Let the Countdown Begin

100 days

and the end of the reign of El Pollo Loco, The Prince of Darkness, and the rest of the Merry Band of Minions and Idiots.

The end is in sight.

And I’ll be celebrating this joyous event by going to see Hillary Clinton in Scranton today… and some other people.

Poking the Bear

Oh my freakin’ Jeebus, people! I’m so pissed and annoyed and… plain freaked out, it’s not funny.

You know how we on the left always wonder just how crazy the Republicans and Bush-Cheney Corporate Headquarters are? Well, wonder no more!

The stupid is so awesome, so intense, so effin’ ridiculous, so burningly awful that it is almost beyond my ability to respond with more than “Oh my god… but… oh holy shit… sweet baby jeebus in the cow trough!!”

From the New York Times:

Poland and the United States struck a deal Thursday that will strengthen military ties and put an American missile interceptor base in Poland, a plan that has infuriated Moscow and sparked fears in Europe of a new arms race.

”We have crossed the Rubicon,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, referring to U.S. consent to Poland’s demands after more than 18 months of negotiations.

Washington says the planned system, which is not yet operational, is needed to protect the U.S. and Europe from possible attacks by missile-armed ”rogue states” like Iran. The Kremlin, however, feels it is aimed at Russia’s missile force and warns it will worsen tensions.

Um, except Iran is two-three times as far away from Iran as it is from Russia…

Red - Poland; Blue - Russia; Fuschia - Iran.

but… um… just ignore that.

U.S. officials also said the timing of the deal was not meant to antagonize Russian leaders at a time when relations already are strained over the recent fighting between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetia region.

“O hai! Sry, dudez. Srsly!

We didn’t mean to piss you off even more, right as you’re cease-firing from a little war spurred on by our idiot government telling the Georgian president we had his back… and then, um, not. But hey! Good news! Condi’s coming to make things all better… um, or maybe to buy shoes.”

[Tusk] said the deal also includes a ”mutual commitment” between the two nations to come to each other’s assistance ”in case of trouble.”

That clause appeared to be a direct reference to Russia, which has threatened to aim its nuclear-armed missiles at Poland — a former Soviet satellite — if it hosts the U.S. site.

Ummm… is anyone else having flashbacks to the 1980s and The Day After ?

Dr. Landowska: There is a rumor that they are evacuating Moscow. There are people even leaving Kansas City because of the missile base. Now I ask you: To where does one go from Kansas City? The Yukon? Tahiti? We are not talking about Hiroshima anymore. Hiroshima was… was peanuts!
Dr. Russell Oakes: What’s going on? Do you have any idea what’s going on in this world?
Dr. Landowska: Yeah. Stupidity… has a habit of getting its way.

Yep, and this misAdministration isn’t going to be happy until the whole freakin’ world is in flames.

McCain Says: Family=Male/Female Parents

Via Shakesville, Reason # 3582668 for Why I Won’t Vote For John McCain.

From a man who cheated on and later divorced the wife who waited through the many years he was a prisoner of war. The mother of the two sons he adopted and the daughter they had together:

Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption,” he said. [New York Times]

Proven? Who’s “proven” this? As a single, straight mom, I call bullshit.

Are gay parents somehow less equipped to give a child a loving home? Are straight parents somehow more equipped?

The Longest Walk Ends

They started at Alcatraz on February 11th.

Five months. Two routes. Over 4,000 miles. From sea to shining sea.

On foot.

175 days (4200hrs.) ago walkers from all over Indian country as well as international allies embarked on a journey that carried them through rain, snow, and even a tornado.

Two paths were taken to make the journey, both a Northern and Southern route, in order to bring awareness to and address environmental and sacred sites protection, cultural survival, youth empowerment and Native American rights.

Thousands of walkers, which included new born babies and elders in their 90s, representing more than 100 Nations joined the Walk along the way. The Navajo (Dine’ Nation), Hopi, Apache, Havasupai, Tunica-Biloxi, Anishinaabeg, Wintun, Hualapai, Lakota, Six Nations, Ute, Washo, and many others as well as representatives from New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Italy, Holland, Poland comprised the diverse Walk. As they walked they picked up more than 8,000 bags of trash on the roads they traveled.

Amerika

Article IV, U.S. Constitution, as amended on July 9, 2008:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Hitler didn’t not rise to power by show of force; he was elected. The rights of the German people were not first taken away at the point of a gun, but were eroded by the power of the pen.

With back-room deals and plenty of intimidation, laws contrary to the public good and in violation of the German Constitution were passed by lawmakers whipped to a frenzy by an atmosphere of fear-mongering and hysteria. The Reichstag — the elected representatives of the German people — voted to destroy their Constitution and disband themselves in order that the country be “protected” from “terrorists.”

Fight Tyranny

Those Senators who vote to allow the government to continue spying on the communications of Americans without warrants and to immunize those telecoms which complied with illegal directives by the Executive Branch — to a degree which is still unknown — should be haunted from here on out by the words of some of our Founders and historic figures.

John Adams:

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

Fight the Power!

This is the full-page ad run by Blue America, Firedoglake, and Color of Change in today’s Washington Post. Click the photo to see it full-size. [pdf]

The debate on the FISA bill begins today, with the vote scheduled for tomorrow. Call your Senators today, and tell them to stand up for the Constitution.

Christy says:

We are asking Senators to vote IN FAVOR of the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy Amendment (S.A. 5064 to H.R. 6304). We’re asking for a NO vote on cloture, and a NO vote on the final bill as well. [my emphasis – Jenn]

Why do we need to oppose this deeply-flawed bill?

Because it is a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights, allowing the government to spy on Americans and their phone calls, emails, and text messages.

Because it legalizes government and corporate law-breaking.

Because it says, “If the President does it, it’s not illegal.”

Because it is a violation of all that we celebrated just four days ago.

Let Freedom Ring

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers form the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. –Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Bottomless Pit of Capitulation

*All items in red edited at 3:10p*

Okay, so maybe I lied about taking a break from writing about politics…

Well, no. It’s more a case of “when VastLeft Un-endorses Obama, the cause is so over the top as to require sensible people post about it.”

Admittedly, VastLeft’s support was self described as “tepid” by Lambert but he, like many of us, really believed that pushing the “D” in November — even if we had to hold our noses — was still the smartest, safest thing to do, considering the McCain threat.

So what happened to cause VL to un-endorse? Obama, throwing yet another Democratic principle (and Constitutional mandate) under the bus, wants to expand El Pollo Loco’s Faith-Based Initiatives program (AP) and — this is a big, big problem — and supports their right to hire and fire based on faith.

Yep, you read that right — religious programs receiving federal dollars (our tax money) would be allowed to hire and fire anyone who does not meet their “standard of faith.”

Wandering Words

The past couple of months, my posting has been infrequent at best. The simple fact is that blog fatigue, political fatigue, and plain ol’ “life” fatigue have left me with little time and/or little interest.

I’ve been writing about the same topics, the same outrages for two and a half years. Almost nothing has changed in that time except a few generals and the leadership of Congress. (And wow, did we get suckered on that last one! Forgive me if I can’t get worked up about “change!” and “hope!” when our Democratic Party-controlled Congress has failed to provide any of the changes we worked for, hoped for, and expected after the 2006 election.) The war – and war profiteering – continues, the illegal spying on the communications of Americans continues, Big Business continues to prosper while the poor and (diminishing) middle-class struggle to put food on the table and keep roofs over their heads. All with the complicity of the Democrats.

Also, I can’t work up any enthusiasm for our candidate. Heck, even tepid enthusiasm would be an improvement on my feelings of “Oh yay. Another idiot, only this one thinks Republicans are the “party of ideas” and made political hay during the primary by lumping the only two-term Democratic president since FDR into the same category as Bushes I & II. And the DNC wants me to vote for him?!”