Blackwater Black Marks

The fact that Blackwater mercenaries may have lost control and fired indiscriminently at citizens in Iraq is not surprising.  They are, after all, hired killers.  It's what they were trained to do.  It's what, no doubt, a lot of them look forward to doing.  After all, training is one thing, but unleashing a hail of automatic gunfire on live targets is quite another.

But, for a moment, put all that aside.  For the real shame lies elsewhere.

The shame and the sin is with a U.S. government which feels compelled to hire mercenaries to protect its own.  Can someone explain this to me?  Can someone tell me why we can't use our own trained military personnel to protect State Department officials?  

What's that you say?  It's because they would be culpable and would be responsible under the rule of law that governs both citizens and the military...even under the Bush administration?  Well, right you are.  Sorry I asked.

Sorry things have gotten to this point.

Sorry.

Larry Craig Stiffens His Resolve

OK.  Cheap shot.

But by going back on his word and failing to resign from that once-august body known as the U.S. Senate,

Larry Craig deserves our derision.

Craig is guilty.  He admitted it.  There is no wiggle room.  OK.  Sorry.  Another cheap shot.

Now he seeks absolution from a Senate ethics committee.  Wow, Larry.  That would really clear things up.

It'll have the legal weight and bearing of those commercials in which a bunch of guys debate "Man Rules."

Of course, if you're a Democrat, you gotta love this.  One more in an ongoing parade of bizzare, dysfunctional

Republicans in public-meltdown mode.

The sad part in all this is that the U.S. electorate is now so ennured to these sorts of scandals that

they hardly carry any weight.  "Ho hum" may be the meta-reaction.  So while the United States has been

systematically stripped of its international moral authority through the actions of the Bush administration

abroad, we have, concurrently, lost the moral authority which the House and Senate once held.

Like I said.  It's sad.

Didn't any of you ever see Elmer Gantry?

Al Franken, the comedian-cum-candidate said it best;  Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot.

This flabby man-mountain has made a mountain of money appealing to the baser instincts of our nation's citizenry.  And now, when he trashes "phony soldiers" who might dare think a thought that hasn't been predigested and spewn forth from the rapidly reeling right wing, his corporate enablers come to his rescue.

Clear Channel (a antithetical name if there ever was one) CEO Mark Mays stands up and tells us what a fine and noble citizen Rush is. Yea, no kidding, Markie old boy. Fat ass Rush is your major (and I almost hate to use the obvious metaphor, 'cause it's too easy...) cash cow...and you don't want nothin' to bring him down!  So go Rush!  Love me some soldiers!

And I'm serious. Didn't anyone ever see Elmer Gantry? Don't you understand how you're being played for fools?  Rush is the worst of us.  He is the anti-American.  He is a modern-day McCarthy.  He is a greedy, drug-addled idealogue with about as much heart and soul as, say, George Bush.

Now back to NASCAR.

It's very hard to see clearly when you're peering into Blackwater....

I don't blame this company for what they've done. They hire and train killers and thugs. Hell, that's probably on their "Vision Statement."

No, what's pathetic is that we've out-sourced our security to third-party mercenaries. And, unlike Verizon call centers in Bangalore, this isn't about cost. It's about accountability.

This Administration loves freelancing. Let the hot shots from Blackwater shoot and kill and main... and let the blood trail end...when Rambo gets fired. Not indicted or court martialed. Fired. I mean, man, that's some tough love there!

The Bushistas and the GOP in general love this sort of hands-off, "We didn't know" crap. If we have the "best trained military in the world," can someone tell me why the hell we need to pay people 5-6 times as much to guard our diplomats?

The GOP have buckets of blood on thier hands, and yes, there is a special place in hell for them.

A Long Time Gone

It's been a long time since I've said "Hi." It's not that I haven't had something to say, it's just that elements of the real world have interceded and left me without the time necessary to post anything I thought was cogent enough.

Now, not much has changed. I'm still very busy, but I figured; "Who needs cogent?"

So here are a few tidbits, just to get us started again...

Preident Bush has decided it's okay to give billions PER MONTH to the Iraqi's, but not to our children. How can the Democrats lose on this issue? If they need advice in framing it, refer back to the first sentence in this paragraph. That's it in a nutshell. Of course, what Bush is really attempting to do is to give the GOP some minor bit of street cred when it comes to their long-lost position as "financially fiscal." Personally, I can't wait to see the Republicans run on this veto next fall....

There are inklings that former Senator Rick Santorum might run for the Governor's mansion in PA. If he does, at least we'll know where he actually lives! And does he really think that living in Leesburg,VA for several more years...while still maintaining the Penn Hills fiction, will be forgotten? In case you're wondering, there is a website domain registed for "santorum2010." Of course, he could be running for President....

I like John Edwards, but his campaign is relying far too much on Elizabeth to be a proxy for her husband. I get emails almost daily that bear her signature. Honestly, I'm sure she's a nice lady, but she's not running for President. I think this hurts John and makes him look like a wimp. Politics is a bare-knuckled sport and American's don't like it when husbands let their wives do their fighting for them....