Category: George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People

Addendum-um

I have just come from picking up some delightful food at a Tex-Mex place in my neighborhood. Good food, well priced. Very nice, we may just have to offer it a review at Sure Why Not?. But it added a thought to my rant regarding energy.

In this little tiny restaurant, there was a television on the wall. And it was on, playing some ridiculous Spanish soap opera. It was me and two guys talking Spanish as they sipped orange sodas and ate chips with salsa. Nobody was actually watching the television.

At least in my neck of the woods, this is the norm now. It never used to be like that. But now, you can’t walk into a restaurant or a barber shop or a car mechanic’s without there being a TV set turned on.

I just wonder, is it really oil we’re addicted to? Or is it TV, which uses a hell of a lot of power? (Not that I can talk. I watch so much television that I practically AM a television.)

Also, I wanted to note this news item: In March, the U.S. economy showed the biggest monthly increase in jobs in three years. Now it’s not all it should be cracked up to be and the unemployment rate remains un-budged. But I still insist on claiming some credit for predicting we’d see movement on jobs in the spring.

Might the 2000-sies Be Attributable to Genetics?

Barbara Bush is only one of two women in American history to be both First Lady and First Mama, the other being Abigail Adams.

Her maiden name is “Pierce.”

Why yes, that does make her a direct descendant of Franklin Pierce, one of the most ineffectual chief executives ever and the only incumbent President EVAR to be denied a re-nomination by his own party—why do you ask?

I'm Impressed They Can Pronounce 'Favre'

So it seems that these detainees in Iraq figured out how to really get under the skin of their captors.

Rub Green Bay’s recent loss of superstar Brett Favre in their faces.

“They know Favre by name. One of the big words they know now is shenanigan. They’ll constantly talk about ‘Favre shenanigans,’ ‘He’s so good for the Vikings,’ and ‘The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.’
—First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, of New Richmond, Wis.

That is some funny shit.

Wanda Psyches

I was of course mad deep in Twitter during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Reaction there to Wanda Sikes’ swipe at Boss Limbaugh was instantaneous, and, of course, it is the superstar of the water cooler.

Did she go too far? Oooooooooh? She said she hopes Limbaugh’s kidneys would fail. Boogey boogey boogey.

Have they ever heard of David Feherty?

Feherty is, of all things, a golf commentator for CBS. He wrote this in D Magazine, a regional tourism promoter in Dallas, Texas:

If you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama Bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and Bin Laden would be strangled to death.

Let’s face it. If you’re politically liberal, as some who write for this Web log might be, you thought Fehrety’s comments were repulsive and that Sikes’ comments were perfectly reasonable and funny. But there is more to this comparison than political bias. There’s also context.

Wanda Sikes is a professional comedian. She is a female of color. She is a lesbian. She was asked to perform at an event that has the flavor of a Friars’ Club Roast. Comics who perform at this event are somewhat expected to work blue. Stephen Colbert used the opportunity to brilliantly spoof and confront the Immediate Past and Miserably Failed President right to his face.

Boss Limbaugh said, specifically, that he wants the President of the United States to fail. Some, including some who may actually write for this Web log, may consider this sentiment to be somewhat unpatriotic. Wanda Sikes apparently shares this opinion with us. So, she said, he hopes you fail; I hope his kidneys fail.

David Feherty put it in black and white that any American soldier would want to assassinate the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate. This not only paints a hulking, violent illustration where these two duly elected leaders are concerned, but it broadly insults our civilian military as well.

Context.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Conservatives are funny like a catheter. There is a reason that “The Daily Show” has been on the air since July 1996 and “The 1/2 Hour News Hour” went 17 episodes. Stop trying to be funny, conservatives. You suck at it. SUCK.

Wow.

There is little to say that won’t be said on other blogs regarding The Current President’s last press conference yesterday. This passage, though, bears considerable noting.

This is what the President of the United States said in a press conference yesterday, according directly to the White House’s own Web site:

I’ve thought long and hard about Katrina—you know, could I have done something differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. The problem with that and—is that law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission. And then your questions, I suspect, would have been, how could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge, and police officers that were needed to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taken off the task to look after you?

Bush cannot stop confirming for us, can he, that he has the sophistication of a nose hair?

George, there’s not an American alive who would have expected you to single-handedly rescue anybody with your own hands or your own hardware. What you should have done is, you should have cancelled your tarmac birthday greeting with Failed Presidential Candidate John McWeirdsmile and your country western adventure with Billy Ray Hiccup, and your first response to the disaster shouldn’t have been a photo opportunity of you surveying the damage from your comfy little aeroplane. Your first response should have been to make a beeline to The White House, to hunker down and ask how bad is it and what needs done, and to expose yourself to the news coverage instead of your staff having to force feed it to you. Instead, you sent a complete incompetent into the field, you scattered ice trucks to every corner of the nation but, um, Louisiana, and you began talking about rebuilding much sooner than most people could even fathom recovery. Hurricane Katrina was a dismal failure for you, for your administration, and for America, and it was certainly the start of the unraveling for you, buddy. You showed yesterday that you don’t own it yet and you didn’t learn a god-damned thing.

Longest. Seven days. Evar.

The Upside of Taxation Without Representation

I often think it would be nice to live in Washington, D.C. proper. However, as a longtime civics nerd, I could never stand for it. I prefer to actually be represented in the United States Congress. So, for that among other reasons, I live on this side.

However, D.C. residents will have quite an advantage on January 20. D.C. has decided to make it virtually impossible to attend the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. They’re closing bridges to cars AND pedestrians. They’re closing Metro stops by the Mall. They’re shutting off Metro escalators. They’re requiring you to be on site by 7 a.m. or not at all. So. If you’re here and you want to be there, beware. It’s not going to be easy. Of course, if you live in the city, you can hop on your unicycle and scoot right over there. Nice.

Myself, I shall be home in sweats and Homer-Simpson-head slippers watching it on the television just like a normal American, perhaps sipping a glass of Glühwein, certainly with a chilled bottle of bubbly wine at the ready. This is what C-SPAN is for, after all; for rescuing longtime D.C. residents who are sufficiently grumpy enough about commuting to stay home for one of the most historic events yet of the century. Imagine. We’re going to inaugurate a smart President. Isn’t that historic?

For Papa

There were two things I said over the Thanksgiving that made Papa Bonk and Uncle Hat look at me like I was crazy, or, more likely, that I’d just had too much Glüwein. First, we were talking about Brit bands who spent an album copying American country music. Papa mentioned the Stones. I mentioned the Kinks, and was looked at cross-eyed.

Sigh. The album name was on the tip of my tongue, Papa, but, indeed, “Muswell Hillbillies” does exist.

The second item I mentioned that got a blank stare was this, one of my very favorite television moments of all time and one of my very favorite political slogans. That’s right, Kanye. He doesn’t.

Incredibly, PB had never seen this. Probably because he’s, um, more of a reader.

Incidentally, it’s been nearly a month since the Untied States erected Barack Obama as President, and I just have to say: So, this is what competence looks like. I’m so pleased.