The F-22, Sarah Palin, Gidget and Jon Stewart... oh my.

A mixed bag of news and views, if you will :)  In no particular order

First up, Jon Stewart is America’s most trusted anchorman.  At first I thought this would make my childhood hero, Walter Cronkite turn over in his (new) grave.  Then I realized that Walter just might agree.  All three of the other candidates for the title have an axe to grind, and a cause to proselytize.  What sets Stewart apart and far ahead, at least in my book... he’s honest about it.  He’s a comedian for god’s sake, he wants you to know he has an opinion.  The other top contenders...Brian Williams in number 2 with 29%, Charles Gibson with 19% and Katie Couric with 7%.  Jon Stewart got 44%.  I can understand Williams and Gibson, but the vapid piece of fluff got 7%?  Amazing. To see that Couric is even mentioned is doing her a favor.  She even fails at being window dressing.  Williams had a great run with Katrina and the Bush administration, it’s kinda easy to get headlines there, but now that there is substance to report, he’s not up to it.  Charlie Gibson?  I think he got his job because the Today show needed new blood, honestly, why is he an Anchor?  Carry on Jon, America needs you!

Looks like the old folksy charm might be wearing a little.  Sarah Palin may have dipped into the old legal trust fund a wee bit?  The jury is out, I guess, and this is a HuffPost story, so there is some bit of shrillness to it, but it could be.  I still stand by the fact that this broad is the WORST thing the republican ever did.  Until she is nothing more than a fund-raising puppet, I won’t be happy.  Oh, and if she decides to run as an independent, I say bless her little heart.  I still think she has been deluded into thinking she is a “somebody” in politics.  How sad...

Well, here it is.  There is no sugar coating for this... Gidget is dead :(  Yup, I still have my stuffed Taco Bell dog from the collection.  The batteries are dead, but it still sits proudly on my computer desk.  Why is this news, you say?  It isn’t.  It’s just an homage to cute little dog.  And what can you say bad about the company the company that gave us the dog, and the Spork!!

And last but not least... I see hope for the future.  I have been Obamatized :)  The senate of this country, while doing a bevy of amazingly stupid other things, managed to TURN OFF FUNDING FOR THE PIECE OF SHIT F-22.  Lets examine the Raptor-come-shitmonster’s record shall we? Oh wait?  You mean we have bought 178 of these over priced pieces of shit and they have NEVER flown a combat sortie?  But we’re at war, how can this be?  Ohhh, they have a few problems and aren’t quite combat ready yet.

But back to the Senate...  What a bunch of morons.  Lets see.  Secretary Gates didn’t want the F-22 funded.  The USAF didn’t want the F-22 funded.  The DoD didn’t want the F-22 funded.  Well, golly gosh, Mr. Wizard, why was there a funding bill on the floor of the US Senate?  Oh, could it be that corrupt pieces of crap like Chris Dodd and the New Mexico Delegation (Udall and Binginthehead) wanted to fund it some more and shove it down the throat of the USAF and up the arse of the American people...  Why yes!

Even the Air Force didnt want any more of these abortions.  They want the F-35 now.  Even the USAF realizes now that these planes are a solution in search of a problem.  They’re not combat effective or ready and they will NEVER face an enemy capable of testing them.  What amazes me the most, is that even when the DENSE heads that run the USAF figure this out, that our senators cannot.  Mr. Dodd, you are cordially invited to go screw yourself.

Apollo – The greatest generation’s greatest failure.

After basking in the glow of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing all weekend and especially Monday, I knew today would come and I dreaded it.  Why?  Because the Apollo program stands as a huge living testament to the greatest failure of the greatest generation.  Yes, I know, I am committing blasphemy, since the greatest generation is a sacred cow and not to be derided at any cost.  I’m sorry, but the failure stares us all in the face and you cannot shrink from it.  (Luckily, there is a faction that believes Apollo doesn’t belong solely to the greatest generation, so I may not go straight to hell... I might get the scenic route.)

Before I go any further, let me just say that I blame no one at all, nor do I mean any of this to paint anyone or anything with a derision.  What the men and women of NASA did will always stand as a phenomenal achievement.  To get to the moon and back, 6 times, with less computing power than my iphone or your average blackberry is amazing.  They did all this in 8 years, with slide rules and nothing more than an unflagging dedication to the truth.  After the events of Apollo 1 on the launch pad, the refocus and dedication to the cause was amazing.  The accomplishment alone stands the test of history as first among the great feats of mankind.  Bringing President Kennedy’s vision to fruition was a mighty endeavor, the kind only trusted to giants.

And all I can think is “Damn Kennedy’s speechwriter to hell!!”

Yep... you heard that right... damn him to hell, whoever he was. (metaphorically, of course, I really hope he has/had a great life with all he ever wanted.)  But with three little words he screwed over generations and set us on the path to not seeing space again for a very long time.

Three little words... “in this decade.”

Most people think that NASA sprang from the ground after Pres. Kennedy made his famous speech.  In reality, they had been going for a few years (since ‘58) and actually were working on things like the moon.  After all, the russkies had spanked us all over space and it was starting to hurt.  There were folks in NASA who were formulating plans to develop a low earth orbit station that could be manned.  (Defense guys loved this since those guys could have bombs to drop on them Russkies.)  From there, we would use disposable rockets and re-entry vehicles to get men and equipment to the station.  There, they would build a lunar spacecraft that would then make all kinds of round trips to the moon and back.  (Keep in mind that Dr. Robert Goddard wanted to go to Mars and not the moon, but he knew he couldn’t get funding for that...)

Then Pres. Kennedy makes his timely speech (May 25, 1961), a political one, to be sure, since the russkies were winning the space race.  Then he has the nerve to get himself killed.  Next thing you know Johnson is latching onto that desire for the moon and telling NASA to DO it.  Don’t think about it, DO IT.  (Remember, Johnson was an absolute space nut, moreso even than Kennedy.)

So instead of an orderly, paced and scientific methodology to get to the moon and back, and then the planets, we got Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.  Crash test programs designed to get us there “firstest with the mostest.”  Lest you think I blame our political leaders for it, I tell you that Werner von Braun had more to do with convincing Johnson (who then convinced Kennedy) than anyone else.

What we did next was a marvel.  From nothing at all, we built a rocketry/guidance/environmental/control and telemetry project that could, and did, take us all the way to the moon and back.  Average men and women moved mountains, thought the unthinkable and truly dreamed the impossible dream, made it a reality and we all basked in the glory of it all.

And then the luster faded.  The glory subsided.  We did what Kennedy wanted, didn’t we?  ANd what was all this getting us anyhow?  Some rocks from the moon.... whooopie.  After building the impossible, we did the unthinkable.  We terminated the program before it even finished.  NASA learned the age old axiom about being careful what you wish for...

And now what do we have?  An aging shuttle that is a poor substitute for a space program and an international space station whose heavy contributions to science are now things like seeing if the hair on mice are sensitive to weightlessness...

It makes a geek/nerd wanna cry.  I have a collection of Slide Rules, not because I know how to use them, mind you, but because I saw the guys at NASA (my heroes) use them to send guys to the moon.  I met Buzz Aldrin once and was moved to tears by his recount of the trip.

WHERE IS MY GENERATION’S APOLLO????  I wanna go to space damnit!  I want my jetpack and I wanna work at Spacely Sprockets!

Mercury, Gemini, Apollo...  They got us there, but like some other great projects, nobody thought enough about what we do when we make it.

Soon, the Shuttle will stop running.  They have to, they’re falling apart and cannot be maintained.  There is nothing waiting in the wings.  Without another massive effort we’re not going back to the moon for a long time.  Pres. Obama was very obvious on Monday that he is not going to put any more money into “A silly bunch of egghead crap”, no President before him has either.  Congress won’t fund them, there are no kickbacks in NASA funding bills.  We’ll see the Chinese flag, the Japanese flag and European flags on the moon long before the stars and stripes.

It’s not just the moon either.  We need to be looking into space, but we don’t have the sight, we lack vision.

Will someone please come forward, have a great vision for space and then get shot?

It seems like thats the only way...

P.S.  There is a great history article over at NASA that talks about how the decision was made for Apollo.  Very interesting reading and has some things that not alot of people know or realize. You can CLICK HERE TO GO TO IT

Walter Cronkite, Rest in Peace, Good Sir.

As I returned this evening from our local AAA baseball team’s game, I learned of the sad news.  Walter Cronkite has left us.  Mere hours before the most famous broadcast (IMHO) he ever made, covering Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon and his descent to the lunar surface.

I suppose it’s not right to say that we are worse for his passing, since it has been 28 years since he last anchored a nightly news show, but he wasn’t gone then.  Now he is.  He was a reporter and anchor at a time when the very fabric of trust in this nation was torn to shreds by Richard Nixon.  Cronkite was one of the few things you could believe.  Cut from the same cloth as Murrow, he was one you could trust.  He didn’t opine, unless he told you that he was doing so.  He gave you the news and let you decide.  Hey Fox, CNN, MSNBC... ever thought about that?

So, without going on and on, I’ll say this.  Farewell, good sir.  Thank you for always being the one I could believe in.

Journalism - Trade or Profession?

Cronkite and Morrow - Real News Men

Ok, here is a break from tradition.  Rather than drinking more wine than is necessary and waxing philosophic on a topic, I’m going to pose a question.  Let me apologize beforehand to any Journalists reading this... I do not mean to belittle, I pose an honest question that I do not know the full answer to.

(As an aside... I’m listening to the newly remastered Moody Blues Days of Future Passed CD. WOW!  Awesome treat to hear that in such clarity as I never have before!!)

We all know that print newspapers are dead, I think that is a given.  While it may be sad in a nostalgic way, it’s a necessary evil.  The world is conquered by “them internets” and the day of the conglomerated news room with 12 hour lead times and print deadlines is soooo 1999.

But even before the death of print, we had CNN and MSNBC (and FoxNews... Bwaaahahahah) website news sources.  A quick perusal of any of these websites, or USAToday in print or virtually any news source is terribly revealing to me.

The Journalists who work for these organizations are not very good.  They do not write very inviting stories.  For most of the stories I get more from the bullet point headers on top of the story than from actually reading their story.   Now, as a caveat, I have been known to butcher the English language, but I also do not claim to be a professional.  When I find grammatical and spelling errors in a CNN online story, I worry.

I suppose that the mass marketing of all news these days is partly to blame.  How can CNN/MSNBC/Fox hope to compete with Twitter and Facebook?  Take into account the political leanings of the major rags and you have what is a very unreliable news machine in the country.

In England, Journalism is a trade.  You get on board with a company, you’re mentored and sooner or later you become a reporter.  With the exception of the labor/conservative rags, you have a decent amount of unabashed, if uninspired reporting over there.

Over here, we have treated Journalists as... well, the 4th estate for a long time.  But really, has the craft deteriorated lately or has it ever really been a profession?  We all know that the press is a VITAL part of keeping our Republic free and democratic.  Without the watchdogs in the press, we are lost.  When they become lapdogs to various concerns (*cough*Fox*cough*), we are just as lost.

Tonight I had occasion to watch the nightly news.  There was a blonde bimbo anchoring one of the major news shows and I was AMAZED at how ineffectual she was.  Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite and heaven forbid, Edwin R. Morrow would be sickened by the hodge-podge of crap that was spewed by this so-called news-room.  It was obvious to me that neither the anchor nor anyone responsible for the content of the show had any journalistic training.  It was more of a variety  show with captions and interviews.

But really, beyond that.  Look at where we are today?  There are literally hundreds of websites devoted to specific news about specific items that appeal to a specific audience.  If you are into 1 handed underwater lacrosse players, there is a web site with news, highlights and the latest scandals for you.  You certainly won’t find anything on Sports Illustrated though...

So, as the print generation of news gathering / reporting dies it’s natural death, are we letting Journalism die with it?  As individuals (i.e. Twitter and Digg.com) take over the news reporting, wither then the reporters?  Granted, the person who blogs/twitters about the things they care about are probably going to be more responsive and current on things within their spheres of interest.  For instance, if I want news about the gaming world, I will go to websites that I know and trust for their coverage on these things.  I will not search CNN.com for news relating to gaming.

But more and more, I also don’t go there for news about anything.  I just don’t trust their reporting style anymore.

So, I sit and wonder...  Were Woodward and Bernstein really great professionals or just good tradesmen who followed a story and wrote about it?  They certainly precipitated a change in governance and doggedly followed the truth, but honestly, did they do something beyond what any other two people could have done?  Quite literally, if 2 other educated, dogged people had gotten that story (in today’s era)  wouldn’t they be capable of doing the same thing?

It makes me wonder, as society embraces the 5 minute news cycle versus the 24 hour cycle, have we lost Journalism as a profession in favor of the rank and file amateurs?

And is it a bad thing if we have?

And then the commenting started...

Paul Parker

First, I have to point out that your given is mistaken. Printed newspapers aren't dead, nor do I think they will ever die, at least not because of the Internet. Three major technological advances in the past threatened newspapers: the telegraph, radio and television. All three altered printed newspapers; none killed them. The Internet is no different because printed newspapers retain the same fundamental advantages over the Internet as over the others, not the least of which is that you can read a newspaper without batteries. Most importantly, though, is an economic advantage: newspaper advertising is the most permanent and persistent of all mass media. Advertisers know we close popup windows as fast as we can. And have you ever tried to remember the 800 number from a radio or TV ad? But newspaper ads can be clipped. They sit on the back of the toilet to be discovered even after you passed them by initially. When something really matters (like their kid scoring the winning goal or the first black man being elected president) people -- of all ages -- want the newspaper to commemorate the event.

You are right that the recent wounding of newspapers has wounded journalism as a whole because newspapers are the font of all quality journalism. Get any radio or TV reporter in a candid mood and they will confirm this. Their days generally start with an assignment director handing out a stack of clips from the newspaper. This is part because the nature of newspapers allows newspaper reporters to be more in-depth and thorough than their colleagues in other media, which promotes greater development of journalistic talent. It is also partly economic. Because of the lopsided advantage newspapers have as an advertising medium, they have long had huge staffs compared to other media. This allows more time to be devoted to reporting of a broader range of subjects. It also allows reporters to become experts in subject matter. So, as newspapers are suffering, all of journalism suffers.

As to your main question, all newspaper reporters know that journalism is neither a trade nor a profession. It is a craft, a skilled activity. People started misapplying the word profession to journalism after Watergate, when thousands of college grads flooded into the business. In the 1960s, college grads were rare in newsrooms. Today, everyone who's been there less than 40 years has a degree. Strictly speaking, a profession is an occupation that is licensed by the government or sanctioned by a private organization. With the First Amendment, neither of those is workable for journalism.

I leave you with Thomas Jefferson, who, most don't know, was no fan of newspapers:

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Saturday, May 9, 2009 - 08:14 AM

Bill

Paul,

I had hoped you would jump in here, seeing as this has to be near and dear to your heart.

I do however question your assertion that print is not dead.  As you point out, the economic advantage that saw the newspapers through all the previous conflict was in advertising.  In this age of new media, I do not see the revenue stream continuing, and in fact, I see it not just declining, but reeling.  Many of the major papers are reporting huge deficits in advertising revenue and I do not see the future helping that.  Craigslist and e-bay have decimated the classified ad sections and I see more and more major players disdaining the print media for other venues.  Even Variety in California has seen several major movie releases snub the traditional full page ad on the pre-release day.  Not a game-breaker, but an indication that some very major PR firms don’t feel it necessary anymore, not when a quick clip on Google or YouTube will generate 50 times the response for 1/50th the cost...

I do not think this is a good thing.  I for one, prefer news from someone, like yourself, who becomes a subject matter expert when the need arises.  I trust in the fact that you and your brethren, classically trained, actually work to tell a story and provide a picture of the news of the day, something I know I do not get from the internet specialty sites.

Alas, what I cannot see is how the print newspapers will serve the growing, voracious appetite of the microwave generations who must be spoon fed their information in small doses lest they lose interest and move on.  The current, reigning rule of thumb for web page design is that you have 5 seconds to provide the answer or link thereto your site viewer before they move on.  This generation that is being born today with cell phones in hand and access to the richest, content-filled internet will not wait 12 hours for a printed paper to arrive at the doorstep/newstand.

Hopefully, real journalists will start to move to the electronic section of the business and long standing institutions (NY Times comes to mind) will re-address their online editions pricing and delivery strategies to move into where the market is going.  I still believe that people recognize quality and when they are offered it at the same speed and ease as the schlock that exists now, they will choose Journalists over hacks (myself included in the latter!).

Another 2/100ths of a dollar! :)

Sunday, May 10, 2009 - 04:10 AM

Mike

Bill,

Your comment about "In England, Journalism is a trade" to me appears to be off the make, I watch the talking heads every morning and evening.  If they are in "The Trade Craft of Journalism" I for one feel they are failing miserably.

They talk of nothing but fluff, God forbid that the talking heads would actually dispense hard actual news...............

At least the printed press is not dead here. Page three pictures keep them profitable.........  Thank God for that.  Then again there is little actual news between the front page and the daily picture of some quite lovely lady.......

Saturday, July 18, 2009 - 06:33 AM

Air Force Basic Military Training... Again?

It’s true.  For a week in April of 2009, I was returned to Active Duty as a MSgt in the USAF to participate in a SecAF directed Push-Pull exercise at Lackland AFB.  How amazing it is to see Lackland again, after 27 years since being a boot there.

Let me say this now, and begin to eat the crow I so richly deserve.  If the state of Basic Military Training has anything to do with the future of the Air Force, then the AF is safe at last.  I am AMAZED at how much training has changed over the years and over the last 2 years in particular.  So even though we have a crop of lousy leaders right now, we’re on a WAY better track to improve from the ground up.  Be proud General Patrick, what you’re doing at BMTS is great!

I’m going to toss a bunch of pics up on the photo page so you can see some of what I speak of.

First off, the old RH&T (Recruit Housing and Training) dorms are still there, still in use and still need to be condemned.  The building that the TI’s have offices in has a 6 inch crack in the third floor from which you can see the asphalt pad underneath the building.

The best of the dorms are in use by the 6 BMT squadrons.  Some changes from my day... 27 years ago...

1 - Trainees are issued a weapon on day 1 and keep it until they are done with all combat skills training 6 weeks later.  I watched two young trainees tear down and build up an M-16 in 30 seconds.  The standard they aim for is 2 minutes.   In my day, you got your M-16 only at the firing range and only for the few hours it took to shoot the range.

2 - Trainees are NOT airman.  You cannot refer to them as Airman until they pass the BEAST, graduate and receive their Airman’s coin from their TI.  He/She is the first one that ever calls them Airman, until then they are Trainee.  At the ceremony, there are few dry eyes.

3 - Clothing issue has gone from 1 day to about 30 minutes.  RFID tags are used to keep the size info of the Trainee and control the stock of uniforms they get.  The system is AWESOME.

4 - Warrior week and the confidence course are pretty much gone.  The confidence course is more like a picnic-reward day after the BEAST.

5 - The chow hall is still many miles from anything else at Lackland.  No matter where you are, the chow hall is 2 miles away, I know, I walked it for a week.  Unfortunately, the show hall SUX these days, it was better when I was a Trainee.  (Or am I just more picky?)   Come to think of it, no matter where you need to be next, it is 2 miles away from anywhere else.  Lackland has a rip in the space-time continuum for exactly the purpose of making you walk everywhere.

6 - Some things have not changed at Lackland.  TSgt Eubanks reliably informed us that the SAME 4 gents who gave us our haircuts 30 years ago, are STILL doing it.  The clothing issue, Arnold Hall, Chapel, Reid Clinic, post office are all the SAME.  We visited most of them to in-process and she was right.  The only new thing was a new mini-BX.  The paymaster window in Arnold Hall is still there, the only change is that they do not give cash anymore.  They load the money on your USAF credit card.

7 - Basic is now 8.5 weeks, the first 6 of which are Combat Skills.  2 weeks in the trainee can do tricks with the M-16 I never even learned.  3 weeks in they are qualified for CBRNE and SABC.  (CBRNE = Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high yield Explosive training, SABC = Self Aid and Buddy Care).  4 weeks in and they are done with Combat Skills and ready for the BEAST.

8 - Basic Expeditionary Airman Skill Training = The BEAST.  Imagine this, 110 acres at Lackland AFB (read: Hot, dry, scorpions, snakes...) - sound like anywhere we know?  Trainee’s now spend a week there, using all the skills they have learned thus far in a realistic training environment.  They get attacked on the perimeters, they have to man DFPs (Defensive Fire Positions), do SABC, play Chem warfare games and all that crap.  They start at a pre-built “camp” and mid-week they have to pack out and build a FOL (Forward Operating Location).  They march to a spot, throw down some gear and build an airbase.  All while getting shot at, gassed and generally made miserable.  On the way there, they have to deal with the DoD’s first IED walk.  After the BEAST, these kids are for REAL - finally

9 - For 6 weeks in my Basic training, they filled my head with history, protocol and military knowledge. Trainee’s today do all that in the two weeks after the BEAST.  Oh and a couple of those days are Confidence course, appointments and Basic sillyness.  Then they graduate and become Airmen in my Air Force.  God Bless ‘em all.

The one thing that did not change at Lackland AFB??  -  the MTI’s are still the best in the world, more dedicated, military and honorable than any other caste.

Do not screw with ANYONE in a Campaign Hat, EVER.

If you wanna see my crappy pictures taken with a cell phone, click on the BMTS 09 link from the Photo page, or click HERE!

It makes we want to cry... happy tears!

There are a few times in a person’s life that make you really want to cry, weep with happiness that cannot be expressed.  For me, many times, that feeling comes when you vehemently oppose or support something that eventually turns out to be right.  The people who looked at you skeptically finally turn and say, “hey, you’re right” and that’s all I need.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m right alot of the time, but when it counts, when it’s big, it makes me jump for joy.  That’s right, I’m not the guy that scored the big home run in the big game, I’m the guy that hammered that little Asian kid from Choate Academy on the debate team.  AND yeah, I owned his ASS!!!

So, I ask you to read my earlier post about my wonderful USAF and the abortion that is the F22, and then I point you here....

Save the Pitiful F-22

That’s right, even the damn USAF, the organization that is RE-ACTIVATING me in April of ’09, see’s that the F-22 is a lost cause, an anachronism of an earlier time and a piece of crap that we can do without.  When I say piece of crap, please understand that I mean, the world’s most advanced, America’s most perfect fighter ever invented, piece of crap.

It’s a toy, invented for big boys with REALLY big egos and really little dicks.  It solves a problem that the United States has not faced in 45 years, and that is lack of air superiority.  And please do not give me your BULLSHIT about trying to stay ahead of the world.  the ONLY competition we have is the EU and generally speaking, they are pussy’s.  12 guys with F-4 Phantoms could eliminate France and the Brits would never mess with us anyhow.  Do NOT tell me what a threat China is with their vaunted air force.  The numbers you are using to scare me are pre-Viet Nam and I’m not that stupid.

So... to wrap this up, thank you, Mark, for turning me on to that Hufpost and making my day!

Pres. Obama - PLEASE kill all future orders for F-22 Rapacioushitmonsters and keep my Air Force alive!!!  I have faith in you!!!!

15 Days and Counting...

George “Adolph” Bush

U.S. Dictator

2000-2008

As adept as his namesake in making people forget he was either evil or stupid, Bush advanced a 21st century version of fascism that remains with us to this day.
Future wikipedia entry.

We made it...  Only a shade over a fortnight to go and we’re free.   Yes, I said Free.  I meant it too.  I am somewhat convinced that for the last 4 years we have been in a dictatorship.  Oh sure, we had elections and the Senate met and the House debated, but they damn sure didn’t do much to stop him.

Problem with democrats - no balls.  And I don’t just poke fun at Pelosi... She quite possibly has a bigger set than Reid.  Now really guys, how hard, with all the lies and the demonstrated contempt for the constitution, would it have been to tie this asswipe up in impeachment proceedings for 2 years?  I know Reid wouldn’t touch that with a 10’ pole, but for NOBODY to do it?  Eeegads.

So we let this Fascist issue executive orders that abrogated and in some cases, violated the constitution and USC with impunity.  We let him suspend habeas corpus at will and get away with it.  I’m all for prosecuting terrorists, don’t get me wrong, but lets at least prove, or try to prove, or have a SHRED of evidence that they might have done something wrong?  I really don’t like the idea “rounding up the usual suspects” and throwing them into Gitmo.  I may just be one of those “usual suspects” one day, and i’d like my rights intact please.  This ignorant bastard has set precedences now that may actually tie up the courts for ages.

Anyone recall the Patriot Act?  For the love of god, doesn’t ANYONE remember National Socialist Germany in the 1930’s?  They had laws just like that, you know, just to make sure we didn’t let any JEWS have any rights.  This time we just re-wrote them and stuffed “Islamic” in the place of “Juden”.   Wanna have some fun?  Send and e-mail that has the following words... P.RES.I.DE.NT, Moto.rc.ade and B0m-b. in it.  Yes, you’re little e-mail will make it all the way to Langley, Virginia where some overworked analyst will look at it to see if it constitutes a real threat to the Presidential motorcade.  All without any effort on the part of local police, the FBI or the CIA.  That’s right, you have no say in the matter, because your e-mails are not private anymore.  Nor are your cell phone calls in certain areas.  Feel good? I hope so.

So, is the new administration going to set things right?  I hope so, but it will be a long process.  You see, the Shrub set up a pretty neat process in place to make sure this control doesn’t go away.  It strikes to the core of our being and some of our basic political policies.

Problem with Republicans - All balls, too little brains...

See, if you take any of these draconian measures and put them on trial, you’re just not patriotic and probably in league with the terrorists.  Remember, these things protected for the last 5-7 years from any more attacks, and if you start messing with them, you’re doomed.  Everyone knows we’re destined for more attacks at some point, and if any of the Patriot Act or other executive orders have been backed off, well, that will be what did it.  (Remember, everyone, no matter how god-like and noble, has to get re-elected.)

So, in a very neat package, Cheney and other horsemen of the Apocalypse  have pretty much guaranteed we’re stuck with this bullshit for a long time to come.  The FISA courts will be busy and Gitmo will be a busy place for ages (Well, the location might change for PR purposes, but someplace like it will be hopping.)

Dipshit says he will accept the judgement of history.  All the losers say that.  The only reason they say that is because they cannot point to anything they did that they can stand on, morally and righteously, and say “I did this for my country”.  As hard as I try, I cannot think of anything that might vindicate this asshole from the judgement as a liar and murderer.  You went to war, knowing you were doing it for your own jollies and to serve your own misbegotten sense of purpose.  Against the advice and judgement of others, you sent our military into another viet-nam.  I say screw history, why not accept the judgement of a jury of your peers, after being found guilty of lying to the American people, taking the country to war on false pretenses, sending troops to die in foreign soil for no reason and forgetting who the real terrorist bad-guy was.

The problem in Germany in the 1930’s was nobody stood up and said this was wrong.  Our problem is we took 5 years to realize it, and then three years of twaddling before we did anything, and in our system, how much can we really fix?