Dick Cheney -- even a stopped clock is right twice a day -- or used to be

This column by Joel Connelly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which I found courtesy of Ambidextrous tells us that once upon a time, Dick Cheney had something other than poison coming out of his Elvis-sneer mouth:

In the Northwest: Bush-Cheney flip-flops cost America in blood:

"Little noticed, and worthy of lengthy consideration, is a speech delivered by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1992 to the Discovery Institute in Seattle.

The words of our future vice president -- defending the decision to end Gulf War I without occupying Iraq -- eerily foretell today's morass. Here is what Cheney said in '92:

'I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home.

'And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties. And while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war.

'And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is not that damned many.

So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.'"

So that was Dick Cheney a dozen years ago, when he was kissing up to the first Bush, which meant being realistic about Iraq.

And Dick Cheney today? Well, he foresees dire tragedy if Kerry is elected. I can only surmise that tragedy will be loss of his ability to pipeline billions from our pockets to Halliburton's and his.

Link

Al Gore giving debate advice?

Oh, I don't care which side you're on -- this is beyond hubris, beyond grotesque --this is in the highest tradition of commedia del'arte. Gore is still playing el dottore -- the fraud, the pompous caricature of the educated man

Al Gore is offering advice? This is the man who fared so poorly in the year 2000 debating a smug, shallow George Bush that most observers believe he lost the election right there ... uhh, actually, he didn't LOSE the election, but his behavior in the first debate so diminished his lead among the voters that his margin of victory was narrowed enough for Bush and his cohorts to steal it via Brother Jeb and his main squeeze, Kathryn Harris preventing thousands of African-American voters from access to the polls, and finishing off with a bit of help from the tame Supreme Court Justices.

Gore was so smarmy and supercilious, putting on artificial emotional displays as crude and unconvincing as might be performed by a 9th grader in his first class play, it even made the cheerleader frat boy look wholesome and possibly competent.

This is a man who was too chickenshit to stand up and tell the country that while he had nothing to do with the President's personal life, he was part and party to the economic boom, the social programs, the balancing of the budget.

My advice to Senator Kerry: Jon Stewart defined it to perfection when he said that what we need as a president is "a designated driver."

Over the past 50 years, Americans have elected presidents according to which one is perceived as stronger and also which one is perceived to be having a better time. Clinton's people know how to win, but if you want both to win the job and keep your soul -- use Teresa as your model.

If she were a man, she'd be seen as a combination of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Unfortunately, because she's a woman she's hampered by the fact that people in this country do not appreciate quick wit, candor, analytical intelligence, and a highly developed sense of humor when it comes from those of that sex.

Too many men are still afraid of Mommy.
Too many women resent any woman who is her own person, even in a marriage.

But a man who does what Teresa does? Landslide.

And you still get to like yourelf at the end of the day.

For all that Al Gore has finally been saying the things he should have had the intelligence and huevos to say in 2000, his life in politics is still only a cautionary tale.

Smile politely and run away from him as fast as you can.

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GOP Decries Ghoulish Ads in House Race

---And here we were, all saying the Democrats didn't know how to fight like the Republicans. I guess we need to take that back. I personally enjoy "over the top," finding moderation to be terribly boring -- and this one is, unequivocally, waaay over the top. This is like a commercial directed by John Waters from a script written by William Burroughs.

DENVER - Republicans are criticizing TV ads that show a look-alike of a Colorado congresswoman fleecing a corpse and an American soldier during battle.

In one of the ads, a pink-clad actress with a purse climbs over rubble to rob a U.S. soldier.

'Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave claims nobody supports our troops more than she does, but she voted to slash veterans' benefits by $14 billion,' the narrator says. The new ad also says Musgrave voted against a $1,500 bonus for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In another ad, the woman in pink creeps up to a corpse and takes off his watch. A voiceover says that while she served as a state senator, Musgrave opposed a bill that would have prevented nursing homes from billing patients after they are dead.

'I think they have reached a new low in sleaziness,' Colorado GOP Chairman Ted Halaby said of the ads' sponsor, a group called Colorado Families First. The organization is headed by former state Democratic Party chairman Tim Knaus.

Musgrave faces Democratic challenger Stan Matsunaka in her bid for a second term. Matsunaka said he was not involved in either ad and did not contribute to the sponsors.

Well, remember, history buffs, Alferd Packer was also from Colorado. (Look it up on Google.)

Link

White House denies hand in Allawi speech -- the dog ate his homework

Here's one answer to that musical question: "Just how dumb do they think we are?" (Or, conversely, "How dumb are THEY?")

CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) - The White House denied that aides to President George W. Bush had a hand in crafting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to the US Congress last week.

'Those were, obviously, Prime Minister Allawi's words,' said spokesman Scott McClellan. 'He talked about the progress that is being made, but he also talked about the ongoing security challenges.'

The question arose after the Washington Post published a line-by-line breakdown of Allawi's September 23 remarks and juxtaposed them with very similar previous remarks by Bush...

Asked whether any US officials had shaped the speech, McClellan replied, 'None that I know of' and then elaborated 'no one at the White House.'

Let's see, the CIA asset that Bush appointed to be premier of Iraq. accepted as a compromise because, as was said at the time, he was "equally distrusted by all parties."

And -- mirable dictu! -- he actually said the guy who gave him his job was doing the right thing...

Well now we know -- you couldn't get away with that answer in 9th grade.

Link

Crawford Texas Newspaper Endorses Kerry

I guess that's what you get -- even in Texas, for running stop signs at 75 miles an hour.

CRAWFORD, Texas - A tiny weekly newspaper that bills itself as President Bush's hometown paper has endorsed John Kerry for president, saying the Massachusetts senator will restore American dignity.

The Lone Star Iconoclast, which has a weekly circulation of 425, said in an editorial dated Sept. 29 that Texans should rate the candidates not by hometown or political party, but by where they intend to take the country.

Well, since Bush only bought the ranch in 1999 and didn't actually build the ranch house until 2000, it's not like he's a local boy.

Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding Iraq."

The Iconoclast, established in 2000, said it editorialized in support of the invasion of Iraq and publisher W. Leon Smith promoted Bush and the invasion in a BBC interview, believing Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Instead we were duped into following yet another privileged agenda,' the editorial said.

The newspaper praised Kerry for '30 years of experience looking out for the American people' and lauded his background as 'a highly decorated Vietnam veteran.'"

Link

Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia -- You MUST click the link and read this

When John Kerry was asked how he could have voted for Bush to have the authority to make war, he said, allegedly thinking the mike was off: "Well I didn't think he'd fuck it up so badly."

Naomi Klein takes it step by step, explaining just exactly what methods were used to fuck it up, from the original neocon premise (to create a free trade paradise model in Iraq) to the repeated exacerbation of the insurgency by stupid short-sighted faith-based (rather than reality-based) dicta from Bremer and Chalabi, culminating in the inability to get foreign investors to risk life, limb, or finances.

Whether you agree with the aims of the neocon premise or not, this analytical examination of what went wrong and how is essential to understanding what happened and is happening.

Thanks to Book of Days for pointing it out.

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Guardian Unlimited -- How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power

Well, sooner or later, someone had to admit this was NOT just nasty leftist paranoid fantasizing, although all the lefties are no doubt enjoying the hell out of this one ... and most of us libertarian types, too:

Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president "

And now it gets a public court hearing:

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy."

But wait (as they say in those "you can't afford to miss this" ads)!
Now how much would a nasty leftist pay?
It gets better:

Remarkably, little of Bush's dealings with Germany has received public scrutiny, partly because of the secret status of the documentation involving him. But now the multibillion dollar legal action for damages by two Holocaust survivors against the Bush family, and the imminent publication of three books on the subject are threatening to make Prescott Bush's business history an uncomfortable issue for his grandson, George W, as he seeks re-election.

Well, perhaps the Bush-League can start a group, something like Swift Denying Nazi Defenders for Truth (or something intended to look like it) to spin this.

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Eddie Breen -- check out his homepage:
http://eddiebreen.com -- amazing.

Eddie Breen -- warped into genius by Catholic school

For every ten thousand innocent youths destroyed by religious training, every so often, one comes through with brilliance -- twisted, but brilliant. James Joyce, Jean Genet, and now --
Eddie Breen.

(It has been pointed out to me that Mr. Breen most likely may not be the product of Catholic School at all, but good old fashioned rock-ribbed New England Protestantism, the particularly restrained form of fanatical insanity so well described by William Gaddis in The Recognitions.)

Either way, absolutely brilliant.

Link

OK -- THIS is/was Russ Meyer...
Gone at 82 after many years of
happily filming bouncing blouse bunnies.

and this is/was Shari Eubanks, still alive,
we can only hope, but at age 57,
she probably doesn't still look exactly like this.

Russ Meyer, Oakland's own hometown boy, dead at 82 --
a man who really identified with his leading ladies,
who knew what he liked, i.e., beautiful women
who will have serious lower back problems in later years.
Thanks for the mammaries, Russ -- all us kids really enjoyed it.

What the Iraqi Prime Minister's name means

Iyad Allawi -- it's Arabic for Nguyen Cao Ky

"Ever wonder what that movie Carrie would have been like if it had been cast with chickens instead of people and also possibly entirely reconceived as a porno?

No? Well, does it help to know that now you'll never have to? No? Sorry." This small portion of The Tour at the bottom of the page at http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html was sent to me courtesy of Dick Lupoff who got it from his friend Robert Lichtman and damn, if it isn't just what I needed after a day of thinking about The Bush-League. Enjoy.

I never implied that Osama ben Ladn WASN'T a sociopath

... although some people obviously inferred that as my meaning.

I was merely tracing the logic of his adventure.

Who is to say that if there had never been a Desert Storm he would not have been set off by something else? An internet porn photo-shop'd pic of Sandra Bernhardt or Judy Jetson? A Barbie doll?

In this case, it's an invasive military presence in his home country, which makes his deficient viciousness seem almost logical.


On the other hand, how much remorse, how soon, does it take to NOT be a sociopath?

Does George Herbert Walker Bush's orders which caused thousands of Iraqi soldiers to be buried alive classify him as such?

Does the "hmmph, collateral damage" attitude toward the 125,000 or so children under the age of 12 dying horribly of dysentery the summer after Desert Storm tell us he's a monster?

Does the pissing away of American resources and thereby dooming millions of Americans to death without medical care qualify?

If they feel remorse in 10 years? 20? Or like Robert MacNamara, make up a story of contrition 30 years later, insisting no one told him, when those present at the meetings recall that those who tried to tell him were rudely removed from the meetings.

They're ALL completely without conscience or sense of proportion, all willing to crush any person, society, or ideal underfoot in order to further their own personal ambitions.ALL of them.

When I was a tyke, my father said of John Foster Dulles, "He'd sell you, me, and his own mother for one more day of power."

I didn't understand what he was talking about ... not THEN.

When you get down to the essentials, there isn't a sou's worth of difference between Tony Blair and Osama ben Ladn and Saddam Hussein and George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld and Charles Manson and Dick Cheney and Timothy McVeigh. (Well, McVeigh and Manson were at least willing to actually get their own hands dirty. I don't consider that enough of a virtue to justify their actions, just enough to further justify mass pissing on the others mentioned above. A psycho-sociopathic standup guy is still a malignant bedbug. The politicos mentioned above are the same, just as they say, nutless ones.)

When you see it that clearly, you get called a lot of nasty names -- traitor being the least of them.

I grew up in Philadelphia admiring Smedley Darlington Butler and Nathaniel Greene.

Smedley Butler was, of course, the Marine Corps General who, after retirement and multiple Medals of Honor, wrote the devastatingly honest War Is A Racket.

Nathaniel Greene was a Revolutionary War Hero -- and there was a statue of him (among others) on the esplanade when approaching the Phildaelphia Art Museum from the river (non Sylvester Stallone) side. He stood there in bronze with his hands clasped behind his back and below him the quote:

"We fight. We lose. We rise.We fight again."

That was so cool.

And then I found out that everyone felt that way, whatever side they were on.

Noam Chomsky once spoke words to the effect that there are no hypocrites in the upper reaches of corporate and political power. That the stress is so intense, that they can only survive if they've fully bought and swallowed whatever bullshit myth they espouse. And that is why you can't talk to them. They don't understand what you mean by your definition of environment or democracy or freedom. Most of them think you're just confused. The current ones get mean about it.

Why does the image of George Bush in a flight suit make some of us laugh in horror and some of us swell with pride?
Is it as simple as some people wishing they were him and others thanking whatever god we may have that we're not ...
And do we get painfully unhappy when we notice we each can see our own certain characteristics that resemble his personal deficiences -- laziness, refusal to admit mistakes, easily losing interest in something that seemed important, growing tired of the job and going partying (line of coke or line of campaign supporters -- alla same-- the roar of the drug or the cheers of the crowd loud enough to drown out any doubts), having police clubs or daddy's money as the answer to anyone who disagrees with you, and under it all, that Oliver Hardy justification so beautifully pointed out some years ago by Robert Anton Wilson, the accusatory defense:

"Look what YOU made me do!"

And we hate the fact that we can recognize some aspect of ourselves in that man --

William Blake said it (and it's a depressing thought):

"People don't get what they deserve -- they get what they resemble."


And if that's so, we know where to start.


I can only offer this caution to our leaders (as well as to you and myself), for all that none of us listen to it -- a bit of long-view reality:

"Be careful the asses you kick on the way up --

they're the same ones you have to kiss on the way down."

Connecting the dots… Bush to Saddam to Osama ben Ladn to Bush…

So, ok., follow this (everything here, except my cynically sarcastic tone has been culled from public records):

1. Poppy Bush sat patiently at the left side of Reagan, waiting for him to die, kissing the ass of the fundamentalist Christians he despised “for the greater good” -- that good being getting Babs off his back and establishing a Bush League Dynasty.

While he was waiting, being the Iraq-ist for the Iran-Iraq war games, he took billions in kickbacks from Saddam Hussein. Billions with a B.

Poppy ran for president because “it was his turn.” And he beat Michael Dukakis.

2. Bush was president, and he gleefully suckered his old pal Saddam Hussein into crossing the border into Kuwait. (Saddam was getting pissed off that the Kuwaitis were slant drilling across the border into his oilfields. The fact that they were using equipment sold to them by Santa Fe Oil, a company with board members who were Poppy’s advisors, is just an amusing sidelight.)

Bush had Ambassador April Glaspie talk to Saddam on July 25, 1989 and tell him, essentially, we didn’t care what he did with Kuwait.*

On August 2, 1990, Saddam's massed troops invade and occupy Kuwait.

3. Aside from giving Poppy an excuse to take out the guy who had kept the kickback receipts, it gave him an occasion to convince the Saudis that even though Saddam was setting up defensive emplacements in Southern Kuwait, he was planning to invade them. They had to believe that to allow the USA to place long-denied and long-desired military bases on their soil. This was one of the major reasons for getting Saddam to go into Kuwait. His (GHWBush) long-time involvement with the Ben Ladn family helped.

4. Osama Ben Ladn comes home to Riyadh from Afghanistan (coincidentally, in the world of suckering foreign leaders, Zbigniew Brzezinsky was known to brag that he had “suckered the Russians into invading Afghanistan.”)

He asks his father to finance him so he can raise an army of the faithful and invade Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power, a man he despised as an enemy of Islam, a man who allowed women to drive cars, own businesses, travel without having their faces covered, and who allowed hotels to serve alcohol. A man Osama considered to be a disgrace to Islam. (Not exactly pals.)

While in Riyadh, he discovered that America had been allowed to establish bases on holy soil in Saudi Arabia. His reaction to that was an incandescent generalized “fuck you, too” to his family and the rest of the sheiks they rode in on. Embarrassment to the family, sonny boy sent packing. Back to Afghanistan.

Meaning, perhaps -- and most likely – without Desert Storm and the fast shuffle crooked deal that got 41’s military bases in Araby, there would have been no repeated attacks on the World Trade Center -- the international symbol of "Hi, we're Euro-America and we're going to rape and plunder your economy wherever and whenever we want to." (Think about your feelings if the Saudis established a military base of their own near OUR holy places -- Graceland or Disney World.)

5. Without the subsequent appointment of George W to the presidency by Poppy's Supreme Court, and the amazement and horror felt around the world that America had yet ANOTHER George Bush in the White House, this one a bad Xerox of the first, there would have been no 9-11. Thousands of working stiffs would still be alive, would not have died horrible deaths for the furtherance of the Bush family fortunes. Our military people would still believe their role is to protect America, that the government was not willing to simply waste their lives without vital cause.

And we would still have a viable economy.

Connect those dots, you mighty rec room warriors.

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Cat Stevens Whines 'Unfair' at U.S. Deportation

... calls deportation "ridiculous"

LONDON - Muslim convert and former pop star Cat Stevens returned to Britain on Thursday after his deportation from the U.S. over 'potential' terrorism links sparked an Anglo-American diplomatic row.

'The whole thing is totally ridiculous,' Stevens said on arrival at London's Heathrow airport. 'Half of me wants to smile, half of me wants to growl.'"

Well, on the one hand, busting the guy who wrote all those sappy sentimental bubblegum ditties, especially "Peace Train," as a terrorist (as John Stewart pointed out on The Daily Show) seems ludicrous...

on the other hand, when the Ayatollah Kissmyassah decided that there was no reason Pat Robertson should have the worldwide franchise on vicious idiocy and put out a fatwah on Salman Rushdie for "Satanic Verses," a BBC journalist asked Yusuf "Cat" Islam about it, and his answer was:

"Well, he insulted Islam so yes, he should die.*"

Which ranks him with Dick Cheney and Jon Benet Ramsey's parents as a soulless life-destroying asshole -- and god knows, with the right-wing theocrats who call themselves Republicans running the country, we've got enough of them here already.


* in 1989, after publication of The Satanic Verses, an Islamic fatwah (religious ruling) was issued, holding that it was an obligation of Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie** . Yusuf Islam publicly stated that Rushdie was indeed guilty of blasphemy against Islam, and Rushdie deserved to be killed ... Yusuf Islam has since clarified that he believes that a death sentence can only be carried out by the authority of a court in an Islamic society, and that he is opposed to anyone taking the law into their own hands by murdering Rushdie.

**(and anyone else involved in publication of the book -- typesetters, printers, bindery workers -- beware.)

In other words, Rushdie still should die for having thought and written something about his own religion that offended an old man in Teheran, but protocols must be observed.

Link

You can't fool all of the people all of the time ... but if you do it once, it lasts for four years. Roger Price

The Difference between Bush-Rumsfeld-Cheney and Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda believes it's acceptable to kill civilian men women and children to achieve their goals. They say, "Sorry, but we had to do it."

Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld believe it's acceptable to accidentally kill civilian men women and children to achieve their goals IF we say, "Hmm, collateral damage. Not intentional. They were occupying the target area."

Where the forgeries came from... perhaps

So it goes like this, the pig with a human brain finds out what specific info about national Guard Service will hurt Monkey Boy, and knowing that the ruling in the Associated Press Freedom of Info Act lawsuit against the DoD to release ALL the remaining documents is nigh (court decided in AP's favor today), forges documents with the damning information and shifts the entire debate to the issue of forgery, knowing that the info therein is forever compromised.

Doesn't take a Machiavelli to do that one, just a nasty, evil, unscrupulous shit so in love with his own cleverness and so convinced of his own inadequacies, he'll do anything to win approval from the 'hard charger' types.

Oh, by the way, the Hollow-weenie Karl Rove mask is courtesy of the "I Love Karl Rove" website.

Just to make one thing clear -- my tech inability to post anything but pictures with added text is due to my own Windows/IE6 browser problems, not Blogger. They're the ones (Christine) who helped me figure it out.

A fond farewell (in advance) to Michael Eisner... it's a Dis-dis-disney world.

It's not as if this is anything new.

He heard you call that man in the White house "Monkey Boy" and he cried all night long, saying, "Momma, I'm not like him, am I? Tell me I'm not like him."

You know how they say: "nothing personal -- just politics?" Well, in this case, it's just personal. At least the Tony Soprano character wonders from time to time if his crimes are really justified, if he still has a soul left, or anything like honor.

See, I can't seem to publish regular copy, only upload pix, so ... maybe it's mo' bettah all around...

Ahh, America -- no country like it in the world!

Uhh, hmm, WHICH one was the Democrat? And which one was the Republican?

Six more weeks till the election?!! And thenwhat?

END THE WAR AT HOME

I was watching Brian Lamb on CSPAN this morning, Washington Journal. Brian Lamb is a man I admire, perhaps THE man in the socio-political world I admire above all others. And he was asking opinions about a currently newsworthy question -- what is the USA's exit strategy in Iraq and should we set a date for leaving that country.

One of the things I admire about Mr. Lamb is that he solicits opinion in a brilliantly neutral manner whether in interview or on telephone call-ins. He does not presume to advocate or denounce, does not opine as to whether or not the media and the public should be pre-occupied with this issue or that. He treats each person with the respect each of us would like to receive, regardless of the opinion being expressed -- and there are times I marvel at his straight face and self control. (It may not be a good idea to play poker with the man.) In short, he behaves in public like an educated gentleman. He has chosen his work to be the solicitation and presentation of the opinions of people, both in the world of politics and out, with minimal distortion on his part. A messenger.

Mr. Lamb does not, as I said, presume to opine, but I do. And the subject of the war and the exit strategy brought me to this point:

I am sick and tired of presidential candidates acting like grade schoolers. (I can already hear the 9-year-old's reply: "But HE started it!"

I want to know what each man (in concert with his advisory staff) thinks about and plans to do about the pressing matters of today. To be more precise, the matters that actually should concern a properly-focused federal government. (That means that such petty items as who marries whom and what each state chooses to make legal or illegal under its constitutional authority are NOT federal business.)

Back to the CSPAN discussion -- can an exit strategy (and possibly an exit date) be spoken if we have no idea what was the real purpose of the war?

I want to hear adult persons exhibiting emotional and intellectual maturity and honesty.

"He's wishy-washy and flip-floppy and will get you all killed," is NOT political debate, I don't care how vicious your forebears were in their campaigns (there it goes again, "HE started it.")

"Bush is an idiot" is NOT political debate. I tried to make the point to friends a few years ago that the fact that the jokes Bush told on himself about his 'limited intelligence' were better than ours suggested we were on the track he and his advisors had set up for us.

I want to know what you (both of you) think and actually plan to do about:

The deficit
The war in Iraq
Health Care costs
Medicare costs
Infrastructure integrity (oh, perhaps you don't know that infrastructure these days generally refers to digital communication and no longer refers to bridges, roads, rail, sewers, water, power, etc.)
Medical care for the poor
The corporate irritants that trigger the sociopathic practitioners of terror

I want both of you and your people to stand up in the light of day or the lights of TV, together, and discuss these matters.

I do NOT want to hear you try to tell us what a vile piece of shit your opponent is.

You're acting like a bunch of psychotic second-graders, and should be taken out to the schoolyard and have your fannies whipped. Or maybe be medicated, although I would also like to hear the issues of juvenile behavioral medication debated -- do either of you have people schooled in that matter and who are allowed to speak freely about their conclusions? (And for that matter, any real data on the safety of other medications and food additives?)

I feel now, despite the fact that I personally despise George W Bush and his entire family, I can be objective. Now that John Kerry has been taken up the mountain and seen that the demon's approval only comes if he agrees to continue killing people in the Middle East, I realize my vote for him is based only on my intransigent hatred of George Bush.

So I can once again say -- what are the actual issues here? Perhaps a second-grade teacher would do better as a debate moderator, repeatedly chiding you, "Now boys, no more of that name-calling and finger-pointing. Answer the question, please, or go to the principal's office."

GROW UP!

Damn -- they even lied about who was in the "Coalition for the Killing"

Costa Rica's highest court demands country be taken off list of U.S. 'coalition' members in Iraq

Costa Rica apparently never formally joined the U.S.-led coalition, but its name was listed on a White House Web page of coalition members, sparking outrage in a country where the Iraq war is enormously unpopular.

Following Wednesday's ruling, Costa Rica which never sent any troops to Iraq, in part because it has no army is making it clear it does not want to be listed as a member of the coalition.

I'm relieved. It was with great disappointment, I recall, seeing the name of Costa Rica on the list, as it seemed to be a direct violation of their most deeply held principles. I'm relieved it turned out to be just one more lie out the Bush-league crap machine. And I'm relieved the fraud has been corrected.

Link

Too bad Bush doesn't read ...

... otherwise he might have noticed that those piles of papers his henchmen dumped on the press back in February not only don't prove he fulfilled his duties as an Air National Guardsman, but they very clearly prove he DIDN'T, that he was -- at the least -- AWOL, and at not much more, a deserter, that he should have been called up to active duty, but via various forms of fraud, managed to avoid that.

Here's Paul Lukasiak's analysis of those documents in light of applicable federal law, policies and procedures.

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Kitty Kelley -- she's baa-aack

"The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty"

Kitty Kelley's volume on the Bush family won't be published until next week, but the White House communications director yesterday dismissed the book as "garbage" and a Republican National Committee spokeswoman said journalists should treat it as "fiction."

It's interesting to recall that they (whomever is mentioned in them) say that about everyone of her books ("fiction," "garbage") and yet I don't know that anyone has sued her successfully for libel. Not even Nancy Davis, when Ms Kelley reported on her popularity for going down on producers in Hollywood.

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And this is why we'd be wise not to destroy all those living things

A fish could be used to produce a treatment for people with (a rare form of) haemophilia and gunshot wounds, scientists believe.

The form of hemophilia (Alexander's disease) is very rare, but -- hey -- we're Americans -- we've got no shortage of gunshot wounds.

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This lovely observation today from Maureen Dowd

It's like that fairy tale where vipers and toads jump out of the mouth of the accursed mean little girl when she tries to speak. Every time Mr. Cheney opens his mouth, vermin leap out...

Mr. Cheney implies that John Kerry couldn't protect us from an attack like 9/11, blithely ignoring the fact that he and President Bush didn't protect us from the real 9/11.

Link

Retired military officers are legally allowed to speak their minds without penalty...

...and when they do, it's a very different tale than that told by the Oval Office Idiot (full of noise and statistics and signifying nothing but an increasingly hysterical fear of 'What if I'm not re-elected?')

Excerpts from an interview with Retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Bernard Trainor* and retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner** conducted by Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER: What do these new figures say ... I mean, we heard Secretary Rumsfeld say, 'well, it's a sign of the progress the U.S. is making and they're desperate.' Is it that, or is it a sign of rising instability?

GEN. TRAINOR: Well, I think that anybody that tries to put a good face on this situation-- that they're desperate-- they're just whistling in the dark. This insurgency is going on, it's growing, it certainly has no indications of being an act of desperation at all.

What? Is it possible? Defense Secretary Redrum doesn't know what's going on? Or worse -- he knows but is making up bedtime stories to tell us? Could it be? But wait, there's more:

COL. GARDINER: ... the number of attacks per day, last October it was around 20. At the hand-off, it was 35. This month it was 87 -- numbers of attacks on the oil pipeline -- January and February, less than five; June, 16; August, 20; September, high already.

The numbers aren't good. The numbers show that the insurgency is getting worse. We seem to have turned the corner, and it's getting worse.

MARGARET WARNER: What's fueling it?

COL. GARDINER: There probably are a number of things, Margaret. One of them is we did some bad things. We made some enemies. The way we treated people in prison, knocking down doors. We insulted them as part of the hard line earlier. That's first.

The second thing is there are people now in Iraq from outside. The Iranians are involved, people are coming in from Syria, so that the insurgency is being fueled from the outside.

... I saw a picture from Baghdad yesterday in Sadr City of the young man with a rocket- propelled grenade. It was brand new. I've never seen that... them carrying brand-new, rocket- propelled grenades. There's something going on here other than that guy had that in his closet.

... and still more -- the entire interview is at the site link above in the headline and also here.

Read the whole thing and perhaps you'll agree with my theory -- which is possibly not even as bizarre and fantastic as the entire war scenario being put forth by the Coup d'Fou currently in office:

Dubya was running Poppy's re-election campaign in 1992 and decided the loss (ratings plummeting from 89% at the end of Desert Storm) was due to the war ending too soon. So he and his unholy crew decided -- this time around -- keep it going as long as possible, because they NEED to keep it going, NEED to hold on to their power.

Wm Burroughs, in Naked Lunch, discussing total need (the dollar figures are from 1954):

I recall talking to an American who worked for the Aftosa Commission in Mexico. Six hundred a month plus expense account:

"How long will the epidemic last?" I enquired.

"As long as we can keep it going.... And yes.... maybe the aftosa will break out in South America," he said dreamily.

Sound anything like the endless Axis of Evil? Do you remember the other banner stretched out below the masturbatory one that declared "Mission Accomplished?"

It said, with all the bravado of a man who will never need to risk his own life:

WHO'S NEXT?

They're addicts, and incompetent, and they need an intervention followed by a long quiet period of isolation and rehab.

*General Trainor is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-author of "The Generals' War," a book about the 1991 Gulf War.

**Colonel Gardiner teaches military operations and planning, and is a longtime consultant to the Defense Department.

(The interview was found through the Blogsite Ambidextrous, which posted and linked it before me.)

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Kipling's poem "The Naulakha" -- a timely excerpt

1,000 dead on our side not stopping to count how many on their side, even more to the point, how many dead who weren't even taking sides?

Civil war looms.

Rudyard Kipling, who knew a little bit about east and west, had this to say:

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white
with the name of the late deceased,

And the epitaph drear: "A Fool lies here
who tried to hustle the East."


We tried to warn them, but of course, when we did, they said we hate America.

(No - not America, dummies -- just you and your soulless cronies.)

But why should they have cared?

They weren't the ones who were going to carry the banner.

They weren't the ones risking their safety.

They never are. They never were.

Too precious for that sort of thing.

Rec room patriots.

Country club warriors.

Cheerleaders and carrion eaters.

Constructs of slime masquerading as human.

The unclean things that hide behind boardroom doors in William Burroughs' worst nightmares are like Disney dancers compared to these pernicious, conscience-less, parasitic vermin.

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Cheney Warns of Terror Risk if Kerry Wins

Well, the Elvis-impersonating bogeyman with the permanent lip-curled sneer on his face tipped his mitt yesterday:

COLUMBIA, Mo., Sept. 7 - Stepping up the battle over national security, Vice President Dick Cheney warned on Tuesday that the country would be at risk of a terror attack if it made "the wrong choice" in November...

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice," Mr. Cheney told a crowd of 350 people in Des Moines, "because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

Well, as far as I can see, there are only two real possibilities he might be saying such a thing:

1. Being the bogeyman he is, he's practicing his profession, i.e., scaring children (for personal power)

2. If this is something he actually knows, and is not just another bit of sewage dredged up to throw at his opponents, then the contention made by more than a few observers, that he and Bush and the Saudis were complicit in the attack on September 11, 2001, seems a lot more valid...

In other words, how could he know that unless he and Osama Ben Ladn (whom he and Bush protected by calling it a day when they had him cornered in Tora Bora) had communication, collaboration, and yes -- conspiracy.

That's an outrageous accusation, but no more so than what Cheney himself said.

Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, promptly said Mr. Cheney had "crossed the line."

"What he said to the American people,'' Mr. Edwards said, "was that if you go to the polls in November and elect anyone other than us, then another terrorist attack occurs, it's your fault. This is un-American.''

Anne Womack, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cheney, said that the vice president's comment was taken out of context, and that he was addressing policy
differences.

They sure do a whole lot of "what he meant to say was..." in this administration. You can translate that, whether on behalf of Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld, as pure, "whichever way the wind blows, so go my principles," or in short, "Ooops!"

Oh, and while we're on the subject of denying what is on their minds, Monkey Boy offered this:

At his "Ask President Bush" event here , Mr. Bush dodged several questions, including one from a supporter who worried about an overstretched military.

"We don't need a draft," Mr. Bush said, insisting that the all-volunteer Army could meet the country's needs.

Which means, of course, guess what we'll see if those vile creatures that pretend to be human are re-elected? Yep.

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Regarding Feith, Perle, Wolfowitz and Israel

The Dacha Dude Weblog gives us some history on these three particular reprobates. (Thanks to Dick Lupoff for pointing to it.)

In the world of realpolitik, the state of Israel is little more than a "let's still be there in the Middle East but now we can blame it on the Jews."

Queen Victoria said as much when, the Ottoman Empire collapsing, she gave tacit support to the idea of a Jewish state, giving the Arab world "a foreign presence other than our own as an irritant."

And even though the Brits created Iraq after WWI, it was so much safer to carry on the Crusades with a European population -- no where to turn but to England.

WWII and the Holocaust were, as was 9-11 in more recent times, an opportunity to pursue the same agenda they're had for centuries -- hegemony over the Christian Holy Land and environs.

And for all that Tony Blair may be the cowboy-booted Bush's lapdog, we, the United States, have more usually been Great Britain's. (Or doesn't anyone remember how Ronald Reagan did everything but roll over and pee on himself when Margaret Thatcher deigned to pet his head?)

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Everything old is new again

I first read this poem about a drafted World War I Conscientious Objector in 1969, during our sustained invasion of Vietnam. I have thought about it again in recent days in re our invasion of Iraq, but was saved from total typing by Chris Lombardi who put it in his excellent blog --
Book of Days.

---------------------------------------------
i sing of olaf

i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or

his wellbelovéd colonel(trig
westpointer most succinctly bred)
took erring Olaf soon in hand;
but--though an host of overjoyed
noncoms(first knocking on the head
him) do through icy waters roll
that helplessness which others stroke
with brushes recently employed
anent this muddy toiletbowl,
while kindred intellects evoke
allegiance per blunt instruments--
Olaf(being to all intents
a corpse and wanting any rag
upon what God unto him gave)
responds,without getting annoyed
"I will not kiss your fucking flag"

straightway the silver bird looked grave
(departing hurriedly to shave)

but--though all kinds of officers
(a yearning nation's blueeyed pride)
their passive prey did kick and curse
until for wear their clarion
voices and boots were much the worse,
and egged the firstclassprivates on
his rectum wickedly to tease
by means of skilfully applied
bayonets roasted hot with heat--
Olaf(upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
"there is some shit I will not eat"

our president,being of which
assertions duly notified
threw the yellowsonofabitch
into a dungeon,where he died

Christ(of His mercy infinite)
i pray to see;and Olaf,too

preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me:more blond than you.


e.e.cummings


"The first casualty of war is not truth, but perspective. Once that's gone, truth, like compassion, reason, and all the other virtues, wanders around like a wounded orphan." Ente Grillenhaft

Well, if you don't like my opinion, ask one of THEIR guys

This reported in The Shrill Blog, a quote* from General Tommy Franks talking about Doug Feith, Rumsfeld's Undersecretary of Defense:

Franks' opinion:

"I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day. "

Shrillblog goes on:

How stupid is Doug Feith? Chris Suellentrop writes: "Feith intentionally excluded experts with experience in postwar nation-building, out of fear that their pessimistic, worst-case scenarios would leak and damage the case for [the] war [on Iraq]... did not participate in CIA war games about the occupation, because 'it could be seen as an "antiwar" undertaking'.... The State Department's Future of Iraq Project... dismissed by Feith and company out of hand.... Last September... Paul Bremer's request for more than 220 employees for the occupation had yet to be approved.... 'It is taking forever because Feith only wants true believers to get through the gate,' a senior administration official said."

********
* Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, Page 281:

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A Man Looks Sharp in a Uniform Until He Goes to War

This is (and has been for a while) the Fish Yell for this new war

(Meet the new war,
same as the old war.
Rich pricks hiding out,
poor kids riding out)

And if you like Man Looks Good (good tune, snappy rhymes, make you laugh to keep from crying) check into to their home site and click the "Animation" tag for more -- Idiot Son of an A**hole; I Hate Republicans, Dustbin America, lots and lots more. Of course it helps if you despise Monkey Boy and his Puppeteer, Dick Cheney.

http://www.bushflash.com/index.html

The Man Looks Good also video shows something I had forgotten. On the aircraft carrier, when Bush did his Captain Midnight Wins the Day thing, just below the 'Disastrously successful' MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner, there was another one. It read:

WHO'S NEXT?

There's one we don't see much these days.


It takes a lot of patriotism to risk the wrath of the jingoists.

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Old English advice to new physicians

"Do not mistake subsequence for consequence."

Audience boos as Bush offers best wishes for Clinton's recovery

These are the people who cheer for George Bush:

Friday September 03, 2004
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP)

President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.'' "He's is in our thoughts and prayers,'' Bush said at a campaign rally.

Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed.

And Here's Dubya being a real leader:

Bush did nothing to stop them.

Is this who you are or who you want to be?

I know that not everyone who is for Bush is a yahoo.

Many are moderate people who still subscribe to the standards of what used to be called Republican before it became the new state religion.

You know -- work hard, save money, make your own way, be independent, mind your business.

Even so, you have to look and wonder:

"If people like that are on my side, then what does that say about me?"

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This letter from Governor GW Bush to Ken Lay doesn't sound like Monkey Boy barely knew Kenny Boy at all.

April 14, 1997

Mr. Kenneth Lay
2121 Kirby Drive
Houston, Texas 77019

Dear Ken:

One of the sad things about old friends is that they seem to be getting older -- just like you.

55 Years old. Wow! That is really old.

Thank goodness you have such a young, beautiful wife.

Laura and I value our friendship with you. Best wishes to Linda, your family, and friends.

Your younger friend,

George W. Bush

Sounds more like they were sort of pals, wouldn't you think?

So either Dubya was being a lying, hypocritical sonofabitch in his letter to Kenny Boy.

Or he was being a lying hypocritical friend-betraying sonofabitch when he told us he "didn't really know him very well."

("Mr. President, I want you to meet Dr. Lecter."
"Sorry, Dr. Lecter -- I fear there isn't enough under that skull to make a decent meal.")

You can get one of these from Robert Anton Wilson's Online Gift Shop --- maybe he (Dr. Lecter) can figure out what's wrong with Monkey Boy.

They say the intensity of a hurricane is relevant, not only to the force of the winds, but also to the tightness of its organization as seen in the smallness of the eye. Wow -- this baby's eyes are as beady as George Bush's so we may expect Frances to do to the Southeast United States what Bush has done to the rest -- vandalize and destroy and just keep on moving.

BUSH to ZELL MILLER -- THANKS, NOW DROP DEAD

But how do they explain the thousands of Republicans in Madison Square Garden screaming their approval at every bit of foam-flecked spray of slime and poison that came out of the mouth of a man who -- singlehandedly -- made many of us wish General Sherman would march through Georgia one more time?

After gauging the harsh reaction from Democrats and Republicans alike to Sen. Zell Miller’s keynote address at the Republican National Convention, the Bush campaign — led by the first lady — backed away Thursday from Miller’s savage attack on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, insisting that the estranged Democrat was speaking only for himself.

Late Thursday, Miller and his wife were removed from the list of dignitaries who would be sitting in the first family’s box during the president’s acceptance speech later in the evening. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Miller was not in the box because the campaign had scheduled him to do too many television interviews.

There was no explanation, however, for why Miller would be giving multiple interviews during Bush’s acceptance speech, or what channels would snub the president in favor of Miller. Nor was it made clear why Miller’s wife also was not allowed to take her place in the president’s box 24 hours after his deeply personal denunciation of his own party’s nominee.

So I guess what Bush means by "bipartisan" is "We don't only fuck over our enemies -- we fuck over our friends too."

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"Ein Volk! EinReich! Ein Fuehrer!

Mr. Toad's new pal, Mr. Anyway-the-Wind-Blows,
a famous Turncoat from Georgia, reminding us
that all these guys need to meet Mr. Xanax right away.

Perhaps this is what General Sherman meant when he said "War is Zell."

"Trust me," said the venomous toad, even as he stood there, hands behind his back, one hand holding a bloody hatchet, the other a proctoscope. "Trust me -- I'm a nice guy."

Mr. Dick, the Venomous Toad, Comes Out of Hiding and Acts Tough While Surrounded by Guards

So they cleaned up Mr. Toad last night, powdered him down real thoroughly so none of his slime would reflect the lights and cause glare, tapped a tiny bit of botox into the left side of his lip so he wouldn't sneer quite as much as usual, and generally did a really good job making him look almost human, kind of like a dumbed-down version of Alistair Crowley (although the similarity would be only in attitude.* While Crowley was the "Great Beast," we can't really give Cheney much more of a title than "The Big Toad.")

But just as he does every time he comes out of his hole and squints into full daylight, he slammed with the same old lies, distortions and intentional misunderstandings.

He told roaring Republican delegates at Madison Square Garden conference hall that John Kerry did not "appear to understand how the world has changed since 11 September 2001.

"He talks about leading a 'more sensitive war on terror,' as though al-Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side," the vice-president railed.

"Although he voted to authorise force against Saddam Hussein, he then decided he was opposed to the war, and voted against funding for our men and women in the field," Mr Cheney said.

"His back and forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion."

Because, you see, only girlie men and wussies actually change their minds based on new information, and certainly Dick Cheney isn't "sensitive" to anything, not even the fact that the Iraqi campaign has touched off a seemingly unending world-wide war of hatred and chaos even as it is swirling around the toilet-bowl of history as a monumental blunder marked by death, destruction, and stupidity. No sir, no sensitive guys in OUR locker room.

It's the same old game -- twist the meaning of the opponent's words and then refute them.

But even though Dick the Toad is dumber, more craven -- hiding in caves and behind boardroom doors -- afraid to stand on his own without a bozo front man, there is, as I said, some common field he holds with The Great Beast. Everything he does and says seems to be absolutely consistent with one tiny part of what Crowley wrote in The Book of the Law:

We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit; let them die in their misery. Compassion is the vice of Kings; stamp down the wretched and the weak; this is the law of the strong; this is our law and the joy of the world.

I am of the snake that giveth Knowledge and Delight, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs.... They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self.... Be strong, Oh man! Lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture ... the kings of the earth shall be kings forever; the slaves shall serve.

Them that seek to entrap thee, to overthrow thee, them attack without pity or quarter, and destroy them utterly.

I am unique and conqueror. I am not of the slaves that perish. Be they damned and dead! Amen.

To me, that sounds like our Toad's attitude down to the final "Amen." Of course, there are differences:

Crowley embraced "The Path of Blame" as the fastest, most direct way to enlightenment, while Dick the Toad embraces the path of "Don't Blame Me."

Crowley espoused the libertarian philosophy, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law," while Dick and his minions are on the opposite side, insisting "Do what WE say shall be the whole of the law."

Then, of course, Alistair Crowley stood up and took responsibility for the things he did. Mr. Toad comes out and points to Monkey Boy.

And oh yeah, one more thing -- it really appeared to me, as the banner-waving slogan-chanting thousands in the hall were cheering him, that his condescending smile made it clear he was thinking, "What a bunch of suckers. I love 'em. Shovel any kind of shit in their direction and they eat it up yum yum and ask for more."

Or maybe that was just my opinion and I projected it onto him.

(By the way, Maureen Dowd has a lovely take on this crowd in todays's NY Times column, different than mine -- deeper, broader and -- gasp! -- even more sensitive.)

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The lectern -- it's supposed to represent the skyscrapers of New York? Or the High-rise of Calvary Hill? Hey dummy -- that's a cross!

Regarding 'girlie men'

This is an urgent plea to Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi,
and Barbara Lee -- three of the best Democrats ever:


At your earliest possible convenience PLEASE:

Kick the crap out of Ahnold for his 'girlie men' tag line.

Do it either singly or in tandem or trio, but do it, please.
(It would be fair. If all three of you together weigh more than
his two legs and half his ass, I'd be stunned.)

And please do it in public, so all his macho pals
can see what 'girlie girls' can do.

This could be the most important thing you do for us,
your constituents, and for the Golden state of California.

That IS why we voted for you.

Upbeat Republicans Revive Bush Theme of Compassion

From an article by Todd S. Purdum, New York Times September 1, 2004

...The Republican National Convention circled back last night to President Bush's winning 2000 campaign theme of 'compassionate conservatism,' portraying him as not only hardheaded but also bighearted enough to lead 'the most historic
struggle my generation has ever known,' as his wife, Laura, put it in a prime-time speech.

I'd wondered what ever happened to "compassionate conservatism." I guess it was an idea so wonderful you had to save it in a dark cabinet, sort of like the 50-year-old Scotch you never open or taste, but only take out once every four years to impress strangers by showing them the label.

Laura Bush, who always reminds me of a plush toy that talks, gave a smiling speech, looking as if she'd been botox'd from chin to brow. If she'd had just a bit more in the emotional expression department, she might have been able to work her way up to becoming a Stepford Wife.

As the evening wore on, Arnold Schwarzenegger, making one of the shrewdest moves of his career (jumping from the big screen to politics -- "Show business for ugly people" -- as his face began to crater with age, looking more and more like a grinning rictus mask with like two orange caterpillars facing off against each other on his forehead) actually impressed me as an actor for the first time in his career when he said:

"In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were."

He was able to say that with a straight face even while looking across the room to the Bush family sitting with his Kennedy wife.

(Of course the fact that he was the son of a Nazi-era cop in Austria, and that both the Bush and the Kennedy families made a great deal of their fortunes buddying up to Hitler, might have helped where even his hard work, beefcake body and smarts might not have been enough.)

There was more, but by that time, the nausea was rising and I felt, as they say in Texas, "I've enjoyed about as much of this as I can stand," and opted for a movie on HBO.

The nausea took so long to pass, I missed the twins, a pair of throughly unappealing young women who didn't need to say a word to prove the Schwarzenegger comment about parentage was a big, hot, steaming load of not-truth. Unfortunately for all, they chose to say words.

Well, so what -- it's their party and they can lie if they want to.


(An aside -- I was tending a friend's bookstore one day back during the California recall, and the owner, to be topical, had put several of Arnold's body-building books in the window. A customer came in, pointed to the books, and said: "You go through all that pain and sweating and dedication and putting everything else in you life aside from burgers to dating ... and all you get is Maria Shriver? Fuck that.")

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If politics is show business for ugly people...

...still, shouldn't there be some sort of a limit?

Does Dick Cheney cross the line?

And if "Ugly is as ugly does," and the old saw that "by the time he's fifty, a man has the face he's created," can be considered valid, then Dick Cheney definitely crosses the line.

In a related vein, this insight from Ted Kane:

"I saw the picture of Laura, Barbara and Jenna and was immediately struck by deja vu. I finally remembered -- the opening scene from Macbeth!"

Perhaps it wasn't hyperbole when Richard Nixon recalled that "the person who scared me the most in all those years was Barbara Bush."

Another slander against Bush refuted

San Francisco Chronicle
Convention Notebook 9/1/04

"Nobody spends more time on his knees than George W Bush,"
according to promotional materials quoting a BBC reporter.

Ok?
So all those sneering canards about his passivity can stop right now.
No more jokes about how he just bends over for his pals and their corporate buddies.

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