Friday, May 12, 2006

Bully Boy's sinking -- weekend's looking great!

Friday! And the pox is gone. I got a lot of teasing for getting chicken pox at my age. Made me laugh to hear it. But I'm glad I got it because a) it's out of the way and b) I get it. Like someday when I have kids and they get it, I'll get what they're going through. Cause it's mainly a kid's disease, I don't think most people realize how awful it is to have chicken pox. It's pretty awful. Like the flu, I had fever and my joints ached. But the worst thing is having your whole body itch and not being able to scratch. You're going to cheat, I did. But I didn't cheat all the time. I'd spend hours trying to ignore it and then just have to scratch. And if you only had it as a kid, you may forget how hard it is not to scratch.

So hopefully I learned something. And just in time for the weekend! :D

Let's kick things off with Democracy Now!

Bush's Approval Rating Sinks to 29%
And President Bush's approval rating has hit another new low. According to a poll by Harris Interactive, just 29% of Americans believe the President is doing a good job. Another poll tracking views on the President and the outlook for the United States led the New York Times to conclude: "Americans have a bleaker view of the country's direction than at any time in more than two decades."

Do a quarter back dance with me now. Spike the football and dance around. Bully Boy's bad, he's toast. :D Bully the Incompetent. You think he gets this, in his little bubble, that he's not considered a great leader and that the public is sick of him? We are. We know him as the incompentent liar. He lied us into war. He let New Orleans be destroyed and just sat around lying. He doesn't do a damn thing for the people. Pretty soon, it may end up just being a 1% poll approval, just the people who get millions in tax breaks. He's toast. Butter on both sides.

Bush Admin. Stonewalls Questions on Latest NSA Revelations
The Bush administration has responded to the latest in the domestic spy scandal with near silence. At the White House, President Bush declined to address Thursday's report the National Security Agency was creating a database of phone call records with the help of three of the country's largest telecom companies. The President said only that the spy program was lawful -- but did cite any constitutional or legal authority to back up his claim. At another press conference, CIA Director nominee Michael Hayden, who headed the NSA at the time the spy program was implemented, said he would not discuss any specifics. Hayden made the comments after he unexpectedly cancelled meetings with Senators to discuss his nomination. On Capitol Hill, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter announced he would call officials from the three telecom companies -- AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth -- accused of helping the government spy on US citizens. Congressmember Maurice Hinchey repeated his calls for a full investigation.

This is why I think he doesn't get it, why I think everyone in his bubble says, "Bully Boy, the people love you! You are the greatest! Everyone loves you!" Tony had this funny thing about how he was like Britney Spears. Tony goes that they're both trashy and they both think the world likes them. Britney doesn't get that she's only talked about in a tabloid way. Her music career's over. After she gives birth to the latest kid, she'll only be covered by the Enquirer.
Nobody takes her serious and nobody takes him serious. America should be scared to death of Iran right now if we trusted the fool. But we're not. We're basically, "Eh, didn't you say that stuff about Iraq too?" He's like Britney, no one wants to see them anymore. Tony goes no one buys Britney as sexy and no one buys Bully Boy as tough. They're jokes.

Maybe they can do a duet together?

The press all week has been pushing Jeb like crazy. Jeb in 2008! Bully Boy thinks he'd make a great president! If anything, the fact that Bully Boy thinks that only hurts his brother. But I'm sick of the Bushes and the Clintons. They both need to stay away from the White House. Bill Clinton did a better job than Bully Boy as president but that's not saying a whole lot. We don't need another Clinton or Bush in the Oval Office.

C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Chaos and violence.
As Sabrina Tavernise noted, Thursday "was . . . the deadliest day for the American military in a month, with the deaths of seven service members and the announcement of an eighth death that had occurred on Tuesday." This did not include the death of four marines on Thursday when, as reported by the Associated Press, a "tank rolled off a bridge into a canal" resulting in the drowning deaths of four marines.
Thursday was also the day that Nikola Radovanovic denied that Bosnia had shipped "200,00 small arms to Iraq in a secret and non-trasnperanet fashion" (China's Xinhua).
Amnesty International has made the charges that Radovanovic (Defense Minister of Bosnia) was denying. The charges come in a report on how the transfer of arms threatens human rights.
Today? The Shia party Islamic Virture has withdrawn from cabinet negotiations. The BBC notes that party spokesperson Sabah al-Saadi has "criticised what he said were external pressures from the US ambassador in Iraq." A joint story by CBS and AP, identifying the party as Fadhila, notes that the criticism also includes the assertion that "the Cabinet selection process was being dictated by personal interests and pressure by the United States that ran counter to the spirit of national unity." As cabinet negotiations continue to fail to meet the much touted timetable, Reuters reports that a "bomb in a parked car" went off outside the office of Dawa (the Shi'ite party of Nuri al-Maliki). The AFP notes that Nuri al-Maliki (Iraq's prime minister to be) continues to to tell "the ambassadors of Britain and Iran that the cabinet would be ready in the next 'few days.'" Al Jazeera notes that the real timetable, constitutional as opposed to the one al-Maliki has promised and missed, leaves only ten days to meet the "one-month constitutional deadline to present his cabinet to parliament."
In Baghdad, CNN reports, an Iraqi soldier was killed in an attack on a convoy. Reuters notes the death of Ahmed Midhat Mahmoud and two of his bodyguards as a result of an ambush (Mahmoud was "the son of a senior judge). Kuna identifies Mahmoud as the "son of chief of Iraqi judicial council." The Associated Press notes that a police officer was killed with at least two more wounded as a result of drive by shootings. Road side bombs continued in Baghdad, at least one resulted in no deaths or casualties but another resulted in one police officer being wounded.
The Associated Press notes that Basra saw violence as Sheik Khalil Ibrahim and his son were killed as they departed the Sunni Khudairi mosque.
Kuna reports that, in Tal Afar, an attack on a police patrol resulted in three being wounded (police officers) and two being killed (attackers).
In Dhuluiya, the BBC notes, at least four Iraqi soldiers have died and at least seven civilians have been wounded as people clash with "Iraqi forces."
Throughout Iraq, corpses continued to turn up. Reuters notes four ("military uniform, two of them beheaded") being discovered in Khan Bani Saad and one ("gunshot wounds to the head and . . . signs of torture) being discovered in Baghdad while KUNA also notes the discovery of a corpse in Sadr City ("blindfolded, with hands bound and the victim appears to have been shot dead."). Al Jazeera notes the kidnapping of Carlo Daccache "snatched on Friday in Baghdad by unidentified armed men."
In the United States, Congress member John Murtha has told the Associated Press that he predicts America will brings its troops home "by 2007" as a result of the Bully Boy "bow[ing] to public pressure or [because] Democrats will have won control of the House of Representatives."
Finally, as noted this morning on Democracy Now!, an event sponsored by CODEPINK and other organizations will take place Saturday and Sunday in DC:
Declare peace on Mother's Day with CODEPINK! We will be gathering in Washington DC for a 24-hour vigil outside the White House on May 13-14, and will be joined by amazing celebrity actresses, singers, writers, and moms, including Cindy Sheehan, Patch Adams, and Susan Sarandon! Bring your mother, children, grandmothers, friends, and loved ones. We will be honoring the mothers of the fallen by sending them organic roses. Click here to send your rose! We're also writing letters to Laura Bush to appeal to her own mother-heart, turning them into a book, "Letters to Laura." For event info click here, read our blogs and check out our online store for gift ideas.

Okay, here are my favorite five songs for the week. Neil Young's "After the Garden" and "Let's Impeach the President" are my big two. I listened to Living With War a lot this week. (Thanks to Rebecca for the CD.) I only listened to two other CDs this week. White Stripes Get Behind Me, Satan and I'd pick "Blue Orchid" off that. The other thing was my parents boxed set Complete Anthology of the Mamas and the Papas. Dad felt sorry for me having chicken pox and he brought it to my room. I think I'll pick "Nowhere Man" and "Safe in my Garden."

Be sure to check Like Maria Said Paz for Elaine's thoughts and also check out:

C.I.'s "NYT: Says nah-nah, we did in December, though they really didn't (Shane & Lichtblau)"
C.I.'s "And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)" (pay attention to the part on ER and and I hope everyone remembered to watch -- Parminder Nagra's Dr. Neela Rasgotra found out that her husband died in Iraq)
Rebecca's "preaching to the converted"
Cedric's "Different stuff"
Kat's "Guns & Butter and the crappy 1000th issue of Rolling Stone"
Wally's "THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY GOES PUNK OR GETS PUNKED?"





















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