Team, we might just see a Coach's Challenge on this replay from Rethuglican Hell.

*(my apologies to real quarterbacks for calling the signals out of sequence)

Excerpt from Paul Krugman's column above is Copyright 2005, The New York Times Co. All rights reserved. Used here for contextual purposes only.

Through the Eyes of A Ten-Year-Old, 1960

I know it's been written about, researched to death, and editorialized both honestly and through the eyes of every known columnist's printed persona - but watching the 1960 Democratic National Convention with Grandma (secretly sharing sherbet from the Pick 'N Pay for supper), picking up on her kind school teacher's lessons on the political process, on LBJ from a Texan's standpoint at the time, and later, back home at Mom's, thrilling at JFK's Inaugural Address in late January, 1961, this ten-year-old boy saw nothing but promise and inspiration for all the days to come. The Colts were still in Baltimore. John Unitas was a god. The Cowboys were just getting started in the NFL. "The Alamo," filmed in Todd-AO was the talk of the neighborhood. And Doo Wop reigned supreme on radios up and down the east coast.

Things were different back then.

The possibilities seemed endless to me. Commercial bombardiers had yet to seriously invade the lives of everyone, near and far. The Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum. And the Cuban Missle Crisis was an unforeseeable speck on the horizon.

But things hadn't been all that rosy as I grew to learn the lay of the land in the 1950's. I was a child born during a war, The Korean War. McCarthyism raged, the Cold War was on, everyone had to line up for the polio vaccine, "duck and cover" drills really meant duck and cover, Sputnik was circling the globe, and we had yet to see the new Boeing 707 at Friendship Airport.

So, as I get ready to watch the Super Bowl this evening, I'll be making a piano player's deft use of the remote control to minimize the bombardment. I'll be rooting for The New England Patriots, because no true Baltimore Colts or Dallas Cowboys fan could ever cheer on Philadelphia (unless it helped our chances).

I won't be:

Thinking of the "Patriots" in today's terms.

Avoiding the game because I'm "above it all."

Looking back at the 2004 election and shaking my head.

Wondering how many generations will suffer before the Tsunami fades into memory (I'll continue to obsess over that nightmare later).

Forgetting that February is Black History Month.

Fuming at all of the "experts" who continue to portray either JFK or LBJ in some one-dimensional, revisionist, Roveian way.

I'll just enjoy the game. After all, there's still a ten-year-old boy inside me who hasn't been tended to in a long time.

The State of DysUnion

In last night's State of the Union Address, BoyGeorge said this:

"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else."

I'm, well...I'm dumbfounded. Either that or just so damn dumb I'll never understand the truth as SuperFrat sees it. And I was ever so glad to know this:

"Taking on gang life will be one part of a broader outreach to at-risk youth, which involves parents and pastors, coaches and community leaders, in programs ranging from literacy to sports. And I am proud that the leader of this nationwide effort will be our First Lady, Laura Bush."

Laura Bush, GangBuster! Now, I've always been proud of the fact that Mrs. Bush came from West Texas. And I never really let anything she said get under my skin. That is, until she hit the road in support of The Boy's approach (or lack thereof) to stem cell research. You remember how she told one audience something like "it's not like a cure for OldTimer's Disease is right around the corner." So, it makes perfect sense to me that Mrs. Bush should hang with the boyz and girlz in The Hood, telling them to "Just Say 'Step Off' to Gangs!" I'm sure it will help.

But of course the centerpiece of the Drugstore Cowboy's speech was Social Security, and how we all need to roll up our sleeves and work together, with everything on the table, and get to fixin' that mess before 2042. Thank goodness there's nothing much else going on in the country and the world to worry about! Why, he even made this promise:

"We'll make sure the money can only go into a conservative mix of bonds and stock funds. We'll make sure that your earnings are not eaten up by hidden Wall Street fees."

And that's when it hit me. I'm insane! I'm completely insane! I thought that the pittance people received from Social Security was supposed to be a kind of insurance policy of last resort, not an investment instrument of first choice. Oh what a Tangled Web we be, when at last we think we know D.C.

Gangs, "personal" accounts, and this:

"Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges. For the good of families, children, and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage."

These are today's vital issues. This is what the country is aching to deal with. And let's not forget to speak in code when it comes to the Supremes and all those re-nominated judges getting "ready to rumble" for round two:

"Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench."

Oh, those pesky liberal judges! How DARE they speak from the bench. We've got mandatory sentencing guidelines, overzealous prosecutions, The Patriot Act, and the legacy of BabyDoc Powell to serve as guidelines for the Judiciary, along with the King James version of The Bible.

Wellsir, there you have it. Back from the future so we can solve the Social Security crisis. Laura getting down with gangs. Keeping those judges in line, not to mention the gay, lesbian, and transgendered community. Iraq? Iraq Shmiraq!


The Cost of War in Iraq?

To see the details, click here.



Quotations taken directly from the White House Web site