Okay, I listened to Michael Savage and Richard is probably correct ...

Yeh, you heard me correctly. What John Kerry said, although possibly a "botched punch line," was definitely demeaning to our uniformed boys and girls in Iraq ... and everywhere in the world ... and requires an apology. His comeback speech in the previous post was excellent as regards the hard-hitting punches taken at the White House, but should have been preceded by a simple, "I apologize to all our men and women in uniform for a poorly worded punch line that I said yesterday ... wherein I was simply intending to admonish the students whom I was addressing to study."

That simple.

But he didn't say that and instead went on the offensive (prematurely, I now admit) ... and has hurt both himself and his party's chances a week from today.

Kerry said that what he intended to say was, "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq."

I don't know.

I guess if you say so, Senator Kerry.

But quite frankly, it sounds like a lame and mildly dishonest afterthought and possibly shows an inherent weakness in an element of progressive/liberal philosophy ... I just don't know.

And yes, I owe my brother, Richard from Connecticut, an apology. If he thought what Mr. Kerry said was politically incorrect, I agree with him ... 100% !!!

I know that the Iraq war and occupation is wrong. The bombing and invasion were ill-timed and hurtful to Iraq, America and the rest of the world. I know that it continues to be poorly managed. I know that most, if not everything that Mr. Kerry said in my previous posting was true. But I also think that Mr. Kerry demonstrated a bit of superciliousness (maybe even arrogance) in suggesting that our military men and women are in uniform simply because they didn't make the grade intellectually. I've known too many uniformed geniuses (most of them from the enlisted ranks!) over the years to believe that kind of horse-crap.

Sadly, the Democrats (and I consider myself a Democrat) will be saddled with his foolish remark for as long as he doesn't square his shoulders and apologize. For sure, Mr. Kerry will never be nominated by his party to run for President again. We now have a JFK and a jfk ... spelled "j-e-r-k" !!!

Finally ... a politician who says it like it is! Hurray for John F. Kerry !!!

My brother from Connecticut might possibly say that both John Kerry and I are way outta line as regards what's permissible in the realm of the politically correct, I'm sure. [And in truth, Richard would be right, of course, if he thinks that; however, the message, in this case, is in neither the medium nor the messenger, but in the mess in Iraq!]

In any event, whether politically correct or not, Kerry's warning to students to study or "if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq" is one that I can state for certain is used by teachers and college professors throughout America. He started the statement to the students with, "Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well ..."

Well, he was hammered hard by a couple of intellectual midgets that aren't even decent talking heads (Rush Limbaugh, et al) and the White House (through its spokesman, Tony Snow -- Bush's latest paid mouthpiece) has asked that Kerry apologize to those who are serving and dying in Iraq ... and their families. [A reminder: Kerry served in Vietnam and earned multiple purple hearts for his wounds.] He is being accused of dissing our troops in Iraq through his warning to the students.

Well I happen to agree wholeheartedly with John Kerry that it's George Bush and his neocon handlers -- in particular, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney -- who owe our troops in Iraq the apology. But let me quote John Kerry's own statement:

Kerry stated, "If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq," and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy.

"I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

"I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium [clearly referring to Tony Snow], or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq.

"It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have."

John Kerry, like me, believes that it is the President and Vice President Cheney who owe troops an apology for accidentally [I'm being kind here, in light of the money flowing into no-bid contractors tied to Dick Cheney, in particular] taking the nation into war, stating that they have "widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it."

"These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

"Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won't work because we're going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions."

He finished his statement with, "No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq."

I wonder how long the White House can hide behind the almost forgotten mistakes (or were they lies?) that got the American people behind Bush when he decided to invade Iraq ... or how long before the American people will really read that National Intelligence Estimate that stated that the war in Iraq has actually increased our terror threats in America ... or takes a good look at the numbers -- nearly 3000 American soldiers dead and more than 650,000 Iraqi civilians dead ... for what? The pleasure of hearing a "guilty" verdict handed down to Saddam Hussein on the day before the Midterm Elections?

Does Mr. Bush really believe that our heads are in the sand?

It may have taken the entire month, but the "October Surprise" finally came ... a Democrat stood up, shoved political correctness aside ... and told it like it is!

[For the record ... in particular, for those of you around the world who may not know ... John Kerry is not currently running for any elective office this year.]

Oooh! Can we even stand another "October Surprise"?

I happened to have CNN blaring while I was keying in that last posting and what to my surprise (without eight little reindeer) ... came yet another "October Surprise." Karl Rove is working overtime at it. But how he happened to "lose" millions of dollars worth of small arms munitions and "lose track of" another 278,000 such weapons ... is beyond the imagination. Surely, Rumsfeld was involved in this with Karl. How could Karl Rove have slipped 278,000 weapons into the hands of Al-Qaida and the Iraqi insurgents all by himself ... with his left hand on the arm of Taylor Hughes? (scroll to bottom)

Admittedly, there is room to spare under the white theobes (white dresses) worn by most Iraqi men (see photo at upper left) and they could even slip pistols under their gutras (scarf-type head dresses) or white skull caps ... but this arms loss stretches the imagination.

But seriously, this is pretty seriously serious! Not only didn't the military or our (no-bid) contractors not keep track of serial numbers, they didn't even keep shipping manifests and lists of exactly what they were providing to Al Qaida our Iraqi "friends" for whom we have provided a bogus theocratic-democracy ... of sorts, as well.

As of today, we have lost 101 young soldiers in October alone ... that rounds out to between 2500 and 3000 "unaccounted for" weapons per soldier killed in Iraq this month.

This invasion, war and occupation in Iraq isn't just horrible ... it's sick! Very, very ugly sick!

Omigosh! I hope you haven't already mailed in your absentee ballot!

Who could vote against this outstanding American? ... he loves kittens and puppies too!

According to Fox News, President George W. Bush has a secret plan for winning the war in Iraq! The little girl you see in his arms ... her very life is in the hands of the voters. Even as I am keying this in, devious Democrats are digging tunnels from Afghanistan and the Sudan to the very heartland of America and they can only be stopped if the Republicans win both houses of Congress and President Bush can pop his plan on these murderous villains deep beneath both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans digging these secret tunnels to destroy us all. Besides that, GWB has revealed a plan to be unhatched by Democrats if they win to ...

legalize cannibalism in the US!!
We must all get out on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 and stop these heathen Democrats from connecting the tunnels ... right after the election. Vote for Bush's Secret Plan (code named "War on Terror") now!

The alternative for America is ...



Horrible ... horrible ... help our president to save us from this terrible end!

My brother Richard pointed me at this ...

I guess Karl Rove is optimistic ... in a sense ... on the basis of the reasons emailed me by Richard. Of course the picture a little further down in this posting might better explain the smile on his face. Maybe the "rest of the picture" is an explanation of sorts why Karl can smile as often as he does in the face of the polls that look a lot like the graphic displayed in the previous posting. [I "uncropped" the picture from Yahoo.]



For the curious among you, the young lady on Karl's left arm is Rove's executive assistant, Taylor Hughes. It must be nice ...

Who the heck said that "Republicans are very good at goal line stands"?

If the latest polls are even 50% accurate, I'd say it would have to be a stand somewhere twenty yards in the Democrats' end zone! But there are those who hold out hope among the Republicans (Karl Rove, Karl Rove and Karl Rove, for starters) and voter turnout may not be as good as either political party thinks it will be. For now, I'll stick with my October predictions.

Swami Richard asks that I correct/update his prediction(s) ...

I spoke again with Swami Richard from Connecticut on Friday evening (Swami Richard shown on the left -- the same slightly dated photo ... taken when I visited him while he and his wife were living in a library some time ago).

He sees November 7, 2006 as a "done deal" (his words) as regards the coming elections and asked that I correct/update my previous post.

His corrected/updated numbers are:

Senate:

Democrat 49 or 50
Republican 48 or 49
Independent 2

House of Representations:

Democrats 218
Republicans 216
Independent 1

Of course, you can see that he's pretty much on target with the polls showing the Democrats taking the House. As for the Senate ...? Too close to call, but a possible Democratic win (unexpected, according to the major polls).

Swami Richard from Connecticut has spoken!

Waterboarding for Dummies

Of course you can always visit Wikipedia to become the world's latest expert on waterboarding (or read Rummy's mind, I suppose) or you can take Mediawingnuts' course, Waterboarding for Dummies (below).

Whee! It's as easy as one, two, three!


One


Two



Three

The above photos are of actual equipment used by the Khymer Rouge to extract "confessions." Note: I said "confessions" and not "truthful information."

Just imagine drowning, and you might understand what the prisoner is going through ... Excuse me, Dick Cheney calls it "dunking"! You only think you're drowning.

And this wasn't forbidden in our new and updated "Torture Bill" signed by the President.

Excuse me !!!!

Okay, okay ... it's not a battleship!

But the above is an admittedly more accurate portrayal of what I was blogging about in that earlier posting suggesting that my postings will be less frequent after about mid-November. My brother, Richard from Connecticut, was the person who suggested that Alcatraz looked like a huge battleship. He was right,of course; it does. And the above photo is certainly not of Alcatraz, for the love of ducks! But that is a bay fed by the Pacific Ocean off in the upper-left!

We live in a small world, after all ...

"I gave my son, David, to Madonna with all my heart!"

Need anything more be said that could add to the beautiful words spoken by Yohanda Banda, 32, the father of little David seen in the photo to the left with Madonna? Seldom do I become upset with Human Rights organizations, but they all seem to be piling on Madonna ... much like music lovers piled on Modonna after one of the most touching musical operas I have experienced was released by Hollywood, many, many years back. [I'm speaking, of course, of Evita.]

Our family has been through several international adoptions and another is underway even as I am keying this in. If these organizations were truly concerned about the problem, they would be encouraging others to, not discouraging others from, adopting children from countries where their options would be limited to none.

For the most part, we live in a two-tiered world ... you're either at the top or the bottom in far too many countries ... especially in Africa and most of Asia. The problem isn't only Malawi's problem; it's the problem of regions as large as China and its peripheral countries, a huge swath through the Middle East and nearly all of Central Africa (Malawi, by the way, is in southern Africa) ... and that's only for starters.

In this one little incident, involving one small child, the world is looking at itself. The child's mother died in childbirth; his likelihood of even surviving into full adulthood is less than the average Americans' chances are of reaching 95.

Little David's father said the following: "If Madonna gives David back, he will end up dead like his siblings ... Madonna, whatever is happening, maybe it's because you are famous, that's why all this is happening ... please be strong and don't give up the fight ... my David will be a good son to you."

With so many wars and politics and famines and horrors of all kinds worldwide ... isn't it beautiful to read little David Banda's father's words and imagine the great life ahead for little David and his "mother," Madonna?

This world needs more to be homogenized with bonds of love than to have billion dollar hate-fences built between us ... like the fence approved by President Bush this week between Mexico and the United States of America! The picture at the top of this posting isn't just a picture of two beautiful people ... and love. It's a dream we all should have of the world of tomorrow where poverty is a thing of the past and beauty can shine ... even in a blurry picture like the one above of two persons who depend on each other ... and not on meaningless arguments in bars across America and beyond ... or worse, on a morsel of food or an unavailable medication.

I'll continue to blog, but Mediawingnuts' access to the Internet will be limited after I start my new "job"!

It's not that much of a "biggie," but I will be starting full-time work again this coming month and my access to the Internet and blogging (see above) will be restricted to the wee hours of the night/morning. I will keep up with the sad ongoing saga of our wonderful country and all of the comings and goings of my kitties ... Oh yes, the kitties ... did I say, "kitties"? ... you don't want to know! But in a sentence, both Samantha and Patricia have to be spayed and Arnold has to be neutered.

[Arnold --a.k.a. "Sweetie" -- a duplicate of dear old Sweetheart (pbuh) who survived the first Gulf War, Samantha -- a.k.a. "Claws" -- a duplicate of Furface (pbuh) who also survived the first Gulf War but with a broken back from the first scud attack (never received a Purple Heart, however), and Patricia -- a.k.a. Patricia (hmmm ... something wrong there, but I was talked out of "Oprah"!) -- are leftovers from my latest PAWS Animal Shelter volunteer work ... and impossible-to-explain escapade. Even I don't know what happened ... fully.]

I guess I didn't quite pick up the computer sciences teaching job (with tenure, believe it or not) soon enough to come to my full senses and yes, I am back to [number remains a secret] kitties in my tiny cabin in the woods on the ocean. But with a regular job (not exactly ... uhhh ... regular exactly ... but ... well, the photo at the top kinda describes it ...), I should be able to both feed all of the cats and raccoons for which I am now responsible and send more of that green stuff to my wife in Tampa than I am currently able to.

Wish me luck as I go through the "process" of becoming a member of the full-time working class again.

Yes, there will be fewer postings after about the middle of November, but I will be so enthusiastic about full-time employment and the Democrat victory on November 7 that I will possibly write the same volume of drivel in a quarter of the time -- or whatever is available.

I wish I could say more .....

Is it me, or have the right wing pundits and politicians all gone bonkers?

First the President denies having said, "we will stay the course"; and then that idiot John Spencer in New York calls Hillary "ugly" -- and follows up with even sillier (and untrue) remarks; then Limbaugh disses Michael J. Fox for his disease symptoms; ... and now, we have Republican Representative Dave Reichert, whom I met when I lived in Bellevue (his district), stating out of the clear blue that it is his opinion that Global Warming isn't affected by human beings and that modernity's pollution has not given us increased levels of carbon dioxide.

Huh?

Even Al Gore, who is ordinarily calm, was shocked. "Did he say that?" he interrupted when Reichert's opponent commented on Reichert's statements in Seattle on Tuesday ... and then as the conversation (same subject) continued, his face appeared to turn red.

"C'mon! ... and this man is a United States Congressman?" he asked. "You know, 15% of the people in this country believe that the moon landing was staged on some movie lot and an even smaller number believe that the earth is flat! They must all get together on Saturday night and party with the Global Warming deniers."

The Republican members of Congress in my beloved state of Washington have scored pretty low as regards how Washington's Republican Congressmen (and women) displayed their attentiveness to the environment in their voting records. For that and other reasons, Al Gore was here (shown above with Senator Marie Cantwell and Rep. Reichert's opponent, Darcy Burner -- smiling just behind Gore and Cantwell in the photo), in a combination fund-raiser for Cantwell and Burner ... plus urging folks to get out and see An Inconvenient Truth.

Are the Republicans deliberately trying to look like the 21st Century version of the "know nothing" party? My belief in not discussing the Republicans' gay and lesbian sexual orientation (it's truly their own business!) does not extend to discussing their mental prowess ... but what the hell ... everyone reads the newspapers and watches the evening television newscasts ... and doesn't need an unknown blogger to remind them of the genius of our current leadership. Just Google "bushisms"!

Rush Limbaugh manages to put his foot [I will keep this clean] in his mouth once again!

There isn't much for me to write. And notice that it really doesn't matter whether you are in favor of or against embryonic stem cell research ... or believe that the Bill on the ballot in Missouri actually legalizes "human cloning" with wording that was deliberately misleading.

It's what Rush Limbaugh (above left) had to say about Michael J. Fox (upper right) who was a spokesman for the bill in a television ad. Most of you know that Michael J. Fox suffers from an advanced stage of Parkinson's disease.

What did Rush have to say? Read on ... Rush Limbaugh (quote): "He [Michael J. Fox in the ad] is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medications or he's acting."

[As it turns out, failure to take the medication causes stiffness and a form of paralysis ... and not shaking, which was prominent in the ad's videotape.]

His mention of Fox's "not taking his meds" reminds us all of Rush Limbaugh's own illegal "pill popping" that got him in serious problems with the authorities a couple of years ago (OxyContin) and that he was again caught illegally carrying unprescribed "medications" (Viagara) while returning from the Dominican Republic, known for its "sex trade" -- particularly among gays. Although he announced on his radio program that he was addicted to pain pills vis-a-vis the first several incidents, he has never explained the clandestine Dominican Republic trip or the need for a bottle of Viagara.

He professes Christian values on his radio program and is generally thought of as a part of the Evangelical right-wing of the Republican Party.

[To Bush's credit, Limbaugh was not included among the other right-wing guests at the White House media event earlier this week.]

Orwell's "Doublespeak" has arrived!

Remember how the Ministry of Truth [sic] in 1984 erected a giant pyramid with the following phrases inscribed for all to see: "War is Peace," Freedom is Slavery," and "Ignorance is Strength."

Well, GWB has straightened out exactly what he meant by "We will stay the course" so as to clear up the confusion.

What he meant to say was "[It] means 'don't leave until the job is done. We will stay until the job is done in Iraq." That was his explanation [sic] at the "media conference" a couple of days ago.

Hmm ... what's the difference? It still sounds like "We will stay the course" to me ...

If that weren't bad enough, his spokesman explained, "stay the course" now means "a study in constant motion." Bush explained earlier in the month (October 11) that "stay the course" means "keep on doing what you're doing." [October is rapidly becoming the deadliest month of 2006.]

This cartoon really asks the 64-dollar question of Republicans, doesn't it?

Which would help and which would hurt the GOP in 2008 ... maybe the Republicans will vote Democrat in 2006 for all of the wrong reasons!

Seldom do I post a Matsen cartoon, but this one hit the nail on the head for Republicans, didn't it? Although I think Nancy Pelosi is a fine Democrat and decent person, many persons ... one whom I talk with a great many times each week on the phone ... actually dislike her. I believe that she would make a great Speaker of the House, but I know that I am probably in a minority in this belief.

Swami Richard sees little change ... he has spoken!

I spoke with Swami Richard from Connecticut (left -- a slightly dated photo ... taken when I visited him while he and his wife were living in a library -- really! -- a little closer to New York City) via cell phone while I was waiting to go in to teach at Grays Harbor College this evening. He asked that I pass the following predictions to you. In short, he sees almost no change in the current Congress ... only the change in Joe Lieberman's affiliation, of course. In other words, he really sees a swing during the next two weeks towards the Republican Party. (Sob!) That is, he sees a swing over the next two weeks from what most of the various polls are saying today.

His numbers are:

Senate:

Democrat 43
Republican 55
Independent 2
(Only change is Lieberman's new affiliation.)

House of Representations:

Democrats 202
Republicans 232
Independent 1
(No change at all here.)

Ouch! Hopefully, my inner feeling that the country will react smartly and meet the challenge will override Swami Richard's pessimism.

[Of course, he could be an optimist in a peculiar way, secretly wanting a Republican victory on November 7, although I am 100% positive that my beloved and very bright brother does not want continual carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan and a continual erosion of our liberties and protections from the Bill of Rights over the next two years. I assume he will let us know which it is ... whether he's an optimist or a pessimist -- and how/why ... vis-a-vis his predictions above ... in either a comment to this posting or a posting of his own on Rummy Watch. At least I can assume from his blog that he wants to see the departure of Donald Rumsfeld from his job as Bush's SecDef.]

John Spencer is an a... -- no, I won't dignify his comments ... even with an insult!

While Hillary Clinton was helping a fellow Democrat out at a fund-raiser this past weekend, John Spencer, her opponent for the New York Senate seat, was sitting on an airplane with a reporter making such comments as:

Spencer: "She's getting ugly! [referring to Hillary]

Spencer: "You ever see a picture of her back then? [referring to a high school picture of Hillary] I don't know why Bill married her!"

Spencer: (Noting that she looks different now ...) "Chalk that up to millions of dollars worth of work! (with a laugh)

Ms. Clinton was polite in her responses, saying, among other things that "My high school picture was cute!" And she certainly didn't comment on Mr. Spencer's looks -- I won't even post a picture of the son of a ... [Stop!]

Hillary Clinton was the first First Lady who held an advanced degree, among other things, and her beauty never shined more brilliantly than when she showed both dignity and humility during Bill's ugly affair in the late 1990s. I remember the concern in her voice and in her facial features while she fought (unsuccessfully) for health care reform during Bill Clinton's first term and I remember the disdain that was returned to her by the pharmaceutical and insurance executives and their lawyers during the hearings. Some of the TV commentators (and talk show types like Rush Limbaugh) were actually scornful. And yes, she was quite "beautiful" through it all.

Mr. Spencer, who is miles behind Hillary in the current Senate race, probably also forgot her being featured in Vogue (below).



Or that she was sculpted by Daniel Edwards in an evening gown for a prominent display only this past summer ...



I guess I am getting old, but I was never prouder of nor recall a more beautiful Hillary than when she visited the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq a few years back. And although she will turn 59 on the day after tomorrow, she will make a very lovely and (frankly) stunning president should she be the ultimate choice of the American people.



A very beautiful and concerned US Senator Hillary Clinton receives a tour through the barracks of the 2nd Battalion 2nd Airborne Division in Baghdad

To Hillary, the numbers coming back from Iraq this month are not simply numbers to be shoved into the "course" we are "staying," but wonderful and brave young men who are giving their everything for a cause that is questionable at best.

Iraq ... take a back seat! -- 2006 Midterms .... what're they? -- 2008 politics ... you gotta be kidding!

Obama? GWB? Hillary? Saddam? Osama bin Hidin'? Insurgents? Terrorists? "October Surprises"? What's the news item of the day?

Why it's "the smudge," of course!

The three pictures above show Kenny Rogers' pitching hand while pitching against the Yankees in the divisional series against the Yankees (the left-most photo), plus two others. The middle picture is his hand during game 3 against the A's in the A.L.C.S., and the right picture was taken in game 2 of the World Series.

Hmmm ... what do you think? Well, I grew up in that part of Michigan and it looks a lot like Michigan mud mixed with cat poop from Ocean Shores, Washington. I study these things, you see.

Maybe a closer picture will help ...



Here, we see the smudge in the first inning of Sunday's game and then his hand in the second inning after he wiped off the mud and cat poop. An argument against the yellowish-brownish smudge being cat poop was that he constantly had his hands cupped over his mouth and nose keeping his hands warm in the first inning ... this game was in Michigan, after all.

Maybe it really was just a mixture of resin and dirt as he claimed ... and the Detroit Tigers are, after all, God's team on Planet Earth, so I guess it wasn't anything as nefarious as the sports writers are saying today ... they were all probably born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.

It should be noted that Kenny Rogers has yet to give up an earned run in the post-season and went on (after wiping his hands off at the umpires' suggestions) to pitch two-hit shutout ball.

Oh, for some of that good old Michigan mud, eh, brother Richard? It was well known for making baseball's famous "roller-coaster" pitch famous for the likes of Gaylord Perry. No need to spit on a baseball if you had a smudge of Michigan mud, as the old saying goes. And then, add a wee bit of cat poop and, need I say more?

[Younger readers need not try to figure out who Gaylord Perry was ... hint: he lives in the same state from where the best pine tar for doctoring baseballs comes! And, although in Baseball's Hall of Fame, he once had to leave a game when his hands became glued to his mouth when using a bit too thick a pine tar substance in a World Series game. See what you Europeans are missing by playing sissified games like cricket, soccer (European "football") and rugby?]

Barack Obama? Why not?

Democratic Senator Barack Obama (left) from Illinois has shown at least a tiny bit of interest (a.k.a. "highly interested and all-but-announced") in running for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Whereas Hillary Clinton's non-announced candidacy is "old hat" already, Barack Obama is a new thought for 2008, at least the way he's being portrayed in the media.

And just as we were asking "is America ready for a woman president?" we are now asking "is America ready for a youngish African American president?"

Are we?

Mediawingnuts' answer to both questions is a resounding "yes!"

He answered a rather leading question on NBC's Meet the Press with, "My main focus right now is in '06 ... After November 7, I'll sit down, I'll sit down and consider, and if at some point I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to at me."

Hmmm ... sounds like he's running to me! What do you think?

In Senator Obama's case, it took one very fine speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004 ... followed by his face on Time's cover with a lead article, "Why Barack Obama Could be the Next President" and, like a sky-rocket, he's been rising to the top of the party ever since. Hillary peaked too early, they say, and Kerry has been portrayed as a loser. Gore? Who knows? He combines Hillary's early "peak" with John Kerry's having been beaten by the worst president in history.

2008 seems like a million years away ... but in today's world, time is truly relative. It might be worthwhile to read the book he's touting ... something called The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. But for that, I'll need a dime plus ten minutes ... the source of either of which is in short supply right now for this old man.

Does Mr. Bush simply think we are all deaf, dumb and blind ... or are we all deaf, dumb and blind?

Okay, you can read it all over the web if you happened to miss GWB (left) telling George Stephanopolous that "We've never been stay the course, George!"

For the record -- and also all over the web this evening are the following quotes:

BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We're just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We'll stay the course. [4/13/04]

BUSH: And that's why we're going to stay the course in Iraq. And that's why when we say something in Iraq, we're going to do it. [4/16/04]

BUSH: And so we've got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]

These quotes (above) are a partial response to the following exchange between George Stephanopolous and George W. Bush this morning on ABC's This Week:

[Begin segment of transcript]

STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he's looking for something between "cut and run" and "stay the course."

BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we've never been "stay the course," George. We have been -- we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we're constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.

[End segment of transcript]

Just a couple of (possibly stupid) questions from Mediawingnuts:

1. Are talk show or interview hosts permitted to show videos of the interviewee contradicting himself or herself?

2. On what planet does Mr. Bush believe we have been living for the past three years?

3. Just how more ridiculous can the man and his party look before November 7 -- or is there really an "October [or November] Surprise" ready to degauss our neuron connections and usher in a Republican landslide?

4. Do Mr. Bush's comments this morning vindicate the senior U.S. State Department diplomat who caused embarrassment in Washington this weekend after telling Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that there is a strong possibility history will show the United States displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity" in its handling of the Iraq war?

George W. Bush and all of his neocon handlers (Vice President Cheney, SecDef Rummy, ... even Tony Snow and Condi Rice in recent months) have been going on and on about nothing but "stay the course" in Iraq ... ever since we invaded Iraq in 2003. They haven't even changed the words, for the love of money!

Am I wrong in this, or am I just delusional? Someone is ... it's either me or it's him, and he's President of the United States and I'm just a guy eking out a living on Social Security while otherwise cleaning smelly dog kennels and kitty litters for Ocean Shores and Aberdeen, Washington's animal shelters in the backwash of the Pacific Ocean.

And ABC's This Week show didn't even slow down after Mr. Bush said that we've never been "stay the course" !?!?!?! Mr. Stephanopolous didn't challenge him! Mr. Bush must be a hypnotist!

Thank God for the thousands of bloggers who are as "delusional" as I am ... But unfortunately, thousands of bloggers don't add up to the millions who watched the President this morning and believed every word he said ...

Hell, they stick by their man even when his Press Secretary (Tony Snow) says things like the following when asked at a press briefing last week if we were winning the War in Iraq -- the reporter asked it as simply as he could ... "Are we winning?"

Tony Snow replied, "I don’t know. How do you define 'winning'? The fact is, in taking on the war on terror -- let me put it this way, the President has made it obvious, we’re going to win."

And he speaks for the President.

Obviously, Mediawingnuts, some more liberal bloggers and a few others are the delusional ones and the President, the neocons and the Electoral College are the ones whose heads are screwed on right!

Maybe these are the End Times ... I think I'll check out Daniel, Ezekial and the Book of Revelations before hitting the pillow tonight ... Surely, Bush's peculiar statements of late were prophesied by someone other than Jay Leno.

Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA2006) ... a closer look!

"The devil is in the details," they say, but in this case, the devil is indeed in the details of the new Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA2006), but also in the general philosophy of the MCA2006 as well as the deliberate political/military/cultural/personal psychological purposes of the MCA2006 at this crucial time in American history. For the details, simply read the Wikipedia discussion and an excellent unclassified summary of the MCA2006 or a number of other excellent commentaries on both the MCA2006 and all of the political maneuvering that brought it to President Bush's desk for signing.

A quick summary that displays why I feel as strongly as I do about this unconstitutional and illegal bill is sufficient for this posting:

1. Strangely, the MCA2006 defines (redefines) the term "enemy combatant" in a manner that allows it to be applied to both non-US citizens and (yes) US citizens. It also is not necessary for an "illegal enemy combatant" to have ever engaged in combat against the US. [A new kind of person -- a non-combatant combatant!]

2. The MCA2006 allows for the use of evidence obtained with or without legal warrants both inside and outside of the United States of America. [We all remember Mr. Bush's statements on this matter -- why don't we see the videotapes of Mr. Bush explaining why warrants are always used ... replayed by the mainstream media?]

3. No longer are persons living in the United States (citizens and non-citizens) governed by the same courts and laws. [This is a principle that dates back to the founding of our country -- a toughie for the history buffs and more "true conservative" Republicans to swallow.]

4. Legal immigrants may be tortured, denied all legal rights and sentenced by a military commission. [Adolf Hitler applied this also -- many of the Jews were "legal immigrants" and most were even German citizens -- and his regime was castigated after World War II for these inhumane laws ... Primarily by the US Government!]

5. An entirely new system of courts (tribunals) applies to anyone the President, Secretary of Defense or anyone whom the President so designates as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant." The persons who can be so designated include US citizens. [This one confuses the hell outta me! Why weren't US citizens excluded from the possibility of being designated "aliens" -- strictly on the basis of suspicion?]

6. The MCA2006 globalizes (to any country in the world!) the CIA's abilities to detain, imprison and torture ... anyone they so desire to. The term torture is refined a little so as not to allow certain activities, but many, many activities are specifically left unmentioned and legal. The final decision as to what is legal can be made by the President of the United States of America. If the military aren't permitted certain aggressive interrogation techniques, the CIA or other "civilian agencies" are permitted to apply the "unusual techniques" outside of military jurisdiction. [I can only guess what "unusual" might mean ...] The MCA2006 actually rewrites the War Crimes Act to only forbid "grave breaches" (defined by the President or his designee) of the Geneva Conventions.

7. (Two parts) Defendants under the MCA2006 have no right to see the evidence against them and trials can be conducted without the defendant present. [How do you spell "Goodbye, Habeas Corpus"?]

8. Statements forced out of prisoners through the use of torture that took place before December 30, 2005 can be used as evidence against them. [See the graphic at the bottom of this posting. GWB, Rummy and many others are made safe from prosecution thanks to this, one of a couple of "Get out of Jail Free" cards. #11 below goes further.]

9. Where enemy combatants are allowed to have legal representation (if allowed), their attorneys are not permitted to have security clearances -- so have no access to any classified evidence against their clients.

10. Persons (US citizens or others) can be designated as "enemy combatants" for any activity that is deemed by the President to be considered "materially supportive to co-belligerents" -- which might include Israel, Saudi Arabia (I lived there!), Turkey, Rwanda, Canada (I went to Niagara Falls as a teenager) or whatever country the President decides is "not for us" (therefore, is "against us") and can be "disappeared" (new use for the word) into a secret CIA torture camp or executed anonymously.

11. [It goes on beyond these eleven, but the eleventh is a doozy.] US officials in the military, the CIA or the Executive Branch of the Government are given immunity from prosecution under the MCA2006 for any act of torture committed before December 30, 2005. [That is the thought behind the graphic below.]

Pin the tail on the donkey ... thank my brother, Richard from Connecticut, for this posting!

Who would have guessed ... it's the Pentagon Papers all over again. Another throwback to the War in Vietnam ... first TET and how, it's Daniel Ellsberg all over again ...


Daniel Ellsberg, leader of "The Truth-Telling Project" which encourages Government personnel to break their oaths and leak intelligence data to whomever ... but particularly, the New York Times! Daniel Ellsberg is no hero, no matter how awful the Vietnam War might have been!

When I first received the email from Richard suggesting that there might be a big story in the accusation(s) by Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich), relating to a Democratic staff member being the one who allegedly leaked the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to the New York Times, I thought ... what's new here ....?

Well, I spent the better part of the afternoon researching the affair and wham, bang, bam! Richard was right again! The staff member's name appears to be Larry Hanauer who is/was a member of the staff of a Democrat on the Committee, Representative Jane Harmon (D-Calif). But, in getting to Hanauer's name, I found that he was only one of several persons who's jobs had been shuffled by the neocons (in particular, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, supernumerary neocons in the Pentagon at the time) early in GWB's presidency. In fact, it was another staffer so disposed, Karen Kwiathowski, who "dropped" his name into the whole sordid "NIE Leak Affair."

And what organization does Karen Kwiathowski belong to? You got it ... "The Truth-telling Project"!! Connection made! Daniel Ellsberg strikes again! Tail painfully pinned!

Whether Representative Jane Harmon (left) was part of the actual leaking of classified information is strictly speculative, but she is surely a likely candidate for the person to have asked Larry Hanauer to do something both illegal and potentially dangerous to the American cause (ill-defined though it might be!) in Iraq.

And just as the Pentagon Papers may very well have been one of the final nails in the coffin of what was called the "Vietnam War," the 16-agency NIE (portions of which have since been declassified by political necessity by President Bush), by stating that Bush's War in Iraq actually increased rather than decreased the worldwide terror threat, might be just such a "nail" today.

But leaking classified information is WRONG! And whether the final result was good, bad or something in-between, makes no difference ... the personnel who serve us take oaths ... serious oaths ... and these persons cannot be "Lone Rangers" without facing the consequences. On this matter, the Republicans have every reason to demand that we dig out the truth. Representative Hoekstra was originally quite correct in his concern about the leak, but has suddenly become somewhat muted on this matter, thanks to the sky-rocketing casualties and the insertion of the "Baker committee" formed (essentially) by Bush 41 to help Bush 43 oversee the whole Iraq mess. But he (Hoekstra) should conduct his investigation; it's a part of his job!

Ellsberg "beat the rap" thanks to Richard Nixon having burglarized Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office to get incriminating evidence against Ellsberg, and GWB has possibly allowed Larry Hanauer (if he's the leaker) to escape the noose (more or less) though the declassification of the NIE.

Funny how history repeats itself ... over and over again! US troops mistakenly engaged against a foreign enemy whom we do not understand, Vietnam had its Robert McNamara, Iraq has its Donald Rumsfeld, we experienced TET in Vietnam, we are experiencing the Ramadan offensive in Iraq, the Pentagon Papers were leaked to the New York Times in 1969, the NIE was leaked to the New York Times in 2006 (Ellsberg involved in both), we pondered "Deep Throat" in the early 1970s, we ponder State of Denial in 2006 (Bob Woodward involved in both), ... what next?

Thank you, Richard, for getting me to "git going" on this to connect the dots! They certainly appear to connect ... and this time, it looks like it was the Democrats who are to blame for what I call "dirty politics." Two "wrongs" do not make a "right"!! There simply had to have been a better way to bring the "truth" of the National Intelligence Estimate to the American people without leaking classified information to the New York Times.

I feel badly that the tail was pinned on the Democrat's mascot, but then, that's the name of the game, isn't it?

Colin Powell's mentor believes that Iraq is a lost cause ...

Dr. Harlan Ullman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies

In a published interview with reporter, Eleanor Hall, Harlan Ullman who has had former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as one of his students said that he "holds out little hope" that the President will redirect the discouraging course of events already underway, either as a result of the increased death counts or any recommendations made by the committee headed by James A. Baker III.

In very few words, he said, "... we are on a stupid course." But read it yourself, evaluate Dr. Ullman's words ... and come to your own conclusions. It's short and won't take very long.

You can read the interview itself, of course (link above), or any of a number of newspaper articles relating to it on the Internet, but the bottom line is (1) the psyche of Mr. Bush and (2) the psyche of the American people. Mr. Bush is stubborn (read Bush on the Couch by Dr. Justin Frank, discussed in earlier postings) ... and the American people aren't much better. We have (sadly) "gotten used to" ten to twenty US military dead in Iraq each week and even the number "665,000" (estimated dead Iraqis from the "war" since 2003 using solid statistics) didn't stay in the newspapers even as long as the Mark Foley affair.

These are very sad days for America in so many, many ways. I saw the Clint Eastwood movie, Flags of Our Fathers, today and realized that some things never change. So awfully sad.

It may very well be a "November Surprise"!

Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
5th President of Iraq
In office
July 16, 1979 – April 9, 2003


The US-backed Special Tribunal who is trying Saddam Hussein for a number of crimes, including murder and genocide, have indicated that they will delay the verdict of the ongoing trial until November 5 (my birthday, Guy Fawkes Day ... and ... coincidentally ... two days before the Midterm Elections)! Karl Rove has done it again!

This will mean a possible (likely) death sentence and the date is now perfectly situated to have an effect on the US Midterm Elections. It's all legal and very few Americans are unhappy about the fate of the brutal Saddam Hussein and his henchmen.

Think about it! Tom Engelhardt, in his excellent article yesterday, pointed out that the three spikes in the polling figures have been (1) the date of Saddam's capture, (2) the purple finger election and (3) the date that Zarqawi was taken out.

As things seem to be going downhill in a big hurry in Iraq, what could better demonstrate progress than a verdict of "guilty as charged" for Saddam Hussein.

Coincidence? Think about it ... especially the fact that the date had been announced in advance, but only delayed until the last full news day in America before the elections (November 5, 2006) just three days ago -- to get past the Ramadan increase in casualties and the various other distracting news items.

Karl Rove is a genius!!


Guy Fawkes facing his intended victim in the
"Gunpowder Plot" ... against King James I ... nice touch, Karl -- picking both Guy Fawkes Day and Mediawingnuts' birthday .... I'll bet you (Karl Rove) saw "V For Vendetta" recently, didn't you? Yeh .... nice touch!

Is the situation in Iraq an "Iraqi Tet"?

Memories ... The TET Offensive 37 or so years ago ...

To Mr. Bush's credit, he acknowledged in the positive when asked by ABC News whether the situation in Iraq in recent weeks appeared to be an Iraqi equivalent to the Vietnamese Tet Offensive. His response was that "could be right!"

[For those of you who are too young to remember, the Tet offensive was a major offensive by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese that began during the Tet holidays and lasted more than a year, ending in June 1969 -- ending only a few months before I began my tour there, as a matter of fact.]

As the seriousness of the situation is acknowledged by the President, I believe that we can expect increasing candor from the uniformed officers and enlisted men on the ground.

And as for those of us 10,000 miles from the carnage ... the percent of Americans who think the "war" is going badly went up a full 10% (from 48% to 58%) in only a month -- from early September to October 5 -- and this was before Mr. Bush made his surprisingly honest assessment of the situation in Iraq.

Only day before yesterday, Mr. Cheney still said that things were going "reasonably well."

The dozens of Iraqi bodies found each morning and the eleven American military deaths yesterday (Wednesday) make it clear that whatever we might compare Iraq with, the situation is going from bad to worse.

The honesty that I heard on and off during a couple of his (GWB's) interviews (see yesterday's posts) in recent days leads me to believe that a rift of sorts is developing between GWB and his (previous, I hope) minders, the neocon clique.

Go, rift go!!

I was wrong about the Foley Affair ... and my brother Richard was right!

I was sure that the Foley Affair had the legs of a centipede and here it is only October 17 ... and our attention has shifted to a dozen other bigger stories.

For example, Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) had a five-year affair with a 29-year-old woman that ended in 2004 when she called 911 after Sherwood allegedly tried to strangle her. The woman is currently suing Sherwood “for what she alleges were repeated beatings that seriously injured her physically and emotionally.”

[Note: Sherwood acknowledges he had a "relationship" with the woman, but says that he never tried to strangle or hurt her.]

Now, Rep. Sherwood is in danger of losing his seat in the House. He has been asking for and getting help from his House colleagues. He’s getting good results. He received about $90,000 from campaign committees and House members in the three-month period ending Oct. 1, according to his latest campaign finance report to the FEC. The following is a list of some of the contributors -- copied and pasted from Randi Rhodes' website (she picked it up from the National Journal.):

– Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): $2,000
– Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA): $5,000
– Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-OH): $5,000
– House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX): $5,000
– Infrastructure Chairman Don Young (R-AK): at least $1,000
– Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA): at least $1,000
– Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC): $5,000
– Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK): $5,000
– Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX): $5,000

All told, more than 40 House conservatives contributed $1,000 or more to Sherwood in just the current quarter. But that's only just the beginning. Even President Bush is getting in on the act (no one else seems to want/need the President these days) and Sherwood expects to rake in just under a half million dollars (with Bush in attendance) at a fund-raiser tomorrow night.

I'll bet most Americans have already forgotten exactly who Mark Foley is/was. You were right, Richard, the American people have moved on to more important issues.

Besides Sherwood, for example, there's the Kolbe affair.

Yesterday was the day!

Bill O'Reilly and President George W. Bush ... is it only me, or does the decor look a lot like ... Christmas ???

Well, it's now official (torture, loss of Habeas Corpus, etc.) and Bill O'Reilly even had the opportunity to gloat with the President as they opined (O'Reilly's word) about how absolutely necessary the bill was.

Reading the transcript of Bill O'Reilly's and President Bush's conversation on the matter is worth reading, I think. O'Reilly actually asked a few worthwhile questions and the President's answers were as lame as one might expect from him, considering the surprisingly excellent wording of a couple of O'Reilly's questions.

But the bottom line is simple and (for me) gross. It ranks with the interment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II and the importation, buying and selling of African slaves prior to our Civil war. Even the two stolen elections (2000 and 2004) and Bush's (and all of our) dropping the ball during and after Hurricane Katrina aren't as repugnant as America's legalization of torture, hidden prisons in "secret" countries (Poland is the only one so far named), and loss of Habeas Corpus.

I've written plenty already in previous posts, but I strongly recommend that all of you read the bill itself ... and, when it's available to read, the signing statement that will probably rival the Da Vinci Code in length! And oh yes, the final bill included the "get out of jail free" clause that overturns past decisions by the Supreme Court and the District Court in Detroit ... as well as numerous other laws broken by Mr. Bush and his neocon gang ... e.g., the Geneva Conventions and the Constitution of the United States of America.

Yelling "fire!" in a movie theater can put you in prison for quite a while, I would think.

With the capabilities available to authorities (in nearly every country in the world), I would expect to see an arrest or two in conjunction with the hoax threat that went out on the Internet about a week ago.

The perpetrator of the threat wrote and posted a website posting/comment (the news articles weren't clear on the actual form of the posting) that stated trucks would deliver radiological bombs (so-called "dirty bombs") to the NFL stadiums in New York, Miami (The Miami Dolphin's Stadium is pictured above), Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland and Cleveland and that Osama bin Laden will take credit for the disaster that would ensue.

Needless to say, the Homeland Security Department expressed extreme skepticism, but passed the information to the cities and stadium personnel as a precaution. They went so far as to recommend that Americans go ahead with their Sunday plans to watch the football games in these stadiums ... suggesting to me that they probably already have the culprits in custody.

Apparently, Ramadan comes to an end on or around this coming weekend, but I don't have the dates of Ramadan handy. (I'm 95% sure that Ramadan ends tomorrow, which would make even the date of the attacks suspect.) The site was traced back to Voxel Dot Net Inc., an internet provider that has staff in the Troy, New York area. The threat was signed, "javness." Whoever "javness" is, he or she has an inflated ego. The threat included a prediction that "Global economies will screech to a halt. General chaos will rule."

Yeh, sure ... meanwhile the DOW Industrial average (stock market indicator) topped 12,000 for the first time in its history.

But still, this hoax is serious in that it shows the problems faced by the Homeland Security Department in fighting terrorism. "Terror" is the message, even when the medium and message are both hoaxed. If my beloved Seahawks lose to the Vikings in Seattle on Sunday, I'll blame it on this $%&*@# hoax and any nervous passes that Matt Hasselbeck (right) might toss with the thought of a "dirty bomb" in the back of his mind.

An "October Surprise" directed at Iran is not entirely out of the picture ...

We must remember that the Enterprise is still in the Persian Gulf ... although preparing to leave soon ... and those marbles are still rolling aimlessly around our President's skull ... but possibly preparing to settle into little cardboard holes carved into the motherboard of Mr. Bush's left frontal lobe ... in a pattern ... resembling (would you believe?) ... a plan! Yes, a sort of fractal-like pattern of wiggly chaos to most of us ... but, to Mr. Bush ... a plan!!!

Let me put on my military analyst cap for a short time. Indulge me.

Common sense and conventional wisdom suggest that the Dwight D. Eisenhower and its task force will simply begin its "conventional" deployment in the Gulf waters and provide continuity as the Enterprise and her task force heads back to Norfolk and the (now more than 300,000,000) eager Americans cheering on the docks and in homes across America.

Right?

After all, the crews with the Enterprise and its entourage are tired and eager to get home and besides, a lot more is needed for a meaningful attack (boots on the ground/sand) than what would be available for what is scheduled to be a short time of relief overlap. Also, it would look like political grandstanding to even do a reconnaissance fly-over just ahead of the November elections.

Right?

Right! ... Except, now I've read too much of Bush on the Couch to believe that Bush would think along those lines. He's angry as hell at just about everybody these days ... gay Republicans for coming out of the closet ... Democrats for gleefully watching poll numbers suggesting a tsunami effect from the Foley Affair ... his White House staff for agreeing to his partial surrender re. the status of "enemy combatants" ... the Sunni and Shiite Iraqis for killing each other in even greater numbers of late ... and our own soldiers for being in the middle of the fray ... countless generals and admirals telling him he's wrong ... His father for shoving JameS Baker III in front of his nose ... Condi for being out and about the world seemingly ignoring him most of this month ... and maybe worst of all, whispers inside the Beltway after the compromises he made to the Senate (re. the Torture Bill signed today) that he's lost his nerve ... the list is endless!

Even Kim Jong Il ignores him!

And ... the marbles are starting to fall into various holes ... he could do quite a bit, couldn't he, with nearly zero preparation beyond what has already been done in contingency planning (always ongoing) and propositioning of specific assets.

How many nuclear sites did the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say there were? The number "eighteen" rings a bell in Mr. Bush's mind. And just how do you spell "bunker buster"? And with two carrier groups on station for even just a relatively short time, how long do you suppose it would take to annihilate the Iranian navy to prevent a blockage of the Hormuz Straits?

Now mind you, I'm just musing ...

Nah, I don't really think our President is that devious ... but if a "Gulf of Tonkin" kind of event were to occur ... or any one of a dozen "false flag" scenarios was to unfold (inasmuch as Iran, like Iraq, was not involved in 9/11, that might be necessary, right?) Hmmm ... you know? I do believe we could set back Iran's nuclear weapons development by a few years at the very least. [And that is a fact!]

And remember we have strategic bombers that can fly from near anywhere to near anywhere without having to refuel on the ground. Maybe that ten billion dollars that the Pentagon claims was "lost" in bookkeeping by its contractors ... wasn't lost at all ... How do you spell "Global Strike"?

Totally insane, I know ... but ...

You have to admit, the run on American flags at WalMart stores countrywide would have the seamstresses in China busy for a decade!

And I'd have to put out a new and revised Guru Mediawingnuts election results prediction a week before the midterm elections.

Sometime around 7:46 a.m. EST this morning, the population of America reached 300,000,000 !!

New haven, Connecticut at just after 7:46 a.m. EST this morning!

Jay Leno: "Just a few hours ago, the population of the United States reached 300 million people. Yeah. This is either a tribute to a strong democracy or really weak Border Patrol."

[It was a good thing I took that 24-hour time-lapse photo yesterday of today's crowded street scene in New haven, Connecticut so that you'd all have a little preview of this morning's excitement a day early.]

Guru Mediawingnuts' October Prediction ... assuming no "October Surprises"

Guru Mediawingnuts ... Taken in Early 2006

.

My current (October) predictions for the 2006 Midterm Elections:

The Democrats will pick up fewer seats in the House of Representatives than I thought they would last month. They should still pick up a double-digit number of seats making the makeup of the House as of 2007:

Democrats: 219
Republicans: 215
Independents: 1

The Senate is (as always) tougher for the Democrats to make headway, but The Republicans will find a way to allow the Democrats to at least catch up (more or less)! You heard Swami Mediawingnuts correctly; the Democrats will still manage to pick up four or five of the 33 seats being contested and the new makeup of the Senate in January of 2007 will be:

Democrats: 49
Republicans: 49
Independents: 2 [Lieberman wins, dang it! And Sanders (Vermont) would probably vote with the Democrats most of the time.]

Obviously, with that makeup, an impeachment by the House in late 2007 is nigh impossible; however, if hearings are held (marginally possible -- probability = 0.001) and GWB or Dick C. are actually impeached (very unlikely), the Senate will find neither man "guilty" on even one of the several counts of Impeachment -- my current prediction, given an impeachment by the House, is that as many as three (down from last month's five) counts would be included. Thus, even if not removed from office, Bush could conceivably serve the last year of his term in the same manner as Clinton served out his final years in the Presidency ... that is, as an "impeached" man. (That would be a nice compromise, I think.)

I still believe that the reason that the Democrats would prefer that Cheney remain the Vice President is because the Democrats still fear running against Condoleezza Rice in the Presidential 2008 race. Of course, Cheney (with help from other Republicans) may still find a way not to finish out his term, so be on the watch for a Condi-Hillary race in 2008.

Guru Mediawingnuts has spoken!

And as for the "October Surprise": I stick by what I predicted in September. Watch for Mr. Bush to put naval forces (the Eisenhower Group, but hardly enough to support an attack) in position in the Persian Gulf to threaten (but not attack) Iran's nuclear facilities (missiles and aircraft). Unless provoked though, he will hold off on any actual attack until after the November elections. GWB knows that a sudden jump in oil prices would likely soften the GOP's midterm election chances and he won't go further than bluster and intimidation ... in October, at least. The Foley Affair kind of shook things up for the possibility of a real October Surprise, I believe. [The big "what if" in all of this is a man with the first name, "Mahmoud"!]

Guru Mediawingnuts has spoken!

Sometime tomorrow morning, just about a quarter before eight, the population of the US will have reached 300,000,000 !!

Time-lapse photo of New haven, Connecticut at just after 7:46 a.m. EST tomorrow!

Jay Leno: "Just a few hours from now, the population of the United States will have reached 300 million people. Yeah. This is either a tribute to a strong democracy or really weak Border Patrol."

Chance that GWB will endorse "Baker Plan" for Iraq ... about 0.000001 !!

Former Secretary of State James Addison Baker III

The likelihood that a dyed-in-the-wool malignant narcissist and megalomaniac whose mistakes have cost thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives ... will jump on the bandwagon offered to him by James A. Baker III ... is ... well, after all, what would you expect of a confirmed sociopathic and narcissistic megalomaniac anyway?

And if Mr. Baker suggests that we ask for help from Iran and Syria to assist in making a deal between and among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds work out ... change the number in the title of this posting to 1.0 x 10^-23 !!!

As early as 2004, Paul Levy characterized Mr. Bush's illness as:

[quote:] "malignant egophrenic (as compared to schizophrenic) disorder," or "ME disorder," for short. If ME disorder goes unrecognized and is not contained, it can be very destructive, particularly if the person is in a position of power. [end-quote]

It should be noted that Paul Levy in his various writings has made it clear that, in his opinion, we are all caught up in Mr. Bush's madness. It is contagious!!

If the Baker study group, as it is called, decides that the best solution calls for both a break-up of Iraq into three pieces with oil revenues equitably disbursed to all three groups (sometimes called the "Biden Plan") and that Iran's and Syria's help should be sought in addition ... "goodness gracious" (quote from Rummy), how might Bush and his (our?) ME disorder react?

Scary, eh?

Interestingly, Hillary Clinton (below), the likeliest next President of the US from today's vantage, said, "I believe that if President Bush woke up tomorrow and said that he would substitute Jim Baker or Colin Powell or Brent Scowcroft or somebody who actually knows how to do things in the real world for [Donald] Rumsfeld, I think the entire world would say, 'OK, you've got another chance; we want to listen to you again."

And just maybe we would ...

But of course, narcissists aren't in the habit of looking in the mirror and seeing truth staring them back eye-to-eye, are they? They only see exactly what they want to see .... what they have been programmed to see ... and that takes us back to Mr. Bush's tragic childhood traumas and upbringing -- which need not be repeated in this blog. [Go read Bush on the Couch again!]

Need I even say anything .... Tigers win American League Pennant!

Detroit Tigers' Manager, Jim Leyland!

Please, folks! Give me some slack on this one. It's been 22 years! Now, it's the World Series in a week. Is it possible for the Tigers to win the World Series and the Democrats to win both Houses of Congress? "Hail Mary, Full of grace ..." [Oh yes, they won four straight to do in the Oakland Athletics.]

Will the Brits pull out of southern Iraq? I doubt it!

General Sir Richard Dannatt

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Tony Blair (UK) is as up to his knees in his belief that he can't be wrong as is President George Bush (US). As most of you know by now, Sir Richard Dannatt has made a public statement suggesting that the presence of the 7,000 or more British troops in southern Iraq is adding, not reducing, the carnage there. Specifically, he said, "our presence exacerbates the security problems."

He almost quoted the US's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) written as a collaborative effort of the sixteen US intelligence agencies examination the Iraq problem in its broadest aspects.

Others have echoed Dannatt's remarks and it's uncertain as to where this will all lead, except that both Tony Blair and Richard Dannatt are adamant that they are not in disagreement ... when they most clearly are in total disagreement.

From a former weapon's and military analyst's viewpoint, my personal observation is that the whole of southern Iraq is falling into disarray and deaths are on the increase countrywide. But then, in my retirement, even my students at Grays Harbor College don't call me "Sir."

But to the point, it seems obvious that Mr. Bush is unable to admit he's wrong (lifelong psychological problems) in all of this carnage and Mr. Blair has tied his party's future to the slim hope that Mr. Bush is correct in stating that "victory" is just around the corner .... or at least that he really can see a glimmer of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

What is at the mouth of the tunnel are the continuing unnecessary deaths of coalition forces and Iraqis, Iraqis, Iraqis (military, civilian, children, women, the elderly ... whoever).