I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, why are you and I, personally you, I and everyone you know, expected to pay for Wall Street’s greed and dishonesty? They take our money, gamble with our futures and then run off in the sunset with enormous bonuses essentially for theft.

However, they have all of the money, and if they fall, what will happen?

I’ve found myself being swayed by the Bush White House twice before. The first was right after September 11th when they declared war in Afghanistan. We were all in shock after the attacks, and wanted justice to be served.

The second time was when our president, the leader of our country, lied to us and told us that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and was acquiring some scary weapons to attack us again.

Both were bullshit. Every time Bush goes on TV and urges us to do something, it is always a lie. Every time. Can you name just one initiative that you agree with? Other than perhaps moving Daylight Savings Time up a bit? They have done nothing but lie to and manipulate us, and therefore I don’t believe a word he says.

Even where there may be a grain of truth to it.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

I never thought that Arnold would be anything remotely like a good politician, but he constantly proves me wrong. Plus, it looks like he hates Bush as much as the rest of us, so he can’t be all bad.

From meignorant.com.

From Spiegel Online.

This was taken on MLK Day, no less.

From The Daily Dish.

You might want to start being more honest, now that you won’t have executive privilege to cover your butt. It looks like you and your friends lied 935 times to the public in the lead-up to the war! I mean, that’s less than a thousand, which is good, I guess, but if you are always lying to your new neighbors, they probably won’t respect you enough to turn down the music when it’s past midnight on a Tuesday, or loan you that cup of sugar you need.

Less than a year! What are your plans? I think you should get a job right away. If you take a few months of to “find yourself,” you might miss some great opportunities. I mean, you could probably go work for Halliburton! You’ve helped them out tremendously in the past, and I bet Dick will put in a good word for you.

I’m always here to help. Let me know if you need help finding a new place!

Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

(no, I didn’t make that)

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a measure that will be sent to the full House on Friday condemning the action that occurred decades ago. It’s not a binding measure, it’s a symbolic one that finally allows the US to formally acknowledge the atrocities that took place as ‘genocide.’

So what’s the problem? Well, for one, Turkey is pissed.

“Yesterday some in Congress wanted to play hardball,” said Egemen Bagis, foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “I can assure you Turkey knows how to play hardball.”

He said the response to the U.S. might not be the same, but warned if the full House passes it, “We will do something and I can promise you it won’t be pleasant.”

The administration is pissed, too. You see, Turkey is where we send supplies into Iraq from. If Turkey doesn’t want us there, it makes it harder to supply the troops (bad for the troops) and to wage war in Iraq (bad for the Iraqis, the residents of the Middle East, and pretty much everyone else, too). France formally declared the events genocide last year, and haven’t flown any planes in Turkish airspace since.

Some thoughts:

We do business with Germany on a regular basis. They are an ally of the US, and a country that is friendly to our citizens. We fought them in two major wars, and they murdered nearly 12 million people (I’m including the Poles, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, etc in that count in addition to the Jews). But here we are, friends and allies. Why?

Because Germany said that they fucked up in a major way. Not all wounds can be healed, but Germany has tried very hard to acknowledge the atrocities of the past and make amends. They’ll never be fully forgiven for that (not for a long, long time at least), but it is a starting place.

Turkey refuses to do that. They claim that the deaths were only around 150,000 people, and that Turks died as well, so that’s okay.

I’m proud of the House for forcing through a measure so unpopular with the administration, because it is the right thing to do. We’re not asking Turkey for anything. We are just deciding to acknowledge something horrible that happened.

By the way, what is Armenia’s take on this? No one seems to be asking them.

Edit: They are thrilled that people are finally noticing after all this time

Star Simpson: Arrested in Boston for walking into an airport with a circuit board and wiring strapped to her chest, carrying Play-Doh. After avoiding being shot by airport police by following orders, Ms. Simpson stated that she was wearing art, and wanted to display it. For bravery and dedication to her craft, Ms. Simpson is hearby declared: NOTABLE!

The Dedicated Traveler: A 15 yea old Russian boy fell out of a wheel well of a plan that flew from Perm to Moscow, a two hour trip. He was so frozen that authorities had difficulty removing his coat. He is being treated for severe frostbite in a Moscow hospital. Early reports had stated that he had ridden on the wing of the plane. No word if John Lithgow was watching him from the inside. For perseverance to cheap airfare, The Dedicated Traveler is declared NOTABLE!

He Who Doesn’t Check His Work: The White House slipped up (again) this week by accidently releasing Dubya’s speech to the UN in the original format. That is, the format he read it, viewed on a teleprompter. Apparently Dubya can’t pronounce certain things.

Pronunciations for President Bush’s friend French President Sarkozy “[sar-KOzee]” appeared in draft #20 on the UN website. Other pronunciations included the Mugabe “[moo-GAHbee] regime” and pronunciations for countries “Kyrgyzstan [KEYRgeez-stan]” and “Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a].” Someone didn’t look before submitting it to the public.

For his fearless efforts in not checking twice, He Who Doesn’t Check His Work is declared NOTABLE!