Can I Take Your Picture?

If I were a perfectionist I would never pick up a camera again as long as I live.. unless you were peeing your pants or something really unbelievably laughable...

But, thank goodness, I'm not a perfectionist. So I'll continue to take dumb pictures like this:


thanksgiving breakfast in bed


or four of five of these...


leela

leela 27

just for luck.

But check out this site.

It's Los Angeles Through the Eyes of Location Scouts. I really liked the landscapes and architecture.

(Just finished watching Los Angeles Now on Independent Lens. They explained why LA feels like one small town connected to another. It was laid out that way.)

Reminds me of this other great photo site. Obscene Interiors, "a collection of male personal ad photographs and criticisms of the naive interior design exposed in these pictures. (No need to shield your virginal eyes, the often-nude figures have been laboriously obscured.)" It's a must see!

You Don't Support Our Troops!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I support the troops more than you do! How? I voted against the monkey who sent them over and I march as often as I can to bring them home. What are you doing about this?:

Guardsmen Say They're Facing Iraq Ill-Trained

Troops from California describe a prison-like, demoralized camp in New Mexico that's short on gear and setting them up for high casualties. By Scott Gold, LA Times

"These soldiers should be getting theater-specific training," Segal said. "This should not be an area where they are getting on-the-job training. The military is just making a bad situation worse.

"The soldiers at Doña Ana emphasized their support for the war in Iraq. "In fact, a lot of us would rather go now rather than stay here," said one, a specialist and six-year National Guard veteran who works as a security guard in his civilian life in Southern California.

The soldiers also said they were risking courts-martial or other punishment by speaking publicly about their situation. But Staff Sgt. Lorenzo Dominguez, 45, one of the soldiers who allowed his identity to be revealed, said he feared that if nothing changed, men in his platoon would be killed in Iraq.

Dominguez is a father of two — including a 13-month-old son named Reagan, after the former president — and an employee of a mortgage bank in Alta Loma, Calif. A senior squad leader of his platoon, Dominguez said he had been in the National Guard for 20 years.

"Some of us are going to die there, and some of us are going to die unnecessarily because of the lack of training," he said. "So I don't care. Let them court-martial me. I want the American public to know what is going on. My men are guilty of one thing: volunteering to serve their country. And we are at the end of our rope."

pummmmmmmmmmmpkin soooouuuuup

I agree. Get more ass 4 less! Merry Christmas!

They all think I'm Nuts!

I teach one day a week and I've noticed that lately the other teachers don't want to talk politics with me.

They're all liberals and stuff, but I think I bum them out too much.

I pretty much believe that we're not going to survive the next four years with George W. Bush in office. I mean that literally. We won't survive.

I am used to talking about it in terms of the apocalypse and so forth...

The other ladies have started telling me that things will be fine and not to worry. Then they change the subject to how bad the testing's gotten. They can't teach anymore. They have to test all the time. And then they have to prep for the next test. No real time for teaching and reflecting and learning.

And I'm all worried about the apocalypse and all...

Silly me...

Freedom Lights The Way

Freedom Lights The Way 

Dittoheads are kinda dicks, really

We got an unsolicited e-mail from a gloaty dittohead, but being a dittohead, the e-mail didn't make any real points other than a.) Hillary Clinton is bad for some reason B) Liberals/Democrats need to get over it C) Republicans are a persecuted underclass that need to be treated specially, because they can dish it out but they really, really can't take it.

This dumbfuck sent out this steaming pile of Limbaugh illogic, then cried like a bitch when people wrote back saying "hey-keep it to yourself, Nixon." He sent out an "I didn't mean to offend" repsonse. Oh, c'mon. Be a man. You DID mean to offend. Admit it. I might respect you if you did, but you won't , and I don't. You're dumb.

Why are the meat and potatoes Republicans such a bunch of crybabies?

I didn't reply to the e-mail, other than to say "REMOVE", and if the author strolls by this blog he might say "hey, you got something to say, why don't you e-mail it to my face..."

Here's why: you are not worth my time. I do believe you are dumb, ill-informed, short-sighted, and easily led by your partisan overlords at the EIB Network. Does that surprise you? Um, get over it, or to quote your mouthpiece Bill O'Reilly- SHUT UP.

No, for the next four years I'm not going to respond to your retardation- I'm going move on with my life and oppose your party's tactics and ambitions. But I'm not going to waste my time on "you people." I know what you have to say, because Rush has already said it.

And if you don't like the response you get when you take a crap in people's in-boxes, then go crap in the FreeRepublic boards, you dumb monkey. Or you could try growing up a little bit and take your licks when you pick a fight.

Ronald Reagan would think you were a wuss. I think you're an asshole.

Meanwhile, these OBSCURE CHINESE PROVERBS by Dennis Mahoney at McSweeney's are just the ticket to cleanse the brain from Special Ed Politics of Right Wing Hacks in your life.

Some favorites:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will starve before mastering the skill, thus saving you today's delicious fish.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever and yet appears much wiser than he who asked five minutes ago.

Go forth and boldly seek your fortune! Or go to grad school, I don't care.

Emperor George W. Palpatine

"That was before the Empire... before the Dark Times..." -Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

This from Newsday via Liberal Oasis:

CIA plans to purge its agency
Sources say White House has ordered new chief to eliminate officers who were disloyal to Bush

Knut Royce-Washington Bureau
November 14, 2004
WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources."The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

Read it here.

I've been thinking about the similarites between the Bush Adminstration and the rise of Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars films. A quick google-job and I find that those egg(ers)-heads at McSweeney's have beat me to it. I love McSweeney's - it makes me feel cool AND smart, and helps me forget that these are, one way or another, the END TIMES.

Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State? It seems like everyday is backwards day in Jesusland. Failure=Promotion, Liberation=Heavy Civilian Casualties, 2 + 2 = 5.

You can be a Patriot Actor too

Take Action now!

Must ... clean ... house... must... leave... computer...

go here in the meantime:

Fallujah In Pictures

then

Rest your eyes, young one...

I am an Intellectual

Which America Hating Minority Are You?

Don't blame it on the Trucker and T-Bones

They were passed out.

But they're conscious now and ready to help us cry in our beers at Largo this Saturday night.

Be there or be an up-tight, religious extremist with a pole up your ass!


peace out

Let's the secession talk stop and the healing begin...Texas Style!

(Chamizal National Park in El Paso, Texas)

So Bush is reaching out to this half of the electorate with a more moderate choice for Attorney General and replacing John Ashcroft with Alberto Gonzales.

A lot has already been written about AG. The thing that struck me was this little bit of advice that he gave W back in 97 when he was advising him to put a Mexican citizen to death:

"Since the State of Texas is not a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we believe it is inappropriate to ask Texas to determine whether a breach … occurred in connection with the arrest and conviction" of a Mexican national. Or, put another way, he asserted that an international treaty just didn't apply to Texas.

Now being an escapee from Texas this doesn't surprise me one bit. One thing that most non-Texans don't know is that when Texans are all growing up we get big doses of Texas history in the public schools. Now that ain't that big of a deal, right? But here's the thing... ask any Texan you know... preferably one who's got a lot of Texas National Pride, about Texas' right to secede.

See, as far as I can tell, we were all educated back in 7th grade to believe that when Texas rejoined the Union after the Civil War (the first one, that is), the state retained the right to secede.

Is it true?

Fuck no.

But you tell me... if a whole bunch of people, say a whole bunch of people who are real proud of their huge state, for no apparent reason... I mean, not that they have anything to be ashamed of -- but there isn't that much difference between them and Oklahomans and Louisianans and New Mexicans -- except if you say that to their faces they'll get all puffed up and stupid... Come to think of it, that's at least one thing they do have to be ashamed of...

I mean, give me a break. If you tell someone from Arizona that their land or people remind you of New Mexico, they're not going to go off on you. And I have yet to see residents of any other state who have some picture or painting or decoupage facsimile of their state hanging on every surface of their home or office... Have you ever watched "King of the Hill?" Notice their houses and their bars and their schools and their stores? Texas, Texas everywhere and not a soul to think...

But, anyway, if a whole big bunch of stubborn, proud, loud, defensive people have all been educated that they are somehow special, and they have the right to secede any damn well time they please... well, doesn't that mean something? Whether it's true or not, isn't it a set-up for a bad scene, at the very least?

I mean, their main symbol of pride is the Alamo. Remember the Alamo! Have you ever been to the Alamo? Don't you dare even think about fucking around at the Alamo... or keeping your baseball cap on indoors at the Alamo... the guards'll come up and tell you to take that thing off... and the thing about the Alamo... THE TEXANS LOST! It's a perfect symbol in some ways... it sort of makes sense when you think about how defensive they get if you even question anything about Texas...

And it explains why our president is such a petulant, pissy little bully too...

Myths about Texas and secession here and here.

Myths busted about Texas and secession here and here and here

Info about the Republic of Texas secessionist movement here

The F word

No, not Fallujah...

not fascism...

the tradional "F" word...

Headline of today's Variety:

SAVING PRIVATE *#@! RYAN
by Josef Adalian

...While "Saving Private Ryan" got strong ratings in its initial airing, ABC affils repping more than 35% of the country have now told the net they won't air tonight's encore broadcast of Steven Spielberg's D-Day epic.

The scheduled preemptions come even though most, if not all, of the stations now balking at running "Ryan" have aired it in the past. Pic, which contains more than three dozen utterances of the word "fuck," must air in its unedited form, as per ABC's license agreement with DreamWorks.

But with the FCC and Congress threatening blockbuster fines for stations that air indecent material before 10 p.m., a slew of station groups have told ABC they don't want to take a chance on viewers complaining to the FCC.

..."This is frightening," a rival web exec said. "Decisions to pre-empt shows are usually based on community standards. Now what they're making the decision on is fear of government action. That's scary.

... While affils from some stations say they're not sure they can risk airing "Ryan" in the current political environment, others, including Pappas-owned KHGI in Lincoln, Neb., argue preempting the pic is a public service.

"Pappas has decided that the interests of the viewers of KHGI, the Lincoln-Hastings-Kearny, Neb. market, are best served by preempting this program," read a statement released by the company. "Pappas Telecasting and its management have been in the forefront of regulatory efforts to eliminate profanity, indecency, and gratuitous violence from network programming, particularly during times when children may be watching..."

What the FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY? Our soldiers are dying in Afghanistan and Iraq, and people are worried about the word FUCK?

Do you think that Marlboro Man in Fallujah, the guy the NY Post put on its' cover, watches his language as he slogs through the streets of Fallujah?

Is this the "morality" people allegedly voted for last week? Every little kid in America should see the carnage depicted in the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Fucking Ryan.

More...

"While the stations didn't get any complaints about "Ryan" the last two times it aired, (Ray) Cole (prexy of Citadel Communications) cited Janet Jackson's Super Bowl peepshow and last week's election as reasons for keeping "Ryan" off the air."

Civility

Just received this nice email from a fan in a red state:

From: FishermanDave@webtv.net
Subject: the cold civil war
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 17:58:59 -0500

this division will not heal, it will fester and lead to open
conflict.......and we red states are well armed.

semper fi

Nice, huh?

Let the healing begin...

you and me, us and them

i knew this guy who worked at the haight ashbury music store. he had worked there forever... i think his name might have been ed. i obviously didn't know him very well. i met him through my friend ian, who's now about 12 but was then about 2 or 3 and since he was such a little fella walking up and down haight street, he was pretty much a celebrity.

so at a long weekend bbq or something one time, i heard ed talking about his work and how he had to deal with all sorts of folks... i can just imagine. it was the haight and it had new hippies and old hippies and foreign tourist and american tourists and celebrities and jerks and cool people of all stripes. he was talking about some deadhead who came in and was trying to jerk him around about something and how this guy started going off about "you just don't like us" and "all of y'all hate us.." and ed said, "hey this isn't about us and them, this is about you and me... you aren't being cool, man. deal with me straight and i'll deal with you straight."

well, i really try to keep that in mind alot these days. especially lately since we just returned from bible land. (i know that the secessionists are pulling for "jesus land" but i hope the red states will pick "bible land." isn't it prettier? "bible land.")

prior to our trip, i considered myself an atheist. i find atheism to be quite intoxicating sometimes... in the way that i found being born again to be when i was young. really grasping, embracing the practice of living in the moment can make you high sometimes, open the senses and the heart... and i read the bible much more now that i've embraced atheism. i have this one great book, "Dial-An-Atheist Greatest Hits from Ohio" by Frank R. Zindler, it's practically a guide to the bible. (since it's out of print, let me know if you want any cool info and i'll share... there's a great little article on testaments and testicles)

in researching atheism i found out that there are basically two schools of thought in atheism "regular" atheism and "positive atheism." (no, these aren't the only sources, but this source inspired me) . i'm just scratching the surface on this but it seems that the regular brand is kind of "anti-religion" and the positive brand is a more activist movement, all about taking responsibilty for our time on earth and our actions.

albert einstein said, "if people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." i couldn't agree more...

so after my trip through the south, when i started actually feeling anti-christian, i had to check myself. it's hard to not blame this group of people for being so narrowminded, exclusive and hypocritical... especially after reading articles like this one that points out that the highest divorce rates are found in the states with the highest numbers of evangelicals, the folks who want to "protect" marriage... it's hard not to generalize and not to judge... but then again that's exactly why i'm pissed off at those tight-asses in the first place so i better loosen up, eh?

in the days immediately after 9-11 we found ourselves suddenly in texas, shell-shocked after driving two days straight from manhattan. my grandmother was deathly ill and we thought she wasn't going to make it... new york had been filled with such a deep, heavy, silent sadness. as we drove south, away from the city, the radio waves just started filling the air with vitriol and hate. it got louder and more vicious the further we got from ground zero. it was almost as if folks needed to feel a part of what had happened and the only way they could connect was through their baser instincts...

that first sunday after that awful tuesday we sought some sort of communion or like-minded community and i was able to revisit my old unitarian universalist church. the congregation was doing its usual post sermon round-robin conversation that happens in all the uu churches that i've been to. this was after the falwell/robertson remarks about how the sins of the heathens and gays had worn away god's forcefield around the twin towers and brought on all this pain and devastation. understandably, there was one man there who just kept trying to turn it into a vent session against the fundamentalist christians. finally the pastor had to remind him, and us, that it was our job to understand the need that the christians had to believe. even if we don't share their beliefs, we must try to understand their need to believe.

and that's where i'm at. i have to remind myself. it's not us and them... it's me and you. and even though i don't believe in your god, there have been times when i certainly wished that i did. it would have made things so much simpler,comforting even, believe me.. and because of that i will work harder to understand your beliefs...and your need

it's the least i can do with this moment i have on this planet.

Liberal Elitists Unite!

Whatever you do, DON'T TRUST THE SMART PEOPLE!

We're so sorry...

So very, very sorry...

Check this out

Sad sad Americans, everywhere you look...

and now it's the Sad vs. the Sadder...

Thomas Jefferson and the Reign of Witches

Garrison Keillor just read this on A Prairie Home Companion. From one of Thomas Jefferson's letters:

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches passover, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight,restore their government to it's true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war & long oppressions of enormous public debt. But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when & where they would end? Better keep togetheras we are, hawl off from Europe as soon as we can, & from all attachments to any portions of it. And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, & then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost,for this is a game where principles are the stake. Better luck, therefore, to us all; and health, happiness, & friendly salutations to yourself.

Adieu.

Thomas Jefferson

P. S. It is hardly necessary to caution you to let nothing of mine get before the public. A single sentence, got hold of by the Porcupines, will suffice to abuse & persecute me in their papers for months.

The Porcupines?

UPDATE 11-09-04: So, Babs Streisand has posted the same passage on her site? But she edits out that part about "hawling off from Europe." She probably felt that you, dear reader, weren't sophisticated enough to put the quote into historical context. Because she's an elitist! But the important point is: I give credit to Garrison Keillor. I am not about to try to fool you into thinking that I'm the type of guy that has random Jeffersonian quotes rattling around my brain ready to trip off my tongue the second I sense a corollary to these troubled times. No, I'm more likey to come up with a quote from Star Wars.

Like Princess Leia regarding the Bush Iraq Plan:

"This is some rescue- when you came in here didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

But... but...

(click photos to enlarge)

I thought the whole point was that we could lay down our sins before Him and He would take care of everything ...

Isn't that what they say on the christian TV? They're always talking about having these great carefree lives and stuff after they find jesus... like they won the lottery or something... i think the scary secret is -- and I know this from super-duper personal experience -- that born again stuff wears off. It's like being god-intoxicated. You have to keep getting your hit... and you can't drink or nothin, so you really have to get a good hit... That's why they're always so passionate and hyped up and stuff. They're trying to come on... I think that's why those shows are always so self-centered/self-improvement, infomercial-ly..

They certainly don't talk about any of the bible-y "least among us" stuff. That's what I really got into when I used to ride the bus to church every sunday in junior high... some girls were into horses, I was into the less fortunate... (ok, ok, i was into the handicapped, i'll admit it... i don't know why but i had a bunch of handicapped friends at church and school... go figure... and then later, in high school i dated a drug dealer but i think that was different...)

But it took me a really long time on google to even find a christian willing to talk about the helping out the poor/weak/mean... Except the anti-abortion folks, they care a whoooooooole lot about the least among us, until The Least are born that is. Then the least among us can starve to death or die of some horrible illness or got to jail or live their whole life on life-support or ... you get the picture...

And, in case you don't, I've got pictures for you right here:









These photos are all from our Dodging the Apocalypse Tour. This place was called Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries and it boasts the largest cross in the western hemisphere (19 stories, I think). This is the anti-abortion part of their ministry. And THIS is the money money money part of their ministry. Just think what $3,000,000.00 a year could do for The Least already on the planet... and, as my husband keeps reminding me, abortions are up under W, the Born Again, compared to Clinton, the Damned Forever...

But I did finally find some good christian stuff... this sermon kinda reminds me of my jesus :

This is what Jesus says to ... those who are headed to everlasting life, found in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 34-36: (Matthew 25:34-36 NKJV)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"'…Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a .. description of the last judgment. Human destiny seems to revolve around kindnesses done to God. But God is never hungry or thirsty or imprisoned. Jesus [addresses this] in Matthew, chapter 25 and verse 40 when He said: (Matthew 25:40 NKJV)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"'…Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesus is saying that kindnesses done for the least among us, the least of God's children, are done to God Himself. God is there among the poorest. God is there among the least worthy. God is there among the worst of society that must be imprisoned. And every attempt to meet their needs touches God's heart. It's as if he were in need. It's as if we clothed and fed him.

So there it is... Jesus was a communist hippie freak, or some kind of LIB-ER-RUHL, or at the very least, he believed in -- hold on -- brace yourself -- SHARING. [[[gasp]]] He wasn't a greedy, judgemental, right-wing nutbag. He was a big ol' lefty. And take heart, comrades, there is a soft place to land. It's called the religious left. I won't necessarily be partaking of it anytime soon, but it's nice to know that it's there... The right has tried to comandeer our patriotism and we haven't let them. Now they're trying to take away "morality." How dare they...

Let America Be America Again

OK, OK, no more maps... but just one more thought...

I was never afraid of dogs... I grew up with them and around them and though I respected them and wouldn't go willy nilly into the face of a strange one, I wasn't afraid of them... That was, until I moved to the country. Then everything changed.

Dogs in the country are different.

City dogs would never lunge at you or growl all the time or keep you from passing them on the sidewalk... I mean, they might try, but then they'd be a psycho dog and they'd be ostracized and muzzled and kept out of the doggie park and sent to obedience school or a doggie therapist or put on Prozac or something... Something would have to be done because anti-social doggie behavior just ain't cool, man.. and quite frankly, you, the owner, end up looking like a jerk, too, so you better do something about it.

But, like I said, country dogs are different.

Country dogs can be real assholes. They can do all of the shitty behaviors described above and get rewarded for it. Why? Because they're territorial. They're guarding shit. You're a fucking stranger and you better keep off their land or away from their truck or just out of the fucking way. Bark, motherfucker, bark! You heard me! BARK! ... They may also be jerks because their owners are less likely to take care of them when they're in need... like in need of care or warmth or shelter. In Texas, where I come from, it's often just a given that "dogs belong outside." Who cares if it's freezing rain or 100+ degrees outside. They're animals... They can handle it... A friend of mine who's a vet tech was telling me that it's way fashionable to have Chows in Dallas. Chows have big thick coats. Dallas is hot. She says pet owners are morons. She's from California originally. She's having trouble adjusting...

Anyway, as I've been saying, I've been obsessing on maps and populations and trends and civil wars and BIG GIANT EMPTY RED STATES and LITTLE TINY CROWDED BLUE CITIES and I was thinking about how I believe that us city folk may be little more tolerant of other peoples' choices and different cultures because we rub shoulders with folks more often. We share sidewalks and subways and intersections and breakfast places with people who look different than us -- sometimes downright strange -- sometimes they even speak a completely different language all around us in our own neighborhood. It causes confusions sometimes. Sometimes it even causes anger and/or frustration. But if we want to stay in the city we better chill or else we'll be the psycho dog. And then we'll either have to shape up or ship out.



City Dog


Country Dog


To be continued... Next, Grover Norquist compares the Democratic minority in Congress to neutered animals and says they will get along much better once they accept their subordination... STAY TUNED!

Pink and Blue

I've had maps on the brain all day... listening to too much Righteous Radio Repugs. I started with this little rant down below disparaging Sean Hannity but the folks over at Media Matters wrote a much more civilized article with even niftier interactive MAPS so check us both out!

But all that spatial/graphic/geographic/landslidic obsessing got me thinking 'bout somthn else so I'm just gonna spew it!

Go ahead -- compare and contrast! Yet again!

First, here's the electoral map from this here year's presidential election. Notice that all of us homo-lovin, tree-huggin, war-hatin, health-care-wantin, patriot-act-fearin... you get the idea... notice that most of US live in the BLUE states:

Now, here's an old timey map from just before the civil war -- the first civil war, that is... notice that all the slavery-hatin, "morals"-carin, freedom-lovin, and-willing-to-fight-for-it types are depicted in PINK (or LIGHT RED for you Orwellian, conspiracy freaks out there)...



Now for fairness' sake, only the darker states were the slave states. The lighter, green states hadn't decided yet, or weren't states yet, or were still fighting the laws that said no more slave states... but those pink states... they were sure. They were free. And now they are FUCKING BLUE!

We have a proud, long heritage. And it is a moral one. And curse words notwithstanding, you self-righteous hypocrites can go Cheney yourself!

Fallujah to be liberated, um, again?

Today at cnn.com:

Allawi: Falluja will be liberated
With U.S. and Iraqi forces gearing up for an expected major offensive in Falluja, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Friday that "we intend to liberate" the city. Against this backdrop, Allawi said today the "window is closing" for a peaceful settlement in the "Sunni Triangle" city. The assault is being planned at a camp outside the city, where Marines are rehearsing urban warfare.

From the AP via Yahoo:

U.S. troops sealed all roads to Falluja on Friday and in Arabic leaflets
and loudspeaker messages urged women, children and non-fighting age men to flee, but said they would arrest any man under 45 trying to enter or leave the city. "The American forces call on women, children and civilians to leave Falluja
for their own safety," said the leaflet.

From Reuters via Common Dreams:

They said the attacks were the heaviest for several weeks. Hospital doctor Ahmed Mohammed said five people had been killed, including a woman and a child. All had been in a car hit in an air raid while trying to escape the violence.

From Operation Truth:

Much of America has been naive enough to think that politics was not playing a part on the battlefields of Iraq. Well America, good friggin' morning. Here is your wake up call. This is as clear as it gets. The White House was waiting until after the election to crank up the intensity in Iraq. The gloves are off now, and three days after our Presidential Election, the Battle for Falluja begins.

Support Our Troops*: Operation Truth

* (unless they're a Swift Boat Democrat, then DESTROY THEM)

I heard Sean Hannity was stupid but I had no idea...

So when we were driving back from hell, er, Arizona and Texas, yesterday we were masochistically scanning the AM airwaves, listening to the self-righteous gloatfest. The Sean Hanniacs kept referring to this wonderful map on Hannity.com (no link -- look it up yourself -- he's a fucking moron).



So the crackers were all thrilled about this map because it shows the election results by county and it proved to them that there was even more RED RED RED land than they thought. Woo-fucking-hoo!

So I took about three seconds on google and looked up "map of population by county" and found this map from the US Census.



Now what does this map tell me? It tells me that the blue counties -- aka LIB-ER-RUHLS -- are WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE!

Now if I were some kind of educated elitist I might jump to some kind of conclusion that folks who live closer to their neighbors break down barriers, dispel prejudices, learn that we are more alike than different, that we all need help from time to time and the world is actually safer when we have discussions and look out for one another rather than hunker down and lob bombs -- literally and theoretically -- from a distance. But god forbid I make any kind of educated guess based on life experience and tangible evidence. Plus, I'm obviously being naive -- and just plain wrong. This election has taught me, instead, that isolationism is moral, discrimination is just and everyday is opposite day.

Hopefully, as soon as the nausea subsides, I'll get the hang of this...

UPDATE: For a more restrained and articulate -- though no less factual! -- argument, check out Hannity, Scarborough, Henninger, and O'Reilly deceptively used maps to overstate Bush victory at Media Matters

Ohh... this must be what they meant by morals

This sounds about right...

(click on image to enlarge or here for original link)

Vote you mother@#%*ers!

Cactii

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