Demon Possessed Drugged Up Pussy Whippers

Granny Drives Wheelchair onto Autobahn

Kid Rock Drinks too much

At Benefit, Imus and Son Flip Reporters the Bird in chip off the old block demonstration

Binge drinking Amy Winehouse doesn't like the way she looks supposedly

Beserk drunk elephants tear up nightclub then attend tailgate party before Seahawks game

Why They Probably Hate You

Actress Helen Mirren hates newborn babes

Yuppie Ferrari Segway gadget envy

Apparent New York designer bling baby backlash

Things liberals need to know. How Much Piss Can You Drink Without Getting Sick?

The Week In US Government Corruption And Incompetence

Must read story by NYT Frank Rich on how the suicide of second highest ranking Air Force procurement officer relates to the untold billions stolen already by corrupt officials connected to the Iraq war. Or as one US Senator discribed it, “the most significant defense procurement mismanagement in contemporary history.”

Deposed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may face prosecution says Fired US Attorney for Western Washington John McKay.

Government tries to explain how Nuclear Weapons mistakingly flown across country without anyone knowing

Just how stupid is Duke Cunningham?

Magistrate pushes for White House email archive

Dems Will Be Unable to Change Course Of War Until 2008

I'm convinced that most Americans don't have a good grasp of how the US Congress works. Frustration grows among antiwar activists, rank and file Democrats and independents who voted for Democrats in the 2006 elections. Anger with the inability of the party to bring about the US military withdrawal from Iraq grows.

The problem apparently lies in the general lack of proper civics classes in American schools. Few men or women in the street understanding the predicament Democrat Senate Leader Reid and House Speaker Pelosi face when they are forced to work with ineffective majorities in both houses of Congress.

I want to throw up ever time I hear someone refer to how badly the congress is doing in public opinion polls. Something like 11% think the Congress is doing a good job. It's become an effective Republican talking point. It sells well with the masses but reflects the aforementioned lack of understanding of the internal workings of the US Congress that has led to the perception out there that the Democrats are obstructionist and ineffective. Even old time democratic loyalist are starting to believe the spin.

As frustrating as it may seem the Democrats simply lack the votes to pass the necessary legislation to stop the war or any other legislation that is strongly opposed by the right.

With a 51-49 split in the Senate and Loopy Senator Lieberman and Dick Cheney controlling the balance or power you should begin to get the picture. The often referenced 60 vote majority is considered to be bullet proof in the Senate. The house is split 233-202 in favor of the Democrats.

It may start to sink in with Cindy Sheehan, the Code Pink crowd and the rest of us eventually. Metaphorically speaking I hope its before we end up eat our young.

Heck, the Democrat leadership couldn't even muster the needed votes in the House to override the veto by the child hating President of the widely popular bi-partisan publicly popular Children's Medical Health Plan.

Much of the constipation is due to the continuing Republican ability to maintain voting discipline among it's minority party members on important policy and ideologically based legislation. The democrats certainly cannot claim the same discipline within its caucus, especially in the House. Often Democrats from conservative districts find themselves voting with the Republicans when the issue reflects the make up and desires of their right leaning constituents.Saving the possibility of some sort of totally unforeseen major political catastrophe or other event bringing about a sea change in Republicans Congressional thinking the Democrats power will remain limited.

Those that really want to see fundamental change in this country must begin to work to elect effective majorities in both house of Congress and a Democratic President in 2008.

Democrats do control the committee, subpoena and rules processes. They have made excellent progress in returning Congress to it role as a investigative watchdog. But passing contentious legislation is another matter entirely.

Some would argue the Democrats should just refuse to consider any war funding legislation. This could backfire because many conservative democrats would bolt. Most Democrats now fear that such a ploy would be perceived as not supporting the troops in the field and unless party discipline remained extremely strong the effort would most likely fail anyway given the makeup and current party head counts.

Walter Shapiro's extensive article at Solon.com puts forth the idea that real change will not come until the Democrats can take power in the 2008 elections. He argues that this should be the focus of those seeking fundamental changes.

"That is why angry antiwar activists should realize that their targets are no longer skittish congressional Democrats and Beltway insiders who are their counselors in caution. This is not the moment for guerrilla theater and mau-mauing the moderates. For the true struggle on the home front to end the Iraq war is no longer going to be waged in the chambers of Congress. The coming battleground instead is the familiar terrain of Ohio and Florida -- and the hearts and minds of the swing voters who will decide the 2008 election."

The Rebel

I offer a Poem entitled The Rebel by Patrick Pearse a hero, architect and instigator of the Irish uprising of Easter week 1916. Pearse was executed by a British firing squad on May 4th, 1916. The uprising he started eventually led to the creation of the modern independent Irish state.

I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow,
That have no treasure but hope, No riches laid up but a memory Of an Ancient glory.

My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,

I am of the blood of serfs;

The children with whom I have played, the men and women with whom I have eaten, Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters, And, though gentle, have served churls;

The hands that have touched mine, the dear hands whose touch is familiar to me, Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles, Have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers,

I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly; I am bone of their bone,
I that have never submitted;

I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people's masters, I that have vision and prophecy and the gift of fiery speech, I that have spoken with God on the top of His holy hill.

And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire:

My heart has been heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children,
I have yearned with old wistful men, And laughed or cursed with young men;

Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it,
Reddened for that they have served, they who should be free, Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full, Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and of their jailers, With their writs of summons and their handcuffs, Men mean and cruel!

I could have borne stripes on my body rather than this shame of my people.

And now I speak, being full of vision;

I speak to my people, and I speak in my people's name to the masters of my people.

I say to my people that they are holy, that they are august, despite their chains, That they are greater than those that hold them, and stronger and purer, That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God, God the unforgetting, the dear God that loves the peoples for whom He died naked, suffering shame.

And I say to my people's masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people, Who shall take what ye would not give.

Did ye think to conquer the people, Or that Law is stronger than life and than men's desire to be free?

We will try it out with you, ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed, tyrants, hypocrites, liars!

This Machine Kills Fascists

Sick of war and sick of the masters of war.....

SCHIP OVERRIDE VOTE FAILS

BREAKING: Bush’s SCHIP veto holds

Another Reality Check For Neurotic American Pet Owners and Helen DeGeneres

Cesar Millan author of The Dog Wisperer tells pet owners that "dogs are not humans"

It's not the dogs, it's the people

Spoiling your dog rotten

Rich and pampered New York City dogs

When is too much love bad for your dog

Cry me a river or is Ellen Degeneres pet separation frenzy anxiety real

American priorities: children without medical care, wars, starvation, disease, global warming, plague and Iggy

Seattle Baseball's Cleveland Indian World Series Championship Connection

I was watching the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians Tuesday night on the FOX channel. The Tribe won the game 7 to 3 to go up 3 games to 1 in the best of seven series. Cleveland now is just one win away from clinching the right to play in the 2007 World Series.

Joe Buck, the annoying FOX play by play guy who talks way to much about stuff that isn’t happening on the field when he calls the games, happens to mention that the Indians last World Series title was in 1948. Nearly sixty years ago.

So “State the obvious” Buck and Tim Mc Carver, the Cardinal ex catcher, who does the color commentary, are both driving me nuts. Mc Carver keeps saying things like “that’s a good hit” when someone gets a hit. I have to ask myself what constitutes a bad hit Tim? Buck just talks too damn much period. He talking about stuff the likes of A-Rod’s (New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez) divorce proceedings while Boston is hitting its third consecutive home run in their half of the sixth inning. He’s often never centers in on what’s going on in the present time during the game.

Yap, Yap, Yap. We can see the game on TV Joe; so just shut the hell up once in a while so we can pick up on the subtleties of the game for crying out loud. Well it is the FOX Network so I guess that explains it. FOX sports broadcast have that sort of video game simulated production value to them aimed directly at 20 to 30 something males in puberty. Lots of graphics, sound effects, T&A and live game interrupting tape delayed dugout interviews with the managers that are always dumb and where the managers seem bothered but are forced to make small talk and state the obvious.

But to get back to what Joe Buck said about the last Cleveland Indians World Series Championship being in 1948. It made me think about an old family friend and a weird Northwest connection to the Indian’s passed successes and a possible World Series Championship this year.

It’s a story about a Seattle raised major league ballplayer by the name of John Jeffrey Heath. "Jeff" Heath was born April 1st 1915 at Fort William, Ontario Canada and eventually migrated to Seattle with his family and graduated from Garfield High in 1934. He was an all around star athlete 6 feet tall and weighing in at around 200lb in his prime. He broke into the big leagues with the Cleveland Indians in 1936. He played for the Indians, Washington Senators, St Louis Browns, and finally the old National League Boston Braves while in the majors. His last year in the majors was 1949 as a Boston Brave.

I met Heath in the late sixties when I was this full blown hippie who happened to like baseball and about twenty years after he had retired from baseball in 1950 after a truly remarkable major league career. He was a dear friend of my step dad John Francis Buckley at that time. They met as young men and had known each other by reputation during high school and during Heath’s budding major league career and later in their extensive travels in Seattle Baseball circles. My step dad was a star baseball player for O’Dea during high school in the forties. He was a bona fide major league prospect in his own right until a severely broken leg caused by a outfield collision while trying to catch a fly ball pretty much ended his dreams. I don’t think he every really got over it. But this story is mainly suppose to be about Heath.

Jeff Heath was a pure slugger and mainly a left fielder during the dead ball era of baseball. I remember Jeff as an extremely playful gregarious sort of fellow. He had a great sense of humor a big laugh and loved practical jokes. Sure, some say he could be temperamental at times but he was mainly a carefree Seattle sports celebrity to me. He also liked to bend his elbow a little as did my step dad and they often could be found making stops at a number of popular sports crowd watering holes around town. They’d end up at my folks place on Queen Anne Hill and if I happened to be there I’d hang around when they were there just to pick up on the funny stories and imitations of Babe Ruth eating a hotdog or running the bases Heath would do when he was feeling his oats. Plus it was absolutely fascinating to talk about baseball with the man if given the chance. God he actually knew the Babe.

He once showed me his enormous scrapbook when I dropped by his house one day that was literally shaped like a giant baseball and chucked full of clippings and photos of him alongside all the great players of that era including Ted Williams, Warren Spann, Stan “the man” Musial, Bob Lemon, Bob Feller, Bill Veech (the GM), Johnny Sain, Al Dark, and Lou Boudreau to name only a few. I was flabbergasted as it all sank in and I realized what an amazing baseball player he really had been in his day.

Over his 14-year career Heath had a batting average of .293. He appeared in 1383 games had 103 triples and 194 home runs. He made two all-star game appearances in 1941 and 1943 as an Indian. He was the runner up to the Red Sox legend Jimmy Fox for the batting title in 1938 and led the league in triples that year and in 1941. He averaged 104 RBI per season during his career. One remarkable stat he will forever own is being the FIRST major league player to hit at least one home run in every existing National League park and every American League Park, a feat completed in 1948 while playing for the NL Braves.

There's a story about Heath causing a near riot at Wrigley Field in Chicago during a game in 1948 between the Braves and Cubs. Seems he lost a ball in the famous ivy covered walls of Wrigley Field, it turns out it was really at his feet. The umpire rules the hit a double instead of a in the park homer for the Cubs. Fans go nuts and shower the field with debris causing a twenty minute delay and eventual police intervention to control the Cubs bleacher bums.

Heath played in 115 games as a Boston Braves in 1948 and the team went on to clinched the National League Pennant with a 3 to 2 win over the New York Giants on September 26th, 1948 with six games remaining in the season. Jeff ended up hitting .319 for the year with 20 homers.

It must have been a thrill for him to think he could soon be facing the eventual American League Champion Indians in the upcoming World Series. A team he broke in with in 1936 and for whom he played for 10 seasons. At the age of 33 Heath was in the twilight of his career and he’d finally be playing in a World Series in just a few days. But fate was to dictate a different outcome and Heath would never get the chance to play in a World Series.

On September 29th 1948 just two days before the end of the regular season in a meaningless game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Brooklyn Heath snaps a bone 2 inches above his ankle while sliding home in a game eventually won by the Braves 4 to 3. It’s Brave pitcher Johnny Sain’s 23rd victory of the year.

Heath’s season, his destiny to finally play in a World Series, and career would effectively be finished that day.

When the news reached Fenway Park in Boston of the season ending injury to Heath the Red Sox will find themselves embroiled in a game against the Washington Senators and the ongoing American League pennant race with the Indians. Red Sox fans cheered because Heath had previously said in a radio interview he rather face the Indians in the World Series instead of the cross town Red Sox because Municipal Stadium in Cleveland could hold more fans and it would mean a bigger World Series money split for the players. The American League Red Sox would eventually lose a one game playoff to the Indians and a trip to the 1948 World Series.

The National League Champion Boston Braves went on to face the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 World Series. Cleveland won World Series Championship in six games, a fact that long-winded Joe Buck was trying to point out last night on TV.

Heath returned to the Braves in 1949 but because of the effects of the injury to his ankle the previous season he played in only 36 games in 1949 and would never achieve the level of play he had enjoyed in previous years. He was release by the Braves on October 13th 1949. He played briefly for the Seattle Rainier’s in 1950 and then retired from professional baseball. Jeff died on December 9, 1975 after suffering a heart attack at his home on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle he was 60 years old.

Play Whack A Murdock Game

Play FreePress Wack-A-Murdock game here

Lapdog MSM Media Not Doing It’s Job

I finally reached the breaking point while watching MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson the other night one too many times. Even though I was trying not to. With all the possible candidates available to anchor a show one must ask what kind of dirt does this guy have on MSNBC executives that can possibly keep this preppy talking airhead on the air.

The heights of ignorant pre washed pabulum fed the public from the mouth of Tucker and his ilk make one fear for the future of the country.

"This is typical press hypocrisy. They say they want someone who doesn’t give pat political answers. But when they get one, they call him a loser.

They say they don’t want safe robots like Hillary, but they create conditions where only that species can survive. And then they give cover to people like Sean Hannity, who reported on (Obama’s) no pin-gate and then had to call a doctor because his fake outrage hard-on lasted longer than 72 hours." (Bill Mayer HBO on Real Time)

Everyone with half a brain knows that FOX News is a direct tool of the right and the Republican agenda. The bigger problem is that the rest of these other so called fair and balanced news networks including CNN and MSNBC are not any better when it comes to the bringing into the living rooms of America what amounts to none other then antiseptic dumb downed crap disguised as factual news. This bodes badly for the US because most of the unwashed NASCAR what's a blog masses out there get their news from TV.

This is a fatal flaw within the worlds of modern news coverage. The consequence of which can be seen in the run up to the Iraq war and numerous other public scandals. The television and print media almost completely acquiesced their roles in our democracy by not vigorously challenging administration claims until it was far too late.

Not much has really improved. They apparently live in fear of challenging establishment positions or agenda. This being the fallout from the fact that not many news networks actually do the old fashion type of in-house investigative news gathering that is necessary to bring the truth to bare. They rely on outside sources and experts. These sources are often tied to special interests groups with an agenda or one of the political parties working from talking points.

With the reduction of the size and scope of news staffs at most MSM television news outlets often we are faced with accepting the opinions of the so called expert talking heads correspondents who provide mainstream uncontroversial pat political answers to softball questions.

Anchors often are no more then know nothing news readers acting under the guise of actually knowing something about the subject they are leading a discussion about. Just watch one day of MSNBC or CNN daytime news if you need proof. It often more about being another seemingly intelligent pretty face then investigative truth seeking red meat news coverage. Hardly able to disguise the angst for the next recurring news story on Paris, Britney or the birth of panda bears.

Outrageous claims and talking points put forward by political operatives go completely unchallenged more often then not. It is often obvious that the news anchor knows little or nothing about the issue and is simple there to facilitate an appearance of the agenda driven guest.

One case in point was the recent piece on President Jimmy Carter on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Carter in a BBC interview called VP Dick Cheney a “disaster” and also indicated he had no doubt the US was responsible for torture. Matthews jump at the opportunity to create a controversy by asking if Carter thought Bush was a liar. Another trait of the modern media is to create false controversy in hopes it will make news and ratings. It often takes the subject off point as it did with the General Petraeus MoveOn.org phony rightwing outrage feeding frenzy.

Later in the round table panel of experts segment of the show Matthews panelist Dana Milbank offered, when ask a softball question, what he thought of Carter’s comments. He indicated that Carter had somehow degraded the office of the presidency by saying such things.

How? By telling the truth? What hypocrisy. The point being that these so called MSM news organizations can no longer handle or are capable of providing the truth apparently.

SCHIP Override Bust Doc Hastings Fax Machine Contest

Representative Doc Hastings is the only WA State Member of Congress that apparently continues to oppose the State Children’s Health Program. Since he only accepts form emails from district constituents through his website it makes it difficult to contact him about any opposition to his voting positions except by snail mail. But times a wasting. The override vote is scheduled for October 18th at this time.

So I think its time that folks sent Doc a FAX about his SCHIP votes and request he vote to override Bush’s veto. Come on get those fax machines smoking.

Here are the numbers. Simply clip and paste the letter below add your name and comments and let her rip through the old fax machine at home work or on your computer.

Fax Washington, D.C. (202) 225-3251
Fax Pasco office (509) 545-1972
Fax Yakima office (509) 452-3438


Dear Congressman Hastings,

I am writing to urge you to reconsider your previous vote against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and to stand up for the health of vulnerable children in our community and across the county.

I strongly encourage you to support the bipartisan, compromise legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program this year.

The bi-partisan vote in Congress in favor of extending and improving this important program demonstrates leadership in protecting low-income families and children. The President’s veto of this legislation could lead to an interruption in coverage for many children who are depending on medications and necessary medical procedures. The veto may further deny coverage to millions more children who are in the dangerous situation of living without health insurance.

I believe all children should have the right to adequate health care. Improving public policies that promote the health of our nation's children is a key issue and can help reduce poverty in America. As a private citizen I am determined to hold our nation’s leaders accountable for their policy decisions and how those decisions impact those living in poverty.

I simply ask that you have a change of heart and stand up for America’s most vulnerable children by voting to override the President’s veto of SCHIP. A vote to override the president’s veto is not only a stand for low-income children; it is a stand for the future strength of our community, our country, and the common good.

Sincerely,

(Your name here)


Additional action you can take:

Contact opposition congress members by phone by calling the Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121 and asking to be connected to their office. Perhaps you be willing given the time involved to select just two names from the list below.

It is particularly important to contact the following targets, who are moderate Republicans who voted against the SCHIP bill, and urge them to change their vote to override the President's veto:

Contact them by phone if possible by calling the Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121 and asking to be connected to their office.

Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

John Boozman (R-AR)

Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Mary Bono (R-CA)

Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)

Tom Feeney (R-FL)

Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)

Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)

Tim Johnson (R-IL)

Judy Biggert (R-IL)

Jerry Weller (R-IL)

Rodney Alexander (R-LA)

Tim Walberg (R-MI)

Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI)

Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Sam Graves (R-MO)

Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Jim Saxton (R-NJ)

Thomas Reynolds (R-NY)

John (Randy) Kuhl (R-NY)

Robin Hayes (R-NC)

Steve Chabot (R-OH)

Greg Walden (R-OR)

Kay Granger (R-TX)

Thelma Drake (R-VI)

Barbara Cubin (R-WY)

Bush Video Shows Lack Of Fundamental Understanding Of Security Contractor Abuse In Iraq

Via The moderate Voice

Condoleezza Needs To Look In The Mirror

What always amazes me about the President and administration officials is how they can be critical of other world leaders or movements without first taking a long look into the mirror. It's an ugly American form of implied self righteousness. We know best. We are better then you.

Yet we certainly don't have any right to speak from the moral high ground given our track record these days with the rest of the world. Everyone else in the world sees it but not our government. It only reinforces the belief in other countries of how delusional and out of the loop our leaders are.

Immediate case in point is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s criticism of what she called power hungry chief executives with unchecked authority when referring to Russia Vladimir Putin.

"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,"

Hello to you Miss Queen of the Imperial Presidency.

Bush and Cheney have worked tirelessly since coming to power to centralize their power in the executive branch of government. By doing so they have in fact weakened the demoratic power of the other institutions and branches of government. The weakening of Congressional power has been almost a daily goal of Bush administration usurpers.

They often brand others as religious fanatics (which in many cases they maybe). While failing to see their own Christian fanaticism and self-righteousness running amok.

Welcome to the continuing episodes of the Bush administration's Twilight Zone.

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Police defuse homemade bombs in Fife

You thought Sound Transit was bad? How about trying a bus ride in Delhi as year to date death toll reaches 97

Dead Head News Psychedelic mushrooms to be band in Netherlands

German Foreign Minister says US and France guilty of hypocrisy on Iran trade sanctions because US and French companies actually continue hidden trade deals

138 of world's top Muslim leaders call for better relations with Christian world

New trend yuppies living in containers

Video Ann Coulter On Her Plan For Perfecting Jews

Government is Good

For years right wing neo-conservatives have droned on about all government being a bad thing for America. A evil force that interfers with the daily life of all citizens.

Of course this made it difficult for the right to govern when they became the majority party in the early nineties. We have seen attempts to dismantle many government programs and agencies that protect and helped the middle class prosper and grow.

Now we have a website created by Douglas J Amy, Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College that argues that Government actually is good for America. It offers compelling arguments for sound government taxation, programs and safeguards.

Make This Dress And Lower Your Carbon Score

How to make this dress

Artistdogboy Daily Obsessions

Photos of Havana from underground outlaw blog

Opinion polls in Iraq and Afghanistan show Muslim's approval of al Qaeda slipping badly

Millions of young middle eastern girls self images to be manipulated by invention of Muslim-style Barbie

Right attacks 12 year old for supporting health coverage for kids and Rahel Maddow responds

More Bush Speak Funhouse Do Learn

Artistdogboy Not So Daily Observations

Selecting the safest meat and the most and least reliable labels

Help is here for Americans who lack the attention span to care about US and British oil companies plans to get their hands on Iraqi oil reserves

The new Iraqi front opens as Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels

Arguments why the farm bill should be dumped

Loopy protesters build Buddha outside Pelosi's house.

As Rome Burns Congress Argues Petty Partisan Politics

Lewis Black's humorous video looks at an inept US Congress in action

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Why were nukes flown on combat aircraft to Mideast staging area

Somebody better tell Bush that Iraqi officials indicate they are not interested in reconciliation of waring ethnic groups

Thomas Jefferson on heavy rotation in grave

In novel idea Obama proposes capping greenhouse gas emissions and making polluter pay

Worried About US Invasion Of Iran; How About Holland?

Will Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld every face the International Court of Justice for war crimes? It depends on whether you believe in rules of conduct based on an international system of laws or one based on military power. Could the US end up invading Holland to stop any war crime prosecutions against one of it's citizens.

Connor Foley of the Guardian offers some insights.

Fake Elvis Profits From Kennedy Assasination In Big D

Down here in Dallas the sweat is running off my forehead in the 90-degree heat. Just a few days ago I was sitting on my porch on Vashon Island watching a downpour in a hailstorm thinking oh yeah it’s time for winter. Well it sure seems like it’s summer here still.

I’m retired and unencumbered so when a friend suggested we fly down to Dallas for the weekend I said why not it be nice to see the big D while there’s still time. We also both have a couple of friends that happen to be here right now. We all had one thing in common in that we all quit drinking and drugging at about the same time many years ago in Seattle. We all are still sober today and everyone is doing real well too. Goes to show you that some of the recovery stuff does work. It's not all bullshit like some say. But I don’t mean to sound preachy. Your experience may be different then mine.

I don’t know anything anyway, which is really the big revelation.

My buddy Al is a decorative art designer and dealer. He got married and had a redheaded kid then moved to Dallas. Sells his stuff in all the big retail chain stores. It all about volume I guess. Goes to China all the time to handle the manufacturing end of it. Michael a highend pot and pan salesman extraordinaire who works only three months a year at events like the State Fair of Texas and makes more money then most people working the full 12 months do. Travels the world the rest of the year volunteering his time to improve child literacy. He one of those guys you see hawking stuff in a pavilion at one of the hundreds of fairs all around the country. It really more theater then sales and it’s fascinating to watch him work. Bob is in the construction business in Seattle and believes in giving all his money and stuff away whenever possible. He says you always get back three times what you give away, he says it’s one of the spiritual rules. I don’t quite understand that, but that’s not important. He likes to give those guys who stand at the freeway off ramps cartons of cigarettes just to see the looks on their faces. But sometimes he just gives them a ten or a twenty when he doesn’t have cigarettes. Goes to show you that those folks do make money I guess.

Everybody is a lot more useful it appears these days then when we first meet. God we were a bunch of freaking millstones around the neck of the world and everybody else who happened to come into contact with us back then. It all seemed so black and hopeless back then. We all changed a bit you could definitely say. But we actually had no choice.

We have been driving around Dallas. We went to Daley plaza to see were Kennedy was shot. There was a fake Elvis guy there named Ray playing songs and passing his hat. We took pictures of us hiding in the bushes on the grassy knoll and a couple with the fake Elvis and us together. We all shared our personal Kennedy conspiracy theories with each other over coffee afterwards. I think mine made the most sense. Everybody knows the Teamsters had him killed because Bobby and Hoffa hated each other so much.

US Military Finds List Of 500 Al Qaeda Members In Iraq Leaks Info to Press Probably Making List Worthless

In a news item seen on CNN The US Military indicates it has found a list containing the names of 500 Al Qaeda Members in Iraq. The question has to be asked why would they reveal this information? Wouldn't it give those named on the list an opportunity to escape or evade capture? Or is it a ploy to support the argument that Al Qaeda presence supports continuing American involvement? Just wondering..

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Major Democrat candidates respond to Bush SCHIP veto

When the rich donate money is it really charity?

Pakistan losing war against Taliban and al-Qaida

Former NATO commander says Rush should be kicked off Armed Forces Radio

Online petition proposes Nobel Peace prize for Burmese Monks

Jimmy Carter in throw down with Darfur Officials

Mariners Phony Rightwing Family Values Image Keeps Them From Winning

One thing really bugs me about the Seattle Mariners. It’s not the bad trades; bad draft choices, signing of washed up free agents, lack luster starting pitching, bullpen meltdowns, non-production of slugger Richie Sexson or retaining ineffective general managers.

It’s the phony rightwing family values image promoted by Mariner management that permeate every decision and move the club makes.

The annoying happy talk pre game code of conduct announcement you hear when you entering the ballpark is indicative of the problem.

“The Seattle Mariners are committed to creating a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience for our guests at Safeco Field. Our staff will proactively intervene to support an environment where guests can enjoy the Safeco Field experience free from unacceptable behavior, including the following:

• Foul/abusive language or obscene gestures
• Intoxication or other signs of impairment related to alcohol consumption
• Displays of affection not appropriate in a public, family setting
• Obscene or indecent clothing
• Any disruption of the game or event, including throwing of objects or trespassing on the playing field or in restricted areas
• Sitting in a location other than the guest's ticketed seat
• Fighting, taunting, or making threatening remarks or gestures

Any guest not adhering to the above code or behaving in an unruly manner will be removed from the ballpark. The Seattle Mariners and Safeco Field management reserve the right to determine what is unruly or unacceptable behavior, warranting removal

If anyone is interfering with your enjoyment of our facility, please contact the nearest Safeco Field Host for assistance”

We own the ballpark not you! So get over the mind control tactics and phony family values flag waiving crap you subjected everyone to when we go to OUR ballpark. Remember this is a park we built mostly with taxpayer money and rented to the Mariners at sweetheart rates.

If your like me you’ll say who the hell are you to tell me I can’t kiss my significant other in public and who made you the judge of obscene or indecent clothing and who gave you the right to determine just what constitutes unruly and unacceptable conduct. People are capable of policing their own behavior thank you.

The most well known enforcement of these rules is when the Mariners refused to allow fans wearing a “Yankees Suck” tee shirt into the park in May of 2002. A ban that was later removed after a backlash from the likes of the ACLU and season ticket holders who felt that that Mariner management was infringing on everyone’s first amendment rights. At the time M’s management said the word suck “was offensive and had no place in a family atmosphere”. Really! This is the same type of self-righteous crap that helps create sexually suppressed types who feel the need to seek anonymous sex in public restrooms.

No I’m not saying that anything should go at the ballpark.

But I don’t need the thought police telling me how to act or that I can’t yell “hey you suck” at the player of my choice if I feel like it. That type of behavior is part and parcel of normal baseball fan behavior from the beginning of time. Except maybe in stodgy overly PC Seattle.

What surprises me is most of the attendees at the park go along with it like the bunch of no nothing johnny come lately Seattle baseball fans that they are. They’re more interested, most of the time. in getting the god dam wave started then paying attention to what’s happen on the field of play.

I’m convinced it's because they really go to the games to be seen, eat garlic fries or those nauseating shishkaberries and NOT actually watch the game. Something that's hard to do when some yahoo is doing the wave with the bases loaded and the batter facing the pitch of decision. If they were truthful they’d admit they find the game itself quite boring but it's real fun to do the distracting wave to keep their peabrains occupied. Try doing the wave at Fenway Park in Boston or Wrigley Field in Chicago because someone may hit you up side the head.

Go to a football game for Christ sake to do that shit. The wave does not belong in baseball period.

But I regress.

The flag waiving and feel goodliness family values atmosphere goes on unrestricted at Safeco whenever possible. I’m convinced it led to the eventual demises of the most successful manager in M’s history Lou Piniella. I should also add the demise of general manager Pat Gillick here too. No matter what was said in the MSM at the time. Piniella’s fiery personality and on field antics were looked upon unfavorably by Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong and the rest of the powers to be in Mariner Management. This is of course the same Sweet Lou who just led the lowly Chicago Cubs to the central division pennant. Gillick is the GM of the Philadelphia Phillies who just won the National League East title.

It’s not hard to see the hand of the family values types running this ball club behind all this. Eagle scoutmaster Howard Lincoln, chief operating officer of the team, apparently carried his rightwing family values agenda into adulthood. Now he is trying to indoctrinate all of the rest of us.

Like most of us I’m a long-suffering Seattle Baseball fan. In 1995 the ball club finally made it to the post season after years of losing. Much of the success of the 95 season was due to the aligning of the baseball planets and not anything that Mariner Management really had done up to that time except for the hiring of Lou Piniella to manage the baseball team. It’s pretty much a given that Seattle wouldn’t have a major league baseball franchise today had it not finally made the playoffs in 1995. The team suddenly became the toast of the town which created a political climate that favored approval of funding for a new stadium. This took two elections in the fall of 1995 (the first election rejected the stadium proposal before it was resubmitted to voters and finally approved) to get the voters to agree to fund a baseball park for the M’s to play. During this time the M’s also build up their fan base that has pretty much guaranteed the financial success of the team every since.

After 1995 the M’s continued to be competitive and under Piniella, appearing in the playoffs in 97, 2000, and 2001. The M’s won 93 games in 02 but missed the playoffs. Piniella was fired and the end of the 02 season. The Bob Melvin era began and the team missed the playoffs in 03 even though they again won 93 games. The slide continued until this year when it appeared the club would make the post season until it's end of season collapse. In spite of this Mariner management decided to stand pat and retain unproductive GM Bill Bavasi and rookie manager John McLaren for another year.

Even though M's management says they want to win a world series their actions would indicate otherwise. I think they are more interested in ticket sales (which remain good) then winning. Until Mariners fans realize this and start not going to the park or at least make some display of objecting there is little reason for M's management to change things.

Also I think most of the more colorful and talented people in baseball are not acceptable to Mariner management because their not the YES men goodie-goodie types that fit the family values M's philosophy and agenda. This restricts them from hiring controversial baseball people. Many of whom are just the people in the game that are also the most talented and ultimately could be better at fielding a winning team.

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Senate approves 150 billion in war funding

Most Americans want war funding cut

People losing faith that US democracy works

UN report says violence in Afghanistan has reached new high point

Benazir Butto says she may allow US attacks to eliminate Osama

NBA continues to implode

Purple Heart Recipient Challenges Limbaugh

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Former Clinton administration official Robert Reich counters Justice Thomas's 60 minutes attack on Anita Hill and Bill Clinton's claims he was more experienced then Obama when he first ran for white house

Europeans angry after Bush climate change "charade"

American military train Arab pilots for war with Iran

US college students mortgage their future take out loans for pizza and beer parties

99 things real Chicago Cubs fan should know before baseball playoff begin

Mario Cuomo Blasts Congress For Abdicating War Making Powers To Bush

In a recent appearance Mario Cuomo blasted Congress for continuing to abdicate it's exclusive and non delegable constitutional powers to declare war to President Bush. It is imperative that the congress not delegate it obligations to vote up or down on any administration plan for a war with Iran.

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Bush Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs tells British MP's "I hate all Iranians"

Taliban reject Karzai peace talk offer saying there would be no negotiations until U.S. and NATO troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan

Punks get asses kicked by grumpy old man

Republican donors give money to Hillary

Flip flopping Romney investment ties to Venezuela and Iran reveled after he called on Republicans to support divestment

Seymour Hersh of New Yorker Magazine says Bush has accepted ethnic cleansing in Iraq among other things in wide ranging interview with German Magazine Der Spiegel

Look In The Mirror Limbaugh Can't Handle The Truth Of Who's The Real Phony

The truth is Rush Limbaugh never served in the military. It be hard for him to have any idea what it means be a soldier. He says phony soldiers are opposed to the war in Iraq. Who's the real phony here? Bill Moyers poignant segment "for the fallen"answers the question I think.

Artistdogboy Daily Observations

Democrats recruit a 12 year-old to reply to Bush threat of Veto of kid's health bill

Halloween and Christmas canceled in Illinois seen as offensive to Muslims

French President Sarkozy the new Tony Blair

Iran invites Bush to speak at University if he's ever in Tehran

The whole truth about congressional earmarks

Sixties Goddess Brigitte Bardot Turns 73

Much of my puberty was spend dreaming about BB. When I was 21 in 1968 I actually traveled to Cannes on military leave from Germany in hopes of somehow capturing a glimpse of her at the beach or walking the seawall. Cannes was not as well known then. It seemed quite possible. I spent two weeks there. Alas I never did see her. But I did run into Ed Sullivan while having a drink in the bar at the Carlton Hotel.

Bardot represented the near perfect woman to me for many reasons. Beautiful, rebellious and free, a true iconoclast and role model for all women of that period. Never much for publicity or glamour she led a reclusive life and became better known for her great love of animals then her film career as she got older.

Video Shows Japanese Journalist Shot Dead in Burma

Horrified Japanese watched footage today of Kenji Nagai's death in Rangoon that contradicts junta's version of events

Warning video content contains graphic violence

Artistdogboy Daily Facts And Observations

Tecktonik dance craze takes Paris by storm

Tell me it isn't so, Brigitte Bardot turns 73

Mariners management decides to continue to let team suck in 2008

China running out of water

Maliki rejects US Senate proposal to divide Iraq into Sunni Shiite and Kurdish federations

Yuppies sell apartment in NYC buy house with pool, 2 cars and open popular restaurant in Portland with money

Presidentcial Ebonics "Childrens Do Learn"

Artistdogboy Daily Observations and Facts

Military may of bungled capture of Bin Laden again

Smashing Pumpkin's fan dies after Vancouver mosh pit incident

Robert Reich explains why we should be worried about slide of dollar

Russians prepared to retaliate if space weapons deployed

US women get butt kicked in world cup soccer semi-final

Americans Need To Live and Travel Abroad More

“Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled." — Mohammed

The childish narrow minded name calling and temper tantrums that took place when Iranian President Ahmadienjad visited Columbia University and the UN in New York demonstrates, among other things, how globally isolated and narrow minded American thinking is when it comes to understanding how we appear in the eyes of most of the rest of the world. Put aside whether you agree with Iran's Punch and Judy show being orchestrated by Ahmadienjad.

Once a nation others looked to as a beacon of tolerance, justice and for a free flow of ideas. We have become something rather ugly, isolated and ill tempered in the eyes of the world these days I fear.

I think it’s because most Americans don’t travel enough very far from home. Disneyland, Aunt Martha's or Sturgis, South Dakota being the extent of it usually. President Bush prior to being elected apparently hadn’t really gone anywhere or immersed himself in a foreign culture of any kind. Many Americans are sort of one dimensional in their thinking about foreign countries and people. Often it seems they are more concerned with the trivial things then understanding any relationship to other countries and their people, not understanding the cause and effect of American foreign policy on others. They call it blowback these days.

Maybe there should be some government program that requires that American students travel in conjunction with learning geography and history. Emphasis has been placed on the importance of math and science. Perhaps it’s travel and the study of history and geography that’s really needed to further the cause of understanding cultural differences and as a path to world peace or empathy for others.

I recently traveled to the Catalan region of Spain for a three-week vacation. Something I do every few years when I can afford it. Several native Catalan friends there always welcome me with open arms and unbelievable amounts of hospitality. It would be unthinkable to them to be rude to visitors even if you disagree with their politics. A custom found and practiced in many cultures. Simply don’t be rude to a guest, especially if you invited them.

Politics have changed drastically in the United States and there since the first time I traveled to Catalonia in 1979. I'd been living in Europe busking and performing street theater with a troupe for nearly a year by the time I finally reached Spain. Spain’s fascist leader Francisco Franco’s rule had ended with his death in 1975 and his authoritarian regime came to its end just one year before we arrived when a new Spanish constitution was drafted and was being implemented.

There was an exuberant display of the new freedoms recently gained by the people, and the unfettered creative possibilities they offered were the talk of in every bar, bistro and sidewalk cafe in Catalan capital of Barcelona. Millions of Catalans, whose unique culture and language had been forcefully suppressed under the rule of the Generalissimo, openly celebrated life. For the first time many were allowed to speak their native tongue in public without fear of being beaten or worse by a member of the Guardia Civil police.

This last trip in June and July was very interesting in that I was able to see distinctly how much suspicion and apprehension there is about American foreign policy these days. Most people had a hard time understanding how George Bush could ever have been elected president of the United States. He appeared to them to be limited in his understanding of the world around him. Even though I’m from a blue state it was not easy to explain. Nor was it easy to explain that evidence exists that not one but perhaps two presidential elections had be stolen from the rightful winner through conservative based vote manipulation or tampering.

I would guess that many Americans who voted for Bush haven’t traveled much out of their own immediate backyards. They apparently don’t understand much about other cultures. They tend to see everything with sort of a American insular tunnel vision. European culture is perceived as being inferior to that of the US. Conservative politicians rhetoric constantly tells Americans that we are the greatest and biggest and best thing going. We’re god’s gift to humanity, when more often the facts prove otherwise.

The ironic thing about it is I sense that many people I’ve met in my travels have in the passed look to America for moral and political leadership. They find it troubling that apparently such leadership cannot be found in today’s America.

A good example of this is the way people acted when dealing with the Ahmadienjad visit. The insulting and juvenile tone of the Columbia President Lee Bollinger speech before the Iranian President spoke certainly show the world an America that was acting out it’s fear, without manners, paranoid and weak.

Wolf Blitzer Puts Their Feet To The Fire?

Artistdogboy Daily Observations and Facts

Isreali Army killing children in Gaza

Seventy percent of overseas absentee ballots not reaching voters

Cost of war balloons

Giuliani fires chief fund raiser

In reversal, baseball umpire suspended instead of player

Vick caught smoking pot while awaiting sentencing

Cuba plants trees

Ann Coulter On A Stick Coming Soon

How Long Will Americans Continue To Swallow The Bowl of Rhetorical Bullshit From The Likes Of Bush and Healthcare Industry about Universal Coverage?

“The fundamental question is, what should we do about it? On that question, our nation has a clear choice. One option is to put more power in the hands of government by expanding federal health care programs and empowering bureaucrats to make medical decisions. The other option is to put more power in the hands of individuals, by making private health insurance more affordable and accessible and empowering people and their doctors to make the decisions that are right for them. That's the divide.”

President Bush statement: June 27, 2007

Apparently Frat Boy Bush doesn’t realize poor people don’t have doctors to make decisions with or that the current system hasn't worked to empower any of the approximately 45, or more, million Americans without coverage now.

What he really is saying is that the right wing nuts no new taxes no new services and medical industry and insurance industry types like the status quo and they don’t intend to change anything as long as their in power. Why would they wish to kill a goose that continues to lay billions and billions of golden $ eggs for them anyway.

The real question is why do most Americans seem to have such a hard time getting their heads around these misrepresentations about universal health care?

Are we a nation of morons with no empathy for the poor? Do we not desire to control the spiraling cost of health care? Are we afraid of providing health care to all citizens like every other modern, and not so modern, western nation does? Are we not concerned that the current health care deliver system in this country makes American business less competitive in a gobal economy?

Bush also promised to veto the continuation of State Children's Health Insurance Program if it were to be passed by the congress. The compromise program by the congress would cover 10 million uninsured children for 5 years at a cost of $35 billion. The proposal is to be paid for by a tax of sixty-one cent per pack on cigarettes.

Seems like a good idea. Higher taxes on cigarettes would impact only smokers who may quit because the price of smokes goes up, which improves their health. Keeping them off the doll for health care that they don’t have insurance to cover or lowering the cost to their existing plan due to their healthier lifestyle.

Oh and we’d get those 10 million uninsured kids covered too!

Not so fast dummies! Don’t you understand this isn’t going to happen while us right wing nut bars are running the show. Our buddies in the medical and insurance industry would be cut out of the take and you’d end up probably raising taxes on rich folks. Plus we all have to become some kind of a red commie socialists and our daughters would be forced into becoming members of an army of socialist gay marrying lesbian prostitute zombies.

Bush and other conservatives argue rhetorically against this and other attempts to reform healthcare along the lines that government bureaucracy would lead to some sort of doomsday financial crisis for the country in the long run or that options to choose one’s doctor or course of treatment would be hindered or lost entirely. If this approach doesn’t work they often return to the 1950’s style boogieman scare tactic red herring labeling of any attempt to address the problem as a form of subliminal communist Frenchy European Canadian leaning “socialized medicine”.

If the usual talking points don’t work then opponents of healthcare usually will revert to the billions and billions of dollars it going to costs us all and the need to increase taxes to pay for it monologue .

Meanwhile we waste billions on the war in Iraq every minute of ever day which seems to be a recurring major mental disconnect for Americans when they lament about where all their tax money is going. As if the money being wastefully spent there doesn't ever count against the total.

Democrat Presidential candidates have proposed universal coverage plans with costs that run between $80 billion to $110 billion per year. One of the things that is so devastating about the Iraq war and current American foreign policy is that $456 billion has been spent through 2007 on the war and other administration programs like the ballistic missile defense program which will alone cost $11.1 billion in FY 2007. It doesn’t take a idiot to see that America’s priorities are to make war and be a world bully rather then care about the health of its citizens.

The main problem is Americans continue to eat the big bowl of warm shit their being fed by the right on health care. I know that better understanding of this issue is happening. Even the business sector has come around. They realize that universal health care would stimulate the economy, control their skyrocketing medical cost, and bring about cost saving modern medical data a record keeping and processing. Of course it also means that Americans would live healthier when full access to preventive medicine becomes available which should lead to lower costs over time due to people living better and healthier lifestyles. Improving everyone's bottom line.

But, ignorance continues to reign. Americans seem to not understand the immediate need and benefit it would be to this country if it were to establish a national health care program. The coming elections , it is hoped, will finally bring us politicians who support some sort of universal plan and also can get it passed through the congress. For god's sake how much longer must we wait?

Are Most Americans That Stupid? Why Can't We Act Like Other Developed Countries When It Comes to Healthcare?

Romney's Malingering Sons Avoid Iraq

Slate offers us the Romney commercial he hopes you never see.

Backbone Campaign Protest The War And Bad Government With A Sense of Humor

Maybe I like them because the roots of the organization were planted on Vashon Island. But in any case their Bonzo for Congress 08 Campaign "rubber stamps, spineless wimps, we'd do better with a bunch of chimps"and Pledge for Peace Initiative are great. Check out the video.

Although they mission is deadly serious, I continue to admire the people at the Backbone Campaign because they rarely make the mistake of taking themselves too seriously like me and most of the rest of anti-war movement. It appears that the "boners" see that humor can be a bridge to get a serious message out to those who normally would turn a deaf ear to the same old over used and unoriginal anti war drone of, lets say, the Code Pink folks or even Cindy Sheehan. Their sense of comedy and understanding of theater comes through.

Congress 22 Most Corrupt Members Named Includes WA 4th Doc Hastings

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch). This encyclopedic report on corruption in the 110th Congress documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW has compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules.

Video Bush Listening to His Generals Make Patsies Of Themselves

Time Catches Up With Fascist Progeny In Spain

Spain Turns On Franco Family

By:Matthew Campbell
Times OnLine

THESE are difficult days for the heirs of General Francisco Franco. One of the dictator’s grandsons has been arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend and a granddaughter was ridiculed for taking part in Spain’s equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing.

More worrying, however, were demands in parliament last week for the Franco clan, reputed to be one of the wealthiest in Spain, to vacate some of its sumptuous properties on the grounds that they had been expropriated by the former leader.

The battle began some months ago when the regional government of Galicia announced that the Pazo de Meiras, the family’s summer residence, was part of Spain’s cultural heritage and should be opened to the public.

Supposedly given to the generalisimo by the people “to congratulate” him on victory in the 1936-39 civil war, this historic three-turreted mansion was in need of renovation after a fire in 1978, the authorities argued. The family ignored an offer of financial help to repair it and on August 30, when a delegation of architects, historians and archeologists arrived to do a survey, they were not allowed in.

The government has since gone to court, threatening the Francos with a fine of £45,000 if they refuse to cooperate.

There were also demands last week that the Francos return other houses “given” to the dictator. Among them are a 2,000-square-metre palace outside Madrid and the 18th-century palace of Cornilde in Corunna. Francis, one of Franco’s seven grandchildren, has been building 4,000 homes on a plot of land confiscated by the dictator in Madrid in 1960.

The Francos’ wealth is matched by flamboyant lifestyles: scarcely a day seems to pass when Carmen Martinez Bordiu, the 56-year-old granddaughter of the late fascist leader, is not seen in a celebrity magazine.

Last month Jaime Martinez Bordiu, her brother, was held by Marbella police and accused of beating his girlfriend.

After the death of Franco in 1975, the government judged it better to encourage forgiveness than to stir antagonisms that could engulf the fledgling democracy. “Recovering goods held by the Franco family at that time was considered unthinkable without provoking riots,” said Jesus Andreu, a professor of political science.

The public mood has altered, however, and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister and grandson of a republican executed by Franco’s soldiers, has cut off funding for the Franco foundation run by Carmen Franco Polo, 81, the daughter of the dictator.

Zapatero has said he wants to heal the wounds of the war and one initiative is payment of reparation to victims on both sides. It is unlikely the Francos will qualify for any more funds.

What Global Warming Looks Like Sodo District Starbucks Headquarters Safeco Field Sleep With The Fishes

Architecture 2030, in a partnership with Google Maps, determined how American coastal cities would be affected by predicted sea level rise.

MoveOn.org F**ks Up By Not Realizing the Future Battle Is For The Swing Voter if America Is To End Iraq War

A full-page ad run by MoveOn.org today in The New York Times attempting to discredit General David Petraeus is unfortunate and inappropriate. In the long run it could alienate moderate voters and delay the end of the Iraq War that MoveOn sincerely wishes to bring about.

These moderate and swing voters are the key to the future make-up of the Congress and White House. These voters are the key to the 60 vote plurality the Democrats seek in the Senate. Most were probably alienated by this ad thought up and paid for by a special interest group like MoveOn. I consider myself liberal and I found the ad distasteful, a personal attack, and completely off target. MoveOn and other “eat your young” attack and destroy liberal organizations need to stop acting like the people they supposedly detest the most, the character assassinating right wing nut bars . Personally attacking anyone, even their supporters, who don't tow the MoveOn party line. MoveOn can only marginalize itself with such actions and public relations blunders like this ad.

Patraeus is not the problem here. The ad shows a photo of Petraeus in front of a bank of microphones with the headline: General Petraeus or General Betray us?

This man is perceived by most of the public as a competent general officer who is trying to implement an impossible policy in Iraq to the best of his ability. If you watched his testimony as I did today before the congress you see he is not the one who created the mess here but a soldier who, I believe, is trying to rule over an impossible war and the foreign policy mistakes brought about by incompetent politicians on both sides of the idle. Of course the White House and Frat Boy Bush are the major culprits. But many democrats also voted to open the Iraqi Pandora's box that we now are asking soldiers like Petraeus to get closed again. This attack on Petraeus can be easily leveraged as political fodder by the right. It is seen as an attack on a brave general and by association, god forbid, our troops in the field.

Liberals and organizations like MoveOn need to realize that they are not just preaching to the choir when they run controversial and misleading ads in the New York Times. They need to moderate their tone to attract the voter in the middle, who in the end will elect candidates in the coming elections who can change the course of the war and bring about its conclusion in a way that best serves the peoples interests.

Republicans Hit Bottom Air America's Rachel Maddow Muses About Fred Thompson Trophy Wife Plus Other Character Anomolies

Just who is Fred Bottom of the Barrel Thompson? This Rachel Maddow video post gives us a pretty good look at the man who conservatives see as their savior.

Zogby Poll Indicates 30% Of Americans Seek Immediate Impeachment Of Dumb Shit President Frat Boy And More Of Same Old Crap VP

Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks. Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment. 67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating the anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7.

Old Fogey Politicians On Rise Apparently Have No New Ideas

Who shall rid us of these troublesome old fogies from both parties?

Recent video proves that new agent of change Fred Thompson offers same old not well thought out bull crap political rhetorical drivel that seems to permeate the American political landscape today. This banality continues because the political experts out there apparently think it still sells to all us shallow unwashed peons out here in main street America.

Does ANYONE really have any original ideas anymore? Attention everyone the old bull shit isn't working anymore. Maybe it time for NEW ideas. Thompson is believed to be marketing himself as the new Ronald Reagan. Because their both actors I guess.

After 8 years of Bush I rather walk across broken glass and then eat each piece than consider potentially listening to Thompson expound about anything political. What exactly does Fred offer to the process that isn't tried old or already politically debunked by now. The video should serve as exhibit A in an "I don't really know shit about the world" contest.

Labor Day Music Video Tribute With The Boss

Apparently many men who engage in anonymous sex with other men don't consider themselves to be gay or bisexual

Show it to me. I don't need to know your name. You wanna do me? Hurry up. Thanks, buddy. See ya 'round. Larry Craig's scandal really involves questions about hypocrisy, delusion, phoniness and the boomeranging effect that can be caused by a shit load of the sexual reppression. Thank you Jesus.

Maybe that why (R) Senator Larry Craig claims "I'm not gay, I never have been gay". Maybe this claim is difficult to swallow (sorry) for some of us out here living only in heterosexual world. But, according to an article at the HIV/AIDS resource website The Body often it is just about having this type of SEX.

Blasphemous Balls Allah Gets Kick Around In US Soccer Ball Air Drop Controversy

US Forces in Afghanistan have apparently run amok of Muslim fundamentalist again by air dropping soccer balls that have Saudi Arabian flag with includes Allah's name. Okay then what's on the short list that isn't blasphemy to a fundamentalist Muslim? I think I going to become a atheist now.

The Paris Hilton Factor...Are We A Nation of Retards ? Ask Miss Teen South Carolina!

Recently I read an article about how Americans don't read books anymore. We also hear lots of whining from students and their parents about requirements to pass certain tests that measure educational standards in our schools. We lag behind other secular Western nations in math, science and foreign language skills. Our president is a idiot. Most Americans are apparently idiots too. Miss Teen South Carolina gives us hope though when she answers a question about why she thinks most teens can't locate the US on a world map.

Italian Soccer Player Reveals Insult That Triggered Zidane Head Butt During World Cup Final

MILAN, Italy -- Italy defender Marco Materazzi finally disclosed what he said to Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final that provoked the French star to retaliate with a head-butt.

"I prefer the whore that is your sister," Materazzi said during an interview in next week's edition of Italian magazine TV Sorrisi E Canzoni, according to Italian news reports Saturday. He previously acknowledged he had insulted Zidane's sister.

Zidane head-butted Materazzi in the chest with 10 minutes left in last year's final. He was sent off for violent conduct, ending his stellar career with a red card.

Italy went on to win the game in a penalty-kick shootout after the score was 1-1 after extra time.

Materazzi, who received a two-game ban for incitement, has since apologized to Zidane.

France coach Raymond Domenech this month lauded Materazzi's strategy for getting Zidane sent off.

"I say 'bravo' to him," the coach said.

Olbermann Turns Spotlight On Bush Mine Safety Recess Appointee's Mining Safety Record

Kieth Olbermann timely video comment on the questionable competence and conflicts of interests by Federal Mine Safety head Rich Stickler. Also history of Republican resistance to passing updated changes in mine safety procedures continue to cost lives.

Gasworks Party Or How Petty, Provincial, Unsophisticated and Grumpy Busy Body Seattleites Can Be!

The word is finally out about the big super secret party at Gasworks Park Saturday night. It turns out it was to celebrate the marriage of Clearwire director Stuart Sloan with family and friends.

I was there working as a entertainer. The “employees” staging the event were more or less told not to talk about it with anyone. The main reason, we were told, was that the groom wanted to make it a surprise for his bride and their family and for the 300 or so invited guests who apparently didn’t know exactly what was happen either.

In the lead up to this event many of us working the party read the wild speculation that resounded in the blogs and in the local MSM. Much of it not true it turns out or based on any facts. This led to much laughable or negative public speculation. Bill Gates was throwing a birthday party for Warren Buffet. Paul Allen was celebrating his daughter Graduation. It was some sort of Republican Party political event (with contempt dripping from the keyboard that such a thing could happen in our neighborhood added in for good measure). The people working the party were all scab labor etc., was one of the really particularly stupid posts I read.

I can say here, that I was paid well for performing at the party. More money then when I perform usually for the cheapskate arts organizations and impresarios I work for over the years locally. The staff and producers of the show were beyond professional in the way they conducted and interacted and treated us performers and in what they expected us to provide in exchange. Every detail was attended to and nothing seemed to be left to chance. From the inside this was the amazing thing that stood out about the event. The host of this party got ever permit needed. Paid the require fees took every precaution to provide for all contingencies and even informed the neighborhood in advance to expect and/or enjoy the fireworks.

My point being...

I grew up in Seattle. I lived on the South slope of Queen Anne Hill. So I’m no Johnny come lately like most of the people I suspect were so up in arms about this party. My mother didn’t try to stop Bumbershoot from happening just because once a year she had to fight for parking for a few days in front of the house or put up with “noise”. It was just people having some summer fun. Join the party, or if weren’t invited or don’t care we were taught be nice and mind your own damn business.

The main complainers here seem to be the same people who managed to stop the One Real Summer Nights program at Gasworks. Somehow this emboldens them to think that this park is THEIR private reserve now, and for god’s sake don’t have any fun anybody! I’m the fun Police and Park Nazi rolled into one. Unless of course you think the way they do. Frisbee toss or kite flying anyone?

This is a public park for EVERYONE, not just this small neighborhood cult.

I’m not a Republican, Democrat or rich. I'm and working man who likes to think for myself lets say. Nor do I choose to be a member of any other one dimensional political groupings. But it is beyond rude to try to stop a party because you THINK the people there are not of your particular political persuasion or progressive enough or not for your unsophisticated taste buds. Think Hempfest here.

This is what eats at me about the reaction to this party. You see it in the politics and culture of this city all too often. I don’t think it really existed in the old days. They had a Worlds Fair here in 1962 that ended up changing an entire neighborhood. But the legacy was the much-loved Seattle Center. I doubt you could do such a thing today with the provincial crowd that now permeates and runs Seattle.

Can you remember “The Commons”. Probably would have been a great urban open space but no, not happening in uptight Seattle. The Seattle Supersonic who needs them? Not the non-pro sports crowd even though it adds a very important aspect to the culture of the city. Tear down the viaduct and create a real waterfront. Not happening here. Host the Olympic games like a real world city. Too much noise to many people spending money I guess. Build a real rapid transit system. All talk and blog babblers here. Salt lake city had a winter Olympics and the federal government provided much of the money for the rapid transit system that's in place today. It’s part of the “Seattle process” trying to low balling it, small time it, talking the issues to death or being a busybody obstructionist.

Seattle your on the verge of turning into a ugly, rude, backwater town lacking in any big ideas. Where the so-called natives are most interested in everybody else’s business especially if it doesn’t suit their dull personalities, small personal ideas, or their politics.

1994 Cheney Video Surfaces Calls Iraq Invasion "Bad Idea" That Could Lead To A "Quagmire."

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Ron Paul Let's Loose About Iraq During Republican Debate

Ron Paul, the Libertarian playing a Republican presidential candidate, continues to challenge his fellow candidates rhetoric for "Iraq stay the course, holy war in reverse because our god is better then your god" BS.

Go Ron Go!