Can He Even Pronounce The Word "Souffle"?

One wonders, if during the 2004 Campaign, against John Kerry, if The Commander Guy was chowing down on souffles?


Then again, for that matter, can he pronounce the word "souffle"?


Anyways, the blogosphere is buzzing that Mr. Mission Accomplished was in a posh Dallas French restaurant, eating a souffle when he got the call that OBL was mowed down.


Go read Steve M., at 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' for a great post on it.


And, we have to give "Line-of-the-Day" to Blue Texan, over on Firedoglake;

Pretty easy to see why W. ditched his fake ranch out in the sticks for the poshy ‘burbs of Dallas. It’s so difficult to find decent French cuisine in Crawford these days.

Considering he gave up on capturing Bin Laden, did he even desire a phone call ....


 

Come Back, Shane! ... Come Back!

Good Evening Garlic Fans ...

Once again, we come (and being the day after the 4th), it can be said, with a firework barge-full of apologies, for our extended absence.

When last we popped in, some three-weeks ago (not counting the First Day of Summer, and our prognostication on the recently fired cock-waving, muscleheaded military commander, General Stanley A. McChrystal), we had been diagnosed with a Herniated Disc (in the L4 region), and was soon off to a second Ortho Guy, for a shot in the back.

Well, we received said shot-in-the-back, and since, only marginal improvement.

Some of the pain has been mitigated, however, numbness of the foot goes on, and, the cramping has been virtually unabated, disrupting sleep to the point of not being able to call it sleep (We would gladly pay you Thursday, for some sleep today).



We've been carrying on with our homefront project, as best we can (and that is behind schedule, as well), and none of this has had us in a creative mood to write, missing, for the first time since we started writing The Garlic, our annual tirade of a July 4th Garlictorial.

Most fortunately, and unknowingly, someone picked up the slack on that front for us.

Our good friend Barry Crimmins, who has an awesome post up for the Annual Pap Holiday, "Fourth of July Remarks For Any Occasion (in the form of notes for the platform speaker)";

Continued remarks about how we wouldn't be able to play golf or even go to a mall this morning without our supported dupes' absolutely needless sacrifice in inordinately far-flung places. Places where the locals have learned that, to Americans, appreciation for democracy can only come at the cost of the arms, legs, eyesight, mental health and even the lives of countless innocents whose only prior crime was to have never thought of our nation in any terms, at all. But now they know us, thanks to the, at times, literal human sacrifice of our very children to a heartless yet absurdly self-righteous foreign policy that is enforced by retaliation against almost anyone who makes the mistake of passing through somewhere, where someone we really hate might also pass through at some point.

That's what makes us different from the terrorists.

And if Barry's post wasn't enough, a War of Words erupted in the Comments Section, and a few dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds perhaps Wannabe Flying Monkeys, since their blather was little more that the tired-and-tattered, Right Wing Dale Carnegie toast of "if you don't love this country, you should leave it", attempted to lecture and humble Barry with that tripe.

I mean, that's like showing up to a Rave, in a John Travolta-Saturday-Night-Fever-white-bell-bottomed-suit, and thinking you're major cool.

I think Barry handled, dealt with, and settled, that particular Right Wing lament back when Nixon was in office, so he swatted that away like a home run hit at Home Run Derby (easy-as-pie, for our baseball-challenged readers - you can go read our Special Essay to bone-up on the Grand Ol' Pastime)

So inane were these voices from Nitwitville, that James Wolcott had to use his Vanity Fair column, to call out, specifically, Darlene Click's vapidness, which will likely, draw in all of Click's Wannabe Flying Monkeys, to read Wolcott, and then click over to read Barry post, for the context.

Hum Stars and Stripes Forever to yourself, as those Wannabe Flying Monkeys suddenly feel like they don't whether to piss, or wind their watches.

Back to business, with a Heatwave settling in this week (ask me in a few days how that "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" thing is workin' for me), and the Back/Herniated Disc thing still playing havoc, and feeling like we have lost our writing mo-jo, we can't say when we will resume regular posting, other than the nebulous "soon".

So, go dig into Barry Crimmins' delicious holiday treat and keep checking back for any fresh post we sneak in.

Cheney, Baby Cheney ...

While half of the World Wide Web is having fun, riffing on the war cries of the PartyofNoicans, of "Drill, Baby Drill", there are more darker reasons the United States (and, likely, the entire planet) will soon see the most largest, horrific oil spill in history.

Things are terribly bleak down in the Gulf of Mexico, with Louisiana, and virtually the entire Panhandle, stretching to Florida, is in the beginnings of smelling foul with oil, washed over and completely covered, the ramifications to last for decades.



The spill is much larger than British Petroleum, or the government, is stating publically.

The Cheeseburger That Sweats ((h/t Barry Crimmins)), and the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show have already begun pinning this on Obama.

They're already calling it "Obama's Katrina"

Sorry, but he hasn't done a fly over, while wildlife and animals line up at the Convention Center, for days-upon-days, with no food or water.

Nor, has Obama patted Janet Napolitano on the back with a "Heck of a job Nappy".



But, by way of Katrina, in one of those "six degrees of separation" things, we can start building the blame for this back to The Commander Guy, and the Shadow President himself, Dick Cheney.

For one, the company that must have the record for most No-Bid Contracts in a single administration, Halliburton, is front-and-center, their fingerprints all over the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig disaster.

Oil Blowout: What Did BP and Halliburton Know, and What/When Did They Tell Us?

We still don’t know what caused the blowout and explosion, but the Wall Street Journal is running a story suggesting the cause may have been related to the process Halliburton used for sealing the holes and gaps created during the drilling process.

Scarecrow goes on to detail a bit more about Halliburton;

8. Enter Halliburton. It’s job, worldwide, is to plug the gap between drill hole and pipe to stop the leakage, and to partially close the hole to allow more control over the pressure from oil/gas trying to escape up the pipe. If it doesn’t do this well, the pressure can cause a dangerous surge, and because the gas is highly flammable, there is a danger of a blowout and explosion when the escaping gas/oil reaches the platform.

9. This happened recently in Australia, where a rig also being sealed by Halliburton blew up and was destroyed, while millions of gallons of oil gushed into the ocean. This may not be a rare occurrence; blowouts do occur; we just don’t hear about them except when the explosions are large and easily detected.

Ah, but let's go back just a bit further.

Do we all remember the Cheney Energy Task Force?

That was at the beginning of the regime, when The Bush Grindhouse became an Energy Jamboree, so evil were the wheeling-and-dealing, so many hands were stained with the payola, that they went to court to suppress having any of the information of the meetings see the light of day.

A few years later, we got a glimpse'

Papers Detail Industry's Role in Cheney's Energy Report

In all, about 300 groups and individuals met with staff members of the energy task force, including a handful who saw Cheney himself, according to the list, which was compiled in the summer of 2001. For six years, those names have been a closely guarded secret, thanks to a fierce legal battle waged by the White House. Some names have leaked out over the years, but most have remained hidden because of a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that agreed that the administration's internal deliberations ought to be shielded from outside scrutiny.

[snip]

British Petroleum representatives dropped by on March 22, one of about 20 oil and drilling companies to get meetings. The National Mining Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the American Petroleum Institute were among three dozen trade associations that met with Cheney's staff, the document shows.

[snip]

The development of a new energy policy was Bush's first major initiative after he took office. He turned over responsibility of it to Cheney, a former chairman of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based energy services firm

[snip]

Some key proposals, such as opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, have never won congressional approval, but some measures to encourage oil and gas production, coal output, and the development of biofuels and nuclear power have been included in Bush's budgets and in the 2005 energy bill.

"Cheney had his finger on a critical issue," said David G. Hawkins, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "He just pushed it in the wrong direction."

Under The Shadow President, regulations were gutted that can be tied into BP not going as far as they could, in protecting their rig and, hopefully, avoiding a catastrophic oil spill.

Today, on The Ed Show, Shultz had a segment with Environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, who has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Fishing Industries, laid out, astoundingly, how BP failed to have an "Acoustic Switch" on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig, a fail-safe that would have shut off the oil at the source, equipment that costs only $500,000, and is required by every other country where they drill (in an era where BP had $40-Billion in profits).

You can go HERE to watch the interview.

Well before this is over, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig spill is going to make the Exxon Valdez look like a half-glass of milk that was knocked over.



Louisiana, the entire mouth of the Mississippi, and, of course, New Orleans, has still been in recovery mode, from Hurricane Katrina.

With this oil spill, it, almost, appears that The Bush Grindhouse, and "Cheney, Baby Cheney", are reaching back, trying to finish off the job.

Amazing, not out of office a full two-years, and they are still reaking despicable havoc.

What needs to come out of all this, additionally, is that this is THE LAST OIL SPILL.

Yeah, Obama has put on the brakes as to any new drilling contracts, but he needs to go further and announce, it's dead.

No More Drilling, Baby, No More Drilling!

Henceforth, all monies are going into developing safe, renewal energies, all our energy goes in this project, a Rooseveltian-like rallying of the country to this purpose.

Let's go there, Mr. President, step up to the plate, make the call.

The destruction being wrought on the Gulf Coast, the jobs lost, the wildlife and habitats destroyed, should be the only item needed to launch this effort.


Bonus Links

EnviroKnow: Rep. Waxman Requests Information from Halliburton Regarding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig

Brad Johnson: Oil Rig Disaster Could Soon Be Worse Than Exxon Valdez

David Neiwert: Gee, whatever happened to 'Drill Baby Drill'? Its proponents are awfully quiet these days UPDATED

Joe Conason: Will Palin, and Obama, rethink offshore drilling now?

Least We Not Forget ... Seven Years In Iraq

Today was the 7th Anniversary, when our Court-Appointed President, The Commander Guy, fully embraced the NeoNitWit's, marching us off to invade and occupy the country of Iraq.

Seven-years, and we are still there.

The editorial staff over at Truthout posted an Editorial to mark the dubious occasion

George Vanity of Vanities: The Iraq War Seven Years Later

We are still shocked. We were never awed. We have not adjusted. The senseless waste of our blood and treasure, our honor and our reputation continue. Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom - the latter unleashed seven years ago today - have morphed into a single Operation Enduring Occupation, set to bankrupt this country financially as well as morally, to destroy our own security as it has that of the over 31 million people who populate Iraq and 32 million people of Afghanistan.

[snip]

And as Benjamin Franklin might have agreed ("They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." {notes for a proposition at the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1775}), perhaps we deserve what has happened to us for allowing ourselves to be cowed into colluding in the ultimate crime against humanity, one which the Nuremberg tribunal powerfully condemned: "To initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

[snip]

Surely, the Iraq war's only obvious "successes" - the enrichment of the military industrial complex at the expense of ordinary citizens, the implementation of an ever more pervasive and intrusive "security" regime at home and the insurance of a second Bush term - could have been achieved without dragging the long-suffering people of Iraq into it. People - it may still need to be pointed out - who had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 and harbored no weapons of mass destruction.

Obama doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get us out of there, and, he's even less-so motivated to bring the war criminals who perpetrated this to justice.

That deserves a damning editorial, as well.

Top Ten Cloves: Things That Can Happen When Earth Gets Knocked Off Its' Axis

News Item: Chilean quake shifted Earth's axis: NASA scientist

10. Warren Buffett sneaks out his annual report, glossing over his boners

9. Disgraced, election-losing, Jack Abramoff-toadie Ralph Reed starts thinking about running for Congress

8. New York Times fawns over Teabagger

7. Harold Ford bails out of running for Senate (and someone thinks Larry "Kuddles" Kudlow should run)

6. PlayStation 3 goes screwy

5. Rightwing Freakshower Ann Althouse gives President Obama beer-drinking advice

4. Jim Bunning hides in "Senator's Only" elevators, and gives people the middle finger

3. People start putting up "Miss Me Yet" billboards, to honor The Commander Guy

2. A certain new Senator longs to wear his retro pink leather shorts

1. Canada breaks out the Inflatable Beavers

Thank God It's Friday

There an old Oscar Brown Jr. tune, 'Hymn To Friday' (from his 'Between Heaven and Hell' album), a calypso-beat number;

"It's the eagle fly day ... It's my day to get high day ... If you see what I say ... Thank God it's Friday ..."

It may (or may not) have become a bit clearer, why President Obama so eagerly wiped the floor with the PartyofNoicans last Friday, and, perhaps, left Baltimore singing "Hymn to Friday".

It was their GOP House Issues Conference, they extended the invitation to the President, but did not, initially, agree to have it televised.

This, from Steve M, on No More Mister Nice Blog, quoting an NYT article;

Although he and other presidents have addressed opposition caucuses before, they usually close the doors for questions, but this time the White House insisted on letting the news media record the give and take.

Hmmm .. Why would they insist? .. Let's see if we can come up with a reason ...

Ahh! ... It would dominate the news cycle for the rest of the day, perhaps two, or three?

Bingo!

It did, including MSNBC, who preempted Olbermann and Maddow on Friday night, to have them, with Tweety, rerun the event, adding their commentary.

And, what was thrown out on the Friday Night Trash Dump?



Obama's DOJ Clears Torture Memo Authors John Yoo, Jay Bybee of Professional Misconduct

The Truthout post culls from a report in Newsweek, "Holder Under Fire";

try the alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City and his handling of the Christmas bombing plot suspect. Now the left is going to be upset: an upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations.

While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, NEWSWEEK has learned that a senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding. Previously, the report concluded that two key authors—Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor—violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed “poor judgment,” say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action—which, in Bybee’s case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.

Jack Balkin cuts through the crap;

That is, the torture memos were written not to define "torture" with respect to new situations where the statute was unclear; rather they were written to allow the CIA to get around the legal ban on torture, even to the point of arguing that the torture statute would be unconstitutional if applied to persons acting under the direction of the President as commander-in-chief. The torture memos were not a hypothetical lawyer's exercise to guide future conduct. They were written in order to ensure that members of the CIA would never be prosecuted for torture.

Obama can end the recession, personally find every unemployed person a job, perform, himself, medical operations that save lives, but letting the Bush Grindhouse, and their cronies, get off scott free, from their illegal actions and war crimes, he will be wearing that failure, that "not looking in the rearview mirror" like a scarlet letter.

And it doesn't help his obtuseness, when other countries take action, that he doesn't;

International Arrest Warrants Requested

Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.

This might mean that these dwarfs, finks, phonies and fraud can't summer in Europe, or attend the Cannes Film Festival, but they are free to roam this country, weigh in on current events, continue their lying, smear the President and, otherwise, enjoy their lives, unfettered with any annoyances, any accountability, for their heinous crimes.

Now, during the State of the Union Address, again in his emasculation of the PartyofNoicans, Obama, as the suddenly naked GOP and Right Wing Freak Show, pointed out, Obama did quite a bit of "Bush Bashing".

He inherited the financial shit train from The Bush Grindhouse.

The Commander Guy, and his cronies, took us from surplus, to trillions-of-dollar in debt.

Obama hasn't been shy of falling back on that, and it surely, pisses off the PartyofNoicans, because it is true, it is fact.

Also, true, and also anchored in a boatload of facts, is the illegal activities, and war crimes, of the previous administration.

Mr. President, you are becoming hypocritical, to single-out the financial mess, but, when it comes to holding your predecessor, his Shadow President, Rumsfield, the two former Crony Generals, Condi Rice, Addington, Libby, Yoo, et all. accountable for the laws they violated, you, suddenly, can only look forward, you can't turn your neck, to look in the rearview mirror.



Glenn Greenwald tackled this, earlier this month, in his "The crime of not "Looking Backward";

Every Obama-justifying excuse for Looking Forward, Not Backwards has been exposed as a sham (recall, for instance, the claim that we couldn't prosecute Bush war crimes because it would ruin bipartisanship and Republicans wouldn't support health care reform). But even if those excuses had been factually accurate, it wouldn't have mattered. There are no legitimate excuses for averting one's eyes from crimes of this magnitude and permitting them to go unexamined and unpunished. The real reason why "Looking Forward, Not Backwards" is so attractive to our political and media elites is precisely because they don't want to face what they enabled and supported. They want to continue to believe that it just involved the quick and necessary waterboarding of three detainees and a few slaps to a handful of the Worst of the Worst. Only a refusal to "Look Backwards" will enable the lies they have been telling (to the world and to themselves) to be sustained. But as Horton's story illustrates, there are real victims and genuine American criminals -- many of them -- and anyone who wants to keep that concealed and protected is, by definition, complicit in those crimes, not only the ones that were committed in the past, but similar ones that almost certainly, as a result of Not Looking Backwards, will be committed in the future.

Yeah, we have a recession, astronomical unemployment, you're on the verge of blowing Healthcare Reform, so many things, all so much piled on the plate.

Ahhh, you probably think that we're going to tell you to get off your ass, and start rounding up these creeps, hauling their "no-bid-contract" asses into court and getting it on with them, right?

Wrong.

Since your so busy, since you have so much on your plate, we have an easier solution.

Let The Hague indict them, and all you have to do is not stand in the way of extraditing over there for trial, say the United States will cooperate, and stand behind whatever decision comes from The Hague.

All in the name of justice, and the rule of law.

Heck, you'll even authorize a gang of U.S. Marshals go out and get them, and, in a rather ironic twist, you can use one of those CIA "Extraordinary Rendition" airplanes, to get them over there.

If you want to put a little lead in the "Hope You Can Believe In' pencil, you'll be able to write your own ticket, as the person that didn't let them get away with it.

Whaddya say, there, Mr. President?

My God Can Do Anything

Could it have been anymore lopsided?

First to mind, how do you think The Commander Guy would have fared in something like what went down today?

It would have crashed YouTube, for days, weeks.

Maybe, Wilt Chamberlain, one-on-one, against Willie Shoemaker?



A Mantle-Maris Yankee team, versus the Bad News Bears?

We talk, of course, about THE EVENT, today, in Baltimore, with President Barack Obama taking on the PartyofNoicans, at the GOP House Issues Conference.

Unprecedented, in this country (and how many time did we have to hear about the free-for-alls they have over in England), for a President, to take on the opposition party, in public, on television (which the PartyofNoicans are surely flagellating themselves, like the Pope, for that one), freestyle, question-and-answers, no holds barred.

It's virtually unanimous that Obama cleaned their clocks, holding court, taking their PartyofNoican talking-point-barbs-and-smears-questions and swatting them away, as easily as he would shoo a fly.

Afterall, he was dealing with the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds that don't know whether to piss, or wind their watches.



We'll have links below, in case you missed it.

But one thing.

There are calls, all over the board, for this to be done again, make it a regular thing.

Fat Chance.

For, one, Obama put the PartyofNoicans in a box, in the spotlight, called them out, on national television, for their morphing into the PartyofNoicans, so that is going to make things very uncomfortable, moving forward, remaining the obstructionists.

The emperor has no clothes thing.

But, it's an election year, so they will adhere to being the PartyofNoicans, lest they do anything to endanger their thin hopes of vaunting back to their Permanent Majority fantasy.

While it was great theatre today, the PartyofNoicans, egged on by the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show, and growing army of Teabaggers, have a firm, four-year plan to do anything, and everything, to tear down Obama, and the Democrats.

They'll take up Obama, on his Bipartisanship Love-In, but will remain the PartyofNoicans, insisting Obama, and the Dems, accept any and all PartyofNocian proposals, no matter how poorly written, how cheap and ridiculous they may be, and, when Obama and the Dems balk, push back, it's back to the lies and smears on how they want to destroy the country, having the government enslave the planet.

So enjoy the buzz for a day, or two, and then it's back to the SOS.

In the meantime, we'll let Luther Barnes, and the Red Budd Gospel Choir (and, yes, we've used this tune before), sum up the day;

My God Can Do Anything

Bonus Obama Clock-Cleaning Links

Marc Ambinder: Obama's Question Time: An Amazing Moment

Sam Stein: Obama Goes To GOP Lions' Den -- And Mauls The Lions

Steve Benen: MUST SEE TV...

David Corn: Obama and House GOP Bring Question Time to US

Steve M: TIMELY AS YESTERDAY'S HEADLINES

Amanda Terkel: Republicans dismayed by Obama’s strong performance, say it was a ‘mistake’ to let cameras roll

Reconciliation, For Dummies

That be you, President Obama, and the entire Democrat Caucus!

You guys have been acting like old ladies, standing on a chair, because a mouse came into the room, all because some bozo PartyofNoican won an election nobody thought he would (and, in fairness, he campaigned, and took victory, without mentioning he was a PartyofNoican), and, suddenly, the sky is falling.



This is what we wrote last week;

However, as to the bigger picture, unless something remarkably uncanny happened, and all kinds of state and federal laws were, suddenly, abrogated, and changed, today, newly-elected Teabagger Senator Scott Brown only won one Senatorial seat, not 18-20, and, unless something else has changed, Brown will come to a dead stop, after he runs-like-the-wind, to get to DC, and join the rest of the PartyofNoicans, in doing nothing

[snip]

What the Dems need to do is, along with growing a few pairs, start governing, start using their majority in Congress, to govern, much as the PartyofNoicans did (when they were known as "Republicans"), during the The Bush Grindhouse years, where they, without a majority, handed The Commander Guy everything he wanted.

Since you seem to be having trouble growing a pair, Paul N. Van de Water and James R. Horney have handed you some, and laid it all out for you today;

Using Reconciliation Process to Enact Health Reform Would Be Fully Consistent With Past Practice

Conclusion

Because rising health care costs represent the single largest cause of the federal government’s long-term budget problems, fundamental health care reform must be part of any budget solution.[15] The foregoing examples indicate that using the budget reconciliation process to enact health reform in 2010 would be consistent with the ways in which Congress has used reconciliation in the past. Many major policy changes, including welfare reform, large tax cuts, and new health programs, have been included in past reconciliation bills. Moreover, if health reform is pursued through the reconciliation process this year, the resulting legislation — unlike the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 — will need to be designed so it does not add to the deficit. Any legislation also is likely to include provisions, such as an independent Medicare Commission and demonstration projects to identify ways to deliver health care more efficiently, that could lead to further reforms that slow the growth of health-care costs and contribute to longer-term deficit reduction.

Back in the old days (early 70's) on the "Point-Counter" of '60-Minutes', Nicholas von Hoffman called disgraced President Richard Nixon a "dead mouse on America's kitchen floor ... And it was time for Congress to come in and sweep it up ..."

This is your moment, this is what you are there for.

So, climb down off your chairs, grab a broom, sweep away those pesky, minority PartyofNoican mice, and get to work passing legitimate, benefiting-the-citizens-not-the-corporations, Healthcare Reform (and, with a Public Option, or Single-Payer, thank you, very much).

I Hope This Doesn't Give The Commander Guy Any Ideas

A word, first, on that "rear-view mirror" thing, then, the hijinks

Why, on earth, would you, President Obama, bring in The Commander Guy, to the Haitian Relief Effort?

Is there a Convention Center in Port-au-Prince, filled with desperate people, that you can put him in charge of ignoring?

Will you have him just do a few "fly-overs"?

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I believe, he was delivering a birthday cake to Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain.

Did you dispatch him to Haiti to deliver cakes?



Did Harold Ford convince you, that it would be good to hear his voice
on this?

Maybe, Mr. President, you need to check out, and look into deeper, the interview of Amy Goodman, with Randall Robinson, to see how boneheaded it is to have him anywhere near this, and how insulting it is to the Haitians.

Heck of a job, there, Obama...

And, on another front, we'll put our bets on this kid, doing way more for Haiti, then Mr. Ek-A-Lec-Tic;

Boy, 7, raises $160,000 for Haiti appeal

He's no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn't stopped seven-year-old Charlie Simpson from raising more than £120,000 ($195,000) for the Haiti earthquake.

Simpson from Fulham, west London had hoped to raise just £500 for UNICEF's earthquake appeal by cycling eight kilometers (five miles)around a local park.

"My name is Charlie Simpson. I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives," said Simpson on his JustGiving page, a fundraising site which launched his efforts.

"I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti," he said.

Oh, no, bicycles ...

The Commander Guy might get in his head that "Hey, I can do something like that."

As history goes, no, no he can't

• Bush bruised after bicycle bang
• Bush collides with police officer during bike ride
• Bush bruised in bicycle crash

What's next Obama, have the former Shadow President Cheney take some Haitians out hunting?

Martha Chokely

Oh My!

It really hasn't been, oh, that long ago, that fervent, boiling, in-your-face expectations have been thoroughly crushed, decimated, blown to smithereens.

Just two years ago, when local icons Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick, walked off the Super Bowl field, 18-1, as opposed to the expected 19-0.

Paging Martha Chokely!

Oh boy, did she blow it ... big time!

She took a Ned Lamont-siesta, after winning the primary, and never got into the game.

State Senator Scott Brown is now U.S. Senator Scott Brown, and the first thing he should do, in the morning, with a bouquet of flowers, send a "Thank You" note to Martha Chokely.

• He needs to thank her, for being such a enormously pathetic candidate
• Thank her for settling into the mindset of entitlement, that winning the primary was, essentially, all she had to do
• Thank her for not driving a pick-up truck
• Thank her for not knowing about sports

While The Village, and all the Cable Talking Heads, will be pontificating, like an "All You Can Eat" at the Country Buffet, that "Healthcare Reform Is Dead" and "Obama's Agenda is in trouble", stopping short (maybe) of calling him a Lame Duck President, the Dems will, if they stay to form, cower at this fusillade, offer no rebuttal and beat Martha Chokely like a pinata.

It will be like a Looney Tunes, with Chokely being punched, kicked, anvil-hit-over-the-head, shot, thrown off a cliff, before crawling to her feet, and being plowed over by the speeding truck.



Most of it, deserved.

However, as to the bigger picture, unless something remarkably uncanny happened, and all kinds of state and federal laws were, suddenly, abrogated, and changed, today, newly-elected Teabagger Senator Scott Brown only won one Senatorial seat, not 18-20, and, unless something else has changed, Brown will come to a dead stop, after he runs-like-the-wind, to get to DC, and join the rest of the PartyofNoicans, in doing nothing.

Amazingly, some three-+ hours ago, Tweety was showering the crowd at Doyles with spittle, foaming over Brown, and all but coronating him the Presidential winner in 2012.

And, that was before the polls closed.

You can expect more of that, when the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show pick up on it, soon followed by the projected pairing of Teabagger Senator Brown with Teabagger MoneyRaker Mommy Moose, the former half-term governor of Alaska.

There'll be endless blabbering about "recalibration", with all the discussion about how the Democrats, for losing one Senate seat, will have to "change" and the calls will grow for them to bend over, and give the PartyofNoicans whatever they want.

What the Dems need to do is, along with growing a few pairs, start governing, start using their majority in Congress, to govern, much as the PartyofNoicans did (when they were known as "Republicans"), during the The Bush Grindhouse years, where they, without a majority, handed The Commander Guy everything he wanted.

As far as governing, drafting up, and passing new laws, polices, etc, Brown's election is but a blip.

The PartyofNoican Leadership (yeah, we know, an oxymoron) will exploit Brown, new red meat to throw out there, and recycle the Obama slurs and distortions, generate headlines on the house rag, The Politico, Matt Sludge, etc. and become the new darling guest Talking Points stand-in, over on Faux News.

So, in sum, more of the same.

No game changer here.

Balls in your court, Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.

Just remember, in any interviews you do in the next few days, Curt Schilling is not a Yankee fan.

Geesh! ... They Could Have Used Wooly Willy ...

Oh man, this is a good one.

I suppose, since The Commander Guy, after his woody with the bullhorn, and all his "Bring it on!" and "Dead or Alive!", effectively, punted, and gave up the hunt, the FBI had to start somewhere when looking for the most notorious terrorist, this side of Cheney-Rumsfeld Smash-and-Grab Syndicate, Osama bin Laden.

But did they have to start in the Spanish Parliament?



Spanish MP's photo used for Osama Bin Laden poster

Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster.

He said the use of a real person for the mocked-up image was "shameless".

The FBI admitted a forensic artist had obtained certain facial features "from a photograph he found on the internet".

[snip]

The FBI claimed to have used "cutting edge" technology, but Mr Llamazares said it showed the "low level" of US intelligence services and could cause problems if he was wrongly identified as the Saudi.

"Bin Laden's safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is," he said, adding that he was considering taking legal action.

Later, an FBI spokesman told the BBC that it was "aware of the similarities in hairline features of the age-progressed photograph of Osama Bin Laden, posted on the web yesterday, and that of an existing photograph of a Spanish public official".

"When producing age-progressed photographs, forensic artists typically select features from a database of stock reference photographs to create the new image."

Holy Cow!

With their army of lab monkeys, and bloated budgets, some FBI schmuck does what I, and thousands of other bloggers do on a daily basis - head out to Google Images!

We could slash that budget by about 90% and just job out the work to some 7th grade somewhere in the country.

Or, they expense-account it, for about two-bucks ...

They could just have used Wooly Willy.





Bonus FBI Boners

Chris in Paris: FBI uses photo of Spanish MP to make updated bin Laden poster

Steve Hynd: FBI Alters Spanish MP's Picture, Calls Him Bin Laden

Paul Carr: NSFW: Nobody suspects the Spanish politician


Bonus Bonus

Retro Garlic: J. Edgars Gay Dating Service?

D.B. Cooper Is Barbarosa ... Or Is It Barbarosa Is D.B. Cooper?

Top Ten Cloves: Difficulties DC Comics' Batman May Have Fighting Osama bin Laden

Robertson Goes All Angel Heart On Haiti

Quite the awful, terrible, horrific disaster going on in Haiti.

Good thing The Commander Guy is out-of-office, otherwise, there would probably be a massive airlift, bringing the Haitians to the New Orleans Convention Center, so they could wait for some help.

And, we come to expect things.

Like chest-thumping network news anchors "dropping in", to do live stand-ups of repeating their bleatings over-and-over, punctuated by "that's absolutely correct". Brian Williams and the NBC Survivor Team all were throwing around the word "absolutely" so much, I half expected to find out they were sponsored by the vodka company.

Another expectation is for former Republican candidate for President, and raving lunatic, Pat Robertson, goes off the rails, and starts spouting the events of the alternate universe playing inside his head.



Take it away Pat, courtesy of Think Progress;

Today on his 700 Club television show, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson highlighted the tragedy and said that his network will be there “to help the people.” However, he then tried to offer an explanation for the earthquake, blaming Haiti’s own people for once making a “pact to the devil”:

ROBERTSON: [S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. Napoleon the Third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the prince.” True story. And so the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.” They kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free.

But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle, on the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island.

They need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.

(GottaLaff, over on The Political Carnival, has the video)

Now, you think he would have been happy, with just the earthquake.

He's been wishing earthquakes, tsunami's, tornadoes, hurricanes, mixing in trying to hire assassins, calling on God to "smite' this one, or that one, on so many people who have different points-of-view than his, that when one comes along, he could have just left it with an "I told you so".

Ahhh, but that "Louis Cyphre", he's a tricky fellow.

I think something else was going on here.

This is what must have happened;

Netflix screwed up, and sent Robertson 'Angel Heart', rather than 'Angels With Dirty Faces' and once the scene with Epiphany Proudfoot, played by the steamy, sultry Lisa Bonet, came to the "racy nude and sex scenes", well, Robertson got all hopped up, and happy-in-the-pants, and went to bed thinking, actually, dreaming, hoping, that he was Johnny Favorite



Naturally, he woke up, how should we say, at attention, popped in the DVD for another view of his beloved Epiphany Proudfoot just before showtime and, Ta-Da, he pays his dues by giving old Louis Cyphre his star turn.

If not, get this man on lots, and lots, of Seroquel.


Bonus Pat Robertson Loony Tunes

Wonkette: Pat Robertson Does Usual Pat Robertson Thing Following Natural Disaster

Juan Cole: Pat Robertson's Racist Blaming of Haitian Victims; and the Televangelist Misuse of History

John Cook: Thousands Dying Because Haitian Slaves 'Swore a Pact with the Devil' for Their Freedom

Steve M: THE COMPANY REPUBLICAN OFFICEHOLDERS KEEP

Amanda Terkel: Shep Smith hits Robertson’s ‘devil’ comments: The people of Haiti ‘don’t need that’ at a time like this


Bonus Bonus

Breaking News! Robertson Held For Questioning In Falwell Death ... Threats Against Chavez, Sharon Make 700 Club Founder 'Person of Interest'

Robertson May Have, Inadvertently, Caused Hajj Stampede Deaths ...Was Working On New Material For Bush Video Blitz, Testing New Curses and Condemnations

White House Meets With Robertson; Plan Video Blitz ...Controversial Minister To Produce Al Qaeda-type Videos, Promising Death and Destruction, To Counter Bin Laden's

Pez Creator Death Kicks Off Ferocious Battle Among Collectors, To Claim Body

The new year brought in the sad news, that Curtis Allina, creator of the now-infamous Pez Dispenser, passed away on December 15th, at the age of 87;

Curtis Allina Dies at 87; He Put the Heads on Pez

For nearly three decades after World War II, Mr. Allina was the vice president in charge of United States operations at what is now Pez Candy. In 1955, at his urging, what had been an austerely packaged Austrian confection for adults took on vibrant new life as a children’s product.

That year, the first character dispensers, as they are known in the parlance of Peziana, were issued, giving birth to what is today a highly collectible pop-cultural artifact. Instantly recognizable, the dispensers are slim plastic containers, usually anthropomorphic in design, whose heads — modeled after those of TV characters, cartoon figures or historical personages — flip back to disgorge brick-shaped pieces of candy.

[snip]

A Pez dispenser is a simple little machine: back snaps the head, out pops the candy, and the head flicks shut again with a satisfying click. But oh, the variations, from a spate of licensed characters to those designed by Pez. For serious collectors, the most highly prized dispensers, long discontinued, are elusive objects of desire that can run to thousands of dollars apiece.

It is now, those "serious collectors" that are causing tremendous trouble for authorties in Olympia, Washington, where Allina resided.

Hundreds have descended on the town, and have been badgering family members, seeking to purchase Allina's body for their Pez collections.

In some cases, collectors have attempted to break into Allina's home, and, in another incident, there was a carjacking of a young lady, thought to be a granddaughter.

"It's been awful," said one resident.

"They are stalking people all over town, going through garbage cans, looking for anything they can lay claim to."

One collector, who asked to remain anonymous, was near hyperventilation, with the thought of claiming Allina's body for his collection.

"I have thousand, and thousands of Pez dispensers, going back decades .. Rare and impossible to find ones ... Having Mr. Allina in the collection would just make it priceless."

Another collector that was also seeking the body, planned to cash out his collection, on eBay.

When contacted, eBay, on the possibility of someone selling the Pez creators' body, the spokesperson indicated they had no specific rules against it, if it were part of a collection, and cautioned anyone purchasing it, to verify who the seller was, and check their rating for selling on eBay.

"We really don't want to get in the middle of a sale, of someone buying a collection and it not being the specified item."

In a related matter, the Pez Corporation announced that they are discontinuing plans for the release of a new, 2010 Pez Dispenser, Allina's final creation, the head of the former President, The Commander Guy, dispensing shoe-shaped pez pellets.

I, For One, Hope He Lives A Long, Long Life

There was much hub-bub on the World Wide Web last evening, with the news that the "Cheeseburger That Sweats" (h/t Barry Crimmins), aka Rush Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital, ironically, in Hawaii, after suffering chest pains.



No doubt, there are people out there, mumbling like Solazzo, from 'The Godfather' this morning with the news that Limbaugh is resting comfortably.

Some of the Flying Monkeys, of the Right Wing Freak Show, were, already, last night, sending out shots-across-the-bow, dare anyone start making death jokes about one of our grandfathered Ignorant Dolts.

I, for one, hope he lives a long, long, life;

• Long enough to see the despicable garbage schtick he promulgates, promotes (proudly, no less), and, otherwise revels in, becomes totally repudiated, and becomes a neon pariah for the rest of his life.
  
  
• That he lives long, so that he can see the country bounce back, become great again, under Democrat Leadership.
  
  
• That he lives long enough to see a woman, perhaps a black, gay woman, elected President.
  
  
• So that he can see the people he cheerleaded - The Commander Guy, The Shawdow President, and all the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds of The Bush Grindhouse - take their Perp Walk, if not in this country, than in the World Court, to pay for their War Crimes.
  
  
• So that he can see millions of Americans become healthy, with a broad, robust Healtcare Plan, brought about by the Democrats
  
  
• So that, hopefully, a cured Michael J. Fox, can spit in his face

Will Bunch, on Attytood, shares this;

So, get well, Rush Limbaugh. And get well quickly, because I want to make fun of you for vacationing in that "exotic" Barack Obama-producing state of Hawaii.

So does James Akers Jr., posting on Twitter, perhaps the best of well-wishes;

I hope Rush Limbaugh is saved by a black homosexual doctor with a questionable immigration status

Adrian Chen, over on Gawker, points out the Prayer Vigils taking place;

Our buddies over at the Free Republic know how to save Rush Limbaugh: Internet prayer vigil! There are like 150 prayers already! Do you realize what this means? Tonight could be the night we find out if God exists

Yeah, what if God was one of him...

Under This Mistletoe, An Ignorant Dolt - Mary Matalin

We had hoped to get through the holidays with only the need for a little light dusting.

Much as we would at home, turning the thermostat down if we were to be away a few days, we dialed down, a crank, or two, the Ignorant Dolt detector.

It was, after all, Christmas, and we would have like to think that people could hold it back, contain themselves through the holiday.

Ahh, the lessons that we learn ...

I suppose, though, that now is as good a time as any.

Afterall Mary "Free Scooter Libby" Matalin, long, long ago, established her Ignorant Dolt credentials.

It was sheer laziness on our part, for not fitting her with the Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre, for her bevy of outlandish displays of amazing doltness.

If we were ever to create a statue, a la The Oscar, to bestow upon our Ignorant Dolts, Matalin would, definitely, be up, high on the list, top two, or three, for its' likeness.



And how did Mary "The World Will Come To An End Under Democrats" Matalin put her Ignorant Dolt foot into her Ignorant Dolt mouth?

Mary Matalin claims President Bush ‘inherited’ the September 11th terror attacks

On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration. Defending her former boss, Matalin charged that President Bush had in fact “inherited a recession” and the September 11th attacks from President Clinton:

MATALIN: I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it and within a year of his presidency within a comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent.

Oh no, you didn't really say that, did you Mary?

After all the documentation on how The Bush Grindhouse blew off the Clinton Administrations terrorism work, naturally, because they were too busy planning on how they were going to attack Iraq.

The Commander Guy's vacation, and the ignored PDB?

It may be Mary, that you are such an Ignorant Dolt, they cut you out of the loop.

Rove, or Dan Bartlett, maybe even Andy Card, didn't send you the memo?

The memo that said, since The Bush Grindhouse was out of business, since WHIG was shuttered-up, you couldn't go around making up your own facts any longer.

This is really egregious.

Even he must cringe at having to look at such an Ignorant Dolt as yourself every day ...

It wouldn't surprise me if Gollum divorces you over this.