Ahhh, The Smell Of Actual Liberty

Up till yesterday I've been merely happy that we're finally rid of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. After the inauguration of course I had that giddiness but I'd let it slip a little. Like when you take the garbage out, once they haul it away you don't think about it that much.

With yesterday being Sept. 10, it suddenly occurred to me that we were on the eve once again of Sept. 11! And it suddenly occurred to me as well that this is the first 9/11 without the criminality of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney plaguing our nation on that and every other day.

How terrible every 9/11 observance was! Having Bush and Cheney and the rest of their despicable henchmen exploiting the tragedy for their crass political gain. Remember back, think back, how terrible it was, the way they used 9/11 as a cudgel for everything they wanted. They made so many trips to the 9/11 well they pumped it dry! It was ridiculous.

I don't want to make everyone sick with all these bad memories, but if you haven't eaten yet, think back to how often the words "9/11" and "September 11" came off of Bush's lying lips -- like every other word. The moron took the biggest monument to his incompetence as a badge of honor.

When the nation rallied around him in those terrible days, he mistakenly took it as some kind of endorsement of him personally. But they knew in the White House, it wasn't an endorsement, but was something out of fear and our common cause. And that's what they exploited, over and over and over again. For that alone, the criminal Bush administration must never be forgiven.

For the Bush White House, 9/11 was the perfect excuse to go to war. And go to war we did, with a vengeance. Unfortunately the vengeance was against the wrong ones, duh. Like we were saying at the time: Pearl Harbor was attacked and we went to war with Australia! We decided the best way to go after Al Qaeda was to take out Saddam Hussein, a total disconnect from reality!

All this was very convenient, since the Bushies had that in mind even while Bill Clinton was president. And having come into power with the same desire, what better way to get Hussein than to tar him with the stink of 9/11? That, my friends, is exploitation. And that was criminal. Think of all the people who died through the evil of the Bush administration. It's 9/11 multiplied many times.

Think of the awful putrescence of having George W. Bush commemorate 9/11 every year. Like he was some kind of super patriot. George W. Bush was a scourge. And, with Cheney, a waste of space.

The first 9/11 without these crooks! Ahhh, this is the smell of actual liberty!

Catholics Good, Catholics Bad

Wow, every time I start thinking the Catholic Church has a lot on the ball -- the rituals, the saints, the spirituality -- they turn around and blow it with one of these political mistakes.

This time: Catholic Church-Affiliated Publisher Apologizes For Prayer Honoring Ted Kennedy (Headline from the Huffington Post.)

So the Catholic Church now hates the Kennedys? As in John F. Kennedy, the first and only Catholic President of the United States?

Good grief. What planet are we living on? Have I entered some alternate, moronic dimension?

They do the same stupid thing whenever there's an election now. They deny communion to the Democrats, but they're willing to follow the Republicans to the gates of hell (and beyond) with their murderous agenda. As in "Thou Shalt Not Kill," then lying us into an unnecessary war. How many Republicans did they deny communion to over that?

I love their saints. I really do. But these Catholic right-wingers, not so much. There's no saints there!

It Turns Out Rep. Joe Wilson Is The Liar

Joe "You Lie" Wilson, the idiot Republican Congressman from South Carolina, decided to make an unsavory spectacle of himself at the joint session of Congress, rudely heckling President Obama. Such decorum, get this guy a manual of etiquette.

Now -- isn't this a big surprise? -- it turns out Joe Wilson is the one who is the liar. It's been checked out -- fact checked -- and what the president said turns out to be true. So once again, and I guess it isn't a surprise, the Republicans turn out to be the party of lies. Can't these morons tell half truths once in a while? At least then there might be some ambiguity and they wouldn't immediately caught?

Of course Wilson has his supporters, the usual gang of halfwits -- radio commentators and other right wing scurves.

It's so hard to believe -- the Republicans have really fallen, all self-inflicted.

Rep. Joe Wilson

Rep. Joe Wilson (R) of South Carolina is the rude loudmouth who actually heckled President Obama during his address before a joint session of Congress.

Wilson ought to be censured and made to apologize. There is no call for this in a civil society.

Where do we get these crazy people? You would think people who have the privilege to serve in Congress would know something about manners. And that they would be reasonably civil.

This guy -- Joe Wilson -- deserves to be held up to scorn. What ever happened to shame?

The New Pregnancy Tests

I just saw a commercial for a new pregnancy test that doesn't leave any ambiguity. If you're pregnant, it says "Pregnant." If you're not, it says "Not Pregnant." Can't get any clearer than that.

I've seen the commercials in the past and it seems like they had a PLUS or MINUS. Say you wanted to be pregnant, a PLUS wouldn't be ambiguous. But if you didn't want to be pregnant, how would you take a PLUS sign?

It's been a while since I've been a new father. It was so long ago, I can't remember, but I think it was like film. You had to pee on the strip and send it in for developing. I don't know. I actually don't think they even had a system like this. You had to go to the doctor's office.

So that's been a while.

There's another commercial that says their pregnancy test is supposed to tell you a day after or three days after. When I hear that, I like to joke around, "Let me check my schedule. I can tell you three days in advance."

Terrible, I know. A definite MINUS.

As for the new test, it's neat looking on TV seeing the actual word pop up. Kind of like the Magic 8-Ball. You could have all kinds of tests. A test for party animals, let's say, that says "PARTY'S OVER" or "PARTY ON." A test for women having affairs with Congressmen, that says "JACKPOT" or "TRY AGAIN."

But I don't know about "TRY AGAIN." That could discourage sales of the tests, because we're used to seeing those words under losing bottle caps. We've seen it so much we just ignore it.

The Beatles Are Coming

I'm looking forward to getting the Beatles boxed sets. They're on their way.

The reviews I've read say some very good things about the remastering work. So I believe it's all going to be great.

Now if I can just clear some time in my schedule to actually sit and listen to CDs.

I would guess this is the last time in my life I'm going to be buying the Beatles music. Have 'em on records, then the first bunch of CDs, now this. I'm not saying there aren't other sound inventions out there coming -- but what could it be?

Make US Happy, Mr. Obama

The "narrative" now is of a presidency in trouble. President Obama needs to get a credible health care reform package through Congress. And in the process he can't keep everyone happy.

David Axelrod, the president's senior adviser, said, “To govern is to make choices, and to make choices is to make some unhappy.”

In my hallowed opinion, the ones to make happy are the ones who elected you. The ones who voted for you, and the ones who might look forward to voting for you again.

The ones not to worry about so much, which seems to be part of the problem, are the Republicans. They didn't vote for you and they won't vote for you next time. What they think is beside the point, worthless. No matter what you do, they're going to hate it and hate you.

So I agree with Axelrod. Someone's going to be unhappy. But why kick the ones who are on your side? There's an old saying about 'Dancing with the one who brought you to the dance.' Try it!

Halloween Is Coming

Although I guess it's still a month and a half till then.

I didn't think of that. It's still sort of far off.

But I was at the store and noticed a lot of Halloween stuff, so I guess I was thinking it was closer than that.

They definitely have a lot of Halloween merchandise setting around, in its trademark orange and black color scheme. I saw some children's clothes with really neat Halloween patterns. Of course candy, which might be about half stale by then. And some cards.

That's really a lot of advance notice, advance merchandising, for something that's a one day thing.

President Obama Wednesday

It's Wednesday, I'm thinking, that President Obama will be addressing a joint session of Congress about the health care reform issue.

There seems to be a lot of jockeying around, what he'll say, what he won't say, how he's going to phrase it to avoid ticking off the progressives while possibly pulling the rug out from the promises made of actual health care reform.

I'm hoping to see it. But if I don't I'll catch the main points. The bad news is that Bobby Jindal won't be bringing the Republic rebuttal. I think they have John Boehner for the honors this time.

Have I mentioned lately how much I despise the Republican party? We can barely watch the TV news (I don't actually want to), because I sit there fuming and livid at the Republicans. I can't believe anyone would be attracted to their Party of No after their shenanigans since President Obama took office. They've been out and out liars and they haven't been subtle about it.

Yes, I've been critical of the president, basically for not standing up to these #$@^%#s more. Why he wants bipartisanship with people who refuse to accept anything is beyond me. So what's the reward for him doing this? Reduced poll numbers. And what's the reward for the Republicans' mad shenanigans? Increased poll numbers. It's maddening.

Anyone with a lick of sense could tell the Republicans have been the world's biggest scoundrels, forever, yes, but certainly in the last nine months.

The Beatles -- You Could Argue They're Well Known

I was reading some things about the Beatles' albums coming out on 09-09-09 and whether they'll be on iTunes or not.

One comment struck me as sublime, from a guy named Bob:

The Beatles are arguably one of the best selling musical groups of all time, so having their catalog available on the store of the largest seller of downloadable music is the kind of synergy that makes business people say “ca-ching!”

Yes, I suppose you could argue that The Beatles were one of the best selling musical groups of all time. If you could find someone to argue with. Because it's an objective fact beyond dispute. "The Pope is arguably a well-known Catholic."

Harry Reid Trailing

Harry Reid is trailing his Republican competition in the 2010 polls.

Ordinarily this would be bad news. If Harry was any good.

As it is, we might conclude, give in to the Republicans and they still won't like you. And the Democrats, of course, we expect better.

Could it be that Harry will get the message between now and 2010? I thought this guy was an ex-boxer. What was his record? Was he ever known to fight back?

C'mon, Harry, we'd appreciate some actual Democratic governing while you're still around!

All Right, Blanche

Roll Call:

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), still facing the prospect of a tough re-election in 2010, has reversed her position on the public insurance option, saying Tuesday she will oppose the measure as a part of health care reform after previously expressing support for the policy, the Arkansas News reported.

All right, Blanche. If you're not going to govern as a responsible Democrat, what's the use of having you in there. Lose.

The Public Option

Look at this poll from CNN. There's wide support for the public option in the health care reform legislation. But because of the execrable Republicans and some lily-livered Democrats, it looks like we're not going to get it.

The Republicans want to stick it to President Obama. That's their only agenda. They don't mean well for America, nor will they govern responsibly. I don't think they can, since they don't actually believe their job in government is for any positive difference. They're only concerned with sticking it to the American people. Go figure.

Then we have the Democrats, who if there was only one Republican left in Congress would be cowering in fear under their desks, afraid he might criticize them for something. So many of the Democrats are either gutless or in the back pocket of the lobbyists or health care industries, so they're not even representing us. It's criminal.

Whether President Obama even has the cajones to stick up for what he campaigned on and was touting back in March, we shall see. The signs out of the White House are not promising. I still like him, a lot, but he seems to be governing as a gutless wonder. I heard he would bring a gun to a knife fight. But I guess he didn't say he'd bring ammo. He pulls the trigger and you get a sign that says "Bang." Doesn't seem to scare very many.

We shall see what we shall get. If I had the power, though, I'm in the mood to run out the lot of them and start over. If that were only possible. Too many entrenched liars and crooks in there, like Chuck Grassley, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, and on and on. Then we have the insane crowd, like Michelle Bachmann.

You think, this is Congress. Congress ought to have great people in there, patriots, our nation's best, working for us. And what do we get? Paid cronies of corporations, crooks, liars, crazy people without a lick of sense, halfwits, morons. And then there's the Democrats. And half of them seem like creeps too.

God Bless The AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO is telling Democrats they will not be able to count on their support if health care reform legislation doesn't have the public insurance option in it.

The incoming president, Richard Trumka, said there are "three absolute musts": a public option, an employer mandate and no tax on employer-provided health benefits.

And I love this: Trumka said last month: "We need to send them a special message: it’s that you may have forgotten what the labor movement did to get you elected; but, by God, we never will! And if you stab us in the back on health care this year don’t you dare ask us for our support next year!

Let's review this one piece: "If you stab us in the back...this year don't you dare ask us for our support next year!"

Amen. Mark that well, Congressional Democrats: Don't you dare ask us for our support!