Palestinian Protests In Times Square

Here's a glimpse of what's happening on 7th Avenue between 42nd and 37th Streets today.

From what I understand, it was a joint Palestinian/Israeli protest to stop the bombing in Gaza. I did see one sign that read, "Another New York Jew Against Israeli Apartheid."

And yet today we have this: Israeli ground forces enter Gaza in escalation

(Crappy photo taken from my Treo 700WX)

Must Reads

Paul Krugman: Bigger Than Bush

Glenn Greenwald: More oddities in the U.S. "debate" over Israel/Gaza

David Sirota: FDR prolonged the Great Depression? Really?

Christopher Cooper: Go Upright And Vital And Speak The Rude Truth In All Ways

Rude Pundit: End of the Year Haiku, Part 2 (Rude Readers Get Poetical) where a submission by yours truly was included. A shameless plug, I know, but something of which I'm proud.

Douchebag of the Week: Linda Hockaday

Who is Linda Hockaday you ask? She is the bus matron who decided that she couldn't be late for her church service on New Year's Eve, so she decided to leave a severely mentally handicapped man strapped in the back of her bus after it was parked in the lot for the evening.

Ed Wynn Rivera, who suffers from palsy, was left in the bus during one of the coldest nights of the year for 17 hours.

Hockaday's former boss at Outstanding Transport in Brooklyn wasted no time Friday in throwing her under the bus.
"She deserves whatever she gets," fumed Charles Curcio after firing his employee of 18 months. "I would not take her back. It's a disgrace."

I'd like to throw Hockaday under the bus... and then run over her... a few times.

T Minus 17 Days

"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."

- Washington, DC, December 2002

The Bush 9/11 Hero Myth

Bob Cesca mentions Mark Halperin's continual ass kissing of George W. Bush and the success that his administration has been, specifically in regards to the 9/11 response. How Bush responded is better than others would have done in Halperin's warped imagination. Because that's all it is: imagination. There's absolutely no way you can claim that one person would be better or worse in a certain situation than another unless you can repeat it. Although judging by Bush's record, I don't doubt many of us would have preferred someone else in his position... almost anyone else. Halperin is just spewing more Bush Legacy bullshit. If you can stomach it, here's a short clip of Halperin's rectum spelunking.

This "9/11 Hero" myth is the same myth of which Rudy Giuliani was the lucky recipient. I watched those towers fall as we were all trying to evacuate lower Manhattan. And believe me, had "America's Mayor" not been stupid enough to place the Emergency Control Center in the same location that was bombed in 1993, he would have been nowhere near the site.

It seems that hero status is automatically assigned to the leaders in charge (or rather elected officials who happen to be in office) in situations like this when it is those same leaders' negligence or indifference that helped to create the disastrous situation in the first place. I've been saying the same thing for years in regards to Giuliani. George W. Bush did absolutely nothing differently than what any other elected official would have done faced with the same scenario. Except maybe freeze in terror in the first 10 minutes after hearing the news. And starting an illegal war.

And the amazing thing is that nine months into his presidency, Bush mistakenly thought that a photo-op was the way to show his leadership. He learned nothing as time went on and continued that method for the rest of his time as "leader" of the free world.

T Minus 18 Days

"The best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole, is to give us clues and data."

- Washington, DC, December 2003

Happy New Year!

Hope you're all recovering nicely from a celebratory night of bidding farewell to a not so great 2008 (except for a certain special evening, of course). Now it's time to clean up the mess left behind and start again.

Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

Cry Me A River

Alberto Gonzales can't find a job.

Gonzales: "What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?"

Do you hear that? It's the world's smallest violin playing "You're Breaking My Heart."

The Smell Of Taint

Innocent until proven guilty. It's harder to accept than it sounds. But here we go again with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Under investigation and recently arrested on alleged corruption and perhaps a week away from being indicted, refusing to resign after repeated calls to do so, with a Senate Democratic Caucus who said they would not seat anyone he would appoint to the vacant seat left by the President-elect, after his lawyer insisting that he would definitely not appoint someone to the seat, what does Captain Helmethead do? He appoints former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's vacant seat. Oh, how he loves the smell of taint in the morning.

You really can't make this shit up. And when you listen to Burris speak with Rachel Maddow, he makes complete sense. Blagojevich is still the Governor, still has the responsibility of appointing someone to the Senate seat, still has not been indicted, and according to Burris, wants proper representation in the Senate for the people of the state of Illinois.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Still, it's a bitter pill to swallow, isn't it? Although I haven't heard the actual tapes (just snippets), Blagojevich is allegedly recorded trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. And yet, although Burris is scandal free according to the New York Times, there's still the smell of taint in the air. Blagojevich could have chosen Pope Benedict and it would still smell tainty fresh because of the green cloud of taint over Blago's taintilicious head. But hey, innocent until proven guilty, right? ...Right?

Where Did The Year Go?

Holy shit! It's New Year's Eve! More blogging later after I collect my thoughts, but for now, if we don't see each other until 2009, here's wishing everyone a very happy and healthy New Year full of joy and happiness!

(I'm saying it now because it's already 2009 in Australia... a concept that freaks me out a little. It's tomorrow in another country... cool.)

Scarborough PWNED By Zbigniew Brzezinski

Oh. My. God. It's a belated Christmas present. A Festivus miracle!

Today on Morning Joke™, Joe Scarborough spoke with former US National Security Advisor (and Mika's daddy) Zbigniew Brzezinski about the current Hamas/Israeli conflict in Gaza. Joe steps in it big time as he claims that "you can't blame what's happening in Israel on the Bush administration" and goes back to 2000 when Bill Clinton "gave Arafat and the Palestinians everything they could have wanted," to which Brzezinski responds, "You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you."

OH SNAP, MUTHAFUCKAAAA! (The throwdown takes place at 6:30 but watch Mika's take to the camera at 6:47 as she knows that Beaker is going to get steamrolled by her Pops.)

Brzezinski went on to explain what really happened while Joe licked his wounds. Instant classic! I think I'm going to make a ringtone out of this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(H/T Jason Linkins)

T Minus 21 Days

"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me."


- Washington, DC, December 2001

Jets Fire Mangini

I am one of many frustrated Jets fans who watch their team fall apart in December year after year.

NY Times: The Jets have fired Coach Eric Mangini, hours after the team completed a late-season swoon and was eliminated from playoff contention with a loss at home to the Miami Dolphins.

I'm used to seeing this, but it was especially greuling this season. The Jets went out and signed 87 year old Brett Favre to turn the team around after the quarterback injured team went 4-12 last season. The playoffs were in their sights after crushing an undefeated Tennessee Titans team 34-13 in Week 12 to take their record to 8-3.

And then the December collapse. They lose to Denver at home and San Francisco on the road. They squeaked out a win versus Buffalo with a last second defensive touchdown but then proceed to lose at Seattle to set up the Chad Pennington revenge scenario that took place yesterday.

The firing was deserved in my opinion. Eric Mangini looked like a deer in the headlights when it counted and had no second half adjustments to throw at his opposition. And even though the loss to the Dolphins was academic (the Jets needed to win and a Balitmore loss to get into the wild card slot), Mangini was stupid enough to admit that even though they were playing the Seahawks in Week 16, he was prepping for the Dolphins game for two weeks! He bypassed Seattle, and they wound up kicking the Jets around in the snow 13-3, and still lost to Miami with two weeks of preparation?! Unacceptable.

Congratulations to Chad Pennington and the Miami Dolphins for not only deserving to be in the playoffs, but knocking the New England Patriots out of the playoffs in the process. I hate those fuckers. It's of little solace but it does soften the blow just a bit.

One more thing: 48 days until pitchers and catchers. LET'S GO METS!

T Minus 22 Days

"I knew it might put [Senator John Breaux] in an awkward position that we had a discussion before the - before finality has, you know, finally happened in this presidential race."

- Crawford, TX, December 2000

Rush The Fucking Asshole

© Broadway Carl 2008
(sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon and inspired by Bob Cesca's post title)

Rush the Fucking Asshole, bloated as can be
Sits at his desk and spews his lies when he's OxyContin free
Little Chippy Saltsman thought it would be cool
To send a racist Christmas gift, he's another right wing tool

Operation Chaos didn't do a thing
For fat man Rush and the GOP to inspire the right wing
He called for violent riots like 1968
'Cause Rush does nothing else but try to stir up wingnut hate

Rush the Fucking Asshole, hoping to get laid
Smuggled in Viagra that he got from his ex-maid
Flew down to the islands with pills and his sex toys
But we all know that he flew down just to butt-fuck little boys

Little Chippy Saltsman wants the RNC chair
But after sending out those gifts he doesn't have a prayer
Chairman Michael Duncan says that he was shocked
What else did he expect from crazy druggies with small cocks?

Rush the Fucking Asshole, as fat as he can be
Always carries water for the Republican Party
One day Rush will clutch his chest and his heart will explode
And we will fin'lly be rid of that horrible pantload

Music Break! Paquito D'Rivera

Tico Tico

Driftglass' Rebuttal To Bob Herbert

Yesterday, I added Bob Herbert's editorial, "Stop Being Stupid" to my short list of "Must Reads." It looks like Driftglass has taken offense to Herbert's use of "We" in describing the stupidity of the American people.

I could not help but note that the technical term for people who tried to suggest any of this at any point over the last couple of decades was "Dirty America-hating Liberal".
...Truth is, Bob, there is no “we” anymore; there are those of us who look at your laundry list as a reasonable assay of our challenges and changes ...and there are the Pig People, their panderers, exploiters and ringleaders.

He makes some very good points, which is why I'm mentioning it here, but like I wrote in my comment on DG's blog, "when I read the article, I didn't include myself in the "we." I assumed Herbert was just being polite and not trying to be accusatory to get the "we" has was talking about to the end of his column. It's like the simpler days when we were in school and you aced a pop quiz but the rest of the class failed. The teacher berated the class as a whole but you knew he/she wasn't talking about you specifically."