Posts (page 2)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/bush-visits-iraq-for-fina_n_150832.html

Not exactly the flowers Bush was expecting to be strewn with during his victory parade ...

If you haven't noticed yet, I believe the Onion has raised that little pastime known as the 'revenge fantasy' to new and sublime heights with a quiet little series of painful briefs they're doing on Bush.

Wow. 

Well, one can dream can't one ...

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/bushs_eyelid_accidentally
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/bush_dragged_behind
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/bush_passes_three_pound

My personal favorite:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/bush_tumbles_wildly_down



And if any of those things happen (oh please! oh please), I'll come back to political blogging.

Now, back to your "regularly scheduled" pop culture missives ...

I guess Bush doesn't feel he's done enough damage to the country in 7+ years -- he will now apparently try and destroy what's left of it in the remaining 75 days of his administration:

Bush’s aides have been scrambling to change rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights, among others — few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball

Mr. Bush, or more to the point, Vice President Dick Cheney, came to office determined to dismantle Bill Clinton’s environmental legacy, undo decades of environmental law and keep their friends in industry happy. ...

The administration has taken other disturbing steps in recent weeks. In late September, the I.R.S. restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn that JPMorgan Chase and others are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the new tax subsidy.

In other words, take our tax-funded bailout, use it to buy up other banks with bad debt, and then dump the loss on you and me while keeping the assets -- all without having to 'inject liquidity' back into the market as the bailout was intended. Weeeeee

In the aftermath of Tuesday's defeat, it looks like the RNC, the McCain camp or -- well, take your GOP pick -- are out to field dress Sarah Palin:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

"I am rubber and you are glue?" I guess it's true what they say about politics, that it's just high school writ large

Footage from the Obama victory celebration in downtown Durham last night

If you haven't voted yet, this will put the election tomorrow in perspective.

Just like most high school classes, we had a foreign exchange student our senior year. Ours was a smart, fun girl from Belgium named Hilde (she was also my prom date, but that's another story). Around the time of the last presidential election -- and one of our high school reunions -- she got back in contact with a number of classmates, and she and I still keep in touch.

She wrote the following to me over the weekend about how important the rest of the world feels about this presidential race:
 

On the elections -- I think lots of people here will stay awake all night to watch the news. Just bought two of our main newspapers this weekend ... completely dedicated to the U.S. (You even get a free donut with one of them...)

One of our friends lives in Boston and works as a correspondent for one of the papers. He wrote, I think, a very good analysis: Europe has always seen the States as 'the good guy'. You were, indeed, the country that freed us from Nazism some 60 years ago. We've always expected a lot of you. But right now you are letting us down. You wage wars no one understands. The crisis in your economy dragged us with you (yes, it DID all start "over there!"). And so on.

It's like having a real smart kid and being real proud of it as parents, to find out he's on drugs and a secret alcoholic and once in a while bashing other kids around. Basically, we feel like you've all let us down. We are very disappointed in you.

The thing is, we still like America over here. Most of our friends have traveled your beautiful country and were amazed. The way those national parks are handled -- amazing. Your nature -- amazing. Your drive to always stand up again and go on -- amazing. And we still watch American movies, listen to American music, play American games...

My son is completely crazy about the U.S. We wanted him to go somewhere 'exotic' for a year, but I guess he'll choose the States nevertheless. Even maybe Lubbock, Texas.... The most conservative, boring place in the world, but SO appealing to him. It's "the American way" to him and even our younger generation that knows nothing of the war is still in awe... ...

Even though our country is going through one hell of an economical and financial crisis, the U.S. elections are still very high on the list... And I'm sure Belgium is not the only European country where that is so. We have groups "Europeans for Obama," some people even have posters...

I'm just telling you -- this election is important to us! Please don't let us down.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of having to apologize for the criminals currently 'in charge' of our country, and electing Obama will go a long way in repairing our image on the rest of the planet. It would certainly convince a lot of people around the world that we are not, in fact, bat-shit stupid and deserving of the contempt that has been our lot since 2004.

 
No really, he perfectly frames the wingnut's past performance, and projects ahead:

It's one of the richer ironies of this election season that the conservative bloggers disparage Obama as a phony lightweight, a glib opportunist, a suave vessel of empty eloquence, yet endow him with the sinister strength to bend America to his socialist will and fog men's minds. ...

And to think they called us "sore losers" in 2000! They haven't even lost yet and they're already blaming the victor, acting all butch and making with the big talk about stocking up on gold and ammo as they hole up in the shag-carpeted panic room and let their whiskers grow. They can't face the fact that conservatism has epically failed; this is their way of pouting and refusing to come out and play, leaving everybody else to deal with the ruin left behind.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2008/10/this-halloween-be-on-the.html

Billy Bragg, in a free get-out-the-vote concert in Chapel Hill yesterday, opened his set with the following words of wisdom:

"This is a public service announcement, from the rest of the world ... Please don't send us another asshole."

Yeah, that sums it up nicely...

My friend Barry caught the moment live on tape

Billy_bragg_live