Kool-Aid Redux

Public memo to Jesse at GC13: You gotta sell some tee-shirts and coffee mugs with your GOP Kool-Aid photoshops on them. They're fucking brilliant, and I have birthday presents to buy. :)

Saturday is... Sex Day? - Sex Open Thread

I've been thinking (this usually means trouble), saturdays are kind of a blow off day as far as blogging goes. People aren't at work, they're out and about enjoying the afternoon or getting bombed at night. I'm guilty of not updating the site as frequently on the weekends, but I want to do something that gives people an interest in coming here if they happen to be around a computer. And what better topic than sex to get your attention? :)

Besides, frank talk about sex is needed. I've known this, but I really realized it tonight. I went out to eat with a couple friends and, as usual, our loud conversations entered into the realm of sex. This makes people uncomfortable, and anybody who's eating around us usually leave as quickly as possible. But first they get real quiet, like they're listening... Then leave. Cycle repeats since we sit there for a couple hours, shooting the shit. Either people are really interested in our conversations, or it makes them really uncomfortable.

Or all of the above.

Why is it so uncomfortable to talk about sex? You can hardly bring up the topic, and when you do, everyone's uncomfortable about it. I still feel uncomfortable discussing it in a public place. And don't get me started on the whole Janet/Super Bowl crap which just proves how sexually repressed we are.

While this repression is cute to laugh at, it's also a problem. Sex is something we should feel free to talk about because it's so important, so common, and has a profound affect on our lives. Yet talking about it, hence learning about it, is shunned. For a topic with such universal qualities, it needs to be discussed freely and without prejudice. And besides, talking about sex is fun. :)

So here's the trial run of sex open threads every saturday. Leave a comment, say whatever you want, and feel free to be has anonymous as you want if you so choose. Saturday is Sex Day!

Saturday is Cartoon Day!

As always, two by Ted Rall.

Disclaimer - Grammar

I've looked over my posts for the past couple of days and cringed at all the simple grammar mistakes I've made. There's a price to be paid for updating the blog on little sleep. There's too much to go through and correct everything, so I'll just post a disclaimer and hopefully it makes me look like less of an idiot.

Wow

This isn't even funny. Look at this post from the right wing blog Little Green Footballs and try telling me you're not disturbed. I'm not sure if "insulting" or "disgusting" fits the proper description. Or maybe the strong thing I can say about it is simply "Why?"

Sigh

Look at what the old white men have done.

In a just world, this would lead to his impeachment

Unfuckingbelievable.

Mr Bush made the joke at a black-tie event for radio and television journalists in Washington on Wednesday night.

He narrated a slide show, described as the White House election year album, making hay of the administration's reputation for secrecy and strained relations with European allies. But it was the joke about the war in Iraq that drew attacks.

A slide showed Mr Bush in the Oval office, leaning to look under a piece of furniture. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere," he told the audience, drawing applause.

Another slide showed him peering into another part of the office, "Nope, no weapons over there," he said, laughing. "Maybe under here," he said, as a third slide was shown.

585 America soldiers dead because Bush lied. Hah hah, funny!

3354 soldiers wounded because Bush lied. Hah hah, FUNNY!

8782 Iraqi civilians dead because Bush lied. Hah! What a fucking riot!

What's he gonna do for an encore, build some ovens?

Fark Headline of the Day

"Hooters restaurant manager secretly filmed 1200 applicants while they changed into uniforms. Who would expect such behavior from the manager of such an upstanding establishment?"

Drug companies continue to murder people for profit

My headlines are blunt today, but I'm merely telling the truth.

The U.S. government is threatening to obstruct low-income countries’ access to generic HIV/AIDS drugs approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), Human Rights Watch said today.

...The United States, under pressure from pharmaceutical companies selling the brand-name equivalents, claims instead that “there are no uniform principles, guidelines or international standards addressing the development” of generic drugs — an assertion that calls into question the WHO’s widely accepted review process. [ie: it's crap]

...The generic drugs opposed by the United States allow people with HIV/AIDS to take only two pills a day, and they are much cheaper than the equivalent brand-name drugs. The cheapest generic regimen, also endorsed by Doctors Without Borders and other health practitioners, costs $140 per year per patient as opposed to the brand-name equivalent of six pills a day costing at least $600 per year.

Meanwhile, at the home of a pharmaceutical company executive, there are decisions to be made. New yacht, or save some lives... Skiing vacation in the Alps, or save some lives... Get some blow and a hooker, or save some lives... Donate to the Bush campaign, or save some lives...

When somebody needs to be fired

Unbelievable.

A pharmacist in Menomonie, Wisconsin is facing legal action for refusing to refill a woman's prescription for the birth control pill. The K-Mart pharmacist claimed it would violate his religious beliefs to fill a prescription for a contraceptive that could cause what he believed to be an abortion, and refused her right to have the prescription transferred, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

If this isn't bad enough, the loonies on the religious right want to enforce this behavior by law. In this case, Winconsin's governor said he wouldn't sign the bill.

Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle (D) has promised to veto pending “conscience clause” legislation that would allow pharmacists and other medical providers to selectively fulfill their duties based on religious beliefs...

“The Right to Life movement has been very active in ensuring that pharmacists can refuse a woman access to her birth control prescriptions,” said Lisa Boyce of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

Gee, I guess it's not enough that these people can buy up hospitals and then refuse to tie women's tubes when such a service is requested since it goes against the religious beliefs of the hospital. This is ridiculous. Taking birth control is not an abortion. Getting your tubes tied is not an abortion. And if your religion prohibts you from being able to do your job properly, then by all means, go find another profession. Asshole.

Teenage suicide bombers where?

Israel says there was a 14 year old would be suicide bomber, but Palestinian leaders say the story is bullshit. The final section of the linked Aljazeera article sheds some unsettling life on the conflict.

The controversy of using children in the Israeli-Palestinian strife underscores the brazen ugliness of the conflict.

According to human rights groups operating in the occupied territories, the Israeli army has killed hundreds of Palestinian children since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada more than three and a half years ago.

According to a spokeswoman for the East Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (HRMG), the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish settlers have killed 263 Palestinian children from age 0-14 and 236 minors from the age of 15-18 during the ongoing Intifada.

The total number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the outbreak of the Intifada is estimated at 2670.

The figures for the injured and maimed are believed to be in the thousands.

The number of Israelis killed by Palestinians during the same period is around 838, including soldiers, settlers and civilians.

Israel claims its army does not target Palestinian civilians deliberately but admits, rather grudgingly, that the killing is carried out knowingly.

However, human rights groups argue forcefully that, in the final analysis, killing knowingly is killing deliberately.

Hmmm, multiple posts on Israel this week. Now that I've opened Pandora's Box, I guess I should brace myself for some hate mail.

Start spreading the rumors

Ben Weasel's talking about an east coast/midwest tour being setup, and his bands website, untouched since 2001, has been removed and replaced with a "New Site Launching Soon" screen. Looks like I may actually get a chance to see Screeching Weasel for the first time in my life!

Better Living through Blogging

Check your credit cards, you could potentially be screwed. Interested-Participant tell us a database of 200,000 names, credit numbers, SSN, etc., has been stolen from GMAC, but their attempting to keep it on the D/L.

Letters to W. has another letter delivered to the president, asking him why he cut money used to fight terrorism.

Gotham City 13 has a transcript of Donald Rumsfeld digging his own grave on PBS Newshour.

Heliologue has something that’s just disturbing.

Spacekitten7 rants about Prozac and other like drugs, also mentions something about nudity on the White House lawn, and nudity always catches my attention.

And Blunted on Reality has the story of Orlando cops killing a black man and walking away free.

Democracy in action!

I've sent this letter to Georgia Rep. Heath, who sponsered an amendment to make female genital piercings illegal in that state.

Dear Representative Heath,

I’m not from Georgia, but through the magic of the Internet, I understand you recently sponsored an amendment to ban female genital piercings in your state. This is interesting because I can think of only one way in which this can be enforced if it becomes law.

To protect the great state of Georgia against the scourge of female genital piercings, I extend to you my services as a female genitalia inspector. The responsibilities charged to this position will require an experienced professional to get the job done, and I have the knowledge and background you’re looking for in a potential female genitalia inspector.

If you’re interested, feel free to get in touch. I’d be more than happy to send you my resume and references if it gives me the opportunity to start a rewarding new career!

Sincerely,

tas

P.S. – It would be fantastic if my office can be located in a neighborhood with a high population density of Asian citizens.

cc: www.loadedmouth.com

[Thanks to blunted for this idea.]

Virgin Mary Urinals

No, seriously.

My, how forgetful they are

Now the Republicans are whining that Clinton didn't have a policy to kill bin Laden. Gee, that's funny. Before 9/11 and before Bush took office, I recall when Clinton bombed a medicine factory in Sudan since there was intelligence that bin Laden was there, and we may have missed him by a few hours. What did the Republicans do then? They screamed "WAG THE DOG! WAG THE DOG!" since they were too preoccupied in the all important investigation into whose lips were wrapped around his cock. It's unbelievable that these dipshits are now trying to place the full weight of 9/11 upon Clinton, something that didn't even happen on his watch.

Another thing, name me one member of Clinton's administration who was so repulsed by his inaction against terrorism that they defected and wrote a book about it. What's that, there's nobody to name? Thought so.

And if Bush is so concerned about terrorism, how come he ignored the Hart/Rudman report which was commissioned by the outgoing president Clinton, who was apparently concerned about terrorism?

This is just getting ridiculous.

Hypothetical situation

If Dick Cheney himself resigned from the vice presidency and came out swinging against the Bush administration, what kind of smear campaign would Bush/Rove & Co. launch against him?

If the rapture begins and Jesus comes down, goes on national television and says, "Bush definitely isn't coming with me!", what kind of smear campaign would be laucnhed agaisnt him? Seeing that he hails from the Middle East, I imagine they would call him a terrorist.

We really, truly, honestly care about terrorism and your safety. Truly! Honest!

Here's a little blurb from today's NY Times:

SCREENING FOR RAIL PASSENGERS The government will begin testing a way to screen rail passengers and their luggage to see if it can quickly and accurately detect security risks, Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, said. He offered few details about the screening, but said it would not resemble security checkpoints at airports.

So, let's see, a full 925 days after the worst terrorist attack in American history, the Bush administration will begin testing a way to screen rail passengers. Note, just testing, which means we'll see results in, what, another 925 days? Meanwhile, our military resources are tied up in a country and wasn't involved in terrorism, al-Qa'ida is showing proficiency in successfully bombing trains, and we can't even located Osama bin Laden. Boy, do I feel safer knowing that the adults are in charge.

Hey, remember the Valdez?

You could hear about it again soon, since effects from the oil spill are still being felt.

Fifteen years after the Exxon Valdez supertanker split open on a submerged reef off Alaska, stubborn pockets of crude oil persist on once-pristine beaches, and creatures ranging from sea otters to harlequin ducks and herring are still struggling.

...The landmark $900 million civil settlement Exxon signed in 1991 to resolve federal and state environmental claims included a $100 million re-opener clause for damages that "could not reasonably have been known" or anticipated. Under the settlement terms, the re-opener may be asserted until 2006.

This next quote reminds me of a line from Family Guy: "Peter, you are the Spaulding Gray of crap!"

Exxon Mobil, the successor to Exxon Corp., argues that there is no lingering harm from the 1989 spill.

"The environment in Prince William Sound is healthy, robust, and thriving. That's evident to anyone who's been there, and it is also the conclusion of many scientists who have done extensive studies of the Prince William Sound ecosystem," Exxon Mobil said in a statement. "What science has learned in Alaska and elsewhere is that while oil spills can have acute short-term effects, the environment has remarkable powers of recovery," it added.

Hmm. If I placed my steel-toed shitkicker on the side of some random Exxon Mobil executive's head, it would also have "acute short-term effects," but hey, that fractured skull will heal in no time! Right? Personally, I think we need a demonstration.

Common sense prevails

Maine passed a law that allows women to get emergency contraception without a prescription. Now if the FDA would make Plan B OTC...

Regulations? Fuck'em!

The Environmental News Network brings us some actions from der monkey that could go underreported this week, given the reasonably much larger story of Clarke and the 9/11 panel hogging all the attention.

Bush administration eases logging restrictions on logging old-growth forests.

...Allow[ing] forest managers to begin logging without first looking for rare plants and animals.

...The change was prompted by a timber industry lawsuit and is intended to increase logging on 24 million acres of public land.

The timber industry had complained for years that so-called "survey and manage" rules are intrusive and can take years to complete. Those rules require study of the potential effects of logging on about 300 plant and animal species.

And who would have thought Bush colud give two shits about the ozone layer.

U.S. fruit growers in Montreal this week will push for an increase in their use of a pesticide known to destroy the ozone layer, claiming that exemptions for developing nations on the chemical are unfair.

...The George W. Bush administration last year attempted to exempt farmers from the 2005 ban.

Bring it on

It wasn't a good day for the ole nutsac.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq

I hadn't been informed about the details of Iraq's new constitution until now. This article, which discusses Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's opposition to the proposed Iraqi government.

The interim constitution establishes a three-member presidency, one president and two deputy presidents. The president is likely to be a Shi'ite Arab, and the deputies will be a Sunni Arab and a Kurd. At the time of the signing of the constitution, Sistani made clear his disapproval of two clauses: one that gives effective veto power over a permanent constitution to Kurds, and one which enables deputy presidents to reject the decisions of a president. In fact, the Shiite members of the 25-member IGC stalled the signing ceremony due to Sistani's opposition. In addition, Sistani considers the three-member executive arrangement as institutionalizing sectarianism and ethnicity in the future political process of Iraq. Thus, his conclusion is that the new constitution "will lead to a dead end", that it will put the country "in an unstable situation", and that it "could lead to partition and division".

I don't know about you, but this just doesn't sound kosher to me. I don't want to be too verbose with my explaination, so you'll probably get the jist of my thoughts with this question: To prevent our Civil War, do you think giving executive powers equally to somebody from the North and South would have solved our problems? Of course not. This is a ridiculous, silly little question. That sums up my thoughts on a 3 party, shi'ite/sunni/kurd, Iraqi executive office. It just sounds like something that's going to blow up in our faces. The article also touches upon that:

Whether the US wishes to lessen the status of the Shi'ites or not, it is very likely that by pluralizing the Iraqi presidency, Washington wants to ensure that a Shi'ite-dominated Iraq would not become another Islamic republic. So one cannot dismiss the perspective of Sistani that the US's motives regarding this issue are not exactly benign. Why else would it elevate the status of the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds by giving them one seat each in the deputy presidency? The seeds of mistrust on both sides are about to give birth to a bitter harvest of even more mistrust. Political conditions seem to be ripe for the outbreak of major Shi'ite violence in Iraq.

But remember, Iraq's not a disaster!

Let's see what the mouth breathers are doing

[Updated: 5:44am, see below] Georgia's House banned female genital piercings. Here's what one clueless lawmaker had to say:

Amendment sponsor Rep. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, was slack-jawed when told after the vote that some adults seek the piercings.

"What? I've never seen such a thing," Heath said. "I, uh, I wouldn't approve of anyone doing it. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to be doing."

After the grilling from reporters, Mr. Heath no doubt walked away, leaving two red trails in his wake. (I know somebody out there gets that reference.)

Apparently, Georgia also has yet to hear of that whole freedom of religion concept:

It makes no exception for people who give consent to have the procedure performed on their daughters out of religious or cultural custom.

(I should note here that the whole of this bill targets genital mutilation, which is not something I advocate. I realize that some religions do, which causes me to raise an eyebrow. However, I don't know what every single religion does, so I still consider this a religious freedom issue.)

Oh, and the punishment for violating this law, if it passes the Georgia Senate, is a 2-20 sentence in the slammer. Two to twenty years. Honestly, could anything be more useless than this bill?

Getting a buzz

Ladies, if you've ever wondered about vibrators, here's your de facto FAQ by Laura Berman, Ph.D., who says, "We prescribe vibrators to our patients every day as an important and useful tool for a healthy sex life."

Fark Headline of the Day

"Frustrated Mets fan offers crappy outfielder Roger Cedeno for sale, fails to throw in crappy reliever John Franco and crappy starting pitcher Tom Glavine"

Ahhh, spring is in the air...

Fucking You Was The Best 5 Seconds Of My Life

And other great songs by a hip hop act who call themselves Group Think. You probably shouldn't listen to this at work.

Let's start our morning with a joke!

What's the difference between a drummer and a large pizza?

A large pizza can feed a family of four.

I wonder if biting is involved

Since it does involve "toothing."

And now comes "toothing," where strangers on trains and buses and at bars and concerts hook up for clandestine sex by text messaging each other with their Bluetooth-enabled cell phones or PDAs.

I dunno... Doesn't this sound rather scary if you really think about crabs way?

Telling it like it is

Does this look like a hate crime to you? Well, to the church that received this vandalism, it is.

Members of a Catholic church in Johnston (RI) are wondering if vandalism done to one of their statues is a hate crime.

A statue in front of the Our Lady of Grace Church on Lafayette Street was vandalized Monday night. A spray-painted message read "anti-choice Nazis."

Memo to the church: Maybe if you stopped trying to legislate your morality on those who do not believe in your religion, you wouldn't be the targets of vandalism. And no, you dipshits, this isn't a "hate crime." You made the choice to force your religion down the throats of non-believers, and now one of those non-believers has reacted. Deal with it.

Zen Mastah X

Once again, school work is eating up my blog time. Today I have to read about Zen and the art of jamming a red hot poker in my eye as opposed to reading about Zen. Boy, am I have fun and feeling enlightened. I still have no clue what Zen is. Sigh.

I'm listening...

...but all I hear is blah blah blah:

The record-high price of gasoline has suddenly become one of the most contentious issues ... As senators called on the Bush administration on Tuesday to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help curb prices, Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, accused President Bush of neglecting energy conservation and favoring oil companies. The Bush re-election campaign blamed Mr. Kerry for voting against oil drilling in Alaska last year and for his past advocacy of higher gasoline taxes."

Two words for these fuckwits - Alternative Energy. I'm consistantly amazed at just how high gas prices can climb, yet nobody wants to discuss powering cars with something besides oil.

Thanks Sharon

I've tried very hard to make Loaded Mouth and Israel/Palestine free zone with random comments here and there, but thanks to Sharon's latest actions, this story may blow up into something I can't ignore. Especially if it causes violence throughout the Middle East or beyond. I've refrained from commenting on these events because, generally, I think it's useless. I have no clue how to solve this conflict, I don't think anybody does. I can't really sympathize with the actions of either side since I'm a pacifist. I guess if a gun was held to my head and I had to make a decision on who to support, I'd be 50.1% for the Palestinians. Or maybe I'd flip a coin, if it lands with the head up, then Israelis get my support. I truly, honestly can't support either side. If this situation continues to blow up and I'm forced to comment on it, then I'll have some fun and ask Matt to be Loaded Mouth's full time Israel pundit.

The reason why they defend the second admendment is so they can shoot themselves in the foot

I don't have a link or exact quotes and I'm feeling woozy, so I'm not going to find the article. It was probably on your frontpage yesterday anyway. It was the Bush administration's attack against Clarke. The attack I that I thought was the funniest turned out to be even more pathetic then their attempts to label Clarke, a man who worked for 3 Republican administrations and just 1 Democrat administration, as solely being a Democrat. What was truly comical is the Bush administration's assertion that Clarke is incompetent. Gee, that helps. This just proves that Dubya has nothing to defend himself with. Think about it... To agree with Clarke is to agree with the point that Bush has done a terrible job fighting terrorism. But to label Clarke himself as being incompetent means that the Bush administration appointed fools to work for them, and since fools do terrible work, this can only mean that Bush has done a terrible job fighting terrorism.

Shorter Bush defense: "Either way, I suck!"

The influence of violent television talk radio on society

In Arkansas, their prison system is sticking by their rules of keeping women shackled while they're in labor. After you've picked your jaw up off the floor, the article has a comments section under it. Let's pick the minds of these fine souls...

Ok, liberals, enough is enough! Are you willing to accept the responsibility if an inmate escapes?

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING?! You know, if I were a woman prisoner in labor and about to give birth, the TOP NUMBER ONE FIRST MOTHERFUCKING thing I'm thinking of is RUNNING AWAY! Oh gee, here's my opportunity! Jesus, where's your fucking brain? Oh, but I guess this is all some kind of lunatic liberal ranting, isn't it? You fucking moron.

How can it be more humiliating than being in jail in the first place? Prisoners "rights" have gone to far as it is.

Yeah, fuck the prisoners! Especially if they're pregnant! How arrogant of these women to ask to be able to spread their legs while delivering a baby! God, where do they breed these fucking assholes? Oh, dur.. Arkansas. I almost forgot.

I agree prisoner rights have gone as far as they need to go. Three hots and a cot is all that they need.

Wow, three hot meals! Plus a cot! You're too generous, sir!

God, what the FUCK is happening to us as a country if these people exist?

True Currency

Ohhh yeah!

Bust through a brick wall and check out GC13's packets of Republican Kool-Aid!

So much work...

There may be posting later this morning, depending on how fast I can read. Remember kids, procastination breeds work, and lots of it...

My only comment on Israelis/Palestinians/Hamas

Oh Gawd,

Please do not force me to comment on these issues. I will not be forced kicking, dragging, and screaming into this shitstorm of a debate where I can't agree with any of the sides.

You can solve it, you know. Can't you split Wyoming in half, the left side will be called "New Israel," and we can move them there? Sure, it'll suck, it's Wyoming of course, but they made the desert bloom! There's a few white power folk who will threaten them, but those assholes don't send in their children as weapons of carnage.

Why can't we create New Palestine, you might ask? Because those people haven't moved, and jews have been moving for over 2000 years. They're used to it, it's easier for them.

Dear Lawrd, please solve this problem so I never have to think about it again.

Your pal in agnosticism,
tas

P.S. - Can you come down and say, "Listen fuckers, if either of you keep murdering children, then neither of you are Chosen by Me"? It would help.

This is perhaps the stupidest article I've seen today

"One Crucial Issue in Pledge Case: What Does 'Under God' Mean?"

What do you THINK it means?! Holy fuck. The statement sounds pretty self-explanatory to me, especially since it was added to the pledge in the 50's in the midst of a rabidly anti-communist political climate in the 50's. I hope nobody's expecting me to troll through this shit, because it's just too stupid to read. And I tried.

To my fellow bloggers...

Technorati's all new and shiny, give it a look when you get the chance. I already like how it searches blogs since there's currently a link to Loaded Mouth for the ninth item in NewsTalk.

Great headline

"Dead" Devours "Christ"

Mmmm, yummy. I could only imagine the headline if a movie with "Deep Fried" in the title made it to number one last week... "Deep Fried Christ." I imagine I just lost a few readers with that comment...

But selling arms is OK

However, if you sell your virginity to help pay for the rising costs of college, expect to get slapped with an investigation in the UK.

Today's conversation topic: Orgasms!

Or more specifically, fake orgasms. This Slate article has some statistics that I find funny.

According to the 2000 Orgasm Survey (did you know there was a 2000 Orgasm Survey?), 72 percent of women have faked at least once in their current or most recent relationship, and 55 percent of men say they can tell when their partner's faking.

72% of women having faked it I can believe. I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if that was at 85%. However, 55% said they knew when their partner was faking it? Uhm, how? I'm under the assumption that their partners did not tell them, so these men must have a real talent. If any of you talented men are out there reading this, lemmie know. Post a comment and share your secrets.

Then there's this statistic:

And yes, some men fake orgasms too - 24 percent of them, according to the Orgasm Survey.

I guess 24% of men sleep with some pretty stupid women. I wonder how post-cotial conversation with these men and their partners go. "No baby, really, men never ejaculate. It's a myth, hunnybumpkins!"

The Miserable Failure

Former Bush secuirty expert Richard Clarke points out the obvious: Bush sucks on terrorism issues.

Richard Clarke said Mr Bush ignored warnings of the threat from al-Qaeda before the 11 September 2001 attacks.

He said the US president later tried to show links between al-Qaeda and Iraq, despite being told none existed.

Mr Clarke said it was "outrageous" Mr Bush was running for re-election on his record fighting terrorism, when in fact he had "ignored it" before 9/11.

"He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know."

How do you suppose Bush's supporters will defend their pet monkey this time? Blame Clinton, or better yet, blame Kerry? Maybe they can blame Hillary, too, while they're at it. Personally, I'm getting sick of hearing their poor excuses for this miserable failure of an unelected president.

Bush's shortcomings in the war on terrorism don't start with 9/11 and end with Iraq, though. We don't know the full story right now, but there are some less obvious events which happened that didn't garner nearly the amount of press coverage that they deserved. On Christmas Day of last year, Pakistan's president Musharraf came extremely close to being assassinated, an inside job which could have had al-Qa'ida's fingerprints. If Musharraf was killed by terrorists (and we're damn lucky they didn't succeed), a few nuclear warheads with missile delivery systems could have fallen into their hands.

Let me repeat that: If it wasn't for sheer luck in Christmas Day of 2003, Islamic terrorists would probably have the bomb.

This was a serious situation, and today it's just as dire. And no matter if you're a Republican, Democrat, or otherwise, I urge you to give the facts some objective thought. The fact is that Bush lied to the nation and led us to war in Iraq even though it was a well known fact that Saddam did not have links to al-Qa'ida and claims that he had WMDs were very, very questionable. In the meantime, terrorists nearly got the bomb in a Pakistani coup, and most recently, they successfully murdered 200 people in Madrid.

I know I'm highly biased on these issues, but I think it's for good reason because I don't see how anybody can look at the facts and say that Bush has done an exceptional job with fighting terrorists. He's done a terrible job, yet some people are so partisan that they think it's ridiculous to criticize the man. These people scare me.

Facts are facts. Thanks to Bush, it took sheer luck for the world not be under the thumb of a terrorist organization armed with a nuclear weapon. Next time, we might not be so lucky. I've said it once and I'll say it again: If you're not ready to criticize Bush, you're not ready to talk about terrorism.

(Minor grammatical changes since originally published.)

Probably taking another day off

I'm not sure how much posting action there will be today, since this is my schedule:

* 5:30am: Polish off a couple more chapters in "Dispatches".
* Sleep
* Wake up, finish "Dispatches".
* 12:00am monday, goto work, do monthly reports, spend a few hours studying for test. Write book review on "Dispatches".
* 6:00am monday (if time allows), start posting to the blog again.

I'll try to make it fresh by the time you get up Monday. I promise.

Open note to my brother-in-law: Here's the ass-vertising cartoon permalink: http://loadedmouth.com/archives/2004_03_07_archive.html#107919169064058623. Now gimmie some hits. :)