Filed under Barack Obama, Chastise Man, Humorous, News, People, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, War in Iraq by 
A young man of conscious:
And the conscious of the King – in solidarity with his subjects :
Said with a straight face as if he has no idea, no idea at all, that the world would be a better place if he had stayed on the golf course and never set foot in Washington.
And what’s up with the jerk doing the interview? “Uh, Mr. President, was there a particular moment or incident that brought you to that decision, or how did you come to that?”
He “came to that” because you’re an idiot, Mr. Interviewer, the President is an idiot, and this country and the entire world will pay for it for years to come.
How is it that we have sunk so low as to take the president’s alleged abstinence from golf as some meaningful act of solidarity with those whose lives he has ruined? WHY IS THIS MAN STILL IN OFFICE??!!
If we get the leaders we deserve, then we have gone woefully astray my friend. January 2009 will come eight years too late.
ARRGHHHHHH!!!
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, News, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by
And that’s just in his own congressional district. (California District 8, Nancy Pelosi – yikes! A San Franicsco Liberal!!).
Maybe we don’t need 19,045 music and arts teachers in this one district, but in California it seems we’re more and more hard-pressed to see to educating our children at all, let alone in the arts. And don’t think music and arts isn’t important. Without music programs (and an excellent teacher) in his school many years ago, Chastise Man could easily have pursued a life of crime. (who knows?)
But what of other issues?
With the $1.3 billion my congressional district has spent on the war in Iraq to date, there could have been 135 new elementary schools built, staffed with 19,363 new teachers to educate the children in those schools, 503,943 of those children could have health care, or 161,260 more Head Start organization for those children to go to. Seems like we could have blanketed the district with education with plenty left over for other districts (who, of course, could have blanketed their districts… Hell, America could have actually lived up to Bush’s rhetoric of “no child left behind”)
Ah, but what about national security, the “hotbed of terrorism” the “central battlefield on the war on terror”; keeping America safe from those who would do us harm and all that?
My $1.3 billion would have put in place 17,027 Port Container Inspectors, or 24,085 public safety officers.
Our dependence on foreign oil? $1.3 billion from district 8 would have built 2,402,036 homes with renewable energy. That’s two million, four hundred two thousand, eighty five homes – from the tax bill thus far for the Iraq war from one congressional district.
Health care? 554,874 more people with health care.
Affordable housing? 4,035 more units…
I think the point is clear.
Obviously America is much better off after five years of war in Iraq, our kids are better educated, our streets and ports are safer, we’re well on the way to kicking our “addiction to oil”, the less fortunate have affordable housing, and we all have access to health care.
Not.
Happy April Fools from Chastise Man. In the time it’s taken you to read this happy post, America has spent nearly a half-million more dollars on the war in Iraq.
click here to learn more
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by
When an interviewer recently stated that two-thirds of the American public feel the war in Iraq has not been worth the cost, Cheney replied:
So indeed.
Just in case anyone thought the vice-president might care just a little what those for whom he serves think and feel – he doesn’t – never has, never will.
Lucky for us, the clock is ticking (just take a look at the sidebar on the right… tick, tick, tick)
Filed under Chastise Man, People, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War in Iraq by
The Musical:
The Time: May 1st 2003
The Place: USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego; Iraq
US Army Pfc. Jesse Givens died in Iraq in the service of his country on the first of May, 2003, in his 34th year. He wrote this letter to his wife Melissa, his five year-old son Dakota (nicknamed ‘Toad’) and his unborn child Carson (nicknamed ‘Bean’). He asked Melissa not to open the envelope unless he was killed. ‘Please, only read it if I don’t come home,’ he wrote. ‘Please put it away and hopefully you will never have to read it.’
Andrew Garland, baritone
Lee Hoiby, composer and pianist
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by
“The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice–and always has been.”
-Mark Twain
The Red Friday emails aren’t new. It’s been going around for awhile. The idea is that all God-fearing (preferably a protestant God, even better if there’s some of that evangelical fire-in-the-belly fervor added to it), patriotic, real Americans that love this country and support our troops show that patriotism and support for troops through fashion. Specifically by wearing the color red on Fridays, like some sort of badge that identifies yourself as part of the group.
The choice presented in the Red on Fridays idea is simple. Either do it or admit you aren’t patriotic, you don’t support the troops, and you hate America.
So did you wear red last Friday? (Which ironically enough, was “black Friday” the day that people wait for hours in a line for admission into a store that opens at 4AM to allow all real Americans adequate opportunity to consume as much as they possibly can; even while they have yet to fully digest the enormous turkey dinner from the day before. Gobble, gobble.)
But I digress.
Couched in the simple-minded, emotionally charged rhetoric of what I am to think and how I am to act in order to properly display my patriotism and “support for the troops” denies me my own facility to think and feel for myself. What better way to separate the saved from the damned, the believers from the non-believers, the patriots from the traitors, the conservatives from the liberals?
A variation on this particular email sent to me recently by a well-meaning yet misguided acquaintance added a tear-jerker of a story. Complete with selfless young soldiers, lonely wives, and little girls that missed their fathers. I will take whomever originally wrote the touching story of Courtney and the sobbing masses at the Atlanta airport on their word that this chain of events actually happened.
It is, indeed, a touching human story. One that has been repeated, in one form or another, as long as war has ravaged society. To paint this particular act of humanity as uniquely American is to not only misunderstand what it means to be uniquely American, but what it is to be simply human.
Nationalistic fervor is not new. It is the domain of monarchs, despots, communists and fascists. It knows no idealogical affiliation and takes no moral high ground.
To blindly subscribe to it is the worst way to support our troops, it is the worst way to “love America”, and it forsakes what men throughout the nation’s history have fought and died for: Freedom of thought, the pursuit of ideas, and the nurturing of the creative human spirit.
It is fine to demonstrate support for our troops serving all over the world, and especially those in the line of fire. All too often, as in the case of the “Wear Red on Friday” phenomenon, it seems to me as a bit of a ruse. Maybe some are well meaning in the gesture, perhaps many. But it is too easily manipulated into something else. Instilling fear where there should be courage, division where there should be community, and intolerance where there should be acceptance.
For those not directly involved in the conflict, that do not have a friend or relative serving in the military, there are better ways to actually support the troops. Here’s one, and another, and one more.
So go ahead and wear red next Friday. It’s a free country. For now.
But don’t fool yourself that you’re really doing anything that supports the troops, is particularly patriotic, or shows an extraordinary love, or even knowledge of, the principles of America. It takes more than a red shirt, is all I’m sayin’.
Yeah sure, I probably sound mighty smug and sanctimonious to all you folks laying out your red shirts for next Friday.
Get over it.
At the very least, let’s consider that the idea of a “Sea of red across America” as a gesture in support of troops in a war zone as just a little bit off.
Better to have a Sea of Blue. Blue was the color of Lincoln’s army that held the nation together in a war that literally almost tore the country in two. It’s the color of the two great oceans that touch our shores. It’s the color of progress, and the color that binds the fifty stars together as one nation.
Now that’s what this country really needs.
Filed under Chastise Man, Mumbling to Myself, News, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by
An audible gasp could be heard in the briefing room as Mr. Bush, our president and ostensible “leader”, announced that the reason there has been no “instant democracy” in Iraq is because “Mandela is dead”.
I, too, had to check myself.
Huh? Nelson Mandela is DEAD?!? And what does that have to do with Iraq???
Perhaps more had happened in the world while I was away exploring the Alaskan wilderness than I realized. But persevering – out of either conscientious desire to be engaged in the national dialogue or, more likely, a deep-seated self-loathing and consequent desire to punish myself – I listened to Bush as he ham-handedly mangled an advisor’s previous analogy. Not a very good one even when spoken by someone with command of the English language I suspect; something along the lines of “there are no Nelson Mandela’s in Iraq, they are all dead as a result of Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime”. Not “Nelson Mandela is dead”.
Whatever. I guess the point is that the reason things didn’t go as planned for Bush & Co. in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with them. As far as I can tell, Bush has yet to truly accept responsibility for much of anything that has happened on his watch, let alone the immorally incompetent planning and execution of his Great Adventure in Iraq. I don’t believe Bush could have played into Osama bin Laden’s hand any better if the old goat had flown to Washington to personally lay out his plans.
The press conference continues; I hang on for more.
Bush refers to Condi Rice as the PhD and he as the C student, but “look who is the president and who the advisor”. Oh my God. This man is truly a grade A little jerk. “HOW IS IT THAT THIS MAN EVER BECAME THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?”
My plaintive cry goes unanswered.
Bush may be president, but he failed to mention that he is a president that was never legitimately elected. Theft and fraud the central theme in both elections.
Bush later asserts he got a “B” in Econ 101. It is later reported that his transcripts show he received a “C-“.
I hang on for yet more, feeling my anger – even desperation – rise as I watch Bush act all the impudent and arrogant fool instead of wise and strong leader.
And yet, the final blow, the icing on the cake, the coup de grace comes at the end of the news conference. The very last questioner who, it is later learned, is most likely a plant from Fox News, allows Bush to once again manipulate the truth, distort the meaning of all that is truly American, and hide his bankrupt and hideous policies behind a four-star general, a print ad, and a cynical (and unfortunately typical) manipulation of the “free” press.
There are no words I could muster that would express my utter indignation and fury better than those expressed by Keith Olbermann, so I shall leave that to him (see the YouTube video below).
I must add, however, this: Where is the rage?
What the hell is the Senate doing voting to “condemn” the ad published by MoveOn.org? Do they truly mean to condemn free speech? It wasn’t MoveOn.org that made the good general a political hack for Bully George to hide behind. When one wades into political waters, one must expect political consequences, but I’ll let Keith address that.
This is what I get for trying to listen to Bush at a press conference. Every time I don’t think my opinion of the Bush regime can sink any lower, and my sadness for the state of our nation deepen any more, Bush opens his mouth, and my heart sinks while my abject rage at the man and all he has done intensifies.
Some may say that I am in danger of becoming a fanatic. I say, how could I not? Just look at what this man and his cronies have done to this country!
Some may say that, in any case, I should have more respect for the president. I say, I have too much respect for the presidency to ever, ever, have any, ANY, respect for George Bush.
Bush has decided to make me his enemy, and so be it.
If congress is intent on voting on meaningless measures that will amount to no substantive action, then the least they should do is IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH. It wouldn’t pass the senate, but at least there would be a historical record in place telling future generations that what George Bush has done during his tenure as president is immoral, illegal, and un-American. And never, one hopes, to be repeated.
I think I’ll take a pass on his next press conference.
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, News, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War in Iraq by
George Bush announced today he would direct Congress to allow the CIA to dispatch agents to “embed” in the homes of American citizens in order to keep them safe from terrorism.
When one mealy-mouthed Congressman expressed concern over the “possible” incursion on civil liberties and citizen’s privacy, Administration officials sought to assuage such concerns citing “tough safeguards” that will one day be written up on a cocktail napkin, and that these actions are necessary to keep us safe from "those that would do evil".
At a press conference Tony Snow then proceeded to question said mealy-mouthed congressman’s patriotism, true allegiance, raised certain uncomfortable questions about his mother, and reiterated that this was just one more example of why George Bush is a Strong and Just leader in dogged pursuit of Evil Doers and anyone who doesn’t think so is a weak-kneed, leftist, terror-loving bastard. The Constitution of the United States was not mentioned at the press conference.
In the meantime, CIA Director Michael Hayden told reporters that embedded agents will not peek while citizens “went to the bathroom and did, uh, other private things – but they will be listening. Just in case a terrorist plot is being discussed”.
Bush asserted that the only way to insure our nation’s founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is to make sure “all Americans are safe from Evil – there are people that want to do Evil out there – they’re… Evildoers.”
When one reporter asked if it was actually to the terrorists advantage if America curtailed civil liberties and violated constitutional law and norms in pursuit of irrational and misguided policies in the name of “security”, and that it may, in fact, not make our country more secure to utilize secretive and Draconian measures in any case, the reporter was immediately sent to Guantanamo.
God Bless America.
Photo credit: Daniel Kurtzman, About.com
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, News, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by
I work occasionally with a business consultant and earlier this week we were discussing the possibilities for The History Blog Project.
The conversation led to John relating the story of his recent conversation with two young men in his favorite Austin coffeehouse, one soon to be a senior in high school and the other just graduated. John asked them if they knew what the July 4th holiday was all about.
They both knew that it was about American Independence. But from whom?
One thought we had liberated ourselves from the iron grip of Imperial Spain. “No, no”, said the other, “It’s France”.
And when?
“1965?”
I was not there, I did not hear this exchange. But John has little reason to make such a thing up.
(I have a distinct memory of sitting on our couch in Denver during the Christmas holiday of 1965, watching the Vietnam war on television. At least I think it was Vietnam…)
Who to chastise here… The young men that have made it thus far in their American education without even a rudimentary understanding of our history? Or the adults charged with imparting this rudimentary knowledge? Or the society in general that allows both the adults and children to so egregiously miss the boat.
Take your pick.
How many of the young soldiers in Iraq are there, filled with talk of Fighting for Freedom – or the justification du jour – that don’t even know the history of their own fight for freedom? Is their idea of America only what they’ve seen since the election of George Bush and 9/11?
Is this what America has become? The vision of George Bush’s messianic mission – “crusade”, as he himself put it – and young men, products of mainstream American education, believing that July 4th is a day to celebrate our independence from France on that fateful day in 1965?
This is what I think: If you can’t name at least six people who signed the Declaration of Independence (that’s right, six. Go crack open a book, or better yet, google it if you need to), who we were declaring independence from, and the year it was signed, then I think you should not be allowed to go to preemptive war in a foreign country until you’ve taken – and passed – an American history class (one hopes George Bush would pass muster).
If we can’t insure at least this much, then we shouldn’t put a gun in their hands and send them to a country whose culture their own leader doesn’t understand.
Is anybody paying attention here?
Filed under Chastise Man, History Blogs, People, Politics, War in Iraq by
George Bush vetoed legislation yesterday that would have eased restrictions for federal funding of stem cell research, stating that it is a “moral line" he will "not cross”.
A moral line Bush is unwilling to cross.
Let’s then consider what “moral lines” Bush is apparently willing to cross (this is the short list):
- He has no problem lying to the American people (and the world) about the reasons for invading Iraq and to shift those reasons as each one previous exposes itself as illegitimate
- He feels justified in lying to the American people about illegal wiretaps and surveillance on Americans
- He allows his administration to expose a covert CIA officer only because her husband calls him on his disingenuous assertion that Iraq had obtained nuclear “yellow cake” from Africa. And simply ignores his own previous claim that the people responsible (Dick Cheney) will not work in his administration
- He sees fit to appoint lackey supporters to key administration posts instead of competent administrators, helping exacerbate the criminally incompetent response to hurricane Katrina
- He feels justified in invoking fear, through repeated use of the words “nine-eleven”, to cling to power, harass his opponents, and excuse ill-advised policies
- He is comfortable with abusing and violating the constitution as he sees fit, causing many to fear a dangerous slide into a “monarchial presidency”
- He is willing to use torture as a means of interrogation
- He has no problem backing out of his own commitment to the Kyoto protocol and to do it in a way that then EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman describes as “flipping the bird to the rest of the world”. A posture he holds throughout his presidency, causing a former administrator to suggest that, according to Bush, America’s job is to do what it will, and the job of the rest of the world is to “deal with it”
- He has allowed, through deceit, incompetence, arrogance, and disdain for decency, the death of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Iraquis in a colossally foolish, mistaken, mismanaged, and immoral war
- He has allowed war and disaster profiteering from companies such as Halliburton, looting the American taxpayer for 10 billion dollars (money that is simply “missing”)
- He proffered claims that the war in Iraq would only cost $50 billion – current estimates of the cost of the war in Iraq now stand at $1.2 trillion. That’s 1,200,000,000,000.00 (check me on that, I don’t often use such numbers – do I have enough zeros?)
- He claims a unique relationship with God, as if he has been specially chosen by the Almighty to lead the country down the abysmal path of his presidency. If this is true, God must hate us
- He claims he is “for life” in vetoing funding of stem cell research, something that would help ease human suffering and disease. And yet Mr. Bush shows no compunction crossing moral line after moral line; opportunities lost, resources squandered, families torn apart, and thousands of lives ruined. All as a direct result of his arrogance, his intransigence, and his incompetence – in other words, his presidency.
If this is moral leadership, then: 
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