Arkansas Blog

hurray

I hope this grave is located very near the wingnut tax lawyer's office where he's flying the flag upside down. I don't think the GOP is dead, we just wounded the bastid. I do expect the GOP to be in Intensive Care for several years to come. And it just might come to pass that Dr. Obama decides the best thing is to euthanize the sick old party. Wonder how many people would show up for that funeral?

I applaud Sen. Byrd for moving out of the way at just the right time. We didn't need a 72 year old in the driver's seat in the White House. We don't need a 90 year old Senator leading the charge to fix our money troubles. Time to do things that make sense for the good of all.

But shouldn't that darned flag be upside down and at half-mast?

They're in distress, after all!

I think it should be a Rebel flag.

You're right, Jo Carson, Byrd was too old. McCain too. I'm glad that Senator Daniel Inouye's youth will provide us a solution to this financial crisis.

What? Inouye is 12 years older than McCain? Oh.

MAX..... IN YOUR DREAMS............ DREAM ON.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE" IS I HOPE WHAT IS NOT TO COME. THERE WAS MORE SUBSTANCE FOR THE ISSUE ABOUT A DOG FOR THE FAMILY THAN WHAT NEEDED TO BE FOR THE COUNTRY...
WE WILL ALL GIVE HIM A CHANCE, AND NOT CALL HIM THE DISRESPECTFUL..LOW CLASS MUD YOU SLUNG AT PRES BUSH. HE IS STILL OUR PRESIDENT.. AND SO SHALL OBAMA BE. YOU SOW WHAT YOU REAP.. BE RESPECTFUL... I WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTFUL TO PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA, EVEN THO I DIDNT VOTE FOR HIM. THE OFFICE AND THE MAN WILL HAVE OUR RESPECT.. EVEN THO IT CANNOT BE SAID OF THE DEMOCRATS FOR THE PRESENT PRESIDENT.
EVEN 605 MILLION DOLLARS CANNOT BUY CLASS FOR SOME DEMOCRATS. IT DOESNT REALLY FOR ANYONE, EITHER YOU HAVE IT, OR YOU DONT. WE WILL SEE.

Some class you got there, Largey.

Zelda wins the electoral vote contest. Congrats!

=========
Barack Obama made history today in Nebraska.

The Democratic presidential candidate claimed an electoral vote in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District - the first time in more than four decades a Democrat won any of Nebraska's electoral votes.

The Omaha World-Herald is calling the race after Obama won 8,434 out of 15,039 early votes that arrived too late to be included in Tuesday's results. They were counted today by Douglas County election officials.

Those ballots give Obama a 1,260-vote lead over Republican John McCain in the 2nd District.

It also added one more electoral vote to Obama's win over McCain in Tuesday's election. The electoral count now stands: Obama, 365, McCain, 162.

=====

I'm just happy the guy won. (And I supported him over the long, improbable journey!)

ARK. BLOG: Hold on. It's not over until Missouri is over. And provisional ballots everywhere are a factor. there are still 11 votes out. Apple Thief guessed 375.

If you, or that family of wishful thinkers with the lawn display in Crestwood, think the GOP is dead, you're in for a rude awakening.

I'm bumping this from another earlier post because it's important reading for anybody who wants to consider themselves informed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A-T bloggers who care to actually read and inform themselves, if any (and I know there are some), might wish to take an hour or so to peruse David Bromwich's remarkable, incredible, article - "The Co-President at Work" - in the current issue of the New York Review of Books (at clicky link). He is Sterling Professor of English at Yale.

Among many salient excerpts from his lengthy analysis of Dick Cheney's long-building co-Presidency, the political and corporate minions (including Cheney's years as CEO of Halliburton) behind it, its nefarious effects on America's Constitution, and the neoconservatives' continuing influence no matter who is President, are these two:

"While at Halliburton, Cheney would commission a study of the utility of employing private security contractors to fight in wars - only a piece of "research" at the time, but it would pay later for both the company and the vice-president, with the off-the-books contracts that by privatizing state protection kept much of the Iraq occupation out of public view."

Or:

"When placed alongside the norms of the containment policy during the years 1946-1989, the new dogma betrayed a shift so tremendous that it could not have been ratified without a layer of well-instructed opinion makers [read media control] to prepare and soften its acceptance."

In lieu of many of the ill-informed yet passionate opinions expressed on this blog by those with the attention-span of a sound-bite, Bromwich's long piece is required reading for anybody seeking genuine understanding of the massive forces at work beneath the slow and ongoing hijacking of the Land of the Free.

BHO did not run on a Peace platform so brace your selves for more war:

Obama advisers discuss preparations for war on Iran
By Peter Symonds
6 November 2008

On the eve of the US elections, the New York Times cautiously pointed on Monday to the emergence of a bipartisan consensus in Washington for an aggressive new strategy towards Iran. While virtually nothing was said in the course of the election campaign, behind-the-scenes top advisers from the Obama and McCain camps have been discussing the rapid escalation of diplomatic pressure and punitive sanctions against Iran, backed by preparations for military strikes.

story on bluename link

Interesting links, both Norma and eLwood. I don't think anyone thinks the GOP is dead; they just lost a huge election, that's all. The brief history of the American Enterprise Institute and Project for the New American Century gave me a lot of context I didn't have before.

eLwood, that's unsettling information, but I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic that Obama's not stupid enough to use military force on Iran, and if anything, this is just posturing for political capital. He says that military force would be a last resort--which is invariably what every politician, including Bush, would say. I think the difference, however, is in how truly committed politicians are to that ideal. I'd wager Obama is far more committed than others.

Come on Missouri...I'll happily forfeit a win for even MORE electoral votes for Obama...especially from Missouri.

Fatass...I didn't and won't extend respect to a president, any president, who has had acted as disrespectfully toward our Constitution as Monkeyboy has...it is, according to him, 'just a piece of paper.' Respect is earned and Monkeyboy and his Party have gotten exactly what they deserve...'as ye sow so shall ye reap.' I respected Reagan...even though I disagreed with everything he did.

Only a fool along the lines of Monkeyboy would underestimate the Republicans and/or think the neocons are going quietly into the night. Hell, look how long Cheney/Rummy stewed/plotted after sanity brought an end to the Vietnam War (another war based on LIES). I honestly thought it took longer for a country to develop amnesia of the sort that allowed Cheney/the neocons to perpetuate another fraudulent war on the American public.

The big lessens Cheney's gang learned from the Vietnam disaster: Don't let Americans see the bodies coming home, keep our body count to a minimum (thus private Halliburton armies serve a dual purpose) and don't let Americans feel any of the economic effects of a war. Amazing...out of all the lessens to be learned, 'they' learned that crap. Nope...I ain't gonna respect em.

There is a old saying----'The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.' Obits can be made but they are very difficult to take back when it is obvious that they were in error. Plans are already in the works for bringing the Republican Party back to its roots that it had betrayed.

bitterroot?

Eureka: "bitterroot?"

No, I think actually this kind of root: see blue link.

What they learned from the Vietnam War was don't use the draft. Punks don't like to be drafted and the military prefers volunteers. Frankly, my experience dealing with draftees wasn't very good so I can agree with them on that.

Oooooo. strangelove, obvious GOP bigwig insider--with his fingers on the barely tangible pulse of the GOP--speaks:

"Plans are already in the works for bringing the Republican Party back to its roots that it had betrayed."

Do tell. Imagine that. Plans already in the works. He probably had lunch with Bill Kristol right after that conference call with Karl Rove on Wednesday.

Already plotting. Republican bastards.

Yea, plotting, scheming, collusion, don't you love it! Heh, heh, heh, heh!

I have come to believe that which former Arkansas football coach Lou Holtz used to say, but did not originate: "Nothing is ever as good as it seems or as bad as it seems." Both parties probably could use a little reminder of that cliche today.

Funny, Strange.

I dealt with a lot of draftees from 1970 thru 1976 and the only trouble I had was with the involuntaries. Two kids from Philadelphia that were given the choice of state prison for three to five for felony drug convictions and assault or join the service for a hitch and get probation.

They started sniffing glue within two week of coming on board for their first duty assignment adn were stupid enough to believe a black kid turned them in instead of every noncom and several officers spotting their using almost from the first. The two of them beat up the black kid with dogging wrenches and damn near caused a race riot.

The other couple of hundred of enlisted men I commanded and served with over my six years all received their Good Conduct medals, made E-6 within their first four of our six year enlistment. Although, we did sue the U.S. Government for breach of contract and won.

Universally (90 %) of nuclear trained enlisted sailors were in opposition to the war, but felt an obligation to our country to serve, even if we felt the war was wrong and that more war crimes occurred than just My Lai. But most of my guys had a year or more of college or were headed there.

We joked about getting our "baby killer" bonus and didn't wear our uniforms on public transportation. That way we avoided the damn hippy war protesters who didn't care about why we were serving or how we felt. I and some of my buddies think all of those that hung out in airports and train station to throw stuff over servicemen gave birth to the generation of PETA idiot that throw blood, stain or paint and totally missed MLK's and Ghandhi's precepts of nonviolent resistance.

I'm very proud that I and my shipmates fulfilled our duty to our country despite disagreeing why the US was in Vietnam. We upheld our oaths and defended and protected the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, domestic and foreign. It is sad to me that I don't feel that some of our present leaders did the same.

You would have hated us and we loathed lifer "Brass Hats." If it hadn't been for the replacement of the Navy Manual of Courts Martials with th UCMJ and the end of the "silent insolence" offense we would have spent a lot of time on report and in administrative punishment because while we did our jobs (I think surperbly and with panache and I have commendations and award to prove my commanders did also. We did not put up with the "Mickey Mouse" garbage about traditions and Naval terminology except to fulfill the mission.

I'm sorry your experience was so different. However, I thought you said you served in the 101th Airborne Division and I thought jump school at Benning, Ranger Training and Special Forces was limited to volunteers. We "nukes" were all volunteer, but most of us signed up a week or two ahead of our draft induction into the Army or Marines.

Click (my first ship is the little one)

helluva boat Doc.

You would have enjoyed my late friend Ron, who passed on last spring. Ron was a retired Commander. No one in Fayetteville was more outspoken against this Bush-Cheney Iraqi invasion
than Ron. He would go to local schools and remind youngsters there were other choices than the military. At 71 you could see him at the head of peace marches all of which were led by vets and a few of them career officers.

As an etymology researcher for the Smithsonian Institute he was horrified with Bush's environmental policies too. Helluva man . I miss him much.

If I could have spelled Daniel Inouye this afternoon I would have commented on how I think 84 is too old for such an important job, especially in the middle of a melt-down. I haven't kept up with Inouye, so I don't know if he's blinky or not. But look around your neighborhood and tell me if you see any other 84 year old person being worked like a dog.

Don't get me wrong...I love old people and lately I've been spending a great deal of time with some folks who remember the end of WWI. They're fabulous..amazing people, but way past working 12 hours a day on stuff more complicated than honors calculus. I am squarely against elder abuse.

I will be yelling cuss words at Obama the loudest if he ever pulls the crooked evil shit that Cheney-Bush have pulled over the last 8 years. I am no kind of party hugger. At the moment Republicans are the bad guys. If we go back to sleep and pay no attention to what the Democrats do....we'll have a Democratic Cheney-Bush of our own in a decade or so. I'm the single member of the Tell The Damn Truth Party.

One more thought. Obama needs to take a cue from Franklin Roosevelt back in 1932. After FDR won in a landslide, Herbert Hoover called him up and said why don't you come on over and help me fix this Depression thing. FDR politely said Thanks, but No Thanks! FDR didn't want any of Hoover's stink splashing back on him. Obama needs to keep saying we only have one President and that is GWB until January 20th. So I'm glad he talked about puppies today. No need to tie his new boat up to the sinking Cheney-Bush boat and both sink to the bottom. Let us hear more about puppies until the afternoon of January 20th.

Thanks, Elwood. I would have. This is my fourth attempt to reply and my post seem to zip into the Web Netherland when I click the Post button.

I wrote a long one admiring the integrity and character of your friend and remembering an Academy graduate and Admiral's son, who I believe would have suffered a hand amputation without anesthesia, before impugning his integrity, honor and self-image by approving of some of the attacks that the McCain campaign did.

Click . . . The first two mottos seem to encapsulate the nukes' motive and perhaps your friend's as well

He sounds like a man to be honored for his courage and conviction in our memories. Thank you, again.

Here's an old nuke motto we may need in the next four years and two months (approximately)

"Illegitimi Non Carborundum"
it means
"Don't Let the Bastards Grind Your Down"

The language was described as a "What Latin would be if it made sense." The man who described it was was a Kansas City Catholic Altar Boy who read the Vulgate daily and invited the plethora of Mormon Missionaries in to our apartment in Idaho to try to convert them to Catholicism by the philosophy of Logical Positivism with a wry smile.

Gary always did have a nuke's perverse intellectualism, enjoyment and humour to a degree that would floor others. He died of cancer less that a year after he was discharged. His retort to a re-enlistment officer giving him the obligatory speech about re-upping before starting the discharge was enshrined among those of us who served with him, although he said he heard the comment somewhere else.

I'll clean it up for the Arkansas Times blog, but remember he was a salty Machinists Mate First Class (E-6) ending six years of service (mostly at sea and in the Gulf of Tonkin and Yellow Sea. When the re-enlistment officer stopped and asked him what he thought. He looked directly in the eye and said calmly, "I would rather suck elephant genetalia at a nickel-a-herd than spend one more minute in this man's Navy."

In the stunned silenced that ensued, according to a Yeoman second class that was in the compartment working on some papers, he just as calmly got up, turned, grinned (out of eyeshot of the officer) and came down to the berthing compartment to his bunk and went back to reading Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (sic). We did have some characters.

I apologize to any I may have offended with Gary's quote, but I hadn't thought of him in too long and that line, while profane was funny. He also said that a quote by my old high choir teacher was perfectly correct, "A joke with a little dirt is better, sharper and funnier . . . and remember . . . the dirt is usually in your own prejudices and perceptions!"

In any case, I apologize.

ZELDA, (AND DBI AS WELL) THAT COBB YOU HAVE STUCK UP YOUR ASS (TO QUOTE JACK NICHOLSON TALKING TO SHIRLEY MCCLAINE,) IS REALLY MAKING YOU ALMOST IRRITABLY UNBEARABLE... GO GETCHA SOME R E S P E C T. LISTEN TO THE LADY SING ZELLIE BABY.
AND GET A GRIP.. BOY I BET YOURE HELL TO LIVE WITH.. MAYBE YOU AND DBI COULD GET ALONG.

GRUMPS ALL

LargeAss, your caps lock key is obviously stuck.

It's irritably unbearable.

That's okay Mean Girl, 'LargedumbAss' has to type with thumbs! "Thumbs-Up" LA...