BartCop's most recent rants - Political Humor and Commentary, August 25, 2005, Volume 1608 - la familia, The Bush Cocoon, Baghdad fires raging, Army replacing Humvee, Walter Reed closing, Musclehead caught again, Bush's dress auction, America's torture history, Rove behavior, Scarlett Johannson OK

"Cindy Sheehan, who left Texas last week to be with her ailing mother, is returning to Crawford today
to continue her vigil outside Bush's fake ranch. "This isn't about politics. It's about what is good for
America and what's best for our security and how far this president has taken us away from both,"
Sheehan writes in the Huffington Post. "I'm coming back to Crawford because -- now and forever
-- this is my duty for my son, for my other children, for other parents, and for my country."
Raw Story says Sheehan will be back in Crawford this afternoon."
--Tim Grieve at salon.com

Link

Excerpt:
This early example of the U.S. news media building a protective cocoon around George W. Bush’s
presidency is relevant again today as many Americans try to understand how Bush was able to lead
the nation so deeply into a disastrous war in Iraq and why the U.S. news media has performed its
watchdog duties so miserably.

...journalists put their careers – not their love of country – ahead of their duty to tell the American
people the truth. In other words, big media personalities may have understood that challenging
Bush would put their big pay checks in harm’s way. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “The Answer is Fear.”]

With every column, Robert Parry proves that
consortiumnews.com is the most impostant site on the Internet.

"Pat Robertson is a televangelist. He's one of the big ones and also one of the dumbest ones.
He's getting a lot of heat today after suggesting on his show yesterday that we go ahead and
assassinate the president of Venezuela. Well, that is what Jesus would do."
-- comedian Jimmy Kimmel

Effort to replace Humvee sped up
After 1870 dead, they decide to armor the Humvee?

Excerpt:
The Pentagon is accelerating its search to replace the Humvee after two years of roadside bomb blasts
and suicide attacks in Iraq that have killed hundreds of soldiers in a vehicle not designed for combat.

There are about 24,000 piece of shit Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By 2008, the military could start using a new vehicle that would have more protection for troops.
Congressional pressure forced the military to add armor to all older Humvees and buy more models
with factory-installed armor. But even Humvees with the latest armor are still vulnerable to the
powerful bombs ~~insurgents use~~ that Bush intentionally let the evildoers steal to create chaos
so the oil wells couldn't be metered so they could steal $130M every goddamn day.

Baghdad Hit by Boldest Attack in Weeks
"We're winning" scream the warmongering profiteers

Link

Excerpt:
Clashes erupted between...

The specifics don't really matter.
Iraq has become just one giant car bomb and America's sons and daughters are condemned
to be stuck there far into the foreable future because Bush is too proud to say, "I fucked up."

i think it's important to remember the dems who voted for the war.
i was surprised to find out harry reid voted for the war.
this is why the dems are silent. they signed on for bush's war
and can't admit they made a horrible mistake.

once again i will never vote for anyone who approved this war.
if you are against this war, how can you support sen. clinton?

adios,
billy

Billy, if the president set up a special, top-secret briefing from the Pentagon,
and they told you Saddam could hit the East Coast with WMDs inside an hour,
would you really vote to do nothing while Saddam readied his missles or drones?

Hillary doesn't have her own personal CIA.
She was in no position to tell the CIA, "I know you're lying and I can prove it."
Tell me, Billy - how would she prove it?

All she's gotta say is, "Bush lied to us to start his bloody quagmire and as president,
I swear I will never lie America into a war just to steal another nation's assets."

Of course, if you were adamantly anti-defense, you'd never get elected,
not even as a representative from the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.

"There are few things more difficult in life than seeing a loved one go off to war, and here
in Idaho, a mom named Tammy Pruitt…knows that feeling six times over. Tammy has four sons
serving in Iraq right now with the Idaho National Guard. Last year, her husband and another son
returned from Iraq where they helped train Iraqi firefighters in Mosul. Tammy says “I know that
if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what
they think is right for our country. And I guess you couldn’t ask for a better way of life than giving it
for something you believe in.” America lives in freedom because of families like the Pruitts."
--Dubya, using people like Tammy's family to steal $130M every day of his bloody war, Link

"The Pruitts are cannon fodder in Bush’s grab for resources and power. That does nothing to keep
us free. In fact, you could say that it helps work against freedom, by giving Bush a way to deflect
criticism and stifle dissent. If there were no troops, Bush wouldn’t be able to cower behind them."
--Gary Kleppe, Comments #12

Should Cindy have stayed? Only Cindy could answer that question.
But, at the end of the day, it's not about Cindy. We all share an equal
responsibility for holding the Bush Crime Family accountable.

To suggest that Cindy should have ignored her mom so that the rest of us could sit on
our fat asses and let her do the work is no different than the chickenhawks and Yellow
Elephants who support the war, but aren't willing to go fight it.

Cindy started the ball rolling, but it's not her job to keep pushing it uphill. That's up to the rest of us.
If her leaving Crawford for a few days sinks the whole effort, then it wasn't much of an effort to
begin with -- and we're the ones who failed by sitting back and letting her do all the work.

If you really feel that we need more presence in Crawford, get off your ass and get down there.
armchair revolutionaries never got us anywhere at all.

But don't blame Cindy.
PDW

Bartcop.com reader Brian was sitting on his couch when he decided
he needed a shot of Chinaco. When he went to the kitchen, the woman's car came
crashing thru his living room wall - which proves that ...Chinaco saves lives...

Bart, I've looked at your chat room a couple of times and haven't wanted to fool with the format.

Are you saying it's too complicated to get in?
I haven't heard that before, but maybe that's a factor.
I just thought if I could figure it out, anybody could.

Have you ever thought about going to some chat site like chat1.com and making your own room there?
just my two cents

I wasn't in on the planning, but I know the chat dudes had to put up serious money, maybe $300-$500
to set things up the way they wanted it, which is one reason I'd like to see more people in there.
They took special precautions to keep out verbally violent monkey types.

So everyone is invited to Live CHAT
You might even see a celebrity in there, like Betty Bowers or Mike Malloy's producer/wife Kathy.

Walter Reed to be Closed
They can't handle all of Bush's amputees

..Link

Excerpt:
A federal commission voted to close the crown jewel of Army hospitals as it began its second day
of decision-making on sweeping plans to restructure military bases across the country. Located in DC,
century-old Walter Reed has treated presidents and foreign leaders as well as veterans and soldiers,
including thousands of broken and dismembered men returning from Bush's bloody quagmire.

Most of Walter Reed's work would be relocated to a more modern, expanded hospital in Bethesda
that will be renamed Walter Reed in a nod to the old facility's heritage.

Yep, McDonald's was the bad guy, handing out products that require you
to have multiple surgeries if you spill some on yourself while driving a car.

A woman drives into a McDonalds drive thru, buys coffee, which, usually is served hot,
as is the custom, she is driving in heavy stop and go early morning traffic, so naturally she thinks,
where is the best place to put a Styrofoam vessel holding a very hot liquid? Why, between my legs
naturally, this way, I can hold it steady while alternately using the gas and brake pedals.

So she had several operations, so what? She did this to herself. If she did not have any kind of
cup holder in the car, maybe she should not have gotten something that could hurt her.

People complain about Bush, and they should, but when will the average American actually take
responsibility for their actions? As long as they can target someone else, why should they worry about
what they do? The whole American culture has become obsessed with the “its someone else's fault”
syndrome, up to and including the President. No matter what stupid thing someone does, there is an
attorney out there that can figure out a way to make sure some else is at fault.

John, we disagree on this.
The way I see it, McDonalds knows they can make an extra .01 percent of profit
if they serve that dangerous liquid in a shaky-ass cup at a scalding 210 f-ing degrees.

And like you say, they put that surgery-causing liquid inside a moving car for elderly people
to negotiate for that extra .01 percent of profit and I say that's depraved indifference.

I say they could eat that extra .01 percent of profit and serve coffee at 160 degrees and
(great idea!) serve it in better cups with tighter lids, but it's cheaper to scald the old people.

But even the old lady shouldn't get $15M.
That's a lot of money.

"I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me...
Those who lost their lives believed in the mission. To honor their memory,
and because it’s right, we must believe in the mission, too."
--Ron Griffin, whose son died in Iraq, on why we must blindly follow Bush
and not ask any questions while he steals $130M a day in Iraq Link

Musclehead caught again
Nonprofits Cloak Donations to Governor

Link

Excerpt:
Musclehead is benefiting from millions of dollars raised by a network of tax-exempt groups
without revealing that the money comes from major corporations with business before his office.

The groups are run by Schwarzenegger's closest political allies, who also represent some of
California's biggest interest groups. Unlike the governor's many campaign funds, the nonprofits
are not required to disclose their contributors and can accept unlimited amounts.

One group controlled by a powerful corporate consultant pays the $6,000-a-month rent on a
Sacramento hotel suite used by the governor, who is a multimillionaire. Others have funded
media events and political rallies featuring Schwarzenegger and helped pay for his foreign travel.
So far, five tax-exempt groups aiding Schwarzenegger have collected $3 million.

"I love tree tings - da dope, da tiddies and
da money dat's laundered tru charities..."

Comments?

Mr. Crowe decided to buy off the complainant INSTEAD of facing criminal assault charges.
Would you deny Mr. Crowe the right to buy himself out of a legal problem?
It was entirely his choice to do so.

If a burglar puts a gun to your head and says,
"Give me your wallet or I'll blow your f-ing brains out,"
nobody's making you do anything in that case either, right?
After all, it's entirely your choice to give him your wallet, right?

It was Mr. Crowe's , and conceivably his attorneys, who set the price they would pay.
There is NO WAY in hell that the complainant could have made Crowe pay anything.

You're not making sense.
Why would Crowe give that guy $15M if he didn't have a gun to his head?

So why are you trying to extend this non-judicial buyout in order to make some
specious, nonapplicable, "tort reform" point?
Charlie

Charlie, there's no telling what you meant to say, but you're not making any sense.
And as a general rule, I pummel people who fail to start out nice.

Housekeeping

I am not able to answer each"Who is Hilary Duff?" and "Who is Jenny McCarthy?"

There's a very good search engine called Google.
It's located at Google.com

Thank you.

How are you handling the latest constructive suggestions
by that great Christian, Pat Robertson?

Keep the faith.
Juli in Pittburgh
My good friend Dr. Julius Youngner personally cured polio 50 years ago

Excerpt:
Internet shoppers could add the flamboyant swan dress worn by Der Monkey to
their wardrobe, with the eccentric fashion piece to be auctioned for charity next month.

International aid agency Oxfam said Thursday the quirky dress, which the Smirking Chimp
wore for his 2001 State of the Union address, was among more than 150 celebrity fashion
items to be auctioned on eBay.

Bush turned heads when he wore the totally gay white dress, which features a ruffled feather skirt,
with an imitation swan's neck draped around his neck and the bird's head resting on his breast,
as she pranced his way to the podium for his speech on the dying American economy.

Simple answer. Sometimes juries get it wrong.
That doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water.

We have a great jury system and putting caps on settlements won't help, it will hurt.
Corporations, even now, weigh safety changes versus lawsuits.
If they can get by cheaper by risking the lawsuit they'll ignore the safety regulation.
Setting caps would guarantee that they choose lawsuit every time.

Dean, thanks for giving me a chance to clarify my position.
I'm all for punishing a bad person or a guilty board of directors.

But I think a first-offense scratch should be worth maybe $25K, not $15M.
The Merck case is different, because thousands were affected and some died.
In that case, I'd say maybe $1M to each family and the Merck board goes to prison.

Note: We're gaining steam on the big protest march.
Watch here for important details soon!

Religious freedom

Link

Comments?

Subject: Iraq's new constitution

Bartcop,

The damned thing names Islam as the state religion and says that all legislation is dependant on it.
So after the Grumpy Grampy Donny Rumsfeld and the giggling monkey's poppy spend the eighties
arming Saddam as a wedge against Iran and the Shiites, Rummy and Bush give it back to them!!

Since there's nothing in that about oral sex or a failed land deal in Arkansas
I guess there's no reason to worry, right?

Chris D in NJ

Chris, that is correct.
Our soldiers died to create another Islamic state.

The press doesn't care about that,
the Democrats don't care about that so
the people don't know they should be upset about it.

Comments?

America - a history of torture

Link

Excerpt:
What's happened is what has happened in the past. Very low level people, such as, in this case, the MPs who were
ordered to carry out those tortures, are held up to the public as scapegoats, put on trial, and sent to jail. Whereas,
Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, who are in clear violation of two felony statutes within the United States which
prohibit torture abroad by any U.S. official, or conspiracy to do so, or ordering or condoning such actions - these
people have remained completely free. Why are they free with no charges brought against them? Because the person
who would decide to indict them would be the Attorney General - formerly Mr. Ashcroft, now Mr. Gonzales.
We have a clear breakdown of the checks and balances system here. They should be under indictment, but they're not,
so their crimes are continuing. And that, in fact, is going to greatly increase the risks of more attacks against our country.

When America's top law enforcement officials are breaking the law,
it's up to the independent press and the opposition party to call them on their crimes.

We have neither.

Comments?

Subject: Saddam's plea bargain

I'm surprised the BFEE are even bothering to work out a plea bargain for Saddam.

Suppose Hussein does make it to trial and spills his guts about the crimes of Reagan-Bush.
Who will report on it? Who will make an issue of it? CNN will ignore the story in favor of
a 6-part Dr. Sanjay Gupta report on hangnails and/or Larry King talking to the parents of
a teen missing in Aruba.

Fox will say that because Saddam is evil, he must be telling awful lies about St. Ronnie and
Bush the Elder. And MSNBC...well, who the fuck watches MSNBC anyway?
The press is bought and paid for and the Dems are sacless, whipped dogs.

Bill (the optimist) in ColoradoBart,

Comments?