The Vidiot's weekly blog:

What pissed me off this week? 6/6/2005

(updated every Monday at some point during the day)

...'cause I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me...

Cost of the War in Iraq

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So great. Now we know who Deep Throat is. Fine. He was a pissed off FBI agent. I can respect that. It took balls. What I can't respect, however, (and you knew there was something) is the fact the media is all breathless and wet over this and meanwhile, the majority of the people out there have no idea what the Downing Street memo is all about.. and they have less of an idea of why Bush's withholding of Bolton's papers might have something to do with it. (And you thought Bolton wasn't really part of the neocon cabal that took us to war in Iraq.) The media have examined Deep Throat's motives ad nauseam. Deep Throat was pardoned by Reagan! Woodward had lunch with him in 1999! The search for the parking garage is on. Books will be written. Money will be made.

Meanwhile, we have our own crooked president to deal with. The entire Bush administration, the Neocons included, should be marched out in front of an angry mob and pelted with rotting produce for their war crimes! (Oooo, just had a lovely image pop into my head: Cheney, with a big goober of rotting tomato dangling from his nose. EXcellent.)

Misplaced energy.

Also, I feel I must comment a little on the EU's constitution problem. I understand why an independent state would be loath to accept a constitution other than their own. It undermines their sovereignty. However, relinquishing control over one's currency hugely undermines a State's sovereignty (if you can't control things like interest rates, amount of money printed, etc. you can't set economic policy for your own country), but they took to the Euro with no problem because it looked like it might be a money maker... and it was. Now they're hemming and hawing about a constitution? I guess a constitution is too psychologically huge. Money, fine. Rights? Not so much I guess. But surely, they must realize, they'll destroy the Euro (and I doubt very much that many Italians want to go back to the crazy Lira). The Euro is one of the few currencies that can even challenge the dollar and by extension, US hegemony. If they want to remain a bunch of tiny world powers, so be it. But someone needs to give the US a run for its money. I'd rather it be the Euro than a gold-backed Dinar.


Must-Read of the Week: Learning To Be Stupid In The Culture Of Cash

Star Wars Trivia of the Week: Easter Eggs

Toy/Art of the Week: Gyroid

Time-Waster of the Week: Sudoku

Video of the Week: Fallujah (graphic)

Recipe Site of the Week: Unusual Cakes

Weird Site of the Week: Dead Letters

Pictures of the Week: Clouds

 

Programming Note: No edition next week. Perhaps I shall go someplace fun and interesting.


Dick = Bonehead

Cheney is a menace. What the hell is he bad-mouthing Kim Jong-il for?? Does he WANT to start a nuclear war?

Excerpt: He said Mr Kim ran "a police state" and one of the most heavily militarised societies in the world while most North Koreans lived "in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition".

Yeah you big Dick, that'll help our relationship with Korea.

Excerpt: Washington's harsh comments and its dispatching of aircraft to South Korea, which followed a brief period of calm and conciliatory gestures, suggested to some analysts in Seoul that the United States may be preparing to take a far tougher position toward the North Korean government.

Sure. Now they'll talk to us.

Excertp:The Bush administration may ask the United Nations to punish North Korea for refusing to return to international talks about its nuclear weapons program, Pentagon officials say.

Jeeze. Do the Bushies have ANY international credibility any more??

On top of insulting Kim Jong-il, Cheney was all bluster when it came to the criticism from Amnesty.

Excerpt:"For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously," he said in an interview that aired Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."

And there's more. He said the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes."

Excerpt: "I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time," Cheney said. "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

Yeah Dick, it's so much better over there.

Excerpt: The chief of police in Basra admitted yesterday that he had effectively lost control of three-quarters of his officers and that sectarian militias had infiltrated the force and were using their posts to assassinate opponents.

He's either delusional, insane, psychotic, oxygen deprived or... oh hell. He's all of them.

Here's a scary fucking scenario for ya' (that I've mentioned before, but it bears repeating ) : They manage to either impeach (now Kerry wants to fight??) or assassinate Bush, Cheney becomes President and appoints Jeb as VP. Then, Cheney bows out in 2008, allowing Jeb to run as the "incumbent"

Yikes.

Read Rude Pundit's take on the Larry King interview. It will make you feel better.


Payback's a bitch.

I read this and and thought "good".

Excerpt:Motorists who drive fuel-hungry BMWs, people carriers and Range Rovers face a five-fold increase in road tax under radical plans to combat Britain's spiraling greenhouse gas emissions.

Now where's my tax credit for driving a 60 mpg vehicle?


They still hate Dean.

Turns out that this screaming headline saying Dean's fundraising skills suck

Excerpt: The former Vermont governor seems to be doing a better job flaying the Republicans than bridging the cash chasm between the parties. Given Dean's 2004 run as a populist crusader, moderates were never wild about his takeover of the Democratic National Committee. So some big donors are sitting on their wallets.

Is wrong.

Excerpt; But a comparison of Dean's first three months as chairman shows that he has actually out-raised his predecessor during the same period in 2003. Dean raised $14.8 million between February and April (the latest data available), versus $8.5 million during that period in 2003, the previous non-election year. Additionally, the DNC has raised more in comparison to the RNC over the past three months than it did during 2003. The RNC raised $32.4 million between February and April, about 2.2 times the rate of the Democrats.

I'm shocked and disappointed.
Runaround George

I wouldn't have noticed this, but I'm so suspicious of the White House monkeys. So, check this out: There's no replacement for Rumsfeld in the event of his sudden demise. (Wolfowitz is heading to the World Bank, remember?) So, Bush has nominated someone, but he's not been able to switch over because there's some hinky crap with his pension. So WWBD (What Would Bush Do)?

Excerpt: So, with Rumsfeld having left Thursday on an extended trip to Asia and Europe, the only way he could have England fill in for him legally was to have Bush issue a directive that altered the line of succession.

Also, Bush is excluding Porter Goss from NSC meetings.

Excerpt: Sidelining the CIA A new White House memo excludes CIA director Porter Goss from National Security Council meetings The biggest changes in Washington often come about with just a few strokes of the pen. And so a dry, one-page internal memo quietly issued by the White House is being viewed as a kind of eulogy for the once mighty Central Intelligence Agency.

This guy does EVERYTHING by Executive Order.

I get the first thing, sort of. He's already picked the guy and even though the guy he picked has a few {ahem} financial issues, George knows he'll eventually get him in there, it's just a matter of time and railroading. But the Goss thing is just plain mean and stupid. With all the hullabaloo in the 9/11 commission report that said that the intelligence agencies needed to share more, why on God's Green Earth would GW exclude the head of the CIA from NSC meetings?? Everything will now be filtered through Negroponte? A war criminal? Do ya' think some of his perceptions might be a little skewed towards the violent and evil?? Oy.

Eh. What do we expect from a guy that charges $25,000 for a private meeting.

Excerpt: That meeting lasted for about 15 minutes and was not a one-on-one meeting. At the meeting, Bush made some general comments about Indian policy but did not discuss Indian gaming. Abramoff was at the meeting—for which he charged the Coushatta Tribe $25,000. The change in Poncho’s position is odd in light of the fact that he and his spokespersons have maintained for more than a year that he did not meet with President Bush in May 2001.


It's the small things...

See, now, I'm liking this Pablo case. See, 'cause, like, they had to admit that the Iraq war was illegal.

Excerpt:I am convinced that the current War on Iraq is illegal...I believe as a member of the armed forces, beyond having a duty to my chain of command and my President, I have a higher duty to my conscience and to the supreme Law of the land. Both of these higher duties dictate that I must not participate in any way, hands on or indirect, in the current Aggression that has been unleashed on Iraq.


I need a drink.

Books are harmful?

Excerpt: HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Can you say "Nazi book burning: Coming to a neighborhood near you!"
Keeping up appearances.

Whether or not he should be held responsible is a question of law BUT asking for an exemption leads me to think "Guilty!"

Excerpt: The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents.


News of the Weird

This kid has way too many digits.

Excerpt: There were six, to be exact: two extra toes on each foot and one extra finger on each hand.

Update: Jahweh was cancelled due to 'lack of interest'.

Excerpt: ABC Channel 13 Action News rescinds its invitation to film Prophet Yahweh on June 1st.

The reason given? Not enough people really think there are aliens. Oh really?

Excerpt:While most depictions of extraterrestrials are confined to science fiction, nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that some form of alien life exists somewhere in the universe, according to a new survey.

Now, I'm not really one of those "the government is covering up the existence of aliens" people... Ok, well, maybe I am just a lilla bit. But, running away from a story like this is just plain dumb. I mean, if they promoted it and nothing happened, they would've debunked it and that would've been that. But, if they promoted it and SOMEthing happened, well, wouldn't that just something? Both ways, veiwership is up, they get more advertising money, everybody is happy. Win/win.

Everybody except for those in the secret cabal who run the world and don't want to reveal that there are aliens until the time is "right" (read: when the world is really going to hell in a handbasket and the powers that be need SOMETHING to unify the planet against an evil outside threat lest the mobs turn on them. THAT will be their final push for a one-world government replete with police state tactics!)

Ok, so occasionally I read a little crap along with the current events. So spank me.

Previous rants


What do we do about all of this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins  at my local pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots who still think Dan Rather is telling them the truth. Another part of me wants to organize a voter observation program to insure that this moron isn't in the White House all the way to 2008. I sincerely believe that if we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election. And we'd have to start with the Florida Election for Governor THIS FALL (like these guys!.) I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a start.  

At the very least, point your CNN-loving friends to my links page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol' Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now, he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything. We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta' hurry it up.

Read. Inform. Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If they really love you, they'll start to listen.

 

"POSSE COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed, arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from Navy ship/aircraft involvement.

(Tom Ridge has practically said he'd do away with this act.)

{back}

 

 

Who am I?:

I am a biker chick who lives in NYC. This blog is about current events and my left-leaning, acerbic spin on those events. Nobody pays me anything to do this. Nobody tells me what to write. I will NEVER tout anything for anybody's money! EVER!


Use this instead of Google:

Clusty.com

These sites are good at culling stories from a multitude of media sites:

buzzflash.com
unknownnews.net
rawstory.com


Here are some excellent blogs:

Bartcop
Daily Kos
Atrios
Tacitus
Josh Marshall
Two Glasses
Brad DeLong
The Wonkette
Urban Survival
Greg Palast
Mark Crispin Miller


Link exchange:

Ilia Dreams Blog
Iraq War Blog
BushVote.com
Dommecile.com
Funny Farm

media-bias exposed:

dailyhowler.com


these are good left-wing journalism sites:

onlinejournal.com
thenation.com
inthesetimes.com
tompaine.com
commondreams.org
truthout.com
guerrillanews.com


a little more to the left:

wsws.org
indymedia.org


conspiratorial:

whatreallyhappened.com
almartinraw.com

HIGHLY entertaining:

surfingtheapocalypse.com


really good "Alternate Thinking" site:

goroadachi.com/etemenanki/

 

and for godsakes, stay away
from FOX NEWS,  MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
It's ALL CRAP!!!
watch the BBC news
or ITN news instead.

if you must succumb to reading a newspaper: 

www.guardian.co.uk 


or any other paper in another fucking country. All of our newspapers are owned by the same idiots that own the TV stations (and whose companies are diversified in industries that support the war machine) so all of the news is all the same CRAP.