Rich but never bitter

Bush Lies TV has streaming video of The Hunting of the President.

Obsidian Wings: Legalizing Torture:

The Republican leadership of Congress is attempting to legalize extraordinary rendition. "Extraordinary rendition" is the euphemism we use for sending terrorism suspects to countries that practice torture for interrogation. As one intelligence official described it in the Washington Post, "We don't kick the sh*t out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the sh*t out of them."

Please contact your member of congress and ask him or her to oppose Section 3032 and 3033 of H.R. 10, the "9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act of 2004."

Remember Cat Stevens, the 70s pop star who abandoned stardom and turned to Islam? The one who did the songs for Harold and Maude. Well, apparently the Bush administration considers him a dangerous terrorist and has denied him entry to the United States. Now known as Yusuf Islam, his web site promotes charities working on poverty and education issues. He decries violence and terrorism. But he is Islamic, and I guess that's all that matters to Bush's crusaders.

Cradle of Filth has some free downloads promoting their upcoming album Nymphetamine. I've heard of bands using MP3s as a way of driving album sales, rather than fearing the sales they lose to them. I wish Cradle well in this effort, and I placed my pre-order for Nymphetamine.

HoldThemAccountable.com will soon be airing an ad demanding answers to the tough questions on the war in Iraq. Watch the ad, sign the petition, and give money if you can.

"Freedom Tower" Silver Dollar: "For the first time ever, a legally authorized government issue silver dollar has been struck to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower being erected in its place. It's the U.S. territorial minting of the 2004 'Freedom Tower' Silver Dollar from CNMI. Most importantly, each coin has been created using .999 Pure Silver recovered from Ground Zero!"

Juan Cole comments on September 11 and Its Aftermath:

Bin Laden hoped the US would timidly withdraw from the Middle East. But he appears to have been aware that an aggressive US response to 9/11 was entirely possible. In that case, he had a Plan B: al-Qaeda hoped to draw the US into a debilitating guerrilla war in Afghanistan and do to the US military what they had earlier done to the Soviets. Al-Zawahiri's recent message shows that he still has faith in that strategy.

The US cleverly outfoxed al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, using air power and local Afghan allies (the Northern Alliance) to destroy the Taliban without many American boots on the ground.

Ironically, however, the Bush administration then went on to invade Iraq for no good reason, where Americans faced the kind of wearing guerrilla war they had avoided in Afghanistan.

Kevin Drum adds:

It didn't have to be this way, of course. We could have spent our military energies on smashing al-Qaeda and our diplomatic energies on gaining allies in the Middle East - demonstrating that Osama bin Laden's murderous vision was neither the best nor the only path for the Muslim world. Instead, thanks to George Bush's obsession with Iraq, America is the Great Satan, bin Laden is the most popular public figure in every Arab country in the world, al-Qaeda is bigger and more broad-based than ever, a thousand American soldiers are dead, and Iran and North Korea pursue their nuclear plans with impunity.

We are where we are because of George Bush. Never forget that.

It amazes me that more people can not see this. Because of George Bush we are less safe and more hated in the world. Rather than becoming a force for peace and justice, we have become the imperial power of the twenty-first century. History shows that there's always someone ready to take down the empire, and eventually they succeed. Bush has taken a budget surplus and turned it into record deficits. He piles up debt for our children and grandchildren and gives the proceeds to the wealthiest one percent of the country. We've squandered a historic opportunity, and it's going to take years or decades to recover. Another four years of this crew will be disastrous.

Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth. This may be a parody. Just thought you should know.

Texans for Truth: "Texans for Truth, established by the 20,000-member Texas online activist group, DriveDemocracy.org, has produced a 0:30 second television advertisement, 'AWOL.' The ad features Robert Mintz, one of many who served in Alabama's 187th Air National Guard -- when Bush claims to have been there -- who have no memory of Bush on the base. In other words, Bush failed to fulfill his military duty while others were dying in Vietnam."

Wonkette's take on Bush and drugs:

So Kitty Kelly's new book rehashes some of the more pharmacological conspiracy theories about the Bush family, which even Drudge has to admit is more interesting than Hurricane Frances. How come the nutty allegations damaging to Kerry's campaign make him sound like a two-faced quasi-coward, but the stuff that's potentially damaging to Bush's campaign makes him sound like someone we'd want to party with? Kerry shoots himself. Uhm, not only painful, but kind of hard to do! As for Bush: Drunk driving, snorting coke while your old lady tokes up and runs over ex-boyfriends? Now that's a fun weekend! And as for the classmate that laments, "Poor Georgie. He couldn't relate to women unless he was loaded." Well, we find being loaded makes it much easier for us to relate to George! Bush may have gotten through the last four years sober (emphasis on the "may"), but we sure couldn't have.

We have no idea if these allegations are true or not. We really don't care. But let's say that they're probably as true as, dunno, the Swift Boat Vet ads. Let's just hope the media treats them that way.

The Miami Herald reports:

Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked a congressional investigation into that relationship, Sen. Bob Graham wrote in a book to be released Tuesday.

And in Graham's book, Intelligence Matters, obtained by The Herald Saturday, he makes clear that some details of that financial support from Saudi Arabia were in the 27 pages of the congressional inquiry's final report that were blocked from release by the administration, despite the pleas of leaders of both parties on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Bush had concluded that "a nation-state that had aided the terrorists should not be held publicly to account," Graham wrote. "It was as if the president's loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with America's safety."

The Mirror reports that "George W. Bush snorted cocaine at Camp David.... His wife Laura also... tried cannabis in her youth." Is this true? Who cares. After a month of the Swifties plus the BS at the RNC, I'm willing to pass along anything that might have the remote plausibility of happening in some alternate universe. But you read it and decide what you think of our resolute, moral leader.

I've been a slacker about blogging lately. Too busy working and having a life. Part of having a life led me to Graceland Sunday night to see Lullacry and Nightwish, two Finnish metal bands with female lead singers. I've previously blogged about Nightwish. Lullacry, the opening act was new to me. M and I have been looking forward to this concert all summer. R joined us along with my friend A and my out of town guests D and L.

We arrived a bit early. M and I were interested in getting close to the stage. We were searched on the way in, and damn, I forgot my Swiss army knife was in my pocket. But I managed to palm it while being frisked, and brought it in with no problem. Some advantages to being in one's 50s.

Youngsters that they are, M & R immediately headed as close to the stage as they could get. The more mature folks, A, D, L, and myself took positions a bit further back. Lullacry opened with an intense base beat that reverberated through my whole body. Their lead singer Tanja was hot with a black corset and provocative expression. I liked their music, but A was a bit overwhelmed by the intensity of the music and the press of the crowd. We retired to the bar for a couple of cokes to replentish fluids and blood sugar. As a result, I missed most of Lullacry, but Nightwish was who I came to see.

In between sets, we met up with D and L. A told me to head back into the crowd if I liked. She would hang out with D and L. Thanks A. You're a sweet heart, and I owe you for understanding that this was important to me. I cut as far into the crowd as I could, and then watched for opportunities to get even closer. Nightwish started their set, and I was able to push maybe 5 or 6 feet from stage. Unfortunately the closer I got, the tighter the crowd was packed, and the harder it was to see. Occasionally I'd catch a glimpse of Tarja, who was wearing a black top and a red jacket, and looking oh so cool. There was a fan directed at her face to give her that wind blown look and keep her from being drenched in sweat. Tuomas wore eye liner that gave him a very "Captain Jack" appearance. Much comment on his resemblance to Johnny Depp.

The music was fantastic. Many songs from their new album Once as well as songs from older albums. The crowd was appreciative, and they played a long encore followed by handshakes with the crowd. I managed to touch fingers with Emppu, but M & R got handshakes from Tarja and Tuomas.

I lost sight of M & R early in Lullacry's set, but they eventually managed to get right up to the stage. R stood in front of the stage, and M, a good big sister, braced her hands against the stage and buffered R from the crush of the crowd. They went away with a few blisters, but happy nonetheless. I was dehydrated and headachey, but happy too. D, who is quite a metal fan and knows much more about the genre than me, went back into the crowd, although not quite as far as me. A and L enjoyed the show from a bit more distance.

I wondered occasionally if I was too old to be doing this sort of thing. After all, I have 20 or 30 years on most of the crowd. But I do it because I can. I was proud of M for taking care of her little sister. but at the same time giving her a nice adventure. R will have stories to tell her classmates when she starts school on Wednesday. I was happy to share the experience with A, D, and L. I'm glad A and L clicked so well, and I appreciate them being good sports about the guys and the kids wanting to get close to the stage. Good music. Good time. Good friends. What more can one ask for?