Is Bush 41 Grinding His Teeth?

I have been fascinated to imagine the true relationship between Bush 41 and Shrub. Junior's administration often seems dismissive, and sometimes downright disdainful, of Daddy's stewardship of the nation. Papa Bush, the former diplomat and quintessential wonk, surely is rankled by the blustery, boneheaded foreign policy of the Boy.

Now Shrub's spokeman, (and Rush Limbaugh substitute) Mr. Snow, has pretty much officially blamed the terrorist attacks of 2001 on the wimpiness of post-Presidential buddies, Bush 41 and Bill.

Now, when the United States walked away, in the opinion of Osama bin Laden in 1991, bin Laden drew from that the conclusion that Americans were weak and wouldn't stay the course, and that led to September 11th.

-Tony Snow, 8/9/06

Maureen Dowd says Daddy oughta spank George W.

Maybe America will assume, belatedly, that parental duty in November.

The Wisdom of the Neo-Cons 0001

"This war is over. The only question now is whether a new provisional government is installed before the BBC and The New York Times have finished running their exhaustive series on What Went Wrong with the Pentagon's Failed War Plan. . ."

-Mark Steyn, May 4, 2003

Ahhh, the swagger of the neo-con. Remember? May of 2003. The Mission had been "accomplished". Check it out at Craig's Donkey Path blog. Do you have an example of Neo-Con Swagger, uh, Wisdom? Send it to thelimb@mac.com.

Cruella de Right-Wing

Cold Flute notes that:

...even Fox News may be getting tired of [Cruella-de-Right-Wing's]* nonsense...

*My substitute for the woman's more usual name. The Limb usually eschews ad hominem arguments. In the case of Cruella, however, I cannot resist. The evil extremist pronouncements from her arrogant lips have been so vile that I do not hesitate to call her by a more appropriate name.

(Bill Press quotes Cruella)

“I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much,” [Cruella] writes of women whose husbands were killed in the Twin Towers. By speaking out after Sept. 11, she charges, they have proved to be nothing but “self-possessed,” celebrity-seeking “broads.” We shouldn’t pay any attention to them, says [Cruella], because: “How do we know their husbands weren’t planning to divorce these harpies?”

Former Senator Gary Hart:

In 21st century America the current government (the presidency and Congress of one party) has taken control not only of defense and military policy, but also military operations. No other administration, including that of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War or Franklin Roosevelt in World War II, has ever done that. The unprecedented imposition of neoconservative ideology on military operations has led directly and inevitably to the debacle in Iraq.

Perhaps that explains why an unprecedented number of retired generals have felt duty-bound to speak out against the current administration.

Reclassification

The former planet, Pluto, patron saint of children, has been officially kicked out of the heavenly pantheon of planets and downgraded to "dwarf planet" along with the former asteroid, Ceres, and Pluto's slightly larger and much more distant Kuiper Belt fellow, 2003UB313. (Click on image to see a larger version.)

It occurs to me that if a dwarf "planet" can be recognized as such and downgraded, something could be done to properly label a dwarf president. What do you think?

Your Three Favorite Bloggers...

From the Questing Parson:

Statistics say that one of every four people is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three favorite bloggers. Now if they make sense . . . .

A Liberal Activist Judge

RJ Matson is one of my favorite cartoonists:

















Click on the cartoon above to see more of his stuff!

The Questing Parson: "Where We Were Shot"

The Questing Parson has written a wonderful essay about war called "Where We Were Shot". Please read it. You will be moved by it.

The things I remember most about Granny are her bony fingers and her raspy voice.
There was the day she beckoned me to her with that long index finger of her left hand. As I arrived in front of her knees, she used that same index finger to hook my shirt (white and button up) and lift it to my chest. And then, slowly, she inserted the end of her right index finger into my navel. Holding it there, she said, “See where, when you were a baby, the Yankees shot you.”

"...values and ideas which set this Nation apart..."

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor closed her opinion striking down George Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program with this wonderful quotation from Chief Justice Earl Warren:

Implicit in the term ‘national defense’ is the notion of defending those values and ideas which set this Nation apart. . . . It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of . . . those liberties . . . which makes the defense of the Nation worthwhile.

- Justice Earl Warren, U.S. v. Robel, 389 U.S. 258 (1967)

Pop Culture Wins Again!

It has become obvious that my virtual life has taken a backseat to the real thing. So I think I'll just blatantly steal other folks' stuff for a while. (Later note: Didn't work. I couldn't stop myself from commenting.)

My friend the Rev. Frank Logue (I'll never get used to that title!) at King of Peace Episcopal Church in St. Marys GA has posted the following essential information from Reuters. Check out Frank's blog for some thoughtful writing and to confirm whether you also know this stuff.

20.5% of us know who wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey.
60% know Bart's daddy of the same name.

37% can name the planet closest to the sun.
60% know the planet that was Superman's first home.

42% can name the three branches of our governmenrt.
74% can name the Three Stooges.

11% can name the Supreme Court Justice confirmed in January 2006.
23% can name the most recent "American Idol".

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Now, what I'd like to know, out here on my limb, is:
What percentage of Americans still "know" there were major WMD in Iraq in 2003?
How many "know" Saddam was associated with Al Qaeda?
How many "know" Al Gore claimed to have "invented the internet"?
How many "know" Democrats voted "for the Iraq war" or "beleived there was WMD" and therefore have no right to oppose Bush's preemptive war.?
I suspect if you can come up with the answers to those questions they will match closely Bush's current approval numbers.

Well, I just can't help myself --I couldn't keep from thinking of the many Americans who not only don't know important information, but who make matters worse by "knowing " a lot of misinformation.