gimme the zed!

Hi Pach – now to read…

I love Matt Taibbi – not that that’s necessarily a majority position….

someone I read somewhere said – “we all aspire to Taibbi-dom”.

Wouldn’t that be a great compliment to have under your belt?

What is on my mind….. hearing stupid so called Democrats whine that the elected Democrats are NOT doing things.

Ok, yes I am listening to progressive talk radio but there are some really stupid people out there who do not know that the new slate will not be sworn in until January 4th.

AND our new Democratic House and Senate are going to be left a nasty bag of crap to clean up too!
Where is the media on that?

Pach!

You’re awesome! : )

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter. . . .

Let me get my Bible to see where Jesus said that.

MATTHEW 23:12-27!

Whoa Pach! What a great roundup of important stuff – I’m digging in now to read all the links!

and happy trails Bob Geiger! can’t wait for his interview since no one knows the senate like Bob!

FITZ!

On my mind today are:

(1) people suffering from emotional problems, exacerbated by the holidays.

(2) opportunities for family reconciliation, because of people being sentimental this time of year and more receptive to an olive branch.

The Digby post, and the previous one he references on the “Aristocrats” nailed it for me. Also see Glenn on Baker Hamilton,

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot…..d-but.html

Thank you for this critically important post, Pach.

Does anyone have time to go….to make sure….?

you must have felt my involuntary shudder thru the toobes when I saw a clip from one of JeanneK’s old speeches yesterday.

may we never forget, and never take things for granted, e.v.e.r.

egregious @ 9

On my mind today are:

(1) people suffering from emotional problems, exacerbated by the holidays.

(2) opportunities for family reconciliation, because of people being sentimental this time of year and more receptive to an olive branch.

The advantage of not calling is, she can’t tell you not to come. Go for it, and keep us posted. Be gentle, she is probably scared along with everything else. A little corner of a person observes the descent into hell, and is rightly frightened.

Thank you, egregious! I’ll talk about it with my dad…
And once we have our presents picked out, we’ll head over to my mom’s place. : )

Contest: name the uncivil DFH who said…

I think it was this guy…
http://www.tellercreations.com/pod/thegift.mp3

Happy Holidays!

Holiday blues really suck. Fortunately for me, I don’t have them, though the consumerist wanktopia that is the modern American Christmas holiday rather offends me, on Christian theological grounds, even though I’m not Christian.

I’d be bumming maybe if I were not so happily married ensconced in a legally discriminated against family structure, but I’m very fortunate that life for me is pretty good, personally and in my working life. I feel productive, valued for my abilities and thankfully, my many limitations are mostly irrelevant to what I do.

Hang in there, folks. As silly as it sounds, one of the best things to do is to keep a gratitude journal, where you write 5 things every night you’re grateful to the (fill in your deity or deity substitute) for. Repeat entries are fine. This really helps sustain a balanced focus and puts many temporal trials in perspective.

PeteCO @ 10

The Digby post, and the previous one he references on the “Aristocrats” nailed it for me. Also see Glenn on Baker Hamilton,

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot…..d-but.html

Ah, Glenn Greenwald! He says it so nicely:

As I argued immediately after the election, the disaster of the Iraq War and the resulting rejection of Bush-Republican policies presents a real opportunity to isolate, and relegate back to the fringes, the neoconservatives and more generic crazed warmongers who have dictated our foreign policy over the last five years — the Bill Kristols, Rush Limbaughs, John McCains, Charles Krauthammers, Joe Liebermans, American Enterprise Institutes and Rich Lowrys, who have an insatiable appetite for endless wars that degrade America’s credibility, resources, strength, security and national character.

I probably would have just said that the Iraq War will screw the reputation of the neocons for quite some time…
But Glenn Greenwald says it SOOOO MUCH BETTER! ; )

Just my opinion, but I think there is a difference between the Kewl Kidz and the power elite.

Runoff election today in the Louisiana 2nd, time to give “Dollar Bill” Jefferson his pink slip!

The Foley investigation itself seems to have been pretty good – the investigators talked to the right folks, dug up the emails and IMs, etc. What I can’t believe is the complete absence of holding anyone accountable.

OK, I can believe it. Why should this episode be any different?

The first two sentences from the WaPo story put it like this:

The House ethics committee concluded yesterday that House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and his top staff probably knew for months, if not years, of then-Rep. Mark Foley’s inappropriate contact with former House pages but did nothing to protect the teenagers.

Top GOP House leaders also “failed to exercise appropriate diligence” in the matter, the committee’s report found, and tried “to remain willfully ignorant of the potential consequences of Foley’s conduct.”

And the consequences, for these GOP leaders? Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nichts.

If this had been a teacher in a high school, trolling for fun with students, not only would they be gone but so would the administrators and board members who tried “to remain willfully ignorant” of what was going on. If Hastert still has a teaching credential back in Illinois, I hope the state revokes it on Monday.

And what happens to the next member of the House who is brought up on ethics charges? “Hey, if what Hastert, Shimkus, & Co. did doesn’t bring disrepute upon the House, how does my conduct do that?”

Bring on the grownups!

“We may soon have to face this fact: With the midterm elections over, and George Bush already a lame duck, the Iraq war is no longer an urgent problem to anyone on the Hill who matters. The Democrats are in no hurry to end things because it will benefit them if Iraq is still a mess in ‘08; just as they did this fall, they’ll bitch about the war without explicitly promising to end it at any particular time. George Bush has already run his last campaign and he’s not about to voluntarily fuck up his legacy with a premature surrender or a humiliating concession to Syria or Iran. “

Bingo. Nothing will change.

AirportCat @ 17

Runoff election today in the Louisiana 2nd, time to give “Dollar Bill” Jefferson his pink slip!

I hope so! : )

Katymine at 4, re: bag ‘o crap

I rescued a little dog last weekend. I am not a dog person. But I take him to the dog park often where he can be a dog.

Yesterday, one of the people at the park saw his dog pooping. As he went to clean up, he said, “Gotta go pick up the Republicans.” Made my day.

Poop=Republicans

The other thing that Bushco cannot let go of on the war is the whole recruitment and morale thing. If they start the talk of getting out, it makes the whole enterprise unsupportable. Low morale and low recruitment. All those patriots who have signed up (or have invested their children) for the WOT will begin to lose faith. Can’t let that happen. Especially not with the holidays coming.

The Taibbi piece is so good – and a reminder that our work is just beginning.

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

I think we’re on the way out of Iraq- and the Iraq study group just drove the stake throught the heart of the Clusterfuck non-policy..

The ISG is blamed in some circles for not coming up with a better military or diplomatic plan to “save the day” in Iraq..

It’s actually clear that they BEGAN their discussions with the assumption that there IS not better military plan for Iraq- that Iraq is lost–they then started working backwards to figure out what political road leads out of Iraq most expeditiously..

The whole thing is politics- helping to build the perception that we’ve got a bloody mess and that it probably won’t get better- even with “one last shot”…They also propose beginning a withdrawal- once it has begun it will NOT stop..take that to the bank..

The “one last shot” is really kind of a joke- a chance for the dead enders (here- not in Iraq) to prove to themselves that we really have lost…

This things on it’s way to over-

NZ Expat—Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

My dad used to say, Sometimes you have to rise above principle. This was specifically in reference to showing mercy.

You could take her out to dinner, that’s not a gift strictly speaking.

Or a gift card/certificate might not attract too much supervisory notice.

http://meteor-blades.dailykos.com/ It’s long but worth reading

Here’s a very brave young American soldier who really has become an expert on the debacle that is Iraq. He’s self taught. He learned 1st hand. And, he learned the hard way.

A Message From An American Marine

Peterr #18,

The House ethics committee did think everyone associated with this affair had been negligent, and went on to prove their point by being negligent themselves.

atdnext, message for you at chez egregious about your Mom.

My wife and I were talking about how there is such similarity between Americans and the gap between the elites and non-elites, and how the middle east seems to be evolving a similar gap wherein the sunnis and shias are beginning to come together among the masses against the elites (see current events in Lebanon). And how these similarities are not because of sectarian differences but because of class warfare.

And that reminded me of Pareto’s “Circulation of the elites,” or the circulation of the lions and foxes.

And that explains (to me) the current situation with regard to the Washington insiders and people like Webb and Testor.

Pareto in particular argued that there were two types of elite: ‘Lions’ – who rule by force and coercion – and ‘Foxes’ who rule by cunning stealth and persuasion.

http://www.sociologyonline.co……Pareto.htm

Pach at 14 one of the best things to do is to keep a gratitude journal, where you write 5 things every night you’re grateful [for]

Just got a new, larger journal for 2007, and was pondering how best to use it.

That’s it! Now I am grateful for you and your many talents.

This pretty much sums it up.

WASHINGTON (AP) – In its last hours of GOP control, Congress passed a raft of bills big and small, most significantly a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.

[snip]

Republicans dumped an unfinished budget on the Democrats about to take power, with the Senate barely meeting a midnight deadline to pass a stopgap spending bill putting the government on autopilot until Feb. 15. Bush quickly signed the bill on Saturday.

The failure to pass budget bills for domestic agencies, said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., amounted to “a blatant admission of abject failure by the most useless Congress in modern times.”

[and more]

“They are leaving us with a tremendous mess,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters. “We have alternatives, none of which are very good.”

Redstaters! Your Republican Congress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NZ Expat @ 23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

The rule against gifts is understandable– my favorite gifts was the spoken thank you and hug & maybe a written word to me that I could hold on to. I also suggest a written word to her employers with a request for the employer to laud that employee and get back to you with a description of how they handled it.

None of the many greats that work in healthcare want gifts– the gift is taking good care of their patients and seeing that it is well done. The greats do suffer the losses because they have been touched by those they care for.

remembering her weeks, months, years from now with a call, note or a visit would make her feel part of that intimate process that is life and death.

(or ask her if she has a favorite cause– like her children or where her momma lives and gift to the daycare, school or whatever in her name and make sure there is a plaque with her name on it)

egregious @ 29

atdnext, message for you at chez egregious about your Mom.

Thank you… I’m there. : )

Good morning pupsters,
Pach,
I do hope sometime in the future you will consider the question you brought forth last night in another post. Hope that is not to forward for a comment pup to ask since I understand many posters don’t always appreciate this type of mini request.

The Kirkpatrick MacBeth post was certainly a unique post, kudos to you for pulling a new twist in the blogoverse.

OMG, as I write there is a fight in a church/funeral on CNN!

Anyway the role model question may be as unclear to many as our most wonderful rayne thought. Perhaps a New Orleans dancing in the street funeral thread-moment was not the best time for raising/answering the important question.

oh gee, I hope that makes sense….

(((Pach and Rayne)))

NZ Expat @ 23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

Maybe you could find out what this woman would like to contribute to if she had the resources, and make a contribution in her name.

angie @ 33

NZ Expat @ 23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

The rule against gifts is understandable– my favorite gifts was the spoken thank you and hug & maybe a written word to me that I could hold on to. I also suggest a written word to her employers with a request for the employer to laud that employee and get back to you with a description of how they handled it.

None of the many greats that work in healthcare want gifts– the gift is taking good care of their patients and seeing that it is well done. The greats do suffer the losses because they have been touched by those they care for.

remembering her weeks, months, years from now with a call, note or a visit would make her feel part of that intimate process that is life and death.

(or ask her if she has a favorite cause– like her children or where her momma lives and gift to the daycare, school or whatever in her name and make sure there is a plaque with her name on it)

Beat me to it. ;)

As for Jeane Kirkpatrick, it seems unseemly to speak ill of the dead, which is probably her best defense at this point for her short-sighted, narrow-minded, “brown people are unimportant unless they have oil” view of the world. She was an icon at the American Enterprise Institute which is consistent with its core mission of giving a home to useless, washed up neocons. I can only think that John Bolton another pointlessly abrasive UN Ambassador who often seemed to be channeling Kirkpatrick must have his moustaches hung in mourning tonight.

I am curious why you have to use the language like

“… George Bush’s fucking ego…”

I dispise the man and his policies, but I simply don’t get the use of that sort of language in political discussion.

I have recently returned from Italy having attended my brother in law’s memorial. Gianni Rigacci was a devoted political activist on the far far left in Italy for 5 decades and he was a dignified man and would never use that type of language in a political discussion. He was so well respected in Italy despite his far left politics that the speaker of the Italian parliment came from Rome to pay respects to him.

Why are we so easy to use this type of language? I don’t find that it helps in any way. Am I too old to get it or what?

Thanks for all the suggestions. The thing is, this woman is struggling to put food on her own table. So, while I’d like to do something in her name, I’d like her to have some luxurious little something, some la-la-la in her own life too. After Mother is no longer a patient there, I think I may be free to do what I want.

We all need some la-la-la, and even as my elderly French student back in NZ says, some ooo-la-la in our lives.

DefJef

Why not?

Why must the use of “fuck” be defended rather than the aversion to it?

daily affirmation:

my contempt for war whore Joe Lieberman endures, unabated.

Just give the woman a gift and screw the policy! Take a chance- what’re they gonna do- give ya a ticket?

Just watch how when someone of the “stature” of Joe Wilson is around the use of such language disappears and everyone acts grown up… splain that.

DefJef @ 39

Can we please skip the civility police routine? It’s not as if anybody is forcing you to read language you don’t like.

I am curious why you have to use the language like

“… George Bush’s fucking ego…”

imho, once the name George W. Bush appears in a sentence, there is no term too ugly or disparaging so as to not be also included.

DefJef @ 39

Why are we so easy to use this type of language? I don’t find that it helps in any way. Am I too old to get it or what?

Being an occasional “potty mouth offender” as well, I can tell you that sometimes I just get SOOOOO MAD at what these GOPers do, that I just let all my rage flow from my head thru the keyboard to my posts…
I’ve sometimes received complaints from folks on my email lists who ask me not to use such “foul language”, and I’m working on keeping my temper down…
It’s amazing how I’d never curse at someone like that in public, but when I’m writing my blog, I sometimes just let it all hang out.

DefJef: It’s a New York thing.

I confess I (occasionally) mix rather elegant English with street profanity and blatant dirty trash talk in my writing. I understand it’s not to everyone’s taste. I am sometimes purposely crude.

As I note along with my digby link, I actually feel shocking invective is precisely what’s called for as part of our discussion of politics today. As always, YMMV (you mileage may vary), and I know some folks get really bothered by some of my usage and imagery. Others, not so much.

To me, the greater obscenity is not my f-bomb but the human sacrifices to Bush’s ego.

Just don’t want to jeopardize her situation….enough said on this….thanks for the comments.

And thanks to the posters who keep those in these economic binds before us, front and center.

jayt @ 46

I am curious why you have to use the language like

“… George Bush’s fucking ego…”

imho, once the name George W. Bush appears in a sentence, there is no term too ugly or disparaging so as to not be also included.

That often describes my sentiments, as well. ; )

DefJef @ 39

I am curious why you have to use the language like

“… George Bush’s fucking ego…”

I dispise the man and his policies, but I simply don’t get the use of that sort of language in political discussion.

I have recently returned from Italy having attended my brother in law’s memorial. Gianni Rigacci was a devoted political activist on the far far left in Italy for 5 decades and he was a dignified man and would never use that type of language in a political discussion. He was so well respected in Italy despite his far left politics that the speaker of the Italian parliment came from Rome to pay respects to him.

Why are we so easy to use this type of language? I don’t find that it helps in any way. Am I too old to get it or what?

Let me see, soon to be 3,000 American deaths in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives already lost, immediate costs of $500 billion and total long term costs of $1-2 trillion, destabilization of an entire region, and all because a certain man had a bruised ego and remains so blinded by it that he still thinks he was right despite mountains of evidence to the contrary and refuses to accept any responsibility for his mistake. I think Christy was being easy on Bush.

Perhaps it would be easier to speak civilly if Republicans would stop doing such obscenely uncivil things.

I find the refusal to use profanity when appropriate an annoying and irrational practice.

Pachacutec @ 48

DefJef: It’s a New York thing.

Really? I thought it’s just another example of our Californication. (hehe) ; )

rwcole @ 52

I find the refusal to use profanity when appropriate an annoying and irrational practice.

Fuck, yeah!

Hugh @
38

As for Jeane Kirkpatrick, it seems unseemly to speak ill of the dead, which is probably her best defense at this point for her short-sighted, narrow-minded, “brown people are unimportant unless they have oil” view of the world. She was an icon at the American Enterprise Institute which is consistent with its core mission of giving a home to useless, washed up neocons. I can only think that John Bolton another pointlessly abrasive UN Ambassador who often seemed to be channeling Kirkpatrick must have his moustaches hung in mourning tonight.

uh- huh.

that purty much sums it up.

rwcole @ 52

I find the refusal to use profanity when appropriate an annoying and irrational practice.

I find the use of profanity to be something of an art form.

It can be done badly, or it can indeed be done well.

Fukitol

From Apocalypse Now:

Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!

-GSD

Let’s not gang up on DefJef. I understand some people find my writing style bothersome, and it can lead to all manner of misunderstandings. He asked a legit question, and I tried to give an answer, by way of my own accountability.

I’m not saying the thread can’t include spirited disagreement, and last night I took some crap, no problem. I rather enjoyed it, actually.

I’m just walking a little bit of a fine line here this afternoon to be sure no one walks away from all this accusing our commenting community of enforcing a no-dissent policy because a number of people happen to voice the same point of view. Those who agree with DefJef are more than welcome to chime in. No one’s pushing you out.

I use profanity here instead of my kids hearing me screaming it at the TeeVee.

Kids don’t hear words they shouldn’t from Mom and I can spew which is more healthy.

Pacha–You tellin us not to disagree with defjef- or what?

I always recommend the word “caca-bum”.

-GSD

rwcole @ 61

Pacha–You tellin us not to disagree with defjef- or what?

Fuckoff.

;-)

Pachacutec @ 63

rwcole @ 61

Pacha–You tellin us not to disagree with defjef- or what?

Fuckoff.

;-)

Boy I was getting worried that someone else was blogging under your name… ;)

Pacha- much better!

Pachacutec @ 63

rwcole @ 61

Pacha–You tellin us not to disagree with defjef- or what?

Fuckoff.

;-)

Ah, that feels so much better now. ; )

my only input on this: avoid swearing a lot in a foreign language in a foreign land. it’s too difficult to judge the intensity and appropriateness.

doesn’t keep me from uttering the occasional “putain de bordel de merde, espece d’encule!”, however….

Using the f-word, the c-word (in the English sense of describing someone as a useless individual, rather than the mysogynistic, American usage) all of the b-words (bloody, bugger, bollocks, bastard), along with “Wanker” are all appropriate when discussing G.W.Bush, IMO.

NZ Expat @ 49

Just don’t want to jeopardize her situation….enough said on this….thanks for the comments.

And thanks to the posters who keep those in these economic binds before us, front and center.

be crafty. where there is will, you can find a way….

Serious and sustained disagreement and debate is a very rare occurance..Many people have never witnessed it. It is a rare specimen to be prized and supported.

Slip a C note into her pocket when she’s not looking

- Our good friend, the wholly owned K Street subsidiary, Ellen Tauscher, joined GOP’ers and corporate rentboy Dems like Joe Crowley to sell out American workers so corporate America can access slave labor in conservative human rights Shang-gri-la, North Viet Nam. David Sirota has the scoop. Have you bookmarked David’s blog yet? It’s a must read for those of you like me who believe in holding sellout K Street whores accountable.

This is why I love Calitics…
They’ve been after her for quite some time.

Don’t worry…
We in the Golden State are keeping the heat on her. ; )

rwcole @ 70

Serious and sustained disagreement and debate is a very rare occurance..Many people have never witnessed it. It is a rare specimen to be prized and supported.

I beg to differ!

j/k :~)

Pun- beg all ya want- yer fuckin WRONG!

Pachacutec @ 59..”enforcing a no-dissent policy”
I think your “Kirkpatrick” thread yesterday was a water-shed in breaching a possible unstated “no-dissent policy.” The comments were heated, at times ugly but still within the “civility” that is a hallmark of FDL. I have been lurking on FDL since it was only Jane and Redd was a commenter. Your Kirkpatrick thread was unique and I use the term as in the Latin definition.

Good points Pach! and I really hope folks think about the gang-up approach. DefJef asked a legitimate question about language and if we want to be effective advocates and activists, we should be thinking about language a lot. Audience and context matter – as does personal voice. I really like Pach’s response – claiming his own voice while respecting DefJef’s perspective.

In general, I think we do need to think about language – Do we slip too easily into fuckin’ this and that rather than look for a more interesting or more shocking or more effective expression? Is our goal expression or change? Does it always have to be the same – can we rant today and then provide more studied commentary tomorrow? and lots more …

language is always worth thought and discussion and hopefully is never a matter of dogma

rwcole @ 74

Pun- beg all ya want- yer fuckin WRONG!

that’s it – we’re gonna have to take this outside!

DefJef @ 39

Why are we so easy to use this type of language? I don’t find that it helps in any way. Am I too old to get it or what?

Perhaps, and you must allow me to apologize for agreeing with your supposition.

When you read the circumstances surrounding a post like Pachacutec has made here — read the links; investigate the many opinions, some biased, some legitimate, many ringing clarion true — I feel a violent sense of indignation is a valid human response.

Different people tend to express indignation in different ways and you cannot deny the current generation their attempts at righteous indignation; that would be a grievous sin against them and yourself.

While it is not your style, consider that history might have benefited from a similar display of righteous indignation. If the Italian people had had a collective voice to say, “We will not follow in the footsteps of this insane nationalistic dictator in embracing the concept of fascism for the sake of his FUCKING ego;” then Mussolini might never have been loosed upon the world.

But consider, above all things, they are but words. And, it is the power behind the words and the results of that power reaching out and effecting results which is of tantamount import.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

They are but words, but wise men learn how to use them effectively or they go to their grave, realizing ineffectiveness. It sounds as your brother in law found a way to be effective; I ask that you have the courtesy to allow others to find theirs. And, I think we all must be wise enough to realize there will be some brush fire resulting from words which do fork lightening. Now, more than ever in my lifetime, is lightening called for.

Thank you Pach.

Gang, I’m headed out to grab some lunch. I’ll be back again to be offensive like my good DFH friend Jesus (quoted above) for Late Nite FDL.

Try to have a good argument while I’m gone.

pun- OK–Psst- where’s the door?

From A22 of this morning’s LA Times:

[assistant deputy attorney general] Beckner acknowledged the seriousness of torture and genocide but said that allowing suits by victims of either one would have the effect of disrupting and “possibly chilling” the military’s ability to conduct operations.

Well, duh!

I cancelled my subscrition to the LA Times because of their editorial policy- but they insist on sending the damned thing anyway.

Hey, Pach, great post, thanks!

[psst: The “Matt” link goes to Taylor’s blog, as does the “Taylor” link.]

DFHs RULE

johnswifty, i like your style.

rwcole @
82

I cancelled my subscrition to the LA Times because of their editorial policy- but they insist on sending the damned thing anyway.

F*****g c***s.

TeddySanFran @ 83

DFHs RULE

Damn, right!

NOW we all can start talking…
Teddy’s here! : )

Mommybrain @ 84

johnswifty, i like your style.

Ditto.

Oh, I forgot to say f@#$ – oh never mind.

It is becoming clearer by the day that Bush will have to be pulled kicking and screaming from Iraq, proving once again that he is too ignorant and stubborn to learn anything.

In Bush’s radio address today, he cherry picked those items in the Baker/Hamilton ISG report that seemed closest to his own “stay the course” views:

[From the ISG report] “In our view, this definition entails an Iraq with a broadly representative government that maintains its territorial integrity, is at peace with its neighbors, denies terrorism a sanctuary, and doesn’t brutalize its own people. Given the current situation in Iraq, achieving this goal will require much time and will depend primarily on the actions of the Iraqi people.”

I agree with this assessment. I was also encouraged that the Iraq Study Group was clear about the consequences of a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq.

Of course, what Bush leaves out it is the contention of the ISG that in the absence of rapid progress in these areas we should leave. As the ISG report notes, these goals may take a long time but they are the Iraqis’ responsibility, not ours. Bush also ignores that a non-precipitous withdrawal as defined by the ISG is one that should be largely accomplished in just over a year. In addition to his deliberate misreading of the ISG report’s recommendations, he went on to express his intention to dilute the report’s findings as much as possible by his own tame and Bush approved study groups:

At the same time, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the National Security Council are finishing work on their own reviews of our strategy in Iraq. I look forward to receiving their recommendations. I want to hear all advice as I make the decisions to chart a new course in Iraq.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..61209.html

As I said, kicking and screaming.

TeddySanFran @
83

[psst: The “Matt” link goes to Taylor’s blog, as does the “Taylor” link.]

DFHs RULE

Fixed, sorry. Thanks.

Swifty–an elegant defense of profanity- but there’s no fuckin profanity in the whole fuckin thing- why the fuck’s that?

Saddam’s fucking nephew escapes prison in Iraq

DFHs RULE

Can I still be a DFH if I no longer have the appropriate amount of accompanying hair?

jayt @ 92

DFHs RULE

Can I still be a DFH if I no longer have the appropriate amount of accompanying hair?

Depends. Have you bathed recently?

Mommybrain @ 84

johnswifty, i like your style.

Thanks, I like your brain!

I don’t know about you, but my hips alone now qualify me.

Can I be a DFH now if I was one in the 60’s?

Can you be a real one now without being one then?
I really F**k’n want to know?

rwcole @ 90

Swifty–an elegant defense of profanity- but there’s no fuckin profanity in the whole fuckin thing- why the fuck’s that?

Oh, come on, I called it Mussolini’s FUCKING ego fur cripessake!

Mommybrain @ 93

jayt @ 92

DFHs RULE

Can I still be a DFH if I no longer have the appropriate amount of accompanying hair?

Depends. Have you bathed recently?

well… yeah.

But I felt bad about it.

Proper Use Of English Word F#@k

defjef, have mercy on us DFH’s. We can’t help it.

Bird’s gotta fly,
fish gotta swim,
DFH’s gotta sing their fuckin’ hymns.

A person could be a “Hippy come lately”.

I’m torn on the profanitiy thing. I agree with DefJef. My use of profanity took a nosedive with having a child around. I occasionally slip up, but what really pisses me off is when my friends without kids throw f-bombs around.

The last camping trip we took with some swearing friends, the lil’ one says as we are four-wheeling back to the highway “Now this is fucking road!” Now. It was funny at the time, but we stopped and had a discussion on how we as a family don’t use words like that. The sad thing is, kids don’t know what makes a word “good” or “bad”.

Wow. I just talked in circles. FWIW & IMO swearing makes you sound less intelligent, than if you used more imaginative words to describe your anger. But then again….saying fuck sometimes feels good. Just ask Dick Cheney.

katymine @ 96

Can I be a DFH now if I was one in the 60’s?

Can you be a real one now without being one then?
I really F**k’n want to know?

I want to know as well…
If my parents were DFHs in the 60s, can I be one now?

I don’t have trouble with the Sprout and cuss words. Most of my cursing is done by keyboard these days. BUT…

After Michael Richard’s meltdown, he thought it amusing to try out that word. In public. At a multiracial community gathering. Oh, my, was my face red.

We’ve had several long talks since then.

Excellent observation. The more I read about these guys, the dumber the whole idea is.

atdnext @ 103

katymine @ 96

Can I be a DFH now if I was one in the 60’s?

Can you be a real one now without being one then?
I really F**k’n want to know?

I want to know as well…
If my parents were DFHs in the 60s, can I be one now?

oooh, a legacy.

Yep, you’re in.

rwcole @
43

Just give the woman a gift and screw the policy! Take a chance- what’re they gonna do- give ya a ticket?

There may be a strict employee policy against accepting gifts — if discovered, her job might be in danger.

jayt @ 106

atdnext @ 103

I want to know as well…
If my parents were DFHs in the 60s, can I be one now?

oooh, a legacy.

Yep, you’re in.

Thank you…
It’s such a fucking (oops!) honor. ; )

That’s true TSF, and most institutions ask that all gifts be given or turned over the the institution.

Not worth the chance, imho– plus if she takes it, she knows she is going against the rules, and for a good person, that causes unnecessary conflict and guilt, imho.

One of my friends in grad school was an original dirty fucking hippy..(well he was married- so maybe he wasn’t a 100 percenter).

Anyway- he and his wife decided to make a teepee- give up their apartment- and move out to a spot in the country where they could go back to the life of native americans..

When the day came to move- they went from house to house giving away all the stuff that they wouldn’t need in their new life (coffemaker- radio- electric fry pan-etc)..

Things went well through October- and then the Oregon rain season began…

The teepee started sinking deeper and deeper into the mud of the earth- and prolonged evenings in the teepee with nothin ta do and nothin ta read began to become tedious..

Soon they were back retrieving their cursed modern stuff—

Last I heard- he had taken over his father’s Harley Davidson Dealership.

Good morning you miserable turds!

(And Good morning, firepups!….)

As she is non-scatological, I hope Naomi Klein won’t be too OT here…

If any on the Lake aren’t familiar with the term “neoliberalism” as used below, just substitute “The Owners’ religious absolution for violence”.

They are synonymous.

“In Canada we have weird timing. Just when the Americas are turning away from neoliberalism in droves, its principal purveyors so embarrassed by their own policies that they have to wrap it in the rhetoric of war and civilization — they pretend they don’t even care about economics anymore, it’s about security, not trade.

“It’s precisely at this moment that Canada throws in the towel and gives up the very system that is held up around the world,” said Klein, referring to Canada’s election of a Conservative government and the current privatization of various health care services across Canada.

[snip]

Klein focused on a trip to New Orleans that she took with partner Avi Lewis and a photographer friend in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, part of the research for her upcoming book called Disaster Capitalism.

“I arrived when the city was still flooded,” recounted Klein, saying that the concept of “disaster capitalism” is not only about the profiting from disaster, but also about the clandestine introduction of privatization in moments when people are in shock.

“What they have to do now is use cataclysmic violence and exploit people in their moment of most severe trauma, which is what has happened in New Orleans,” said Klein. “By using the disaster to further privatize the health care system, to turn the public education system into laboratories for Charter schools… shows you that we are truly up against sociopaths.”

[snip]

“Did you go to any of the shelters?” Klein recalled asking the intern. “He looked at me, confused. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch,” Klein exclaimed to chuckles from the audience. “I just assumed that someone who just learned how to be a doctor would want to go to the shelters and help.

“It actually hadn’t even occurred to him to go to one of the shelters, just as it hadn’t occurred to any of the doctors and nurses in this hospital that, instead of being in their fortress, dealing with three or four patients … they could be out there.”

Klein blamed the development of this frame of mind on the American two-tiered health care system, which, she said, had “already accepted the idea that some lives are worth more and some are worth nothing.”

“Once you do that in your health care system, you are mentally prepared to do that in a major disaster,” noted Klein. A disaster, she added, which extends into the privatization of the health care and education systems.

[snip]

“In Canada, neoliberalism is not opposed to violence, neoliberalism is itself violence,” she said. “It plays itself out on the bodies of the poor in this city once the temperature drops. It is a violent model and that’s why it needs to be enclosed with violence,” added Klein, referring to the metal-wire fence and the lines of police that surrounded the Summit of the Americas conference held in Quebec City in 2001.

Klein offered one way of helping to shake off the shock of neoliberalism in Canada.

“The Americas are leading the way, and their response to being padlocked by the neoliberal lobby … was to form constitutional assemblies and remake the laws,” said Klein. “We don’t have to reform our constitution, we can just scrap NAFTA.

“And we have to do it,” Klein added. “It is a revolutionary moment and we had a moment here in Canada where we were, for one brief moment, part of the Americas. Not as mining companies and energy companies, exploiters and colonizers, but on an equal basis.”

Klein stated that the neoliberal project has been unmasked in the Americas, claiming its leaders have had to live under “a permanent state of siege” in the face of the growing “counter-counter revolution.”

From new social movements in South America, to “Mexico’s so-called president [being] sworn in at midnight in a shameful ceremony,” Klein said that a rebellion against neoliberalism is sweeping the southern hemisphere.

“In 2001,” noted Klein, “Canada showed that we could be part of this moment of effervescent rebellion. In 2001, people were in the streets in Canada, they were naming neoliberalism; they were naming the policies — privatization, regulation, cuts to our crucial social services, and now, we’re going to transfer all that to the military.

“Look at how much has changed since 2001 in Latin America,” Klein added. “Almost all those leaders [who attended the Summit of the Americas] have been driven from power, many in helicopters from their presidential palaces.”

[snip]

Pups, there’s a reason that Shrub and Cheney can’t risk hearing spontaneous public comment: the American public has joined the state of siege.

In the home town of the seat of global neo-liberalism, Shrub and Cheney’s handlers must script every moment – lest the rulers be reminded publicly we despise them and hate their savage destruction of our families and communities.

We will live to see the defeat of Armani-garbed violent avarice – aka neo-liberalism.

In the process, we’ll need a wide net of alliances and networks – and those will all require discussions among different cultural subgroups.

As language is the tool of thought, I’m glad that DefJef and others are raising the perfectly useful question of how the words we seleect affect the success of our efforts to inform and persuade.

Shit. piss, corruption, snot

Thirty-two assholes tied in a knot!

That’s a hard question, DefJef.

Thanks for asking it. :)

OMG…. now I am sending that F**k’n video to all my friends… that is f**king priceless twolf1 !

One of the more interesting things about learning ancient Greek and Hebrew in seminary was discovering that some of the Biblical texts have some rather . . . colorful . . . language that has been toned down a bit in most translations.

I’m not quite brave enough to use a better translation during worship on a Sunday morning, but I have described them in an adult education class where younger ears were not present.

;)

I ran across A Soldier’s Story over at Booman’s the other day.

Good stuff. Great argument as to why we should have never invaded, as if another argument is necessary.

It’s a primer on counterinsurgency tactics told from the perspective of the man on the ground.

Left unsaid is the amount of training needed for an embedded soldier to have a positive effect. A pillar of the ISG’s recommendations is to have tens thousands in this role, ignoring that we have only a scant few.

I’m a late riser today, and y’all may have covered this, but I don’t like the idea that Harry Reid’s starting up a new, secret tradition for the entire USSenate in January.

Excerpt:

Reid’s staff said that the planned joint caucus will not amount to a legislative session because no business will be conducted and that it will probably occur before the new Congress officially opens. But Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called it a bad precedent.

“When you get all 100 members of the Senate in a room, that’s no longer a caucus. That’s the Senate,” she said. “I think the American people will see through that. I think the only way to restore public trust in what the Congress is up to is to have more transparency than less.”

Peterr

Read the other day about a new fundi movement to get men back into church- by emphasizing that it’s OK to curse- it’s in the bible- and that yer desire to blow shit up is not contrary to the spirit of the Lord- who blew shit up too!!

They start their meetings with crash scenes and violence scenes from Hollywood movies–they want to get rid of the “feminized” persona of our Lord.

rwcole @
80

pun- OK–Psst- where’s the door?

ahh, heck, let’s call the whole thing off. wouldn’t want to do anything in porte haste.

TeddySanFran @ 115

I’m a late riser today, and y’all may have covered this, but I don’t like the idea that Harry Reid’s starting up a new, secret tradition for the entire USSenate in January.

OK…
If it’s not about national security, then why are they meeting in secret?

Pun

OK -(disappointed)

They’re meetin in secret cause they aren’t gonna yell at each other and they wouldn’t want the general public to see that.

A certain DFH was executed by crucifixion.

This was the form of demise for sedition.

The method of execution used for heresy was stoning.

The DFH was considered to be a political threat, not a religious one.

Hmmm – in honor of the LTE at the EarthFirst! Journal, I’ll use the traditional salutation from leters to the EF!J

Dear shit for brains of the Lake,

The “I word” keeps bobbing up in political discourse, and the Congressional Dem leadership respond as to a blossom of steatorrhea on the holiday eggnog.

Haven’t heard anything lately about Articles of Impeachement coming from a state house.

Hey, Vermont – how’s the icicles hanging?

I bought a novelty item some years ago, a digital playback device that would say “fuck you” or “kiss my ass” and a few other choice phrases when you pushed a button. Fun.

I dropped it into a puddle of water one day, quickly retrieved it and wiped it off as best I could, put it back into my shirt pocket after a test showed that it was working.

Fifteen minutes or so later I was in an elevator at the library when it “cooked off” and began a tirade that I ended only when I smashed it with my heel on the floor.

All the other riders got off at the next stop, although several had pushed the button for a different floor.

NZ Expat @
23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

One of the nicest things you can do for her at this point and without getting her into trouble at work is a glowing letter thanking her with a matching letter to the hospital (it will go in her file) and maybe even to the local newspaper.

Another is to introduce her to the SIEU Local 535 hasa a branch office in at 5756 N Marks Ave #160 in Fresno, CA 93711. Other CA branches here.

political threat?

Not apparently by the Romans- (who were fairly sanguine about whatever religious practices folks wanted to engage in.)

rwcole @ 116

Peterr

Read the other day about a new fundi movement to get men back into church- by emphasizing that it’s OK to curse- it’s in the bible- and that yer desire to blow shit up is not contrary to the spirit of the Lord- who blew shit up too!!

They start their meetings with crash scenes and violence scenes from Hollywood movies–they want to get rid of the “feminized” persona of our Lord.

I saw that too. I kept thinking “projection, projection, projection.”

Kind of hard to reconcile their apparent glorification of violence with Jesus telling his followers to turn the other cheek, telling his disciples not to violently intervene at his arrest, etc.

katymine @ 96

Can I be a DFH now if I was one in the 60’s?

Can you be a real one now without being one then?
I really F**k’n want to know?

Damn.

Where’d I leave my manual?

NZ Expat @
40

Thanks for all the suggestions. The thing is, this woman is struggling to put food on her own table. So, while I’d like to do something in her name, I’d like her to have some luxurious little something, some la-la-la in her own life too. After Mother is no longer a patient there, I think I may be free to do what I want.

We all need some la-la-la, and even as my elderly French student back in NZ says, some ooo-la-la in our lives.

Does her grocery store sell ‘gift certificates?’

rizbiz @ 121

A certain DFH was executed by crucifixion.

This was the form of demise for sedition.

The method of execution used for heresy was stoning.

The DFH was considered to be a political threat, not a religious one.

Ah, but it was the religious leaders who turned the DFH over to the political authorities, and it was the religious mob who refused to allow the political leaders to grant amnesty.

There’s plenty of blame to go around on that one, both politically and religiously.

I was away and I see that that simple question about strong language had a lot of reaction. Pach I was born in NY in the first half of the last century and lived on its streets my whole life so I know from NY speak.

I dispise people like Bush and mean Jeanne as much as the next one, and I might even sat “fuck you” to their face had I the opportunity… so I understand how frustrated we all are. But in a discussion, too much of that language used so frequently seems to at least lose its power, for one and to lower the level of discourse a bit and it seems unnecessary.

I am sorry to derail the discussion to one of language because the atrocities of this administration are so obscene there are actually no words to describe it.

The torture of people is completely inexcusable and we are routinely doing it…. and NOW. As obscene as war is, some can find a justification.. or so they think… “the just war”… but torture is completely without justification. That is the thing which has literally made me cry. Look at this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su9X3B0CW-I

Mommybrain @ 104

I don’t have trouble with the Sprout and cuss words. Most of my cursing is done by keyboard these days. BUT…

After Michael Richard’s meltdown, he thought it amusing to try out that word. In public. At a multiracial community gathering. Oh, my, was my face red.

We’ve had several long talks since then.

Since Michael Richards and the accompanying debate, including Reverend Jackson’s call for all of us to stop using that word, I have a new strategy that works on the public bus I ride home. I’m always accompanied by students who use the Richards word on each other and on the folks on the other end of their cellphone calls. Here’s what I do now: snap my head around, do a gay shriek (ask Kathy Griffin if you don’t know what that sounds like!) and stare at them with my hand across my mouth. Then I say, “Jesse Jackson sez we musn’t say that word.”

The silence is deafening, except for older people (usually in the front of the bus) who nod their heads and agree with me, quietly. The kids all shut up. It helps that they think I’m an undercover cop, due to my build (?!), my dirty cop mirrored sunglasses, and my fearlessness when sitting in the back of the bus, among all of them and their noisemakers that aren’t radios and therefore don’t attract the busdriver’s attention.

I recommend Shock-and-Awe for the Michael Richards word — it’s working for me.

Excellent roundup, Pach. Thaks for all the effort that took. From the Boston Globe today: Incoming Democrats face fiscal minefield

Funding gaps left in programs

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | December 9, 2006

WASHINGTON — The outgoing Republican Congress has placed a political time bomb for incoming Democrats: Nearly all domestic programs paid for by the federal government are level funded through mid-February with no adjustments for inflation, a situation that probably will trigger cuts or reductions in such popular areas as veterans’ affairs, children’s healthcare, housing vouchers, and low-income fuel assistance.

Democrats, who take control of Congress in January, will therefore have to immediately choose between restoring any lost services and their campaign pledge to control government spending. The clash could expose tensions within the party in the crucial first weeks of Democrats’ leadership — and the party’s agenda could get sidetracked in a pitched battle over spending priorities.

“As the Republicans leave their control of Congress, they’ve decided to blow up the room,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the assistant Democratic leader. “They’re leaving behind a disaster for us to deal with.”

rwcole @
43

Just give the woman a gift and screw the policy! Take a chance- what’re they gonna do- give ya a ticket?

It’ll bounce back on the aide. Not nice to give a gift like that.

jeffreyw @ 123

I bought a novelty item some years ago, a digital playback device that would say “fuck you” or “kiss my ass” and a few other choice phrases when you pushed a button. Fun.

I dropped it into a puddle of water one day, quickly retrieved it and wiped it off as best I could, put it back into my shirt pocket after a test showed that it was working.

Fifteen minutes or so later I was in an elevator at the library when it “cooked off” and began a tirade that I ended only when I smashed it with my heel on the floor.

All the other riders got off at the next stop, although several had pushed the button for a different floor.

thank you for sharing this story~made my day

I, and many like me, who are hugely removed from being an expert on Middle East affairs saw right through the Bush fabrications for invading Iraq. I want ALL politicians (the big DC brains) who voted for attacking Iraq in the first place, and especially those who support continued American presence in Iraq, dealt with. Harshly. Regardless of political party.

TSF! LOL! You are fearless!

Here’s what I do now: snap my head around, do a gay shriek (ask Kathy Griffin if you don’t know what that sounds like!) and stare at them with my hand across my mouth. Then I say, “Jesse Jackson sez we musn’t say that word.”

That whole thing is a scene in a movie, i’n’it? What I wouldn’t give to be there for that!

TeddySanFran @ 131

Since Michael Richards and the accompanying debate, including Reverend Jackson’s call for all of us to stop using that word, I have a new strategy that works on the public bus I ride home. I’m always accompanied by students who use the Richards word on each other and on the folks on the other end of their cellphone calls. Here’s what I do now: snap my head around, do a gay shriek (ask Kathy Griffin if you don’t know what that sounds like!) and stare at them with my hand across my mouth. Then I say, “Jesse Jackson sez we musn’t say that word.”

The silence is deafening, except for older people (usually in the front of the bus) who nod their heads and agree with me, quietly. The kids all shut up. It helps that they think I’m an undercover cop, due to my build (?!), my dirty cop mirrored sunglasses, and my fearlessness when sitting in the back of the bus, among all of them and their noisemakers that aren’t radios and therefore don’t attract the busdriver’s attention.

I recommend Shock-and-Awe for the Michael Richards word — it’s working for me.

I said it before, and I must say it again…
You’re my hero, Teddy!!!! : )

I just get SOOOOO DISGUSTED every time I hear that n-word…
My gangsta cousin may think he’s so “pimpin’” when he says it, but I just want to scream whenever I’m at their house. I mean, is that the type of behavior that he wants his 2-year-old son to learn? Although he may not be intentionally using words such as the n-word in a racust way, it still means different things to different sets of people…

And ship Hillary off to the Green Zone.

Boston Globe lead editorial, on Bush reaction to ISG report:

Presidential Ingratitude

December 9, 2006

PRESIDENT BUSH let the ball roll under his glove Thursday when he hinted that he has little enthusiasm for the recommendations of the commission co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and the former House International Relations Committee chairman Lee Hamilton. Whatever might be questioned in any particular recommendation of the report, the bipartisan spirit and consensus-building purpose of the Iraq Study Group deserve grateful praise from the president, not a defensive rejection.

Had he shown proper appreciation for the work of the panel’s 10 senior members and their aides, Bush could have made his own task easier as a commander in chief trying to cope with the disastrous consequences of his own war of choice. Had he enlisted in the Iraq Study Group’s common-sense project of seeking to limit the damage from his administration’s blunders in Iraq, Bush might be part of the solution — rather than the continuing cause — of a daunting problem.

And there’s more there. (empahsis mine)

This continues the theme that we don’t just have a problem in Iraq. We have a problem in the White House. We need an “American Study Group” to give us recommendations on what do do about Bush/Cheney/ et al. Same theme over at Hullabaloo today. Bottom line: “Let’s impeach.” I expect that chorus to grow.

What if Baghdad Bob was right all along?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg…..13-153.stm

That whole thing is a scene in a movie, i’n’it? What I wouldn’t give to be there for that!

Come ride the 6-Parnassus or the 71-Haight/Noriega or the 22-Fillmore or the 24-Divisadero with me, lady, we’ll mess with their heads! They have no defense against Jesse Jackson and suddenly the elder pressure’s all against them.

Mostly, the kids disembark at the next stop; probably they wait around for the next bus, planning to terrorize its passengers anew. You and I could tag-team them, riding one bus behind the other with identical shrieking strategies!

Hugh @
88

[From the ISG report] “ Given the current situation in Iraq, achieving this goal will require much time […]

[…] it is the contention of the ISG that in the absence of rapid progress in these areas we should leave.

It follow, by modus ponens, that we should leave.

That places the president in a distinct minority. According to the NEWSWEEK poll, more than two out of three Americans believe the United States is losing ground in Iraq (68 percent), versus 21 percent who say it is making progress—the most pessimistic assessment the NEWSWEEK poll has ever recorded. A near-record 53 percent believe invading Iraq was a mistake, compared to 39 percent who say it was the right course of action.

In fact, the public goes farther than the Baker-Hamilton report. Sixty-two percent of Americans want the Bush administration to set a timetable for withdrawal. And not in the distant future. Forty-eight percent of Americans want U.S. soldiers and Marines to come home now or within the next year. Add in the 19 percent who say they would support U.S. troops remaining in Iraq one to two years more and 67 percent of Americans say they would support keeping large numbers of U.S. military personnel in Iraq for no more than another year or two.

Newsweek..

They don’t like Clusterfuck much either- 32% JAR

Peterr @ 129

rizbiz @ 121

A certain DFH was executed by crucifixion.

This was the form of demise for sedition.

The method of execution used for heresy was stoning.

The DFH was considered to be a political threat, not a religious one.

Ah, but it was the religious leaders who turned the DFH over to the political authorities, and it was the religious mob who refused to allow the political leaders to grant amnesty.

There’s plenty of blame to go around on that one, both politically and religiously.

And they’d do it again today.

kirk murphy–

I must have missed your explanation for why you find it amusing to start your comments with “Good morning you miserable turds” and “Dear shit for brains at the lake.”

Whether a joke or some kind of art I am too miserable and shitty to understand, this is very unhelpful for me and others who are struggling to stay above water from seasonal depression.

Americans are approaching a consensus.

Most americans don’t want us to withdraw immediately- but a LARGE MAJORITY- say that one or two more years are IT- end of the LINE- No Mas….

new thread upstairs

egregious @ 145

kirk murphy–

I must have missed your explanation for why you find it amusing to start your comments with “Good morning you miserable turds” and “Dear shit for brains at the lake.”

Whether a joke or some kind of art I am too miserable and shitty to understand, this is very unhelpful for me and others who are struggling to stay above water from seasonal depression.

Actually, eg, I am in the middle of SAD now, and I found it refreshing, and my wife and I laughed our asses off at the surprise element.

Meteor Blades at DKos:

Last to Die for Bush’s and His Pals’ @#&*%$#^ Lies

don’t miss the map.

I have said since 9.12.01, ‘How many lives will this nation allow this president to sacrifice to his god of good and evil in exchange for ‘greatness’?
In his ignorance and hubris, Dubya might have done well to notice that ‘great’ is an adjective well served by a qualiying subject. Dubya has achieved ‘greatness’, as in ‘disappointment’, ‘villain’, ‘buffoon’, ‘crminal’, ‘catastrophy’, and ‘embarassment’. Were it that he had thought to be regarded as a ‘great’, and wise, ‘leader’.

egregious, I think it’s a particular male-oriented, anarchic-leaning form of ritual greeting, or something.

i find kirkmurphy to be a warm and passionate person , who at times comes across in exhuberant waves and i know he would never want to hurt you. Intentionally. It is hard, sometimes, to know where to draw a line.

What’s on my mind today, you ask, Mr. Pach? Well, it ain’t dirty language and it ain’t really the Michael Richards word.

What I’m thinking about — again — are those conversations that must be happening all over our nation, around kitchen tables as young people sit down for lunch, whether they are home from college or visiting their parents for the day or still in college dining halls or sitting across from their young spouse, perhaps with their own children.

Who are these young people? Former House pages, the pages who haven’t yet had the conversation with their parents, their siblings, their former page colleagues, their college roommates, their spouses or their friends. For ten years, The Monster Mark Foley stalked the Halls of Congress, looking for fresh meat to groom and nibble on — and there are still stories to be told, mark my words. Enabled by his party leaders, The Monster Foley’s predation was dismissed by colleagues who warned young people of the penalties for pursuing corrective action. (Yeah, Monster Kolbe, you!)

Such agony I saw yesterday on the faces and in the voices of the young people who dare to speak out against this whitewash — to speak out against power, and still defend this wonderful program. They defend The Page Program against those who would prey on its young participants and against those who will not punish the predators.

Friday was a dark day for Congress in so many, many ways — passing the buck to their successors, trivializing the predation of minors in their care, and further enriching the rich who made them rich too. It’s a shame. A real shame.

.TeddySanFran @ 131

Mommybrain @ 104

I don’t have trouble with the Sprout and cuss words. Most of my cursing is done by keyboard these days. BUT…

After Michael Richard’s meltdown, he thought it amusing to try out that word. In public. At a multiracial community gathering. Oh, my, was my face red.

We’ve had several long talks since then.

Since Michael Richards and the accompanying debate, including Reverend Jackson’s call for all of us to stop using that word, I have a new strategy that works on the public bus I ride home. I’m always accompanied by students who use the Richards word on each other and on the folks on the other end of their cellphone calls. Here’s what I do now: snap my head around, do a gay shriek (ask Kathy Griffin if you don’t know what that sounds like!) and stare at them with my hand across my mouth. Then I say, “Jesse Jackson sez we musn’t say that word.”

The silence is deafening, except for older people (usually in the front of the bus) who nod their heads and agree with me, quietly. The kids all shut up. It helps that they think I’m an undercover cop, due to my build (?!), my dirty cop mirrored sunglasses, and my fearlessness when sitting in the back of the bus, among all of them and their noisemakers that aren’t radios and therefore don’t attract the busdriver’s attention.

I recommend Shock-and-Awe for the Michael Richards word — it’s working for me.

Ha ha ha he he hoo… TSF, you are a fabulous mess. Are we related? My guess, you were on the 22 Fillmore nearing the corner of McAllister for a transfer to the 5 Fulton. I always sat in the back near the action as well and had a few successful encounters such as you describe. But I sure watched a few encounters backfire so please do be careful amigo.
You make me homesick!

Isn’t it now up to the ethics committee to take action on the report from it’s sub comitte on the Foley fuck up?

jayt @ 127

katymine @ 96

Can I be a DFH now if I was one in the 60’s?

Can you be a real one now without being one then?
I really F**k’n want to know?

Damn.

Where’d I leave my manual?

Real hippies never referred to themselves as such, that was the media term. The word we used among ourselves was freak.

Hi egregious -

Somewhere up thread we had a burst of revelry (is wallowry a word?) celebrating “naughty words”, and my excresences were in the spirit (odor) of these exchanges.

[the sfb reference was discussed in the comment - “Dear SFB” is the title of the Letters to Editor pages in the EarthFirst! Journal]

In any event, my wallows were intended as a bit of a send up of celebrating “naughty words” for the sake for the sake of saying “naughty words.”

The comment started:

Good morning you miserable turds!

(And Good morning, firepups!….)

[snip - and ended:]

We will live to see the defeat of Armani-garbed violent avarice – aka neo-liberalism.

In the process, we’ll need a wide net of alliances and networks – and those will all require discussions among different cultural subgroups.

As language is the tool of thought, I’m glad that DefJef and others are raising the perfectly useful question of how the words we seleect affect the success of our efforts to inform and persuade.

Shit. piss, corruption, snot

Thirty-two assholes tied in a knot!

That’s a hard question, DefJef.

Thanks for asking it. :)

I so respect your work egregious, and the last thing I’d want to do is cause you discomfort or add to existing discomfort.

There’s a reason I don’t earn my living as a comic – I’m seldom good at it!

Be well – hope better days are near.

TSF, about homesick, I want to thank you for that…)

atdnext @ 137

TeddySanFran @ 131

Since Michael Richards and the accompanying debate, including Reverend Jackson’s call for all of us to stop using that word, I have a new strategy that works on the public bus I ride home. I’m always accompanied by students who use the Richards word on each other and on the folks on the other end of their cellphone calls. Here’s what I do now: snap my head around, do a gay shriek (ask Kathy Griffin if you don’t know what that sounds like!) and stare at them with my hand across my mouth. Then I say, “Jesse Jackson sez we musn’t say that word.”

The silence is deafening, except for older people (usually in the front of the bus) who nod their heads and agree with me, quietly. The kids all shut up. It helps that they think I’m an undercover cop, due to my build (?!), my dirty cop mirrored sunglasses, and my fearlessness when sitting in the back of the bus, among all of them and their noisemakers that aren’t radios and therefore don’t attract the busdriver’s attention.

I recommend Shock-and-Awe for the Michael Richards word — it’s working for me.

I said it before, and I must say it again…
You’re my hero, Teddy!!!! : )

I just get SOOOOO DISGUSTED every time I hear that n-word…
My gangsta cousin may think he’s so “pimpin’” when he says it, but I just want to scream whenever I’m at their house. I mean, is that the type of behavior that he wants his 2-year-old son to learn? Although he may not be intentionally using words such as the n-word in a racust way, it still means different things to different sets of people…

‘c**t’ affects some people the same way. Not me, so much, but just sayin’

NZ Expat @
23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

Send her a thank you card through the hospital. Also send the hospital a letter mentioning her by name, praising her care of your mother.
This helps morale more than you know, and it makes an impression on the higher ups too. You’ll be doing her a good turn.
The last hospital I worked for counted up the good words you got from patient surveys.
Every 5 or 10 good reports earned you a gold star pin. Every 5 pins earned you money…$50 I think. I thought it was sad to be given gold stars like kindergarteners again, but there it is.
And bless you for wanting to give her a gift, that is really heartwarming.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 135

I, and many like me, who are hugely removed from being an expert on Middle East affairs saw right through the Bush fabrications for invading Iraq. I want ALL politicians (the big DC brains) who voted for attacking Iraq in the first place, and especially those who support continued American presence in Iraq, dealt with. Harshly. Regardless of political party.

EPU, but I didn’t see any mention of another Repug going awol on The Deciderer: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..an_senator

Pretty strong statements, on the Senate floor no less, from another Rubber Stamper. Gee maybe he knows we’re gunning for his ass in 08.

Margot @
159

NZ Expat @
23

The nurse’s aide, who so lovingly cleaned up my mother after an “accident” yesterday said that she had been on an eight day “vacation” and missed saying goodbye to my mother’s roommate, who died a few days ago. I asked her what she did on her vacation, and she said she worked more on her other job. One job pays for rent and transportation, the other job pays for food for her family.

I told her that there were people who worked hard in the last election to change things for people like her. She looked at me with incredulity. “I didn’t think people even knew that people like me existed.”

Any ideas? There are strict rules against giving employees gifts. She is one of many, but she is the one who has been compassionate to my mom despite her weariness.

Gratitude is the way to sanity, and must be expressed.

Send her a thank you card through the hospital. Also send the hospital a letter mentioning her by name, praising her care of your mother.
This helps morale more than you know, and it makes an impression on the higher ups too. You’ll be doing her a good turn.
The last hospital I worked for counted up the good words you got from patient surveys.
Every 5 or 10 good reports earned you a gold star pin. Every 5 pins earned you money…$50 I think. I thought it was sad to be given gold stars like kindergarteners again, but there it is.
And bless you for wanting to give her a gift, that is really heartwarming.

Definitely a note to the hospital – the head of nurses, perhaps – as well as a note to her. And maybe also make a gift in her honor to Blue America (see the next thread), and tell her about it in the note. “These are the folks I was telling you about, that are trying to change things.”

DefJef @
39

I am curious why you have to use the language like

“… George Bush’s fucking ego…”

I dispise the man and his policies, but I simply don’t get the use of that sort of language in political discussion.

I have recently returned from Italy having attended my brother in law’s memorial. Gianni Rigacci was a devoted political activist on the far far left in Italy for 5 decades and he was a dignified man and would never use that type of language in a political discussion. He was so well respected in Italy despite his far left politics that the speaker of the Italian parliment came from Rome to pay respects to him.

Why are we so easy to use this type of language? I don’t find that it helps in any way. Am I too old to get it or what?

Well, I’m 72, and I kinda get it.

“‘There are moments,’ writes poet Charles Simic, ‘when true invective is called for, when it becomes an absolute necessity, out of a deep sense of justice, to denounce, mock, vituperate, lash out, in the strongest possible language.’ But however we act, we’d do well to treat ordinary citizens with respect.”

–Charles Simic, quoted in “The argument culture,” Irish Times, December 17, 1998

I’m with the poet, and not the reverend on this one. It really is one of those times, replete with all kinds of moments. Criminal Bush is not an ordinary citizen, and he has defiled his office and the country to boot.

That said, before I shut up, I’ll simply say, well, fuck him with a heartfelt

fuck, fuckity, fuck.