Rush to War?

You decide for yourself. I think this is a very good example of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld PR machine at work.

Shell Shock

Just recently we had an incident where a group of Marines might have lost their cool and went on a rampage killing innocent Iraqi civilians in Hidatha. If this turns out to be true, this is absolutely horrid. However, you need to keep a few things in mind.

-These Marines were on their THIRD TOUR OF DUTY. (This is allowed to happen because we don't have enough troops to properly fight this war.) Soldiers are often pressured to "re-up". The Pentagon has issued what's known as a "stop/loss" order. Under stop/loss, soldiers are forced to remain in the military beyond their specified enlistment or risk losing all the benefits they have worked for.

-Army soldiers and Marines are subjected to daily battle stress. I have assembled a number of POV video examples of a small taste of what these soldiers go through on a daily basis. I think you will begin to see why some of them will begin to crack.

I have only chosen video clips shot by US forces. If I were to have used footage shot by insurgents some of you would have trouble sleeping at night. Some of their footage is sniper footage of soldiers shot one after the next in the streets of Iraq. Invisible shooters pick them off one by one, and the feeling of helplessness you are left with is hard to ignore.











Now some of you will say, "Peter this is uncool to show this footage." I must admit I went back and forth about this for quite a while. What I think is most important is that you understand the stress that is placed on these kids. I say kids because many of them are teenagers.

Some of you will say aren't you afraid to put these on your blog because you could be investigated by the FBI. Well, there are a few things I have to say to that:

-Last time I checked this was a free country. Freedom of expression is still a right provided by The Constitution of the United States of America

-Perhaps the FBI should look into who is posting these videos on YouTube.com in the first place.

-Better yet ... perhaps they should take a look at the comments below these videos. Almost 1 in 3 is some nut cake praising the violence in them. Some are harmless idiot kids who have played too many games of Doom. Some like "Maya0" praise Allah and post comments like "Long live the insurgency", "Allah Agbar" and "God kill the invaders". Perhaps if we spent less time looking for Jimmy Hoffa in a barn foundation we could spend more time on our "War on Terror"

I am drained watching these videos. I watched dozens to come up with these as examples. Having a member of my family there in Iraq makes me sick with worry. I really wish this would all stop. In fact, I wish it had never begun. I would feel much better if all 150,000 of our troops were in Afghanistan right now with Bin Laden's head on a pole.

Vicious Cycle

For those of you saying, "Peter ... I am sick of watching "The Coalition of the Willing" getting their ass kicked". I would go one further to say "I am sick of everyone and everything getting their ass kicked". However, for those of you that need to see a little Allied payback here it is.

This is night vision footage of a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter using it's gatling gun, and a few missiles thrown in for good measure. You have heard of ground forces "painting" a target for an airstrike. Well, now you will see it done with an IR spotlight.





Yeah ... I guess it is impressive. However, I cannot help but think if there is a God up there, he hates all this crap. If we spent just a fraction of what we spend to kill people, and instead put it towards helping and healing people, we would truly be dangerous.

Unfair!

Don't get me wrong ... I am a big Led Zeppelin fan. However this is messed up. Why does Robert Plant's Erection have 1135 more Myspace friends than I do?


You can click on picture to view full size. (The picture full size you pervert)

I love the quote, the "About Me" and the little arrow that simply says "ME"

Have a good Memorial Day everybody

What is most important today is this - That we remember the deaths of all 2466 men and women of the armed services who have lost their lives in the Iraq War since March 2003. (1943 of these have been due to hostile action, according to military sources.)



Underclass Navy midshipmen "rest their eyes" as they listen to the commencement address delivered by Vice President Dick Cheney during the graduation ceremony of the 2006 class of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Friday, May 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner)



Boston College professors hold signs in silent protest as Secretary of State Rice speaks during commencement ceremonies at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts May 22, 2006. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

I knew there was something I liked about Boston.

And finally ... Here is something for Nicki who one-upped me on an immigration issue.

One toasted lemon poppy please!

DALLAS (May 27) – Ian Walker (Below left) and Joseph Tellini (Below right) have been charged with delivering marijuana-spiked muffins to a teachers lounge in a senior prank that sent 18 people to the hospital and triggered an FBI and terrorism investigation.




When Lake Highlands High School employees ate the muffins, they began complaining of nausea, lightheadedness and headaches. Employees began to get suspicious when the 86-year-old receptionist Rita Greenfield couldn’t stop giggling and had to be taken to the hospital.

The FBI came to the school to test for a possible chemical or biological attack. The joint terrorism task force found that terrorism was not involved (These guys are good), but they determined that the muffins contained marijuana. They also turned up a surveillance video of the boys delivering the ganja muffins.




Apparently Bin Laden has had many plans to taint the food supply of this country with dangerous levels of reefer. However, his plans seem to involve bagels so as to ensure Jews as a heavily affected group.

Ian Walker and Joseph Tellini were each charged with five felony counts of assault on a public servant, each of which carries penalties of two to 10 years in prison.

So … rest easy good Americans. These guys might still be free as birds. However, the next time you step foot on a plane, or make your way to the top of a skyscraper for that morning meeting, there is one thing you can count on. The muffins you will encounter are safe and FBI approved.

I am starting to think that when Bush and Cheney said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they must have meant muffins. Perhaps they were right, and Saddam just ate them.

"You my dear, are the ugliest bitch of them all"

For those of you who don’t know about Michelle Malkin, here is a little background. She started her “career” 10 years ago as a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. From 1996-1999 she worked at the Seattle Times. She is currently a professional blogger and a regular Fox News Channel contributor. She now lives with her husband and two children in Maryland.



Michelle has many choice moments, but the one that stands out for me is an incident this past April.

Four military recruiters tried to set up information tables at a UC Santa Cruz job fair. Students outraged by this decided to peacefully protest this effort. They did a excellent job, and as a result hundreds of students showed up to protest this recruitment effort. Members of Students Against War (SAW), who organized the counter-recruiting protest, loudly chanted, "Don't come back. Don't come back" as the recruiters left the hilltop campus, escorted by several university police officers.

Michelle felt this was not fair, so in the interest of being fair, she decided to publish the cell phone numbers and E-mail addresses of the protest organizers on her blog. They remain there to this day. As a result, the kids in question have evidence to show they're getting death threats as a result of Malkin's actions.

Last time I checked this was a free country, and our right to peacefully protest is one of those rights you nasty little bitch.

Now … I have never believed that two wrongs make a right, so I will not publish her home address and phone number of this blog. However, there are always those who love that Old Testament and believe in an eye for an eye.

What I will put on my blog is an prime example of Michelle Malkin’s “investigative journalism”. In this clip she “catches Cindy Sheehan in a lie”. I love the way she interviews Cindy, and does not look at her. Keep in mind this clip is provided by michellemalkin.com, and conservatives claim it shows the reconstruction effort in Iraq and Cindy’s lies.

Please tell me if I am wrong, but their “reconstruction” video shows three things. Shot one is a dirt digger with one bucket of dirt. Shot two is a one-man steamroller badly filling in a ditch or crack in a road. The last shot shows a team of four guys pouring cement into a hole.





This girl would be dangerous if she had the slightest clue.
Here is another recent story which shows Michelle Malkin at her worst. (Thanks to Overwhelmed and Perplexed)

Some call Michelle “an attractive alternative” in the ranks of the conservative right wing. In my humble opinion, I wouldn’t fuck her with Cheney’s Dick and Don Rumsfeld pushing.

God hates them homos!

Rev. Fred Phelps (Pictured below) and his devout followers say the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq are a sign that God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality.




No Fred ... It's not because of the homosexuals in the bath house ... It's because of the idiot in the White House.

Till death do us part.

I am sitting here watching the Yankees kick a little Red Sox ass, and a commercial comes on the YES network. It is this horrible piece of crap for life (Death) insurance.

INT – Kitchen. Father and daughter put away plates.

Father: “Your mom and I are getting to that age when we need to think about our final expenses.”

Daughter: “That is really good. When Bob’s (Her husband) parents died they saddled us with those expenses.”

Father: “Well, we found a good policy from So and So Life. They provide for all of our final expenses, and they take care of everything.”

Daughter: “I really wish Bob’s parents had done that.”

“Blah Blah Blah … Buy this insurance.”

WTF?

Then there is some other commercial out there where a moderately older woman is putting quarters into a parking meter.

Kids: “Come on Grand-Ma!”

Quarter toting Grand-Ma: “Be right there! (Turning to audience) Wouldn’t it be great if life were like this parking meter? We could just keep adding quarters and keep on living.”

“Blah Blah Blah … Buy this insurance.”

WTF?

There are others. Most of them involve old people playing cards or at a cook out. They are always talking about one of their old friends who just died, and all the hassle of their “final expenses”. Then they share this “valuable” information about some insurance company that for $58 a month will, when the time comes, bury their tired ass.

I tried to find even one of these tasteless commercials on YouTube.com or Google, but I could not find one. This is most likely because they all suck so badly.

Maybe it’s just me, but there are so many things that bother me about these ads and the companies that run them.

- Real old people don’t sit around and talk about their own death. Kids do not prepare breakfast with their parents and talk about who is going to pay for the cremation. This is an effort by these scumbag insurance companies to get more people talking about death. I, for one, would like to see the death of the insurance companies.

- When my parents eventually die, the last fucking thing I will be thinking about is; “How much is this going to cost me?” The cost will be obvious, and it has nothing to do with money. I love my parents more than I can express in words. I will have much bigger things to think about when they die. To be honest, part of me would like to go first.

- Insurance companies are the lowest of the low, and completely full of shit. Just ask all those poor people down in New Orleans trying to get money for their homes that washed or blown away. Knowing insurance companies, they will most likely blame your parent’s death on the lack of fiber in their diet.

- When one of those kids at P.C. Richard asks me if I want the extended service plan for my new refrigerator, I say, “You can shove that extended three-year warranty straight up your ass, (look at nameplate) ... Chadd.” Well … I am definitely thinking that ... as I say politely; “No … thank you” (4 times).

Why can’t we have some taste in this country? Is it all the 99-cent cheeseburgers we are eating?

Here is a life insurance commercial from Thailand. It does not contain one word in English. It doesn’t have to. It tells it's story using moving pictures. The commercial is first and foremost about love. Life insurance is secondary. Sometimes a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.



P.S.

- Holy crap … Manny Ramirez is amazing. He is launching balls tonight.
We should buy him.

- I may be the only Yankee fan who thinks that The “Big Unit” is a big waste of money.

Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. (1921 - 2006)

Lloyd Bentsen, who represented Texas in Congress for 28 years, was the 1988 Democratic vice presidential nominee and served as President Bill Clinton's first treasury secretary, died this morning, his family said, according to The Associated Press. He was 85.

His long life in politics included some of the most important legislative battles of the second half of the 20th century. However, he is probably best remembered for one devastating retort he made during the otherwise dull October 1988 vice presidential debate with Dan Quayle.

Not without my baby!

WASHINGTON May 22 - A television shot of a little boy losing his dog during Hurricane Katrina rescue operations was the catalyst for a House vote Monday on legislation requiring all personal pets to be considered in future emergency preparedness plans.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut) added that the lack of pet rescue plans also put many pet owners in danger. "When asked to choose between abandoning their pets or their personal safety, many pet owners chose to risk their lives," he said.

The House was to vote late Monday on the bill, which requires that state and local preparedness offices take into account pet owners, household pets and service animals when drawing up evacuation plans. Offices that fail to do so would not qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This is excellent news for long time New Orleans resident Elliot Hughes, and his pet Bam Bam. (Pictured below)

John Edwards in 2008

I really hope the Democratic Party has the guts to choose John Edwards as the 2008 presidential nominee. I supported his campaign in the 2004 run up until John Kerry defeated him in the primary. It was heartbreaking to watch him be wasted in the role of Vice Presidential candidate. I went to the swing state of Michigan to volunteer for their campaign, but it was obvious early on who was the real asset in their political ticket.

I am a big fan of Bill, but Hillary Clinton will not win in 2008. She unites the Republican Party; in the same way Bush unifies the Democrats now. John McCain will certainly run. If the Republicans are stupid enough to give the ball to Frist, McCain may even run as an Independent. We need a strong candidate in 2008. I think John would make an excellent choice for many reasons:

1) He has a great deal of charisma. He is likable, animated and articulate. In this department, many people have compared him to John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

2) He is intelligent and fierce when he needs to be. He was a trial lawyer for many years and is an excellent debater. I wish I could provide a clip from his debate with Cheney in 04, but none seem to exist on Google or YouTube.

3) He is truly moral. He believes in protecting the weak and poor citizens of this country, and not just the very rich. (A group he belongs to)

4) He has stood by his wife, who he loves deeply. On November 3, 2004, the day that he and John Kerry conceded defeat in the 2004 US Presidential Election, his wife Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Here are two video clips to give you an idea of what this guy is made of, and what he consistently stands for. There is no doubt in my mind that I will volunteer again for his campaign in the 2008 race.

Deep "Si" fishing

It will take nearly 35,000 more jail beds to end a much-criticized "catch and release" program for dangerous illegal immigrants in the United States, but the Bush administration has not budgeted enough to do that, the Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog said yesterday.

"CATCH AND RELEASE"?

When exactly did we start referring to human beings in the same terms that we use for small game fish?




Ah yes ... Now I remember.

One for your Netflix cue

There is a great movie that came out last year, which I cannot recommend enough. It is called simply, "The Girl in the Café". Richard Curtis, who was also responsible for writing one of my guilty pleasures "Love Actually", wrote the screenplay for this film.

He brings with him, Bill Nighy, the actor who played the aging rock star in "Love Actually". In this film Nighy plays Lawrence, a lonely civil servant. He falls for a significantly younger woman named Gina (Kelly Macdonald) that he meets in a local café in London. When he takes her to the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Lawrence is torn between Gina's newfound political zeal and his own professional obligations.




In my humble opinion, this is one of the best films to be made in several years. It is essentially a love story, but it is so much more than that. It tackles major political and humanitarian issues as well. Not only does it address this important subject matter, it does it without resorting to grandstanding or heavy-handedness in any way. It is a simple film, but a very powerful one.




This is not an easy film to find in your local video store, but it is not to be missed. Trust me on this one.

"Can't Buy Me Love"

Sir Paul McCartney, the now-63-year-old ex-Beatle, and his wife Heather announced on May 17th that they had formally decided to separate after four years of marriage.

Dave from Sussex, United Kingdom marked the event with a Photoshop project (On his blog), which I know all you sick puppies will love. I should link him to all your one-legged jokes. His blog is a bit of this, a bit of that. His caption: “McCartney gets his share of the divorce settlement!”

The statement to the press made no mention of them trying to get back together. Nor did it mention divorce, an issue potentially complicated by the fact that Sir Paul has a massive fortune — 825 million pounds. That’s over 1.5 billion US dollars kids.

Although the British news media reported at the time of the wedding that Sir Paul's children had insisted that he sign such an agreement, Paul later said he had not, considering it "unromantic." Besides, a publicist for Heather Mills McCartney said on her web site, "he knew it was completely unnecessary." I guess we will now see if that is truly the case.

I think the split happened because Paul finally came to his senses. The couple was said to argue all the time; she reportedly flung her enormous sapphire engagement ring into the bushes outside their hotel room in a pre-wedding tiff. It was also reported that she had feelings of resentment at his superior fame. I say "good riddance."

He was a famously devoted man who was said to have spent less than one total week away from his first wife, Linda, in 30 years of marriage. I think that is really extreme, but they were said to one of the greatest couples of all time. Paul set the tone for their coupledom on the very first track of his very first solo album. The song was simply titled "The Lovely Linda." Linda was an acomplished photographer, but because he never wanted to be far from her, he asked her to join his band “Wings”. Some rumors went as far as to claim that her vocals often had to be electronically corrected. He even shared songwriting credits with her on such post-Beatle classics as "Live and Let Die."




Linda died of cancer in 1998. One of Paul’s closest friends, Carla Lane, told the British press "Paul is absolutely shipwrecked”. Common friends have often said that Paul never recovered after her death. When Linda died, Paul asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to cancer-research and animal-welfare charities.

I’m quite sure that Heather’s common passion for charity and animal rights groups reminded Paul of Linda. The problem is that there is no way to substitute one person for another. No one can ever truly take the place of the love of your life.

Unfortunately for some people, they will never, ever find that “one” special person. I would guess that the only thing worse, is truly finding that person and then having them suddenly taken away from you.

For the love of God

As many of you know, this weekend marks the arrival of the long awaited film “The Da Vinci Code” from the novel of the same name. In the past few years, the book has sparked an amazing amount of public debate.




Mainly this controversy surrounds it’s depiction of a Catholic organization called Opus Dei (Latin for "The Work of God" or "The Work"). Opus Dei is an international prelature of the Roman Catholic Church. It has over 85,000 members in 60 countries. Some accuse this organization of secrecy, conducting clandestine financial dealings, ultraconservatism, support for the extreme right wing in politics, and of having a cult-like recruitment regime.




I live in Manhattan, on 35th Street and Lexington Avenue. From my top floor apartment, I have a good view of the newly constructed Opus Dei New York City Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue (Pictured above). It occupies the entire corner of 34th Street and Lexington. The building is enormous and cost over 47 million dollars to construct. It has a high tech security system and steel gates that close and lock in the early evening. It is about fifteen stories high and has a massive living space on the top floor with a triangular skylight. I can only guess that is where “the big cheese” lives. No … not Jesus.

From my production office space, I can sit at my desk and watch its members go about their “holy” lives. They run on their treadmills in the morning, and read and pray at night. The members who live there are called numeraries. The men often sleep on the floor, and the women will sometimes sleep on wood planks or without a pillow. All of them must remain celibate. A few years ago, I had a roommate who would bring a new girl back here every week to have sex with her. Since we have no blinds. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for those numeraries across the street.

I could go on about Opus Dei, but you can find more information and upcoming documentaries from the Opus Dei Awareness Network.

To be fair, you can also get the Opus Dei point of view from one of their members Fr. John Wuack at his site “The Da Vinci Code & Opus Dei”

One passage you will find from this site is this one:

“There are groups, after all, in the Church whose members all use the cilice and discipline, because it is something essential to their vocation. This is not, however, the case in Opus Dei. Most members of Opus Dei do not use the cilice and discipline; within Opus Dei, these things are, in a sense, the exception rather than the rule.”
~ Fr. John Wuack

Some of you might not know what the cilice and discipline are. Here are some pictures for you. You can click the picture for more detail.

The cilice (Pictured below) is a metal linked belt worn around the leg. As you can see from the photo it has tiny barbs, which cut into the skin when worn beneath one’s clothing. It is worn two hours a day.




The Discipline (Pictured below) is a small hand held whip, which is made from white rope. The ends are tied into small knots.




Both are used to remind the user of the pain that Christ endured as he was tortured and eventually killed for our sins.

I have a few problems with Opus Dei.

1) They are so upset over the publication of this book because they feel that it hurts the image of Opus Dei. Most people are intelligent enough to know that Dan Brown’s depiction of this organization is sensationalistic. I firmly believe that what most people find twisted about this organization, can be found written in their own books “The Way” and “The Forge”. Among them is the use of a linked metal belt that cuts into the skin as you go about your day, and a small “pack and go” whip. Do you really think Jesus Christ would want you to be whipping yourself and cutting your skin with self imposed torture devices?

2) Do they really need a 47 Million dollar building? This is the same problem I have with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church surrounds it's self with wealth. Golden chalices, stone buildings, vast financial resources. The Catholic Church and Opus Dei own massive amounts of stock and bonds. They have all this, while the majority of Catholics around the world live in abject poverty. Is that the message you get from the teachings of Christ? Do you remember the tid bit about having two coats? Luke 3:11 "He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise."

If you guys want to whip yourselves, knock yourself out. If you want to wear barbed leg clamps, feel free. If you want to drag your balls across a cheese grater, power to you. Come to think of it, if Christ saw how little you absorbed from the New Testament he would likely ask you to smack yourself in the face with it.

TimeLife records now brings you the ultimate collection of love quotes

REMEMBER ... Since "Love" is often trouble, it can appear on this blog.
Anyway ... It's my rules ... so go f*ck yourself if you don't like it.



(Insert Isaac Hayes voice here) It would cost you over $1000.00 if you tried to buy all these quotes separately in stores. That is ... if you could find them all.

Now TimeLife records brings them all to you in one convenient package.

1) " I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

2) "Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it.
It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.
And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more."
~Erica Jong

3) "Doubt that the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."
("Hamlet") ~ William Shakespeare

4) "To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough.
But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be."
~Anna Louise Strong

5) "If you have it (love), you don't need to have anything else.
If you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you do have."
~Sir James M. Barrie

6) "Love is missing someone when you are apart, but somehow feeling close inside because you're close in heart."
~Kay Knudsen

7) "To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world."
~Unknown

8) "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
~The Bible: 1 Corinthians

9) "Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists.
When we are parted, we each feel the lack of the other half of ourselves.
We are incomplete like a book in two volumes of which the first has been lost.
That is what I imagine love to be: incompleteness in absence."
~Goncourt

10) "Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."
~ Charlie Brown

These are ten of my personal favorites. Please feel free to add your own.

Take me out to the ball game

"Baseball is a game played by idiots for morons" ~ F. SCOTT FITZGERALD.

From his bitter words, you would never know that the man died in 1940, long before the $8.75 beer or the $5.00 hot dog.

An old friend from college called me today and asked me if I wanted to go to the Yankee game. Since I was the only human being alive that had not seen last night's 9-0 comeback versus the Rangers, I decided I should go.

We went early because his nephew wanted the highly collectable Joe DiMaggio statuette they were giving out as a promotion. (There were only 18,000 of these limited edition puppies handed out folks!)

I was more than happy to go early, because a lot of the fun at Yankee stadium occurs long before the game begins. For example, we got to see this kid spend a nice afternoon bonding with his dad. (Pictured below)




Then we got to see him get hit in the head with a line drive foul ball during Yankee batting practice.




Then there was the kid who tried in vain to get the signatures of several Texas Ranger players. (Pictured below) After he failed to get their attention a half dozen times, he resorted to yelling at the top of his lungs. "How do you blow a 9-0 lead you boneheads?"




A few innings into the game, we saw one of the longest serving “beer guys” at Yankee Stadium. His name is Uncle Brucey (a.k.a. "Brewski") and I remember him from when my dad used to take me to games in the late 70s. He then proceeded to take most of my money. (Pictured below)




It was a perfect night for baseball. There was a slight breeze, no humidity to speak of, and most importantly fun was had by all.

In the end two very important things happened.

1) The Yankees won the game 4 to 3 over the Rangers, despite two bonehead fielding plays by Robison Cano




2) The Red Sox lost 4 to 3 to the Baltimore Orioles.




That put the Yankees back in first place by half a game.

I guess F. Scott Fitzgerald must have been a Red Sox fan.
After all, he was alive in 1918 when they traded away Babe Ruth.

I have a feeling I am going to hear it for this blog post … but then again … GO YANKEES!

That ignorant bitch said what?

Ann Hart Coulter (Hatched December 8, 1961)

THE "“MODEST"” ANN COULTER

"I am emboldened by my looks to say things Republican men wouldn't."---TV Guide 8/97

THE "COMPASSIONATE" ANN COULTER

(To a disabled Vietnam vet): "People like you caused us to lose that war."---MSNBC

ANN COULTER THE "“CLAIRVOYANT"

"My track record is pretty good on predictions."---Rivera Live 12/8/98

"I think [Whitewater]'s going to prevent the First Lady from running for Senate."---Rivera Live 3/12/99

THE "TOLERANT" ANN COULTER AND THE "HUMANITARIAN"

"I have to say I'm all for public flogging. One type of criminal that a public humiliation might work particularly well with are the juvenile delinquents, a lot of whom consider it a badge of honor to be sent to juvenile detention. And it might not be such a cool thing in the 'hood to be flogged publicly."---MSNBC 3/22/97

ANN COULTER THE "“CONSERVATIONIST"

"God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'"---Hannity & Colmes, 6/20/01

ANN COULTER THE "PATRIOT"

"If you don't hate Clinton and the people who labored to keep him in office, you don't love your country."---George,

THE "INDEPENDANT" ANN COULTER AND THE "MODERATE"”

"The swing voters---I like to refer to them as the idiot voters because they don't have set philosophical principles. You're either a liberal or you're a conservative if you have an IQ above a toaster. "---Beyond the News, Fox News Channel, 6/4/00

"My libertarian friends are probably getting a little upset now but I think that's because they never appreciate the benefits of local fascism."---MSNBC 2/8/97

ANN COULTER THE "“BLOWHARD"

"You want to be careful not to become just a blowhard."---Washington Post 10/16/98

Stages of denial

First lady Laura Bush said polls showing her husband's approval rating at record lows (31 percent) reflect the difficulties the United States is facing rather than any lack of confidence in the president.



Um … Laura … When a poll is taken on how well your husband is doing his job, can you guess what the results reflect?

While reporting on this polling that places President Bush's approval ratings at this all-time low, NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell and MSNBC correspondent David Shuster both falsely suggested that President Clinton's job approval ratings sank during the Monica Lewinsky controversy and his subsequent impeachment. On the April 12 broadcast of NBC's Today, O'Donnell and Shuster claimed "President Clinton hit 41 percent during the Lewinski scandal.

By your standards Laura, would that reflect that people in this country were at that time concerned about the difficulties of getting into Monica Lewinski’s pants?

In fact, Clinton's Gallup job approval ratings actually hit the high for his presidency during the Lewinsky matter, reaching 73 percent at the time of his December 19, 1998, impeachment by the House of Representatives (in a poll taken December 19-20, 1998) and reaching another relative peak of 70 percent in a February 9, 1999, poll, taken during Clinton's trial in the Senate.

Your husband is an idiot Laura, and a dangerous one at that. This is true regardless of what the definition of the word “is” is.

"People know that George is doing what he thinks is right for the United States," Laura Bush said. "I travel around the country. I see people. I see their response to my husband."

In late August 2004 I stood on a police barricade and I gave “the bird” to the Presidential motorcade as it drove down Lexington Avenue. It was on its way to MSG and the Republican National Convention. I expected to see your husband in the SUV, but it was you and Jenna in the car. As you both stared out the bullet proof window, you and I locked eyes. I saw your trademark smile turn to a frown.

At least 69% of this country now feels that way about your husband and his policies. Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

And now for something completely different

Sorry guys ... I got a bit heavy there for a moment. Let's switch gears.

I just added a blog to the hall of shame.

THIS BLOG MAKES ME LAUGH

She loves me ... she loves me not.

Every blue moon I like to leave the topic of politics. Today I would like to talk about love. Since more than half of all relationships fail, I certainly thinks is qualifies to fit into the theme of “So much trouble in the world.”

The other day I had Sunday brunch with my good friend Kathleen. She had just split with her boyfriend who was now living over three thousand miles away. It was this vast distance that in the end would split them up. Kathleen is about ten years younger than I am now, and still is quite idealistic. She is someone who very much wears her heart on her sleeve. I hope she never changes that.

We talked about how she was handling it all, and as we did she started to cry. It was very clear how much she was hurting inside. She was trying desperately to be brave, but the pain was too great to contain. It was difficult to see her so hurt, but there was also something really beautiful about it. The beauty of it was how much love she truly loved this guy with all her heart.

This conversation forced me to take a good look at myself. When I was her age, I was exactly like she is now. At that point in time, to call me a romantic and an idealist was an understatement. As a result, I found myself on several occasions heart broken and in great pain. The culmination of this came in my mid twenties when I was involved with a girl that I loved with all my heart. She was the kind of person who made the simple act of reading to each other on a train seem like the best thing in the world. However, all good things it would seem must come to an end. In that end, she betrayed me one too many times.

I decided at that point that I would consciously change myself inside. I remember saying to my old friend Rick that I was going to shut myself off emotionally. I would continue to see women, but I would never let them completely in. I had it all figured out. By doing this I would protect myself.

He wisely told me this, “You can do that Peter, and you are right … you will never really feel much pain. The problem is, good or bad, you will never feel anything at all.”

Of course, I ignored him and his good advice. As a result, I have spent the last ten years moving from one woman to the next like Tarzan swinging on vines. I can say with absolute certainty that for all this time I have never been hurt in the slightest. However, like Rick predicted, I have not felt anything whatsoever. It is a cold existence, which I do not recommend to anyone.

A few months ago I went to the funeral of my friend Rick. Cancer took care of him. As I sat there looking at his coffin and his weeping family members, I realized that I needed to finally listen to what he told me. The problem is that once you turn yourself off, it is not so easy to just turn things back on. There is no switch to flick. It is something more than that. Something I have not completely figured out yet, but I intend to try. Perhaps it will merely take someone very special to thaw me out again.

There is something really amazing about giving yourself completely over to someone. Trusting them with all your heart and baring your soul. It does leave you vulnerable, but there is a true beauty in that vulnerability.

Some people see that act as one of weakness, but they are wrong. Weakness is feeling the need to shut down. Weakness is running and hiding from life and love. When I look at Kathleen I see the old me. I see someone who still believes in love and trust. If I can, I intend to find that person again. I hope he is still in there somewhere. I am sorry Rick that it took me so long to realize how right you were.




Everything that lives
Lives not alone, nor for itself.
—William Blake

Daryll for President

In an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EDT), Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks says one threat she received in the summer of 2003 was different from the others.

"It was definitely scary because it seemed so "it wasn't just somebody wanting to write a hate letter," she says. "It was somebody who obviously thought they had a plan." The threat had a time, had a place, and had a weapon. I mean, everything. ..."You will be shot dead at your show in Dallas."

The threat came on the heels of a comment Natalie made while performing in Britain. Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience during a March 10, 2003, concert: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." The comment was made as war was looming with Iraq.




I have a lot of respect for these women. Not only do they stand by what they believe in, they do it at great risk to their professional lives. God knows that liberal Democrats don't make up the lion share of their audience. It's tobacco chewing, NASCAR watching, cousin diddling rednecks. Yeah ... That's right ... I said backward ass rednecks.




A lot of people criticize actors and musicians for making political comments. Their argument is that performers should stick to what they know best and keep their nose out of politics.

If that's true, then all you rednecks in the south should stick to Garth Brooks, tractor pulling, banjo playing, talking on your CB radio and stuffing little mammals.




U2's Bono has done more good politically than a half dozen US Senators that I can think of right off the top of my head. Consequently, the ones I am thinking of all come from red states.

In a free country, if you have half a brain, it is your duty to stand up for what you believe is right and just. I am still not a fan of country music, but I will always be a fan of brave women like the Dixie Chicks who stand up for what they believe in despite the pressure to conform.

My other car is a Bradley M2A3 Fighting Vehicle

Today I got another picture of my Uncle Robert who is serving in Iraq. This picture was taken just before a convoy roll out. Making a beer run to the local 7-11 is not the walk in the park it is here in the States.



As you can see from the sign, tailgating in Iraq becomes a slightly more serious problem than it does on the Long Island Expressway. In Great Neck, you might get the finger or a choice phrase shot at you. In Iraq, it usually is a M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

I thought the guys might get bored of the same old bumper sticker day in and day out. For that reason, I have sent off a few others in case they want to mix things up a bit.

Karma is a bitch ... and so is Katherine.

Sun City Center, Florida., May 9th -– President Bush and his idiot brother Jeb continued to beat a dead horse today by meeting with Katherine Harris (Pictured below)



It's not everyday that you see a horse's ass sitting on a horse's ass.

Just yesterday, Governor Jeb Bush said publicly that he did not believe Ms. Harris could win against the Democratic incumbent Senator Bill Nelson in her run for the Senate. She now trails Nelson by over 15% points and the gap is widening.

After saying hello to his brother and straightening his tie, the president shook hands with Ms. Harris and spoke with her for roughly 30 seconds, with Ms. Harris talking far more than the president. Bush did not kiss her or put his arm around her, or do anything more than pat her on the back.

You might remember that Katherine Harris was single handedly responsible for handing Bush the Presidency in 2000. At the time she was Florida's Secretary of State. Despite that fact that the vote counts were seriously in question she announced, "In accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes for the President of the United States."

I guess that's Republican love for you. She scratches your back, and you pat her of hers. On second thought, with a mug like that, she is lucky to get the pat on the back.

Wish You Were Here

My Uncle sent me this picture today. He is standing on the deck of what used to be a million dollar house in Hit, Iraq.



When I see this picture I think:

1) I really hope this amazing guy makes it home safe and sound. He is one of the finest and most honorable people I have ever known.

2) Thanks George Bush ... You enormous piece of crap.

3) Since we are already importing an American style democracy, that might make a great location for a Starbucks. After the war, I am sure people will be dying for a caramel macchiato.

Starving blogger needs new clothes

I did a Yahoo image search for "terrorists" and I got this.



Since the NSA has their panties in a bunch lately, that was probably not the best web search to make.

I wear an adult XL guys.

BRAVO STEPHEN

A strange thing happened the other day. I went to youtube.com to find the video of Stephen Colbert Roasting President Bush at the White House correspondent's dinner. I searched the whole site several times and mysteriously the video was gone. I had watched it just the day before, so I know it was on youtube.com, but one day later it was missing. All three segments were gone. All that remained on the subject search was a lame clip of Tucker Carlson commenting on how he thought the 20 minute roast was not funny.



I like to think this is still a free country, and people should be able to decide for themselves what is funny and what is not. For example I think a grown man that still wears bow ties is funny.

Anyway ... After searching for a little while I found the whole piece unedited at Google Video. I really think it is worth your time to watch a very funny and well written speech. George Bush looks like he is going to explode several times during the presentation. So ... without further delay STEPHEN COLBERT ROASTS PRESIDENT BUSH

Presented without introduction

This is video from a speech that Donald Rumsfeld was making yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia. The man in the audience asking the difficult questions was Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst. My hat is off to him for standing up in that hostile crowd and showing what America and free speech is all about.

There is a serious need for people to start standing up like Ray, because there is a lot at stake right now. Over 2400 brave men and women have now lost their lives in Iraq. Over 16,000 soldiers have major physical injuries, including lost limbs. Even more will come back from battle with combat related mental conditions that will impact the rest of their lives. It's time for each and every one of us to stand up and start asking this administration the difficult questions.

Where is Bob Saget when you need him?

The US military revealed a number of video bloopers which were discovered in a raid on an alleged Al Qaeda safe house in Yousseifia. Yousseifia is a small village south of the capital, in an area U.S. military planners say is being used as a staging ground for insurgent operations in Baghdad.




In these video outtakes Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, self-proclaimed leader of Al Qaeda's branch in Iraq, is shown having difficulty which a fully automatic machine gun. He seems unable to switch the gun to full automatic fire, and at one point seems to jam the gun. This prompts assistance from a fellow terrorist who shows al-Zarqawi how to remedy the problem.

In another scene shown to reporters by the U.S. military today, al-Zarqawi's deputy scalds his hand by grabbing the burning-hot metal barrel of a just-fired machine-gun in a classic military no-no that was edited out of the 34-minute propaganda video that found its way onto the Internet and Arab-language television last week.




Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch (Pictured above), spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Iraq, offered the video presentation to reporters in an effort to belittle the reputation of the feared Al Queda leader. Lynch told reporters, "What you saw on the Internet is what he wanted the world to see: 'Look at me, I'm a capable leader of a capable organization.”

Ah … Rick … if knowledge of firearms is the yardstick we are going to measure our leadership against, we might want to rethink our own.

Papal Protection

ROME (May 2) News out of the Vatican in the last few weeks appears that the Pope and his higher ups have started to consider the issue of condom use. Church officials recently confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI had requested a report on whether it might be acceptable for Catholics to use condoms in one narrow circumstance: to protect life inside a marriage when one partner is infected with H.I.V. or is sick with AIDS.

Cardinal Martini (No relation to the drink) was quoted as saying, "Certainly the use of prophylactics can, in some situations, constitute a lesser evil."

I for one, think this is a major move for the normally ridged Catholic Church. The problem of AIDS necessitates a bold move like this one. This holy compromise could very well save the lives of several thousand people, and it might act as a partial roadblock for a disease which is certainly out of control. This would indeed be a godsend in places like Africa.

I have a few questions:

1)Does this mean that condoms with ribs, ridges, studs and nubby things would also be okay?

2)Would this papal ruling include flavored condoms?

3)If this is indeed the case, is there a good chance we will soon see a “Body of Chirst”, or “Blood of Christ” flavor on the shelves of Duane Reade?



I am going to Hell for this post. I just know it.

"Please forgive our post as we forgive those who post against us ... "