Musings 154--Rush Limbaugh's Viagra Blues

The big wind bag, Rush Drugbaugh, was detained flying back into this country from the Dominican Republic. (See Link) In his baggage the authorities found a bottle of Viagra that was not prescribed to him, although he says that his doctor gave them to him.

Rush, you see, was on a working vacation. Now, why he needed Viagra is the question. I mean, isn't Rush the big leader of moral values in this country--not withstanding his three divorces. Hey, anyone can make a mistake...or three.

He quipped funny comments about him picking up Bob Dole's luggage by mistake. He also said that he told "his doctor that he was worried about the elections." The dumb doctor must not have had his hearing aid turned on. However, this clouds the real issue. Rush, who is now single, apparently isn't practicing abstinence in his real life--the only true republican birth control method. At the very least he is hoping to get lucky and pop a little blue pill. Why else would he have a Viagra prescription?

Rush has pitched the abstinence only program that the religious right is in love with. Now it seems that he is one of those do as I say, not as I do guys. You know the ones, we call them hypocrites.

As an added bonus to this, Rush may very well have unwittingly violated his own agreement of the plea bargain he cut to get out of the "doctor shopping" charge that came to light awhile back. It would only be poetic justice if he was finally charged and did some time. He could sit in jail and write a song entitled, "Rush Limbaugh's Viagra Blues." I'll bet it would be a hit.

Musings 153--Keep on, keeping on means we're losing.

The Bushie position of "stay the course" is the last gasp chance for the president to have a legacy that is not a total shambles. Bush jr. can't change now. If he does he will be admitting that he was wrong--something he has never done in his political career.

By going over the "we'll stand down when they stand up" mantra, the Bushies have a perfect slogan. Nobody can say when that phrase will ever come to pass. Also, to be realistic, it may never come to pass, if Bush jr. doesn't want it too.

I think back to my many friends who have been in bad marriages. They all just tried to stick it out and "stay the course." Things got worse, and most ended badly. Some got better for a bit, but, usually ended up worse than before. One fact of life. When it is going bad it can always get worse. To quote Bert Reynolds, "things are always darkest just before everything goes totally black."

I think that democrats should lay the war in Iraq squarely at Bush jr.'s flat little feet. The war should be referred to as "Bush's War." They should greet the republican phrase of "cut and run" with a "redepoyment to win." Democats just don't use dumb phrases like republicans. They also do not attack strengths--or perceived strengths. All Bush jr. has is the war. Give it to him. Give it all to him. Bush's War is what it is all about anyway.

Keeping on by keeping on is just more of the same failed policy. It equates an overall loss. Bush jr. has said that he can't end this mess in Iraq. He is going to give it over to some future president. Wow! Now that is a real job well done. Hand it off to the other guy. It is the story of his life.

Musings 152--Still counting at 2,500...

Today a new benchmark was set in the war in Iraq. It is one that is not particularly unique, since it does nothing but set the stage for higher benchmarks to come. However, if you have a son, daughter, husband, wife, grandson, granddaughter, cousin, or in-law that is a notch in this benchmark; then, you will probably pay special attention to it.

Today, we hit 2,500 soldiers dead since the war on terrorism began. That's the benchmark--2,500. Can 3,000 be far behind?

Of course, I guess one can always approach this benchmark like White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. He referred to it as "it's a number." (See Link) And...there it is. That is exactly how most conservatives view those deaths. It is collateral damage to their grander plan--whatever that is.

How these guys stay in power is beyond me. Their cold calculating demeanor while embrassing the flag and God is amazing. Bush jr. was the compassionate conservative--in name only. I think what he really meant was that he was a passionate conservative. He just mispronounced the word during the 2000 campagin.

So the next time anyone says that they know someone who lost their life in Iraq, you just say, "it's a number." And...where I'm from, you should be ready to duck beause it's coming. BAM!

Musings 151--Now I'm Really Scared!

So everything is going along about the same as usual. Same old, same old. Then, I see this: Hawking says that the human race must go into space. (See Link)

Stephen Hawking is the smartest man on this planet. If he thinks we are in trouble, then we should take note.

I'm packing my bags and hunting the first flight to Babylon Five. If it is good enough for Hawking it is good enough for me. Tick, tick... now I'm really scared.

I was watching the Discovery Channel and was amazed to learn that science says that two things can exist in one place. They also say that there are tiny particles in an atom that disappear and reappear in time space. Now this is creepy stuff. I figure that Stephen Hawking already knows this and is now sounding the warning. I figure that he has been able to take his mind out of that wheelchair for quite sometime now. He can probably dimension hop whenever he feels the urge.

Well, if that is the case, then I am catching the next intergalactic flight out of here. I have my towel and a healthy respect for the number 42. The clock is ticking. It is time to get off this old rock and seek the Cosmos.

Two things existing in the same space...now that is amazing. Of course, when fat Aunt Lizzy sat down on skinny Uncle Luke and he disappeared we should have figured something like that was possible.

Musings 150--Twisted conservative values

So Ann Coulter can say anything she wants about anybody, and the republicans will defend her to the death. It is indeed a sad time to be a republican.

Coulter has advocated everything from murder to the poisoning of judges to push her warped agenda. She is the poster child to what republicans have become. Mary Matlin defends her. Howard Kurtz defends her. Rush Drugbaugh and Sean Insanity defends her. She is just making a point. Yep, she sure is. It is hate.

All conservative republicans who agree with this, and I feel it is most of them, are just proving what we all knew, but hoped was not true--conservatives are mean spiteful people.

Let us explore the phrase "mean spiteful."

It takes a mean spiteful person to lie about WMD's in Iraq. It takes a mean spiteful person to completely destroy 200 years of constitutional law by starting a preemptive war in Iraq. It takes a mean spiteful person to never admit a mistake. It takes a mean spiteful person to trade the lives of nearly 2,500 dead soldiers and 20,000 wounded soldiers for the death of one thug named Al-Zarqawi.

Rush the Drugie is about the meanest guy on the radio. He makes fun of people and ridicules anyone who disagrees with him. Insanity Sean does much the same. They ascribe patriotism to themselves, but it is really just fascist rhetoric. These guys would have made good little Nazis. Heil, the government. Heil, Bush.

The twisted conservative values that these guys and gals espouse is totally amazing in its scope. Most of these goobers haven't set foot in a house of religion in ages, but they still carry the Christian right's water. Also, the Christians love them for it. Basically, the Christian right knows, down deep, that these guys are bozos, but they use them to push anti-abortion, prayer in school, flag burning and gay bashing. It is the twisted deal with the devil that all Christians tell you to worry about. Well, they have made it with this bunch!

So here is the way it shakes out. As of this day, I am knocking the dust off my feet with the republican party. Free at last, free at last! Now all I have to figure out is who I will affiliate with...spineless democrats or independents. Where are the good socialist when you need them?

Musings 149--Mean-ass conservatives

I was a U. S. Marine for a while in another life. So it comes as no surprise to me that my former comrades can become cold blooded killers. I mean, it is what they teach you to do.

In war time, ruthless Marines are needed. In peace time, not so much.

With an insurgency in Iraq--not a war--it is not much of a reach to see how these guys can go on a killing spree. We are lucky it wasn't sooner. Fighting a counter-insurgency takes a different kind of soldier, and we aren't even trained for it.

Having said the above, I now get to the heart of this piece. I am tired of hearing the talking heads say that the liberal press is happy that the incident at Haditha happened. The Bill O'Reilly's and Sean Hannity's of this world use mean spirited language playing to their core audiences. Liberal media is happy that Haditha happened, they say. Liberals hate the army and marines, they say. If you are not for the war, you are against everything American, they say. Well to them I say...bullshit!

Liberals of both political parties love their country just as much as their conservative counterparts. The right does not have a monopoly on "love of country." They do, however, wear it on their sleeves.

These mean-ass conservatives have seized the power in the Republican Party and it is time to get them out. We need a good house cleaning. Dopey Limbaugh and Gambling Bill Bennett need to be run out of town on a rail. Personally, everyone at Fox News needs to disappear back under the rock from whence they came.

I didn't believe in witches until I heard Ann Colter and Michelle Malkin serve up their religion of hate and disgust. We need to knock them off their brooms and sweep them back under the house so they can run out and bit the strangers.

I do not know of any time in history that so many people who hated as much commanded the attention of so many. A buddy of mine asked that age old question, "can't we just love one another?" Well, the answer is...NO!

You can't love people that hate so much. Maybe their childhoods were robbed from them. Maybe their daddies and mommies didn't give them enough attention. Or, maybe, they are just stupid individuals who love the sound of their own voices.

I can understand Marines going on killing sprees. It is training, conditioning and circumstance. But, I cannot understand what it takes to hate so much...did these conservative talkers all go through the same boot camp to learn their doctrine of hate?

Musings 148--Gagged but not silenced!

The FBI has sent out thousands of National Security Letters (NSL) to libraries throughout the USA. These letters enable the feds to obtain records of folks that are not suspected of any wrong doing. There is no court order involved, and the libraries that get the NSL are bound by law--or gagged--not to say that they have received said letter.

According to a news story on RawStory.com, four librarians in Connecticut have filed suit with the aid of the ACLU challenging the Patriot Act. To them it is a first amendment case as well as a privacy issue.

This is quoted from the RawStory piece: The foursome of Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Christian, and Jan Nocek were automatically gagged from disclosing that they had received the letter, the contents of the letter, and even from discussions surrounding the Patriot Act.

The librarians, via the national and Connecticut branches of the ACLU, filed suit challenging the Patriot Act on first amendment grounds.

"People ask about private and confidential things in the library setting...like about their health, their family issues and related books they take out...these are confidential and we did this to protect our patrons from authorized snooping," said Peter Chase, Vice President of Library Connection."

On September 9 of last year, a federal judge lifted the gag order and rejected the government's argument that identifying the plaintiff would pose a threat to national security.

Assistant Attorney General William Moschella told members of Congress 9,245 NSL's were sent out in 2005. This is according to an ABC News Report.

Now you might say that 9,245 are a little more than a few. You might say...that. These librarians are courageous in their stance. Even though gagged, they still were able to speak volumes.