Positive Vibration

I needed this. Otherwhise, I'd feel like this:

Try to make it work

I wrote an earlier post about the multilateral talks regarding Iraq, and while I said I wasn't optomistic, I felt this was the only answer that might (maybe have a chance) work. All the other options will be failures. So leave it to Shrubs people to screw up basic diplomacy:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070311/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_conference

Reza Amiri, a senior official at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, dismissed American claims that Tehran was destabilizing Iraq by arming Shiite militias.The U.S. military has insisted that Iranian weapons, including a new generation of powerful roadsidebombs, have killed more than 170 U.S. and coalition troops here since mid-2004. "They're lying because it is just not true," Amiri told the AP. "Iraq's borders with Iran are the most secure of Iraqi borders. The Iraqi government has not even once said Iran is interfering in its affairs."

Why is this man still alive?

Today is OBL's 50th birthday, which is at least 5 more birthdays that he would have seen if we had a competent president. Thanks to Shrub's Iraq fixation we gave up on Bin Laden, the person who actually attacked us. While it is unclear whether Osama is actually still leading Al Queda, his ability to inspire jihadi's remains unchecked. If you read Bin Laden's fatwas (especially in the original Arabic), he clearly states his plan to destroy America by slowly bleeding us to death. By invading Iraq, Bush has played into his plans perfectly. I find myself outraged that he is still alive to see this day, while our troops are getting killed in a country where he isn't.

"I want you to invade Iraq!"

What Xerxes said to the Winslowsions.

Wierd day. Somebody that used to be my boss, years ago, in another context, is now a new guy, in a current context. i have to show him how to do stuff. A bit daunting, indeed,-to train a fella whose wisdom, in both contextuals, fairly supercedes my own. It's like... i asked him for guidance in that other context, -today he asked me for instruction in this current context. Yep. Contextual synchronous occurances, that is.; current ones,,,
Methinks i find this to be the sort of thing ; metaphysical enigma, if you will, to make one raise his proverbial eyebrow, eh? As to what context shall insue, i dunno. In my humble opinion, God is synchronous occurences , superceding all context. If God exists, and he probably doesn't, It's probably wasted on Xanax- a constant new guy, in OUR context, flowing through all the answers to all our superfluous endeavors, but nothing left in the bag.

Cheeseburgers for Cheney

OK, this is a funny, creative, and sick idea...so I like it.http://cheesburgersforcheney.blogspot.com/2007/03/lets-buy-dick-cheney-cheeseburger.html

I say that March 30, 2007, is National Buy Dick Cheney a Cheeseburger Day.
That's a Friday. We all should be in a festive mood. We should all be thinking
of happier days, before the world hated us, before we were wasting (yes, I dare
use that word) American lives in Iraq to prove Dick's personal infallibility and
make his fantasy world view into reality. Let's dig in to a good old American
cheesburger and send Dick Cheney the
receipt.

I say we rub it in.

And if not rub it in,
encourage this bastard to indulge. That's right, Dick, feed feed that fat
fucking face of yours. Chow down. Every ounce of 80/20 ground chuck you down
gets us a few platelets closer to a true national holiday, the day your fucking
worthless, fascist, racist, corrupt, death-dealing, loathsome, lying purely evil
soul slips the surly bounds of your face and boards the 2/3 Express straight for
fucking hell.

Not subtle.

SweaterMan! Now with More Sweater!

Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick, but I'm back. DELL finally got the replacement laptop to me this morning, but it's been such a clusterfuck today that I just now swapped hard drives and booted the sucker up. So far, we've been up for 11 minutes and some change, and zee monitor, she is still going.

Unfortunately, duty calls and I must return to my humble job of systems administrator. But wherever something is awry, whenever the Bush administration fucks up, whenever there needs a comment or post about truth, justice, and the American way, know for certain you can count on a snarky post from SweaterMan!

Cue symphonic music. Fade to black. Roll credits.

Finis.

Bush in Brazil

Gee, if you watch the news ol' Shrub is welcomed in Brazil. Funny thing though. Some photos you won't see on faux news:

All photos from AP, on the protests in Soa Paulo.

"FBI misuses patriot act"

I'm only amazed by the fact that the Justice Department is now admitting this. I've come to expect the administration to ignore laws, lie about everything, and try to create a more authoritarian state. Is the tide starting to turn?http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/national_security_letters

WASHINGTON - The FBI improperly
and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain
personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department
audit concluded Friday.

Rolling Stone on Iraq

Wow. This is a great article on Iraq. The bottom line is that there are no good outcomes. Take a look at the panel- some of the brightest and best informed people around. Great job by a magazine that normally reports on pop culture:http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13710030/leaving_iraq_the_grim_truth
I see this was also noticed by our pal, Monkeyfisterhttp://www.monkeyfister.blogspot.com/,
who is a much better blogger.

The war in Iraq isn't over yet, but -- surge or no surge -- the United
States has already lost. That's the grim consensus of a panel of experts
assembled by Rolling Stone to assess the future of Iraq. "Even if we had a
million men to go in, it's too late now," says retired four-star Gen. Tony
McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. "Humpty
Dumpty can't be put back together again."

As someone else says, read the whole thing.

Friday "not a cat" post

Atrocia:

Toy of the day

The George W. Bush conspiracy theory generator:http://www.buttafly.com/bush/index.php

I Thought So

My father was a big student of genealogy, and I know my ancestry back 14 generations. Most of it traces back to Scotland, but there is always a mix. Now we have some science that confirms what I always thought:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/science/05cnd-brits.html?em&ex=1173416400&en=ff46b035b5b117b1&ei=5087%0A

But geneticists who have tested DNA throughout the British Isles are edging
toward a different conclusion. Many are struck by the overall genetic
similarities, leading some to claim that both Britain and Ireland have been
inhabited for thousands of years by a single people that have remained in the
majority, with only minor additions from later invaders like Celts, Romans,
Angles , Saxons, Vikings and Normans.

In Coins We Trust?

I want one...or more.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17501178/:

An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly
struck without their edge inscriptions, including “In God We Trust,” and are
fetching around $50 apiece online.

The whole god-money thing always freaked me.

added: if taking "in god we trust" off the coin makes $1 worth $50, could we eliminate the deficit by secularizing all currency?

Drinking Liberally

Sweaterman and I had talked about starting a chapter of Drinking Liberally in Flagstaff (our home town, motto: "poverty with a view"), but it appears that someone (named Andy Stevenson) has started one. Guess where I'll be tomorrow?

Flagstaff, Arizona

• Beginning March 8
• Second Thursday of each month, 6:00-8:00 pm
• Flagstaff Brewing Company, 16 East Route 66 (map)
• Hosted by
  Andy Stevenson, flagstaff
  (at) drinkingliberally.org

Irony? is that like steely?

To follow up on my favorite sleazeball, Sen. Pete Domenici:http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002700.php

What a small world. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) has nabbed Lee Blalack, best known as Duke Cunningham's lawyer, to represent him in the Senate ethics investigation,
The Washington Post reports.

Attacks

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The right-wing attack machine is going to throw everything they can at any Democratic candidate. Even if they have to make shit up. Today's target: Barack Obama, who apparently owned some stock and lost some money on it. Scandalous, right?http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_el_pr/obama_investments

"Obama owned stock in two companies which he did nothing to help — an
investment that lost him $13,000," Burton said in a statement Wednesday. "It's
apparent that his dealings were completely above board and his decisions were
proactively made in the interest of avoiding the potential for conflict."

This is only the beginning.

Added:

In one eight day stretch in 1988, Obama was cited seven times for parking violations and was fined $45. Thirteen of the 17 violations occurred within one month in 1988.

The guy got PARKING TICKETS!

Masked Boobie

cuz I wanted a masked boobie.

human history as severely scratched disc.(part 3038)

What I do for"frogskin", (a penobscot/iroquois term, betraying their shock at being rudely introduced to the insanity of Western currency) doesn't really matter. Okay, well I transmogrify various carcasses into delightful sandwiches. For frogskin. But I like to read the local paper during morning smoke-breaks.
One thing I learned today in today's local paper was, quite recently, USA soldiers, a few of 'em, were ambushed and mutilated by some embittered chap in Afghanistan. So our militia, not welcome there in the first place, became quite upset, and terrifically irrational, - thus spraying lethal bullets oer an entire Afghani villlage. Soldiers representing our country panicked and lost their shit, and slew innocent persons. Our troops are not trained in Arabic, Urdu or Pashtu. Should be, in my opinion...
Anyway, of course that's a gloomy thing to read on the front page of a newspaper
on yer first coffee-break of a long working day,. But the next page talked about the Boston Massacre, of 1770. Happened the same day.
Get it? Okay maybe not- how to put it...!- some colonial "insurgent" in 1770's Boston, tossed a rock at an occupying, unwelcome militia. The red-coats became quite upset, and terrifically irrational...
IRAQTIONAL
All about frogskin.
Get it now, y'all? In'shAllah?

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

Scooter found guilty on 4 of 5 counts. Now if we could get that kind of treatment for his boss.
*Dammit, Sweaterman! Get that damn laptop fixed.

Not even trying

I've been interested in alternative energy since I was in my teens, and that interest has grown with the awareness of global warming. I see so many potential steps that can be taken toward addressing the problem. But the easiest, cheapest step is simple increasing efficiency. So my head nearly exploded when I read this article:http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030507P.shtml

All told, the Department of Energy has missed
every one of 34 mandatory rule-making deadlines for setting minimum energy
efficiency standards involving 20 products including refrigerators, dishwashers,
freezers, pool heaters, furnaces and central air conditioners, analysts at the
Government Accountability Office reported.

(snip)Analysts at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory calculated that the missed
deadlines for just four of the more popular appliances would ultimately cost
consumers at least $28 billion in forgone energy savings - equivalent to the
annual primary energy consumption of about 20 million households.

This isn't rocket science or super-duper new technology. This is easily
achieved with equipment already on the market. It's not politically
difficult (as opposed to raising CAFE standards for automobiles), so where
the hell is the accountability? Where the hell is the enforcement?

Follow Up on Walter Reed

I posted earlier on the situation (see "This is Appalling"), but the whole horrid story keeps expanding. Paul Krugman (behind the NY Times pay wall) nails one of the core reasons that the situation deteriorated:

Yet even now it's not clear whether the public will be told the full story,
which is that the horrors of Walter Reed's outpatient unit are no
aberration. For all its cries of "support the troops," the Bush
administration has treated veterans' medical care the same way it treats
everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and
privatizing everything it can. But as with FEMA, the Bush administration has done
all it can to undermine that achievement. And the Walter Reed scandal is
another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration's
misgovernment became obvious to everyone.We know from Hurricane Katrina
postmortems that one of the factors degrading FEMA's effectiveness was the
Bush administration's relentless push to outsource and privatize disaster
management, which demoralized government employees and drove away many of
the agency's most experienced professionals. It
appears that the same thing has been happening to veterans' care.

While some thing work well under private management, there is a reason why we have a government. The care of our soldiers shouldn't be based on profitability. Responding to disasters shouldn't be based on "the bottom line".

Historically, societies form governments to collectively address the greater needs of said society. After all, the average disaster doesn't ask how everybody will pay for it.

Let's Investigate

The whole fired U.S. attorneys issue smelled of Republican corruption, and with hearings starting tomorrow the focus seems to be on New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4603161.html

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that Republican Sen. Pete
Domenici called Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his deputy four times
to
complain about a U.S. attorney who claims he was fired for not rushing a
corruption probe

This could get interesting, as Republicans no longer have the majority that made them immune to investigations. Sen. Domenici has always had questionable ethics, but the Bush justice department has not cared to pursue members of their own party. Watch for fallout over the next few weeks.

River pic

Mood improvement time: