reyonthehill

On my way home, I phoned in and commented on the eventual impeachment of George W. Bush.

The president has decided to make some major changes regarding the methods the government gathers intelligence. In all, he has adopted 70 of the 74 recommended changes set forth by the bipartisan WMD commission this past year. One of the four recommendations Bush did not decide to adopt: "The Director of National Intelligence should hold accountable the organizations that contributed to the flawed assessments of Iraq's WMD programs." Why, if he had adopted that recommendation, Bush himself, his vice president, and the majority of his first-term cabinet would have to be held accountable (and possibly thrown in jail). Hmm... not so good; scratch that one.

On my way home, I phoned in and commented on the future of George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror." Then I fooled around with the audio, added some music, and experimented as I continue to learn about this podcast thing. Please be patient with me. My vocal audio is rough, this time specifically, because I foolishly spoke in the speakerphone, but I didn't want to lose any of my statement by attempting to re-record it. When you try that, you always forget a line or two (but you do sometimes make better new ones; that is the gamble), and I truly like what I said here.

It was the standard. It was, quote-unquote, "required." In order to win the presidency, in order to be a credible contender, a person (alright, I copped out, I easily could have used "man" there, but I didn't with the distant hope of what might be, yes, what might be, a Hillary Clinton presidency) must have served his/her country in the military. That is, until George W. Bush. Then all things changed.

The case I present is clear. Bush eventually strangled, politically that is, maverick republican Senator John McCain, a Vietnam War hero and prisoner-of-war, in the 2000 GOP primary (primarily by attacking McCain's character); Bush then lost and subsequently stole the 2000 general election from then-Vice President Al Gore, who volunteered to join the military during the Vietnam War; and Bush has since narrowly won his reelection by defeating a Vietnam War hero, Senator John Kerry. Bush even had the gall to attack the military service of John Kerry, while falsely attributing his controversial time spent in the Texas Air National Guard as tantamount to proud military service.

Some might say this current precedent was actually set by Bill Clinton, who altogether avoided the Vietnam War, when he defeated incumbent President George Bush, who valiantly fought in the second world war. Clinton then trounced another war hero, Bob Dole, in the 1996 election. I recognize these facts, and I use them as further evidence of my overall thesis: one must not be a war hero, or even have military service, to run for and win the presidency.

The difference between the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton cases are that Bush ran as a "war president" in 2004, and shamelessly attacked the military service of each his opponents. Bush ran as if he had performed proud military service to his country. He hadn't. Bush hid out in the Texas Air National Guard and actually shirked his duties. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, to my knowledge, did not allege to have "proud military service," and he certainly did not attack his opponent's heroic war actions either.

I posted the following comment on the Huffington Post after reading Larry David's most recent blog-entry.

Image: Huffington Post

And here is Larry David's post...

06-28-2005

The other night I was awakened by my nine-year-old. I remained in the room with her for ten minutes, whereupon she fell back asleep. Unfortunately, I had no such luck. I did manage, however, to keep a record of my brain activity. I present it herewith, strictly in the interest of science.

I wonder how long I've been up. It feels like at least forty minutes. Maybe I should look at the time. No, don't look at the time. How's that gonna help? I'm just curious. Don't look. DO NOT LOOK…three- thirty. Are you happy? Idiot. I told you not to look but you know everything…I can't stand this quilt. The comforter inside always slips down. I’m grabbing at nothing here! I haven't had a good quilt in a long time. Where'd this quilt come from anyway? Tomorrow I'll mention the quilt. She's not gonna like that. She'll say there's nothing wrong with the quilt and that'll be that. It's sad I can't have a quilt I rove…Rove, damn it, that’s the second time today I’ve done that. God, I hate that man. See, this is what he wants. He wants to get in your head. He wants to keep you up. You’re giving him what he wants! If he keeps us all up, we’ll be too tired to fight them. That’s their strategy, and you’re playing right into their hands. We have to start keeping them up. But how? The only things that bothers them enough to keep them up are fetuses. They love that fetus. The fetus and Jesus. Sounds like a comedy team. “Ladies and gentlemen, give a warm welcome to Fetus and Jesus…” Stop thinking about them. I can’t. Try! …Okay, I’m going to think of something else. How about that juicy nectarine I had today. Yum-my. That was dee-licious. The problem is fruit is so inconsistent. When you get a good one, it’s all luck. Fruit is like blackjack. The casino wins most of the time. But at least the casino’s not fixed. I trust the slot machines in Vegas more than the voting machines in Ohio. Even sleazy casino owners in Vegas have more credibility than this bunch…I have to stop killing insects in front of the kids. Am I setting a bad example? What’s my option? Am I supposed to start ignoring flies and ants and let them wander around like they own the place? I guess liberals aren’t supposed to kill insects. See, Rove? I kill them and I rather enjoy it. Maybe you want to sign me up. I like how if you criticize the war you don’t support the troops. You’re the ones sending them over to die, so how is it I don’t support them? If the army was made up of child molesters, then I’d support them. If we went to an all child molester army, I would be their biggest supporter. “Please don’t bring the troops home. Stay the course. Keep them there a long time.” But they’re not child molesters. And they’re not the Twins, that’s for sure. Where are the Twins? Send in the Twins. I’d like to hear that scene. “Jenna, Barbara…Daddy and I have talked it over and we want you to go fight in Iraq.” …Ah, what’s the use? Now I’m all revved up. This is what Rove wants. You’re playing right into his hands. Should I take a sleeping pill? Is that a slippery slope? It seems there are a lot more slippery slopes now than there used to be. Now everything’s a slippery slope…It’s so hot in here. I have to turn the pillow over. Why’s it so much cooler on this side? I don’t get that. I would think it would be a little cooler, but not this much cooler. No matter how hot it is, the bottom of the pillow still stays cool. One day I’d like to ask a scientist about that. Of course, I never really get to meet any scientists. You’d think I’d run into a scientist at some point. I like how they keep saying the science isn’t in on global warming. They just don’t know. No proof. But, of course, it’s in on God. Lots of proof on that. Tons of empirical evidence. They got God’s DNA. And Moses parted the Red Sea. He said, “Open sea,” and it opened. And Jesus walked on water. Those are some tricks. People must have been after Moses to do it again until he finally got sick of them and lost his temper. "No, I'm not parting it again, now leave me alone." "C'mon Moses, please?" "I said no, now get the hell outta here!" You'd think anyone who believes this stuff would be so embarassed they'd keep it to themselves. But those maniacs shout it from the rooftops and they're running our country. God talks to Bush all the time. I don’t care if you’re President, if you say God talks to you, you’re a schizophrenic and a menace to society. You should be on drugs in a mental institution, like the Son of Sam. What’s the difference between God or a dog talking to you? It’s still a voice in your head. That means you’re certifiably fucking crazy! …Look what they’re doing to me. Take a deep breath. That’s good. Listen to your breathing. That’s a meditation technique. Clears your mind. There’s a breath, that’s good. There’s another breath. I guess the science isn’t in on evolution either…No, come on, breathe. There’s a breath. Of course the planet’s only 5000 years old. Breathe, prick, breathe. What about the fucking dinosaurs?! We have the bones. They know how old the bones are! The sad thing is these nuts who founded this country fled Europe because of religious persecution. Good trade for Europe. Breathe. You have to breathe. This is what they want. I’m so thirsty. I've got to start drinking more water. It's so hard to drink, though, if you're not thirsty. You don't eat when you're not hungry. Hey, that's a good point. You actually made a good point. See, you're not stupid. "You don't eat when you're not hungry." I like that. I've gotta try to work that into a conversation. That'll raise a few eyebrows… I'm so cramped here. Look how far over she is. She's on my side. She's way past the middle. Hey, move! MOVE! I need my space, man…If they hate Hollywood so much, maybe they should just start making their own movies and TV shows. In fact, we should just split into two different countries. Then, after our stem cell research gives us the cure for all these diseases, they’ll all be trying to get across the border for our medicine, but our minutemen won’t let them. And we’ll have a lot of minutemen. I think I’ll be a minuteman. “Sorry, but our scientists worked very hard to come up with a cure for Parkinson’s and there’s only enough medicine for our people. So beat it.” …Time to turn the pillow again. No, it’s too soon. It’s not cold enough. Let’s just see. No. Turn it. No. I’m turning it. Okay, go ahead...There. It’s not cold enough. Are you happy? ...Well there’s only one way I can get to sleep now. It always works. Sure, wake her up. That’s just what every Jewish woman wants. Sex in the middle of the night. Go ahead. This I want to see.

“Honey.”
“What. What do you want?”
“I can’t fall back asleep.”
“So why are you waking me up?”
“There’s only one thing that’ll do it.”
“Are you crazy? Why can’t you sleep?”
“You know…”
“Because of them?”
“Yeah.”
“Come here, honey.”
Thanks again, Karl. Keep up the good work.

Posted at 03:10 AM

Source: Huffington Post

Once again: pure genius.

On my way home, I phoned in and commented on William Rehnquist's decision to not announce his retirement as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

My comments on Karl Rove's controversial statements likening liberals to terrorists.

As part of last night's surreptitiously disguised "live" interview with Karl Rove on MSNBC's Scarborough Country (the interview was actually taped two days earlier and before Rove's slanderous comments that liberals support the terrorists), Rove did shed some light on the administration's thoughts on the embattled nomination of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador.

ROVE: John Bolton is going to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations. We will get either an up-or-down vote or he will be the ambassador one way...

SCARBOROUGH: A recess -- possible recess appointment?

ROVE: Well, I'm not going to -- we have got plenty of options...

Source: Washington Post

Yes, you named two of the three. The last option is to nominate a person who is actually worthy of the job.

It is true, Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation making March 20, 1987, officially Afghanistan Day. Now, this had more to do with upsetting our "sworn" cold war enemy, the Soviet Union, and not fostering the nation that will harbor the terrorist mastermind that will plot the successful attack on the U.S. fourteen and a half years later, right?

Image: The White House

On my way home, I phoned in and commented on a recent Supreme Court decision.