Captain Ahab, Lt Kennedy, and Commander-In-Chief George W

In Moby Dick, Melville tells the story of Captain Ahab, a powerful man - a ship's captain, skipper of a whaling ship, master of his fate, and the fate of his crew. At sea, the Captain rules the ship. Ahab's rule, was, at best, autocratic. Powerful tho he was, Ahab was enslaved by his emotions and his lust for vengeance against a whale.

In the end he lost his ship, his crew, and his life to this rage at a whale.

Ahab's rule was an unmitigated disaster.

August 3, 1943, during W W II, the American Patrol Torpedo Boat 109 - PT 109 - was rammed by the Amagiri; the Japanese destroyer escorting the Tokyo Express in the Blackett Strait, south of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands, Lt. Jack Kennedy was the skipper of PT 109. He lost two members of his crew and his ship. However, he saved the lives of the other 10 members of the crew, towing one and leading all on a three mile swim to shore.

It is now known that George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney entered the White House as President and Vice President maintaining the belief that Saddam Houssein posed a much greater threat to the security of the United States than an unbiased and critical understanding of the facts supported. They ignored several national security briefings and reports about Osama bin Laden and Al Queda before Sept. 11.

Whether the attacks of Sept. 11 could have been foiled by an alert and competant Executive Branch is an unknowable question. However, it is known that they misrepresented the facts of Saddam's involvement in Sept. 11 and launched a war against Saddam's regime which has turned into an occupation of Iraq.

In addition to the loss in life and limb of our brave soldiers who seek only to serve their country, this occupation has been a military, political, and economic disaster for the United States.

Some reverently call Bush their 'Commander-In-Chief', altho, in our civilian democracy, the President is only the 'Commander-In-Chief' of the Armed Forces. As Lloyd Bentson might say, “he is no Jack Kennedy.” More like Captain Ahab.

Nader Again

"He made the cars we drive safer; thirty years later, he made George W. Bush the president."
- The Atlantic Monthly

"If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form."
- Ralph Nader.

"Ralph Nader, running for President, again. I masturbate too, but I do it in private."
- Hugh Hefner

"The Jews hate him."
- Mel Gibson

"What drugs is he on? Can I get some?"
- Keith Richards

"Barack will kick his ass."
- Michelle Obama

"Bill could kick his ass. Hell, Barack could kick his ass."
- Hillary Clinton

"F*&%$#^ing arrogant bastard. He's worse than George F*&%$#^ing W. Bush"
- Al Gore

"I thought I need a miracle. God help us. Chuck (Norris) will kick his ass."
- Mike Huckabee

"Best news I had since I heard that a few Americans were against the war."
- John McCain

"That Lebanese Christian Jew-boy is hurting my chances, but no real American will vote for him"
- Ron Paul

"Tell him the check is in the mail."
- Karl Rove

"Maybe I'll take him hunting. What's that? He's on our side. I can shoot him anyway."
- Dick Cheney, from an undisclosed location.

"Ralph who?"
- George W. Bush

I'm Proud to be an American Patriot

I am an American patriot. I'm proud to be an American. I know there are some people, they call themselves “Liberals” who see love of country in work to improve my country, and even in what they call “Principled” dissent. Bullshit. The country is perfect. The President knows what to do, and what he's doing.

Those liberals claim loyalty to the Constitution; “to the law and the rule of law.” My loyalty is to the President, and to the Flag, as long as the President is a Republican. They claim that the President is not above the law. Even during time of war. But they're wrong. The Commander in Chief must do what he has to do to keep the country safe, whatever that means. And the Constitution was written a long time ago.

And if you don't count the votes of the Liberals – who shouldn't be allowed to vote – most of them are communists – George W. Bush won by a landslide.

Liberals say Police and judges must respect the constitutional rights of all citizens. Criminals must be held accountable for their crimes, and society must administer justice with wisdom and compassion.

I say police and judges must respect the rights of all citizens, as long as they don't commit crimes. Criminals must be held accountable for their crimes, and society must administer justice with vengeance.

I vote. I write my congressmen. I take them to lunch. Sometimes I pay for their fact finding missions to the Caribbean. I contribute to their campaigns. And I tell my employees to give money to their campaigns, especially if they want to keep their jobs.

So what if 1 out of 6 Americans can't afford health insurance. That means 5 out of 6 Americans CAN afford health insurance. And ones who can't - they can go to the emergency room. Or just not get sick. Even if they die, the population just gets healthier.

And so what if our brave soldiers putting their lives on the line don't have enough weapons, body armor, or ammunition. As Rummy said, "You go to war with the Army you have." That great American patriot, Marie Antionette, would be proud.

Some people have criticized our Commander in Chief for saying “Bring it On” to the terrorists. But remember, he was a cheerleader in college. He was telling the terrorists that they should forget about terrorism and embrace our way of life. They should watch movies like Bring it On. That's how they should compete in the marketplace of ideas: with dances, short poems, acrobatics, and pom-poms, not with IED's, roadside bombs and suicide bombs.

And of course we had to "cook the books" to launch the war in Iraq. Saddam was a clear and present danger. I don't know why, I don't need to know why. If my Commander in Chief says so, that's good enough for me. After all, he's a Republican and we live in a Republic. Besides, that country has 3 or 4 trillion dollars worth of oil. And we need oil. And they don't need it. They can't even keep the power on 24 hours a day. Besides, they're in the middle of a civil war.

I was proud of Tillman when he enlisted, and very moved to learn that he gave his life for his country. I understand that his death was caused by "friendly fire." I understand that sometimes these things happen, and sometimes for the good of the war effort the real facts have to be covered up and the media "facts" have to be invented and presented as if they were the true facts.

As for the claim that the President had been warned - repeatedly - in January 2001, June, 2001, August, 2001 about Osama Bin Laden, and did nothing, you must remember that these warnings came from Democrats like Bill Clinton and Richard Clarke and the CIA. How were they to be taken seriously? What do Democrats know about national security? What does the CIA really know about what happens in foreign countries?

And as for the communist allegation that we let Bin Laden escape when we had him cornered in Tora Bora back in 2003, we didn't let him escape; the Afghan's let him escape. And that was part of our strategy, or what our Great Leader and Commander in Chief calls in French "our stra-teeg-er-ri." First corner him. Then pay people to "take him out." Then let him pay the same people to let him go. This teaches them the value of a market economy and our way of life.

We actually won the war in Iraq back in 2003, when President Bush, our Great Leader and Commander in Chief, positioned himself on an Aircraft Carrier in a flight suit, in front of a sign that read "Mission Accomplished." He was right. Since then our mission has become a "mopping up operation" and an "occupation." And by "occupation" I mean it's a job.

Now the President is the Great Leader and the Commander in Chief, and must be obeyed, except when a Damn-ocrat takes the office. Then we have to do what we can to discredit him and throw him out. The glorious crusade by Independent Prosecutor Kenn Starr against the notorious Bill Clinton is an example. Even tho Starr spent years and millions of dollars of taxpayer money in his investigations, and found nothing, until the lurid details of Clinton's casual affair with an adult woman were revealed, he did the right thing.

Some people feel that it's somehow wrong for the White House staff to use Republican Party Central Committee computer systems and e-mail systems, and it's somehow wrong for those e-mails to be unrecoverable when backups are demanded by the hostile revolutionaries in Congress. But it's national security. We're at war. That's it. End of story.

Some people feel that it was wrong for the someone on the White house staff to "leak" the identity of a covert agent of the CIA. And while it is, technically, a “felony”, the fact remains that husband of the “agent” published an “op-ed” piece in the New York Times that criticized the White House.

Some people feel that it was wrong for the White House to fire those prosecutors because they refused to use their office for the good of the Grand Old Party. But they serve at the pleasure of the President. The President makes the decisions. If he says “investigate this guy because he's a Democrat” or “lay off this guy cause he's a Republican”, then that's what the prosecutor should do.

Some people complain the the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is somehow incompetent because it didn't help those poor old people in New Orleans. But it's not the job of government to help people. Government is not about helping people. Government is about protecting people and winning the war. The Red Cross helps people. Charities help people. Business makes money helping people, when they can pay for help.

Some people complain when the President drafts "signing statements" detailing how he will interpret a law, or, in some cases, how he doesn't have to obey a law, or enforce a law. They read somewhere in the Constitution that the Legislative Branch, aka the Congress makes the law, the Executive Branch, aka The President enforces the law, and the Judiciary puts people in jail. It's not that the President is above the law, it's that the President makes the law. In other words, the President is the law. And the Constitution is old. Really old. Over 200 years old. Times have changed.

I love my country no matter what, sort of the way my dog "Bushie" loves me, even when I kick her. And even if my country wasn't great, it would still be perfect.

So I'm proud of my country. Proud to be American. Will I be proud of my country in November, 2008 and January, 2009?

I hope so.

Castro Resigns

Castro Resigns.
Bush says he hopes to see free and fair elections in Cuba.
Castro says he hopes to see free and fair elections in Florida, Ohio, and Guantanamo Bay.

H. Republicanista on the Endangered Species List

Of the 33 Representatives in Congress who have announced their retirement, 28 are Republican, 5 are Democrat. This bodes ill for the GOP but well for America. As an environmentalist, I am generally committed to saving endangered species. However, if the endangered species is H. republicanista, I will not shed crocodile tears. H republicanista is related to and can mate with H. sapiens, leading some to believe they both are the same species, but H. republicanista is characterized by drug addiction, rage, sex with children, parroting "talking points" rather than "thinking" and argument by ad hominem and other illogical attacks rather than rational rebuttal and counterargument.