Check out what this guy eats!
"For breakfast that includes 3 fried-egg sandwiches, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, and mayonnaise, an omelette, a bowl of grits, and three slices of french toast with powdered sugar, all washed down with 3 chocolate chip pancakes."
Oh my god this is my version of heaven! Eat like that and go out and win gold medals! If this guy starts dating Penelope Cruz, he will have my perfect life.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Hypocrites-R-US
Obama has gotten flack in recent days for saying things that seem to suggest that he's not "proud" to be an American. Essentially, what Obama has said, is that in some ways, America used to be better. We used to have a voice in world affairs that was respected, and that people could trust came from good intentions, even when we screwed up.
The Bushies have taken that away from us. After 8 years, nobody in the world is drinking the kool-aid anymore. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have no credibility, and we have a president who doesn't seem to be self-aware enough to know that people see us differently now.
Here's Andrew Sullivan talking about this in the context of the Russia v. Georgia conflict, and comparing it to our invasion of Iraq.
"The point here is not that the invasions are obviously morally equivalent. The point is that the line between American actions in the world and Russia's are no longer as stark as they once were. Once you trash the international system, declare yourself above the law and even the most basic of international conventions against war crimes, you have forfeited the kind of moral authority that the US once had. Bush and his cronies speak as if none of this has happened. Their rigid, absolutist denial even of the bleeding obvious allows them to preach to the world about international norms that, when they would have constrained American actions, were derided as quaint and irrelevant. You really cannot have it both ways."
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/everyones-a-cri.html
This is very bad for us, but very bad for the Western world too. Which is one of the major reasons why Europeans are so excited about Obama. He gets it, while all McCain wants to do is bomb, bomb, bomb somebody, no matter who it is. Just to make sure they know who's boss.
The Bushies have taken that away from us. After 8 years, nobody in the world is drinking the kool-aid anymore. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have no credibility, and we have a president who doesn't seem to be self-aware enough to know that people see us differently now.
Here's Andrew Sullivan talking about this in the context of the Russia v. Georgia conflict, and comparing it to our invasion of Iraq.
"The point here is not that the invasions are obviously morally equivalent. The point is that the line between American actions in the world and Russia's are no longer as stark as they once were. Once you trash the international system, declare yourself above the law and even the most basic of international conventions against war crimes, you have forfeited the kind of moral authority that the US once had. Bush and his cronies speak as if none of this has happened. Their rigid, absolutist denial even of the bleeding obvious allows them to preach to the world about international norms that, when they would have constrained American actions, were derided as quaint and irrelevant. You really cannot have it both ways."
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/everyones-a-cri.html
This is very bad for us, but very bad for the Western world too. Which is one of the major reasons why Europeans are so excited about Obama. He gets it, while all McCain wants to do is bomb, bomb, bomb somebody, no matter who it is. Just to make sure they know who's boss.
Death by INS
It is hard to read things like this and not suspect that America has lost its soul.
This guy was in the US for 16 years, got married had kids, but then got swept up in an immigration sweep. He languishes in jail for months, complaining of back pain, before dying of cancer that had gone untreated for months.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=login&pagewanted=all
Are we still a good country? Can we blame all the craziness on the Bushies, or do we, as I suspect, have a lot to answer for as citizens who are too busy playing with our new Iphones to bother rioting in the streets?
This guy was in the US for 16 years, got married had kids, but then got swept up in an immigration sweep. He languishes in jail for months, complaining of back pain, before dying of cancer that had gone untreated for months.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=login&pagewanted=all
Are we still a good country? Can we blame all the craziness on the Bushies, or do we, as I suspect, have a lot to answer for as citizens who are too busy playing with our new Iphones to bother rioting in the streets?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Taxes? We don't need no stinking taxes...
This is either fascinating or the most flawed study in history.
Latest TV game show: Fact or Conspiracy Theory?
I mentioned in an earlier post that the truth about the Bush Administration is sometimes so bizarre that you couldn't actually make it up, since people would dismiss it as "crazy conspiracy theory" out of hand.
One story I mentioned (I think, bourbon fog...) was that Ron Suskind reports that the Bushies forged a letter linking Iraq to Al Qaeda and uranium in Niger. Oddly, it mentions both facts in the same letter.
So anyway, the news here is that the conservatives outside the White House aren't really challenging the story, they just say Suskind got details wrong. It wasn't the CIA that did the letter, it was Feith in the Pentagons "Office of Special Plans", which sounds so Orwellian as to be laughable. By the way, the writer here is himself an ex-CIA guy.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/07/suskind-revisited/
The story looks more and more like it's true, and John Conyers has promised (finally) to have his staff look into it.
More background here, including links to transcripts released by Suskind proving that he quoted his sources accurately:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/suskinds_report_about_forged.php
One story I mentioned (I think, bourbon fog...) was that Ron Suskind reports that the Bushies forged a letter linking Iraq to Al Qaeda and uranium in Niger. Oddly, it mentions both facts in the same letter.
So anyway, the news here is that the conservatives outside the White House aren't really challenging the story, they just say Suskind got details wrong. It wasn't the CIA that did the letter, it was Feith in the Pentagons "Office of Special Plans", which sounds so Orwellian as to be laughable. By the way, the writer here is himself an ex-CIA guy.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/07/suskind-revisited/
The story looks more and more like it's true, and John Conyers has promised (finally) to have his staff look into it.
More background here, including links to transcripts released by Suskind proving that he quoted his sources accurately:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/suskinds_report_about_forged.php
America's lack of self-awareness
I'm going to blame this on the president too, because, I just like to blame him for everything.
In recent days, we've seen Bush criticize China for their human rights record, using the same language that some use to criticize the US over our torture policies. We've also seen Bush complain about Russia invading a sovereign country (which didn't stop us in Iraq or the Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza) but never mind. My key problem is this: Bush might be the least self-aware person on the planet.
This guy might not even know the definition of the word hypocrisy, and it seems like it's a disease, spreading to all parts of American culture and media to some degree.
So take this story. People are all freaked out because China had one little girl sing (because she had a great voice) and had another little girl lip sync the song and pretend to the be singer.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-lip-synchedsong&prov=ap&type=lgns
The author seems outraged, but do you think for one second that Americans wouldn't do something like this for, say, the SuperBowl? Heck, we would have given the pretty seven year old child a face lift just to make sure that she was up to our standard of beauty.
In recent days, we've seen Bush criticize China for their human rights record, using the same language that some use to criticize the US over our torture policies. We've also seen Bush complain about Russia invading a sovereign country (which didn't stop us in Iraq or the Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza) but never mind. My key problem is this: Bush might be the least self-aware person on the planet.
This guy might not even know the definition of the word hypocrisy, and it seems like it's a disease, spreading to all parts of American culture and media to some degree.
So take this story. People are all freaked out because China had one little girl sing (because she had a great voice) and had another little girl lip sync the song and pretend to the be singer.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-lip-synchedsong&prov=ap&type=lgns
The author seems outraged, but do you think for one second that Americans wouldn't do something like this for, say, the SuperBowl? Heck, we would have given the pretty seven year old child a face lift just to make sure that she was up to our standard of beauty.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bush in Beijing revisited
Almost as good. It's like she just finished a 90 second keg stand, and he's giving her props.
Bush in Beijing
UPDATE: I've been told that this post objectifies women. So, my apologies to whoever might feel that way. I thought I was making fun of our idiot president.
-------------------
Oh my god this is the greatest thing I've ever seen.
Did you think Bush is really slapping her butt?
Russia vs. Georgia
Here is a ludicrously simple question. If the US military cannot be used to defend a democratically elected government in Georgia, against a Russian invasion, then please, do tell me, just what the fuck is it for?
From a Georgian soldier, retreating: “Write exactly what I say,” he said. “Over the past few years, I lived in a democratic society. I was happy. And now America and the European Union are spitting on us.”
This is a country that had a democracy! We're not trying to build one there like in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it already exists! And we were going to let them join NATO. So we are in the enviable position of having the Russian invasion happen before they joined NATO. Because if it happened after we joined, we'd be obligated to go help them. Now we can throw them to the wolves, I mean bears.
From a Georgian soldier, retreating: “Write exactly what I say,” he said. “Over the past few years, I lived in a democratic society. I was happy. And now America and the European Union are spitting on us.”
This is a country that had a democracy! We're not trying to build one there like in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it already exists! And we were going to let them join NATO. So we are in the enviable position of having the Russian invasion happen before they joined NATO. Because if it happened after we joined, we'd be obligated to go help them. Now we can throw them to the wolves, I mean bears.
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