Goodness Gracious, Mercy Me!

I evidently need to take the time to watch what may be, from all reports, a brilliant piece of work by Stephen Colbert.

Crooks & Liars has the video, it's good.

Wasting Lives

Here is a measure of how much better things are going in Iraq.

Military officials said an Army soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb hit his convoy near Baghdad. The attack raises to 70 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq during April.On Friday, officials at The Pentagon said that the American death toll in Iraq since the start of the war has topped 2,400.

This is an "improvement" over the 31 killed in March and the 55 in February.

BTW the Iraq Coalition Casualites website puts the number at 72.

This is nothing but madness but your Dear Leader says,

"Yet, the enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow in recent days, and we have taken great strides on the march to victory."

Cry for your country and the lives it is wasting.

Repeat Offender

In an excellent post Glenn Greenwald discusses the continuing efforts of Bush to ignore his responsibilities under the Constitution to uphold the law. In it he references an article in the Boston Globe by Charlie Savage that shines the bright light on the attempts to steal the power of Congress.

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed" . .

It is very frustrating to continue to see the administration flaunt the law with such impunity. Why can't we get more people with some backbone to stand up to this? Evidently Stephen Colbert stepped up and did some serious finger pointing at the Whitehouse press dinner. (video here - transcript here).

Here We Are

Ok back in the U.S, at least for a week, have to turn around and head back to Sweden for a couple of days week after next. Still trying to get caught up with everything including sleep. Turned really cool here in Atlanta, almost Sweden weather. We actually had to de-ice before takeoff Saturday morning. Only 61F and it is almost 3 in the afternoon. I'll check back in when I have caught up with everything else.

Planes Tomorrow

Travel day tomorrow. An o640 flight out of Gothenburg for Paris and then an almost impossible connection to Delta to Atlanta. The promised rain has finally arrived and it is raining like the proverbial cow on a rock tonight. It has also turned significantly cooler and I would guess it is in the mid 40's out there. I don't have to spend anytime exposed to the weather as I will be in a taxi or in the airport so it is really not a problem. Rain is forecast for Atlanta for the weekend so it should be a very quiet and restful return with much sleep and no pressure to get outside and maintain the homestead. See you folks afte the leap.

What Surprise?

The revelation that some of the payola going to the GOP from lobbyists was sex is a major Duh?
I had just always assumed that to be the case knowing what I know about big dollar business and the operating methods.
I am surprised that anyone would be surprised that these fuckwits are thinking with the johnson and making decisions base on nooky. I mean how else do you continue to make bad decision after bad decision if all of your thinking is done by your penis?
If you think about it that explains pretty much the state if the U.S. today. I'm a dickhead and I'm your President.

How About a Bribe?

I really can't believe I am reading this! GOP Senators actually believe that giving you a hundred bucks will distract you from the fact that they have completely failed to address America's energy crisis and have done nothing but stuff more moeny in the pockets of oil companies. They think you are so money hungry and stupid that you won't notice that they want to add a few drops to the oil supply for a couple of years by destroying the last pristine wilderness in North America nad forget how badly they have failed to lead this country in the right direction.

Just how much is a $100 bucks going to help you out? I can fill my tank in the little Hyundai a couple of times if the gas prices stay where they are. How about you?

You have to wonder how stupid they think the average American is. This reminds me of the old joke about a man that offers a beautiful woman a million bucks to sleep with him. She thinks a minute and say yes. He then asks her if she will sleep with him for twenty bucks. She responds. "What do you think I am, a whore?" He responds. We have already established that now we are negotiating price."

So what's your price?

8.4 Billion is Pretty Good

Explain to me one more time why gas prices are so high

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged, driven by rising oil prices.

Net income in the first quarter was $8.4 billion, or $1.37 a share, up from $7.86 billion, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue jumped to $88.98 billion from $82.05 billion.

Full disclosure: I have some Exxon-Mobil stock and yes I am ashamed.

Sweden Stuff

Nine at night and once again the jet lag is kicking in so I won't be concious much longer. Long day at the client and I am still wondering why I am here but they are paying the travel and daily fees so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Again had dinner in the hotel tonight and had a very strange rendition of what the menu said was a club sandwhich. This one had some roasted chicken (kyckling) and underdone bacob piled on some toasted white bread with curry mayo. Very interesting interpretation. There was a little salad on the side and some "freedom fries" that were so hot when served that I couln't eat them. I probably don't want to know how they got them that hot.

You definitely have to adjust to the size of hotel rooms in Europe. I have seen closets in the U.S. that were larger than this one. Actually, the hotel room in Tokyo was bigger. I can deal with it as I am pretty used to it but at nearly $170 a night you expect a little more than a closet with a bath but that seems to be the going price here so you just deal with it.

Everybody have a great day and we will try and say hello again tomorow. I think I hear the little single bed( we call them twin beds) is calling. BTW the weather forecast that said it would be raining everyday here was completely wrong.

Gas Prices

This is a sore point for me. I have been saying for years that we were not paying enough for a gallon of gas. It is a non-renewable resource and it pollutes something horrible. That said, the current run up in prices is not good because it affects the guy (or gal) making a reasonable living in the 50K$ or below bracket so much harder as a percentage of income than it does the fuckwit driving a Hummer. I actuallt heard someone say the other day that even at $4/gallon it wasn't any skin off his nose since even at 4 bucks his gas expense was less that 1% of his income.
Anyhow...I think the price of gas should be twice or three times as high as it is now. I don't think, however,that this ought to be borne by the average Joe. The oil companies need to be straight and the media needs to pay attention. We are being screwed and you can see it in the profits. If you don't think so read the following.

Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn’t complaining.

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

Last November, when he was still chairman of Exxon, Raymond told Congress that gas prices were high because of global supply and demand.

Daily Snow Job

It's now official that Tony Snow is the new White House press secretary. Evidently he wanted to more than just be a parrot but wanted to be "an active participant in administration policy debates." So what am I missing here? I would think that as a talking shithead on Faux News wasn't he already an "active participant in administration policy"?

The story from the Whorehouse is that he is being brought on board to smooth over things with the press corps:

A senior administration official said last night that Bush is aware of the "perception of disdain for the institution of the media" on the part of the White House and wants a spokesman who will forge "a good working relationship" with journalists.

The official said the president is also looking for "a forceful advocate for the type of historical change he's trying to accomplish" and added: "We believe Tony fits the bill in both areas. He has a lot of experience on the air, which with the evolution of the briefings is something you have to take into consideration."

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig! How is this going to make any difference in the complete bullshit that comes out of the Whorehouse?

Another Sympton

This doesn't really affect me right now because I have a good job and it includes a comprehensive set of health care benfits. The reality for you and me though is that tomorrow it could all change and we will be in the same boat. A new report by the Commonwealth Fund clearly shows that the hardest working and backbone of American society is gradually( and not that slowly) being left behind in the search for security and freedom from fear of even a minor health crisis. This is the legacy that Bush and his henchman are leaving us. As long as the GOP and the major healthcare and drug companies control the agenda the bulk of America is at a high risk of being placed in the untenable position of being financially ruined by even a minor health crisis.

In a nutshell:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 percent of Americans making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year went without insurance for at least part of the year last year, according to a study published on Tuesday.

• More than 40% of middle income Americans went without insurance
• 20% of working adults paying off medical debt
• 60% of uninsured adults with chronic illnesses skip medicine because they can't afford it

"The jump in uninsured among those with modest incomes is alarming, particularly at a time when our economy has been improving," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, who helped write the study.

"For an uninsured person who is unlucky enough to get sick, it is easy to see how quickly they can fall into a downward spiral of debt, forgone care, and poorer health," Sara Collins, Commonwealth Fund senior program officer, said in a statement.

We Here

Ok, safely in Sweden. Uneventful trip but after being awake for 32 hours I am a little foggy. Obviously the hotel does have Internet so there will be some activity here this week. Right now it is time for a little serious sack time. Weather is not too bad. Not raining as the forecast said. All checked in with Madam Monk so all is well.

How many?

There are hundreds of soldiers in the international concourse waiting for flights out. I wonder how many will come back alive or whole? It makes me very sad. Such a tragedy.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

Travel day today

BLOGGER was hosed this morning before I headed to the airport so there are a couple of posts that are hanging fire. Might have to wait until sometime tomorrow to try and get them to publish. More and more I am considering moving the blog somewhere more reliable. It always seems to go tango uniform when I have no time to mess with it. Oh well, on the way and should be changing planes in Paris in about 12 hours. Only a 2 hour connection in Paris so will be close since most of the time the plane parks somewhere out on the airport and the bus in to the teminal takes forever. Play nice.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

Blogger Misbehaving

Blogger is misbehaving this morning. It always happens when I don't have the time to fool with it.

Confirmed Liar and War Criminal

Josh Marshall has a piece up discussing the 60 minutes interview with Tyler Drumheller the now retired CIA officer and former head of covert ops in Europe.

This interview basically confirms what we have suspected. Bush and Cheney cherry picked the intel to falsely lead the country into war and when Drumheller's team in Europe turned the Iraqi Foreiegn Minister Naji Sabri just before the war and he admitted that Saddam had no WMD's the Whitehouse ignored this high value intelligence because it didn't support their lies.

This interview is proof conclusive that the President and his staff deliberately lied us into war and further more deliberately ignored reliable intelligence that would have allowed us to avoid this disaster.

Here is a quote from Josh's piece:

"I was stunned," Drumheller told me, when so little of the stuff he had told the commission's and the committee's investigators ended up in their reports. His colleagues, he said, were equally "in shock" that so little of what they related ended up in the reports either.

What Drumheller has to say adds quite a lot to our knowledge of what happened in the lead up to war. But what it shows even more clearly is that none of this stuff has yet been investigated by anyone whose principal goal is not covering for the White House.

Every death and every casualty is directly on Bush's head. Every penny spent is his. There is no other way to describe Bush and Cheney's acts but as high treason and war crimes. When you pile the torture, false imprisonment, and murder of so many together this is the only thing that answers.

Another Hard Day

Another hard day in the yard cleaning up from out little storm. Another giant pile of stuff on the curb waiting for the city guys to pick up. Would have been a much larger pile but I decided to get out the chipper/shredder and crank it up. It makes an awful racket but grinds up limbs and small branchs quickly and leave a nice pile of mulch to boot. Grinding the limbs in the back forty saves carting them to the street. So things are looking pretty good. Still have to get the muscadine off part of the fence and clear a few more small trees. Noted several more big pines that are dead or dying so I think I have about 10 or so now to be removed. That will be a 3-4000 dollar job when I think I can afford it. Hopefully Mother Nature will see fit to leave them standing until I can get them cut. Only three could hit the house but they are large and would do a lot of damage.

Getting the final stuff done so I can leave town for a week with a reasonably clear conscience. Didn't get all the "honey-do's done but made a good dent in them. Off to Sweden for meetings next week and won't get back until Saturday PM. If this experience is anything like last I will be very lucky to find Internet access next week so the old blog will be pretty quiet in that case. Maybe a plug or two from the Blackberry but otherwise zilch. Who knows they may have added wi-fi or something to the hotel by now. It is becoming more common in Europe. The weather forecast is for rain the entire week. Bummer.

Sunday, Sunday

Forgot to wish Happy Birthday to the Queen so Happy Birthday your Highness. Today is Orthodox Easter so everyone Happy Easter, Cristos Anesti!
Not so good a weekend for out troops in Iraq.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb northwest of the capital, raising to eight the number of Americans killed this weekend in Baghdad area.

More than 20 Iraqis also died in other violence Sunday, including seven who were killed in three explosions that occurred just outside the heavily guarded Green Zone in Baghdad, not far from Iraq's Defense Ministry.

We really got to get the the hell out of there. We have done enough damage and spent enough money. It's over.

Saturday Review

All right, another hard day in the yard and I am once again totaled. Not much time tonight to review what is going on around the web but I did check on Steve Bates at Yellow Doggerel Democrat.
He commented on the price of gas in Houston which triggered one of my hot buttons. I commented that I thought the price was too low by a factor of 3 and that this too cheap gas is toasting our environment.
So far there is a lively thread developing...so stop in and give a whack.