Well, it looks like Australianshave grown tired of watching their prime minister kiss the ass of President Bush.  Not only is John Howard out as Prime Minister he also lost his seat in Parliament! Something that has only happened once in 106 years of Australian government!  Wow, it seems like our president is still death to politicians around the world.  Hopefully, we’ll see a similar change in our government come January, 2009.

Considering the Democrats long support of labor movements I’m not completely surprised the candidates for president are refusing to cross the writers’ picket lines, but I’m also a tiny bit surprised.  Who would have thought this varied group of men and women could agree on something, something that could jeopardize their relationship with media moguls who raise a lot of money for them.  However, these media CEOs should know better.  I have to be upfront here: I totally support the writers on this issue.  I’ve done enough research on both sides to know the media companies are blowing smoke when they say it would break them to give writers the cents on the dollar they’re asking for in terms of DVD and Internet residuals, and I think they are on the losing side of this issue.  Missouri is far removed from Hollywood and the vagaries of the entertainment business, but we like to watch our favorite shows and I have been surprised at the number of people I know and work with who are following this mess; and how many of them seem to be on the writers side of this issue.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since the little man almost always sides against the big corporation.  When it gets right down to it, the Dem candidates are lot braver than they will ever get credit for by not crossing those pickets lines.  As that fool Sumner Redstone has often said, he votes for the candidate that will help his business, not the candidate that’s better for the country as a whole; and I think most of the media company CEOs are no different, so the Dems may not have that much to lose.

I’m a pretty liberal guy and I’m all for respecting the culture of other peoples and nations; however, this is something that deserves our contempt and outrage.  How even an Islamic nation in the 21st century can have the audacity to punish the victim of rape is beyond me.  And to punish this women with 90 lashes!  Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court heaped even more degrading humiliation upon this poor woman by increasing her punishment for having the un-Islamic audacity to speak out against this demeaning punishment.  What kind of message does this send?  There is no excuse, not even oil, that every country on the planet shouldn’t be speaking out against this, including the US.

First of all, yes, I know “dumb-assery” is not a word, but it worked in this instance to get over it.  Second, when I came across this article it’s the first thing that came to mind.  Apparently, Julie Myers, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a recess appointment by president Bush, sponsored a “best costume” contest in her department and gave the award to a white man who came to the office party dressed in black face and dreadlocks as an escaped prisoner.  So, my first question:  is this political correctness run amuck?  I have to say no.  Who in their right mind, especially someone in a position of authority as Ms. Myers, would find anything funny about this?  Well, we know who, don’t we?  The group of frat boys and sorority girl who seem to make up the majority of the president’s administration.  I’m sure even our former frat boy president would have got a chuckle out something so insensitive.

My second question and poorly chosen word:  is this dumb-assery?  You bet your ass it is!  Any person in a position of authority should no better than to reward something like this.  I’m as white as white can be, but even I would be uncomfortable in the vicinity of something like this.  That Ms. Myers chose to reward this speaks to her character more than anything else.  Of course, Ms. Myers has her defenders, one of whom is not surprisingly Senator Joe Lieberman.  I have to wonder if Mr. Lieberman would be so forgiving if this man had shown up wearing some equally inappropriate Jewish costume.

I’ve been away quite for some time now, really bored with all that’s going on in this country and around the world — same old, same old, you know?  However, as I sit on my fat ass I’ve been watching this fool of a president start beating the drums of war with Iran and it’s like déjà vu Iraq.  Pissing me off even more are the Democratic candidates for president.  Barak Obama, my early favorite, has made some serious mis-steps and all but ruined his chances to win the nomination.  Hillary Clinton, using her husband’s tactics of waffling, changes her opinion on Iran depending on who’s in the room.

With our military stretched to its limits, Iraq still a mess — no matter what feel good bullshit the Republicans and their enablers try to feed us, our economy in the shitter, and gas skyrocketing we do not need another war.  We especially don’t need another war based on even more flimsy evidence the president and his neo-con cronies are putting forth.  God damn these sons of bitches!  Do they feel nothing for the men and women who have to pay the price for their folly in blood, body parts, and lives?  It’s almost as if they know their in the twilight of their power and want to make one last disastrous stand before they’re out of office. 

Our country cannot take another war right not. Certainly not with a volunteer Army.  Can we say draft, anyone?  I hope Americans will not fall for this bullshit again.