RIP Molly Ivins.

Wow. This was a real shock. I really liked and respected Molly Ivins. I didn't even know she had cancer.

She had real class, real spunk, and a sharp political sensibility that will be sorely missed.

A sad day.

2008 news just keeps getting better and better

I'm watching MSNBC right now and they're discussing 2008. McCain and Giuliani are currently trailing leading Democratic candidates in head-to-head matchups. It appears that "maverick" McCain is now perceived as the Bush-sucking opportunist political chameleon he is. In addition, new polls show something like 49% of Americans want a Democrat as President, compared with 29% preferring a Republican. With 20% undecided, the Republicans have a lot of ground to make up.

I just love that the media's unending honeymoon with McCain may have finally ended, and perhaps we'll now get a real look at this guy.

Another story out there is that Hillary is trailing in Iowa. Let's keep that trend going.

Hillary? No thanks.

Ok. Here's my take on Hillary Clinton.

She's one of the most fake people on the planet. Every move she makes is political. She has no soul. She is not genuine. And everyone knows it.

That is why I will never, ever support her for the Democratic nomination, and if she wins it, why I might even vote third party.

I urge everyone to look at the other candidates in the race -- my personal preference at the moment is John Edwards, though I'm still really undecided. I just know that Hillary is the wrong choice, that if she is nominated, she will not win, and that I just really really don't like her.

I saw her in person once, and she literally looked like she was acting, even in her gestures. She's just really really fake.

Life, the Universe and Everything

I'm feeling frustrated lately that I'm 28 and I don't seem to have advanced anywhere.

I have a bachelor's degree. In International Studies. I was discussing a certain phenomenon about academic degrees with my partner tonight. It's interesting if you think about certain academic disciplines -- a lot of them seem to exist simply for the purpose of teaching the next generation.

For instance, someone with a Masters Degree in English. What exactly is someone going to do with that degree? Teach English. To students who may indeed end up with a Master's Degree in English. So, does the degree have any purpose other than a repetitive circle of teaching and learning? And running up tons of student loan debt and profit for Sallie Mae?

I could get a Master's in International Studies, but it seems like I'd be in the same boat. As it is, my bachelor's degree and a dollar will get me a soda out of the machine at the call center where I currently work for $9.00 an hour.

It seems to me like there should be something bigger and better than this, some kind of greater reward in society for folks like myself, and those with a Master's in English, for that matter, where we can contribute our knowledge in some way, and, you know, make a career out of it. But I got out of college with absolutely no clue what to do with myself, and 6 years later, I still haven't figured it the hell out.

I keep saying that I want to be a writer, but from the dedication I don't give to this blog, that ain't happening anytime soon.

I dunno. I'm in flux at the moment, and I've been in flux for quite a few years now. And I just don't see anywhere in America that an intelligent guy like me can take his bachelor's degree and fit it into a career. And that thing cost a ton of money.

Ok, now some of it is my fault. I'm lazy, I procrastinate, I coast through things, I don't give things my full time and attention. These are problems I've had throughout my life, and I struggle with them. But surely, for heaven's sake, George Bush was a complete flake as a young kid, ...then again, he was handed the presidency on a silver platter by his father and the corporations that own his family.

Still, this American dream thing just ain't happening for me. And I really think we as a society ought to do something to move intelligent, thoughtful people, who just don't have a clue what to do with themselves, into positions of respect, or at least give them a career that is meaningful and lucrative. I don't see that anywhere.

And so I sit, watching television, playing Warcraft, occasionally blogging, and working at a meaningless job making barely a living wage. Thanks, American capitalism. You're great.

Doomsday clock to be moved forward

The Doomsday clock is being moved forward due to rising threats from climate change, unsecured nuclear weapons, and terrorism.

New Laptop!

My partner and I went out and bought a shiny new laptop last night and we're quite pleased with it. As such, I have now rejoined the Windows world. It's nice for what it's good for -- which is my Launchcast station, and the various Windows games we have, and mobile word processing. I want to take it for a wifi test run at a coffee shop today, but the weather is NASTY right now and I can't motivate myself to face the sleet. Didn't stop us last night tho -- my partner and I went literally all over town shopping for this laptop, and the streets got progressively worse as the evening wore on. And Best Buy and CompUSA each closed on us about 15 minutes after we walked in, because of the weather. Weenies.

The President who cried Wolf

Edward R. Olbermann does it again.

I'll just repost the end:

He has told us the war is necessary:

Because Saddam was a material threat.

Because of 9/11.

Because of Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaida. Terrorism in general.

To liberate Iraq. To spread freedom. To spread Democracy. To prevent terrorism by gas price increases.

Because this was a guy who tried to kill his dad.

Because — 439 words in to the speech last night — he trotted out 9/11 again.

In advocating and prosecuting this war he passed on a chance to get Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

To get Muqtada Al-Sadr. To get Bin Laden.

He sent in fewer troops than the generals told him to. He ordered the Iraqi army disbanded and the Iraqi government “de-Baathified.”

He short-changed Iraqi training. He neglected to plan for widespread looting. He did not anticipate sectarian violence.

He sent in troops without life-saving equipment. He gave jobs to foreign contractors, and not Iraqis. He staffed U.S. positions there, based on partisanship, not professionalism.

He and his government told us: America had prevailed, mission accomplished, the resistance was in its last throes.

He has insisted more troops were not necessary. He has now insisted more troops are necessary.

He has insisted it’s up to the generals, and then removed some of the generals who said more troops would not be necessary.

He has trumpeted the turning points:

The fall of Baghdad, the death of Uday and Qusay, the capture of Saddam. A provisional government, a charter, a constitution, the trial of Saddam. Elections, purple fingers, another government, the death of Saddam.

He has assured us: We would be greeted as liberators — with flowers;

As they stood up, we would stand down. We would stay the course; we were never about “stay the course.”

We would never have to go door-to-door in Baghdad. And, last night, that to gain Iraqis’ trust, we would go door-to-door in Baghdad.

He told us the enemy was al-Qaida, foreign fighters, terrorists, Baathists, and now Iran and Syria.

He told us the war would pay for itself. It would cost $1.7 billion. $100 billion. $400 billion. Half a trillion. Last night’s speech alone cost another $6 billion.

And after all of that, now it is his credibility versus that of generals, diplomats, allies, Democrats, Republicans, the Iraq Study Group, past presidents, voters last November and the majority of the American people.

Oh, and one more to add, tonight: Oceania has always been at war with East Asia.

Mr. Bush, this is madness.

You have lost the military. You have lost the Congress to the Democrats. You have lost most of the Iraqis. You have lost many of the Republicans. You have lost our allies.

You are losing the credibility, not just of your presidency, but more importantly of the office itself.

And most imperatively, you are guaranteeing that more American troops will be losing their lives, and more families their loved ones. You are guaranteeing it!

This becomes your legacy, sir: How many of those you addressed last night as your “fellow citizens” you just sent to their deaths.

And for what, Mr. Bush?

So the next president has to pull the survivors out of Iraq instead of you?

House Passes Minimum Wage Increase

It's only the middle of January and already the Dems in the House are doing more than the entire 109th Congress ever did. Let's just hope that this bill isn't ruined by Senate stupidity or a veto. In fact, let's hope that if a veto does come down the pike, the Dems can pluck up the chutzpah and the votes to override it.

Course then the Prez would just do a signing statement saying "yeah, I'm not going to enact this, because I'm a slave to the corporations and slimy people who bought me the presidency, and they're against it."

Oh, and Mr. President, I'll show you where you can stick your troop surge. Right up John McCain's ass. He's the only person in the country who still seems to believe in you.

Less than two years left to a Democratic President.

House passes Homeland Security Bill

One down, about a zillion to go.

Next up, raising the minimum wage.

Go, Dems, Go!

O'Reilly vs. Colbert

Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert will appear on each other's shows on January 18th. So Stephen will have two chances to satirize that blowhard to death.

I can't wait.

Sacrifice

Keith Olbermann's special comment on "President" Bush's plan for a troop surge.

Highlights:

If the BBC is right — and we can only pray it is not — he has settled on the only solution all the true experts agree cannot possibly work: more American personnel in Iraq, not as trainers for Iraqi troops, but as part of some flabby plan for “sacrifice.”

Sacrifice!

More American servicemen and women will have their lives risked.

More American servicemen and women will have their lives ended.

More American families will have to bear the unbearable and rationalize the unforgivable —“sacrifice” — sacrifice now, sacrifice tomorrow, sacrifice forever.

And more Americans — more even than the two-thirds who already believe we need fewer troops in Iraq, not more — will have to conclude the president does not have any idea what he’s doing — and that other Americans will have to die for that reason.

...

Then there is the argument that to take any steps toward reducing troop numbers would show weakness to the enemy in Iraq, or to the terrorists around the world.

This simplistic logic ignores the inescapable fact that we have indeed already showed weakness to the enemy, and to the terrorists.

We have shown them that we will let our own people be killed for no good reason.

We have now shown them that we will continue to do so.

We have shown them our stupidity.

...

The Iraq Study Group told you it would be a mistake.

Perhaps dozens more have told you it would be a mistake.

And you threw their wisdom back, until you finally heard what you wanted to hear, like some child drawing straws and then saying “best two out of three … best three out of five … hundredth one counts.”

Your citizens, the people for whom you work, have told you they do not want this, and moreover, they do not want you to do this.

Yet once again, sir, you have ignored all of us.

Mr. Bush, you do not own this country!

...

And our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers will be sacrificed there tonight, sir, so that you can say you did not “lose in Iraq.”

Our policy in Iraq has been criticized for being indescribable, for being inscrutable, for being ineffable.

But it is all too easily understood now.

First we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush.

Now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego.

Non!

The French protest 2007. That's about right.

Mission Accomplished.

3,000 dead.