corruption

didimakeitthroughanotherweek
Did anyone else notice that Genarlow Wilson's attorney is named B.J. Bernstein?
First he goes to jail because of a BJ, then he gets out of jail because of a B.J.


When a forest is in a drought, it goes on. Maybe a few plants die, the trees don't grow as much, maybe it gets too dry and catches on fire, but that is nature.
When you replace that forest with a subdivision, you create a need for canned water. All those commodes, dishwashers, and landscaped yards use a lot more municipal water than a forest. Multiply this scenario by about a thousand and you have a water shortage waiting to happen.


I had another thought about Laura Ingraham, FreedomFromReligion, and abortion.
FFR posts about services which work with pregnant women to try to persuade them not to get an abortion.
Ms. Ingraham wants to use the government.
If a big government solution to the problem is liberal, then Ms. Ingraham is a LIberal.
Ditto for anyone who wants to send 160,000 troops eight time zones away...that person is a big government loving liberal.

Manifestation

Your life is a manifestation of what you think of G-d
That was on a church signboard that I passed this morning. While these messages frequently spark a case of platitude fatigue, this one caught my eye. It had the ring of truth, about the people who value belief over performance. A vivid illustration was not long in coming.
On the Laura Ingraham show, there was a debate about Jesus Worship. The players were Dinesh D'Souza and Dan Barker. Mr. D'Souza is an author, who recently wrote a best selling pro Jesus Worship book . Mr. Barker is a radio whiner on Air America, and is affiliated with Freedom From Religion.com. After a civil opening exchange, the affair got nasty. Mr. D’Souza was interrupting his opponent, asking a lot of questions that had little relevance to what he was saying, and generally showing no respect or courtesy. This is consistent with my experience with Jesus Worshippers...that many are rude, love to argue, and show little respect for those with whom they disagree.
Your life is a manifestation of what you think of G-d
It gets better. Mr. D' Souza was grilling Mr. Barker on where he gets some of his ideas, and Ms. Ingraham jumped in with both feet. "Why do liberals always support abortion?" And she was off, and nothing was going to stop her from a grossout description of late term abortion. Never mind that Freedom From Religion lists counseling services that try to stop abortion. Never mind that Ms. Ingraham is an enthusiastic supporter of the killing in Babylon. If a pregnant woman in Babylon is killed by a cruise missile, does that count as abortion?
Your life is a manifestation of what you think of G-d

Outstanding Values

allnormalpeoplethinkthatthingsarebetter
There is a big PR push now to sell the war in Babylon to an increasingly skeptical public. This is especially true on talk radio.
.
yea yea yea. That is not going to go away. Today is August 16.
On this day in 1958, Madonna made her first nude appearance.
On this day in 1977, Elvis made his last trip to the bathroom.He forgot to flush.

Back to Babylon. Tony Snow and Bill Kristol (the brains behind Dan Quayle) both were on the Laura Ingraham show recently. They said the surge was working, Anbar province is ready for its own Disney theme park, and those nasty liberal democrats just don't get it.
Now, it is possible that things are better now. This might be because things were so bad last year that there was no place to go but up.
And, it is also possible that all three players in this drama are liars.
Meanwhile, in the enclave of a marginalized Kurd village, bombs have killed an estimated 400 people. This is one of the worst terror attacks since the invasion of Iraq.
Iraqimojo also had this gem:
"PS: Note that Iran (and the Shia militias) are also blamed for the persecution of Iraqi Christians. 3-5% of the Iraqi population are Christians, and yet they make up 40% of the refugees!"

Well I am not gonna finish this on the lunch hour, but I only started ten minutes ago. I will add a few touches tonight.


uponmyhonorisawhtemadonna
Well, unlike the United States in Babylon, I like to finish what I start.
As for the progress in Anbar province, that is good news, if we can believe it. From what I hear, there are lots and lots of caveats to this. And, in the absence of an overall political miracle, any battlefield progress is for naught.
I think it was telling that Mr. Kristol spent as much time bashing the Democrats as he did hailing the battlefield progress. I think it is really cool that he has been to Iraq, but seeing what his handlers want him to see is not the entire story. And, as readers of Iraqi blogs know, is much more complicated than "We Win, You Lose".
Speaking of complications unknown to western observers, what about the Yezidis, the victims of the "Black Tuesday" bombing?
"The ancient Yezidi religion is a blend of Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. Some Muslims consider the Yezidis to be infidels." While the knee jerk press is blaming Al Queda, there are more suspects here than the Kennedy Assassination. Rival Kurds, Turks, radical Moslems, American Private Security, Iran....any one of those players could have done this.
Yea, the surge is working. And the emperor’s new clothes are really snazzy.
But the issue that really gets me thinking is this bit about Iraqi Christians. Could it be that maybe Iraqi Christians were better off under Saddam. Of course, the numbers quoted by Iraqimojo are not infallible, and may be as useless as Tony Snow's optimism. But, assuming that they are at least partially true, the question arises, why isn't this being played up in Jesus Mad America? One possible reason is the number of Jesus Worshippers who are fervent supporters of the Killing in Babylon. W does not want to alienate his power base by mentioning that our Allies are running off their “Brothers in Christ”. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we venture to deceive.

Win some Lose some

stumblingalongtheprimrosepathbeforedawn
George W. Bush, like all presidents, gets some things right and some things wrong. When the shortcomings include a self destructive war, it gets most of the attention. However, there have been some bright spots.
The most notable has been a return to obscurity of the First Lady. Laura Bush has looked good on the occasions when she is in public, but has not been heard from that much.
This is a good move. After Nancy Reagan (Just say No!), Barbara Bush (Lose those pearls) and (Bless her heart) Hillary Clinton, it is a blessing to not see Laura Bush every time you turn on the TV.
The National Enquirer does report that Ms.Bush is failing in one important chore... hiding the bottle from W.
Also, neither of the twins has married. A White House wedding would be good for the national morale. We have 17 more months. Maybe something could be arranged.
Hillary was the flack catcher for her hubby. The bile spewed at her by the main stream media was astonishing in its volume and virulence. At least Laura Bush has been spared that.
On the other hand, Mr. Bush has grievously screwed up with the Vice President. The VP is supposed to dedicate public buildings,attend funerals, and prepare to run for president. (Lyndon Johnson took a short cut into the oval office) He is not supposed to run the entire show, as Dick Chaney is clearly doing.
Now, the shortcomings of Mr. Chaney are well documented. What is much less certain is why is this turkey such a big deal. The Vice President is not supposed to be in charge.
There is a story about a president who tired of listening to a chandelier making noise. He had it removed from the white house, and placed in the vice presidents office to keep him awake.
The last shortcoming of W that we will cover today is this business of having "off the record" meetings with conservative radio whiners in the oval office. He had another one yesterday. Our buddy Squeal (Neal Boortz) was in attendance, as was Laura Ingraham and Michael Medved. Mike Gallagher and Sean Hannity were bumped from the A list. Squeal said that W seemed to have a special affection for Laura Ingraham.
Sex scandals in the White House seem to be a Democratic Tradition. This is one more area where the President has not performed/gotten caught. This is a good thing. Maybe Martha Stewart could help out.

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kill as many as possible

killkillkillkillkillkillkillkill
Art Linkletter is a TV personality from the black and white era. He once wrote a book titled "Kids Say the Darndest Things". He might have been thinking about talk radio.
There is a Lady named Laura Ingraham with a talk show. She is on at the same time as Squeal(aka Neal Boortz), and I usually find her too annoying to listen to. (When you are more annoying than Squeal, that is something)
She was one of the "Gang of Five" talkshow hosts who had a private meeting in the oval office last year with W. Since the meeting was off the record, we don't know whether they all did lines of coke, or whether Ms. Ingraham wore kneepads.
Ms. Ingraham was discussing the war in Babylon, and she came up with a doozie. The following is an almost verbatim quote:
" I say let the troops kill as many people as they can. That's what they are good at, killing, not nation building. They should kill as many people as they can, and make this so painful that they won't ever think of doing that crap again"
Doing what again? Defending their country against a foreign invader?Ms. Ingraham, any country that is invaded by foreign troops is going to resist. The land between the Tigris and Euphrates has been conquered many times, and the invaders were never greeted as liberators.
Or, is that a reference to 911? Iraq had at best a marginal role in that attack. And if you are referring to the Wahhabi foreign fighters in Iraq, many Iraqis are tired of them and starting to fight back. They too are a foreign army, and are not greeted as liberators.
Also, the Wahhabis view the Shia as infidels, and more worthy of killing than Americans. Are we going to discriminate between these groups while killing as many as possible, or do we just shoot anything in sight?
There is a reason for these rules of engagement that you find so troublesome. You don't win wars by killing civilians, and thus recruiting their relatives in the struggle against you. Also, we need the support of at least some Iraqis, and you don't win wars by killing your allies.
I would be curious if this strategy is what W told you about in the oval office. Of course, that meeting was off the record.


whyareyouthisclosewehavenotbeenintroduced
As Art Linkletter found out with his daughter Diane, Kids also do the darndest things.
I was driving on Nesbit Ferry Road this morning. Now, this is a narrow two lane road, with a speed limit of 40 mph. Like many roads here, it was a country back road a few years ago, which is now loaded with subdivisions and a golf course.
I noticed a bright red sports car behind me. It was uncomfortably close. There was a little turn lane for a subdivision, and I pulled into it so he could pass me.
Now, this is an everyday thing. People love to drive fast, and consider someone ahead of them driving the speed limit to be a personal insult. I was happy to accommodate him by pulling over and letting him pass.
The red car zoomed by, until it was behind a truck ,which was driving at an unsatisfactory rate of speed. This continued for another couple of miles.
Now, I knew what was going to happen. This road went on for another mile or so, until it came to a dead end at Holcomb Bridge Road, with a red light. Sure enough, when I got to the red light, and got in one of the left turn lanes, there was the red car. I even got a bit ahead of him.
A rather dorky looking man was looking down at something, then held a cell phone up to his left ear.
Driving fast is such an easy way to prove your coolness and masculinity. You don’t have to work out and build muscle, you don't have to make babies, all you do is crank the car and step on the gas.
At least he didn't have a chrome fish on his red car.
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