18 plus billion in bonuses?

I keep hearing the phrase my father's Wobbly and Trotskyite pals used to say about Wall Street plunderers:

"Hang 'em from the lampposts."

Unfortunately the lampposts are too high to throw a rope over.

The other phrase that comes to mind is a Texican one, the one Ari Fleischer used:

"They'll do you until Hell won't have it and they always forget a .30 caliber bullet only costs a dollar."

I found it shocking that he would actually say that, given the hatred Bush had generated even by that time, shocking that he/they would be floating that image in public.

I don't advocate either -- I present them as examples of what is said when the frustration level ("We can do anything we want to and you can't do squat to us.") gets so high one's head seems ready to explode.

"Hang 'em from the lampposts."

(Come on, admit it -- it's a quaint expression and brings a smile.)

Public Freedom in Iraq Revisited

OK -- disappointment -- just one more ephemeral bullshit Bushistic same old same old: the shoe sculpture was removed the next day at what is euphemistically called "a request" from the central government

Why Sarah Palin?

If you're not a fan, which I'm not, you have to wonder what it is ... why do old guys like Pat Buchanan and John McCain and more than a few others keep saying they want her to be president?

Well, maybe this quote from Edward Whittemore's Sinai Tapestry sheds some light on it. (Whittemore was a covert CIA agent, his cover being a reporter for The Japan Times. He did that for about 10 years before writing 5 amazing novels*.)


"...they were appalled by Strongbow's assertion that any military expedition was merely a disguised sexual sickness, more specifically a profound fear of impotence... Thus armies were raised, he said, because it was likely their raisers could raise nothing else."


*
Quin's Shanghai Circus (1974)

The Jerusalem Quartet:
Sinai Tapestry (1977)
Jerusalem Poker (1978)
Nile Shadows (1983)
Jericho Mosaic(1987)

Jonathan Carroll (amazing in his own right) raved bout Whittemore, saying "He ... taught you how to see the world with different eyes, a different heart, and best of all, made your soul grow."

OK, NOW I believe there's more personal and public freedom in Iraq -- more than before

Shoe-thrower statue unveiled in Iraq


Many Iraqis considered it poetic justice when a journalist tossed his shoes at President George W. Bush last month.

Now the bizarre attack has spawned a real life work of art.

A sofa-sized statue of the shoe was unveiled Thursday in Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad-based artist Laith al-Amari described the fiberglass-and-copper work as a tribute to the pride of the Iraqi people.

The statue is inscribed with a poem honoring Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who stunned the world when he whipped off his loafers and hurled them at Bush during a press conference on Dec. 14.

In the Arab world, even showing someone the sole of a shoe is considered a sign of disrespect.

You can take the boy out of the Hitler Youth, but you can't take the Hitler Youth out of the boy -- Part II

So Big Bad Benny 16 wants to reinstate holocaust denier clergy...

My father used to refer to holocaust allower Pope Pius XII as "Pope Piss."

Had a lot to do with the fact that he played the political game with the NAZI's, hoping to get the Daily Double -- Eliminate Jews while simultaneously helping establish German Catholics as the ruling force.

For those who don't know, in Germany, Roman Catholics were an are a minority -- the country was mostly Protestant (Lutheran).

For those who also don't know -- the overwhelming number of NAZI high command players and their friends were Roman Catholic (not that they were GOOD Catholics, some of them even publicly dissed Christ, but still...)

Here's a partial list, and it should of itself give a fairly good reason for Pope Piss to have turned a blind eye to the mass murder and human sacrifice for pagan powers going on to the north.

First of all,. the Superstars whose names we all have heard:

Heinrich Himmler

Josef Goebbels

Reinhard Heydrich

Rudolf Hoess (not the same Rudolf Hess who was Hitler's Cellmate)

Julius Streicher

Klaus Barbie

and of course, the big cheese himself: Adolf Hitler

But wait -- there are more --

Heads of state during NAZI occupation:

Leon Degrelle --- Belgium,

Emil Hacha -- Bohemia-Moravia,

Ante Pavelic -- Croatia

Konrad Henlein -- Sudetenland,

Pierre Laval followed by Henry Petain -- Vichy-France.

BUT WAIT --- THERE'S STILL MORE:

War Criminals the Vatican protected from Prosecution:

Adolf Eichmann

Alois Brunner (Eichmann's "best man")

Dr. Josef Mengele (Played doctor doing medical experiments without anesthesia on Auschwitz prisoners)

Franz Stangl Commandant of Sobibór and Treblinka

Gustav Wagner (Franz Stangl's assistant)

Klaus Barbie ("The Butcher of Lyon")

Edward Roschmann ("The Butcher of Riga" made famous and identified by name in Frederick Forsyth's novel The ODESSA File

Walter Rauff (Considered responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths)

Andrija Artukovic ("The Himmler of the Balkans")

----------------

So -- to us, they're monsters, but to Mr. 16,

they're apparently just the old gang from the neighborhood.

Who the fuck decided that Garth Brooks would sing a death song at the inaugural?

A lot of people have said they breathed a sigh of relief when President Obama lived through the inaugural day -- Garth Brooks singing the musical plane crash song -- the consummate White Boys' song -- didn't help:

Bye bye Miss American Pie
drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry
The good old boys drinking whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die."

What? Was it a tip of the hat to the Klan?

A warning from George Herbert Walking Dead Bush,
looking for all the world like a zombie, that
"We took out JFK for stepping out of line. Remember it."

(Or so the latest PUBLISHED conspiracy theory goes -- the conjecture that GHWBush was involved has been going on since November 23, 1963)

Whichever -- amazingly inappropriate for that smiling ole boy to waddle his way out of retirement to smile and sing about death.

...There's an old saying about having a sense of propriety:

"Don't talk of rope in the home of a man who was hanged..." to which we can now add: "... nor sing of death when the first African-American president is being sworn into office."

Well, you can take the boy out of the Hitler Youth, but it seems you can't take the Hitler Youth out of the boy

Jan 23rd, 2009 | VATICAN CITY -- Rome's chief rabbi has asked the Vatican to halt reported plans by Pope Benedict XVI to rehabilitate an ultraconservative bishop who denies the Holocaust.

Richard Williamson says in a Swedish state TV interview that historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed."

Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni says it is "inconceivable" the pope didn't know Williamson's views.

Two newspapers reported Thursday that Benedict will lift the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops consecrated by the late French ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Lefebvre had rebelled against modernizing church reforms of the 1960s. Those who followed him were expelled.

The Vatican declined comment.

Team Sarah complains to FCC

Alaska Dispatch
Jan 20, 2009

Members of TeamSarah.org, that ever-growing national group of feisty supporters of Gov. Sarah Palin, have complained to the Federal Communications Commission about a joke David Letterman apparently made about Palin.

------------------------------------

----Hey guys -- she's a public figure -- the only thing you are doing with your complaints is telling us that you -- who know her better than any of us -- that you think she's an amateur, a lightweight semi-paranoid poseur who can't handle criticism.

You're telling us she's not anyone most of us outside of Alaska would want to see in any position of power that effects anyone outside of Alaska.

You're painting her as a touchy oversensitive self-delusional dimwit -- sort of a female version of George W Bush.

I have no idea who or what she really is, if she's as dumb as a rock or as smart as Schopenhauer, but when you scream about a joke told by a total doofus like Letterman, you're really telling us that YOU don't think she can handle it.

OK -- a lot of people find Obama to be a heart-throb ... and why not? He's intelligent, handsome, articulate, etc... but this?

Ok -- the OFFICIAL Barack Obama dildo?

(That's the link to the people who sell it -- the Head O State.)

7-1/2 inches tall, made of rubber, no batteries needed, and, of course, waterproof.

I guess it had to happen after we had the "Hello Kitty Vibrator"

Actually, back in the early 80's, I went to a store called "Good Vibrations" to meet a friend who worked there, and while I was waiting for her to finish working, I browsed and there, in a glass cabinet of devices, was a Ronald Reagan dildo...

No, you're not mistaken, Rev. Eugene Robinson DID the invocation at Sunday's Inaugural Event -- just HBO didn't broadcast it. They have an excuse...

Salon.com editor Joan Walsh wrote this as her column on Monday January 19, 2009

I'll reprint the whole thing right here:

--------------------------------------

Apparently HBO didn't broadcast gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's moving blessing to open Sunday's "We Are One" concert. HBO spokespeople are telling reporters that the Presidential Inauguration Committee made the call to schedule Robinson's prayer before the actual broadcast; there's no word yet from the PIC; we'll post if we get one.

Meanwhile, Sarah Pulliam at Christianity Today posted video of Robinson's blessing, and transcribed it. Here's what he said:

“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears -- tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger -- anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. Amen."
------------------------

Oh, must include HBO's lame excuse:

Update: PIC Communications Director Josh Earnest sent over this statement:

We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.

YOUR EVENT? YOURS?

Binding U.S. law requires prosecutions for those who authorize torture

From Glenn Greenwald's Sunday, January 18, 2009 column:

Most officials in the Bush-2 Administration have admitted the use of torture

AND

Senate:
"Is waterboarding torture?

Atty General designate Holder:
"Yes."

AND

CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (signed by the U.S. under Ronald Reagan):

Article 2

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.

2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture. . . .

--------------------------

Ronald Reagan, 5/20/1988, transmitting Treaty to the U.S. Senate:

The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

----------------------------

So let's see:

A whole bunch of Bush Administration higher-ups have proudly admitted to using torture.

The treaty negotiated and signed by Republican Party Saint Ronald Reagan says "No exceptions -- if they did it, they MUST be prosecuted."

The way Glenn Greenwald and the various professors of law he consults explain the treaty as well as the law passed by the senate in 1994 to enforce it, even if incoming President Obama doesn't want to dwell on the past, he doesn't have a choice.

Even George W. Bush proudly explained how he ordered torture of a Guantanamo prisoner after asking one of the legal experts who works for him -- not sure, but I'm told it was Pedro, the late Senor Wences' friend in the box:

"Is it alright?"

"'S Alright."

"OK?

"OK"

We can't face the world and ask for a return of international authority unless we enforce the laws here in the USA first --- and if we start the new administration by saying "Oh, except for the rich and powerful," the new president's approval ratings will fall as fast as a turd dropped from the top of San Francisco's Bank of America building. It will undermine the new administration before it even begins.

Prince Harry -- royal redneck

Kind of confirms our suspicions of the past 10 or 20 or 500 years -- that the royals are all pretty much no more than white trash with crowns and thrones.

And like most white trash, they're convinced god has ordained them to have all the goodies they've inherited from the ravaging and plundering done by their forebears.

Kind of makes you realize that the legal parliamentary regicide of King Charles was just the beginning of a bright new age of reason...

Bush's final (praise god) press conference

It's not that he's an idiot that grates so much as that he treats all of us as if WE'RE idiots and he's so much smarter than we are. As if we're 2d graders and he's explaining a very very difficult complex concept to us:

"It was a Dis-APPOINTment. Not a mistake. A dis-a-POINT-ment."

Making twinkly smiles and damn near Sarah Palin winks, and maybe, given the amount of murder, theft, and malfeasance he and his handlers have gotten away with -- that WE'VE allowed him to get away with, maybe he's got a case to think of us as morons.

The problem with stupid people is when they think they're clever and their clumsy attempts at subterfuge aren't as obvious as a 5-year-old's excuse-making.

And like some sort of mean little 5-year-old kid, maybe it's NOT disrespect he speaks to us that way, just kind of insulting that he thinks of us as being no more than his intellectual equals ... everything is everyone else's fault, not his, that he's being respectful to the incoming president to treat him with maximum passive-aggressiveness "If he ASKS me to, I'll ask congress, otherwise..." "Only the elite in Europe might think we've lost our moral edge. Not true."

Every last bit of stubborn ungracious passive-aggressive spoiled bratness is all there from the Blair House slap in the face to the complete "Haha -- I'm out of here home free -- it's all HIS problem now."

So after 8 + years of seeing this fellow and his game, the original opinion hasn't changed at all. A mean-spirited, lying sonofabitch who is always always always right and to disagree with him is to attack God.

I'm not surprised -- I'm just amazed at the ability of the press people to (1) maintain politeness with him, and (2) amazed at their simpering asskissing collaboration with all the theft and death he seems to think is just fine.

I actually hope the door DOES hit him in the ass on the way out.

What a disgraceful regime we've tolerated. He's so focused on history's evaluation being better than today's -- it hasn't occurred to him that ultimately, people will visit his grave and piss on it as if it were a freeway rest stop.

But then, he'd probably have an excuse as to why it's THEIR fault and never ever ever has anything to do with what he's done.


***************

The Amazing Performance of A-Rod Blogojevich in Totally Defeating Reality

The Blagojevich Performance:

It was so corrupt and psychotic it was thrilling and inspirational -- a complete break from any sort of reality -- an alternative universe that is able to ignore the noises coming from this one, the one we know.

It was as impressive as a performance by any of the greats -- Joe Montana shutting out crowd noise and rapidly approaching linebackers to throw the pass that created "The Catch" -- Jackie Robinson ignoring the taunts and threats and vicious racist shouts and playing his game -- so committed to the reality that was being pursued as to defy disbelief... the pederast Andrew Vachss spoke of, so focused on his prey as to grab, hold, and rape a 5-year old girl in plain sight of hundreds of people on the sidewalk.(They're not all heroes, these amazingly laser-focus folk.)

He stood there and said plainly with a straight face and without shame that the Illinois House of Reps had impeached him because he had circumvented them to get reasonably-priced medicines for the people of his state, to get medical services for the people of his state, to go around them in order to serve the welfare of the people who had hired him, and a lot more things that the House had opposed because they were being paid off by the big money interests, ending each one with the refrain:

"Is that an impeachable offense?"

This is the kind of video that should be shown to all political science and history college students who believe that reason, logic and a healthy respect for reality can make changes in a corrupt system.

None of the great grotesques: Nixon, Eliot Abrams, Ollie North, et al EVER reached this height of OOO-EEE-OOO self-delusion

This was one for the ages.

All that was lacking was an accurately thrown custard pie in the face and Blago wiping it off, laughing and saying: "Gotcha!"

Ooops! Where are my *%@@&# research people?

I flipped to CSPAN and saw Ohio Representative, Democrat Mary Kaptur finishing off what seemed to be a rousing speech about setting goals for the 111th Congress, and how they should set the mark above that of the 110th, specifically appropriations of money, that it be wisely and not go to thieves, as she saw it doing in the 110th, bankers and auto mfrs coming to congress that way and finished with an analogy saying:

"Jesse James robbed banks..."

Ok, so far.

And then blew it:

"...because he said "That's where the money is."

Actually it was Willie Sutton who said it, after being caught and sentenced and doing time.

In Jesse James' time, right after the Civil War, reporters weren't interviewing bank robbers, especially those never captured.

What's the line, used in a different context?

"Too much information."

In this case too much misinformation.

Sorry MS Kaptur -- you seem like a good congressperson, but having people shout "It was Willie Sutton, dummy," will probably be part of your legacy.

Senator Cornhole sez the Repugs won't seat Al Franken, in fact will filibuster to keep him from being seated --

...and will not seat ANYONE in ANY election until the vote count is verified and the winner is certified.

Too bad the GOP didn't feel that way in 2000 -- about not accepting an elected official -- in that instances, a president -- until there was an actual verified vote count certifying the winner.

Was it all just a dream or do I actually recall the Repugnants screaming bloody murder just a few years ago about the possibility that the Demons would be so Unamerican as to filibuster an issue in which they didn't have a clear majority?

Yesterday I heard a GOP henchman talking about how many Repugs were leaving town rather than attend the inauguration.. .saying it was "understandable," and saying with self-congratulation, "After all, we're being rather magnanimous about accepting being swept away in the election."

Being magnanimous to accept the results of the election?

Jesus -- it's not just the Bush family!

OH PLEASE read Kevin Phillips' AMERICAN DYNASTY in which he, a solid traditional conservative, demonstrates with facts -- in horror -- how the Bush family has been busy for the entire 20th century trying to undermine the constitution and overthrow the government.

But apparently it's not just them -- they ALL seem to think they OWN America, not just most of the wealth. If only the lampposts were low enough to reach to fulfill the old Wobbly adage about "Hang 'em from the lampposts." One of the unfortunate products of technology, those incredibly high mercury vapor lamps that DO illuminate the road better, but eliminate the good old fashioned idea of justice.

Meanwhile Bush reads scripts in that neutral tone and without too many errors -- a simple level of competence it took him 3,4 years to achieve -- but still has the belief he actually has some authority -- hell, that the USA has any authority left after 8 years of his plague of locusts sold it off piece by piece -- this time it's Hamas --- "Hamas must stop... Hamas must agree... Hamas must do this, Hamas must do that..."

It is possible to despise the Israeli leaders and their actions without despising the Israeli people -- even as we have spent years despising Bush, Cheney, Redrum,et al, and the monstrous arrogances and murders they have given the world as if America were doing it instead of their puppet masters, to despise them and all their works while still loving America and our American people.

It is possible to ache for the hideous levels of suffering the Palestinians are enduring without getting all romantic and glorifying them or demonizing the Israelis. It's not either or. They ALL have a right to live their lives without continually imminent death raining from the sky.

It is a difficult thing to decide -- which is more insensitively moronic -- the fact that Bush believes anyone wants to listen to him at all or that he reads scripts provided for him in the flat tone we've all heard in grade school -- someone who can identify and pronounce the words without understanding any of them enough to add emphasis here or there.

On the other hand, it's certainly easy enough to identify evil when it occurs, whether from stupidity, cupidity, greed, or fear -- but then the things that call themselves people have ALWAYS found good reasons why it's ok to kill actual people.

Oh yeah, I go on, so just one thing more -- imagine yourself going to work in the morning and coming home in the evening to find your apartment visible from the ground because the building was split open by some explosives and then trying to find out if your family is under the rubble or just homeless. Whether that apartment is in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Gaza, Beirut, or Baghdad.

THAT'S what these wars are REALLY about.

Which may be why the late great Kenneth Patchen put it so simply:

AS FAR AND DEEP AS A TIGER'S FROWN,
SO MY GREETINGS,
O LEADERS OF THE WORLD, TO YOU

Did you hear FDR prolonged the Great Depression?

It's the Conservatives' newest talking point -- designed to stop Congress from passing an economic stimulus package...

David Sirota

"If you're like me, you sometimes find yourself speechless when confronted with abject insanity..."

even if we all should be used to it by now...

"During a Christmas Eve appearance on Fox News, I pointed out that most mainstream economists believe the government must boost the economy with deficit spending. That's when conservative pundit Monica Crowley said we should instead limit such spending because President Franklin Roosevelt's "massive government intervention actually prolonged the Great Depression." Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett eagerly concurred, saying "historians pretty much agree on that."

**********************************************
**********************************************

Well, you can't argue with Monica Crowley...

Aside from the fact that she is surrounded by enough feral sociopaths who adore her and who will be dispatched to your front door with no more than a nod of her aging head.

There is another reason to respect her authority (hers and Cartman's):

SHE WAS THERE, Chollie -- she is 103 years old but has kept her looks using a combination of a painting in the attic and religious adherence to the Elizabeth Bathory "Stay Young Forever" regimen (which is why there's ALWAYS an opening for young female interns in her organization -- not because -- as some scurrilous slanderers imply -- not because she's a lesbian).

It's one thing to recognize the Repugnicans as mean-spirited (for example, currently telling us all how "magnanimous" they're being to accept "being swept out of office").

But we've become so accustomed to their fantasy world (economic, social, scientific) it's not all that often an obvious pathological deficiency and total break from reality stands out from their norm.

But to paraphrase Saint Dick the First "It's NOT insanity when a Republican says it."

--FDR's extension of the depression even involved a rodent conspiracy -- porcupines.
-- see the posting below

Porcupine plague causes $100K in damage in Colorado

Jan 2nd, 2009 | TELLURIDE, Colo. -- Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chomping on the bark of spruce trees, yard trees, and have killed 50-foot-high native trees. The damage is estimated at more than $100,000 in the Mountain Village above Telluride.

Porcupines also favor salty and sweaty items, so plywood treated with a sodium-based substance has become attractive to them. They've also munched on shoes, vehicle tires, and tool handles.

Mountain Village resident Vicki Irwin said she's never seen the porcupines be so aggressive.

Some possible reasons cited for the porcupine's behavior are a harsh winter last year that ramped-up their appetites and the rodents can roam freely because many of the town's 4,100 resident's live elsewhere most of the year.

***************************

Those little $%%#$ Porcupines!!!

HOW DARE THEY?

They think, just because the Mountain Village people left some trees standing,

they think they have a right to munch on the bark?

Monica Crowley explained their aggressive arrogance

"pohrkyoopayin is Sioux for Al Quaeda -- it's FDR's fault -- he let them get off the pohrkyoopayin reservation as a payoff because they helped him keep the Great Depression going.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.