The random thoughts of Massabama conservative. Nekkid Repugs -- with pictures.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Remember These Names
When Alito screws us over. And the "Unitary President" comes to full bloom.
And then, right after the cloture vote that miserable frog-unknown pissant from South Carolina, Jim DeMint, got on the floor of the Senate and kicked the shit out of them again, just so they would remember who is boss. The buggerest failure of all? The pink tutus on the Judiciary committee who failed as miserably as anything I have seen in my life to put together a case that even the simplest American can understand why this man is a disaster for freedom, democracy, and progressive ideas. They make me sick. Now the alternative is to go to the streets and let the blood be shed to redeem liberty and democracy.
Akaka, Daniel K. (Coward-HI) Baucus, Max (Doormat-MT) Bingaman, Jeff (Toady-NM) Byrd, Robert C. (Ditherer-WV) Cantwell, Maria (One-termer-WA) Carper, Thomas R. (Lickspittle-DE) Conrad, Kent (Stooge-ND) Dorgan, Byron L. (Loser-ND) Inouye, Daniel K. (Pawn-HI) Johnson, Tim (Milksop-SD) Kohl, Herb (Flunky-WI) Landrieu, Mary L. (Parasite-LA) Lieberman, Joseph I. (Sycophant-CT) Lincoln, Blanche L. (Puppet-AR) Nelson, Bill (Candy-ass-FL) Nelson, E. Benjamin (Lowlife-NE) Pryor, Mark L. (Chicken-AR) Rockefeller, John D., IV (Weasel-WV) Salazar, Ken (Dissembler-CO)
By Will Durst: a very funny guy. THE GEORGE W BUSH 2006 STATE OF THE UNION DRINKING GAME What you need: A group of four taxpayers: including 1 white guy wearing a Suit. 2 people wearing jeans, one in a Work Shirt, the other in a Dark Shirt, and 1 person wearing Rags. Stitched together wash cloths are nice. Four are grouped around cocktail table within sight of television. Newspapers on floor in front of television. • A shot glass per person. Everyone brings their own and places on table. Suit picks one first. Then Work Shirt. Then Dark Shirt. Suit takes last one as well, and Rags gets a Dixie Cup with the top scissored off. • 5 bucks apiece. Everybody antes. • Fondue pot with 2 packages of Li’l Smokies stewing in barbecue sauce on table. Preferably a sauce from Texas. Surrounded by: • 100 cocktail toothpicks. The kind with the little American flags wrapped around the top. • A large stash of beer. Rags gets the cheapest stuff you can find, like Old Milwaukee Light; Suit gets to drink whatever import he asks for; while the jeans get to pick their favorite domestic brand, but they are required to pay for all the beer and the Li’l Smokies. Rules of the Game. 1. Whenever George W uses the phrases: national security, tax relief, activist judges or affordable health care, drink two shots of beer. 2. Whenever George W mentions the tragic events of 911, last person to grab a toothpick, stand and salute must drink three shots of beer. If you stab yourself in forehead with the toothpick, drink two more shots. 3. If George W actually says, “If Al Qaeda is calling you, we want to know why.” first person to finish a whole beer gets to toss Li’l Smokies at any of the others until they finish their beer. Use the toothpicks. 4. If George W makes up a word like “strategerie” or“deteriorize” drink four shots of beer. 5. If George W speaks of Hamas and repeats his earlier statement that “its good to see people are demanding honest leadership,” the first person to stop laughing gets to drink one shot of beer then pummel Suit with empty shot glass. No head shots. 6. Whenever George W talks about bi- partisanship, the last person to grab his throat in a choking motion has to eat 4 Li’l Smokies. 7. If either the Vice President Dick Cheney or First Lady Laura Bush are caught napping, last person to sing “Wake Up Little Susie, Wake Up,” has to drink three shots of beer. 8. Predict the number of applause breaks. Person closest to correct number may then force the other three to drink that number of shots of beer in whatever ratio they wish. 9. Three shots of beer if he mentions New Orleans. Five shots of beer if he mentions Brownie. Two full beers if he mentions Abramoff. 10. Every time Tom DeLay is shown in the audience,take turns throwing Li’l Smokies at the tv. Suit sits out. First face hit doesn’t have to drink two shots of beer. Every time Hillary Clinton is shown in the audience, Suit throws Li’l Smokies at the tv. If he hits her face, everyone else drinks two shots of beer. Use the toothpicks. 11. Whenever George W quotes the Bible, last person to fall to their knees and cry “Hallelujah!” drinks two shots of beer. 12. Whenever George W smirks during a standing ovation, take turns drinking shots of beer until the audience sits down. Do it double time if his shoulders shake with silent laughter. EXTRAS: • Whoever can correctly identify in advance the person giving the Democratic Response doesn’t have to watch it. • Suit gets to kick Rags hard, once if George W uses a heartfelt story of a pulling yourself up by your bootstraps to illustrate a point. Twice if the regulation of large cardboard boxes is mentioned as a security precaution. Rags gets 15 seconds to kick the Suit if Bush reveals the subject of the anecdote is in the audience. 30 seconds if he or she is sitting next to Harriet Miers. 1 full minute if she’s sitting next to an astronaut. • Suit takes home $20. • Leftover beer, Li’l Smokies and fondue pot go home with Rags. Political Comic Will Durst needs a volunteer to wear the suit. will durst wing commander durst co "you want the best, so do we" 2107 van ness ave suite 402 san francisco 9410-9877 SATIRIST service 415-441-3669 office415-298-1874 cell durst@willdurst.com willdurst.com
This is a quiz. Answer it correctly and send me your answer by remote viewing, and I will send you your prize by teleportation within two weeks. (If you don't get it - don't bitch to me - tell Scotty, he is the expert.) Better yet , look up 'abject sexual vassals" and "lesbian frontier women" and see if the name L. V. C. comes up. They are phrases used in her novel Sisters.
"`Let us go away together, away from the anger and imperatives of men. We shall find ourselves a secluded bower where they dare not venture. There will only be the two of us, and ... in the evenings I shall read to you while you go work your cross-stitch in the firelight. And then we shall go to bed, our bed, my dearest girl,' Miss Travers had written to Helen." Give up? Don't read that many lesbian porn novels? Try Lynn Cheney, wifey of the Prez D'Facto.
This is a tough town for single guys who don't ride motercycles, do bath daily, eat something other than KFC, and have teeth (or more than a tooth). So, like the CHATTERist guy I needed help. Yahoo sent me an offer to join a dating service for free to meet women who think like I do. I should have known it was a scam rightaway because I have never met a woman in my life that thinks like I do. I don't like to dance. I definitely ain't into Prayer Meeting on Wed night. A "warm and cuddly" relationship sounds like something illegal that is done with a housecat. I learned long ago that discribing yourself as "mature and voluptous" means you are old and fat. And figured out that "love the outdoors" means you enjoy polishing the old .44 Magnum, and gigging for bullfrogs at night. I am looking for that honest woman, who is interested in big houses, jewelry, dinners in the Tower Club, and playing bridge with the girls at Highland Springs. So I put my profile up on Yahoo Personals. Since I didn't read it real closely, I didn't realize that they will email me every week a list of the females who fit my profile, (hell I fit more of the profile of Assama bin Laden than I fit the one on Yahoo.) Not a single one of them is interested in sex. Just my luck.
In only a slightly more subtle, but just as transparent, way George IV has pulled another Nixon. There is a prosecutor who has been in charge of the Abramoff scandle. He has been sucessful - getting Abramoff to sing like a canary, going after the Neys, Blunts, and a lot of others, and people are going to go to jail -- for a long time -- and the fun has just begun. Wait until July when it all comes to a head. But yesterday Bush announced that the prosecutor has been nominated to be a Federal Judge, and has stepped down from his position at the Justice/Corruptioncovering Department. Just to make things interesting, it's not the first time. Abramoff was under investigation in Guam, in 2002 for some of his dealings. The prosecutor in that case was also nominated, and later confirmed by the rubberstamp repugs and spineless demodawgs to the Federal Bench also. Hey they use what works. Archibald Cox is spinning in his grave today. The above part is not correct. The prosecutor in Guam was FIRED by John Asscroft the day after he started issuing suponeas.
Uri Geller, spoon-bending-contorsionist guru of the disco age has gotten into Michael Jackson's mind. It was a perilous journey. Uri placed Jackson, at Jackson's request, in a hypnotic trance to determine the truth or falsity of the charges of child molestation against him. Why Mikey wasn't aware of the answer in his conscious mind was a question not asked. Geller said he wanted to, "... manipulate his subconsious." Geller asked him, "Have you ever touched a child or young person in a way you shouldn't?" Jacko the Whacko replied, "No, never..." The bigger question, not asked, is, if he ever touched a child or young person in a way he thought he should. After all,we are dealing with the subconscious mind of Michael Jackson here, arn't we? Uri has predicted a stunning comeback in the career of the gloved one. He had better hope so. Otherwise he is going to get paid in peanuts intended for the elephant at Neverland.
Bush was at the NSA today explaining why trashing the Bill of Rights was a good thing for him to do and praising the Agency for being good little lap-dogs and rolling over to have their tummy scratched. He said this: "When he says he's going to hurt the American people again, or try to, he means it," Bush told reporters after visiting the top-secret National Security Agency where the surveillance program is based. "I take it seriously, and the people of NSA take it seriously." How interesting. I guess we are back to the "..dead or alive" position of a couple of years ago. About a year or so ago said the Ossama had been "marginalized" and he just wasn't concerned about him anymore. So which is it George? Is he a bad guy who we should go after? Or is he just a loudmouth like Simple Scotty McClellen who acts like a twit and can be ignored?
HOT HOT HOT News. CREW RELEASES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST ACTING MAJORITY LEADER ROY BLUNT Go here to read the entire story: Dateline, today Here are some exerpts: Rep. Blunt participated in an elaborate money-laundering scheme with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) during the 2000 presidential campaign. The scheme was designed to hide the source and use of funds solicited for the expressed purpose of financing Republican convention parties. Reps. Blunt and DeLay intentionally raised funds in excess of what they needed for the parties and diverted almost $100,000 to the Missouri Republican Party to help finance Rep. Blunt’s son, Matt Blunt’s, campaign for Secretary of State, a further violation of 5 CFR § 2635.702(a) as well as House rules prohibiting conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House.Rep. Blunt signed three letters to Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton on behalf of Indian tribal clients of former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff and he opposed legislation harmful to another Abramoff client, a garment manufacturer in the Northern Marianas Islands. (Note: the legislation to exempt the Maianas Islands from US Labor Law, while allowing them to label their products as "Made in America", involved slave labor, of women and children imported from Asian Countries, forced abortions, and plantation ethics by the employeers.) In return, Rep. Blunt received campaign contributions from Abramoff and his clients. Such conduct may have violated federal bribery laws. CREW’s complaint against Rep. Blunt is available at www.citizensforethics.org. In November 2002, hours after he was named new Majority Whip, Rep. Blunt attempted to secretly insert a provision into pending legislation that would have benefitted Philip Morris at the expense of its competitors. Philip Morris, a division of the conglomerate Altria Group Inc., is Rep. Blunt’s largest campaign contributor. Within days of the announcement of Rep. Blunt’s new position, Altria donated a hefty $32,400 to Rep. Blunt’s political action committee (PAC). In addition, Rep. Blunt was dating Philip Morris’s lobbyist, Abigail Perlman, whom he has since married.
After denying many times that the Smirk, the lying Smirk, ever met Jack Abramoff, even though he was head of part of the Bush transition team, photos have showed up. No fewer than five (5) of them. Time Magazine has seen them -- and I will promise that they will go to the highest bidder. Why??? Because one of the photos shows Abramoff and Bush with their arms around each others shoulders. And Abramoff is wearing a t-shirt with a large arrow pointing toward Bush, saying: "I'm With Stupid"
My pal, Wally Greer, a former F-16 driver and just generally very smart guy, sent me a link to a fascinating website called The Periodic Presidents. This site catagorizes the Presidents into about 6 slots. I think that the author has got them about right. I particularly like how he classes George W. Bush. Here are some exerpts from the Nero/Hamlet class of Presidents: 2004 December 4. I now call this series Nero/Hamlet because I see that Dubya Bush is different from Buchanan and Hoover in that he is doing something about the crisis; it is just that he is going about it the wrong way. In an earlier Blog, I noted he was similar to Shakespeare's Hamlet, in that he stabs and kills Polonius when he should be getting rid of the corrupt King. So I now call this column the Nero/Hamlet series.
Nero was one of the most ruthless of Rome's dictators. By calling Column 11 the Nero Presidents, I am not referring to this property of Nero. Instead, I refer to his sitting idly by while a major crisis hit his empire. "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." The common characteristic of the Nero Presidents is that they would not deal with a crisis that was either imminent or had occurred. They just simply let things go the best they can, while the country fell apart. They fiddled while America burned. Our three Nero Presidents are James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, and George W. Bush, our present President. When a Nero President is in the White House, a major crisis is coming within 5 years; in fact, the crisis could be imminent or it could have started already; such a crisis hit our nation during the administrations of Buchanan and Hoover. George W. Bush is our present President, so we don't have his complete term to study. But nevertheless Bush has shown some Nero qualities. For example, when the towers fell on 9/11, Bush continued to read "The Pet Goat" to children, a scene brought vividly to the movie screen by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11. It seems that he may be misunderstanding the crisis of the future, which will probably be the running out of cheap oil. Instead of cooperating with other nations on how to deal with the possible oil crisis, he has instead tried to control the remaining oil with his actions. It remains to see what happens in the rest of his term(s).
Pretty damn stupid ... and they don't even need to be named Chuck Wooten. Out at UCLA, an Infant Republican is determines to root out libruls in the faculty ranks. Can't have any of 'dem commies. So, he offers $100 bucks for tape recordings of Profs saying things like there are starving children in America, or 40 million people will die of AIDS in Africa. These don't reflect conservative values. Well, smart Profs have ways to get even with obnoxious students, and most Profs are pretty tolerant, because students should exercise their brains, and question stuff, but it can get run into the ground. Here's what I would do: Dear Parent of Simple Susy: As you might recall, you paid $450 dollers to MoSt for Susy to take a three hour course in Advanced Mind Warp by Lefty Teachers. I am sad to tell you that the course was too challenging for her academic skills. I noticed that in class she would write furiously every word I would say, and yet when time for a quiz came along, she would not have the slightest idea how to answer the questions, that is, if she showed up at all. Susy decided to drop the class on the last day, avoiding a grade that would have ruined her fine 3.7 GPA to date. However I must inform you that your $450 is non-refundable. The good news in that she has proudly announced that she has an extra $100 in her pocket and is looking forward to her sessions at the tanning parlor. She says she will look really "buff" (whatever that is) the next time that hunk Arnie visits the campus. Since part of my duty is to cousel students and parents, I feel obliged to suggest that Susy might be better suited for night courses at a local community college, while she carries on her day-time education at Hamburger U. With sincere concern for the Conservative Youth of America, That nutcase David Horowitz thinks this is a fine idea. So does that man, Ann Coulter and that Gary Bauer woman. Everybody else has run for cover in embarrassment.
I have exactly one Libertarian blog that I read occasionally, Kn@ppster. This is because Tom Knapp is an old friend, and yeah, his politics are goofy as hell, but he is a great guy to share a few scotch and milks with ... even though he is not a Libertarian really, he's more of a Trotsky offspring.
But he sent me to this link today and it just tells us everything that we want to know about Billy'sBoyToyRoy:
Huh? OK. I'll make a deal with Rep. Blunt. How's this sound? I'll go ahead and write whatever the hell I want to write. In return, if Rep. Blunt doesn't like it, then he can cry me a river. I think that sounds fair. Somehow, I managed to get along fine for the first 41 years of my life without talking to Roy Blunt, and things turned out OK. I'm not a Washington journalist. My livelihood doesn't depend on having access to powerful DC insiders. So, I think I'll be fine if I never talk to him again.
Indeed, I would prefer it.
As far as I'm concerned, the Blunt call was a disaster for Rep Blunt. My dominant impression was that he was trying to stack the deck with ringers who'd throw him softball questions, so our group's ability to question him closely would be limited by squandering time on people who were not part of our group, and whose questions he saw in advance. In short, he was trying to spin us. As far as I can tell, Rep. Blunt broke just about every rule for how to deal effectively with bloggers. I don't think he could've alienated me more effectively had he intentionally set out to do so. I might add ... in case Blunt doesn't "get it", which I am sure he doesn't, this silly blog, with virtually no useful information at all, get's over 1,000 page views a week since I reset the counter a couple of weeks ago. And that's small stuff compared to some around Springfield. If he thinks he can shake his dick at us and get by with it, he needs Jack Abramoff's expensive steaks more than I thought he did.
I'm a little fetus, short and stout. Have I got a handle? Or have I got a spout? The fetus Federline has dropped out of the picture now that mommie Brittany, and whoever is suspected of being Daddy are not shaking their rather ample booties on stage anymore, and the limelight has been taken over by Brad/Angelina/fetus. Baby Pitt, not related to apricot pit, has a blog of his/her own. Plumbing, hair color, or shape of boobs is not known at this point.
Left to Right.... blogs are in the sidebar ... Michael Brothers, entertainment editor for the Springfield News and Leader That CHATTER-guy, who managed to psysickally erase his image from the film. (You can not see his reflection in the mirror either.) Rhetorica Granny Geek Gentle Ben Snarling Marmot, picking her nose ... (Have you ever noticed the relationship between boogers and cameras? Same way between boogers and pretty girls in the car next to you at the stoplight.)
Vapor Minutia, the best looking of all in the bunch, with his back turned ... natch ...
(13 January 2005, Croatia) One fateful afternoon, 55-year-old Marko retreated to his semi-detached workshop to make himself a tool for chimney cleaning. The chimney was too high for a simple broom to work, but if he could attach a brush to a chain and then weigh it down with something, that would do the trick. But what could he use as a weight?
He happened to have the perfect object. It was heavy, yet compact. And best of all, it was made of metal, so he could weld it to the chain. He must have somehow overlooked the fact that it was also a hand grenade and was filled with explosive material.
We came. We met. We drank. We adjourned. There were some bloggers there for the first time and how much more fun it was than to have Andy's podcast consist of he, me, and Zack ... who was MIA. Snarling Marmot Granny Geek and Gentle Ben Minuta Vapor Rhetorica Mike Brothers from the N & L was there, he will undoubtedly base all sorts of future stories on what was said ... either that or fodder for his upcoming blog ... And lastly, that Gawd-like-unknown, masked blogger, the FOI hisself (Figment Of my Imagination), the CHATTER-man was there. And in fine form too, I might add, declining to admit and then racing home to delete the story of the nekkid man, found tied to a midevil torture rack, with hot candle wax dripped all over his body and whipped cream placed at strategic locations .... very deceased. His dominatrix, wearing a Zorro costume was taken to the Brooklyn Central Precinct Station as "a person of interest".
CHATTERIST did get in the low blow of the night when he noted that the template on this blog was previously copied from the musings of Vincent David Jericho's blog, now looks more or less original. The Snarling Marmont was way-kewl as I had imagined her to be, particularly since I had tried to get a date with her mother when we were in high school. It wasn't so much the humiliation of being dumped as I recall, it the the abject rejection of the words, "keep away from me you skuzzy geek, or I will call Miss J to come sit on you until you stop breathing." And the worst sin ... there were no less than 5 cameras at the table and I am the only one who got a picture ... and it's on film so probably won't turn out.
But then again, I'm not Irish. Or it could be the best headline ever. I'm Scots. So I can hold my booze, up until 2 Glenlevits that is. And according to my late father and the late Judge AP Stone, our family has English roots also. Seems as though they tipped a few one night trying to decided if our two famiies were related. Since we both come from northern Georgia, possibly we are. But they stopped there, since that part of Georgia was populated by indentured servants fromthe Tower of London. Not much has changed in 250 years.
The comet sampler spacecraft, Stardust, will return Sunday morning at 5:12 AM, Eastern Time. It will be seen live on NASA TV (streaming, cable or satellite). For a good overview of the mission and the aerogel capture devices for the space dust that is older than the sun and planets goto Space.com. Let's hope that this one doesn't wind up as a smoking hole in the desert like the last one did.
I paid some attention this morning to Orac's extensive list of medical related blogs at Respectful Insolence(one of the best blogs on the net) and found this gem by a forensic pathologist. You can find Dr. Zeus's Forensic Files HERE. Car wrecks and train wrecks and planes that hit wires, Trucks that flip over and than catch on fire, Autoerotics all tied up with strings, These are a few of a coroner's things. Smothered transvestites all wrapped in white satin, Writing reports in polysyllabic Latin, Winter suicides showing up in the spring, These are a few of a coroner's things. When the dog bites, When the bee stings, When the fish goes bad. I then think of the coroner's things, And then I don't feel so bad!
What will happen to New Orleans? I don't know, but it will never be the same. I lived there. I hated it. I hated the weather and the people. But I understand that I didn't understand the people either .. I was an outsider. What I do understand, is that now the land grabbing vultures of the "developer" class are swooping down on New Orleans, not to claim the houses and property of the gentry in the Garden District, but of the poor underclass in places like mid-city and the ninth ward. The proposal of the developers, supported by the Mayor of NO is an open invitation for all the poor to get the hell out ... and don't let the doorknob hit you .... go someplace else. Springfield, Missouri is fine with me. You blacks will be welcome there. NO population has dropped from about a half million to about 150,000. But this is not the entire story. The entire NO area is about 2 million. If NO fails to be a viable city, or a gentrified city, then every other part fails, Metarie, Kenner, the West Bank, Slidell, Mandeville, Covington ... all of it. And so too fails the culture of the only real attraction of NO, the poor sourthern black culture, exemplified by jazz in the quarter, the Zulu Parade and the Cajun cuisine. Dispersal means death. If there was ever an invitation of an area to fail it is to turn it over to real estate developers, associated with government with the power to grab land for their own reasons. The outlook for NO is bleak.
Today Iran will announce that it will unseal the new reactor. There is no doubt that this reactor will produce plutonium, and that Iran has the talent and industrial base to produce weapons. The west has been ignored in the pleas to moderate this program, and to allow inspectors in to monitor it. This is not a new program. Several years ago it became public knowledge, as did the Israeli clear intentions to destroy it. To this end, Israel took American F-16's and modified them in several ways which only can indicate a strike on Iran's reactor. (See a discription of the F-16 I, called the Peace Marble V, HERE). The Iranians are no dummies, seeing what Israel did to the Iraq reactor in the 1980's. They have located this facility in a very difficult location, and surrounded it with the very latest and best air defenses. In talking with several former US airplane drivers, the general opinion is: if the Israelies launch a strike of twenty F-16 I's, only a couple could get through, and would have to be lucky to actually hit the target. So ... that will leave it to us and the only thing we have to do it would be a B-2. We will be involved up to our asses anyway it comes down, but a direct attack by US forces could set off a powderkeg not only both in Iran and Iraq, but in our "allies" in the Middle East. It is another dangerous fallout of the failure of the American Government to pay any attention to diplomacy and to instead to put all it's eggs into the basket of force.
Man, oh, man. I love it when the so-called "fair and balanced" media types get their asses handed to them on a plate. Whether they whine about how they were scammed regarding the deaths of twelve miners, or repeating the lies of the Repugly spin-makers. So watch this clip of the former Unterseeboot Commander Wolf Blitzer as he parrots the words of KKKarl Rove to Howard Dean and then has to eat it. What is really great, and tells the whole story is the look on his face as he sits there silent listening to the blubbering in his earpiece. BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack Abramoff. DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either. There is no evidence... BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan? DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this. (long pause) BLITZER: Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, we got to leave it right there.
As you notice the blog has changed ... I am worse than my ex deciding that the couch needs to be under the window instead of against the wall .. then changing her mind. Maybe that's why my back hurts and my mind is soured about wives. The reason is that I just couldn't seem to add the links to other blogs like I want. As you can see on the right ... now!!!!! I got it. There will be a bunch of interesting ones up in the next few days....
Sunday the postal rates go from 37 cents to 39 cents. Not because the Post Office needs the money - they don't, but because the were ordered to have a "slush" fund - to be administered by Jack Abramoff I suppose. But it's possible to make lemonaid with this one. Who or what should be featured on a 39 cent stamp? In my mind there is only one choice. Jack Benny Sign up for it HERE. If they do this I will happy to take my licks and pay it.
It hit me like a bolt last night. Ever since we decided to "westernize" Iraq, with the neo-con idea of "westernizing" the middle east, the comparison has been made to Japan after WW II. I was always troubled by the comparison, but this morning I understand why I am troubled with it.
First, I have a great love for Oriental culture and history. In fact I think that the most beautiful people on earth are Japanese girls between about 13 and 30 years old ... in fact, I have a lot of trouble telling the difference between a Japanese 13 and 30 year old. And I see lots of photos, ranging from fashion, to the Japanese man's fantasies of porn --- which are totally different than the American male's idea of porn. I have made an effort to understand Japanese culture, which until recently was a feudal as anything in pre-Magna Carta Europe. And the ethics of the Shinto religion, and the rise of the Emperors of Japan.
But let's get to the question.
In Japan in the early 20th Century, the Emperor, who was considered to be God on Earth by the population was weak, compared to the military, and the militarized Cabinet Ministers. His authorization to impliment the SE Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere may have been for concern for the availability of raw materials, but one has to think that he was led down this path by the Military Code of Bushido. The military had larger ideas of conquest.
Japan in 1945 was completely and utterly defeated and defenseless. At that point General McArthur, who I don't like very much, accomplished one of the most amazing political feats in history. He ran the country and the Emperor got all the credit. He was fair and wise, and he had the willing aquiescence of the population of Japan. Within the amazingly brief time of five years Western culture had not only been accepted by Japan, but embraced with a vengance.
Look at the young people in Japan today. You still see traditional culture, but only as a ceremonial and historical adjunct to their lives. In every other way, dress, music, appearance, preferences and to a smaller extent food, they are exactly like young people in Los Angles.
Contrast Iraq. There are very fundamental differences between Islam and Shintoism. Not the least is the attitude of Islam (and the other monotheistic religions) toward other religions, Shintoism looks inward, Islam looks outward. Japan in 1939 never was accused of seeking war to spread religion, Iraq after 2003 can only be considered to do that. As can we, for that matter. Iraq has been on the borderline of civil war over religious differences within Islam for many years. Now there is the opportunity, not to westernize and modernise their society, but instead a chance to act out grudges that are hundreds of years old. Postwar Iraq has rejected westerism. The Shia majority has used the opportunity to move back the clock away from feminism, away from democracy, and away from all it's neighbors, save Iran. The success claimed for the elections are mostly a sham, and just a way for them to get us out of the country and for us to claim success and get out. The entire middle east is the worst tar-baby imaginable. We could have kept the lid on it and let it slowly simmer under the surface by buying it off, but once we declared war the ugly die was cast and the result will not be Japan, in spite of the fantasies of the neo-cons who thought up the entire mess. When I see teenagers in Baghdad posing in bikinis on alt.binaries.sherazade I will believe that we stand a chance in the Middle East -- not until.
Following the advice of Jenna to "loosten up and get off that damn tricycle before you hurt yourself", the Pres felt that a little nip before facing those nasty reporters was necessary.
