This may not be the worst of it

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Cheney and friends were all about the torture, a concept I can't fathom despite Bush saying it was valuable. As Stewart points out so clearly: they have no problem "winning at any cost" with torture, but we can't have gay people translating a language we would desperately need translated.

But it seems that it may have gone further to rape and and sexual abuse. What is wrong with these people? Has the U.S. population gone mad as this information is coming out and Cheney's poll numbers are going up? Is it no wonder that Republicans are falling in a hole of which they are determined to never get out?

Nothing obscene today?

Nothing on the AP about congress going crazy or outlawing babies. Nothing on CNN either. Okay, time to check Fox News... WOW! Nothing there either, other than a giant blob below Nevada.

Move along. Nothing to see.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

It's the age old story. Boy likes party. Boy emboldens party. Boy leads party to victory. Boy and party crash to the ground with boy and boy's friends not learning lesson one.

Quick quiz - who is a better person and leader: Colin Powell or Rush Limbaugh? Rove says Limbaugh. I say fail. It's no wonder the Republican party is in shambles.

More people like cheney. wait, what?

So, Obama decided to explain why we needed to close Gitmo, and Cheney decided to explain why we shouldn't. And now more than a third of people like him. I guess they think he's good for living up to his name. Of course, we all know who the original 25 percent were, but who are the other twelve?

Alec baldwin makes a great headline

"Alec Baldwin Cracks Wise, Starts International Incident". That sounds about right. What a great headline. I mean the body might not be Mark Twain, but it's solid. However, it's the headline that gives that punch (or shot in the face)

But it was short lived. Alec apologized. I guess he's taking a note from Obama's playbook. If only Cheney and company could figure that out.

The war prayer

I recently came across the War Prayer by Mark Twain. I found this short story to be very powerful the first time I read it, but it's still powerful now. It follows along with a bumper sticker I recently saw.

It seems sometimes the Bible can justify anything. Of course it really comes down to a perversion or lack of understanding when this happens. The same thing happens with national and international law.

So if you haven't read it before, check it out. It's only about 10 paragraphs and a worthy read.

Wheel -o- obscenity

What to choose, what to choose... Should I post about the 'Bleep'n Golden' line of hair care products?



Perhaps it should be the screwy commentary that Social Security has outperformed 401(k)'s recently (Duh. It is funded by debt and is unsustainable)

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Hmmm... no. Let's see. What else is there. AH! Powell Aide says enhanced interrogation techniques ** cough ** (torture) ** cough ** were used to justify the Iraq War.

Finding a "smoking gun" linking Iraq and al Qaeda became the main purpose of the abusive interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002, a former State Department official told CNN on Thursday.

The allegation was included in an online broadside aimed at former Vice President Dick Cheney by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. In it, Wilkerson wrote that the interrogation program began in April and May of 2002, and then-Vice President Cheney's office kept close tabs on the questioning.

"Its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda," Wilkerson wrote in The Washington Note, an online political journal.

Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, said his accusation is based on information from current and former officials. He said he has been "relentlessly digging" since 2004, when Powell asked him to look into the scandal surrounding the treatment of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Oh, Cheney: is there no evil you can't justify, if for no other reason but to justify even more evil.

It seems Cheney is pissing off everyone. Don't stop now, Cheney. Single-digit approval ratings are only 10 points away! You know, it might be time to get a clue.

A new definition of insanity

We have all heard the phrase "insanity is doing the same thing but expecting different results." However, Cheney takes it a step further. The Republican party is failing. People get this. (Well, most people).

Cheney does not. But not only does he continue doing the same things that get him no where: blasting everyone that he doesn't agree with, he decides to turn the gun on his own allies, like Colin Powell.

Nice move, Cheney. Here's another phrase for you: "You can attract more flies with honey..." Seriously, dude. Get a clue. I know you like to cut people off at the knees, but try to make it people that aren't on your side. You have a 19% approval rating. You can't afford to off your own guys. Find an opponent and shoot him in the face.

Perhaps you do know what you're doing. Perhaps your idea is to get rid of everyone who disagrees with you at all. It sure will be a lonely planet with only one person left.

Doris kearns goodwin - not obscene

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The interviews on the Daily Show are about a 50/50 shot with me, but with Doris Kearns Goodwin I make an exception. She is intellegent, well-versed, and has a bead on her subject: political history.

This isn't the first time Jon has had her on the show and her insight in Lincoln was brilliant, and saved Jon's butt in a clinch.

Thanks for six and a half minutes of non-obscenity.

.5 percent cut - uh... woo hoo?

Let's face it. Obama likes the green. He had the most expensive political campaign in history. He broke his pledge on public financing for it. He supported more bailouts. And he's running up a record deficit.

So it's no surprise that he doesn't like to cut back. Last time he offered it was $100 million. In a budget that contains $3.5 trillion in spending, $100 million doesn't even show on the radar.

So now he bumped it up to $17 billion, or roughly .4% of the proposed budget for this year. If you were speeding down the highway at 100 MPH in an 80 MPH zone, saw a policeman and dropped the speed by .4%, chances are it will still show as 100.

Well, here's to empty gestures. It's just a step to empty futures. Let's hope we can avoid that.

Specter: a [gop] wake-up call

It wasn't long ago Senator Arlen Spector said he would switch to the Democratic Party, a move he said he made to save his seat. But even more recently he said that this should be a wake-up call to Republicans. He went on to say the party has changed since the 80's when the party was more inclusive, a position I have espoused here.

Newt Gingrich sees the problem:

They [RNC members] all think they’re precious, and they all think they should be taken care of, and they all think the job of the chairman, first of all, is to make the RNC members happy.

Isn't that entitlement? Isn't that something that the right opposes strongly? Isn't one of the core values of the right (a value I agree with wholeheartedly) about making your way instead of having your way made for you? But the right seems to want to continue down the same broken path expecting different results.

Come on: listen to these guys. They're your own guys, or were until they realized you're in a tail spin of which you refuse to get out. How many members do you have to lose before you figure it out? If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for your country. Your execution of late has been pitiful, but many of your core values are important for the country. It's time to give up the entitlement, ditch the egos, and get back to serving your country.

Sometimes you don't have to agree to laugh

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I enjoyed this clip so much, I just thought I'd share. The video that is being parodied is cheesy and becomes a full fromage fondue at the line "and I am afraid." (That was honestly a little frightening confession even for a paid actor.)

The video was funny; the parody more so.

Working hard so we have to work harder

On my way into work today I saw this bumper sticker: "Republicans: We work hard so you don't have to." It reminds me of Bush complaining about having to work hard during the 2004 debates.

Now I won't get into the contradiction of the strong ethos of the right wing (and ethos I to a large degree agree with) that prefers to teach to fish instead of give a fish, but I do have to say this does not reflect today's Republican party.

Today's party likes to work, yes, but requiring those of us not in lock step to do even more work to clean up the mess. War on Terror, Iraq, secret prisons, Guantanamo. Next time you want to work so hard, leave us out of it. Oh, wait. You did. Perhaps next time, you need to include everyone. So far Obama has failed on that front; you could make up ground.