Jose Can-You-Seco

Okay, It's official. Steroid use is completely out of control. Just look what it's done to his little genitals.

Like Silt In a River

"What no one seemed to notice . . . was the ever widening gap . . . between the government and the people. . . And it became always wider. . . the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting, it provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway . . . (it) gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about . . .and kept us so busy with continuous changes and 'crises' and so fascinated . . . by the machinations of the 'national enemies,' without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. . . Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted,' that unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures'. . . must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. . . .Each act is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even talk, alone. You don't want to 'go out of your way to make trouble.' . . . But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That's the difficulty. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves. When everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. . . .You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father . . . could never have imagined.” From Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free, the Germans, 1938-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955)

Professional Assholes at Work and Play

This article is sickening.

I bet if the Senate convened in Biloxi instead of their poshy little house on the hill, this aid would have been pushed through immediately.

No Shit.

A cover up by the Bush administration? Using someone's death for political gain? Nah, never.

I hate W. He is a loathsome sack of worm-ridden dog shit surrounded by heinous, blood-sucking monsters.

Max Blumenthal: A Cover-Up At The Highest Levels

“The administration clearly was using this case for its own political reasons. This cover-up started within minutes of Pat’s death, and it started at high levels. This is not something that (lower-ranking) people in the field do.”
--Pat Tillman Sr.

Of all the symbols the right used to cultivate domestic support for the Bush administration's military escapades in Iraq and Afghanistan, that of Pat Tillman was one its most effective. If your memory is fuzzy, Tillman was a handsome, muscle-bound NFL star who passed up a multi-million dollar contract to become an Army Ranger battling Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The official Army account of Tillman's death held that he was killed while charging up a rocky incline in pursuit of a band of Qaeda fighters. When word of Tillman's killing hit stateside, the conservative propaganda factory sought to make him theirs. Ann Coulter described Tillman as “an American original -- virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be.” (Can we have that in the original German, bitte?) Though the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan were growing increasingly catastrophic, Tillman's reinvigorated public support for the administration's mission, at least momentarily.

Now, almost a year and a half later, the right's version of Tillman's killing has been shattered. The San Francisco Chronicle got its hands on 2000 pages of testimony on Tillman's death and interviewed his family and soldiers who served with him. The Chronicle's report not only strengthens the evidence that the Pentagon deliberately covered up Tillman's death from friendly-fire to better exploit him as a PR tool, it reveals that:

--Tillman joined the Army specifically to fight Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but was sent to participate in the invasion of Iraq against his wishes. He called the invasion, "so fucking illegal."

--He was an avid reader and fan of Noam Chomsky. Tillman was scheduled to meet Chomsky upon his return from Afghanistan.

--Tillman was an independent-minded, outspoken Bush critic who planned to vote for
John Kerry.

--On April 23, 2004, a day after he was killed, Tillman's bullet-riddled body armor was burned by a soldier. That same day, all Army Ranger top commanders were informed of the suspected fratricide.

--Two days later, Tillman's uniform was burned.

--On April 30, Tillman was awarded the Silver Star for bravery. "Through the firing Tillman’s voice was heard issuing fire commands to take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground,” the Army stated.

--Three days later, acting Army Secretary Lee Brownlee was told of Tillman's death by fratricide.

--On May 29, once Tillman's PR value had been exhausted, the Army admitted to his family that his death was a fratricide.

--ON November 14, an officer who interrogated Rangers involved in Tillman's killing stated he thought some could have been charged with "criminal intent" and other with "gross negligence."

--Portions of the Pentagon's report on Tillman's death were deleted.

The question now is, what did Donald Rumsfeld know about Tillman's death and when did he know it? If Army Ranger commanders and the Army Secretary knew Tillman was killed in a fratricide, Rumsfeld must have known too. The fact that when Tillman first joined the Army, Rumsfeld personally commended him with a signed letter seems especially relevant now. If Rumsfeld knew the nature of Tillman's killing in April, 2004, he undoubtedly directed the cover-up. And if Rumsfeld directed the cover-up, Karl Rove was aware of it, if not actively involved in exploiting it.

Supposedly John McCain has taken up the Tillman family's case in the Senate. If he's serious, he will convene hearings on the cover-up and compel Rumsfeld to testify. Until then, the Pentagon is conducting its own probe of Tillman's death, thus ensuring a newer, more sophisticated cover-up than ever before.

Okay

Friday was for being with friends and family.

Saturday was for crying and eating home cooked food of Baptist proportions.

Today is for eating chocolate. Lots of it.

Monday is for taking up the reins and getting back in the saddle, until I get bucked off again.

She's Gone

My grandmother passed away Wednesday morning. She went quietly, surrounded by friends and family. Thanks for your support during this rough time.

P.S. None of you are allowed to die this week. End of discussion.

If you wanna know how I taste, you better ask somebody!

This is the tackiest, most heartless shit I've seen in a long time. Big T, please add this cunt to the list of folks who deserve a shovel to the face.

Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

John Nichols Tue Sep 6, 1:08 PM ET

The Nation -- Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

On the heels of the president's "What, me worry?" response to the death, destruction and dislocation that followed upon Hurricane Katrina comes the news of his mother's Labor Day visit with hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees -- cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases -- former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.

"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

At the very least, she was expressing a measure of empathy commensurate with that evidenced by her son during his fly-ins for disaster-zone photo opportunities.

On Friday, when even Republican lawmakers were giving the federal government an "F" for its response to the crisis, President Bush heaped praise on embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown. As thousands of victims of the hurricane continued to plead for food, water, shelter, medical care and a way out of the nightmare to which federal neglect had consigned them, Brown cheerily announced that "people are getting the help they need."

Barbara Bush's son put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary and declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Like mother, like son.

Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Grape Nuts

The following are things I hated upon contact:

The show "Mad About You"

Brown County Indiana wine

Asphalt

My dad's other personality, "Doug"

NaOH

Tori Amos

My passport photo

Anchiovies

Please Help Right a Wrong

Please give generously, and see if your employer offers gift-matching. Thank you.

The American Red Cross