Oh Yeah

And happy Mission Accomplished Day to you too.

Hypocrisy Watch

There is serious hypocrisy and there is just your normal hypocrisy. I figure that Buchman is just your normal hypocrite for lying about ear marks. But Rice and all the Bush people are just wow.

Inbred cretins

Why is there no CSI: West Virginia? Because there is only one set of DNA and there are no dental records.

OK, that was statist? Well, I am brought around to that joke, by the news that William Kristol is being fired, let go, resigning, whatever. The guy has tons of money and incredible influence because of his parents. The guy has never been right. The guy never loses his smirk. The guy helps destroy the economy and our military, not to mention the (at a minimum) tens of thousands of dead he can take at least partial responsibility for. He continues to fail upwards.

Why does he have that kind of power? Because of the inbred people who currently run this country. Our government and the media that reports on them have become monuments to nepotism.

Then when you think about it who would be the political hero of such a hack? The very last president that's who. Who was right about nothing, who never lost his smirk, and who more than any other individual is responsible for the destruction of our economy and our military. He did continue to fail upwards until he simply couldn't go any higher or fail any more spectacularly,

Birds (as my grandmother would say)of a feather. Kristol and Bush have got to feel comfortable around each other. They are essentially the same person. Not very bright, but given power simply because daddy greased the skids for them. And we as a people are so fucking stupid that we fall for our own inbred ruling class. At least as incompetant as the later Bourbons or Romanoffs, but without the style.

Oh Brother

Running through some of the various right wing blogs and I wonder just what their connection with reality is or can be. On the other hand, the one with five fingers, I see the darkest possible implications from Obama's taking a couple of days off to go back and be at his grandmother's bed side. Wow (at word that is getting more and more use as I see more and more weird behavior from the right wing).

I always wondered how the Romans managed to give complete fidelity to someone like Caligula or Tiberius (obviously there was the little problem that if you didn't you and your entire family would be horribly tortured and then killed). But still, even when given the option of a clear ability to off the tyrant, people would still not do the deed until things got beyond belief. What was it that prevented them from seeing the writing on the wall (to coin a phrase) and doing something about it?

When I studied them in college I could not understand their ability to give complete fidelity to a tyrant. Well, I kind of understand giving complete fidelity to a tyrant, I just don't understand giving complete fidelity to a tyrant who would name his horse counsel.

Let's face it neither Bush nor his followers nor McCain nor his followers are more connected to reality than Tiberius or Caligula, they are just not as sexually interesting. They are as incompetent as Caligula, but their personal peccadillo's will not be as much fun to read about in the history texts.

Unfortunately, I appear to lack an imagination, because although I am living through it, I still cannot figure out how anyone living today can think that Chaney/Bush or Palin/McCain would be a better choice than Obama (or Kerry)? Or for that matter a better choice than a rotten rubber boot. What in god's name have these people gotten right up to this point?

I have a complete inability to understand the mind of the courtier. Or apparently a True
Believer. Now I do not think that is necessarily a deeply ingrained moral positive. It may simply be that I have not had the opportunity to sell my soul. Although, I would be willing to take bids.

Well to get back in a general way to the original thought, I am not sure how these people maintain their ability to eat with a fork without seriously injuring themselves (no links, no encouragement).

Georgia On My Mind

The real world has had the temerity to force itself onto me and has forced me to actually work and think today. Yet another pervert, and a client who managed to delay his case so long before he hired me that we may not be able to put on any witnesses.

At any rate I've been thinking about the Russian invasion of Georgia and our part in the whole thing and what if anything we should do. I would guess that we should express our shock and outrage, but what else is there to do.

I mean let's face it Bush/Chaney and the neocons have our army stuck in Iraq and to a lesser extent in Afghanistan. We have no army to make Russia do anything. So we can't. But even supposing we were not in these two countries what would we do? Nothing I would expect since we would have to push mighty hard to get the Russians out of Georgia. I do not expect that we would go to World War III (or IV or whatever) over it. So what could we do short of going to war except stamp our feet and refuse to ----- what trade with them? Sell them weapons? Vacation on the Black Sea?

The other interesting part of this is that it appears as though Georgia (in addition to underestimating Russia's resolve) over estimated our support. I wonder what we have been telling these people? "Back us and we'll back you when push comes to shove?"

Which brings me to our current crop of politicians. McCain rattles his saber (as always). I'm really not sure what Obama is doing. Flip flopping again? Well at least he is being portrayed as flip flopping. But what does the guy who has the power to do something do? He watches some beech volley ball. I would have to argue if the people who run the Republican party do think it's important enough to leave the Olympics why should the ones who just want the office, but don'[t yet have it do anything.

Trolls and the GI Bill

Well I was reduced to spluttering after repeated responses to a troll on Hullabaloo concerning Webb's GI Bill.


The incredibly bland response by the troll continued to be that really people in the military got paid for their time, so they really don't need all that largess from the poor government. He also went off (or maybe it was someone else) on whether volunteers should get the money as opposed to draftees, and whether or not you should get benefits if you were not in combat.


He was called a libertarian by several of the posters. I'm not sure that he isn't just a jerk.


Now that I've calmed down somewhat I wonder what kind of game he was really playing. It was clear that he was never going to serve in the military so everything he argued was simply thought games. He clearly didn't have enough of a felling of empathy for anyone outside his close circle.


All though I am not particularly found of Kipling one is reminded of his "Tommy."


As far as the current bill? McCain and Bush are amazing (as are apparently 41 other senators). In the middle of two wars (let us not forget Afghanistan) they are against giving benefits to the people who are actually fighting those wars. What is even more shocking is that they have been getting away with it. Their reasoning is that people won't be forced to stay in the military if they are provided benefits that more or less equal those given to soldiers during the Vietnam era. The phrase indentured servitude comes to mind.


From what I can see the bill doesn't provide all the original bill provided for WWII vets. That is amazing when you think about it. The original GI Bill benefited the entire country in ways that went way beyond the benefits given to the service men directly. Teachers, builders, people who worked in factories and the people who owned the factories were all benefited by the money spent by the returning vets. How little we want to give now. How short sighted we are now.


Of course the other possibility is that McCain/Bush know exactly what they are doing and they are simply lying to the rubes who follow them. In order to maintain an aggressive empire we have to maintain a large military it is better to pay them less and to force them to stay in. It appears cheaper to those who now rule us. The rulers of today do not have the foresight that those of yesteryear did.


If the bill falls just one or two votes short of the super majority in the senate, do you think that Reid will force a real filibuster? Oh come on let's get real shall we. Say when did the definition of liberal include "give up?"