Thursday, January 20, 2005

Beyond Bushaugural Window Addressing

Did you catch that?

Yes, he's bad. Taking out all-rookies.

(And don't forget, Oreo's, eat, Cool J, cookies.)

And yes, Jon Stewart even had a damned ticker counting off a decisive victory of cult-like repetition, as "Freedom" vs. "Liberty" '05 turned into a 27 - 15 barnburner in front of 250,000 confused fans, perhaps missing the slow-mo live-action from Iraq on the Jumbo-Tron. Consider it a nasty paper-cut on the artery of intelligence currently being bypassed by the masses. Or, more accurately, an insulin shot. After ingesting sugar-coated Bushcubes of information for so long, the patients in attendance at the conversion seemed slower and more easily fatigued, often failing to clap on-cue. Fortunately, the steady hand of Bush's withering smirk aided in building a smattering of applause into a slightly louder smattering of applause, the Bushtapo defiantly cheering each other on to cheer whether they were genuinely enthused or not. This was a true test of the faith in their hearts over their minds telling them that they were really bored shitless. How much damn holy water is in that oil well?

Bush bricked a few lines, some possibly on purpose, likely so he can look back and say "I said that!" - when it was truly delivered with the least possible impact and impression. When he said America can't carry both "Freedom" and the "Baggage of Bigotry", he only mustered the most cursory stretched applause with all of his beedy-eyed childish grinning, squeezing the most mileage he could out of the echo-syllabled alliteration. It's like his supporters finally agreed to clap for the camera's, just to show the world and all the blue-state pussies the GOP's attempts at "unity" they can take-or-leave. And, it's like the rest of America and the World just doesn't believe him. So, for key messages on racism, sexism, poverty, healthcare, values, religions, and unity, he put each one down like T-Ball: confidently just swatting the ball far enough that he could comfortably trot his way towards 1st base, then stand there grinning like he's saying "I know, I know, I'm the President! I'll get to it, but you sure can't tell me to forget that the security of the American people comes first!"

Brilliant.

Ergo: These issues are important enough to get my attention, but you can't tell me to prioritize any of them over MY interpretation of MY mandate for MY job as President.

"Crikey! That's a neat trick, these Croc's are fast and deadly critters!"

These guys sure don't play pretty, even sacrificing the sanity of their own team and fans. But, they've got a hell of a Church/State/Biz front-line, they definitely ground-out another first down, and retain the ball well-within field-goal position (Social Security), possibly even touchdown (Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Constitutional Amendments). Unreal. He's a quarterback bringing guns'n'goons to the game, so I don't think his durability is in question: how you gon' chop-block when his man's holdin' a Glock?

Some "Scaarry stuff, keeds!" (The Count - SCTV)

But seriously, I've got a row-to-hoe, toe-to-toe, with Satan's-ho', Karl Rove. I dunno why I see it, I don't even wanna, but after staring at this mess for a while it becomes easier to catch them pitching to themselves in the game, especially since it's in a pattern patterned-after 1984. (The Book or the Reaganauguration - pick one.) I mean, the damned thing's a fugue, but you know...

Not that they shouldn't be careful, after all, silencing dissent is tricky business. Dissent is honest, dissent is healthy, and dissent usually comes out of genuine concern. The "dissenting opinion" in matters of importance is often unpopular, but also often proven timeless in it's courage and wisdom. Why else would you disagree? Why would you take the grief?

So, how do you take honest and healthy dissent, and destroy it?

Label-it-over-and-over, until it's covered in lies.

Then mock the lies.

Then, turn those lies into new awful truths.

Then mock the truths.

Then... become badasser truths.

Hmm...

...

I tell you, I saw two African-American males in prominent roles in the two hours of political-porno I watched: the first was a post-Inaugural Address Benediction by the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church, Houston; the second was essentially the same performed before lunch by another dude who's name you'll forget as quickly as you just forgot the one just written. Two black-males, in the prime-time of Bush's formal widespread Inauguration coverage from 12 - 2 pm, given 5 minutes each to talk about the glory of God and the glory that God has granted to God's Son. (No, not Nas. His Disciples and Dubya's just don't kick-it like Puffy'n'Trump's.)

It was so indefatigabily bizarre, how can we even argue against it? Should I attack those dudes for grabbing their shine when millions of African-American voters were disenfranchised by Republicans? No, that's not quite fair, maybe they honestly believe in "Christian" values above other concerns - after all, they ARE clergy. Should I attack Dubya for using token darkies to buff-up his image in key ways? No, I can't prove with 100% certainty that Dubya's a racist, what with Bandar Bush, Condi, Colin, Alberto... bah, that's not it either.

Okay, so let me get this straight: sandwiching Bush's Inaugural Address are two black clergymen singing his praises to the world. Giant chalk-brushes erasing the chalk-outlines of hundreds of black servicemen dying in his and his fathers wars.

Okay... so it's normal then.

So, to be clear: there was NO thought to the political impact of this move, NO thought to using these men to help massage Bush's image internationally, NO playing of the affirmative-action race-card which all sensible conservatives hate. AND, anyone saying otherwise is just plain conspiratorial and demeaning. The Bush White House just picked the two most qualified clergy for the job in the entire United States of America, and it didn't matter what colour they were, their colour just proves that you can succeed in America no matter where you come from irrespective of any special opportunities given. In fact, all those radical liberal "New Deal" FDR-ideas are just a little outdated with the (soon-to) boom-market in the greatest country in the world with the greatest people in the world, so all you bellyachin' minorities give it a rest: trickle-down is back baby, and as long as President Bush makes sure that middle-class mid-westerners can keep their hard-earned money those same folks will power a strong American economy.

So, just to be safe: on matters of race, the only difference between the two parties is that Republicans are better at ensuring Americans of all colours get to keep more of their hard-earned money. Democrats on the other hand, want to hand taxpayers bank-balances over to those damned special-interest groups for the environment, civil liberties, unions, education, women's rights, senior's rights, healthcare...

(OOPS! Crap! I popped-out... sorry... hold on...)

I MEAN, there's no difference between the Republicans and Democrats, except that Republicans are badasser at everything, including the stuff the Democrats claim they are better at, PLUS, you get to keep more of your hard-earned money!

Of course...

Red-Rover! Red-Rover! We call... Karl over!!!

"And, just minutes before the Bushauguration, they announce..."

Top Stories - AP

U.S. to Scale Back Tsunami Relief Efforts

12 minutes ago Top Stories - AP

By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The U.S. military — the largest group aiding tsunami survivors — said Thursday it will immediately begin scaling back its relief operations. A barrage of gunfire sent survivors diving for cover at a refugee camp in an Indonesian region long torn by a war between separatists and the government.

In Japan, nations at a U.N. conference rallied behind plans for a network of buoys to warn of future killer waves in the Indian Ocean.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the U.S. military "will start right now transferring functions to the appropriate host nations and international organizations."

About 15,000 American troops have been deployed to tsunami-hit nations, where huge waves spawned by a massive earthquake swept away coastal settlements on Dec. 26. Most of the soldiers have been sent to worst-hit Sumatra island in Indonesia.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20050120/ap_on_re_as/tsunami

Sunday, January 16, 2005

"Excuse me, does this look normal to you?"

Sun, Jan 16, 2005
All RSS Feeds - U.S. National - Reuters

Pentagon Spurned Plan to Initiate Enemy Homosexuality

1 hour, 22 minutes ago U.S. National - Reuters

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military rejected a 1994 proposal to develop an "aphrodisiac" to spur homosexual activity among enemy troops but is hard at work on other less-than-lethal weapons, defense officials said on Sunday.

The idea of fostering homosexuality among the enemy figured in a declassified six-year, $7.5 million request from a laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for funding of non-lethal chemical weapon research.

The proposal, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request, called for developing chemicals affecting human behavior "so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely affected."

"One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior," said the document, obtained by the Sunshine Project. The watchdog group posted the partly blacked-out, three-page document on its Web site.

Lt. Col. Barry Venable of the Army, a Defense Department spokesman, said: "This suggestion arose essentially from a brainstorming session, and it was rejected out of hand."

The Air Force Research Laboratory also suggested using chemicals that could be sprayed on enemy positions to attract stinging and biting bugs, rodents and larger animals.

Another idea involved creating "severe and lasting halitosis" to help sniff out fighters trying to blend with civilians.

The U.S. military remains committed to developing less-than-lethal weapons that pass stringent legal reviews and are consistent with international treaties, said Captain Dan McSweeny of the Marine Corps, a spokesman for the Pentagon (news - web sites) unit spearheading their introduction.

"We feel it's very important to offer our deployed service members and their commanders a greater range of options in dealing with increasingly complex operational environments," said McSweeny, of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050116/us_nm/arms_homosexual_dc