Mexico Drug Cartels Send A Message of Chaos, Death

By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 4, 2008; Page A01

A Mexican soldier escorts a drug suspect arrested this week in Tijuana. Cartels and their cells are fighting police, the army and one another. (By Guillermo Arias -- Associated Press)

When someone rolled five heads onto the dance floor in a cantina in Michoacan state two years ago, even the most hardened Mexicans were shocked. Now ritual mutilations are routine. In the border city of Tijuana, 37 people were slain over the weekend, including four children. Nine of the adults were decapitated, including three police officers whose badges were stuffed in their mouths....

Even I'm appalled with this and I can't help but wonder if it is an attempt by the Bush Administration to change the way things are done in Mexico.

Mordida no mas?

Yeah right. Another one of Stupie McFuckwits delusions that if you throw enough money at a country you can change the culture.

Remember that ObamaMessiah crap?

How about let's not expcet miracles, or to expect the man to walk on water, eh?

Tomgram: Robert Dreyfuss, Is Iran Policy Still Up for Grabs?

posted December 02, 2008 5:02 pm

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

After all, that massive U.S. air attack on Iran that anti-imperial critics long expected to arrive, that Seymour Hersh wrote about, that so many feared, never happened and, with Barack Obama's election, should certainly have been put to rest in a deep grave for all eternity. But don't underestimate the neocons, or their ability to reconfigure themselves for a Democratic administration.

Michael Phelps vs Anderson Cooper

Hilarious, but bless Cooper's ability to look foolish good naturedly. Tomorrow on 60 minutes. Phelps is a marvel to watch in the water, and he works his ass off , the last frame is telling. It's why I wondered how many times they had to shoot this thing before they got one without Phelps cracking up.

Pakistani Militants At Center Of Probe

India, Its Archrival Vow to Cooperate Amid High Tension
By Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 29, 2008; A01
BERLIN, Nov. 28 -- Pakistani militant groups on Friday became the focus of the investigation into the attacks in Mumbai as India and its archrival Pakistan jousted over who was responsible. Both sides pledged to cooperate in the probe, but tensions remained high amid fears the conflict could escalate.

Surprising?

Not a fucking chance.



Here's yesterday's rodent pic.

Whoops, that was a squirrel pic I had already used in August. The critters don't come out much in "winter." Mmm hmm, I know those of you who deal with ice and snow are laughing at that, but they do hibernate. So here's a picture from my window. The trees on the grounds are one of the few things that don't suck about this complex. They attract all kinds of birds, migrating or not.

Rachel Maddow so rocks

Worried About Thanksgiving Fights with Right-Wing Family Members?

By Sara Robinson, Blog for Our Future
Posted on November 26, 2008, Printed on November 26, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/108638/

Oh, Lordy. It is that time again. Thursday is Thanksgiving -- the official kickoff event of the 2008 holiday season. For a lot of progressives, these festivities also mean that we're about to spend more quality time with our conservative relatives over the next six weeks than is strictly good for our blood pressure, stress levels, or continued sanity.

Hat tip to Shea

I love the article, but I gave up on holidays with my reich-wing Republican parents about the time I turned 18, many years ago. That doessn't mean that holidays are easy for me, they generally bring back horrible memories, and I'd rather crawl in a hole around October 25th and crawl back out on January 2. My sister finally let the cat out of the bag a couple weeks ago and said, "Oh, by the way ______, you were the scapegoat." A term anyone familiar with alchoholic family dynamics should understand. Believe me, these roles ain't set in stone, they move around in most families.

Happy Turkey Day.

May it be filled with gratitude and peace instead of painful drama.

Update 3 pm. Oh goody, my daughter is coming. She had to work, so she's tired, but she's coming. :) This is soooooo mellow.

As mortgages went bad, executives cashed out

By William Heisel
November 26, 2008
The subprime lending industry was starting to buckle under the weight of bad loans in November 2006...




Uh yuh, looks like we're gonna need another bailout.

"Sir, yes sir."



Whatever. I knew these assholes were assholes after 4 days at JP Morgan's hnnaaappy McMortgage factory in Rancho Bernardo in May of 06. Hamsters only need apply.

Ahhhhhhhh

Relaxing with new old music. The kid introduced me to Modest Mouse and some others for which I am grateful and the old man bores and irritates me with his high school soundtrack of Boston , REO , and worst of all Styx. I used to listen to country, but since I don't drink as much, I can't stand that caterwauly whining. I still love the blues, but I like my jazz predictable, and quiet. Not much on the horns dueling it out in improvisation. Don't demand my attention, I find that irritating and distracting and I have ADD. (Click on the pics to explore the sound)

This is my music. I've been hooked on it since I was 16.

5500 Squids are landing

After 6 months at sea in the Persian Gulf. The ones with fucked up families or drug and alcohol problems won't be flying home for Thanksgiving, they'll be wreaking havoc on the local girls. Some of which are greedy, skanky hos and deserve it, or professionals who will be compensated for their company. Either way, I warned my daughter.

Love BuckFush

it's pretty simple

The U.S. raids are deeply unpopular among many ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom are already angry with their leader's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

About 100 people in the eastern city of Multan demonstrated against the strike, chanting "Down with America" and burning an effigy of President George W. Bush.

Dial 1-800-Waaaaahhhh. You take aid money for the control of your whacked out Islamist militants and fund same, fuck you.

Frankly, until these numbers get closer to even, this planet will continue to have serious problems and the competition for resources will continue to be violent.

Clowns

Garanimals

Gotta love global warming, it's lowering my clothing bill. My entire summer clothing bill, which can be worn 9 months out of the year now, is less than $150 for this and next year.



I found out yesterday why I'm so impatient when I'm trying to read online. My eyes are fucked. So if I'm not visiting and commenting enough, that's why. I'll be more active when I can see.

This is surpirsing?

Franken Coleman recount

Betcherass there there are some questions that still need to be answered.

Last night was a good night. I got to see my kid, & she spent the night. She's still clearing her stuff out of her room, a little bit at a time. I hadn't seen or heard from her in 2 weeks. That hadn't happened since she was 2 and it was really painful.

Cheney, Gonzales Indicted in Texas Prison Case

Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.

This is the one time I wil link to FOX News when it isn't a joke. I'm sorry it isn't the Hague, but it's something.

Bwwwaaaa hah hahahahahahha

I guess the Saudis didn't invest enough in Somalia?

Hey, maybe they'll send over some birth control?

Bwaaa ha hahahhahahaha, I thought not.

Not that we don't have our own anti-birth control morons who don't understand that the country is broke, and seriously in debt.

The place is a train wreck

Loaded with militants.

And inside the US
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Study puts a total on diabetes cost: $218 billion
By LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Business Writer

Nobody is going to move to restrict the use of corn syrup, which is is subsidized or, white flour bleach, both of which contribute to the development of diabetes. This looks like an interesting book to me.

Just look at the bailout bullshit. Business rules, even when it is destructive. In fact, sometimes when it is destructive, it's especially profitable.

Ahhhhhh.

Relaxing with new old music. The kid introduced me to Modest Mouse and some others for which I am grateful and the old man bores and irritates me with his high school soundtrack of Boston , REO , and worst of all Styx. I used to listen to country, but since I don't drink as much, I can't stand that caterwauly whining. I still love the blues, but I like my jazz predictable, and quiet. Not much on the horns dueling it out in improvisation. Don't demand my attention, I find that irritating and distracting and I have ADD.

This is my music. I've been hooked on it since I was 16.

Which clock could you live with?

Vote >---------->------------>------->

( if you are interested in any of the clocks you can click on the picture and find out more, or buy it online :)
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Why I don't watch Sunday morning TV

If it’s Sunday, it’s still conservative.»

The fires are having some grim consequences:

Coroner's office burns -- but workers keep investigating fire
1:39 PM, November 16, 2008

Man, this just takes the cake for stupid headlines:

Mexico drug wars spill across the border

If there wasn't a market for drugs in the US there wouldn't be any need for the US to finance both fucking sides of the war on drugs in Mexico.

Landslide

I got both of them. I like both of them.

Music and fun

I forgot what a pain in the ass it is to load 150 CDs into a computer. Now if I can only figure out how to not have to do this again. Most of what was important I managed to save before the demise of the XP computer. My brother managed to resurrect it, and he's considering putting linux on it. Vista sucks, really hard but the service plan I bought with this computer doeis not, so whatever.

My friend Annie always tries to cheer me up when I'm grousing.

She'll do it for you and your party too, if you're in LA:

Tonight's TV and Friday squirrel blogging

PBS NOW
7:30 PM

Bill Moyers Journal 8:00 PM

And what the fuck is this?

In Fla., Election Decided By Toss Of A Coin

And Badtux posted a MUST see post on how to deal with some supporters of Prop 8.

I heard about the white powder sent to the Mormons, and I don't think it was a good idea, even if it was non-toxic because it gives those assholes the martyr card in the media.

That said, I laughed when I heard it.

tagged by Dyre 42

The Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


Six random things about myself:


1) I know that people are stupid enough to destroy the earth

2)I discovered that I was a liberal while taking business classes.

3) I have some hope for my country now.

4) I think people who bring children into this world now are stupid, ignorant, or selfish, because the kids are going to suffer.

5) Greed makes me sick

6) I'm obsessed with the out of control world population.

Sorry, I'm not tagging anyone because I hate being tagged.

The whales lost in the Sooopreme court

I knew they would.

Which clock could you live with?

Here's the klinker, I live in an old shitty little apt (think NOT bright white) and the kitchen clock neds to serve the also the living/dining/family/den room. I never noticed how many times I refer to it till the old one died. I like number one, but the face is too small.

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My favorite old pictures and the passage of time

They're dog eared because they spent a couple of years banging around in a key chain. These are fifteen and seventeen years old. We used to be pretty darn cute, eh? She's still fabulous looking, me, not so much. getting old sucks.



I went shopping with a friend a few days ago. I'm not much of a shopper, but with major retailers going under, I couldn't resist. I'm still not used to not buying stuff for the kid, who is no longer a kid. I bought two sets of towels, not sure which one matched her shower curtain better.

I was looking for a wall clock. I think I got the last one thirteen or fourteen years ago. It never really looked good in this apartment, but I never cared. As soon as the kid moved out it started acting up and died. After three hours and 7 or 8 stores of clock shopping I was really frustrated so I went looking online.

I like this one, but of course, it's ridiculously expensive, it's a wall clock for over the dang kitchen sink,and $275 is around $250 more than I want to pay for a clock.

I like this one

and this one

These are fun, & I'll never lose the timer again .

and when I thought that this one was pretty interesting I knew it was time to quit looking for a while.

Great reading list

Unfortunately, I have been remiss in checking this site and missed it. There are only two books on the 2008 booklist that I have read, although they all look interesting.

Al Franken shouldn't have poo-pooed BradBlog

Really, Al, you shouldn't have, there's good information there.

Hat tip to Danny

This made me sad:

Burma 10 November 2008
Prison court sentences blogger to 20 years, poet to two years