The Bushies settle into private life with an innocent lil’ barbecue.

James Moore.

[N]one of this is our fault. America is not to blame. There are just some bad actors in high profile positions. Really? Our sports heroes are gone, exposed as liars and cheaters. The people we trust with our money turn out to be thieves of a magnitude not known to history. Our president lies us into war, ruins damned near every institution of our government with political folly, and then retires safe from the law in the western sun. You can’t even ask the question “What the hell’s wrong with us?” because the answer requires decades of explanation. An increasing number of Americans wonder if our country will even survive and a scary proportion of those have asked the troubling follow up question as to whether we deserve to survive and have entered our final decline.

Do we deserve to survive?
It’s an intricate question, even if a blunt one.  The people of America, taken as a whole, certainly want to survive, but to qualify that want with “deserve” questions whether or not we are entitled to survive, and that inquiry must take into account our national and personal values, and how we live them.

At least some of the outrage that courses through the American psyche today derives from recognition of our shredded values of justice, and whether we can still claim we are a nation of law when our leaders suffer no consequences for their crimes.

The Republicans can feign shock at such suggestions, and the Democrats can attempt to ignore the anger of the people, even as Obama skirts the issue with his remark that “No one is above the law,” which becomes a hollow platitude when divested from the will to prosecute War Crimes committed by the Bush-Cheney regime.  At the end of our days as a nation, should this sorry state of affairs be our undoing, history will certainly condemn our lack of will to live the truth of our professed values;  the dream that was America will have become a nightmare.

But it may also be worse than that.  At the end of our days as individuals, there will only be one judge whom will be deciding our fate as continuing self-conscious, personal beings. Pleas of “It wasn’t my fault” will fall on the ear of infallible Deity;  not the bored and callow critics of the failings of a faint-hearted people.  The personal cost for the failure to live the values we say we profess in our hearts will be far more dear than the mere degradation of a failed nation.

•

But look you well to the goal of destiny! Pleasures are indeed suicidal if they succeed in destroying property, which has become the institution of self-maintenance; and self-gratifications have indeed cost a fatal price if they bring about the collapse of marriage, the decadence of family life, and the destruction of the home— man’s supreme evolutionary acquirement and civilization’s only hope of survival.

—The Urantia Book

•

Bush shorter . . . and worser . . . and eviler . . . than you ever imagined.
(Even worse than the clip right below this one, because more of it will sink in.)

If we are a nation of laws, this booking photo must be taken.

Steven Weber.

[F]or George Bush, introspection is yet another thing he’s heard about that a guy in his position oughtta do from time to time.  After all, he will have been a two-term president and he can afford, after all the heavy lifting he’s done, to be philosophical (another thing he’s heard guys like him oughtta be from time to time).

But reflection is impossible if there’s no light. Or intellect. Or wisdom. Or truth. Any analysis he could offer on virtually any subject would be severely handicapped at conception, born into this world already abridged and pre-regurgitated.

The Emperor’s New Clothes 2.0 that was the Bush 43 administration generates as much stunning incredulity for its blatant Orwellian Newspeak bullshit quotient than for the actual deeds themselves so ably performed by the neo-con goon squad in the names of Profit and Power. It suggests not mere political obfuscation or slick sleight of hand practiced by pickpockets working a crowd at a carny but the existence of an actual survival technique practiced by the über-wealthy and über-powerful: the creation of individually tailored truths, codes of behavior that have little to do with traditionally disseminated rules for peaceful coexistence by which the smaller, less affluent, less powerful, less important people live.

George Bush offers us wistful admissions of fallibility, as if that will assuage his despicable, destructive reign. He trusts that the little people themselves will not want to reflect on the damage so he, magnanimous god that he is, does it for us. But if, after all the celebration fades and an Obama government takes its turn there is no legal and/or highly visible reckoning of BushCo’s treasonous, historic misdeeds then we are the ones in serious need of reflection.

It has always been us who are in need of deeper, more profound reflection. But if reflection is only possible when there’s light, where does that light come from?

Congressional democrats? Constitutional scholars? Liberal media??  Don’t make me verp.

Jesus said that he was the “light of the world.“ And he told us to let our light so shine before men that they may “see your good works and be led to glorify [our] Father.”

The light by which we must do our reflection on the deeds of George Bush and Dick Cheney must be one of divine truth and eternal justice.  Yes, there is a semblance of justice and truth in the laws set out in our constitution, but we have all been witness to how easily they have been distorted, trampled upon, and cast aside during this last eight years of the Bush debacle.

What is needed now is a new benchmark for justice.  One based on a higher and more profound recognition of the reality of mankind, one that involves the very highest morals and ethics known to man.  One that still has its roots based in the “Golden Rule“—  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Do we, as a nation, as a race of human beings, desire to live by the rule of law and the ways of justice?  Then we must actually live our lives accordingly, and demand that our elected officials do so as well.  If there is no accounting, there is no justice.

Looking decidedly uncomfortable in the habiliments of their stature as last judgment defendants, George Bush and Dick Cheney stand before the Eternal Judge of the Ages. (Click)

MANSONIA ONE — With eyes averted and lips cemented together as if to prevent himself from blurting out the truth, while his former vice-president grimaced and snarled in the face of his predicament, George “W” Bush and Richard “Dick” Cheney were literally  “Meeting their Maker.”  And when asked by their divine judge to characterize their joint stewardship over the affairs of earth, (Urantia), neither man uttered a sound, but instead jerked their thumbs up in a gesture meant to signify “success.”

The simultaneous gesture by the two men also betrayed a previous rehearsal;  Dick Cheney had instructed the Bush quisling to follow his lead and to “keep [his] fucking mouth shut.”

Both men are having difficulty understanding they are facing a final reckoning of their earthly careers, which involves the possible cessation of their existence as personal beings.  The defendant counselors have determined the pair are not currently fit to continue the hearing and should be remanded back to psychotherapy for further evaluation and treatment.

Ascendant Urantians have shown great interest in the outcome of their eternal dispositions. Both men, as well as several of their appointed colleagues, are facing responsibility for the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings during horrendous wars prosecuted under their stewardship of the United States government, a powerful but declining nation of twentieth century Urantia.

Observers of this saga of pre-light and life Urantia will recall the troubled planet is the “sentimental shrine of all Nebadon,” having served as the bestowal world for the Son of God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, whom first century Urantians barbarically nailed to a wooden cross, the world subsequently becoming known as “The world of the cross.”

No, not theee Apocalypse, the January issue of the magazine.
Notice the St Alphonzo’s Pancake Bush uses for a halo.

I’m still annoyed that so many Christians are concerned about the supposedly impending destruction of the world as their apocalyptic myth would have it, and yet remain in total denial of the impending destruction of the world as it is actually unfolding via global ecological disaster.  The best way to follow their endtimes fetish is, of course, through Apocalypse magazine.

Bush made the January cover, and for good reasons. He’s actually done more to bring the rudiments of an apocalypse to fruition than all of it’s other advocates combined.  They talk the talk, but Dub walks the walk.  And he walks this walk because he claims God told him to.  Plus he has balls the size of Winnebagos, and they’re made of unmitigated gall:

An ah jist— I can not speak strongly enough about how we must collectively git after those who kill in the name of— in the name a some kinda false religion.
George Bush— Press appearance with King Abdullah of Jordan, Aug. 1, 2002

And George’s method of speaking strongly enough about it is, of course, to kill them in the name of his religion.

The feature article, “Daily War On Terror— A Mission From God” is written by infamous Blues Brother, Elwood Blues:

Bush has made the claim he’s “On a Mission from God.”  As someone who’s been on an actual mission from God, I can tell you with some confidence, that’s a bunch of bullshit.  The way my brother Jake and I recognized we were on a real mission from God was that things, like, just fall into place.  Even before the smokies chased us into that mall, I knew they would never catch us.  And they didn’t, until we had accomplished the mission.

George Bush put up a banner saying “Mission Accomplished,” not because God told him to, or because things were falling into place, but because he simply decided the mission was accomplished.  He’s “The Decider,” ya know.

•

And we base it, our history, and our decision making, our future, on solid values. The first value is, we’re all God’s children.
—Washington, D.C., Jul. 16, 2003

•

But the real ass-kicker article is from Heeza Lunatik:
“Love KILL Your Enemies.”

There can be no greater example of Bush’s arrant hypocrisy than his early-on discarding of Jesus’ most powerful teaching of the requirements of Love;  his instruction to “Love your enemies.”  Rather than accept the challenges inherent in such a bold and advanced moral position, Bush chose the path of traditional murder, which masquerades under the name “war.”  And he appropriately named his war of terror,  the “War on Terror.”

Bush prosecutes his wars under his interpretation of God’s messages to him.  Pointing to God’s gift of freedom to all men, he bestows the, “God’s Liberator of Men” mantel upon himself.  If the “first value” is, “We’re all God’s children,” then God’s Liberator is a mass murderer of God’s children.  I imagine Bush’s  judgment day explanation will be even more arrogant than it is today.

The disease of hypocrisy must rot the brain from the inside out.  Why else would Bush not recognize the absurdity of making statements to other thinking, sentient creatures, i.e., “people,” like this one:

It’s also important for people to know we never seek to impose our culture or our form of government. We just want to live under those universal values, God-given values.
—Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2002

It’s not enough to point out and ridicule such a ridiculous lie.  After seven years in Afghanistan and Iraq, with staggering loss of life, billions upon billions of dollars worth of the fruit of our people’s labor squandered, stolen, wasted, and lost, there must be an accounting.  And that is coming right soon.

“Justice makes a nation great, and the greater a nation the more solicitous will it be to see that injustice shall not befall even its most humble citizen. Woe upon any nation when only those who possess money and influence can secure ready justice before its courts!  It is the sacred duty of a magistrate to acquit the innocent as well as to punish the guilty.  Upon the impartiality, fairness, and integrity of its courts the endurance of a nation depends.  Civil government is founded on justice, even as true religion is founded on mercy.”
—Jesus speaking in The Urantia Book

A Lump of Coal.

•

No man was ever so much deceived by another than by himself.
—Greville

•

•  •  •  SCATOLOGY WEEK  •  •  •

“You don’t really think I’m gonna take that off your hands, do you?” said President-elect Barack Obama, when George Bush hoisted the seventeen pounds worth of GOP fecal chunkatude representing his two disastrous terms as president. (Click it.)

WASHINGTON — Monarchs, presidents, and athletes are among the recipients of a symbolic key to a city on special visits.  But the First Annual Ceremony of Change, held today in the Rose Garden, bestows to the president-elect— not a key to Washington D.C. and the White House— but a huge steaming heap of political poop— in this case, pachyderm poop— symbolic of the shitty mess out-going President George W. Bush has left the country to clean up, after eight years of arguably the worst administration in the nation’s history.

Symbolizing such a catastrophe with an enormous chunk of fresh elephant dung set the stage for the first official “passing of the turd” before an invitation only crowd of official Washington.  The steaming symbol of GOP waste and ineptitude was the gift of sixty-year old Asian elephant, Ambika, the National Zoo’s oldest resident elephant.

The festivities began with the hand-carted arrival of the specimen, produced during Ambika’s morning constitutional. The selected portion weighed in at just over seventeen pounds. After some awkward practice attempts, Bush gingerly scooped up the watermelon-sized chunk of poo, and extended the dripping monster to Obama, who joked, “You don’t really think I’m gonna take that off your hands, do you?”  Bush, ever the glib-tongued orator, said  “Well I ain’t takin’ it with me!” oblivious to his situation, as usual. His second effort to pass the turd was graciously but firmly refused by President-elect Obama, who then turned to address the crowd, leaving Bush standing there holding the shit.

As Obama looked out, hundreds of images of South Park’s Mr Hankey on a stick waved slowly back and forth in the late morning sunlight, he mimicked the wave back, and said, “I think you all know that we have got to begin with a fresh— um— start on our problems, and frankly, we just don’t need any more. . . (the word “shit” reflexively echoed through the mind of everyone present during the intentional pause) . . .anymore “product” from you, George.”  A split second of silence was followed by a wild sustained roar of  cheers and applause, as Bush unceremoniously plopped the molten poop back into the cart, splattering everyone nearby, but  most of all himself.

Obama assured the crowd that the last eight years would, in the months ahead, severely test our will as a people and as a nation, but that he was absolutely certain that— in the end— we would produce the magnitude of change we need to clean up America and to change the world for the better.

A spontaneous chant of “Howdy-Ho! Howdy-Ho! broke out, and Scatology Week’s first symbolic passing of the turd ceremony ended as it had began; with a whole lot of shit, still left to shovel.

“Howdy Ho!”

“And so it was the days when the Wingnut Boot was heavy on the throat of the Nation. . .”

Every October 22nd, we take a moment during the afternoon for a little thoughtful reversion to an uglier, scarier fucking time in the not too distant past.  This October 22nd’s reminiscience comes to us in the form of a Driftglass post from July 30th, 2007, entitled, “The Ten Plagues.”  Just a note of trivia: this was so long ago that Drifty hadn’t yet started signing his brilliant photochops.  Just observin’.  Injoy.

(H/T to Spot at the cucking stool.)

I think you may have noticed that John McCain has been sayin’ some pretty confusing things, lately.  And it’s fair to point them out, if only because Republicans never miss a chance, in the face of every new McCain gaffe, (the sheer number of which are beginning to rival George Bush’s still accreting world record) to say, “Yeah, but Obama said there wuz ‘57 states’”!! during the primaries.

But this one is cute because, right after Sigmund rears his ugly little head, Cindy shifts her weight into the picture to reveal the stony smile that says she sure as shit remembers it was no slip of the leeezard tongue when he used the “c” word on her; no, no, no;  he really meant it.  But maybe, too, it was because he knew, deep down under those remaining mangy little strands of protein growing out of his skull, that without her beer munny, he’d just be some washed up, broken down, stressed out, insane in the membrane old terrorist wanna-be president, without the “luck” to getter done.

In other news. . .  Sarah Palin’s patriotic shopping spree sent the Dow tumbling another 400 points.  But if she gets to keep the clothes,  she’ll look great at her Alaski Betrayal of Trust trial.

Having a Bad Friday?

Well. At least be grateful you don’t have to live in either one of these skulls.

And that you’re not the humanrrhoid Bill Kristol.

Or one of these doomed MoFos.

Or this guy.

Be thankful you’re not one of these ignoramuses.

And thank God you are not responsible for this.
(Yes those are cool-aid stains around her mouth; but that’s not what I’m talking about.)

Feeling any better yet?

Good. You’re more than welcome. Glad your day is improving!

Enjoy your weekend.

NEW ORLEANS— John McCain stammered his way through one of his more memorable speeches ever Tuesday night, but unfortunately it was memorable for the number of speaking miscues off the teleprompter, not the content. It was memorable for the forced, creepy smiles at the end of sentences that didn’t warrant them. Even his repetitious blinking was unnerving. And with more than twenty word fumbles through the course of this painfully long Geritol info-mercial, it was particularly telling that CNN felt it necessary to put a “HAPPENING NOW” tag directly over McCain’s right lung.

I knew the evening was going to go badly when the Phoney from Arizoney began by adding an extra syllable to “New Or-le-ans.” Bush’s constant mangling of “nu-cu-lar” sprang instantly to mind, and thus a speech designed to separate the two men joined at the fragile hip of John McCain was doomed to failure.

Then this mis-speak, only two and a half minutes in: “I believe that still; but we must rise the occasion as we always have.” Well, he didn’t “rise the occasion.” He sank, and he continued to sink until CNN cut away. But all was not lost. My favorite McBushism from the speech was this line: “The right change will stop impeding Americans from doing what they have always done, overcome every obstacle to our progress, turn challenges and opportunity into opportunities. . .”

Over-powered by what the press called the “Lime Green Monster,” the background from hell gave McCain a pallor only a cadaver could love. But with timing that could only have been arranged through divine providence, McCain dropped this turd-bomb bomb bomb right before one of the most historic speeches ever to be delivered in America, Barack Obama’s announcement to the world that a black and white man had turned an opportunity into an opportunity to run for president of the United States.

A venue tip to McCain’s advance people: Never— ever— choose a venue where the acoustics are such that one big-mouth supporter can rise teh occasion by drowning out the rest of the audience. Very creepy. And speaking of loudest. McCain drew his loudest applause when he read without error, “They might think me an imperfect servant of our country, which I surely am; but I am her servant, first, last, and always.” Great.

But we don’t need another “servant” in the white house. We need a leader.

WASHINGTON — John McCain defended his plan for veterans’ college benefits Monday, as both he, and Barack Obama spoke to veterans on Memorial Day. Hillary Clinton campaigned Monday in Puerto Rico. Obama and McCain have sparred from a distance recently over the bill, sometimes with what the MSM calls “heated words.”

In his comments on Memorial Day, McCain did not mention Obama by name, such a clever fellow, but it was clear he was talking Obama. McCain said his was the right position rather than “the politically expedient one,” suggesting Obama was on the wrong side of the Jim Webb bill, which passed the senate last week. The bill will substantially increase educational benefits for service members. A more limited version that McCain had supported, was blocked.

McCain: “I am running for the office of commander in chief. That is the highest privilege in this country, and it imposes the greatest responsibilities. And this is why I am committed to our bill, despite the support Senator Webb’s bill has received. It would be easier, much easier politically for me to have joined Senator Webb in offering his legislation.”

Umm. . . So you support your own bill because you’re “running for the office of commander in chief”?? You can’t join with the twenty-five members of your own party and support the Webb bill because— it’s not yours?? Isn’t this the same moronic partisan-think that has created the most polarized government in our history?

Because McCain said Webb’s measure would give the same benefit to everyone regardless of how many times he or she has reenlisted. He said he feared that would depress reenlistments by those wanting to attend college after only a “few years in uniform.” McCain said the bill he favored would have increased scholarships based on length of service.

Now remember, McCain, despite his whoring around for fringe religionists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley, portrays himself as a conservative, mainstream, unbaptized Baptist. One must assume that somewhere along the way, he’s heard the parable of the vineyard workers. All but you heathens will recall, that’s the one where the vineyard owner hired workers at a denarius a day, or roughly $20 bucks; bottom line, it was a fair wage for a day’s work.

Anyway, the guy— let’s just call him Vino— goes out to the market for his morning cappuccino, and seeing laborers standing around, says, ” Go work in my vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.” And the same thing happens at lunchtime, and at three in the afternoon, and yep, again at five as well; and Vino, generous vintner that he is, gives them all the same offer.

But when the men who had been slogging grapes since nine in the morning saw these guys dragging in after five, they imagined they should get more than the promised denarius. But when Vino pays up, the bitching started: “These guys who were hired last worked only one stinkin’ hour, and yet you paid them the same as us, who have worked the entire day in the frakkin’ scorchin’ sun.”

But the Vino, stoked on his own juice, was ready for them. He says: “‘My friends, I’m not doin’ you wrong. Didn’t each of you agree to work a day for a Jackson? So take your Twenty and hit the road! It’s my business to give to those who came last just as much as I gave to you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my own money? Or do you begrudge my generosity because I desire to be good and to show mercy?”

Well, long story short, McCain doesn’t understand the common generosity of the American people’s wish to compensate our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines— those who step into harm’s way to defend our nation— with a decent educational opportunity wherewith they can become productive citizens with a good life like, ahem, the rest of us.

On Saturday Barack Obama told veterans while campaigning in Puerto Rico : “I don’t understand why John McCain would side with George Bush and oppose our plan to make college more affordable for our veterans. George Bush and John McCain may think our plan is too generous. I could not disagree more.”

McCain says: “I take a back seat to no one in my affection, respect, and devotion to veterans.” Well. A back seat to no one— besides the senators, congressmen and women, and citizens who stepped up to support the troops by paying them the Jackson they’ve earned whether they served little, or much. That’s generosity. That’s American.