What To Do With Saddam's Body

The Rude Pundit weighs in.

Shit That Matters

There's the execution of Saddam Hussein. There's New Year's Eve and resolutions that rarely pan out. There are relationship problems. Oh wait, that's just me. Anyway, in the midst of things notsoimportant, there are 3000 dead Americans in Iraq. Happy New Year, and give at least a passing thought to those families.

The Meaning of Christmas

For the first time in several years, I've pondered the meaning of christmas this year, at least what it means for me. I've been watching CSPAN regularly and they have asked this question the last two days, and it had me thinking. Several people who called used a religious reference. I know several people who take it personally if you use the letters 'xmas' to describe the holiday, or don't capitalize the C in christmas. Whatever floats your boat.

I was lucky enough to be raised by someone who considered herself an atheist, and someone who considered himself a cheated catholic. What that meant in day to day life was no religious pounding. What that meant at christmas was presents and fun and family. There are many people who hold today to be a holy day. What I don't get is (and what I can ask in my complete ignorance of the subject), how can you combine the two? If today is based on religion for you, how can you participate in the commercialization that's so rampant? Isn't there a double standard there?

I've done some learning about religion since my childhood, but it has been on my own terms, at my own time. It's a fascinating subject, for many different reasons. It's freeing to not be beholden to certain concepts or ideas. I can ask stupid questions based completely in ignorance.

Christmas this year has a different feel for me. For the last several years, I've wanted to hide away and hope it passes over without leaving a mark on me. This year I've discovered that I'm ready to come out of my cave and celebrate again next year. This year, more than I've noted before, it's become important to me to have people around me, that I care about and care about me. And regardless of if you're a Santa Commercialized person, or a Jesus' Birthday person, I think there's common ground there.

Merry Xmas, everyone :)

Dumbfuckery of the Highest Order

Via Laura Rozen: Ahmed Chalabi is in Damascus, acting as a go-between for Washington and Syria.

Are you kidding me?

After years of war, and rumors of more war, wtf? The guy who was expecting to be president of Iraq, the guy who robbed Jordanians blind and should be thrown into the trunk of the nearest car and driven back to Jordan by force, the guy who played both ends against the middle with Iran. THIS guy is Our Man In Syria.

At some point you have to wonder if the people in Washington are fuckups of such magnitude on purpose.

I Hate To Say I Told You So...

...but...

Having been ass-deep in alligators this week, I'm a little late on some rather huge stories. Somewhere down there is a post I wrote about Bush delaying decisions on What To Do About Iraq because his own people were doing studies in addition to the Iraq Study Group headed by dad's friend James Baker and Lee Hamilton. I had said Bush was looking for something to hold off having to be...what's the word I'm looking for...having to be...presidential, that's it. A decider.

Now that the election winds have died down, now that he has run out of countries to travel to that are willing to be seen with him, he's decided to blow the politics of it in your face (he's never done that before) and forego making a speech about his decision until January.

Here's what this picture will look like: by the time they're done writing the speech, Democrats will have already started in their jobs as the majority in Congress. Instead of talking about the 'way forward' in Iraq, he's going to use the speech as a campaign opportunity for '08. He will criticize the Dems for standing in the way of winning and all that. Wait for it.

Wait until January. It's not like there are soldiers dying in the meantime.

Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch Is Dead

No, I'm not speaking of former Secretary of State Jeanne Kirkpatrick. I'm speaking of Augusto Pinochet, dictator of Chile and accused murderer. CNN, that great liberal media outlet, has a gallery available of pictures with captions of Pinochet's rule, but, mysteriously, the brutality of his rule is left to other news outlets, receiving only a cursory mention. The thousands of people that to this day have not been found, well, you get the idea.
Goodbye Mr. Pinochet. Here's hoping your death was as painful and miserable as what you inflicted on others. May you rot in hell.

Oxygen Thieves Among Us

I hope anyone with a television watches 60 Minutes tonight. Anderson Cooper, making his media-touted debut on the show, interviews Specialist Joe Darby, the man who exposed the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal. I am too lazy to look for it, but I posted a link to a GQ article several months ago that depicted the horror his life has become as a result of what he did. From the CBS website:

Mr. Darby has shamed himself, his fellow servicemen, and his country.
There were procedures for Mr. Darby, he was sworn to uphold. He did not but then they would have brought him neither the money or the notoriety that going to the media has.

The Good Christians are still calling him a traitor and threatening his life. The "hope you die in misery: yours in Christ, Bob" crowd continue to show that they are willfully ignorant of what being a traitor is. Those who bang the drumbeat of war with the blood of other people's children have no shame. The only comfort to be drawn from human excrement such as this is that their god wants a few words with them before they meet their final, wretched salvation.

Intelligents Failyer

This link to Talking Points Memo shows the failure of the Democrats to step up to the plate and do the right thing with the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. Nancy Pelosi, the 1st female Speaker of the House, who I am proud to call a member of my party, stumbled when she could have run away with a smart appointment to this post. I don't have a dog in this fight. I know she disliked Jane Harman, and probably for good reason. But the appointment of a yahoo who doesn't know the make-up of the biggest external enemy of our country is, well, boneheaded.

Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?

"Al Qaeda, they have both," Reyes said. "You're talking about predominantly?"

"Sure," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Predominently--probably Shiite," he ventured.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an Al Qaeda clubhouse, they'd slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.

This is depressing. The whole country is going to be watching to see how the Democrats handle national security, given that news outlets such as Fox have pounded into them that Democrats are 'soft on terror.' We don't need to give them a legitimate reason to continue to do so.

Don't Spew on Your Monitor...

...never mind, you won't be able to help it. After a shitty day at work, it's important to laugh. Feast your eyes on Turk's brilliant captioning skills.

Next up, we now know the identity of the father of Mary Cheney's baby. And no, that don't mean Dick. ::cough::

Breathe In...Breathe Out...(coughcough)

At some point, all you need to do is post the link. No comments are necessary. But if they were, those comments would be: are you flipping kidding me? The single-most under reported story of our time is the killing of the environment. I know I'm repeating myself, but these people are such shitbags. Give me back my country, dammit.
:::walking away coughing up a lung::::

The Atrocities of Sunday Morning Talk Shows

Evan Bayh, Indiana Senator, is the only person on the planet who can make John Kerry look like a party animal. Is there anyone more wooden and boring?