If we end it now

If we end the Iraq thing now, as in 'poof- it's over', we'll have another 200,000 unemployed, with some medical benefits for a short time but soon to be on their own among us.

Suddenly civilians again, they'll be forced to readjust overnight. I doubt that's easy or even feasible without preparing (planning, Mr. Bush) for a big, national medical care overhaul and serious attention to emotional and psychological care.

The Relative Values of Voters

The Republican Party blew off the NAACP with near unanymity.

According to the US Census (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/07s0014.xls), there are only about 70-some million of THEM. Republicans get about 10% of their votes from THEM.

The '01 census counts almost 160 million Christians. So if they get half the Christian vote they're ahead of the guy with every vote from THEM.

That should explain why the comically uncommitted Giuliani, the desperate-for-despotism Huckabee, the charming old drunk character actor, the crotchety old man, the Mormon and the crotchety old Conservative all showed up at the Jesus Freak Convention to compete for their support.

So right now they're looking for room in their dogma to support serial-marriage Rudy, Never-did-nothing Thompson, McCain the rapidly aging or anti-everything Paul, so they don't have to vote for wacky-cult gay-marriage public insurance Romney.

If this were reality, we'd expect this freako fringe to be contemplating a ride on the next comet, or at least a third party to leave the things of this world to the students of it. But they're hypocrites too, and they really want to rule the world like the scion whose name it is a letter W.

Back in black & white, almost, and kind of

If you want to look at some pretty fun rants about Tom DeLay and the rest of the scandal roster from early in this abyssmal political cycle, look at the stuff I already wrote. I've written a lot of stuff since that last post, intending to tune my craft. This page might have to be deleted, but I hope I can give you and others a chance to get some value from the provocative crap I can come up with sometimes.

Joy,
Joe Monster

As expected, the whitehouse whitewasher in spin cycle

Once again, the Bush crew points to a new report, jumping up and down and still pointing, excited to tell us it means the opposite of what it says.

The GAO reveals a grade of sub-F for this escalation to date, based on the goal posts as agreed before the surge. Allowing 3 of 18 correct answers, the boy in the White House is a functional idiot.

I don't have time for this anymore. Somebody else has to be the grownup in charge, and I believe heads of state must be held accountable for the terrible things they do, ostensibly in the name of their countrymen.

Karl Rove is a big fat bitch, if there ever was a bitch

Absolutely true: The democrats did the dividing. The Republicans did the unified marching. Some continue to march, even after the country admitted it was Democratic.

If the legislative Democrats weren't reflective, weren't trying to counter the cynical Republican agenda, weren't trying to represent American people in districts, they certainly would have also been marching, and there would be no opposition.

It would also have been the one-party state so useful to the Stalinesque/Neocon MO.

I'm glad that fuckhead went back to his own country, and I hope Bush sweats and whimpers without him, like the dog he is.

Unfortunately, since they said he's leaving, we can deduce he's not going anywhere. Because they can't speak without lying. Congenital. Their lying genitals are in each others' mouths.

Incurious George and the Bird Flu

Of course, since it's been in the headlines as a growing concern among health and science professionals, we can expect the Bush administration to issue a warning next fall: Elect a Republican, or the absolute inaction we've been taking on this important issue we really consider an opinion will sneak up and follow us home from Iraq.

Also of course, we don't know anything about what our Executive stand-in-for-a-real-President is doing. He's priveleged.

Cheers,

How the Democrats do it

This is how they are going to drop the ball:
I got a call from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Comittee soliciting funds for TV commercials targeting weak Republicans. As I told the nice lady caller, they don't need commercials. Bush and his thuglicans are already Democratic campaign commercials. They walk, they talk, and they do things, and every thing they say and do, everyone they walk with, only reinforce the general message that something's wrong and it rhymes with "Uglpew".

They have half the strategy working for them already, but the obvious second half, the B side is blank. What do they do? They ask for money to run commercials.

They are properly tying up the president. He's got the leash wrapped around both legs, and he can't keep up with his barking. But he is still President and Commander in Chief. He still gets to veto the laws passed by a Democratic majority. He's doing better at throwing back in the Democratic face than the Democrats are, and he is succeeding in making the Ds look ineffective and whiny.

But we want the investigations. We do. And we want the war to end. But we can't withdraw troops because we aren't the Commander in Chief. We can't dictate the budget because we aren't the final signatory.

The American people will appreciate the effective way Democrats in Congress are tying his hands, keeping his Attorney General lying in public at Congressional Committees, forcing everyone in the President's life to come forward and refuse to testify about his malfeasance. We will also be happy to hear the Congress has refused to provide a dime for the office of the VP. I want every thing the President does to be hindered so he can't screw things up any more than he has. That's enough for me.

But to take those extra seats from the party of the War (which we won years ago and have yet to win?) (which has transferred the treasure contributed by generations of working people into the hands of the few stockholders at KBR in the name of protecting the Saudi monarchy) (which has so altered the Justice Department and Justice System within the US that our children are reading civics books they can't possibly reconcile with the new ground rules) (which has passionately worked to protect the corporation from the person- in the legislature to exempt it from justice) the Democrats have to continue producing quality, clear legislation with no pork except what Republicans add, and to let Bush veto the "Save AIDS babies" bill, and the "Don't poison the babies" bill, and the "Don't burn up all the flowers" bill. Let him stand before us and hack progressive ideals to bits without the ability to hand out favors to donors or magnates.

This may be the only time in history when the high road can get us there. 1) Keep impeding the Bush agenda, 2) Defund the VP, 3) Quality, honest legislation written to make life a little easier for every human here.

Wow! Finally a firing!

Wow! Hard to believe, but after pages and pages of lies in print, hours of audio lies and an aggressive miseducation campaign, tons of ordnance, fuel, food, machinery, even after the cave people developed methods for shooting down our helicopters (flying over Baghdad too long, those fucks don't have ANYTHING to do by figure out how to blow stuff up), after a list of senior military officers were dismissed for speaking frankly, FINALLY, a high-ranking member of this collossal cluster fuck got fired for cause. He wasn't in Iraq though, and he's being replaced by the fuckup he replaced.

So now I turn to you, the "Support our troops" phonies. Your shithead war, your shithead president, the shithead Secretary of Defense, the shithead VP, everybody on the button-pusher side of this bullshit phony 'war'. How are you? How do you feel about the terrible conditions some of the the wounded soldiers you care so much about have been subjected to WHEN THEY CAME HOME WITHOUT PARTS OF THEMSELVES. Makes me think of the imaginary soldier spitters greeting the Vietnam returns. What a fuck in the ass!

Plop atop that sundae the gag order. We've invited these young (and more mature) patriots to our new colony in the sunny fertile crescent to help Paul Wolfowitz pad his resume, force them to get blown up by guerillas after bowing to Al-Sadr and failing to install our puppet, let anybody with feet waltz across the border with anything they can carry (no beer though), we yodel and moo about increased security and Constitutions, we wonder why physics continues to work even though Bush is president (Nature abhors a power vacuum, just as Iran abhors Sunni Iraq's easy water access), we herd our maimed finest into a sty, and then we threaten them with jail if they exercise their first amendment right to speak about how shitty the Republican Party is.

You're not bad people, I think you're just crazy. Right now you're saying "This isn't the Republicans, it's the Iraqis blowing them up!" But Bush appointees run the military, because the Republican Party gets free blowjobs at the White House. Or something, it's got to have a reason for life to have meaning.

Wow! Finally a firing!

Wow! Hard to believe, but after pages and pages of lies in print, hours of audio lies and an aggressive miseducation campaign, tons of ordnance, fuel, food, machinery, even after the cave people developed methods for shooting down our helicopters (flying over Baghdad too long, those fucks don't have ANYTHING to do by figure out how to blow stuff up), after a list of senior military officers were dismissed for speaking frankly, FINALLY, a high-ranking member of this collossal cluster fuck got fired for cause. He wasn't in Iraq though, and he's being replaced by the fuckup he replaced.

So now I turn to you, the "Support our troops" phonies. Your shithead war, your shithead president, the shithead Secretary of Defense, the shithead VP, everybody on the button-pusher side of this bullshit phony 'war'. How are you? How do you feel about the terrible conditions some of the the wounded soldiers you care so much about have been subjected to WHEN THEY CAME HOME WITHOUT PARTS OF THEMSELVES. Makes me think of the imaginary soldier spitters greeting the Vietnam returns. What a fuck in the ass!

Plop atop that sundae the gag order. We've invited these young (and more mature) patriots to our new colony in the sunny fertile crescent to help Paul Wolfowitz pad his resume, force them to get blown up by guerillas after bowing to Al-Sadr and failing to install our puppet, let anybody with feet waltz across the border with anything they can carry (no beer though), we yodel and moo about increased security and Constitutions, we wonder why physics continues to work even though Bush is president (Nature abhors a power vacuum, just as Iran abhors Sunni Iraq's easy water access), we herd our maimed finest into a sty, and then we threaten them with jail if they exercise their first amendment right to speak about how shitty the Republican Party is.

You're not bad people, I think you're just crazy. Right now you're saying "This isn't the Republicans, it's the Iraqis blowing them up!" But Bush appointees run the military, because the Republican Party gets free blowjobs at the White House. Or something, it's got to have a reason for life to have meaning.

Long time coming

I think it's nice that Mr. Bush fired his lawyer, former Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, and replaced her with an even stronger defense lawyer.

His lack of consideration for all of us ad for his job is admirably reflected in the way he discarded this faithful companion when the lap-dog breed became less useful.

But I do think that letting him wreck the house for the past 6 years should be enough, there's no reason to waste the time of another 20,000 of us for an unknown duration.

These factoidal anecdotes come together to show us the Rove/Bush method at work again, defending the CEO against stockholders and employees. I hope it will backfire, but the intention is solely to put Democrats in an uncomfortable position, risking potential antipatriotic labeling in 2 years. I just hope it doesn't backfire by forcing Iran's hand. His cronies aren't competent to stand that trial.

Why is my father-in law an asshole?

Over the holidays, I was rousted from sleep by a loud exchange in my kitchen. Sis-in-law, who has dated an actual black guy, was apparently attempting a discussion involving openness in human society. Pops wouldn't have it. He sees black people on TV, and despite the black neighbor he knows and basically likes he's sure black culture is the problem.

Now, I'm no black guy. I have a dusty but genuine Arkansas Ave. ghetto pass, I dated black girls at a frequency roughly mirroring demographics, and I can make fun of you very well. I think I’m in a better position to report on ‘Black Culture’ than most of us out here with no claim to it. I grew up in Wilmington, DE, in Claymont and then near Edgemoor. There were race problems, but it was the perception of race problems that gave the problem a body. Then (1970s), there, white people found themselves at the bottom, for the first time forced into contact with the Black people. "Who the hell let them in here?"

Remember, it was in the 1950’s that Black Americans were given the right to be seen in public. The co-incidence of wild economic disparity with the arrival of an essentially new ethnic minority implies linkage in newspapers and television, which ignore socioeconomics. Strip away insinuated status, and people see themselves busting their ass and resent the influx of others chasing the same precious paycheck, devalue the other’s contribution. America has attracted people from all nations, and has hosted plenty of racism and ethnic tension. But this father-in-law’s brand is the beer-hall variety, the dishonest cry of a chronically disgruntled working class. There is no outside object, no external cause for their lament. Hell- this guy doesn’t even have to go to work anymore! He just didn’t mature, never gained the personal confidence to meet difference with serenity. He still thinks the Sharks are going to come to his neighborhood and woo the chicks (and I think he thinks he’s a Jet!).

I’m fascinated that the short period of time that brought us birth control and sexually transmitted disease, sent many to Viet nam (sent this guy to friggin’ Greenland!?!?!?!) and a few to the moon liberated only a retarded xenophobia among some blue collar types, and that so much of our culture is frozen in that period. A guy my age recently cited Hanoi Jane as a good reason to vote for George the Lesser. WTF?

My son's grandfather isn't a racist, he's lazy- more of a bigot. He's another boomer, raised with the daydream of silver spoons, rudely awakened to the truth of life in Capitalism by the 1970s economy. He and the majority of his cohort stopped believing in idealism or hope and started bitching about the bounty. Blacks, Mexicans, Jews, everybody is a problem because he never outgrew his infantile vanity to see the other people standing near him in the mirror too.

Again, he's not a racist. He's a colicky baby. He's got discomfort with the facts of his world, and he complains. He doesn't do anything to alleviate the discomfort, which is important- because he can't do anything about it, can’t even narrow his irks down to a single problem. He's confused and dummed by too much television and not enough life, and like many gravitates to other bitchy people professing common sense. Black culture is the problem. Social liberalism is the problem. The fat cats are the problem. But the fat cats aren’t pawing his daughter, so let’s look a little deeper into the blackness.

African American as an ethnic group is a minority in this country. Very few of them gain the attention of the popular media. Those people are interesting to Wall Street, to Ted Turner but not to Jane Fonda, because they are interesting to CONSUMERS who are interesting to WALL STREET. To delude himself into thinking (he's not actively deluding OR thinking, just parroting teenage angst) he understands black culture from his lengthy excursions into television programming is a thought crime. He doesn't trust the media, but uses it in place of perspective. Instead of looking and talking and assimilating into American society, he waits in his storage facility for the news to come to him. He has come to the conclusion that the people of Blackdom are drugged up gangsta thugs with no jobs, no ambition, and no respect for the American way of life. Of course, the reinforcement of that opinion is a contortion: the Rappers and comics and talk show hosts and obnoxious athletes in his complaints do have jobs, ambition, and exhibit perfectly the American way of life, if crass.

Having an opinion about Blacks, Asians, Eskimos is fine. Embracing the idea that the media is a lie, basing your life on being discomforted by change, and then slavishly attending to every dot and dash broadcast from Wall Street makes people stupid, and people who stupidize themselves are assholes. Internal inconsistency is neurosis. A reflective, critical mind wouldn't tolerate the hunger for disinformation and the mistrust of it, certainly ought to shut up with the baby complaints with no possible resolution and turn off the fucking television.

If what you want can't exist, then pick something else. Your lot in life isn't the blacks' fault. It’s life and it’s pretty good here. The Capitalists, stock brokers and speculators are the people with a stake in your opinion, and they hold a little more leverage over your satisfaction in life than TO. Would we know anything about Owens’ bad classless behaviour without the banks financing the stadiums, the manufacturers sponsoring the halftime shows, the media broadcasting his name? I called him an asshole, in front of our whole family, and I did it pretty loud. I felt bad that it wasn't in context, but now it is and I feel better.

For a scholarly treatment of the above topic, please read What’s the Matter with Kansas? By Thomas Frank.

100% Rule

Why is it that despite years of non-stop gross incompetence (Bush, Rumsfeld, et al), conflicts of interest (The Vice President), lying to start a war, lying about conduct of war (War. It's serious still, isn't it?), graft, bribery, contempt and outright sedition (the constitution smells like white-out, black sharpie and eraser crumbs), after painting itself into two corners at once in Iran and North Korea, losing top-dog status to Communist China and converting the middle class in America into capital's serf class, why is it that only now that another Republican Congressman has turned out to be a gay lecher the Christian bloc is reacting to values confusion on the Hill?

How can homosexuality trump mass death?

Why is the party that appointed and supported Foley as co-chair of the don't-bug-kids committee apparently falling apart now? Shouldn't that have happened when Bush doubled the national debt? Didn't he campaign on a no-nation-building platform? They're saying into microphones that government should provide electricity, and until Iraq's does, we won't stop killing ourselves there... ? That doesn't make sense- they also say government shouldn't provide anything while they stuff their families' pockets to avoid accusations of personal enrichment.

Safavian, Abramoff, Norquist, Norton- all these names in the paper today are headliners for the RNC, and they're all knee-deep.

I think the RNC stands for chaos. It must be defanged, neutered, descented and protected in a zoo somewhere so children can see what happens when we buy the lie that we can all be 100% selfish.

Casey vs Santorum

I don't know who would win the fight. I suspect Santorum has a roll of coins in his pocket, but looks like more of a slapper, while the quiet adult Casey could probably do serious harm on the ground.

But the question of Santorum's work ethic was finally raised. We've known for years that he drives south to go home (PA is north). We know his thoughts on lobby reform- coopt the problem and use it to strengthen his party. We know he wants to be the President and Pope, and that he expects us to believe his 6 kids live in the 3-bedroom house in Pittsburgh.

But I hereby question his work ethic. He worked for starting and works for continuing the spent after-sex cuddling into which the Iraq war has degenerated. That does nothing for me here in PA. He's the front man (since the others involved are in jail or on their way) for the K Street Project, and that's in DC. Again, not helping me at all. The Islamic Fascists are in Iran. We invaded Iraq. That's an ex post facto bait and switch. Run and cover. Not good for me, really.

Ricky's not working for us, he's working for the RNC. The RNC isn't working for us, just helping those who help themselves to government largess while trying to make it cheaper to be rich.

When I get rich, I want to help people. People like me who live in PA. Goodbye for now Rickypoo.

Trouble with Korea?

The problem may be as simple as the Republican monolith, whose White House spokesman questioned the significance of North Korea's nuclear test in an apparent administration effort to dim the lights on the role of their pinheaded foreign policy in bringing about today's situation.

The President said out loud on international television that Iran, Iraq and North Korea were the same thing, and invaded the least relevant one before he even fully dealt with our organized and effective enemies in Afghanistan. Therefore, the surely unreasonable Kimmy Illy Jongy-yo Tupac understood the bluff and called it by increasing the histrionics over there. Where the Clinton Administration was pushing to mellow the North's crazy, the Bush Administration was ready to meet the North's crazy with crazy and dying for a drink.

The historical problem, about which this administration can't plead ignorance, is their defensive position. The previous administration's engagement policy wasn't derived in a vacuum, other countries in the area including our ally in South Korea were pursuing engagement as a way to bring about change there. It won the Cold War, after all (complemented with a serious arms race).

This administration abruptly cancelled the "sunshine policy" and unilaterally started invading countries on the list the RNC's all-talk bullshit arts major/mannequin laid out. If they were serious about exerting American will and bringing an end to the chicanery over in Korea, they would have made some changes to weaken NK's defensive position.

What would work? I don't think anything will be good for South Korea, it's not the same as German unification. That was painful enough. Help build a bigger wall on the border with China. Call the bluff with an embargo. Drop a million copies of the Wall Street Journal on Pyongyang. Best of all, a coherent international strategy unfettered by the financial considerations of the Vice President and other capitalist elites in the administration would have retained the credibility and cooperation of the world and not left us out of the loop, impotent and stretched very thin.

Our friends in South Korea, left stranded on the tip of the peninsula there, might want to spend a few months sailing. Japan will be forced into the uncomfortable position of bedding again with US forces at a time when Japanese public opinion shows they're tiring of the trouble with ( a very small minority of ) US Marines misbehaving with impunity on their soil. China is nervous about the collapse of a populous state on its border, but they'll figure that one out.

The immediate victims here are US allies, until someone gets one of these smallish nukes into North America. The world will point to Bush, who clearly doesn't give a crap about allies or international committments.

The real world is clearly an endorsement of the Democrats this fall. Their message has been consistent: Engage, lead the world.

2000

Hi! I'm from the past- the '90's. Clinton was managing a thriving economy, despite the constant ankle-chewing he was getting from the party of social and sexual repression, childish angriness and unquestioned unity.

During that time, the RNC learned to dominate the political debate by buying- or rather being bought by the media. Hard to say, but not the real point.

Also during that time, the 'state' of Florida advanced the political career of another of its own, the homophobic cheerleader Foley.

But in Clinton's last year as President, at least one of their team was informed of his proclivity for young boys. Teenagers actually, he performed some unwelcome one-way email sex on some of the volunteers who carry the coffee, fetch the files and otherwise lubricate the wheels of government. Jim Kolbe found out in 2000. He told some of his RNC colleagues- not the police.

Then the present speaker and majority leader of the house found out, at least two years ago. Representative Foley has been an interesting Republican, member of a Pro-Choice RNC coalition. But his appointment and retention as co-chair of the committee charged with protecting children from exploitation means something serious:

Conspiracy by the Republican Party to commit acts of perverted and unwelcome sezual opportunism.

Write!

Good morning!
(If you're going to read any of these posts, please keep in mind I have zero respect for several people mentioned here by name. I made an effort to change my tone a few months ago, but it's been hard to afford the time it takes to write.)

The bad guys are having a hard time hiding their badness (see John 3:20, below). The press is starting to cover it, smelling blood in the water. Democrats have been successful at letting them do their own damage, but now we have to swoop in, take the issue and run with it.

Now is the time to work the body (I fight- watch out for flying metaphor!), and as Carville says, time to work the ref. We're looking for a TKO, which is worth exactly as much as a KO, which is as good as a decision.

I think editors are biased against professional-looking letters and fruity language.
I know editors are interested in length, I'm sure they have two column inches to fill sometimes.

The above text is 97 words long. Try not to go over 200 words. Anything over 200 words has either too many ideas or too many words.

Pick a topic dear to you, and express yourself. "corruption in DC" is very broad. "War" is broad. Be specific, and tie it to local races and issues:

Senator Santorum leads the fight against the National Weather Service, favoring private enterprises. But private companies can't mobilize the National Guard or evacuate cities, which should have happened in DC when the National Weather Service started sounding the alarm about Katrina about a month before it hit land. Our Senator should not be guilty of helping President Bush wipe a black blue city off the map by carefully ignoring the warnings we know he heard. But he is guilty in the Katrina failure, so we are tainted by his false residency claim and psychotic behavior as Senator. Punish that asshole*!

Yours,
Joe

*I would encourage the use of less 'vivid imagery' in letters to the editor.

John 3: 20

“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” –John 3:20

I assume the Bush administration has already purged every desk under its influence of all but the loyalest loyalists in his sect of the RNC party, so the list of incendiary leaks coming to light from the Executive and various Legislative committees can only mean one thing for sure. I infer a second thing.

First, professionals and Americans left in government after DeLay (see Developmental DeLay, Sunday Mail.blogspot.com), et al, purged the Legislative branch and the Executive of all but the loyalest loyalists are more afraid of the evidence they promulgate than being branded unpatriotic and terrorist-loving by the Republican Party, presently the government’s HR department.

I think the leaks are better late than never, that they reflect positively on the press for forcing accountability on the zero-liability accountability president. My second thing, an inference: it’s likely much worse than we think. I don’t think we can trust any Executive- or Legislature- produced information generated in the past six years. Now they’re saying the NIE doesn’t say what it says.

Change Congress in November, so America can check the pockets of this administration when they leave DC. PA should lead this movement: Joe Pitts is a DeLay/Abramoff pocket-mate; Ricky Santorum speaks very well for a psychopath; the Inquirer reported Specter voted for a piece of legislation Specter himself calls “unconstitutional on its face”!!

Lynn Swann doesn’t deserve to be pilloried for being the current RNC strategy stooge, it’s a shame the PA Republicans weren’t allowed to have debates or a primary. But since they follow National RNC orders, we must assume he’s another carefully chosen incompetent or criminal this RNC leadership and this RNC administration and their automatons at the RNC US Congress have burdened our payroll with since 2001.

Vote for Houghton, Herr, Murphy, Casey. And demand a receipt; the RNC may have paid for the voting booth.

Geography Lesson

Could you find Pakistan on a map?


Their nuclear border with Afghanistan runs to nuclear China. A line runs from Beirut through Syria, Iraq, nuclear Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. From Morocco, we travel east along the southern coast of the Mediterranean through muslim Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. These states are all more 'islamofascist' than they were before BushCo, right across the vital oil route from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

I'm not intersted in making the investment required to ensure safe passage of petroleum from there to China, so we should all prepare ourselves to compete for Canadian oil.

And we’re in a corner at the UN. Iran is persuading the world to their cause. John Bolton is an idiot. What's the price of oil going to be when Iran cuts production? Are we so grateful to China for the cheap DVD players? Are we ready to lose Indonesia to the dark side? South Korea appears to be justifiably turned off to us, since we’re impotent in nuclear North Korea.

English again

Islamofascism. Brilliant word.
Problem:
The US is the party making demands and seeking extraterritorial influence, and thus BushCo seeks to be the appeased party. I agree we need to prevent a nuclear Iran, but I also know better than to trust our Executive's information. So when Santorum brings it up again remember he thinks US Treasury Bonds are worthless when it’s convenient.

These Republicans seek general war. It's the only reason they're so carefully pushing the Islamic dictatorships into the same corner with their enraged fanatic subjects. Nothing at the RNC happens by accident. We have to assume they’re succeeding- they get paid too much to be incompetent.

English

Play pool? English is what you put on the cue ball to make it spin correctly. You can make the cue ball ride all the way around a ball to hit the target, which could be set to spinning too. Sometimes you have to. But the shot happens once and it's over. The game continues, but no two shots are identical.

So why does the Blame the Democrats First party consistently try to spin "Blame America First"? I think we've all made it pretty clear we blame the Republicans. The whole mob tries like crazy to spin the story around the big ball in their path.

"Redeploy" is another piece of English. This time, it's us Americans being polite. Republicans of every stripe (maybe there are Republicans with other than a white stripe down their backs) complain: "Why don't they say 'withdraw' or 'surrender'?" I think what we're saying is this:

"Thank you very much Mr. Bush, you've done a super job. But now it's time to stop screwing up everything you touch. Go back on vacation. You said it yourself: Mission Accomplished. It was hard to ignore, you rode in a plane, landed on a carrier in the Atlantic and strutted before a big banner that read 'Mission Accomplished.' Still we wage war, so I guess that's the mission. Afghanistan was easy, relevant and incomplete- and with no oil or strong allies it wasn't causing any global trouble. Permanent war is the mission. I understand. Go back to Texas so we can return to a leadership position in the world. Ousting you would give us back the moral authority you squandered ineffectively as poilitical capital."

But this wouldn't be the first time they didn't read the memo.