Why Bush is the Worst President Ever Vol. 2

The Terror List Gap

The 9/11 stupidity has come full circle. Indiana apparently has more terrorist targets than any other state in the union. Like who'd ever attack a state like New York or California?

Livingston County should have shadows and whispers listed as terrorist threats because we're afraid of everything: ideas are especially terrifying here.

Anyway, if DeVos thought Indiana was attractive to industry, perhaps it's because they have 4 times more terror targets there than Michigan.

And our tax dollars get spent to protect Orville Redenbachers and the Sweetwater Flea Market.

Fear of terror has become an end in itself, snake shaking for the gullible.

The Department of Homeland Security has all the intelligence and insight you'd expect from an agency established by George W. Bush.

Oops, time for playing more "red light, green light".

Iraq is not Like Vietnam vol. 1

It's A Lot Worse

Maybe if the chicken hawks had been paying attention back in the late 1960's they'd remember the Vietnam war a bit better.

This critique of the Iraq Study Commission report shows that our current situation is not nearly as rosy as our Vietnam extraction options were.

Peace with dignity anyone?

Things Republicans Don't Give a Shit About vol. 2

Literally

While untreated waste floats down the St. Mary's River connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron, state congressional Republicans scramble to lower taxes along the river and sell rights to the shit and refuse that floats by:)

Democrat congressman from the UP Bart Stupak toured the area last summer, agreed it was a shitty situation, blamed Ontario, and asked Michigan citizens for their votes. That's what you do when you're the minority party.

The EPA says Bozo Bush doesn't care so their hands are tied.

I read a number of financial advisories that predict that clean water will soon be as valuable as oil is now.

So when your grandkids wonder why the Great Lakes beame a smelly swamp, fess up and tell'em you always voted Republican.

Idiot.

Things Republicans Don't Give a Shit About vol. 1

Botulism in the Great Lakes

Michigan Republican congressmen are scrambling to find out if there's an industry capable of profitizing botulism. Tax free status would of course be available.

Meanwhile, eco-nazi tree huggers are concerned that released freighter ballast water is killing fish and birds throughout all of the Great Lakes.

Republicans say that if they fail to attract a thriving botulism industry, they'll simply call in Pat Robertson to walk on the water to heal it.

Japanese and Killing Sea Creatures

Must be 'Cause Godzilla Scared'em Shitless

The Japanese have never met an ocean inhabitant they didn't find delicious, witness their lust for eating poisonous sea urchins raw.

I suspect I know why they want to study the giant squid. It may be worth noting the researchers killed the first one they found.

Sushi anyone?

This is Just Stupid

God Forbid Your Kids Have Advantages That You Didn't

Sorry, these people are selfish little cretins who want little clones to experience their pain, not little humans to experience the world.

Same Excuses, Same Bullshit

Just Like My Lai, First the Cover Up, Then Blame the Victims

If you really think these women and children deserved to die...

If you really think this was fueled by anything other than racial paranoia...

If you think Marine testosterone is always a good thing...

If you think American troops have license to do anything at any time regardless of any sense of humanity or Christian compassion...

You're probably an evangelical Republican.

To everyone else, isn't that the stupidest perversion of Jesus teaching you've ever considered?

If John Lennon was a Security Threat

No Wonder The Suits With Guns Were Clueless About 9/11

After claiming that the release of FBI surveillance files of John Lennon might lead to military action (?), the papers were released after a 25 year fight.

The only reason US security may be threatened is because the files show that FBI agents can follow and arrest people, they just don't have a damn clue about who should be followed or arrested.

After all, they didn't make a peep when the entire bin Laden family was flown out of the US on 9/13 on the only non-military aircraft flying in North America.

And the Saudi office of the FBI shredded (accidentally) mountains of paperwork relevant to the 9/11 investigation.

But these Bozos were worried about John Lennon's anti-war stance for 25 years?

Bin Laden's probably vacationing in Miami right now.

Bush and Corrupt Dirty Old Men

How Corruption Earns Bush's Respect

Why would a fairly young President surround himself with corrupt dirty old men like Cheney and Rumsfeld.

I suspect it's because corrupt dirty old men helped him to sell his Harken stock (illegally) just before it crashed, and others who paid him roughly $12 million for various favors he did for the Texas Rangers while he was governor and minority stock holder. Not to mention his hosting the Taliban at his Texas ranch a few years before he was declared president by a bunch of corrupt dirty old men.

Bush has always been a little toady catering to the corrupt because he can achieve nothing on his own.

Russian President Putin seems to fit the bill of Bush' comrades. His record since Bush blessed him and declared he saw into his heart is one of murder and confiscation of private property: the stuff our little Georgie boy really gets off on.

Putin wants to screw up the mid-East worse than Bush just to show Georgie what a pathetic poseur he is and what real amoral power and money can do. Here he court and sparks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; just what Lebanon and Israel need in their struggle for peace and stability.

You Saw It Coming, Right?

50,000 Fresh American Troops to Iraq

Damn it, I just said that the Idiot and Chief would try this and the big dummy's going to do it. Election mandates don't seem to impress him (anymore. He thought his 1% victory over Kerry was a "mandate".).

The only smart thing the idiot's done in his life is choose Cheney as a VP.

Mommy Barbara Bush would also have been a good choice.

He's No Decider

Cheney Still Has Little Georgie on His Lap

Of course, last April when Bush proudly announced that he was the decider, it was in defense of Don Rumsfeld and his determination to ignore the public demand for change.

More tellingly that day, instead of worrying about young Americans dying, he worried about Ol' Rummie's reputation. "You can understand why," Bush said. "Because we've got people's reputations at stake".

I think Ol' Rummie's reputation has been pretty well set by now.

So decidin' isn't really that hard for Bush. He just shuts his eyes and ears and does what he wanted to right from the start. There are never two points of view to Bush. In his black and white vista, it's just him and the Lord doin' them born-again right things.

So now his staff needs to fabricate a new construct (think WMDs and Iraq al-Quaeda) to let him do whatever he feels like in Iraq, damn the Iraq study commission and advice of the generals.

Meanwhile he wants to wait until after the holidays to unveil this crayola masterpiece.

Cheney promised his friends oil and construction money, the party's going strong and Bush ain't gonna shut off the lights.

Learning Superior's Lessons

Tugboat Tries to Tow Across Lake Superior...in December!

Somehow I thought lessons learned were lessons remembered, but a month after memorializing the Edmund Fitzgerald (the gales of November) these guys make a December run.

Check out the description of how fast the weather changed.

Why Bush is the Worst President Ever: Volume 1

Why Bush Had To Lie To Invade Iraq

If removing sadistic dictators was an article of American foreign policy, we would have been in constant wars since the end of WWII. Asia, Africa, and South America spawned dozens of dictators who ruled by elimination of the opposition (literally) while enriching their families and friends.

So while agreeing that Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator, that alone would have never meant that the United States had the authority to depose or remove him. In fact the US had been his ally and gave him military support in the Iran - Iraq war of the 1980's.

The Britannica list of all Military dictatorships most accurately describes post-WWII dictatorships.

The following lists are probably incomplete, especially before World War II

Nations currently under military rule
Libya - on September 1, 1969, a group of military officers staged a coup, and are still in power
Mauritania — on August 3, 2005, the military staged a coup and declared a two year transitional military dictatorship
Myanmar (Burma) - military seized power in 1962.
Pakistan (President came to power in coup in 1999, but institutions of civil rule have gradually been re-instated)
Thailand - on September 19, 2006, the military staged a coup and seized power.

Nations with a legacy of military dictatorship(s)

In Africa
Algeria (1965-1994)
Burkina Faso (1966-1991)
Burundi (1966-1993)
Central African Republic (1966-1993)
Chad (1975-1991)
Congo-Brazzaville (1968-1992)
Congo-Kinshasa (1965-2001)
Equatorial Guinea (1968-1982)
Ethiopia (1974-1991)
Guinea (1984-1991)
Ghana (1966-1969; 1972-1979; 1981-1993)
Liberia (1980-1990)
Madagascar (1972-1975)
Mauritania (1978-1992) (2005-present)
Niger (1974-1989; 1996-1999)
Nigeria (1966-1979; 1983-1999)
Sierra Leone (1992-1996; 1997-1998)
Somalia (1969-1991; then local militia rule)
Sudan (1958-1964; 1969-2005)
Uganda (1962-1986)
The Gambia (1994-1997)

In the Americas
Argentina (1930-1932; 1943-1946; 1955-1958; 1966-1973; 1976-1983)
Bolivia (1964-1982)
Brazil (1930-1945; 1964-1985)
Chile (1973-1990)
Colombia (1953-1957)
Cuba (1933-1940, 1952-1959)
Dominican Republic (1844-1978 with a few exceptions)
Ecuador (1963-1966; 1972-1979)
El Salvador (1931-1992)
Guatemala (1931-1944; 1954-1986)
Haiti (1957-1990; 1991-1994)
Honduras (1963-1971; 1972-1982)
Nicaragua (1936-1979)
Panama (1968-1989)
Paraguay (1940-1948; 1949-1989)
Peru (1948-1956; 1968-1980)
Suriname (1980-1988)
Uruguay (1973-1985)
Venezuela (1952-1958)

In Asia
Bangladesh (1975-1979; 1982-1990)
Burma (1962-1988; 1990-Present)
China (1916-1927) (or 1920-1949)
Indonesia (1967-1998)
Iraq (1958-1968) and (1979-2003)
Pakistan (1958-1971; 1977-1988; 1999-2001 or present)
South Korea (1961-1979; 1980-1988)
Thailand (1938-1992)

In Europe
Commonwealth of England (1648-1659) Dated from Pride's Purge, the first major act the army took to control the Parliament to the abdication of Lord Protector of Richard Cromwell.
Greece (1967-1974)
Poland (1981-1983)
Portugal (1926-1933)
Romania under Ion Antonescu (1941-1944)
Spain (1923-1930; 1939-1975)
Turkey (1960-1961; 1980-1983)

If Bush was determined to declare war on Iraq he needed to fabricate a good reason because just saying Saddam's a bad guy wouldn't pass muster.

Which is Worse, Ignorance

Or Fear of the Truth?

Livingston County never disappoints in fervent denial of the Twentieth Century.

Maybe if they regress further the good Christian's ape genealogy will become apparent, although I suspect he's probably from the Armadillo family ( a nice enough creature possessing no sense other than survival).

Without a Doubt

The Most Embarrassing Story of the Month

Only about half a billion people didn't want this broadcast.

If Ignorance is Bliss

Arab and Racist Red Necks Must be in Heaven

Former Louisiana politico and Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke, has graced the Iranian Commission on the Holocaust with his presence and keen insights.

Proving that Christians and Muslims have much in common, Duke wants to help the Arab world finally debunk the myth of the Holocaust.

I imagine his fellow white robed neighbors are anxiously waiting for him to bring a boatload of fellow attendees (who will abandon Palestine) and come home with him to settle down in America's Bible Belt of Racial Acceptance and Tolerance.

They might even light up a cross in celebration!

Labor Costs Controlled DeVos Style

Making Money the Chinese Way

Auto parts maker Visteon is up for sale and Wanxiang, China's largest parts supplier, may be interested in purchasing a division or two. Of course company President Lu Guanqiu has already figured out the road to profitability: eliminate high labor costs.

The Chinese have proven quite adept at this. A recent report found Chinese Wal Mart suppliers often pay only half the minimum wage, $.25 per hour vs. the mandated $.58. Worse, they insist on mandatory overtime and shirk their responsibility to provide health insurance to all employees.

I see a very profitable Visteon in the future.

Ain't globalization grand?

Truth has no House in Roger's Washington

Mike Rogers Flip Flop, Flip Flops His Way Out of Iraq

Some years ago I wrote an op-ed in the Press Argus about the coming religious civil war in Iraq. In the same issue, Rep. Mike Rogers was just home from Iraq and gave a glowing report on the situation there. Wow, one of us must have been wrong!

Last summer I sat in the Howell High School auditorium and heard Rogers declare that he was just home from Iraq and he was pretty sure "we" got it right this time.

It was "right(wing)" from the start of the stupid war, but Mike's been wrong on everything about it.

With the release of the Iraq Study Group's report, Mike suddenly doesn't want to fan the divisive fires he and his arrogant cohorts lit, and he says it's OK to cut and run.

Wow, what a hell of an election that was.

Dumb Ass Red Necks

Some Folks Deserve to Lose Their Jobs to China

Gaw damn them Missippy boys do know how to have fun.

Too Much Testosterone, Too Little IQ

Why Do Idiots Own All the Guns?

It troubles me that the portion of the American populace that is armed may not be comprised of the sharpest pencils in the cup.

Worse, they seem to be mean spirited.

Money Isn't Everything

But Poor is Really Tragic

There's a new study analyzing the distribution of wealth in the world. The bottom 50% of the world's population control less than 1% of the world's capital.

The top 10% (including most middle class Americans) control 85% of all wealth.

The richest 1% control 40% of the world's assets.

Taxing the rich is unfair?

Why?

The East Pacific Garbage Patch

Worse than A Michigan Landfill

One of the most exquisite sights in nature is a soaring albatross. Wings extended six to twelve feet, gliding effortlessly just over the water. They travel thousands of miles without touching land to rest, gliding silently even while asleep. Seamen once believed the souls of sailors killed at sea lived on in an albatross.

They lay their eggs and dutifully tend them until they hatch. Then they leave for days or weeks to find food for their chick, who survives alone on a rock.

These incredible, legendary birds are rapidly depopulating and it may be too late to do much about it.

Albatross eat fish and squid as they rise near the water's surface. Fishing nets that troll miles wide swaths of the ocean attract, then entangle and drown the birds. Up to 1,000 albatross a day are killed by tuna fishing.

A new threat to these glorious birds has been discovered floating in the Pacific ocean. It's a floating island, an island of plastic trash.

Sounds funny? It's twice as big as Texas.

And since it's made of plastic, it's decomposing very slowly, actually gaining in size as wind and ocean currents add new plastic garbage to the island daily.

The albatross? Well, it evolved believing that anything floating in the ocean was food. Bottlecaps, plastic bags even plastic lighters are eaten from this island, and eventually kills the albatross. 200,000 die from island related food problems a year.

Worse, the albatross parent passes along these plastic artifacts to their hungry chicks, killing them as well.

With the keen insight of the cheap handgun industry, plastic producers point out that plastic doesn't kill animals, people that dispose of the plastic incorrectly kill animals.

It's hard to keep perspective in a world with arbitrary wars, an impending environmental catastrophe and desperate, pathetic attempts for material and philosophical domination by religious zealots of every stripe.

But Samuel Coleridge pointed out the bad fortune that befalls those who would kill an albatross in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. We may do well to consider what the loss of this magnificent creature might mean to the earth.

`Is it he ?' quoth one, `Is this the man ?

By him who died on cross,

With his cruel bow he laid full low

The harmless Albatross?

He Who is Without Guilt

Cast the First Stone

I know the smug among us preach loudest about justice. Having known folks lucky enough never to be caught in their transgressions, they yap the loudest about justice and punishment.

Think Rep. Mark Foley (R) FL and his legislation against pornography.

We all celebrate when assholes like that are finally exposed (no pun intended).

But that doesn't stop some pious jerk from sounding off about"Well, they deserved it..." or "Well what were they thinking when they did that..."

Two terrible, tragic stories today. One from Columbus, OH, the other from Occoquan, VA.

Two children dead: one for a misdemeanor and the other a DUI.

Sorry folks, ain't no justice there.

Americans Are Illiterate, So?

Don't Read Books and Damn Proud of It

This hand wringing over African-American readers choosing lewd biographical swill over more literary novels is such crap. These people are buying books and reading them.

Who cares what they're reading? America has decided it prefers not to read.

Over 20% of adult Americans read at or below the 5th grade level.

And if you don't think it matters, you're probably illiterate.

So if African Americans want to read trashy gossip books, who cares?

Americans generally don't buy books, don't read books.

As a book printer, trashy gossip sounds pretty damn good.

Shamu's Shameful Situation

How Bored Whales Play

Two interesting whale stories this week. The first reported the discovery of spindle neurons in the cortex of humpback whale brains. Unusual because the only other mammals with these are primates, you, me and the great apes.
The speculation is that whale intelligence may be much more sophisticated and complex than previously suspected.
The other story seems to support that notion.
A killer whale named Kasatka performing at Sea World San Diego twice held a trainer by the foot and dragged him 36 feet below the surface for a few moments before returning him to the top.
Now why would an intelligent 5,000 pound 14 foot animal throw such a snit?
Couldn't be the eight shows a day, 365 days of the year.
Couldn't be 7 killer whales sharing 7 million gallons, split into 5 pools. Thats a 23 foot tall aquarium built on a football playing field.
Couldn't be 30 year old Kataska finds her environment cramped, her lifestyle boring, predictible, lacking challenge and her future bleak with no change in sight.
Now that would show real intelligence, the kind we great apes pride ourselves on.