April 26, 2007
"Semantic Plethorae"
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Iraq was governed by brutality before we arrived. It unfortunately is going to be governed by brutality when we leave,...... regardless of timing.
Staying, leaving, deadlines....chimeric illusory words, for at least a decade or three.
Ten plethora's of semantic universes will not change this sad fact.
Iraq was governed by brutality before we arrived. It unfortunately is going to be governed by brutality when we leave,...... regardless of timing.
Staying, leaving, deadlines....chimeric illusory words, for at least a decade or three.
Ten plethora's of semantic universes will not change this sad fact.
Labels: deadlines, Iraq, Iraq/ foreign policy, withdrawal
April 23, 2007
Vermont Farmers versus Pharma Mutation
America is a nation of histrionics; adjective, adverb and noun.
With all the crap Americans digest to pharma-mutate their brains (and bodies), some one should come out with a "Vermont Farmer" brand laconic pill.
Chill out! Spartan up! These might be catchy ad phrases.
Perhaps "Dirty Harry" for a spokesman. Who else comes to mind?
I'm not sure this posting makes a great deal of sense but I think it's a call for help when a tragedy occurs and cable news goes spewy-wacky.
Craig Johnson
With all the crap Americans digest to pharma-mutate their brains (and bodies), some one should come out with a "Vermont Farmer" brand laconic pill.
Chill out! Spartan up! These might be catchy ad phrases.
Perhaps "Dirty Harry" for a spokesman. Who else comes to mind?
I'm not sure this posting makes a great deal of sense but I think it's a call for help when a tragedy occurs and cable news goes spewy-wacky.
Craig Johnson
Labels: cable news, Clint Eastwood, pharmas
April 19, 2007
Kiko's House: Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere
April 18, 2007
Sex Tips, Crash Diets, Perfect Bodies - At Your Checkout Station
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What would have been classified porn in my youth now appears at every major supermarket checkout station in the nation. The sex tips and the barely clad bodies are titillating and I have mixed feelings that they fill my view when I wait to pay.
But, when I scan the hallelujahs for perfect abs, perfect thighs, and diet claims that girls and women are subject to along with the perfectly thin barely clad idealized females adorning the magazines' covers I feel a social crime is being committed.
Why should all the weight conscious women of America, particularly those who have a diet related disease have to run this gauntlet?
--Craig Johnson--
But, when I scan the hallelujahs for perfect abs, perfect thighs, and diet claims that girls and women are subject to along with the perfectly thin barely clad idealized females adorning the magazines' covers I feel a social crime is being committed.
Why should all the weight conscious women of America, particularly those who have a diet related disease have to run this gauntlet?
--Craig Johnson--
Labels: anorexia, bulemia, diet fads, porn
Truth: a "quaint" anachronism revived
Patrick Fitzgerald.
American hero.
Truth, which had become a "quaint" anachronism in the Bush administration, has now morphed into a concept with actual consequences for the Justice gang, the White House, Karl Rove, etc.
Is this not a delicious moment?
A gift that will keep on giving?
--Craig Johnson--
(photo from wonkette)
Labels: Bush Admin, impeachment, Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald
Plutonium Parachutes for Bush and Cheney
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Thinking about money, ethics, Bush and the GOP, maybe we're all missing an obvious point. Instead of instituting impeachment proceedings against our two top ranking incompetents why not offer them plutonium parachutes ( uhm, not the Russian kind).
It is no longer the American way for CEOs to quit for for reasons of moral, financial or leadership ineptitude.
In keeping with this, offer Bush and Cheney a billion dollars each to step down (and be prepared to go to two bil to close the deal: plus a hundred mil each for Alberto and each Cheney on the payroll.)
This is oligarchic morality.
Hold your nose. It's cheap at ten times the price!!
craig johnson
Thinking about money, ethics, Bush and the GOP, maybe we're all missing an obvious point. Instead of instituting impeachment proceedings against our two top ranking incompetents why not offer them plutonium parachutes ( uhm, not the Russian kind).
It is no longer the American way for CEOs to quit for for reasons of moral, financial or leadership ineptitude.
In keeping with this, offer Bush and Cheney a billion dollars each to step down (and be prepared to go to two bil to close the deal: plus a hundred mil each for Alberto and each Cheney on the payroll.)
This is oligarchic morality.
Hold your nose. It's cheap at ten times the price!!
craig johnson
Labels: Bush Admin, ceo salaries, criminal incompetence, golden parachutes, impeachment
Breaking: Major Oil Companies to Fund the Surge ---
.
Seriously. Why don't the President and his veep approach the major oil companies for ten billion dollars to tide the surge over for a month or two.
That way they can veto the troop shrinkage legislation and be assured of war bucks.
Of course it would also be nice if the major oil companies paid part or all of the tab for the global security we provide for them gratis.
--Craig Johnson--
Seriously. Why don't the President and his veep approach the major oil companies for ten billion dollars to tide the surge over for a month or two.
That way they can veto the troop shrinkage legislation and be assured of war bucks.
Of course it would also be nice if the major oil companies paid part or all of the tab for the global security we provide for them gratis.
--Craig Johnson--
Labels: funding, Iraq, surge, timelines
April 14, 2007
The Iraqi duty extension: Clunk!!
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It seemed odd that the three month extension was announced prior to briefing the troops. It also seemed odd that it had no political content attached to it. It made me wonder if Gates had his own agenda and was walking outside the politically lockstep Bush administration.
It seemed odd that the three month extension was announced prior to briefing the troops. It also seemed odd that it had no political content attached to it. It made me wonder if Gates had his own agenda and was walking outside the politically lockstep Bush administration.
Now I learn that the extension, which highlights a broken military and more Bush/Cheney incompetence, was leaked before it could be tuned up in the GOP propaganda shop.
I absolutely love it. It makes me laugh.
The briefing to the troops should be,"Sorry guys that we have to increase the chance of your tired asses' dying by 25% on this rotation but we've screwed this occupation thing up from the beginning and well, we're sorry."
The result of the leak appears to be the odd victory for truth over the Soviet style propaganda apparatus pronouncement we have come to expect from 'reality central', i.e. the White House.
"It's all the fault of the people that are trying to bring you back home," they could have said.
Labels: Bush, criminal incompetence, extension, Iraq, tour extension
April 13, 2007
For Kurt Vonnegut on his Passing:
70,000 Dead In Mid-East Augers Glad Tidings in the War on Terrorism
Professor Adolph Von Euclid revealed today new math formulations which indicate that continuing massive deaths in the Middle East herald increasing success in the war on terror.
Professor Adolph Von Euclid revealed today new math formulations which indicate that continuing massive deaths in the Middle East herald increasing success in the war on terror.
The newly revealed postulates show that at present for each thousand miscarnaged civilians nine point seven terrorists are killed. An ancillary formulation to the miscarnaged postulates shows that in near simultanity seventeen new terrorists are created per thousand miscarnagees resulting in a dead/arisen terrorist ratio of negative fifty seven per cent, plus or minus an Arab or two either way.
Using Third Reichian formulae, adjusted for lack of Jews in the study, genocidal statistics show that the number of new terrorists arising per thousand expunged civilians will eventually peak at thirty one point eight while the the number of terrorists killed per thousand collateral accidentists will increase non linearly due to the massive influx of new terrorists and the time honored normal war time change in methods of recording so many damn dead, dead, dead people.
The so postulated formulaic conclusion is that at one hundred twelve thousand innocents slaughtered the terrorist dead to terrorists arisen ratio should geometrically swoop into the positive range heralding a pleasant advance in the war on terror:
All going well, that is.
(Note: This was written some time ago when 70,000 dead in Iraq seemed a significant number.)
Using Third Reichian formulae, adjusted for lack of Jews in the study, genocidal statistics show that the number of new terrorists arising per thousand expunged civilians will eventually peak at thirty one point eight while the the number of terrorists killed per thousand collateral accidentists will increase non linearly due to the massive influx of new terrorists and the time honored normal war time change in methods of recording so many damn dead, dead, dead people.
The so postulated formulaic conclusion is that at one hundred twelve thousand innocents slaughtered the terrorist dead to terrorists arisen ratio should geometrically swoop into the positive range heralding a pleasant advance in the war on terror:
All going well, that is.
(Note: This was written some time ago when 70,000 dead in Iraq seemed a significant number.)
Labels: Creative Writing, Excellent News in the War on Terror, Kurt Vonnegut, Third Reich
In the name of Allah: What's the Plan?
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Tribes, religious fanatics, elites, sectarian differences, oil based economies, authoritarian rule, conflict resolution by guns and suicide are hallmarks of the Middle East.
I assume that most Middle East' citizens' primary desire is to arise each morning, safely see their children off to school and safely pursue a job that provides the daily bread. However, the short term political and economic outlook seems one of despair.
I am curious what a fifty or hundred year plan for the region might look like.
Individuals, businesses and nations need mission statements to direct future actions to a desired goal.
Just over a half century ago Europe last used guns to resolve conflicts and they now have their 'Union.'
Surely the world of Islam has a desire to be safe, prosperous and unified.
So, what would this vision entail?
How can we help?
Tribes, religious fanatics, elites, sectarian differences, oil based economies, authoritarian rule, conflict resolution by guns and suicide are hallmarks of the Middle East.
I assume that most Middle East' citizens' primary desire is to arise each morning, safely see their children off to school and safely pursue a job that provides the daily bread. However, the short term political and economic outlook seems one of despair.
I am curious what a fifty or hundred year plan for the region might look like.
Individuals, businesses and nations need mission statements to direct future actions to a desired goal.
Just over a half century ago Europe last used guns to resolve conflicts and they now have their 'Union.'
Surely the world of Islam has a desire to be safe, prosperous and unified.
So, what would this vision entail?
How can we help?
Labels: Islam's fifty year plan, middle east plan
April 06, 2007
Take Off the Gloves
The pig headed thinking that sends Sam Fox, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Bushie loyalist to Brussels by a recess appointment is from the same mind set group that 'rules' the earth's most powerful country. It's a mind set that simply doesn't acknowledge that there are rules.
It is sad and sad and scary.
To my mind, if a person sucker punches his enemy over and over again, that person should not be surprised when his antagonist goes Marcus of Queensbury on him and just drops him flat.
Truly, Bush needs to be removed from office; the judicial method matters not a wit.
It is sad and sad and scary.
To my mind, if a person sucker punches his enemy over and over again, that person should not be surprised when his antagonist goes Marcus of Queensbury on him and just drops him flat.
Truly, Bush needs to be removed from office; the judicial method matters not a wit.
Labels: impeachment, sam fox, Swift Boat Veterans
"A Most Civil War"
.
(a day in the life of a Baghdad family - Bashir, a young man, enters his family’s apartment)
Bashir: Greetings Father, Praise be to Allah.
Father: Praise be to Allah.
Bashir: It’s hot in here. Did we have any electricity today?
Father: One hour, tops. May Allah rain perversions on the Imperialist American Pigs!Bashir: That sucks. A thousand perversions to the Infidels.
Father: What did you do today?
Bashir: Praise be to Allah, I put out one roadside IED and helped prepare a suicider for a Mosque mission at evening prayers.
Father: Praise be to Allah, but did you stop by the Coalition Forces Outreach Center like your Mother asked you to?
Bashir: Yes, Papa I did.
Father: And did you tell them that death squads have been harassing and threatening your Mother, sisters and our neighbors?
Bashir: Yes Papa I did. They said that they already knew and intended to step up patrols. They were very sympathetic and really quite civil.
(Father and son lock eyes, pause, look away, then look back)
Father: A thousand perversions to the Imperialist Occupiers.
Bashir: Praise be to Allah, a thousand perversions.
(a day in the life of a Baghdad family - Bashir, a young man, enters his family’s apartment)
Bashir: Greetings Father, Praise be to Allah.
Father: Praise be to Allah.
Bashir: It’s hot in here. Did we have any electricity today?
Father: One hour, tops. May Allah rain perversions on the Imperialist American Pigs!Bashir: That sucks. A thousand perversions to the Infidels.
Father: What did you do today?
Bashir: Praise be to Allah, I put out one roadside IED and helped prepare a suicider for a Mosque mission at evening prayers.
Father: Praise be to Allah, but did you stop by the Coalition Forces Outreach Center like your Mother asked you to?
Bashir: Yes, Papa I did.
Father: And did you tell them that death squads have been harassing and threatening your Mother, sisters and our neighbors?
Bashir: Yes Papa I did. They said that they already knew and intended to step up patrols. They were very sympathetic and really quite civil.
(Father and son lock eyes, pause, look away, then look back)
Father: A thousand perversions to the Imperialist Occupiers.
Bashir: Praise be to Allah, a thousand perversions.
Labels: Civil War, Creative Writing, Iraq, obey Mother, Published Letters
John Edwards in Salon Interview - my comment
A conversation with John Edwards
in Salon by Walter Shapiro 4.6.07
RE: Edwards' on Public Service Jobs Creation
At one point in my life I spent a couple of years in Spain. One thing I noticed was that lottery sales were done by old men. They walked the urban streets with their tickets and called out to potential buyers.
I was struck then and now that this provided money and worth to people well past normal work force ages.
Not everyone is born with the ability to keep up with computer age job requirements and I guess it's safe to say that simple manual labor jobs continue to decrease in number.
Ergo, why not, as a social policy, cut out a number of employment designations that could, yes, be done more efficiently by machines or alternate methods, and fill them with people who are only by the very nature of man and today's workplace not receiving of or contributing to America's bounty.
If I perchance to talk with a grocery store bagger or cart collection superintendent and realize that this employee is a "challenged" person, I smile.
This is what it is or should be all about.
"Hat tip", as the bloggers say, to participating grocery chains and to John Edwards for mainstreaming this important topic.
in Salon by Walter Shapiro 4.6.07
RE: Edwards' on Public Service Jobs Creation
At one point in my life I spent a couple of years in Spain. One thing I noticed was that lottery sales were done by old men. They walked the urban streets with their tickets and called out to potential buyers.
I was struck then and now that this provided money and worth to people well past normal work force ages.
Not everyone is born with the ability to keep up with computer age job requirements and I guess it's safe to say that simple manual labor jobs continue to decrease in number.
Ergo, why not, as a social policy, cut out a number of employment designations that could, yes, be done more efficiently by machines or alternate methods, and fill them with people who are only by the very nature of man and today's workplace not receiving of or contributing to America's bounty.
If I perchance to talk with a grocery store bagger or cart collection superintendent and realize that this employee is a "challenged" person, I smile.
This is what it is or should be all about.
"Hat tip", as the bloggers say, to participating grocery chains and to John Edwards for mainstreaming this important topic.
Labels: edwards, john edwards, public service jobs, salon, Social Issues
April 03, 2007
Bush the Uniter - Redux
.
(President Bush softly sings.)
I miss Arafat in the Springtime,
I miss Saddam in the fall,
Lebanon‘s a mess, it‘s in splinters,
I had no idea at all.
Our one time pal, Saudi’s being squeezed cause of Palestine,
And Iran shows no respect, what gall,
Oh boy, thank God, they fight less in the winter,
I had no idea at all.
Condi says this mess is a great opportunity,
Some laugh, but what constitutes reality, is my call,
Every planetary wide entity hates us, look Mom, I am a ‘Uniter’,
Bombs Away, bombs away, you’all.
Craig Johnson
(President Bush softly sings.)
I miss Arafat in the Springtime,
I miss Saddam in the fall,
Lebanon‘s a mess, it‘s in splinters,
I had no idea at all.
Our one time pal, Saudi’s being squeezed cause of Palestine,
And Iran shows no respect, what gall,
Oh boy, thank God, they fight less in the winter,
I had no idea at all.
Condi says this mess is a great opportunity,
Some laugh, but what constitutes reality, is my call,
Every planetary wide entity hates us, look Mom, I am a ‘Uniter’,
Bombs Away, bombs away, you’all.
Craig Johnson
Labels: Bush uniter, Iran, KikosHouse.blogspot.com, no respect
April 02, 2007
Borat - Meet Verka Serdyuchka
From the BBC: By Helen Fawkes
"Angry Ukrainian nationalists have held protests against the selection of a controversial drag queen to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest.
They claim that Serdyuchka is a grotesque stereotype of a stupid Ukrainian villager.
They say that Verka Serdyuchka's drag act will damage Ukraine's international reputation."
"Angry Ukrainian nationalists have held protests against the selection of a controversial drag queen to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest.
They claim that Serdyuchka is a grotesque stereotype of a stupid Ukrainian villager.
They say that Verka Serdyuchka's drag act will damage Ukraine's international reputation."
I say, Nyet, Nyet, Nyet!
Who knew the Ukraine was so with it, so hip!
Not?
Labels: Borat, drag queen, Ukraine, Verka Serdyuchka
