Not Just Iraq: U.S. Also Marks Deadliest Year In Afghanistan

Not only does the Bush-led campaign in Iraq result in more U.S. and coalition deaths than ever in 2007 despite all the happy horseshit about the "grand success" of the "surge" to kill the insurgency; no, Bush has something else to boast about (and he's enough of an ass to do so, too): this is our deadliest year for American troops in Afghanistan (remember them?) since we invaded in early October 2001.

And this distinction was earned BEFORE Pakistan fell apart to prop up Musharraf's ego; with the chaos there now, one must assume that Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and friends have more room to manuever than ever. And each day, the Bushies push harder and harder for war with Iran, a country where we can't even begin to claim it will be a "cakewalk" to wage war.

The Bush Administration: fucking the world over since January 2001.

Good Night, Norman Mailer

It is with profound sadness I report that literary genius, Norman Mailer, has died; he was 84.

Mailer at his best was really beyond comparison. Some found him too controversial but to me, he was a complex man who examined tough issues, did not look for easy answers, and went where his mind, heart, and soul took him. Like the rest of us, he had demons to exorcise.

Some of my favorites of his were "Tough Guys Don't Dance" and "Executioner's Song" which focused on the Gary Gilmore execution, perhaps one of most media-intensive of this nation's sad love affair with capitol punishment.

Definitely a one of a kind, I know I will miss him greatly.

Thank you and good night, Mr. Mailer.

Obscene: Bush "Leans" On Dead Soldiers' Families For Support

Grrrrrrrr.....

While Bush and Cheney and Petraeus keep insisting "the surge" has been an unprecedented success, and given that the "surged" numbers were there just about all year, then how is it that 2007 became the deadliest year on record for American and coalition forces in Iraq?

And that doesn't even address how deadly it's been for Iraqis.

At the same time, this story by Stolberg in The Times about how Bush and the families of dead soldiers are "leaning on each other for great support" just makes me sick. Bush, who wouldn't attend one damned service funeral, who certainly won't meet with the families of ALL fallen soldiers because he wants a guarantee the grieving loved ones won't ask him any pesky questions. I find this to be the height of obscenity.

One Sky. One Climate. One Future. One Chance.

My partner saw 1 Sky listed on a lawn sign at a neighbor's house today and I like what I see. Global warming/climate change/"the greenhouse effect" is not JUST a serious risk and challenge to us all, but also an incredible opportunity to recognize and reach out as global neighbors all under that.... 1 sky.

Check it out.

American Lawyers Vote To Impeach Bush-Cheney

The members of the National Lawyers Guild have voted to request (demand would be nice) the House of Representatives open impeachment proceedings against BOTH Bush and Cheney.

Another Bushie War, on Americans: More Senseless War on Drugs, VT Style

When the Bushie Republican Governor of Vermont didn't like that a (Democrat, I believe) lawyer and part-time judge didn't get serious prison time for possession of marijuana, he didn't just get mad. No, Jim Douglas ordered all state law enforcement officials to send marijuana (NOT heroin, NOT cocaine, NOT methamphetamine) cases to the FEDS directly, bypassing local and state courts.

Now, I'm not excusing the woman lawyer/judge who as an officer of the court certainly knows basic law. And yeah, 2.5 lbs DOES sound like a lot (except that drug cops are taught to pad the weight anyway possible and go to some truly ridiculous extremes to do so, often at the behest of higher ups and prosecutors who want to hit heavier charges as well as confiscate property).

But what the fuck is going on here? The War on Drugs has been such a miserable failure. And if you want proof, look at the Miserable Failure in the White House right now, a cokehead drunk with delusions of grandeur who actually thinks he's president when, you know, it's really Dick Cheney. I'm tired of fighting a war on Americans who as adults can make their own choices for what they consume, good or bad. If being a Bill O'Reilly isn't a federal offense (yet offensive, nonetheless), being a pothead shouldn't be either, I would think. And I say that as someone who hasn't used in God... I can't tell you how long.

No less than the Times-Argus, the Barre-Montpelier, Vermont newspaper that very few accuse of being a liberal rag, is kind of aghast at what Douglas is doing. And ALL American taxpayers should be: it's taking a local problem and, for the War on Drugs - and the war for the Bushie-style Ego, dumping it on feds that apparently need to focus on otherwise law-abiding potheads rather than on Bush corruption and Osama bin Laden and company.

From Surplus To Deeper In Debt Than EVER: The Bush Economy

Well, Bush managed to push us $9 trillion in debt (and some economic forecasters say this is nowhere near how much we owe since much is still hidden from accounting eyes).

Remember the surplus Bill Clinton left us with?

No?

Ah, that’s because of the 7 years of Bush who can veto health care for kids but demands tax breaks for Dick Cheney and friends.

Oh, and you likely owe at least $32K grand per person in your household for the “war that will pay for itself, guaranteed! cakewalk” called Iraq”.

Sorry, no checks. Only blood and sweat and your hopes and dreams are tender we accept, please.

House Has Not Yet Killed Impeachment of Grand Emperor (VP) The Dick Cheney

While the Dem leadership seemed about as eager as most Repugs to kill it - and why they're so bashful about high crimes and misdemeanors when we're talking about treason committed in some of the most fundamental aspects of our society completely eludes me - it was Repugs who, thinking it might give Bush a "sympathy factor", who decided to let it hang around. (Somehow, I suspect only his parents give Bush much sympathy these days.)

Now others are pushing harder for the matter to go before the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by none other than John Conyers, a Dem who has shown he does not always buckle to popular pressure. Keep hope alive.

Homelessness And Vets: More Than Just A Crying Shame

With a new study out that shows that American veterans account for 25% of the country's homeless comes two questions that are far more than academic:

1) What do we do to our soldiers that they end up this way?
2) Why are so many Americans now homeless - and many of them are homeless WHILE working more than one job because housing here is so expensive - and why are we allowing the numbers to soar higher each and every day?

Other stats show that we have NEVER seen an epidemic of homelessness like this among people WHO WORK, who pay taxes. So why under Bush has this flourished?

Well, I know the answer to that.

Hallelujah and Thank You, CREW!

Buzzflash reports that CREW is launching a much-needed online site specifically to help us research government documents: Governmentdocs.org.

As Bush's Empire "Rises", Ours Falls Drastically

Positive you don't want to impeach this entire Bush Administration?

Everytime he opens his mouth about Iran, the crude oil price per barrel skyrockets and his "economic" genius has created what is arguably a much worse set of financial circumstances for many Americans than what happened during in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the coming of the great depression. 439 days more is an AWFULLY long time.

From The New York Times:

Stock markets plummeted and the dollar sank to as investors grew skittish over rising oil prices and the prospect of a substantial U.S. economic slowdown.

Rudy's Man In Stripes?

Considering Bernie's size, let's hope the prison stripes aren't horizontal.

Is it true? Is the man Rudy Giuliani tried to foist off on us as Department of Homeland Security chief, a man with a most checkered past and much of it tied right to Rude Rudy, former NYPD chief Bernie Kerik, about to be indicted?

A federal indictment against former police commissioner Bernard Kerik is expected as early as this Friday. Government sources say that if the indictment is unsealed on Friday, Kerik is expected to surrender at the Westchester Federal Courthouse in White Plains, N.Y.

The sources say Kerik has told his close friends and members of his legal team that he expects the potential indictment to come before the statute of limitations expires on Nov. 15 on charges that could include tax evasion and bribery.

If the indictment is leveled against Kerik, it will be the latest twist in the tale that began when the child of a prostitute rose to police commissioner of New York City, achieved heroic proportions in the shadow of the collapsing World Trade Center, was gifted a diamond-encrusted chief's badge, awarded millions of dollars in stun gun stock options by business clients and given the proffer of a presidential appointment by President George Bush to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Is it just me or did some of the strangest and worst people benefit outrageously much from 9-11? Bush, included.

Maybe Pat Robertson can pray for him. God knows, I pray for Pat (to be delivered to hades where he belongs where he will fight the devil for dominance).

Satan's Sidekicks: The Marriage of Rudy Giuliani and Pat "Your Blood, MY Diamonds" Robertson

Wow.

The great savior (of his own ass), Pat Robertson, who pretends to be a preacher and philanthropist so he can smuggle blood diamonds out of third world nations via his missionary and "humanitarian aid" planes, has thrown his complete support behind Rudy Giuliani for the GOP presidential nod for 2008.

I mean, if you were the Repug candidate, wouldn't YOU want a man like Pat, who blamed 9-11 on gays and liberals, who has threatened the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested institutions like the U.S. State Department SHOULD be blown up to fulfill God's will (threats that would get the rest of us serious prison time, btw), and who spouts nothing but hateful invective toward anything NOT Pat Robertson-centric?

Actually, if offered the financial and moral support of Pat Robertson vs. being boiled alive in oil, let me be the first to climb in that big vat. Pat's support holds sway only with the most extreme of the Christian fascists.

The old Rudy - the REAL Rudy - would have run from such an endorsement. But this is the Giuliani whose career was considered over on September 10th, 2001 and the very next day, on his way to being raised as a national hero AND a billionaire based on a total litany of noun-verb-911.

What A Surprise: Mortgage Companies Are Padding Fees On Struggling Homeowners

I note that this Times article about how mortgage companies are playing fast and loose by tacking on extra fees and pretending to lose (to the point of destroying more than a half million dollars in checks to pay mortgages) payments. Countrywide, my former lender, is noted here and indicates it makes about $300 million a year just in late fees.

Ah, if you haven't heard, people in other countries are rushing their dollars over here to buy up foreclosed properties (including many homes and defunct subdivisions-in-the-building) what with the American dollar taking a hit all over the place. Even Canada is here buying up things since, for the first time ever, the Canadian dollar is worth a good chunk more than its U.S. counterpart.

Oprah and Boo Fricking Hoo

I couldn't give a flying fuck that poor, poor, poor Oprah feels "so devastated" that girls have been abused at the school she founded in Africa. I mean, all Oprah has done is make this about HER instead of the abused girls. She told us how she went room to room crying... wow, I wonder if the injured girls had a reaction. Gee.

Oprah really needs a HUGE swift kick somewhere extremely tender, and I hope life delivers it to her soon. I know she's the great white hope (look at her audience - women of color, by and large, seem intelligent enough to stay AWAY) but she's bought her own PR for so long her ego grows at the reciprocal rate that the world's ice masses are melting.

Actually, I'd like to keep the icebergs and just melt Oprah and her loony sidekick, Dr. Phil(ledFullofHimself).

Bush And His Medals

Can't get anything past Bush, who awards the vaulted Medal of Freedom to a great-grandma who runs her own Guantanamo Bay-style prison in the basement and spent Halloween waterboarding toddlers who wet themselves.

Actually, he's giving it to Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" - decades late, of course, and a safe choice since even many Republicans these days think blacks should not be lynched for absolutely no reason. Not Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity, of course, but still, more than a few dozen GOPeers. ::choke::

Human Bloggers To Be Replaced?

Uh.... no one tell Karlo that the cats are taking over. He worries so about them.

Cheney Impeachment Resolution And War With Iran

I also posted this at All Things Democrat but...

From Ramsey Clark, an appeal to action in advance of plans against war with Iran and acknowledging that Rep. - and Democratic presidential candidate - Dennis Kucinich’s priority resolution to be presented on the floor tomorrow (Tuesday, November 5th) calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. Read the rest of this letter from Clark here.

President George Bush plans to attack Iran. From coast to coast, the people of this country are demanding impeachment, which may be the only way to stop him. We are acting now because a failure to impeach Bush with Vice President Cheney and other civil officers for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity may condemn the world to war without end. Has he not made it clear that he intends to attack Iran?

Again and again he has threatened Iran with attack if it does not abandon its nuclear program and act to please him. The threat, like the use of force against a nation, is a violation of Article 2.4 of the Charter of the United Nations just as the threat of assault, like assault itself, is a crime in all legal systems. President Bush has unilaterally imposed the most comprehensive economic sanctions within his power against Iran, excepting of course the purchase of Iranian oil. Sanctions are crueler than the colonial whipping post because they harm infants, children, the elderly and the infirm.

When President Bush decides to launch missiles at Iran, he will proclaim the ecessity for his action to prevent nuclear terrorism, and save freedom and democracy. “This government does not torture people,” President Bush assures us despite Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, rendition, the staunch defense of torture by his legal advisers throughout his Presidency and what We the People know, as he knows we know. We are being told that truth is what the Decider says it is. As with Iraq before, he now says Iran is a nuclear threat to the U.S. and brooks no dispute of his decision.

Failure to act will place the United States and much of the rest of the world in great danger of spreading war and violence resulting from a direct attack ordered by President Bush against Iran, retaliation by Iran and the fueling of existing tensions and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

No More Colbert Presidency

Gee, and we all just thought Stephen Colbert was such a serious candidate, too. Yet I'd still embrace him over the Republicans and one of the Dems running.

Side Note

As you might have guessed with the rising volume of postings, my DSL is working (and topping the bandwidth test speed charts - apparently the cows and sows who neighbor me aren't using a lot of bandwidth).

Bad Gets Worse

From Reuters (and filed in the Empires Crumble department):

Police fired tear gas and clubbed thousands of lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule, as Western allies threatened to review aid to the troubled Muslim nation. More than 1,500 people have been arrested in 48 hours, and authorities put a stranglehold on independent media.

Pakistan and Osama Bin Forgotten Laden

See my post here for why I think we should be paying very close attention to the Pakistan mess and the possible "resurgency" of the Bushies' favorite bogeyman, Osama.

Also Belated... to MissM(agnificent)

a belated Happy Birthday to you!

You can read MissM at her blog.

Why I Worry About Florida Installment #2617

So what kind of fuckup do you need to be to go into a church and abuse a corpse in a coffin?

I mean, besides the kind that elects a Ros-Letinen, a Diaz-Ballert, a Mel Martinez, or a Katherine Harris to office. ::cough::

Jim Hogue's "The Ballad of Ladder 5" And The "9-11 Truth Movement"

I know many - and it's not just Dems - remain with serious questions about the events of September 11th. While I'm not trying to stir up a brew here on a Sunday, I did want to point to a bit of political poetry offered up by a Vermont local actor/activist Jim Hogue about 9-11 you can find here.

You can listen to Hogue's often politically-centric program, The House on Pooh Corner, streaming live at WGDR online every Monday from 8:30-10 AM ET.

Rice/Other Bushies Subpoenaed to Testify

Secrets passed to pro-Israel lobbyists? Hmmm.

Our media pays little attention to this, but you can bet it's getting noticed elsewhere.

A Little Late Halloweening

.... more earthly matters kept me busy on Halloween itself but let me offer this from the page of a local - and phenomenal musician who happens to be a descendant of the Countess Bathory herself that suggests that a woman, at least as much as the Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler, was the basis for Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Note, however, that the 600+ dead from the Countess pales mightily compared to Bush's Iraq and Afghanistan adventure. ::choke::