Michael Pellegrini's Blog and Rants and Stuff

Washington State Governor’s Race

The movement to immediately end the war in Iraq gained an unlikely spokesman last week: John Murtha, longtime Congressman from Pennsylvania, a ranking member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. A consistent hawk for the 33 years he’s spent in congress, Murtha is a decorated combat veteran with a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Murtha, who retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel, served in both Korea and Viet Nam.

Murtha, who supported the war in Iraq initially, proposed a bill Thursday to immediately withdraw all American troops from Iraq.

According to Congressman Murtha, “The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region…”

“Our military has done everything that has been asked of them, the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. IT IS TIME TO BRING THEM HOME.”

Murtha’s plan called for:
1) To immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces.
2) To create a quick reaction force in the region.
3) To create an over- the-horizon presence of Marines.
4) To diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq
The proposal drew an extreme amount of heat in the House chambers.

There you are, you’re George W. Bush, you’re trailing badly in the polls, you’ve got this nasty little problem with domestic spying making headline news all over the place, your war in Iraq is continuing to go sour, and all your best buddies are getting indicted for corruption and bribery. So what do you do?

You call out the heavy artillery, that’s what!

Last week, after a year’s absence, George W. Bush’s biggest supporter, Osama bin Laden made a rare appearance, via an audiotape mailed to Aljazeera TV.

In the tape, bin Laden alternately threatened to bring the war back home to America, and then offered a truce.

In defense of his domestic spying program, George Bush said today, "When terrorist operatives are here in America communicating with someone overseas, we must understand what's going on if we're going to do our job to protect the people. The safety and security of the American people depend on our ability to find out who the terrorists are talking to, and what they're planning.”

He went on, "Federal courts have consistently ruled that a president has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies. My predecessors have used the same constitutional authority on numerous occasions. And the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress gave the president additional authority to use the traditional tools -- or 'fundamental incidents' -- of war in the fight against terror when Congress passed the authorization for the use of military force in 2001."

To examine the validity of the President’s statements, you have to look at the resolution he referenced.

In the War Powers Resolution of 2001, it stated that the President “…has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States…” and that “… the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” Emphasis added.

This clearly delineates the President’s authority as that which is specifically granted under the Constitution.

In the constitution, the Fourth Amendment guarantees Americans “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” This right includes protections against warrantless wiretaps.

Hypocrite of The Decade

Our hypocrite of the decade award goes to none other than George W. Bush.

Mr. Bush, the world’s premier champion of the democratic form of government, has made spreading democracy Job Number One for the good ol’ US of A.

This mantle of good-natured philanthropy surfaced, as you’ll no doubt recall, after it finally became apparent that there were no actual Weapons of mass Destruction in Iraq, and further, that Iraq and Saddam Hussein posed no threat to anyone at all beyond Iraq’s borders.

Without the threat of WMD’s as a justification for the invasion, Mr. Bush obviously needed something else to use for the rationale.

Mr. Bush was observed to state, “Well heck, even if there weren’t any WMD’s, we still need to let these godless heathen, goat-lovers choose their own form of government, so the invasion was still necessary – I promise you that. We did it to protect them, so they can have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, just like us. So as soon as they elect a democratic government and are able to govern themselves, we’ll pick up our guns and leave.”

So now the Spread Of Democracy – what a grand, noble cause – is job one!

And according to GW, if they don’t like it, we’ll bomb the sand-grubbing, camel jockeys into the Stone Age, and kill all of their first-born males – until they do like it, by gosh!

That’s right: Democracy is Job One!

Okay. Now with that said, the Palestinians this week, in a democratic election, elected a Hamas faction slate to office, throwing out the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. The feeling was the old guard, Fatah party had not well served the interests of the people. And so the election of the radical Islamic Hamas slate was a stunning change of course for the Palestinians.

“There's something healthy about a system that does that,” observed Mr. Bush at a news conference.” The Hamas victory “reminds me about the power of democracy,” he said. “You see, when you give people the vote, give them the chance to express themselves at the polls and they’re unhappy with the status quo, they’ll let you know.”

But then he went on to say, “I have made it very clear however that a political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of a platform is a party with which we will not deal.”

So according to Mr. Bush, it’s great that they’ve elected a representative, democratic government – a government of the people, for the people, and by the people – but Bush doesn’t like the people they elected, so he won’t deal with them.

Fantastic!

The obvious message here, is you must have a democratic government – but only one that Bush likes.

Good going George!

Now of course this hasn’t played out fully in Iraq yet, but I have confidence it will – if Bush can’t get along with the Hamas government, I’m sure the Shi’a of Iraq will fare no better.

So what do we have? The Palestinians have democratically elected a government that we refuse to deal with because we don’t like their politics.

And in Iraq, where we invaded a foreign country under false pretenses, we are in the process of ramming a democratic form of government down the people’s throats, and when that’s finally done, then we’ll likely refuse to deal with their freely elected representatives (assuming the Shi’a prevail).

Bravo, Mr. Bush! You’ve surpassed yourself.

It’s amazing the amount of fuss that’s been stirred up on both sides of the aisle by the Bush administration’s approval of the sale of P&O Orient Lines to Dubai Ports World.

Under the terms of that sale, Dubai Ports World would take over as operator of six container terminals in the United States. Those terminals are located in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami and New Orleans.

The country of Dubai, a part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), wholly owns Dubai Ports World. The UAE are located at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

Dubai Ports World has built a solid track record as a stevedore company, with operations all over the world.

And as a country, Dubai has set itself out to be the banking and financial center of the Arab world. It’s a cosmopolitan, relatively tolerant country where 75% of the citizens are foreigners. But it’s also the country the al Qaeda used to funnel financing to the US for the 9/11 bombings, and was used as the travel hub by most of the hijackers.
From the Associated Press:

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

I’ve been watching the whole immigration saga that’s been in the news recently with a lot of interest.

There have been marches in every city – with hundreds of thousands of people in Los Angeles and Chicago participating – all protesting the Republican party’s proposed immigration reform bill. That bill would make it a felony to enter the country illegally.

Now, the Republican’s proposal to so-called “criminalize” illegal aliens is on its face, ludicrous at best. It’s like we didn’t already have enough problems with the federal budget, so now the Republicans want to spend millions if not billions locking up illegal aliens – “punishing” them for slipping into the country without a visa.

It’s not the very stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, but it’s close.

It’s been over a week now since the release of the Iraq Study Group report. The basis of the report is that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating,” and that there is no workable military solution. The report states that the only path with some potential for success is a joint diplomatic/political venture involving Iraq’s neighbors. Iraq Study Group Report

The bipartisan panel includes heavy-hitters from both sides of the aisle: a former Supreme Court Justice, two former Secretary of States, a former Attorney General, a former Defense Secretary, a former White House Chief of Staff. Study Group Composition

According to recent polls, the public is firmly behind the findings of the report.

In the results of a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today, 46% of all Americans support the findings of the report, while 22% oppose it. 52% of Americans believe we’re losing the war in Iraq, and 79% favor putting American troops in support, not combat roles. And most importantly, 69% of all Americans believe all US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008. Poll Results

George Bush: the people have spoken! Get our soldiers out of Iraq now!

So George Bush gives us platitudes, pats us on the head and tells us daddy knows best: the only way to succeed in Iraq and make America safe from the menace of al Qaeda is to increase troop levels there and send more American kids off to their deaths.

What a load of tripe!

I can’t believe he’s still peddling the tired myths about al Qaeda.

Let’s get this straight: before we got involved in Iraq, there was no link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Sure, they were both Sunni Moslems, but to say that they were even on speaking terms is a fantasy – Saddam was a secular Sunni; bin Laden is devout. Politically, theologically, philosophically and otherwise, bin Laden and Hussein were diametrically opposed.

To suggest that they were buddies because they were both Arabs is like saying Hillary Clinton and Jerry Falwell are best friends because they’re both Americans. Ludicrous at best.

By invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein, we created an opportunity for al Qaeda to fight us head to head, in a territory where (once Saddam was out of the picture) they had friends.

Our invasion of Iraq is the best thing that ever happened to al Qaeda – because now they’ve got people beating down the door to volunteer to fight the “Crusaders” as they call us.

Anyone remember Colin Powell jumping up and down at the UN, holding a vial of what he said was something that proved Iraq was manufacturing Weapons of Mass Destruction? Oh, yeah!

Well that information was given to him by the very same people that are now claiming that Iran is providing Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) to Iraq.

And the information is likely about as good as the old WMD charges.

The news media has been busy digging, looking for sources to confirm the validity of the Iranian ties, but to date, not one single substantive tie has been made.

Even some of Bush’s own military commanders dispute the charges. As General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in an interview with the Voice of America, “We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran,” Pace told Voice of America during a visit to Australia. “What I would not say is that the Iranian government, per se, knows about this." Link to Voice of America article.

Once Crook Down…Bunches To Go...

Yesterday’s guilty verdict in the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby for lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice is an important victory for Americans – after six reckless years of governing with impunity, the Bush administration has finally been held accountable for its criminal actions.

Perhaps the tide of their lies has finally started to turn.

The only unfortunate thing is that Vice President Cheney and Karl Rove were not also indicted.

Although perhaps that too, will also eventually come to pass.

A Cop on Every Corner in Baghdad…

News reports suggest that President Bush’s much vaunted troop “surge’ is having an effect, quelling the violence in Baghdad. Muqtada al-Sadr and many of the other Shi’a and Sunni militants reportedly left in anticipation of the American forces arrival. And now sectarian violence in the city is at an all-time low since the invasion.
Just great!

My only question is, will this have any permanent or lasting effect?

The answer, I think, is obvious: Having all these American soldiers there will certainly have a quelling effect on violence. Their presence would intimidate the hell out of anyone. So, sure: if we place 10 American troops on each and every corner of Sadr City, or wherever, the residents will all be on their very best behavior – as long as the American troops remain.

But as soon as they leave, of course, the militants will quickly filter back and it will return to business as usual.

The controversy over the firing of the eight US Attorneys continues to percolate in Washington DC, amid new charges by President Bush of partisan politics and democrats leveraging for political “show trials.”

House and Senate Judiciary committees are now preparing subpoenas for senior Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove and Harriet Miers.

President Bush has counter offered to have Rove and Miers testify “informally” in closed door sessions with the committees, where they would not be under oath, and no transcripts would be kept.

If Bush is worried about having them testify under oath, and have a transcript kept of the testimony, there’s only one thing he could possibly be worried about: being caught in a lie – where later, Rove and Miers might face perjury charges is the truth does prevail.

That’s it, pure and simple: Bush is hedging his bets. He’ll let Rove and Miers come and tell their lies to support the current administration line. But he doesn’t want the testimony made under oath with a transcript, just in case the truth does come out, later. Bush is trying to protect them, and himself from future legal problems. Perhaps criminal legal problems.

Without a transcript, it’d be much harder to prove exactly what was said, at a later date. Impossible actually, at least in a legal sense – at best you’d have a he said, she said situation – hearsay. And if the testimony wasn’t under oath, then what the hell? They can say anything they want and not be held accountable.

The questions involved are fairly simple: were the eight US Attorneys fired for political reasons? And if so, who ordered it? There are no national security issues involved. There is no good reason at all that the top administration aides cannot testify under oath.

Except of course, that the whole thing is most embarrassing for George Bush.

This is just dead wrong.

The President and his aides are not above the law. They cannot be. This is not an Imperial Presidency. Bush and his aides must be held accountable under the law.

Well earth calling George Bush: Tough shit! Stand up and take your medicine like a man.

If Bush or his aides broke the law, they must be held accountable.

Now we’ve heard it all.

Today Vice President Dick Cheney told America that the threat of terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb in an American city: “It’s a very real threat ... something that we have to worry about and defeat every single day.”

And then he went on to warn that if the United States withdraws from Iraq, then basically we’re just paving the way for terrorists to plant such a bomb in some US city.

So let’s get this straight. According to Reichsmarschall Von Cheney:

US stays in Iraq = US safe from nuclear terrorism

US leaves Iraq = American cities go boom!

What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit!

Cheney actually expects anyone to buy this kind of tripe? And this coming from the people who brought you Iraq’s wonderful “Weapons Of Mass Destruction” and Saddam Hussein’s much vaunted nuclear program.

Yeah, right!

This is obviously a last desperate card being played by the Bush administration. An empty attempt to salvage their position on the Iraq war-funding bill.

They figure if they can scare the holy living shit out of people, then the voters will play along with their program.

Now this approach did work rather well for the first few years of the war. All the orange, yellow, purple and mauve terror alerts. People were on edge, off balance. Suspicious and distrustful. Let’s buy some duct tape and tape up all our doors and windows in case of a chemical or biological attack. Right now!

And Bush and his buddies kept America that way – all to their advantage.

The bitch is, eventually people have come to see through the farce.

All the justifications for the Iraq war have been proved to be false – there were no WMD, no nukes, no ties between Saddam and al Qaeda – no nothing. No rational or practical basis for invading Iraq. None. Saddam as it turns out, wasn’t a menace to anyone outside the borders of his country.

Scratch one religious bigot. It was certainly high time. Let the celebrations start at once!

Sadly, many more still exist. We can only hope and dream they will follow Falwell, soon

.

Well I for one was completely surprised when George Bush came out publically in support of General Petraeus’s plan for Iraq.

Yeah, right.

Petraeus’s plan is nothing more than Bush administration propaganda designed to justify prolonging the war in Iraq. And Petraeus himself is nothing more than a figurehead, a puppet doing Bush’s bidding.

The 30,000 troop “drawdown” Petraeus proposes is a meaningless gesture designed to appease critics of the war. It’s not in any way a genuine move to end American involvement in Iraq.

The only words you will consistently hear from Bush and his cronies are, “more time.” The idea is that if the US has more time in Iraq to stabilize the situation, then everything will be roses. They’ll embrace the democratic form of government, and we’ll have a new stable ally in the mid-east.

This is a futile dream. It’s no more achievable than the goals we had in Viet Nam,

The French colonized Viet Nam in the late 1800’s. They were there 67 years, only giving it up as a lost cause finally in 1954. The US became involved at that time, and spent another 21 years and over 58,000 American lives in pursuit of the hopeless dream of turning South Viet Nam into a democratic nation.

Dino Rossi made it official yesterday: he's running for Governor of Washington state again, against his perennial nemisis, Christine Gregoire.

Pictured yesterday at the right with his head up his ass, Rossi commented, "I'm gonna smoke that bitch this time."

I'm sure we all can't wait.

Statewide Prop One – Roads and Transit – Vote Yes

Prop One is one of the most important ballot measures we’ve seen in recent years. In addition to funding the expansion of mass transit, it provides funds for key infrastructure improvements.

After the disappointing and untimely demise of the Seattle Monorail, the region is getting a second chance at mass transit with light rail.

If the Seattle metropolitan area is to succeed in becoming a world-class city, we have to start building mass-transit systems.

Our current freeway system is maxed out. It can’t handle the traffic that currently exists, much less handle the anticipated growth we’re likely to experience in the coming years.

Mass transit is one of the answers.

I was in San Francisco while they were building BART in the early 70’s. The disruptions were terrible. Market Street, downtown was torn up for several years. It was a real mess. And the expense to taxpayers? Horrible. People bitched and moaned for years. It really was terrible.

But now 30 years later, on an average weekday BART has over 340,000 riders. That’s 340,00 people who did not have to take the freeway.

The Seattle area needs something like that – soon. If the Monorail wasn’t the answer, then apparently light rail is.

Mass transit is a must for this area.

An open letter to Ralph (Spolier) Nader:

Still my beating heart! It can't be so!

OMG! I was just swept away with emotion when I that heard you - Ralph Nader - were going to step into the 2008 presidential race.

We are so damned lucky!

Just what we need, another spoiler in the race.

You were absolutely instrumental in getting George Bush elected in the 2000 election! Great job! Without you, Gore would have certainly won.

Now, I suppose this announcement means you've decided to throw your weight behind McCain or whoever the republicans put up? Great.

Thanks entirely to you, Ralph, and your 2000 presidential bid, George Bush has:

• gotten us hopelessly involved in a war in Iraq


• gotten us hopelessly involved in a war in Afghanistan


• alienated many of our former allies


• taken away many of our civil liberties in the name of national security


• run-up an historic national debt to finance the wars


• completely screwed-up the economy of our country

And you Ralph, are personally responsible for:

• The deaths of nearly 4,000 US servicemen in Iraq
• The wounding of over 29,000 US servicemen in Iraq
• The deaths of as many as 89,000 Iraqi civilians from the war
• The deaths of 479 US soldiers in Afghanistan
• The wounding of almost 1,900 soldiers in Afghanistan

Ralph Nader: You're a disaster for this nation. You've disgraced yourself and your country. You're directly responsible for the deaths and injury of thousands of innocent people.

If you had any class at all, you'd commit Seppuku right now!

But you don't have any class, do you?

It'd be hard to out-do the devastation that George Bush has wrought on this nation. But if you do run this time, I'm wondering what new and wonderful things we have to look forward to now? Famine? Floods? Nuclear war? Pestilence?

I can't wait...

Ralph Nader: You wouldn't even have my vote for dog-catcher!

Sincerely,

Michael Pellegrini

Hillary vs. Barack

The past few weeks, it’s really been getting to me how much the different candidates – from the same party – beat each other up.

I have to admit that when the republicans do it, I tend to think it’s cute. Gee, let’s watch the stupid conservatives self-destruct… It’s a great spectator sport. I think any democrat (like me) feels that way.

But by the same token, when your own (democratic) candidates are doing it, it takes on a slightly different light.

My point is that the past few weeks, the fights between Clinton and Obama have been getting kinda out of control and you have to wonder if they’re going to quit before one does irreparable damage to the other.

I really want to see the demos win this coming election. But my nightmare scenario: Clinton and Obama both sling so much mud at each other in their desperate bids to become the president that they are both successfully excluded from the race.

Talk about big burning bummers.

Democratic Party Commits Suicide

I thought it was bad a few weeks ago, but lately the contest between Clinton and Obama has sunk to new depths.

They continue to battle, back and forth, doing serious damage to each other. All while McCain and the republicans sit happily on the sidelines, biding their time.

It seemed clear – at least until a few weeks ago – that Obama was the best nominee, the one who had the best chance of winning the general election.

Now, that appears in doubt, with McCain gaining in the polls. All due to Clinton’s machinations and smears.

This whole thing is just flat wrong. Politics is a team sport, such as it is. And politicians are supposed to be team players.

But what it looks like right now, is that Hillary Clinton figures that if she can’t be the democratic nominee, then nobody will.

Talk about bad attitudes. I mean I always thought Hillary was okay. I liked her politics as well or perhaps even better than her husband’s. But what we’ve got here is that she’s essentially throwing the election to the republicans because she can’t be the nominee. She’s engineering a republican win. Handing the election to McCain.

The arrogance of it all!

I suppose some of the blame should properly be passed to the undeclared super delegates, as well. No one has stepped in to break the fight up. And they could have ended it easily by declaring – and didn’t.

All this collective stupidity just knocks me out. The demo’s ship is sinking, going down fast, but they’re all still running around fighting about who the captain is gonna be! Insane.

I really wanted to see a democratic victory in 2008. After all this, I’m wondering if I really even want to be identified with a bunch of retards like these people.

Maybe I’ll vote for Nader? Hmmm…. Now there’s a thought!

Movie Downloads Are the Killer App for the Internet

There was a good discussion over on AV Science Forums a few days ago on whether downloads would ever replace Blu-Ray discs. All the Blu-Ray people were talking as if BR was the be-all end-all format. “We’ll never ever need anything else!”

Right.

A Puppet Government In Iraq Equals Disaster for the US

"The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:236

After five years of trying to impose an artificial democracy onto the people of Iraq, it’s clear the experiment is failing.

Bush’s surge is winding down, and without the American “cops” on every corner, violence is again returning to the streets in Iraq.

Why? Because Nouri al-Maliki’s government is not popularly supported by the Iraqi people. It’s a puppet government set up and maintained by the United States. And puppet governments just don’t work. They didn’t work, for example, in Vietnam, and they won’t work in Iraq.

Why not? Let’s look at some facts:

In Iraq, Shi’a Muslims comprise over 65% of the population; Sunni Muslims about 37%. Christians constitute a much smaller minority.

Through the Ba’ath Party, Sunni Muslims have ruthlessly controlled Iraq, subjugating the Shi’a as well as all the other religious minorities since 1963. Much of that time, the Ba’ath Party worked hand in hand with the CIA, including during most of Saddam’s reign – Saddam really didn’t fall from grace with the CIA or the US generally, until after he invaded Kuwait in 1990. That, of course, precipitated the First Gulf War.

Then came the current war.

We’ve all heard the excuses on TV. Oil company executives sitting in front of congress, answering questions about why gas prices are so high, and explaining away their record profits.

“Well we’re really only making pennies on the dollar. The profits aren’t really that high.”

“We don’t have any control over gasoline prices. The prices are all set by market forces”

“We need more refining capacity and we need to drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.”

I find it totally amazing that anyone at all would believe the current gasoline prices are not 100% wholly contrived by the oil companies.

The facts are that 2006 and 2007 were the very best years ever for Exxon Mobile: in 2007, Exxon surpassed the 2006 windfall of $39.5 Billion with a record smashing profit of $40.6 Billion.

The number two US oil company, Chevron’s 2007 earnings were up 9% over 2006, with record profits of $18.7 Billion. Put that in with similar profits from Shell and ConocoPhillips, and you have over $100 Billion in profits from the oil industry in the United States in just one year. Click here for the news story from US News and World Reports.

Of course, that $100 Billion in profits really isn’t such a big deal – pennies on the dollar.

What a load of tripe! These guys must use the same accountants as the movie studios – like where you can have a blockbuster movie that does $100 million in the first weekend, but by creative bookkeeping, it doesn’t show a profit. Complete and utter bullshit.

Nope. What we really have here is a Texas oilman for president, and he’s simply paying his buddies back.

The oil companies are jacking up the prices, deliberately, simply because they can – and no one can do a god damned thing about it. They’ve got protection.

So the Seattle Supersonics are off to Oklahoma – what a deal. As far as I’m concerned, it’s for the best.

Pro sports teams are just not a big turn on for me. The way I see it, they’re a bunch of whiny millionaires feeding at the public trough.

In the case of the Sonics, we went through all the whining and the threats of leaving only a little over ten years ago. It went on incessantly for months. All the, Nobody loves us! Refurbish our home or we’re taking our team and leaving! Wah! Nobody loves us!

The whining paid off. At that time, Key Arena was fully renovated at a cost to the public of over $74 million. The NBA execs hailed Key Area as one of the great basketball venues in the country.

Now 10 years later, it’s all of a sudden too old, too small and just plain unfit for an NBA franchise. Yeah, right.

Well fuck them. Let them go – they can become the Oklahoma Okies or whatever. Bunch of losers, anyway.

The way it stands right now, Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen have their budgets stretched to the max. Every month, they wonder if they’re going to be able to make that new, higher mortgage payment. They can just barely afford gas for their cars and to put food on their table, much less buy expensive tickets to a pro basketball game.

Spokane (AP) - At a press conference today, perennial candidate for Washington state Governor, Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi (pictured at right with his head up his ass, as usual), unveiled his new campaign poster for the 2008 race.

The theme of the campaign is that nasty Seattlites stole the last election, by demanding ballot recounts. The actual text of the new sign, is, “Dino Rossi for Governor - Don’t let Seattle Steal This Election.” Billboards featuring the ads have popped up all over the state – except around the Seattle area, of couse.

When asked about the negative connotations of the new billboards, Rossi said, “I’m just tellin’ it like it is. That bitch stole the last race. I shoulda been Gov, not her." When asked to amplify what he meant, Rossi continued, "It’s all them Seattle assholes that got her elected and that’s really fucking unfair to the farmers and the good righteous conservatives that make up this great right-wing, Christian state." He went on to add, "All those gay, Seattle assholes oughta move to Commie-fornia or something and leave us God-fearing Christians alone. I’m gonna smoke that bitch’s ass. Fuck me blue!”

In a prepared statement, Governor Gregoire responded suggesting the public might better be better served by a candidate that didn't have his head up his ass. She asked that this coming election should focus on today's important issues like the home mortgage crisis and the price of gas, and that the lame rhetoric from the last campaign be buried and forgotten - which is where it belongs.

In a late breaking development at press time, it's reported that a large group of several thousand people gathered tonight at Seattle Center and burned a likeness of Dino Rossi in effigy. Reportedly, vendors there were also doing a lansdlide business selling Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi voodoo dolls as well.

Said Rossi about the voodoo dolls, "Well fuck me blue!"

Editor's note: We came within about an inch of this actually happening. Let's not forget!

We’re lucky to have secured a pre-release excerpt from the new Time Magazine issue set to be on newsstands the week of December 21, 2009 – Time’s Person of the Year edition.

2009 Person of the Year

Selecting the Person of The Year is always a tough call, but given the recent political developments in the United States and the world generally, this year was somewhat easier and we were unanimous in picking George W, Bush as our 2009 Person of the Year.

It’s easily demonstratable that George W, Bush has made life much safer for God fearing Christians the world over, and on that basis alone, our choice for Person of the Year was easy.

In the turmoil following the terrorist bombing of the 2008 Democratic National Convention – which precipitated the loss of all the top Democratic Party leadership including nominee Senator Barack Obama – George W. Bush boldly took charge, suspending the presidential elections, declaring martial law.

By immediately rounding up all the godless heathen terrorists – Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, homosexuals, anarchists, liberals and the like – the United States is now finally enjoying the peace and safety we deserve.

I would like to protest the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.

What Secretary Paulson is asking for is a blank check – no controls, no real plan no nothing. And that, coming from the Bush administration is laughable.

Perhaps they can contract out the reconstruction of our financial industry to Halliburton? And if you’re willing to buy that, I have a nice bridge you may be interested in…

The single over-riding reason the country’s economy is where it’s at right now is because of the Bush administration, and the feeding frenzy they’ve allowed to exist for the last eight years. Capitalism in its finest hour. Bush’s whole economic plan for the last eight years has been recycled Ronald Reagan era trickle-down economics coupled with lax regulations and no meaningful oversight.

So what happened?

What happened is they’ve raped the economy, they’ve raped the American taxpayers, they’ve raped Iraq and Afghanistan, and basically, they’ve raped the whole world.

Greed run rampant, without controls; without reason or care.

It’s hard to imagine one man creating so much havoc, but George W. Bush really takes the cake.

In just a little under eight years, he’s managed to:

• Ruin our economy, plunging the United States into the worst recession since the Great Depression;

• Take us to war against Iraq for no good reason at all (other than to steal their oil – or maybe it was because Saddam tried to kill his dad);

• Take us to war against Afghanistan looking for bin Laden, only to withdraw most of the troops before their job was done, insuring bin Laden could safely escape;

• Taken away many of our civil rights in the name of combating “terrorism”;

• Condon the use of torture against what in many cases were innocent civilians, again in the name of combating terrorism;

• Promote the raping of our wilderness and public lands to find gas and oil, as well as generally raping the environment;

• Allow oil companies to post record profits at the expense of consumers and the economy in general (in 2000, the average cost of gas was $1.48 a gallon; contrast that to the $4.00 a gallon we recently had to pay). That’s a 170% increase in the eight years Bush was President!
  

Without the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bush would have been a one-term wonder. Pre-9/11, he was a rudderless, bumbling non-entity. His presidency distinguished itself by creating no distinguishments. He was mediocrity incarnate. No plan to do anything. A caretaker president. His approval ratings were abysmal. Bush was going nowhere, fast.

I just can't believe anyone is taking Sarah Palin seriously any more.

In picking Palin for his running mate, it looks like John McCain was trying to appeal to women voters and “just plain folks.” And initially, his strategy appeared to work. It gave him a good boost in the polls.

A young, vibrant woman – a former beauty contestant and now governor of Alaska at the tender age of 44, she’s certainly a rising star – “Sarah Barracuda” – what a great nickname. And topping it off, she’s very, very conservative. Basically, she was a dream candidate for the republicans. The perfect foil to attract the disgruntled Hillaryites.

However, if you take a close look at Palin, things start to fall apart.

First, there was the interview with Katie Couric, where Palin stumbled badly. Question: How does being governor of Alaska prepare you for foreign affairs? Answer: because Alaska sits right next to Russia. Here's the clip, and then another clip here. The whole interview was pretty much a disaster.

A picture of Sarah Palin at her best.

Pictured at right, Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi – the BIAW Candidate for Washington Governor, with his head up his ass, as usual.

After losing a tight race for Governor in 2004, Dino Rossi is back again this year, facing off against incumbent Christine Gregoire.

Rossi’s main distinguishment in this campaign is that he seems to blame everyone else for the economic mess the country is in – he blames Christine Gregoire, and he even blames his own party – which he conveniently distances himself from, by proclaiming himself the “GOP” candidate (hoping that people will think that’s different than a “republican.” ).

Rossi has proposed no new plans to help get the state out of the various messes we’re in, he’s just spent all of his time blaming others, in attack ad after attack ad. Nasty, viscous stuff, mostly full of lies and innuendo. These ads make the 2004 “Swift Boat” ads look like fluff in comparison.

And this coming after he kicked off his campaign by claiming sour grapes for Seattleites having “stolen” the last election.

John McCain has an extremely impressive record – war hero, POW, statesman – he has it all. Twenty years in the US Senate. He’s traveled extensively around the world, getting close-up views of all the trouble spots. He’s on a first name basis with world leaders and other key people everywhere around the globe. He really and truly knows his stuff.

Four years ago when the presidential face-off was between George Bush and John Kerry, I found myself wishing McCain had run instead, because I would have almost preferred him over Kerry.

At that time, McCain was a centrist. He was a true maverick, disagreeing with George Bush and his party on key issues such as the use of torture and on tax cuts and other important issues.

But no more.

Since that time, McCain has undergone a metamorphosis – as he tried to mold himself into what he or the republican party saw as a contender for the 2008 presidential race.

He’s moved a good ways farther to the right. He’s become a more doctrinaire republican, embracing many of the same right-wing ideas and values he used to oppose.

It seems like 99% of all the politicians from all the different parties are cut from the same mold. They all have slightly different messages and slants left or right, but basically it’s all the same. A politician is a politician is a politician.

Barack Obama defies these stereotypes.

An early opponent of the war in Iraq, Obama had the courage to speak out and voice his opposition, even though at the time – because of the hysteria Bush had drummed up, reminiscent of the Joe McCarthy era – it was considered un-patriotic to oppose the war.

That really was a courageous act. Obama has maintained that position – that the Iraq war is wrong and that we must get our troops out – consistently since the war started.

The war in Iraq is one of the biggest problems we now face.

Obama has promised to get our troops out – and for that reason alone, I would vote for him. McCain’s “we’ll keep the troops there for 100 years or as long as it takes” is just completely intolerable.

But there are other reasons I support Obama, as well.

Washington State Measures

Initiative 985 - This measure would open high-occupancy vehicle lanes to all traffic during specified hours, require traffic light synchronization, increase roadside assistance funding, and dedicate certain taxes, fines, tolls and other revenues to traffic-flow purposes

Yes

Initiative 1000 - This measure would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.

Yes

Initiative 1029 - This measure would require long-term care workers to be certified as home care aides based on an examination, with exceptions; increase training and criminal background check requirements; and establish disciplinary standards and procedures.

Yes

Well, we did it. Barack Obama got elected. Now the fun begins.

The stench of George Bush – America’s worst president ever – will linger for years and years. It’s hard to even begin to count the ways George Bush has screwed up the United States and the world.

Where do you begin? Our economy is in ruins, and the whole country is falling apart at the seams, with the world economy trailing behind us like a drunken sailor, bobbing and weaving, about to pass out. Then we’ve got wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a trillion dollar debt, the loss of many of our civil liberties in the name of freedom – and that’s just the beginning.

After eight years of a Bush republican, Neo-Con feeding frenzy – where Bush’s buddies spent day and night gorging themselves on the spoils of our labor, things are kind of rough. Bush and his buddies have raped and pillaged their way through much of our children’s inheritance. All that’s left are the smoking ruins.

I really don’t envy Obama – he’s coming into a pretty hopeless situation.

But at least I am heartened by the fact that I believe Obama is better qualified to turn the situation around than anyone else I can think of. To the extent anyone can, Obama has the best chance.

And more importantly, we’re not continuing to dig ourselves any deeper.

If John McCain had been elected, it just would have been a third term for Bush – no difference at all. That would have been a fate worse than death.

By electing Obama, we’ve prevented that – prevented further damage from being done.

It really kills me how Bush has been touting his record in the last week or so, listing as one of his major accomplishments that since 9/11, there have been no further foreign terrorist attacks on US soil.

With his approval rating running at a meager 22% - the lowest rating in history for a sitting president, I guess Bush feels like he has to try and clear his name. But his arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Let’s take a quick look backwards and examine the validity of Bush’s claims.

Okay, Bill Clinton served from 1993 till 2001. There was one actual foreign terrorist attack on the US during Clinton’s presidency – the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center where six people were killed.

However, since the attack took place only a little over one month from the time Clinton took office, it’s kind of hard to lay the blame on his administration.

Okay, so who was the slacker president that let this 1993 bombing happen? Why it was daddy Bush, that’s who. George H.W. Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993.

Looking back from 1993, we find that, well – there really aren’t any other attacks by foreign terrorists on American soil.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, America was reborn today, when Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president.

After eight years of disgrace and shame, Obama’s election and inauguration rings in a new era for the United States. An era of hope, and of pride in our country.

Those qualities have been absent from our vocabularies for quite some time.

Since its inception in 1776, the ideals of America have shone forth like a beacon all across the world: freedom and equality; Liberty and justice for all; the land of the free and the home of the brave. Lofty ideals, those.

But these ideals were buried in a shameful, disgraceful, degrading time, where under George Bush, America became the world’s bully – invading a sovereign nation – Iraq – for no just reason or provocation; they were buried by George Bush manufacturing his phony “War On Terror” which was designed solely to expand and solidify his power base; they were buried when George Bush moved America closer and closer to becoming a police state, where we were tricked into giving up freedoms in the name of security; they were buried when George Bush tried and nearly succeeded in setting up an imperial presidency, where the president and his cronies were above the law of the land; they were buried when under George Bush, big business was turned loose to rape the environment and pillage the citizenry – all but destroying the US and world economies.

George Bush trashed it all.

But finally, the tide is turning.