You can't make this stuff up

Dow Jones industrial average:

Closed September 10, 2001: 9,605.51

Closed September 11, 2009:


Dude ... you just blew my mind.

(h/t Eschaton commenter notaboomer)

How wingnuts see the world

So my mother is visiting for Christmas. You remember her, the wingnut? I mean, she's not as bad as my aunt, but everything's relative. Heh.

Anyway, despite my best efforts to avoid it, we have ended up discussing politics once or twice. And here's her grudging acceptance -- I guess -- that Barack Obama will be the next president:

I just hope he can keep us safe.

So that's what this is all about? You've bought into the fearmongering and the revisionist history? Who was in charge on 9/11, Mom? Who had a chance to stop bin Laden but thought that "covering [one's] ass" was more important?

You see, Mom, safety is not a Republican concept. It's not even an American concept. Hell, it's a human concept. The Bush crime syndicate failed to "keep us safe" and 9/11 happened. What might have happened if, Jeebus forbid, Huggy Bear had won and money kept flowing to Saudi oil barons and terrorists continued to be encouraged by the American government's ongoing reluctance to stop them?

As I actually told my mom the other day, "it's a good thing the grown-ups will be in charge soon."

Too stupid to breathe: Kenneth Pocsi

We haven't had a "Too Stupid to Breathe" here at Blast Off! in a while, so it's a good thing that Kenneth Pocsi of Palm Beach Gardens has come along to end the drought.

Mr. Pocsi, who, if memory serves, has had his frothy rantings published in the Palm Beach Post fairly regularly (I seem to remember the name), hits us today (fourth letter down at the link) with the already-tired-and-clichéd complaints about Barack Obama's choices having nothing to do with the "change" he promised. But what's really funny (and by "funny," I mean colossally ignorant) about Pocsi's idiotic spew is how he manages to frame the Clinton administration:

For the past 18 months or so we all have been subjected to, injected with and immersed in Barack Obama's vision of total change, no more business as usual, no more mistakes of the past and a fresh way of governing.

But as I struggle to follow the news to get a preview of what the face of the new Washington is going to look like, I see nothing but Clinton retreads all over the place. I thought that liberals were supposed to be smarter than us conservative Republicans and that they have the ability to think more independently and more progressively than the rest of us. But behold, this new administration is shaping up like the old Dem-Lib ones of the past, those who in the '90s gave us higher taxes, fought against welfare reform, attempted socialized medicine and did nothing to protect us against the terrorists who planned the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.

These are but a few lowlights of what I think we all have to look forward to again. Congratulations to all those who voted for this new visionary. You all wanted to make history. Well, you did. God help us all.

KENNETH POCSI
Palm Beach Gardens

Is it possible to be that dumb and still maintain basic life functions? Mr. Pocsi gives us enough evidence to answer that question in the affirmative.

Before I go after the moronic attacks on Clinton, though, I want to emphasize one thing -- something I think every wingnut and Republican needs to be reminded of (and by "reminded of," I mean "bashed over the head with a baseball bat until they get this through their thick skulls"): by change, Obama means a new direction from the last eight years of disastrous government! This has nothing whatsoever to do with any administrations that came before! Would you say that when Drunky McStagger surrounded himself with retreads from the Nixon administration (Nixon?! Are you fucking kidding me?!) like Dick "Dick" Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, that wasn't a change from the Clinton years? I'd say that was pretty profound change indeed -- destructive, yes, but also profound.

See, the problem is that so-called conservative Republicans like you, Mr. Pocsi, don't know the meaning of the word "change." You'd rather stick with the status quo, even if it continues to drive the country off a cliff. After all, that's the very definition of "conservative" -- looking backward, sticking with policies and positions -- and leaders -- even when they are demonstrable and complete failures.

As for going after Clinton (let's remember something here, folks: Clinton left office almost eight years ago! Let it go already! By the time President Obama completes his second term, there will be an entire generation that barely remembers the Clinton years! Yet like the Southerners who are still fighting the Civil War, you just can't seem to move on. Again, a common symptom of conservatism ...

Higher taxes? Yeah, those Bush tax cuts sure have helped the economy, haven't they? "Socialized medicine?" We could have spent the money we've wasted in Iraq on health care for all Americans and still had plenty left over to shore up our crumbling public education system. It's not "socialized" medicine, Mr. Pocsi -- it's civilized medicine.

But I've saved the best for last: according to Mr. Pocsi's extraordinarily inaccurate misperception of recent history, the Clinton administration "did nothing to protect us against the terrorists who planned the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon." Who was president on 9/11, Mr. Pocsi? More to the point, who was president on August 6, 2001, and received the President's Daily Briefing telling him that bin Laden was "determined to strike in [the] U.S."? In short, who had all the power, all the ability, and indeed all the knowledge to prevent the attacks, yet did nothing? You and I both know that answer, Mr. Pocsi.

Stupid as powerful as this really needs a new descriptive word, something like "idioignoradumb." But for now, we'll just have to recognize Kenneth Pocsi for what his letter to the editor today truly reveals him to be: too stupid to breathe. Just be glad that, beginning on January 20, the grown-ups will be in charge again.

Asshole Republican: in this case, it's redundant

Some deranged motherfucker is driving around south Florida these days in a huge pickup truck festooned with sick, deranged right-wing messages.

I spotted this truck (bearing the obligatory 9/11 Florida license plate) last night parked along a residential street in Boca Raton (less than a mile from where Sarah Palin spoke on Monday night), outside a large, ostentatious home with GOP signs all over the front yard:

Sorry the photo quality isn't better (I only had my cell phone with me), but let me transcribe some of the more abhorrent (and less legible) messages for you:

I Miss Reagan

Annoy a Liberal -- Thank a Soldier

Remember 9/11 -- because Democrats have already forgotten

... and the most offensive, most disgusting of all:

I ♥ WATER BOARDING

Okay, Republicans, conservatives, and even undecideds -- I want all of you to understand one thing: anyone who votes for Huggy Bear or for Allen West for Congress (the bizarrely paranoid Republican candidate in Florida's 22nd district) implicitly supports the messages on this truck -- including the pro-torture statement*. Look, wingnuts, you have no right to whine about it. After all, if you can impute to Barack Obama every opinion that Rev. Jeremiah Wright or William Ayers has ever held, every statement they've ever uttered, every position they've ever taken, then it's only fair that you accept -- embrace, even -- the opinions of this driver, whose truck also has huge McCain-Palin and Allen West signs on its sides in addition to the stickers on the tailgate.

Needless to say, Democrats haven't forgotten 9/11. We remember that Drunky McStagger had a chance to act more than a month earlier to stop the tragedy, but did nothing other than assure his aide that "you've covered your ass." And I join my fellow liberals in thanking the soldiers for their service. It's a shame their sacrifice in Iraq has been completely unnecessary. As for missing Reagan, I heard a great analogy this morning on the radio: the so-called Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., is a crappy airport, but 20 years from now, supporters will be saying it was the best ever.

The owner of this vehicle is a sick human being. And I relish the thought of his ... or her? ... dejection when President Obama is inaugurated on January 20 and an enormous Democratic majority sweeps into Congress. Talk about schadenfreude ...

I really hope the truck owner sees this post, because I have one special message directly for that person: Fuck you, asshole.

UPDATE (9:00 pm 10/8/08): I forgot to mention that the driver of the pickup truck is a shitty parker, too. The thing was almost halfway out into the right lane of traffic ...

---

* The same holds for those voting for Jeff Atwater for state Senate and Al Lamberti for Broward County Sheriff. Their stickers are on this dumbfuck's truck, too. You own the stupidity, Republicans.

Thoughts on 9/11

Okay. It's the seventh anniversary of arguably the most tragic day in American history. I suppose I should say something about it.

Like many of you, I remember exactly what I was doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. I was working in my office at a small university in north Florida and, as I often did back then, IM'ing with my good friend, fraternity brother, and blogfather Wes. I remember chatting about nothing in particular until Wes, who was watching TV at the time, wrote, "Hmmm. Plane hits World Trade Center." We chatted for another hour, then two, then three, as the news grew increasingly dire. When we finished chatting, around noon, as I headed to a meeting at work, I had the foresight to print out a copy of that chat transcript. I still have it to this day.

It was an incredibly wrenching time for all of us. Only later did we learn that Drunky McStagger was warned of an imminent attack more than a month earlier ... yet he did nothing. Only later did we see the political party in power behave not in a way that would make us safer, but rather in a way that they felt would keep them in power. Only later did we find out that our leadership was focused on their own welfare, not that of the nation.

And today we find Huggy Bear and his campaign using the slogan "Country First." Irony is not dead! Would that Huggy's BFF and their pals had put the country first for the last seven years! Instead, they've lied and obfuscated and exploited the tragedy and enriched themselves beyond anyone's imagination. And today we still see nearly half the country blind to the Republicans' selfishness and treason ... including my family and many of my closest friends. How disappointing. How sad.

Eschaton commenter Terry C perhaps put it best when contemplating 9/11: "It makes me sick that the very people who could have prevented it have done nothing but exploit it politically."

Prom night

Wow. It's 9/11 again already?

I hope Rudy Giuliani has a nice dress picked out for the Fear n' Terror Ball.

Blast Off! Classic: "PDB Day: Never Forget" (8/6/07)

Here's a little piece of Blast Off! Classic (I heard if you just add "Classic" to anything, it makes it all retro and nostalgic even though it's really old and hackneyed, e.g., ESPN Classic, Coke Classic, Huggy Bear Classic ... okay, maybe not that last one).

Posted one year ago today, August 6, 2007, it reminds a timely and necessary reminder of what ultimately got us into the Iraq quagmire: the utter ignorance and inaction of Drunky McStagger when he was warned of bin Laden's plans more than a month before 9/11. Whether intentional (to foment and fulfill the neocon wet dream of war with brown people) or colossally negligent, Drunky's refusal to respond to the President's Daily Briefing of 8/6/01 beyond his now iconic throwaway line, "Well, you've covered your ass," has cost America dearly.

Please read, reflect, and join me in swearing (or affirming) that we will never let this happen again.

---

Often, we are encouraged to remember unpleasant events in our lives. Collectively, as Americans, we learn iconic messages from our history classes like "Remember the Alamo!" or "Remember the Maine!" We know that the memories of the devastation at Pearl Harbor motivated thousands, maybe even millions, to support American involvement in World War II and ultimately to win it.

Our generation, of course, is reminded regularly to remember 9/11, and those reminders almost always come from the Bush crime syndicate, Rudy "America's Cross-Dresser Mayor" Giuliani, or other such people or groups who want to capitalize on 9/11 for political gain.

However, I'm sure for everyone reading these words, it takes little if any effort or encouragement to remember 9/11. We all know where we were and what we were doing when the planes hit the towers, and we've seen the Constitution trampled over and over again in the aftermath of that terrible day.

But we've been missing a day that truly needs to be remembered. A day that ought to be seared into every American's memory as the day that could have made future generations see 9/11 as just that -- September 11, a nice early fall day -- and nothing more. That day was August 6, 2001.

On that day, six years ago today, Drunky McStagger received, as he does every day, the President's Daily Briefing, or PDB. The 8/6/01 PDB was a little different, though. It contained the words, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." Intelligence gathered over a period of months, if not years, had revealed that Osama bin Laden was readying his al-Qaeda network for an unprecedented terrorist attack on American soil. The PDB was the intelligence community's method for warning the White House and ensuring that all available resources could be brought to bear against al-Qaeda, preventing an historic catastrophe.

Of course, as we all know, that's not what happened. Drunky read the PDB, set it aside, and turned his attention to other, apparently more pressing matters. And just five weeks later, it was September 11. And that historic catastrophe has been compounded by the ongoing historic catastrophe of the Bush crime syndicate. August 6, 2001, turned a merely incompetent presidency into a malevolent dictatorship, and we will endure the consequences therefrom for generations.

So, today, August 6, 2007, take a moment to think about those consequences and the events that were set into motion six years ago. Join the blogswarm [last year -- ed.] and write about it. And, above all, commit yourself to doing something about it. Whether it's talking with others, campaigning for candidates, writing letters to the editor or op-eds, or whatever you think is best, August 6, 2007 could be the beginning of the end -- the end of the political, economic, and diplomatic quagmire that was created on August 6, 2001.

We can only hope. And act.

Wingnut logic

Beginning at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2009, responsibility for every death and injury to an American soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan will rest with President Obama.

Meanwhile, the 3,000+ deaths that occurred in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were the responsibility of ... the president who left office nearly eight months earlier.

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Rudy Giuliani

So long, Mr. 9/11. I'm posting this at 11:09 just for you, pal.

The laughter will echo long into the night ...

Nice try, Chris Dodd, but no cigar

Chris Dodd, whose longshot bid for the presidency is in need of a boost, got just the opposite from Major League Baseball the other day:

Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd says he'll still be cheering on the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, but without a randomly selected campaign donor by his side.

Major League Baseball officials warned the Connecticut Democrat this week that his plan to raffle two tickets to an American League Championship game -- in return for donations to his presidential campaign -- violates the organization's rules.

Dodd, a longtime Red Sox fan, offered a chance at the tickets to anyone who donated $20.04 to his campaign, an amount selected because the Sox last won the World Series in 2004. Supporters could also enter by recruiting two dozen like-minded voters to sign up on Dodd's campaign Web site.

But his office called off the raffle after MLB officials cried foul.

"This isn't quite Bucky Dent or Aaron Boone, but we are disappointed nonetheless," Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said, referring to former New York Yankees sluggers whose home runs ended Red Sox playoff hopes.

The raffle winner would have received two tickets to Game 6 of the American League Championship series against the Cleveland Indians. If Game 6 is not necessary, the winner would have received tickets for Game 2 of the World Series instead.

There were two catches: The winner had to sit with Dodd at the game and, if the Red Sox were eliminated, the baseball tickets would be replaced with airfare to a Dodd campaign event in Iowa or New Hampshire.

To his credit, at least Dodd wasn't asking donors to chip in $9.11 like a certain other candidate I know ...

Lest we forget

I really don't want to do a 9/11 post. Every blogger and his or her brother will be doing one, I imagine, and I don't really have anything to say about it. 9/11 was a horrific tragedy, but it didn't need to lead to the abuses of power that the Bush crime syndicate has inflicted upon us nearly every day since then.

So, instead, I'll let Avedon have the floor. She has some suggestions for what we all can do today, and I can't say it any better.

There are lots of things you can do today.

You can tell them you really, really, really don't want to see a strike on Iran.

You can tell them that everybody knows that our presence in Iraq is the problem in Iraq.

You can ask them to do the simple exercise of remembering the last time they fed paper money into a change machine and it was rejected - did they then throw away the bill? Do they think we should trust a machine to count our votes?

You can tell them that you don't want machines owned by far-right Republicans counting our votes, or a media owned by conservatives to report on our politics, our issues, our candidates.

You can tell your Senators and Congressmen that Terwilliger, Olson, and Silberman are political hacks who are absolutely unacceptable choices for Attorney General.

You can even ask them how George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney allowed a successful attack on America on 9/11, and why nothing has been done about it.

You can tell them you don't want to vote for people who allow these things to happen.

When you reflect today, as you should, reflect on these things. Then act.

PDB Day: Never Forget

Often, we are encouraged to remember unpleasant events in our lives. Collectively, as Americans, we learn iconic messages from our history classes like "Remember the Alamo!" or "Remember the Maine!" We know that the memories of the devastation at Pearl Harbor motivated thousands, maybe even millions, to support American involvement in World War II and ultimately to win it.

Our generation, of course, is reminded regularly to remember 9/11, and those reminders almost always come from the Bush crime syndicate, Rudy "America's Cross-Dresser Mayor" Giuliani, or other such people or groups who want to capitalize on 9/11 for political gain.

However, I'm sure for everyone reading these words, it takes little if any effort or encouragement to remember 9/11. We all know where we were and what we were doing when the planes hit the towers, and we've seen the Constitution trampled over and over again in the aftermath of that terrible day.

But we've been missing a day that truly needs to be remembered. A day that ought to be seared into every American's memory as the day that could have made future generations see 9/11 as just that -- September 11, a nice early fall day -- and nothing more. That day was August 6, 2001.

On that day, six years ago today, Drunky McStagger received, as he does every day, the President's Daily Briefing, or PDB. The 8/6/01 PDB was a little different, though. It contained the words, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." Intelligence gathered over a period of months, if not years, had revealed that Osama bin Laden was readying his al-Qaeda network for an unprecedented terrorist attack on American soil. The PDB was the intelligence community's method for warning the White House and ensuring that all available resources could be brought to bear against al-Qaeda, preventing an historic catastrophe.

Of course, as we all know, that's not what happened. Drunky read the PDB, set it aside, and turned his attention to other, apparently more pressing matters. And just five weeks later, it was September 11. And that historic catastrophe has been compounded by the ongoing historic catastrophe of the Bush crime syndicate. August 6, 2001, turned a merely incompetent presidency into a malevolent dictatorship, and we will endure the consequences therefrom for generations.

So, today, August 6, 2007, take a moment to think about those consequences and the events that were set into motion six years ago. Join the blogswarm and write about it. And, above all, commit yourself to doing something about it. Whether it's talking with others, campaigning for candidates, writing letters to the editor or op-eds, or whatever you think is best, August 6, 2007 could be the beginning of the end -- the end of the political, economic, and diplomatic quagmire that was created on August 6, 2001.

We can only hope. And act.

(I'll have had more to say about this on Blast Off! Radio today at 12:30 Eastern -- archives linked in left sidebar.)

(Cross-posted at Pax Americana)

The Manifesto of the Thirty Percenters

As the Bush crime syndicate does more and more grievous damage to our country and the world, as the war spirals ever farther into chaos, and as the GOP scandals mount, I continue to be baffled by the fact that even 30% of Americans (give or take a few, depending on the survey) still support Drunky McStagger and his minions.

Then this morning, I happened upon this from old Daily Kos denizen Jerome a Paris, writing at European Tribune. Well, actually, Jerome didn't really write most of it, but he communicated what I take to be a statement of beliefs from the delusional, Fox News, reality-free crowd.

It's too long to reprint here in its entirety, but click over for the full tirade, and in the meantime try to digest these excerpts:

I was never someone you could label and certainly never one to hold to a party line if I felt the party was wrong. Always a registered Democrat I vote based on conscience and not always Democrat. But I did vote for Bill Clinton twice and never regretted those votes - at least not until September 11. That day changed me irreversibly and had a profound impact on how I view politics.

September 11 was a beautiful sunny day right after our end-of-summer Labor Day holiday. I had a neighborhood reunion 2 weeks prior which we have every five years. I renewed old ties with people including [childhood friend] who remembered that I taught him to swim the butterfly stroke. My office was on 57th Street and Third Avenue and across the hall from a major public relation firm. My son had just started his senior year at Duke University in economics and was looking forward to the litany of investment banking firm interviews in the Fall. Just before the holiday weekend I had to cancel a west coast trip because of a sudden meeting I had in New York that was more important. I was supposed to be on the American Airlines 9:00 AM flight out of JFK to Los Angeles.

Note the classic concern troll tactic, addressing the supposed purity of having voted for Clinton (twice, even!!!!1!), but how that felt wrong on 9/11/2001 ... after Clinton had been out of office for almost eight months.

As I was rushing downtown to meet my two friends who I had hoped got out of the World Trade Center I kept muttering (referring to Bill Clinton), "You SOB, you really did it now" over and over again. I was also thankful that my son was not a year older, because he could have been working for one of the investment banking firms in the WTC and would have been incinerated with others.

Again with the Clenis™. Of course, if you're wondering how Clinton "really did it," well, you won't find it in this guy's twisted narrative.

In law school I learned that unsupported assertions can be discarded by the fact-finder (the jury or the judge). That is, you have to back up what you say with legitimate facts, or the assertions fail. So, as I've heard said many times, this dog won't hunt.

My initial reaction ended up being right as I learned more and more information over time. The key learning came about a year ago as we were coming to the five year anniversary of 9/11 and I was on the Editorial Board of an old public policy magazine. We agreed to cover 9/11 differently and look to see if we are winning or losing which required having in-depth understanding of the development of these radical Islam groups, their intentions, and whether they are or are not achieving them.

Wars are fought for political and ideological power and superiority. Wars are also defined by a series of battles that you would hope you lose some but win most as long as you achieve your desired objective.

We have been engaged in a war with a fascist form of Islam for decades. The "we" includes all forms of civilization other than this radical fundamentalist form of Islam. So it includes the USA, Europe (East and West), as well as all of Asia and the Pacific.

The enemy are all groups that have branched off the old Muslim Brotherhood from the 1920's which includes Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah. Some are Shia based and others are Sunni based. While they may hate each other, what they have in common is hatred for a common enemy which is us. Other than Iran, none are nation states and operate cross boundaries outside the bounds of conventional warfare and treaties. They use terror as their primary tactic to breakdown the will of the people and therefore the governments.

If you saw the movie Syriana it was a glimpse into the recruiting and indoctrination methods these groups have used for decades within the educational systems they created in all the Arab countries with the help of their host governments in exchange for the promise of allowing the host governments to continue their power.

Their goals are absolute rule in all Muslim countries and then the elimination of all modern western society. They are far more focused and committed to their cause than communists ever were. They are very smart, very resourceful, very well financed, and very, very patient. But they do believe their time is now.

It is a mistake for any political leader not to believe in what they write and preach. We have already learned that lesson.

[...]

What should not been in doubt since 9/11 are that there is a war between all radical Muslim groups and us. It has been called a clash of cultures, but that dismisses the political aspects of this. As did the various fascists groups in the 1930's these Islamic fascist groups also want ultimate power and are fanatical enough to stop at nothing to achieve their goals. As with Hitler, they cannot be negotiated with or appeased. They actually view appeasement as a sign of weakness and will use it against their enemies. And as in the lead up to World War II the blame for everything centered in Jews.

Get ready, now, kids, because we're about to conflate all Muslims in order to justify attacking Iraq in "retaliation" for 9/11. And we'll throw in a Hitler comparison just for kicks.

I'm no Islamic scholar by any stretch, but it doesn't take a scholar to see this argument coming. Even if you assume by some unbelievable stretch of so-called logic that all of Islam is gunning for the U.S. (apologies for the word choice), with no evidence of WMDs in Iraq, no evidence tying Iraq to 9/11, and no reason to select Iraq as a target for American aggression over any other Muslim state other than Drunky McStagger's personal dick-swinging vendetta, there's still no justification for the war in any way.

When it comes to this War, President Bush's moves and adjustments were necessary, proper, and lawful. The U.S. had (and may still have) Al Qaeda and Hezbollah sleeper cells within our boundaries. They were cells that were still being financed through international means. And there were countries and leaders that harboring them, training them, and supporting them. Bush was dealing with a dismantled CIA and FBI as well as a greatly reduced military because we thought the war (Cold War) was over and were in a false sense of security.

The Patriot Act was necessary in order to infiltrate all of the Muslims groups in this country and determine who were threats. In spite of all the protests there is not a single shred of evidence of someone's civil right being violated with the Patriot Act. The NSA program of listening in on overseas telephone conversations from known terror suspects was also necessary. Again, in spite of charges being made there is not a single shred of evidence that this program was abused and violated anyone's civil rights. The Swift program was necessary to track down the money trail leading to these terror groups. And again, in spite of charges of invading people's bank records there is not a shred of evidence that anyone's rights were violated. The net result was the U.S. was able to rapidly round up terror suspects in the U.S. (and hopefully those bastards that were dancing in celebration in Paterson [New Jersey]) and ship them down to Gitmo. There has also been successful worldwide coordination of intelligence to break other potential attacks, particularly after Madrid and London.

Jeebus, the sweeping generalizations here boggle the mind. Moreover, in neither paragraph did I see a mention of Iraq -- somehow the war against Iraq is "necessary, proper, and lawful" based on the alleged existence of al Qaeda and Hezbollah in the U.S.? I thought we were fighting them there so we didn't have to fight them here? Assuming they are "there" at all, I mean.

And while we're at it, let's go ahead and shit all on the rights of all Muslims, including American citizens, and let's make them prove a negative by alleging there's not a single civil right that's been violated. (You might want to ask that question to U.S. citizen José Padilla and see what kind of response you get.)

Smarter wingnuts, please! The writer still hasn't shown that invading Iraq was anything other than a tragic, stupid mistake.

Was it a mistake to invade Iraq? As I said the Middle East was the nest for this fascist Islam and its propagation. It was a self-feeding system that had to be broken. I agreed, as did nearly everyone in this country, that the invasion to take out Hussein was correct. But the war was fought on a shoe-string and accomplished nothing more than deposing Hussein. There should have been forces to immediately close off the borders to Syria and Iran and through saber rattling threatened to go further if they interfered. That was not done. In addition, they disbanded Hussein's military and police rather than give them the chance to switch sides and thereby secure the country immediately. Those were two enormous mistakes that have cost thousands of American lives.

For those that criticize the Bush administration for usurping the Constitution and our laws with their efforts to secure this country I would say, "Prove it" because other than hyperbole and insinuations there has been no credible evidence of so-called "lying."

Okay, first of all, "usurping the Constitution" is illegal per se. You can't sugarcoat it and you can't justify it -- for anything. That's why we have a Constitution in the first place, you moron!

I'm reminded of a convention I once attended where a delegate stood up and moved to "suspend the Constitution" of the organization. The parliamentarian was so disgusted, she walked out. Point being: you just can't subvert the Constitution! Not legally anyway ...

As for evidence of lying, well, there's enough of that -- Gonzales, Libby, Snow, Drunky himself -- that the assertion doesn't deserve a response. (Let me know if you need links. I can give you plenty.)

For those, like Hillary Clinton, that have conveniently switched sides on the Iraq issue by revealing, "If I knew then what I know now," they should understand that a President does not get do-overs. A President must have the clarity to make a decision, the conviction of that decision, and the courage to see that decision through. That disqualifies Hillary Clinton as a qualified candidate for President.

Edwards idiot pronouncement that "the war on terror is just a bumper sticker slogan" is further proof of his superficial used-car sales mentality when it comes to politics. Obama is just not qualified enough yet.

When you listen to the Republican debates your heard a number of their candidates clearly define this war against radical Islam, while not a single Democrat could (or would) define it.

Frankly the only qualified candidate the Democrats have is not running and that would be former Senator Bob Kerrey who is a highly decorated former Navy Seal and was on the 9/11 Commission.

Bob freaking Kerrey? This writer is delusional, seriously. As in he needs medical attention.

Kerrey is nothing more than a Lieberman apologist whose absence from the Senate is well deserved and his label as a Democrat hardly justifiable. Hell, my drug-addled neighbor Rush Limbaugh says Kerrey is "right on Iraq," which is a sure indication that the writer of this "manifesto" isn't a Democrat at all, despite his protestations to the contrary.

And a president "does not get do-overs?" Dude, a president shouldn't make the mistakes in the first place. And if he or she does, I respect far more a person who will say "I made a mistake" (which, contrary to your assertion, Sen. Clinton has not done; Sen. Edwards has, however) than a person like Drunky who sticks his fingers in his ears and shouts "La, la, la!" and refuses to even listen to opposing viewpoints, let alone (perish the thought) actually change his mind.

The writer concludes:

When the founding fathers finally created the form of federal government we have now, they envisioned the primarily role of the President as the commander-in-chief to lead the army against outside enemies. In that role Bill Clinton was a failure and G.W. Bush has done his job. And that is why whenever the American people choose a President during a time of war they never elect an anti-war candidate.

September 11 was a wake-up call. While some Americans have fallen back to sleep into some sort of state of denial, fortunately most Americans do understand that we are in danger and at war beyond Iraq.

There you have it, folks: a perspective completely divorced from reality, ignoring clear facts and selectively reporting history in a distorted manner to prop up a failed president and a dying ideology.

September 11 changed a lot of things, that's true. But it didn't change the Constitution, pal. It didn't "change everything." The radical right-wing was the catalyst for change. And the time is long overdue to change back ... to take America back.

Now Falwell finds out whether he was right

Wow -- see what happens when I'm in a meeting for the afternoon and away from the news?

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.

Atrios makes some great points about Falwell's opinions during his life. Who can forget Falwell's immortal words, "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals"?

And what about his commentary on 9/11?

Television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the most prominent voices of the religious right, said liberal civil liberties groups, feminists, homosexuals and abortion rights supporters bear partial responsibility for Tuesday's terrorist attacks because their actions have turned God's anger against America.

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve," said Falwell, appearing yesterday on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club," hosted by Robertson.

"Jerry, that's my feeling," Robertson responded. "I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population."

Falwell said the American Civil Liberties Union has "got to take a lot of blame for this," again winning Robertson's agreement: "Well, yes."

Then Falwell broadened his blast to include the federal courts and others who he said were "throwing God out of the public square." He added: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "

And now, of course, he presumably knows (or knew) ... the rest of the story.

I always learned that if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all. So I'll stop there, and let Falwell's own words speak volumes.

UPDATE (4:34 pm 5/15/07): And didja see who was first out of the gate in making statements of condolence?

Sen. John McCain, [Liberty University's] commencement speaker last year, said Tuesday that his prayers were with Falwell's family.

"Dr. Falwell was a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country," McCain said.

STFU, Saint John.

Republican follies, today featuring Rudy Giuliani

Too bad I already bestowed today's Daily Schadenfreude award on Newt Gingrich, because a fellow GOP presidential hopeful has more problems of his own.

One of the nation's largest firefighters' union has accused Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of committing "egregious acts" against firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, in a draft letter, excoriated Giuliani for his November 2001 decision to cut back the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for the remains of some 300 fallen comrades.

The 280,000-member union accused him of expediting the clean-up process with a "scoop-and-dump" operation after the recovery of millions of dollars in gold, silver and other assets from the Bank of Nova Scotia that had been buried.

It's really quite humorous to watch the Repukes try to find a candidate that isn't an utter disaster. Let's see ...

there's Newt, and I've already given him more attention than he deserves today (plus he's not even a declared candidate) ...

... there's Mitt, whose campaign is a comedy of errors ...

... there's Crazy John McCain, the erstwhile maverick whose only unusual move to date is pushing for more, not fewer, troops in Iraq ...

... the longshots like Duncan "Ann Coulter's Crush" Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, and Tom Tancredo ...

... and now Rudy's finding even ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

There's really nothing quite so satisfying as watching the Repukes shoot each other in the face foot for the privilege of losing in the general election.