Much like my brother Buffalo, I’m done. Done with political blogging at least. I don’t have the time, the stomach, nor the heart for it anymore.  Too much depressing news. Obama is doing some great things and hopefully the economy starts turning around before too many more people get lost in its wake and drown. Lord knows things have gotten pretty tight on this end of things.  It will most likely be years and years before our country fully recovers from the damage the Bush Administration inflicted on her, but like a young child, she heals rather quickly.  We will come out of these perilous times eventually and most likely stronger than when they began. 

So before I go dark once again, I want to thank all of the readers that ever were of this little spot on the Internet, especially my little Republican friend, Nick Badway. We’ve had some contentious “discussions” in my time here, but hopefully I’ve changed your perception on a few things.  I know you’ve changed mine, specifically that not all of those who vote Republican are evil.  You’ve helped me to temper my anger and rationalize the situation before declaring it wrong.  You and I see things through different glasses yet we both retain our humanity.  On very few occasions did you ever resort to senseless name-calling and for that I thank you Nick.

I also especially want to thank those who took me in and called me brother: Scroff, Deuddersun, Fixer,  Jo Fish, Gordon, Kitchen Window Woman, Chief, Buffalo, CAFKIA, Spadoman, Moderate Man, among others.  You have all taught me a lot and been a sounding board when I needed it.  I love you guys. Keep fighting the good fight.

P.S. If I ever do get the urge to blog again, it will be here, but it will probably be about something completely different than politics although I retain the right to blogroll you guys anyway. 

Dear Mr. President(-elect),

Congratulations on your hard-fought, hard-won victory in Tuesday’s election.  I hope you have enjoyed these few celebratory days since Tuesday.  I really do.  However, party time is over.  Yes, it was nice to tip a few in your honor and the realization that soon we will be rid of the worst President this country has ever seen.  God knows I put a few (a few? who am I kidding?) down Tuesday night.  But, the real battle has just begun and you damn sure better be ready for it.  I have no doubt that you will be ready.

Beginning on day 1, January 20 2009, you need to hit the ground running and get a damn good headstart toward implementing some of those policies you so eloquently talked about during the campaign.  Because the Republicans (at least those who rabidlysupported John McCain and still support George W.) will be gunning for you figuratively if not literally.  But I urge you to be cautious.  Don’t think for one minute that because Congress is a lot bluer today than it was last week that everything is sunshine and roses.  The Democrats don’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.  As a result you can bet there is going to be push-back from Republicans who want to continue to divisiveness of the last 8 years if for no other reason than to gloat “See, we told you he’d be bad for America!”.  Those are the political snakes you must watch out for.

I supported you during your campaign but there were many Democrats who did not.  To those you must reassure and coddle, to a lesser extent, in order to enact the policies that will save this country from further disaster, economically, militarily, and ethically.  Be the bigger man but don’t be afraid to twist some arms and kick some ass where appropriate.  I still support you but am no doubt convinced that there will be some in Washington D.C. who attempt to trip you up at every turn.  Be ready for them.  Have a plan in place to deal with those knuckleheads on both the Right and Left.  And always remember that the World is Watching.

I’ll close with a line my Drill Instructors used to pound into our heads in Marine Corps Boot Camp: “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”  That line is ever so important for you to remember now.  You sweated a lot during the campaign, but now the war starts.  The war of ideas between those who want to see you leave the White House disgraced and ashamed and those of us who want you to heal the wounds inflicted on this country over the past 8 years and enact the policies that made up your platform during the campaign.  Good luck and Godspeed, Mr. President.  You’re gonna need it.

Signed,

Bulldog

As you all know, last night’s election win by Barack Obama was truly a monumental event in our nation’s history.  However, the significance of his win goes well beyond just electing an African-American to the highest office in the land.  It showed that the bitter divisiveness, the us vs. them mentality of the past 8 years has come to an end. 

First, I want to congratulate John McCain.  He made these past couple of months a hard-fought battle that culminated with a Democratic win last night.  Through his selection of Sarah Palin for VP, he did much to energize the Republican base who may not have turned out for this election.  Unfortunately, he abandoned some of the good things he has worked on throughout his long career.  He had been known as a maverick who wasn’t afraid to buck his party when they proposed bad legislation.  John McCain showed us that he is no longer the maverick he once was when he kow-towed to the religious right and other hard-line conservatives. The American people showed him last night that they didn’t want 4 more years of failed Republican policies, but rather wanted the kind of change that Barack Obama has promised to provide.  

These past 8 years, specifically the 2006 mid-term elections, have made me skeptical of any politician offering up change as part of their platform.  Back then I thought that by electing a Democratic majority to Congress would finally get accomplished some of the most important things we wanted.  However, 2 years later and we’re still not out of Iraq, and jobs are being cut across the country.  The economy is in shambles and it’s going to take bi-partisan support to put it back together again.  Good people are losing their homes as a result of the housing crisis.  These are all things that need to be top priorities for President-elect Obama.

Personally, I want to see Obama be the uniter that George Bush, despite his promises, never was.  I also want to applaud him for taking the high road despite being called a Socialist, a terrorist, a Muslim, and many other things throughout this campaign, both in public and private.  And I ‘m proud of him for quickly and decisively addressing the negative things said about him personally or his policies. 

But make no mistake, Obama has a tough, uphill climb ahead of him regardless of the Congressional gains we saw last night.  His choices for Cabinet-level positions will truly be telling in whether he will be able to accomplish the change he promised.  On January 20, 2009, we will see how much he can get done.  But it is imperative that our elected representatives and we as citizens, both Republicans and Democrats, come together to realize the change this country so desperately needs.  Now the real work begins.

As if my recent lack of posting hasn’t told you anything, there are going to be and have been some changes around here.

For starters, I have moved into a new position at work which has had the effect of severely limiting my time for posting. Secondly, this new position finally gives me weekends free to spend with my family and do whatever it is normal people do on the weekend.

For some time now, I’ve gotten the apathetic bug again and gotten bored with posting, even with the important things that have been going on lately. Memorial Day, Hillary bowing out of the Democratic primary in favor of Barack Obama, Scotty McClellan’s new book saying he basically lied through his teeth while Press Secretary, the recent Supreme Court ruling that issued a smackdown to President Bush once again over Guantanamo detainees right to habeas corpus, among other things in the news recentlyshould have gotten me off my lazy ass and prompted a post, but it hasn’t. To my regular readers, I apologize. To be honest, a lot of my “anger” has worn off and I’m finding I’m actually a pretty pleasant person to be around now. I no longer try to engage every person I meet in a political debate, much to their relief. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not still angry at the Bush Administration nor at Congress for their shenanigans in continuing to placate the Republicans and President Bush. It’s just I don’t care as much anymore. I guess you could say I’m kind of resigned to the fact that our Democratic Congress is spineless and Bush is still an asshat.

So with that all said, I apologize again for the lack of new material. There will probably be a whole lot less new material from here on out. I do ask that you still come around to see if I’m still alive and kicking though. I may suprise you with a post now and then.

Here’s how you can do it.

1. Manage the creation of Voter ID cards. This can be accomplished by setting up temporary voter registration sites throughout the state, especially in impoverished neighborhoods.
2. Make the new Voter ID card free. That’s right, free. That way you can’t disenfranchise ANYONE.
3. Hire additional poll workers to staff registration booths at each local precinct on election day to include ID card machines. As long as those intending to vote can provide the same proper identification as before SCOTUS upheld the Voter ID decision, let them get a Voter ID card with picture.

Now this kind of plan is going to piss off the folks that wanted Voter ID in the first place, but I totally understand that. When your goal is to make the whole process harder for the poor and poverty-stricken, then the upholding of this decision by the Supreme Court allows you to realize that goal. My plan aims to make it easier for the citizens of Indiana to get those ID cards. I don’t think I need to mention that original bill was sponsored by Republicans.

The problem with the original legislation is NOT that it requires ID. See, that’s a nice little fable that Republicans use to make it seem that Democrats want anybody to be able to vote whether they can legally or not. But, alas, that’s not the case. Our (read Democrats’) problem with this legislation is two-fold:

• It costs money to get a State or Federal ID card. Those with limited incomes sometimes can’t afford it. For example, here in Wisconsin, a new State ID or Drivers License costs $28.
• People with limited incomes often have no transportation to get them to DMV sites to obtain an ID card in the first place.

What I try to accomplish with my plan is to eliminate those two burdens on the populace. Plain and simple. I have no problem with requiring ID that ensures you are who you say you are, thus limiting the possibility of voter fraud, but the law as written will disenfranchise a hell of a lot of voters who traditionally happen to vote Democrat. But I guess the Republicans who sponsored and voted for this bill don’t really give a damn about that.

It’s so much fun playing with the candidates’ platforms that somebody couldn’t resist the following parody. For those users as unfortunate as myself, the form of the following parody email will look disturbingly familiar. A site called Gastaxscam.com has taken 2 of the candidates’ positions on offering a gas tax holiday and posted it as a fake spam email. Here’s an excerpt:

CONFIDENTIAL/URGENT POLITICAL PROPOSAL

Dear Sir

First we must solicit your confidence in this issue. This is by virtue as being utterly confidential and “top secret”.

We are SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON, the wife of the former United States head of state, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, and also SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, friend and associate of current head of state PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH. We got your contact through business inquiries as we were searching for contacts of a citizen who can help save our and our family’s political careers since our country has been frustrating us.

Check out the whole thing here: http://gastaxscam.com/

Found this over at Badtux’s place and had to give it a try.

 
Created by OnePlusYou

…That didn’t have to be. Now I could have titled this post Tears of a Clown, in reference to the visible tears that streamed down President Bush’s face while reading the Medal of Honor citation, but I think that would have taken the focus off of a most-deserved recipient, Michael Monsoor. Michael Monsoor was a Navy SEAL who showed the utmost dedication to his fellow SEALs as well as outstanding courage in throwing himself on a live grenade in order to save his brothers.

Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor had fast thinking to do when a live grenade came out of nowhere to bounce off his chest: Take the clear path to safety that he had but his comrades didn’t, try to toss it safely away, or throw himself on top of it.

With barely an instant’s hesitation on that Iraqi rooftop, Monsoor took the last course, sacrificing his life to save the men around him.

[snip]

In reading the citation, President Bush visibly was crying and rightly so. It was his war, his decisions, his fool’s errand to send our troops to Iraq to find non-existent WMDs, stop the smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud, (why did he choose to go to Iraq again?).

I say Bush crying is a good thing. Hopefully it goes to show that he is now feeling remorseful for the over 4000 young men and women who’ve perished in this war. Maybe he is finally feeling the weight of all those lives lost on his head, but I doubt it. I’m sure he still thinks we were justified to go into Iraq, topple the government of a sovereign nation, and destroy the country in the process despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Thankfully, he is only months away from leaving office. I hope that each one of these 4000+ lives weighs on his conscience each and every day he is “clearing brush” on his property in Texas when he leaves office.  I want their senseless deaths to haunt him for the rest of his life. I want him to think about all the wounded, American & Iraqi, for the rest of his life especially those with PTSD. Most of all, however, I would hope that when he dies and goes to heaven, he gets to face every one of those young men and women his decisions helped to kill needlessly if, for no other reason, than to answer their questions of Why?

In conclusion, I am genuinely proud to call Michael Monsoor a brother-in-arms. His selfless sacrifice is in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Navy. As a SEAL, he was definitely one of the best of the best. He was also awarded the Silver Star for pulling a wounded teammate to safety in May 2006. This guy was about as selfless as they come. If you had to die, I only wish it would have been for a legitimate cause such as Afghanistan instead of Iraq. [author's note: Please click the below link to read the rest of the article.]

Quoted article courtesy of Yahoo! News: Bush Gives Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL

All hail the Torture President, George W. Bush!

In one more sign of his obvious asshattery, G-dub, that’s what I like to call him, G-dub, vetoed a bill outlawing the use of torture, or as the Whitehouse likes to call it, enhanced interrogation techniques. Waterboarding specifically. What the Army and Marine Corps can’t do per the Army Field Manual, Bush wants to allow the CIA to do. If it ain’t good enough for the Army to use, the CIA sure as shit shouldn’t be doing it either.

We all know that Bush ain’t the brightest crayon in the box, but how fucking stupid do you have to be to not understand that confessions given under duress are UNRELIABLE?I seriously hope that our elected representatives in Congress overturn this veto. Come on, Dems, do what we sent you there to do!

Read about Bush’s veto HERE.

The Beer Prayer

Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.
Thy will be drunk,
(I will be drunk),
At home as in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not to incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is the beer, The bitter and The lager.
Forever and ever,

Barmen