Some days there’s nothing more to say.
Could it get any worse? Oh, yes.
Will it get any worse? Probably.
Will we survive the Bush administration? Hope so.
Is this the end of life as we know it? Who knows?

But, we do need to take our collective heads out of the sand and face up to what is going on.

Please give what you can to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and support Kiva.

And, of course

Since late January I’ve withdrawn to my little cave in the side of the mountain. I can’t explain it. Maybe I was just recharging. Maybe I couldn’t look beyond the rim of the chasm anymore without wanting to jump. As is so often said, “It’s nothing personal,” I just had the feeling that everything on this 3rd rate little planet, circling a 5th rate star, was swirling down a huge black hole.

It’s not as if anything has changed, but I’ve upped my Prozac and I’m looking at things a little different now. Now, different should not be read as rosy. Different is different, not better. It appears that approximately 24,000 more soldiers will be sent to Iraq in the next few months. Democrats are so afraid of being labeled as defeatists (or “cut and runners”) that they’ve packed their balls away for the time being. Frankly, I thing that they should take their Conservative critics up on their challenge to do more than pass non-binding resolutions. Finger-wagging doesn’t stop an administration bent on accruing more power for themselves than Croesus had gold. (more…)

I looked out my window today, saw the sun, and put on a t-shirt and shorts. Then, I went outside. Big mistake. The sun is out, the sky is clear, and it’s colder than a witch’s hoo-fob.

Why is the sun so cold in the winter? It’s the same sun that brought us so much warm in the spring and summer. Just a few weeks ago, the rays of sun warmed my face. But, now the sun is emitting icicles.

Or, maybe it’s just my mood. I can’t find comfort anywhere. I’m distracted and angry. I want to become like Lear and rage and scream against the wind. But, when Lear lost his mind, he still found no relief. So, I’ll keep my marbles for now.

I am angry. I’m angry at people who haven’t carried their share. Not all people, I’m angry at some very specific people starting with someone I refer to as ‘El Pendejo.’ (more…)

Recently, Dick Cheney has given two speeches where he complained about the criticism the administration has been receiving for the “flawed” (read: false) intelligence that was presented as true in the lead up to the war in Iraq. He has said that lawmakers have made the, “most dishonest and reprehensible charges,” and that these are, “cynical and pernicious falsehoods.’

Shall we look at the charges and the way in which the rebut is being presented by Bush, Cheney, et al? First of all, as we now know from some excellent investigative reporting in the Los Angeles Times, the administration was warned that the intelligence that they were using to promote the case for war was faulty at best. The source of this intelligence, named “Curveball” by German Intelligence (was there ever a more appropriate moniker?), was not regarded as reliable. The Germans were shocked to see Curveball’s lies in Bush’s State of the Union speech and repeated in Colin Powell’s presentation before the U.N.

Second, we can now see that those who spoke the truth to power (e.g. Paul O’Neil, Richard Clark) found their personal and professional reputations trashed. The administration sought to relegate them to the dustbin of history. But, they (and others like them) are rising, like Lazarus, from the “dead.” Their words ring true and the Administration are having to put on their backup shoes and distort some more. Of course it won’t work, but, God love ‘em, they’re trying. Dick and W are slicker than deer guts on a gate post, and about as appealing. (more…)

I’ve never had any patience for holiday drunks. Drinkers were a part of my growing up. I suppose they were functioning alcoholics, but no one ever called them that. Being around these souses, I learned, by the time I grew up, to avoid people with certain traits that would lead to drunkenness. My patience with the self-pitying drunk has been non-existent. What I especially had no time for was the drunk who started on that long holiday spiral downward.

I couldn’t understand what it was about the holidays that caused people to drop to the bottom of a bottle and not crawl out until after the New Year. After all, didn’t we all have dysfunctional families? Why the holiday bender?

Now, however, I am beginning to understand this yearly phenom a little better. As a matter of fact the thought of settling down to the holiday dinner with my nearest and dearest shakes me to the core and I want to reach for the gin bottle.

It isn’t the pressure of the actual meal. I’ve learned how to do any holiday meal with the least amount of effort possible. It isn’t fear of displeasure with my cooking. My turkey stuffing is famous near and far, and when my kids aren’t around I can put in all the nuts I want. My cranberry sauce is gone before the meal is over no matter how much I make. It isn’t the company. I can invite whom I want these days; I have no “required” guests anymore. (more…)

After the flurry of activity yesterday, it’s time to reflect on power and the truth.

Here’s something to ponder: in a representative form of government does anyone have absolute power? The short answer is: no. The first problem is, however, when people in power think that their power is absolute. The second problem is inherent in the concept of power; because power, in and of itself, tends to corrupt.

Hubris is the underlying fault. That is to say: having hubris enables a person’s willingness to believe that he/she can have absolute power. That belief is, of course, foolish. But when has foolishness ever stopped self-deception? Furthermore, it’s imprudent to believe that one has absolute power under any circumstance. (more…)

The wheels on the cart are coming off, coming off
Coming off, Coming off.
The wheels on the cart are coming off, coming off
All through the town.

The vipers on the cart go hiss, hiss, hiss,
Hiss, hiss, hiss, Hiss, hiss, hiss.
The vipers on the cart go hiss, hiss, hiss,
All around the town.

The Georgie on the cart asks “What to do?
What to do? What to do? ”
The Georgie on the cart asks ” What to do? ”
all through the town.

The Dickie on the cart sneers “Shut your trap;
Shut your trap; Shut your trap.”
The Dickie on the cart sneers “Shut your trap”
all around the town.

The Scooter on the cart whines, “it’s not me,
It’s not me, it’s not me”
The Scooter on the cart whines, “it’s not me,
All round the the town

The Judy on the cart screams, “Get off my arse!”
“Get off my arse,”
“Get off my arse.”
The Judy on the cart screams, “Get off my arse”
all through the town.

The Novak on the cart smirks “I won’t tell,
I won’t tell, I won’t tell;”
The Novak on the cart smirks “I won’t tell,”
all through the town.

The Donnie on the cart shouts “Nuke ‘em all!
Nuke ‘em all, nuke em all!”
The Donnie on the cart shouts “Nuke ‘em all!
All through the town.

The Karl on the cart says nothing at all,
nothing at all, nothing at all.
The Karl on the cart says nothing at all,
All through the town.

The bell on the cart, it tolls for thee
Tolls for thee, tolls for thee.
The bell on the bus, it tolls for thee,
All the way down.

It’s hard to know where to begin when discussing Judith Miller’s role in the Wilson/Plame/CIA leak case. Ms. Miller sees herself as a latter day Joan of Arc. In fact she appears to have been so intoxicated by her proximity to power that she was willing to lie.

Here is a telling snippet: In her breakfast meeting with Scooter Libby in DC, Miller has testified that Libby asked her to not identify him as a “senior administration official.” Rather he wanted to be cited as a “former hill staffer.” This would obfuscate the source of the leak (in Libby’s mind anyway). What’s most egregious is that Miller immediately agreed to this lie.

So, Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, has now, in an internal memorandum meant for public dissemination, apologised to the staff of the Times for his own missteps in dealing with Ms. Miller (and Miller has answered back). It begs the question: Did Keller just want to believe a Pulitzer Prize wining reporter or was he afraid to reign her in because of her ties to the administration? The truth is somewhere in there and we’ll probably never know. We must ask of everyone concerned from the White House to the press the old Howard Baker question: what did they know and when did they know it?

What the public do know is that journalistic integrity was thrown aside like yesterday’s news. It was at the bottom of the cage and Judy Miller was posing as the bird who wouldn’t sing after having sung many front page arias written by the White House.

It’s a funny thing about lies, they have a way of coming back and sticking to the liar. Lies are tar babies.

Right about now, Ms. Miller is having to douse those flames in her knickers.

You know, the camera doesn’t lie. Somehow, Tom Delay’s attorney got his mug shot without the usual height markings and numbers. There he is, just grinning away like a cat eating shit. Well, at least he couldn’t hide everything. Good ol’ Tom, he’s always good for a laugh.

In August of 1998 Tom Delay observed the sagacity of resigning before you’re convicted:

I just think that, if the president wants to put this behind him, then he ought to do the honourable thing, and that is to resign…. We’re talking about something that’s very dangerous, when the American people have lost the trust and respect of the president of the United States…. If he’s lied … then how can he stand before the American people and the American people trust what he has to say?

Anon’s question: Will he follow his own advice?

In October 1998, Tom Delay made this observation on the impeachment of President Clinton:

This nation sits at a crossroads. One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law. Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law. Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth . . .No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That’s the principle that we all hold very dear in this country.

We hear you Tom. You know, you’re just slicker than deer guts on a gate post. Listen you can always go back to playing with them cucarachas in Houston.

Gosh, this just warms the cockles of my twisted little heart.

Yesterday, I speculated on the psychological/religious motivations for Robert Novak to bow low to right-facing power. Today, let’s delve into the implications of that misplaced fealty.

Conservatives are not a monolithic bloc. Conservatism takes on many forms. There are philosophical Conservatives. These folks believe in truly limited government. They feel that the government that governs least governs best. Yes, they’ve got their wingtips firmly planted in the 18th century.

Then there are the fiscal Conservatives. These folks can, at the same time be social moderates (or, OHMYGAWD, Liberals). They aren’t looked upon as “true” Conservatives by any of the other conservative factions. Fiscal Conservatives are often mistaken for Clinton Democrats.

The most fascinating sect is the religious Conservatives. These folks don’t seem to understand why the framers decided that we wouldn’t have a state religion. These folks also don’t seem to appreciate the freedom that we have to worship in whatever way we want in this country. They also seemed to have missed the point that in the industrialised countries of Western Europe (where there is not a defining line between the state and religion) people are far less religious than in the U.S. Why? Could it be that when religion is part of the state, people will feel oppressed by it? (more…)