Sunday, February 26, 2006

I've got the fever



Like my (our) blog buddy, Snave of Various Miseries, I'm feeling burned-out on commenting about the nation's sad state of affairs. It's too much. Too much!

I've noticed that this has been happening with more regularity lately.

I'm sure there are Democrats/progressives/liberals all over the USA, and beyond, feeling the same way. Maybe they should have a name for it...

Bush-burn?
Administration-vomitus?
The W flu?

Friday, February 24, 2006

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Fahrenheit Dubai







Everyone is shaking their heads wondering why Bush wants this deal to go through. I don't know the answer*, but it's safe to say something stinks in DC -- even Repubs know it this time.


*I have my suspicions

He needed it for the MN winters

Indulge me for one more day...



I bought Norman this cool sweatshirt from LuLu & Luigi's for his birthday, however I think we enjoyed the gift more than him.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Happy 3rd Birthday, Norman!

...the cutest dog in the world.


PhotoArt by Damien


He's very handsome.



Norman loves his sister, Stella. Who wouldn't?

Sunday, February 19, 2006

What to do...what to do...

The great journalist, Helen Thomas, was one of the panelists on last week's Real Time with Bill Maher. One of the things she said has been sticking with me.

They were discussing all the scandal & corruption coming out of Washington, and she said she didn't understand the passiveness of the American people (not to do anything.)

While I totally understand where she's coming from, I wonder what she expects us to do.

We can take to the streets with peaceful protesting, write letters, sign petitions, buy blue, blog, etc, but that isn't enough. If we tried to "storm the castle" and drag the bums out by force, we'd be met with a sniper's bullet. So what are we to do, Helen?

Friday, February 17, 2006

Star quality

I consider myself an amateur filmmaker and I'm always trying to come up with ideas for a short film or documentary. My friend, Michelle, came up with an idea that was literally right under my nose.

This summer I'm going to start shooting a short film about French bulldogs. We are involved in the Mpls French bulldog Meet-up group, so I'll be able to get a lot of great stuff there.


Norman


I would also like to do a political film. A while back, I had the idea to do a film like this, but my follow-through sucks (& I don't like to travel.) Check this out: Red State Road Trip

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Time to Hibernate



Forecast Details from the Weather Team:

Friday - Highs zero to 5 below zero. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Wind chill readings 20 below to 30 below zero.

Friday Night - Lows around 10 below. West winds 5 to 15 mph. Wind chill readings 20 below to 30 below zero.

Saturday - Highs around 5 above. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday Night - Partly cloudy. Lows around 5 below. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday and Sunday Night - Partly cloudy. Highs around 10 above. Lows around zero.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006



Happy Valentine's Day to my fiance, Tom.

Happy Valentine's Day to my wonderful family & friends.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my Blogger friends.

And, along with old celebrity favorites such as Jon Stewart & Bill Maher, I'd like to wish a Happy V-Day to a few new good guys on my radar:

Keith Olbermann, George Clooney, Jack Cafferty, Lou Dobbs, and a new old fav, Al Gore.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Too bad



Now, tell the truth...what was the first thing that crossed your mind when you heard that Cheney shot someone?

I'm not afraid to tell. My first thought was - too bad it wasn't the other way around.

In high school psychology class, the teacher said that you don't truly hate someone unless you wish them harm. Of course I would never personally hurt anyone, but the thought of Dick taking a hit gives me the warm fuzzies.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Hummm, I wonder who it could be?

Libby: My 'superiors' authorized leaks

Friday, February 10, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, told a grand jury he was "authorized by his superiors" to disclose classified information from an intelligence report to reporters, according to the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.


In a letter to Libby's lawyers, obtained by CNN, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said it is his understanding that Libby testified he was "authorized to disclose information about the National Intelligence Estimate to the press by his superiors."


The letter does not name who the superiors are. But the National Journal, which first reported on the Fitzgerald letter, named Vice President Dick Cheney and other White House officials as authorizing Libby to disclose the classified material.



Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

He must have used a tin can on a string




Yahoo News /Opinion
BREAKING: George Washington Tapped Phones!

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Monday: "President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale."

Three questions here. How did President Washington generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power required to fire up the flux capacitor in his souped up DeLorean time machine? Did he use the Mr. Fusion modification to get up to the requisite 88 miles per hour? And, as Atrios asked, what war was he fighting during his presidency which enabled him wartime executive powers? Strike that. I forgot. Washington fought with John and Sara Conner in the war against cybernetic organisms -- unsuccessfully since one of them would go on to become governor of California.

So for those of you Bush apologists ready to regurgitate Gonzales' justifications at the office Tuesday, you should know that electronic communication didn't exist during Washington's presidency. Neither did electric power for that matter.

Some other presidential facts which Gonzales failed to mention whilst citing precident from decades and centuries ago...

President Roosevelt's war included federally sanctioned Japanese internment camps in which American citizens were detained en masse. But unlike President Bush's war, Roosevelt's war had a reasonably defined end: the surrender of the Axis powers.

Andrew Jackson didn't conduct electronic surveillance -- unless he borrowed Washington's DeLorean, that is. He did, however, defy the Supreme Court by expelling the Cherokee nation from their homeland dooming 4,000 of them to die along the way. He did it all with full support of the American people.

Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all owned slaves. While they were president. Out of 18 total slave-owning presidents, eight of them owned slaves while in office. Then again, slavery was perfectly legal in the United States in those days -- as was wiretapping without a warrant once, you know, wires were invented.

We've come a long way as a nation. Questionable, illegal, and immoral acts committed under the banner of the Executive in the past don't qualify as legal justifications for President Bush -- or any other president for that matter -- in the present or future. Speaking of which, a note to future generations: if you see a guy in pantaloons and a powdered wig running around with a googly-eyed scientist named Doc Brown, he's probably tapping your phones. From inside his DeLorean. Which is a time machine.

by Bob Cesca

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Downing Street Memo Pt. 2

I know I shouldn't be surprised that the mainstream media isn't covering this, but, hey, why should they? It's only one of the biggest crimes of the century.


Tony Blair and George Bush at a press conference in the White House on January 31 2003. Photograph: Shawn Thew/AFP

From The Guardian UK:

Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

PM promised to be 'solidly behind' US invasion with or without UN backing

Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday February 3, 2006

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was "solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today.

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

Here's the sickest part:

· Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".

Read the rest of the article here.


Thursday, February 02, 2006

Protect Seals Campaign 2006





Don't Buy While Seals Die: Boycott Canadian Seafood.

Even though most Canadians oppose the commercial seal hunt, their government and seafood industry continue to support the slaughter. The ProtectSeals campaign believes that while Canadian officials can afford to ignore the public outcry, they will ultimately listen when money talks. So far, nearly 140,000 individuals from around the world, and more than 400 restaurants and other businesses, have pledged to boycott some or all Canadian seafood until the hunt is ended.


Make Canada’s Fishing Industry Pay the Price

Help save baby seals by signing the pledge below to boycott Canadian seafood. (Don't worry, once you've signed we'll tell you how to spot Canadian seafood.) If you own or run a restaurant or business that deals with Canadian seafood, click here to help.

"I pledge not to buy Canadian seafood products such as snow crabs, cod, scallops, and shrimp until Canada ends its commercial seal hunt for good."

Sign the Pledge to Protect Seals Here

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The emperor has no clothes

Ok, I'll admit, I made it through most of Dubya's speech.

All I could think about when he was talking was:

...for everything he's saying, the opposite is true

...he must think that if you say a lie over & over, it magically becomes a truth

and

...every time he talked about "the enemy," all I could think about was him.


If we don't win back those Senate & House seats this year, and begin proceedings to prosecute the Bush junta, I give up.