The Great Awakening

Wow.

I sit here struggling for words to describe how eye-opening the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics were to me.

I struggle not for the impression the ceremonies made on me, I can write volumes on the artistry. Nor do I struggle for words on how the ceremonies showed me what China will become in the very near future.

What I'm struggling with, what I realize now, is my deep naivete about what China has been: a distant, secret place, whose image in the mind of this fairly sophisticated American was clearly incomplete.

The China I saw introduced last night was at once precisely disciplined, yet wildly creative; technologically advanced, yet almost wholly reliant on the human element; richly historic, yet able to rebuild and remodel itself in almost a moment's notice.

The juxtaposition of these opposite values was made quite clear in the precision of the artists on stage. As a performer myself, I can tell you that it's near impossible to get twenty people to perform in near-perfect unison (The Rockettes spring to mind as the exception) but to get 2,000 at a time? Often with no more visual cue than your muscle memory and some awareness of the "chi" of the people around you?

As Matt Lauer, one of the hosts of NBC's coverage of the ceremonies, pointed out last night, China has had the largest GDP in the world for 9 of the last ten centuries.

The sole exception? The United States in the 20th Century. China clearly aims to take that title from us once again, and I can't see how they will fail.

Which brings me back to the image I had of China. I, like many of you, was aware of the China we were introduced to during the Nixon administration: grey and blue jacketed men and women, deliberately muted and homogenized in their diversity, struggling to break the shackles of governmental regulation and economic morosity.

As the years rolled on, I began to hear stories of how the Chinese were slowly awakening to the 20th Century: gleaming buildings in Shanghai, more freedom to pursue individual goals, a burgeoning middle class.

I sure wasn't expecting that, less than thirty years out from her commitment to becoming an economic lion, she had come this far. I assumed that the nation had done it thru sheer force of will and brute strength.

The delicacy and beauty of last night's show, reminding us of 5,000 years of heritage while reinforcing China's paternalistic centralized power structure, spoke volumes of how a great nation does not have to be "ruggedly individualistic" nor supremely sovietized in order to be a world player.

China has found some sweet spot in the middle, and by now throwing human minds and creativity into the mix, have become a formidable and powerful competitor to the United States.

I wonder how we'll handle them?

Friday Music Blogging

Manfred Mann - Runner

Best Olympic video ever.

Personally, I Hope He Ignores This

UPDATED

What is it with politicians and their sex lives that makes them any of my business or yours?

RALEIGH, N.C. – Two weeks before their national convention, some Democrats are calling for former Sen. John Edwards to publicly address National Enquirer stories that he had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her baby.

Mr. Edwards, as the 2004 vice presidential nominee and a presidential candidate who won delegates this year, ordinarily would be locked in as a convention speaker.

"He absolutely does have to [resolve it]. If it's not true, he has to issue a stronger denial," said Gary Pearce, the Democratic strategist who ran Mr. Edwards' 1998 Senate race.

Mr. Edwards' decision not to take questions about the allegations has allowed doubts to linger and political bloggers to speculate.

If you haven't heard the story, the National Enquirer, which is to journalism what a four leaf clover is to hard work, has been following the tales of one Rielle Hunter who allegedly delivered a baby that John Edwards conceived.

Last December, an Edwards' campaign staffer, Andrew Young, who is also married and has children, came forward and admitted to being the father.

You'd think it would have ended right then and there, but it merely lay dormant.

Much of the interest in this story, clearly designed to throw a wrench in the Democratic coronation of Barack Obama as a candidate (and drop Edwards off the short list for VP, which no one took seriously anyway), has been generated by Fox News, the National Enquirer run by the improbably named Dave Pecker, and the usual gang of dust-dry vaginas and Jello-soft penises on the right wing (e.g. Michelle Malkin and FreeRepublic.com).

The rationale? Well, I don't know the extent of toe-nail clipping that has gone on over on the far right, but I imagine there's the whole Clintonian "If it matters at your house, it matters in the White House" nonsense, but since Edwards' is no longer running, that ought to be a non-starter.

An unique excuse is Edwards' marriage to a terminal cancer victim, Elizabeth, thus neatly dovetailing their gloating over her apparently imminent death while torturing her for the last few months she might have left to her.

Edwards' is a private citizen and therefore entitled to a bit more consideration and compassion than these numbnut assholes have chosen to give. Indeed, these self-same "pundits" (more like ersatz samizdats) raked Edwards over the coal for uncloaking his public persona in the face of his wife's illness, to some extent forcing him back into private life.

Let's assume for a moment the story is true, and Edwards is the father: If I was a terminal cancer patient, on chemo and radiation and exhausted and nauseous, I would probably give my blessings to my wife to go out and take care of her needs. The Edwards deserve at least as much privacy in their decisions as some shlub blogger in New York City.

Indeed, was it not Malkin herself who got her cheerleader panties in a twist when some faux-conservative blogger, Jesus' General, published her home address as well as a map of the neighborhood, citing privacy and safety concerns?

Now let's assume it's not true. Which it sure seems to be the case. Then Edwards deserves to be let alone and the two people who actually admit to the child, also private citizens, ought to be let alone. That Edwards hasn't complained loudly and long about their instigation of a horribly ugly episode in American politics is a testament to his loyalty and his belief that privacy is a right at the Constitution.

I agree with Edwards.

UPDATE: Then again, I could just be as naive an idiot as any Obomber.

Oh Brother!

The apparent desperation of the McCain campaign is being revealed this week:

It's not easy to make the infamous Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential campaign seem benign. But suggesting that Barack Obama is the Antichrist might just do it.

That's just what some outraged Christian supporters of the Democratic nominee are claiming John McCain's campaign did in an ad called "The One" that was recently released online. The Republican nominee's advisers brush off the charges, arguing that the spot was meant to be a "creative" and "humorous" way of poking fun at Obama's popularity by painting him as a self-appointed messiah. But even this innocuous interpretation of the ad — which includes images of Charlton Heston as Moses and culled clips that make Obama sound truly egomaniacal — taps into a conversation that has been gaining urgency on Christian radio and political blogs and in widely circulated e-mail messages that accuse Obama of being the Antichrist.

I'm going to make allowances for the "humour" angle of this ad, since McCain is notorious for being able to hold his own with Jon Stewart and Jay Leno.

And yes, Obama does have a slightly elitist, messianic air about him. Sorry, Obombers, but that's just a fact, and the way you guys flocked to him wasn't exactly discouraging either that independent observation or his messianic complex.

The truth is, however, that successful politicians (read: Presidents) of all stripes have been compared to the AntiChrist. It comes with the territory. The prophecies in John are pretty specific when it comes to describing ol' AC there, as well as in Daniel, and these have been pinned together by the idiots who ascribe to dispensational interpretations of the Bible as the truth.

The tell? His ability to irrationally sway multitudes (Daniel 7:10-11): A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

The Antichrist has been identified with leaders, including the Papacy, ever since it was first revealed when the New Testament was compiled in the first century ACE. It's no wonder that it is being applied to Barack Obama now.

Indeed, the first hardcore mainstream reference to Obama as the AntiChrist is actually from the liberal wing of the Democratic party in August 2004, shortly after he spoke at Kerry's convention. Granted, "Kynn" is quoting heavily from a Christian bulletin board (that link is hosed).

One could reasonably make the same comparison to John McCain.

But I have a better one:

Indeed, McCain even admits it!

Frist!

WTF? Bill "I calls 'em like I sees 'em on tape" FRIST?!?!? Part of Bono's "ONE.org"???

Is this the Apocalypse?

Nobody Asked Me, But....

1) I don't really follow the NFL anymore, but I do from time to time follow the NY Jets. This is the dumbest move they've made since, well, ever.

2) Brett Favre has just become the world's most expensive tackling dummy.

3) Hm, this might be fun. I hope I get invited.

4) More Republican sexcapades.

5) New uses for your tool.

6) At least SOMEONE'S being impeached over this stupid war!

7) Yea, this will help people forget that New Yorker cover...

8) I want to take this moment to wish all our athletes in Beijing the best of luck, particularly Michael Phelps who would be breaking my record if not for that stupid boycott in 1980.

9) As long as I am posting wishes....Andy, Gordon, Stewart, thank you for the years of memories and music. I wish you all the best in your future and you know, Stewart, never say never. Or as Andy put it the other evening, "Never say never say never say never!"

10) I'm surprised Obama let the clearly better speaker out ahead of him. It ought to be a barnburner!

11) Sometimes, Senator, karma's a bitch.

From the Thumbper File

Give this dog a steak!
Napoleon rools!

I'm Going To Miss George Bush

President Bush is rehearsing his speech, using the teleprompter, for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

He begins with "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"

Immediately his speech writer rushes over to the lectern and whispers in the President's ear:

"Mr. President, those are the Olympic rings. Your speech is underneath

File This Under "WTF?"

Now, admittedly, the demographics in this Presidential race make small niches groups key in any McCain victory, since Obama seems to be drawing a broad audience and is generally ahead in the game (despite recent polls).

But this?

Here at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the annual gathering of all things leather, Harley and free as the wind across an open plain, Senator John McCain came to ask for the votes of America’s bikers.

“It will be a good day on election day if there are a lot of bikes parked outside polling places,” Mr. McCain said, at a tribute to veterans and those who serve in the military held in the midst of the ongoing party that locals says consumes this part of the country for several weeks.

Huh?

The image of Harley Davidson and the whole motorcycle culture seems to be taking a hit here. Somehow, linking the "what the hell" attitude of bike riders with John McCain, despite his faux image as a maverick, seems one of the more absurd pieces in the political theatre that is America.

And yet...

The rally has been known for its wilder days but it, like its devotees, is getting on in years. This was the 68th Sturgis and the atmosphere was suitably respectful (give or take a few naughty signs, T-shirts and encounters). The men, most commonly dressed in black shirts, jeans and boots, doffed their caps and head scarves at key moments during the pre-McCain program honoring veterans.

Truly, things do get a bit long in the tooth after 68 years, and presumably many of those attending, drawn by a concert performed by Kid Rock and Kellie Pickler-- lest you thought McCain could draw more people than could fit in a phone booth by himself-- were like McCain, former Viet Nam veterans paying respects to one of their own.

Still, there's a surreality to the entire proceeding. McCain will talk about gas prices, I'm sure, and then go on to talk about...Iraq? To men who have fought a war and probably know a thing or two about clusterfucks?

This is probably more his target audience: naked old men lost over the wilderness:

Fat, Fat, The Water Rat

If Michaelangelo's David had been sculpted in 21st Century America

Most kids' meals at top restaurant chains have way too many calories to be healthy, according to a report released yesterday.

Nearly every possible combination of the children's meals at KFC, Taco Bell, Sonic and Chick-fil-A are too fattening, the report on meals at 13 major restaurants found.

The average 8-year-old should eat about 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day, or about 430 calories a meal. But 93 percent of the meals at the chains had more calories than that. Instead of fried and fatty foods, restaurants should offer more choices that include fruits and whole grains, the report said.

Although some chains including McDonald's offer apple slices as a substitute for french fries, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said many restaurants make it hard for kids and their parents to make healthy choices. Subway fared best, with 12 of its 18 kids' meals having fewer than 430 calories, although that's in part because Subway meals don't include beverages.

Here's An Attaboy

I am remiss. I should have posted this already last week, but I was running into MIS problems with work so was keeping a low profile.

One of the few people in Blogtopia (© Skippy) who actually gets my jokes, and since she's happily married I know she's not fawning when she laughs, Madeleine Begun Kane (you can find her in my blogroll) has won the 2008 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor.

She has some interesting things to say about it all, including a copy of the missive she received-- genuine and direct-- from the selector (I leave that surprise for you to uncover).

Robert Benchley...what can be said about him that Dorothy Parker wouldn't mock as pretentious droolings of an inferior mind, a steak to my veggie burger. He is a writer I admired growing up for his wit and inexorably attractive fashion of drawing you in for the sucker punch.

A charter member of the Algonquin Round Table, one could argue that Benchley's membership in that esteemed body (apparently he steamed many bodies there) sealed his fate as not only a raconteur but as an influence for comedians as diverse as Dave Barry...OK, it's a stretch...to James Thurber.

He was, in short, his generation's James Wolcott.

Ah wit! All is vanity, fair.

Congratulations, Ms. Kane.

PS Does this get me back on the barbecue list?

Has It Really Been...

..three years?

Yup. Three years and 203,000 readers later.

Don't you people have anything BETTER to do?

The Devil You Know

I've been following with some interest the rise of the new meme, the Presumptious Nominee:

The candidate's crowning demonstrations of hubris, according to those building a case, came during his extended trip to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe. Recall the pundits demanding the freshman Illinois senator prove he could be presidential in the foreign arena?

So he appeared at ease with world leaders, talked animatedly with beaming American troops and drew huge civilian crowds. Then the pundits -- who had been taking a round of bashing for supposedly going easy on Obama -- told Obama he needed to beware of appearing too presidential.

You'd think the media would welcome a Presidential wannabe who actually acted as if the job itself was more important than the campaign to get it, but that's a small digression.

After eight years of Bush acting completely UNPresidential despite actually, you know, being President, Obama's grace and ease with foreign leaders and with foreign audiences (as I mentioned last week) is probably less a function of Obama's demeanor and poise than it is the simple acknowledgement that a man who feels no compunction about sexually assaulting world leaders is unwelcome and it's about damned time America got rid of the creep.

And that would be the least of the gripes they'd have with Bush, that "Old Europe"!

The most curious trope to arise from this meme is that somehow, Obama was screwed during his visit to Germany by declining to visit Landstuhl Hospital, where Iraq invaders and Afghan warriors are nursing their wounds and receiving treatment:

Opponents would like to put the Democrat in another can't-win box over his "failure" to visit wounded troops at a military hospital in Germany. Obama canceled a visit to the Landstuhl hospital and was accused of being self-centered.

What if he had appeared at the hospital? David Kiley reported in BusinessWeek magazine how a Republican operative described plans to attack Obama for -- that's right -- using wounded troops as campaign props, if he had gone through with the visit.

Now, here, I agree with the critics: he should have gone.

Yes, he was doomed in a "damned if I do, damned if I don't" kind of way. But here's the thing: The GOP has successfully painted nearly every candidate for President as "soft," mealy-mouthed liberals who won't or can't stomach war and won't do what is necessary to defend you and me from "them", whomever "them" was: Soviets, Cubans, Al Qaeda, Iraq, Panama, Grenada, and so on.

In this instance, Obama was, I believe, wrong to skip the troops. Yes, we've heard a few somewhat confusing rationales, making his plight all the more difficult. He really needs to find someone who can get on message faster. David Axelrod is not doing the job.

He didn't want to politicize the troops. He was told he couldn't bring the media. He couldn't visit with campaign staffers. So on.

So what?

You might recall this little trope:

President Bush's day-old reelection advertising campaign generated criticism and controversy yesterday, as relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes charged that television commercials using images from the attacks were exploiting the tragedy for political gain.

Or this image:

Yes, in both instances, Bush was accused, correctly, of politicizing the troops. The charges had no effect on the course of the campaign, and Bush won re-election. More devastating was painting his opponent, John Kerry, into a box that forced Kerry to expend precious resources defending himself, unable to make the case for why he should replace Bush.

In Obama's case, this is one time the devil you DON'T know, visiting the troops, would have been the correct choice. He could defend his decision by pointing out his Senate subcommittee positions made this a point of protocol, and damn the campaign for a few hours. He could have walked in practically alone (they don't send even a secretary with him?) and spent a few moments on one ward.

It would have been the right thing to do, especially if you are going to make the case that you opposed the war from the get-go.

See, one of the lasting images of the Vietnam conflict is of veterans returning home to be villified and hated by the anti-war protestors. By directly linking himself as a spiritual descendant of the "No More War" crowd-- and I count myself proudly among their numbers-- he has left himself open to the darker side of that crowd.

He's already been painted as a radical sympathizer through his connection, albeit tenuous, to William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn...oooh, he met them at a local strategy event! Oooh, they co-served on a board somewhere!...who were notorious radicals in the Weather Underground.

Ayers and Dohrn deserve our contempt. The bombs they helped make, the one that blew up the townhouse they rented, were intended to hurt innocent Americans and American troops. Much like Al Qaeda today.

Not visiting the troops gives that ridiculous charge of involvement with "known radical terrorists" an inadvertant ring of truth.

Already, the story line for the fall election is that Obama is aloof and above the fray: elitist in a way that makes John Kerry (who ran a pizza parlor, fercrissake!) look like a regular Joe in the eyes of the GOP.

I'm not suggesting that he has to, you know, hoist a glass of scotch at a gin mill to show he's a man of the people, or in any way shape or form run his campaign as an offset to this idiotic idea that a man can be TOO ambitious or TOO intelligent to be President.

Just don't give them a freebie, is all I'm saying.

Friday Music Blogging

GWAR - War Is All We Know

This is going out to John McCain (find the lyrics on-line and you'll understand why)

Nobody Asked Me, But...

1) Followed by a firming of our defense, a grasp of the problem, and finally, the release from the tension.

2) I guess this had to happen eventually.

3) Another tragedy of the mortgage crisis. Two words: exer. cise.

4) I shouldn't be snarky there. That cat didn't do anything to deserve it and his owners must be heartsick. I'm sorry. I'll make up for it with this heartwarming tale, passed along to me by katrina.

5) And people wondered why I thought Obama couldn't win the election...granted, it's early and granted this is just one lousy poll, but come ON!

6) I got my iPhone today! I'm like a kid at Christmas! In July!

7) Yesterday was the trading deadline in baseball and not surprisingly, the Red Sox dumped Manny Ramirez on Joe Torre and the Dodgers. If Boston was a distraction for Ramirez, I shudder to think how he's going to handle LA and Hollywood.

8) It strikes me this shouldn't even have needed a court to decide. It should be in the Constitution!

9) What's a company have to do to keep the stock markets happy? Make $13 billion in a quarter?!?!?!?!

10) I'd like to meet the man who sucked the hose to start the siphon! Maybe it was a woman. In that case, I probably dated her in the dim dark past...

11) Snakes on a Maine.

12) Obama is playing fast and loose with the race card again. McCain correctly calls him on his shit. He did this same stunt in the South Carolina primary, invoking race indirectly then calling the other guy out for responding, irritating a defense from Bill Clinton when absolutely none was needed, a rare time the ex-President (and Greatest. President. Ever.) was on shaky political ground during a campaign.

The Story Behind The Story

You know, when I saw this flash past on the news this morning, I wondered if I had been in a coma:

The House yesterday apologized to black Americans, more than 140 years after slavery was abolished, for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow" segregation.

The resolution, which passed on a voice vote late in the day, was sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a white Jew who represents a majority-black district in Memphis. Cohen tried unsuccessfully to join the Congressional Black Caucus this year.

"I hope that this is part of the beginning of a dialogue that this country needs to engage in, concerning what the effects of slavery and Jim Crow have been," Cohen said. "I think we started it and we're going to continue."

I thought it was odd that only one of two white men representing a predominantly black district was the one to introduce this legislation.

I hate to give credit to a weasel, but Andrew Sullivan came up with the goods on why:

One of the most dramatic congressional races this year is the battle for Tennessee's 9th. Wrapped around Memphis, this overwhelmingly-black district is represented by Steve Cohen (D) -- just one of two white congressmen with majority-black constituencies. In his inaugural '06 bid, Cohen had faced a dozen candidates trying to maintain the district's 40-year streak of black representation. In the end, runner-up Nikki Tinker barely lost to Cohen, 31% to 25%.[...]

As told in a great piece by Jonathan Martin, Cohen had pledged to become the first non-black member of the Congressional Black Caucus upon winning his seat. "He was probably the most liberal white member in the legislature, perhaps even more so than most of the black members," a local politico told Martin. Most of the staffers Cohen hired were black, including his chief of staff. But when a leaked memo circulated by one of the CBC's co-founders made it clear that Cohen's membership was not welcome due of his race, he gave up the effort. Now, two years later, Cohen's fighting to keep the seat against his old rival...

What you've just witnessed is a fairly bold statement made by a man who is pretty desperate to keep his job (although having beaten his rival by six points and having the knowledge that 98% of Congresscritters get re-elected should provide a little more confidence, you would think).

That Barack Obama is running this year for President merely highlights this race as one to watch, and don't think Tinker isn't showing the race card is in her hand:

Her TV ads play up humble beginnings growing up in Alabama with a single mother and disabled grandmother. She argues her campaign is not about race but adds that her supporters hunger for more racial diversity in Congress.

There's a bit more irony than a white Jew apologizing to blacks for slavery that his ancestors probably had nothing to do with in order to win re-election in his district, particularly when you consider it was white northern Jews who stood side by side in Alabama and Tennessee and Mississippi with blacks struggling for equal rights back in the 60s.

That district was represented by Harold Ford, Jr before he ran for Senate in 2006, and lost based on, well, a commercial that played up the old racist stereotype of "black man raping our white women".

Stay tuned. This race could turn into a barnburner.

(thanks, Memeorandum, for showing da love!)

Snapping Back To Reality

I was all prepared to post a rant this morning, when I was stopped in my tracks by an e-mail:

United Nations Humanitarian Awards Center
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London United Kingdom




This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two Hundred And Forty Five Thousand Great Britain Pounds (GBP245,000) for the month of April, 2008 Prize Promotion which is Organized by United Nations Humanitarian Office.

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Award must be claimed no later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: YM 09102XN
REFERENCE NUMBER: YM35447XN
PIN: YM09788

These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in Liverpool and send your winning identification numbers to him;

Agent Name: Mr. Leeton L. Smith
E-Mail: leeton22@walla.com

Tel: +447024092941

You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to facilitate the release your fund to you.

First name...............................
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Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Dr. (Mrs.) Gladys Shawn

I had to laugh, of course.

It seems that this mortal coil is one that I would gladly give up if I knew two things: 1) that if I do, I will live life everlasting in some ethereal plane of existence (I'd settle for Hell, because could it really be worse than George Bush's America?) and 2) I was no longer responsible.

Since health issues have loomed large for me lately, I have been acutely aware of my responsibilities, and while not obsessing, have been pondering what to do going forward in the worst case "if" scenario.

Sadly, last night brought these concerns into sharp focus, and I'm rather angry today.

You see, my mom was checked into the emergency room last night by her cardiologist. I'm not sure why (I was too angry to visit her last night), but my suspicions are she is suffering from congestive heart disease. At any rate, the presenting symptoms was very badly swollen legs, possibly gangrenous.

Why am I angry? My mom has access to some of the finest medical care in the world, gratis, for all intents and purposes. She has an old-line union healthcare plan which will pay for nearly everything, as well as Medicare.

She is deliberately refusing treatment.

Now that is her choice, and from that perspective I cannot argue with her, but she also has a responsibility to her family, most notably to my brother, and she is abrogating that duty.

My brother, for reasons some of you know and reasons I won't get into here, lives with my mother. He's 60 years old and two years ago had open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve.

The running trope in my family is, when my mom goes, I will take care of my brother. Fair enough. He's capable of day to day living, holds down a job and lives a quiet life. Low maintenance, in other words. I can deal with that.

What I am angry about is this "suicide by neglect" course my mom has chosen. By putting her body in peril, she risks failing in her stated attempts to just let go of life, and thus becoming a vegetable or at the very least, bedridden and disabled.

As it stands now, my brother is her primary care giver, and so long as she is able to do some things for herself, that's a fair relationship. To burden him with this kind of nonsense is not only unfair to him, but borders on maltreatment.

I know the underlying reasons for her behavior, which I won't get into. Her motives are repugnant to me, and speak of a self-indulgent spoiled brat (and so now you know who I most resemble).

Thanks for reading this, I needed to get that off my chest.

He's Not Even Pretending Anymore

Why does George W Bush hate America so?:

WASHINGTON — The White House predicted Monday that President Bush would leave a record $482 billion deficit to his successor, a sobering turnabout in the nation’s fiscal condition from 2001, when Mr. Bush took office after three consecutive years of budget surpluses.

The worst may be yet to come. The deficit announced by Jim Nussle, the White House budget director, does not reflect the full cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the potential $50 billion cost of another economic stimulus package, or the possibility of steeper losses in tax revenues if individual income or corporate profits decline.

The new deficit numbers also do not account for any drains on the national treasury that might result from further declines in the housing market.

The real chilling part of this story comes a paragraph or two later...

Mr. Nussle predicted Monday that the deficit would more than double in the current 2008 fiscal year — to $389 billion, from $162 billion in 2007 — before shooting up to $482 billion in the 2009 fiscal year, which begins in about two months.

(emphasis added)

Well, the neo-cons got what they wanted. Grover Norquist must be chuckling behind his latte and scone. They've destroyed America.

The combination of enormous budget deficits, which seem to stretch ad infinitum, a recession, which will likely deepen into a Depression, although no one you know will ever admit to it in our lifetimes, and the ghastly costs of an irresponsible and illegal war, which will cost us in ways we can't even begin to monetarize, have created the perfect economic storm.

One that will force harsh choices on Americans in the coming administration. This is the ultimate "scorched earth" policy: spend, spend, spend and leave nothing in the till for the next guy.

It is, in my opinion, no coincidence that the two largest deficits in American history, $413 billion in 2004, and $482 billion next year, come at the nexus of elections that could see the shift of power from Republicans to Democrats.

In 2004, it was possible for John Kerry to win the election-- certainly he was poised to-- and Bush clearly wanted to destroy this great nation in a temper tantrum.

And now, with Bush leaving office to either his greatest Republican rival or to the Democrats, and with history's judgement of his administration already weighing in negatively, he's pooped his diaper again!

Even McCain is alarmed by what he has perceived from these numbers: he's being stabbed in the back once more:

“There is no more striking reminder of the need to reverse the profligate spending that has characterized this administration’s fiscal policy,” Mr. McCain said.

$482 billion dollars is a lot, to be sure, and that's just the half of it, newswise. See, the Iraq war is fought off-budget. The coming mortgage crisis package, as half-assed as they are, will add a minimum of $25 billion (and in my estimation, more like $75 billion) to the budget deficit short term.

And this is before the warning shot that the IndyMac bank bailout foreshadows!

For example, the S&L crisis of the Reagan years...funny how these always happen under Republicans...cost the government $125 billion over ten years. This crisis could make that crisis look like a bad day at the track! A March 2008 report said that the subprime mortgage crisis alone could cost the government $300 to $500 billion dollars to solve.

So forget the Iraq invasion. Forget Katrina. Forget September 11, and his cowardly dash to safety.

George W Bush will go down in history as the first President to truly hate his country.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeea, this was probably a bad idea....

Injured vets. Two hours. Cheney pulls a stunt worthy of a diva:

[Chehey's] staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking, officials confirmed.

"Word got back to us ... that this would be a prerequisite," said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn't have any rest rooms. "We told them it just wasn't acceptable."

No rest rooms, did I forget to mention that?

We're talking about a bunch of men who left pieces of themselves on a battlefield somewhere, some of whom may take two hours just to go to the bathroom, and this idiot is mocking them.

Oh, but wait...there's the cringeworthy response:

Cheney's office acknowledged the security requests, but insisted he is sensitive to combat veterans' needs.

Spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said the two-hour rule is "a recommendation, not a requirement," and "we always work to make sure the bathrooms are within the security perimeters."

"The vice president would never let us do anything that didn't help facilitate the needs of our veterans," Mitchell added.

I dunno, those bedbugs in Walter Reed...maybe they were there in lieu of stitches for the wounds?

OK, But Where Do You Have Cancer Again?

From The Chicago Sun Times:

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak said today he has been diagnosed with a brain tumor but says that, “God willing,” he plans to be back at work soon.

Novak said he was diagnosed Sunday with a tumor and will soon begin treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Presumably the surgery will be performed by a proctologist. Of course, noninvasive procedures for this kind of cancer in Republicans exists, including a high fibre diet or an enema.

Which would still count as noninvasive given how often they bend over for their dark lords.

It's interesting that a) this happens less than a week after his run-in with a pedestrian in DC cost him a $50 ticket, plus whatever penalties the judge decides to give in any civil trial and b) this happens hard on the heels of the Ted Kennedy cancer revelation.

In Massachussetts. Mere miles from the Kennedy compound.

Seriously, while the guy is an unprincipled, tea-bagging lying sack of shit who probably ought to have had that overbite looked into years ago, I don't want to see anyone suffering from cancer.

That would be wrong of me.

(whistling..."If lovvvving you is wrong...I don't want to be right"...)