I'm Back!

Boy, did we have a great time. The weather was perfect. Just wanted to share this photo of a scrub jay that we visited on our second day. The first day we walked the beaches looking for piping plovers and we saw probably a couple of dozen. The second day we visited an area preserved for scrub flora and fauna. There are several families of scrub jays living there and here's one member of one of the families. They are amazingly curious birds and have little fear of people. Tomorrow I'll show you how curious they can be.

I missed you guys. Over the weekend I'll share a couple more pictures from our trip. It's so good to be home!

The Great Piping Plover Pursuit

Mr. Pop has to go to Volusia County to do a little birding. His company has been hired to do a survey of piping plovers, a small shorebird that is federally protected. These little guys winter in Florida, where they feed and store up energy for their trip back north this spring to nest. A section of beach around the Ponce de Leon Inlet has been designated as critical habitat. It is also the site for a planned navigation project. Mr. Pop is going to determine how many plovers are currently utilizing that habitat in order to assess the effects of the project.

So, I’m going too. Who could pass up a chance to go and look for little plovers on the beach? I will be away from my computer until sometime Friday. Okay, sure I get to enjoy spending three nights in a lovely bed and breakfast in that area, but to quote the president, looking for piping plovers while walking on a sunny beach is “hard work”.

You guys to be sweet to one another and let me know if I miss anything while I’m away. See you late Friday or early Saturday.

I’ll miss you!

Could Be Our Only Chance

From Kos

March 24, 2006
NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on "An Examination of the Call to Censure the President" for Friday, March 31, 2006 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
By order of the Chairman

Okay all you Morning Martini visitors, let’s do this
Let them know that we believe the president is not above the laws of our country.
Please email the Dems and Repubs on the committee.

(Thank You Auntie Roo for the heads up)

Desperation, thy name is Republican

I call desperation on the Republican Party. When the biggest Dick says the Democrats aren’t capable of keeping the country safe, baby he’s desperate. His party had the watch on September 11, 2001, and since that day he has used that event like an old lady uses her age to get her way. We all know they can’t make a speech without sucking a little more blood out of an already nearly dried out corpse. Kind of strange to me that they would want to constantly bring up the worst failure of their time in office. While Richard Clark’s hair was flaming like a forest fire because he was trying to warn them that UBL was the biggest threat to our safety, they were fiddling around with plans to blow up Iraq.

We know how Rove works. Find your opponent’s strongest asset and then attack it and try to make it appear to be their weakest. Kerry served in the Navy in Viet Nam, and he was running against what appears to be a fellow who sort of, maybe, served some or part of his time in the Texas Air National Guard. So what to do? Convince the public that Kerry’s military record is shoddy at best. That’s Karl for you.

Based on Karl’s way of handling opponents, could it be that they know that Democrats are very competent? That’s what scares them, and that’s the Democratic asset they see as the strongest?

Certainly we know that this administration isn’t competent when it comes to keeping our country safe. We are now fighting two wars, we have two enemies and the rest of the world’s population, for the most part, are not our friends. This administration has proven its incompetence over and over. Besides the almost 3000 killed on 9-11, we have close to that same number killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers aren’t safe, and if there had been any wisdom in the white house, we wouldn’t be at war in Iraq. Even the things they could not prevent, like Hurricane Katrina, they still couldn’t manage to handle. All these months have passed and still the Gulf Coast is in shambles.

Yes indeed, they are desperate. They have to be if they are trying to bring down the Democrats by touting Republican failures. You hear them talk about 9-11 endlessly, but you don’t hear so much about relief and progress on the Gulf Coast. That doesn’t stick to the wall for them.

Expect more of the same, but just remember, they only attack their opponent’s strongest points and try to make them appear to be their weakest. When your own record is so weak that you can’t tout it, but instead have to try to destroy your opponent’s strengths, you are showing your desperation. When that’s all they have to work with, it shows the Republicans have reached a desperate state of desperation.

5 little niceties just for you

You probably read or heard of all the little niceties that cheney requests before he arrives at a hotel room. Things like all the TV’s must be tuned to Fox News and silly crap like that. Here’s the link if you missed it.

So let’s pretend we are the vice president of the United States. Our secretary sends out to the finest hotel a list of five things we must have when we arrive.

Here’s my own list
1. I would like gazillion thread count sheets on the bed and the bed must be firm, but not like a stone
2. I want a complete new wardrobe waiting for me appropriate to my schedule during my visit.
3. I want to be able to keep my dog with me in my room at all times
4. I want an endless supply of Sapphire Gin and all the ingredients for martinis (you saw that one coming, right?)
5. I want blooming gardenias in every room, all the time

Okay, now it’s your turn. What must you have awaiting you when you arrive?

Madam President not Madman President

It is absolutely time for a female president. I’m not talking about Hillary. I’m talking about women in general.

Men say that women get too bitchy every 28 days or so. Well, that’s true, but at least we are predictable with it. Men fly off the handle anytime they feel like it and usually for no reason.

Women seldom put pride ahead of common sense. You won’t find a woman driving her war wagon into Iraq instead of Iran. We know how to stop and ask for directions when we lose our way.

Women tend to be more peace loving than men. You hardly ever hear about a woman going into a bar, getting drunk, getting into a fight and shooting someone. It’s just not our style. When we go into a bar, get drunk and get into a fight, we will fly into a blue’s rampage of words, but we don’t shoot people, at least not as often as men.

Women tend to have an instinct about who we can trust and who we can’t. If we should have an affair it wouldn’t be with a man whose best friend records all their phone calls and keeps the tapes.

Women are conversational. We would rather talk out our differences. Yeah, it may take a great deal of talking, but if we talk long enough our enemy will finally just surrender. Significant others will probably attest to that.

Yes, women are concerned about their looks but there are a lot of vain men out there too. If we had a woman president and for whatever reason she needed to be awaken in the middle of the night to deal with a national emergency, she would grab her comb and mascara on the fly. She wouldn’t stop and apply foundation, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara and lipstick, because she would have her priorities straight.

And finally, yes women do become emotional and sometimes cry. They show their feelings. I’m not sure, considering the circumstances of our country right now, that’s such a bad thing.

It’s time for a female president here in the US. It’s time to add a woman’s touch. For too long we’ve experienced the negative results of a clinched male fist. We’ve seen what aggressive males have accomplished. Now let’s see what an aggressive woman can do. I’m pretty sure a female could do at least as well as the men have done and hopefully a little bit better.

The Rise and Fall of Useful Wars

The president drones on about how 9-11 changed the way he thought about this country’s safety and yada yada yada. Well thanks to the attacks of 9-11, his approval ratings skyrocketed. Before 9-11, not so much.

Maybe his attitude did change after 9-11. Maybe he and Rove, et al, saw that Americans liked him when bad things happened. They had a desire to kill or maim something in retaliation for the attacks. Great, let’s hightail it to Afghanistan and do a bunch of bombing and killing. Well, we had to kill somebody because somebody had killed almost three thousand Americans. Retaliation is the sincerest form of American anger.

Man his approval ratings just kept climbing. If one war is good, two wars ought to be a major wow event. So how about we start a new war with a country that militarily is basically helpless. Excellent! And off we went. Okay we didn’t review the history of the region or use common sense, but who cares? It’ll be a crowd pleaser for sure.

Here we are a tad over three years later and the war-loving crowd has shrunken down to a few drunks and a few hanger-oners who fell asleep in their recliners watching Fox News. War number one drags along and war number two is mired down in the sand up to its neck.

The president’s approval ratings are also mired down hard in the sand. Bush and his cronies made the mistake of bleeding that warrior charade dry. Sometimes that’ll happen. Just as you should never make three jokes in a row about the same subject, you should never fight two wars at a the same time for the same cause. It doesn’t work.

But we know our president is dauntless. Just yesterday he stepped up to the podium, looked an eighty some year old woman in the face and basically said, “Bring ‘em on, Helen”. Helen brought it. She basically said, “What the fuck were you thinking when you took us into this war in Iraq?” And with one shot he bagged her. He said, Helen no president wants to go to war.

Ain’t he a Cracker Jack? He said he went to war as a last resort. I guess he didn’t want to bring up the fact that there was a time when war saved his ass and propped up his approval ratings. He probably decided that it’s not a good idea to bring up something that now is bringing you down.

As to how much longer his wars will continue to play on the circuit, he said that would be someone else’s problem. War just wasn’t doing it for him anymore.

Here’s our Deal. Are you listening Democratic Congress People?

Dear every Democratic congress person who doesn’t support Senator Feingold’s call for censure.

Why the hell not? Why are you afraid to step up?

Are you afraid it will make you look weak on defense? Forget that, because there is so much more at stake here than appearances. We’re talking about the future of our country. We’re talking about the rights that the Constitution promises the citizens of the United States. See? We don’t give a damn about how you look, we do give a damn about what soldiers have fought and died for in previous wars. They died so that we could be free and live in a democracy. Those were brave people who were willing to give their lives. Aren’t you brave enough to step up now for the same cause?

For god’s sake stand up, admit you trusted the word of the President of the United States when you voted to support the war but now you see that you were misled. Damn, how hard is that? Others have done it, why can’t you?

We aren’t buying your mantra of having to look into whether the wiretaps were legal. You know they weren’t. We know they weren’t. The president hid the program because he knew they weren’t. Are you willing to give this president who fooled you into supporting this disastrous war any and every authority he wants? Even after he has made you look foolish, you still support what he’s doing? Have you lost your mind? Don’t you see the danger here? Don’t you understand what the hell this will do for his authority?

To borrow a line from this president, when you step up, we’ll stand down. We mean it. When you step up and support Senator Feingold’s call for censure, we’ll shut up. But for now we aren’t going away. Well, if you don’t step up, we will go away from you at the voting booth. But, for now we’re going to keep on bugging you. And I don’t mean in an NSA sort of way. We adhere to the laws of our country. We respect your privacy so we’re going to talk to you in public and we’ll talk loud.

Karl Rove has his little word out now that you guys are “angry”. Rove has no idea how angry we are because you guys aren’t angrier. For heavens sake, you have every reason to be mad as hell. In fact I can give you over 2300 flagged draped coffin reasons. We are at war because someone cooked the intelligence, sexed it up, and it was force fed to you. That doesn’t make you angry?

What’s more important, your reelection or the future of our country? We know, do you? One day you will be gone from the political arena but you have a chance today to do something that will change the outlook for future generations. You can do something that will take our country back from lawlessness to a country of laws that apply to all its citizens. Don’t you owe your kids and their kids that much? Isn’t it time to be statesmen and women instead of just politicians?

So here’s our deal. You support Sen. Feingold and on election day and we’ll support you. If you don’t support him, then you might as well change your party affiliation. What you’re telling us is that you are more concerned about protecting yourself than you are about protecting the Constitution. That sure says a lot.

Mission Accomplished! Well, one was

"It's about oil," Robert Ebel told me. Who is Ebel? Formerly the CIA's top oil analyst, he was sent by the Pentagon, about a month before the invasion, to a secret confab in London with Saddam's former oil minister to finalize the plans for "liberating" Iraq's oil industry. In London, Bush's emissary Ebel also instructed Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, the man the Pentagon would choose as post-OIF oil minister for Iraq, on the correct method of disposing Iraq's crude.”

Read the entire article here

Welcome Spring

Welcome Spring to the year 2006. I’ve been anticipating your arrival this year just as I do every year. You know, of all Mother Nature’s seasons, I favor you the most. Don’t get me wrong, each season brings its own special gifts but yours are just so beautiful. You always bring new hope and new life. You bring glorious flowers and tiny new animals. Your colors are beyond description. The pastels of Spring are a welcomed vision.

Sadly Spring, we humans have nothing of beauty to offer you this year. Our world is drab with suffering and death. We are a bit out of sorts with so much of what is occurring around us. We welcome your pleasantness because we have little of our own. Where you bring greening into the world we can hardly see past the dark.

I’m sorry there is not as much space for you to spread your greening as there used to be. We have poured even more concrete in the spaces you once flowered. We have sprayed chemicals on your past gifts. The air isn’t as conducive for you to spread your beauty as it once was. The water carries poisons of its own. Seems each year we make it more and more difficult for you to work your magic and spread your wonders.

But, welcome Spring. We welcome whatever beauty you may share, whatever effort you might give us. We welcome you with open arms. Please forgive us for making your season, your task, your gifts and your beauty more difficult for you each year. Perhaps one year we will give something back to you. Something in the form of care and appreciation and respect for what you have given to us in the past.

Three Years and Dying

Three years of invasion/war/quagmire/civil war.

Today, I find it difficult to use the words, “Three Year Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq”. I think of anniversaries as something to celebrate. There can be no celebration of this war. Instead, today is the third annual reminder of one of, if not the worst, mistakes of our lifetime. I see it as a day to mourn all those who were killed in this struggle and a reminder that three years ago today we began killing people in Iraq and people in Iraq began killing American troops. The killing probably won’t take a day off today.

Thanks to you, President bush, you, Vice President Cheney and you, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, we have been in a war of your choosing for three years. Because of you and your poor decisions, our country invaded a non-threatening country and three years later we see a country in deadly turmoil. The invasion, the resulting deaths and the heartache are now your shame. Three years of shame is not a cause for anything but remorse, and we see no evidence to suggest that you are capable of feeling remorse. While families mourn for the ones they have lost, the battle continues, and today marks the third year of your deadly mistakes and their heartbreaking pain and mourning. The dying continues and your victory is evasive. The future looks no kinder than the past. We’re all asking when will it end and you refuse to tell us why it began, three years ago today.

Let’s go see what’s in the gutters along the street

It’s a bone chilling cold morning in Washington DC. Grab your warmest wraps, we’re going for a walk on the streets of the city. Hold onto your wraps the wind is blowing like a winter hurricane. Little eddies of wind are forming at the corners of the brick buildings. The drainage gutters are clogged with yesterday’s news. What do we find on the frozen grates of the gutters? What is stopping the flow?

Look, here’s one thing that’s down in the gutter. Oh this is especially dirty and smelly. It’s Bob Novak’s career and here’s Judy Miller’s too. Here’s something labeled “The truth”. We haven’t seen that for a long time, have we? We better hold on to that. I believe that’s something we could use, don’t you? Oh my goodness, what are these old yellowed pieces of paper? Sadly they appear to be parts of the Constitution. It looks as though they have been ripped out and tossed away. Here’s the part that pertains to privacy. We’ve been looking for that. Maybe we can paste it back into the original. There is so much here in this pile of discards that I’m not sure we’ll ever clean them all out. I think we must try if we ever want to see the unfettered flow of clear information again. We’ll save what’s worth saving. Oh look! There in the gutter, it’s FOX news. Don’t touch that. That sort of thing is comprised of organic matter, you know. It’ll just decay and flush down and away.

Aren’t you glad you wrapped up and protected yourself against the cold before we went on this bone-chilling walk? But don’t you think it was worth it if we can restore truth and the Constitution? As for Novak’s and Miller’s careers, they are no longer clogging the flow, but it’s up to them to get them back out of the gutter.

Let’s go back home now. Let’s go back where we are comfortable and warm. And, let’s keep the truth and the Constitution grasped firmly in our hands forever. We must never allow these to be discarded again. It’s amazing what we found today in the cold blustery streets and gutters of Washington. Maybe we should check those gutters more often.

Resting in the Roses

This little tree frog found the perfect place to rest. He snuggled in among the rose petals of my climbing rose and didn't care to be bothered

Bomb-Sniffing Dog Sniffing Dogs

In San Diego an NCAA arena has been evacuated and the bomb squad was brought in because a bomb-sniffing dog alerted near or at a hot dog stand.
As of now, no bomb has been found.

So many possibilities for fun with this story. Have at it.

Land of the Free to Attack Anyone, Anywhere

The bush administration is expected to issue a new national security strategy today. From what we know so far, it looks a hell of a lot like the old national security strategy. Maybe a shorter hem line and possibly a little change in color but bottom line, it’s the same. If a country has something we need or want, we’ll lie about using diplomacy first and go into that country with both barrels blazing. Oh sure we’ll kill a few more people but we’ll just write that off to collateral damage, step on or over the bodies and march on. We’ll show the world that America is on the freedom march and we don’t care who we have to step on to spread the gospel.

See, damn it, we’re on the defensively offensive now. We’re so damn bad that we are constantly on the watch for anyone who we even think might want to kick out asses. We can go to any country if we suspect they hate our guts. It doesn’t matter why they hate our guts, we’ll just go in and do a lotta killin’ Amurican style.

We’re on a mission. We are spreading democracy. Okay we’re also spreading blood, death and heartache too. But as the Pretzelnit always says, free countries are peaceful countries. Free countries don’t attack their neighbors. We haven’t attacked Canada yet, so that proves we are a free country, right? Maybe we’re coming up a tad short on the peaceful part but we’re damned free to kill anyone anywhere if we want to. We’re giving the word freedom a whole new definition.

General Pace told us that things are going very, very well in Iraq. So apparently the Pretzelnit feels the steps that we took during the invasion of Iraq went so well we just might use that plan again in another country. He seems to feel we should dig ourselves another hole and just keep on digging. Sadly these holes will later become graves.

Trapped at the Circus of Death

There’s a report out this morning that eleven people have been killed in Iraq as the result of a US air strike. Yes, the report said among the dead there were women and children. My guess is there were probably innocent men among the dead also.

How many more? How many more Americans and Iraqis will die before this atrocious circus of death will end.

It is a circus you know. The barker sold it as the show of all shows. He promised those who attended would be shocked and awed. He lured them into his tent and then once they were inside, he quietly blocked the exits.

The show began, but no clowns appeared. There were no beautiful ladies riding handsome horses. There were no skimpily clad people flying through the air from one golden swing to another. There were no balloons and no venders of sweets. This circus was not what those in attendance had hoped for. There were no signs of happiness and joy anywhere. The crowd waited in anticipation. They wanted to be entertained. They wanted to applaud a great and wonderful show. Then, all at once there was a blast that could only be described as earth shaking. The lights went out and then there was another explosion and another and another. The lights flickered back on. In the center ring there were hundreds and hundreds of dead people. The audience gasped. They saw dead soldiers in American uniforms. They saw foreign faces of men, women and little children. Ladies in the audience screamed and covered the eyes of their crying children. The men looked on in confusion and disbelief. Then an eerie silence fell over the crowd, interrupted occasionally by the tiny whimper of a child in its mother’s arms.

People were stunned. They couldn’t believe what had happened or why. As they tried to regain their composure, another blast occurred and again the lights went out for a short time. This time when the lighting returned there were even more dead bodies before them. Someone in the crowd screamed, “Please make it stop”. A few jumped from their seats and ran for the exits. They tried to escape but there was no way out. They were trapped in the tent. The only one with the key to the exits was no where to be found. The barker who had promised them a wonderful show had left his audience trapped in a circus, a theater of death, and he hadn’t attended the event. He never even heard the whimper of a single child or the scream of a single woman. He was gone.

The Other Terrorism

There’s another danger out there, something that everyone should fear. This other terrorism is arguably more dangerous globally than any talked about in the news today. This one is already attacking in several different ways. Our country along with others are aiding and abetting this form of terrorism. This one has no heart or soul. This one is moving forward and no one seems to actually care or notice.

“US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a new record level.”

"We don't see any sign of a decrease; in fact, we're seeing the opposite, the rate of increase is accelerating," Dr Pieter Tans told the BBC.“
(snip)

“The precise level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is of global concern because climate scientists fear certain thresholds may be "tipping points" that trigger sudden changes.”

The UK government's chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, said the new data highlighted the importance of taking urgent action to limit carbon emissions.

"Today we're over 380 ppm," he said. "That's higher than we've been for over a million years, possibly 30 million years. Mankind is changing the climate."

Does he have a point here?

"Sadr said Iraq was now in a state of civil war, but he said he would order his Mahdi army militia not to respond, the Journal of Turkish Weekly reported Monday.

The bombings destroyed street markets in the slum district of Sadr City which is a stronghold of Sadr supporters, JTW said.

Sadr said U.S.-led forces were responsible for letting the attacks happen but the government should maintain security."
(snip)

“Sadr also criticised Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who had said last week that Iraqi troops, not U.S. forces, would intervene if civil war broke out in Iraq, JTW said.
"May God damn you," Sadr said of Rumsfeld. "You said in the past that civil war would break out if you were to withdraw, and now you say that in case of civil war you won't interfere."
Read the rest here

Gathering up the Moments

Having experienced our house being hit by three hurricanes over the last couple of years, some things have become very clear to me. Life can throw you a hell of a hit at any time. Things you thought that you couldn’t live without become things you can. Life can get so turned upside-down that not much looks familiar. Repairs surely don’t happen overnight. Repairs happen over months and more months. During that time you sort of bob along with the ebb and flow on a true sea of change and confusion.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Pop was working in the yard. He was weeding the flower beds and adding new mulch to the areas. Murphy was sleeping soundly in his little bed. Fred the Cat was doing the same thing in his own bed. The sun was shining and I’m telling you our house was at peace.

I walked from room to room recalling the way things looked after Frances and Jean whacked us. What a difference from then to now. Each room has its own new do and those rooms also seemed to be sleeping restfully. From the kitchen window I could see Mr. Pop intently fighting his war against weedy little evil doers. He seemed to be winning and he appeared to be enjoying what he was doing.

I realized that that moment must be swept up in its entirety and placed softly and deeply inside my heart. The entire house and all of us who call it home were experiencing a very nice time. I have learned that I must never let those times go by unnoticed. I must jump whole heartedly into them and enjoy them. Those sweet little moments and memories have become my life’s true treasures. Moments that others might view as dull and unexciting, I see as some of the most wonderful times of all.

The President of the United States

What might be going on in his head?

Let Senator Feingold know how you feel

You can contact him here

Feingold Takes it to the President

Senator Russ Feingold on today’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos announced that he intends to introduce a bill to Congress seeking censure of president bush for his program of illegal wiretaps. He contends that bush’s illegal activities ignore the Constitution’s separation of powers. No president can make law or ignore existing law, no matter what the circumstances.

Two Assassination Attempts, Two Crimes Against Humanity?

Saddam is on trial now for crimes against humanity. He is accused of killing one hundred forty-eight Iraqi people in Dujail as a result of a botched assassination attempt on his life.

During his buildup to the war george bush mentioned, as one of the reasons to invade Iraq, that Saddam had attempted to take his father’s life. Ummm, let’s see, how many Iraqis and others have been killed as a result of that botched assassination attempt?

Forget the Geneva Conventions for a second, what happened to our soul?

We all know there has been a lot of focus on religion during the bush administration. The Christian Right has never been more prominent, at least not in my memory. Yet today people are tortured around the world and it’s happening in our name. Please insert this visual in your mind. Jesus on the cross beside the picture we saw of the detainee standing on the box, shrouded with his arms straight out and the electrodes attached to his body. Do those pictures tell you something?

I wanted to post the pictures side by side, but I just couldn’t do it. Although I am not a religious person, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t post two pictures of torture.

Our country has lost it’s soul. Was it stolen or did we give it away? We need to restore the virtue of soul that our country used to have and valued so highly. There’s never been, in our lifetime, a greater need to remember the Golden Rule. We must return to the days of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. It’s imperative if we ever hope to restore our respect among other nations.

If the Christian Right claim to be the people of God, how can they tolerate the torture of His creations, His children? According to the bible, God forgives, but you have to wonder, how much and how many times? Perhaps the Christian Right should consider this question. Religion tells us that when we die our soul goes to heaven. But what of those who have already lost their soul?

My Take

Today Bush lamented that the failure of the Dubai deal will hurt our relationship with the rest of the world.
He wasn’t all that concerned with the our relationship with the rest of the world when he invaded Iraq.

Bush also said today that he does not make decisions by sticking his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.
From what we have seen of the results of his decision making, I would suggest he makes his decisions while sticking his finger somewhere else.

Jumped up and bit him on the ass

Bush owes his infamous presidential career to the events of 9-11. Without that horrid event I think he would have been toast way before his first term was over.

With the Dubai deal, his sowing the seeds of fear came back to bite off a chunk of his ass.

Then there was Harriet Myers. Her nomination also came back to bite off another chunk.

Then there was Katrina. All his talk about improving homeland security took its own big bite and another chunk.

Now the war in Iraq and spreading freedom and democracy has taken another giant bite, and yep, another chunk was gone.

His polls are falling faster than ever. Ladies and gentlemen, we now officially have a half assed president.

Friday Flight from the Usual

Bird Seasons

For 19 years I have kept a bird diary. Each month I have, and still do, keep track of the seasonal birds who visit my backyard. I take note of the day I first see them each year. Over these 19 years, I have discovered each species arrives almost the same time each year. The arrival date may vary by a week or two but you can safely bet money on when they’ll make their appearance.

During these 19 years I began to associate some birds and their calls with the seasons. The first indicator of fall is the arrival of the blue gray gnat catcher. Their high pitched little beep let’s you know they have arrived even before you finally see them flitting from tree to tree. The definite arrival of fall and winter is announced by the catbird. It’s aptly named because of its cat-like call. Spring is announced by the departure of the catbird and the arrival of the brown thrasher. The thrasher looks to be an angry little creature with its yellowish brown eyes and a distaste for any other birds within yards of its own location. Even when the thrasher is tending its brood, it has a temperamental disposition. Having said that, the thrasher has a range of beautiful calls and songs. Finally, the fly catcher heralds in the arrival of summer. The fly catcher’s call sounds like someone blowing one of those little plastic whistles kids used to get in Cracker Jacks. Fly catchers are also damned defensive birds. I have seen them fly from their nesting place and latch onto a bird intruding into what the fly catcher believed to be its own personal air space. They will latch onto the bird’s back and take it all the way to the ground before releasing it.

This morning I opened my kitchen window and there on the ground beneath my bird feeder was a snippy looking brown thrasher gnashing at the grass as he searched for food. First thrasher of the year. He looked up at me with those little angry eyes as if to say, What the hell are you looking at? I knew what I was looking at. I was looking at the beginning of Spring.

When did we lose this war?

If you read “The Fall of Baghdad”, by Jon Lee Anderson, you’ll find out when the losing began. Mr. Anderson is a journalist who was in Iraq before and during the invasion. He talked to Iraqis and he tells you what they said.

As I read his words it seems to me we began to lose the war after the invasion and during the time of the looting and burning. Remember Rumsfeld’s snide remarks about the boy carrying the vase from a building? He said we were seeing the same picture over and over and implied that we were so stupid that we thought each time we saw it we thought it was another vase being taken. Well, while Mr. Rumsfeld was chiding our intelligence, his ignorance was losing a war.

When this looting began the American troops did nothing to stop it. At that time I believe Mr. Rumsfeld made another ridiculous comment about freedom being messy or something like that. The Iraqis didn’t see it the same way Mr. Rumsfeld did. They saw it as insanity and no one was doing a thing to stop it. There was a vacuum of authority. That is when the religious figures stepped in to fill the void, and that’s when the Iraqis lost their faith in the United States’ ability to give them what they needed, security.

Most Iraqis were in favor of the invasion and removal of Saddam from power, but they resented the Americans standing around and allowing their country to be destroyed. That resentment has grown with each day that our troops have remained there.

Please consider reading, “The Fall of Baghdad”, because it will help you to see this war from the Iraqi’s point of view and I feel that is important. We promised them freedom. We have given them death and destruction. It’s amazing to read how this happened and what we did to these people, all in the name of “spreading democracy around the world”.

Morning Martini, One Month old Today!

I will have another post later today but right now I want to thank everyone, old friends and new, who have visited Morning Martini this very first month of its existence. One month ago today I decided it was time for me to fly solo on a blog. I had no idea what I was doing as I followed the steps for setting up this site. But I did it and thanks to everyone of you, it’s one month old today. I sincerely am grateful to you guys for making me feel welcome in the blog community.

Today Mr. Pop and I will be signing a contract and selling our other house. We haven’t lived there for over five years but when we did live there we loved that place. We are emotionally attached to the house and the yard. We planted a lot of love in that yard and the renters who have lived there since felt that same love for what we did. The oaks we planted as tiny seedlings are now large beautiful umbrellas of green. We have so many wonderful memories of the years we called that house our home. As of today someone else will begin to call it home. I hope that little house welcomes them and gives them just as much happiness as it gave to us.

South Dakota will now Punish the Victim

The current movement to take away one of our rights is going to cause a lot of problems. Who the hell thinks they are superior to me when it comes to making decisions about my own body. This is mine. To tell me that if I am raped and I become pregnant as a result of that rape, I must carry that man’s baby to term. That is not an option for me and I suspect the majority of women feel the same way. I refuse. I don’t care how many laws I have to break, I will not give birth to the child of a rapist just because some lunatic thinks it’s god’s will. In this case I would have to say to hell with your god. If there is such an entity he or she wouldn’t recognize this law and neither will I. Why force a woman to give birth to a child when all she may ever know about that child’s father is that he was a criminal and a rapist.

If a child is raped by her father and she becomes pregnant she must carry that baby to term. She must give birth to her father’s child. Who the hell could support such a law? Only lunatic, fragile, insecure women and loathsome angry men. They’ll cloak their lunacy, insecurity, fragility, loathsomeness and anger in the name of religion. That’s the way it’s always done.

Both of the concerns above have one thing in common. Both are punishing the victim of a crime by forcing them to give birth to a child they did not wish to have. That’s exactly what these laws do. They tell a woman if she is raped by a stranger or a member of her family she must suffer two events. First the crime of rape that is committed against her and then she is given a sentence of 18 years to life of raising and being responsible for a person who is related to a criminal.

And what of this child who is a result of a crime being committed against its mother? Yes, the mother may put the child up for adoption at birth. Who will adopt this child? There aren’t enough adoptive parents for the children who are available today, who will take these future children conceived and born of crime? Don’t expect to hear anything about religion in that answer.

2300

Not the year, the number of soldiers killed since the US invaded Iraq.

Two thousand, three hundred flag draped coffins came home from Iraq. There is reason to believe more will follow.

Please take some time today to think about that number. To think about how many families are grieving because one man stood behind a podium almost three years ago and lied to the American public. He said Iraq was a threat to the safety of the US citizens and then he declared a war that, to date, has killed 2300 people from our country. There is no way to know how many innocent Iraqis have died as a result of that one man’s lies.

Why isn’t that a crime? Why isn’t that a moral as well as a legal crime? If states can declare that it’s a moral and legal crime for a woman to receive an abortion based on their belief that the fetus is an individual human being, why aren’t they just as disturbed about the 2300 deaths of these individual human beings in the bloody sands of Iraq?

Today we mourn for 2300 and that number may rise before we go to sleep tonight. Sadly it may have risen by the time you read this piece.

No Humor in Right-ville

Why is it that bush’s base zombies can’t laugh? They have no sense of humor. Okay, they watch Fox News and they still don’t laugh? Come on, there’s funny stuff on that channel and I shall point to Bill O’Reilly as my shining example. Bill’s a joke that always brings down the house, but they don’t even snicker at him. Don’t they get it? Don’t they see that the pompous ass is only an act for our entertainment? I think the Conservatives actually believe everything he says. That’s pitiful.

Then there’s the show that I truly heart. The Colbert Report is as good as it gets. He’s portraying a staunch-assed Conservative and he does it up right. That in itself is funny and he’s a funny guy. The guy has it nailed.

Why isn’t there a TV comedy news show where someone portrays a staunch-assed Liberal? I’ll tell you why, it’s because it would flop. The Right wouldn't be able to laugh at it, they wouldn't understand the humor.

I want to hear some laughing from the Right side of this country. They control our entire government, so I would expect them to be jumping up and down and laughing with glee. They aren’t. Why not? I’m telling you they have no, I mean no, sense of humor. They just have no ability to see things in a funny way.

Recently Rove has directed his worker bees to use the word “angry” after the name of every single solitary person who can in any way be connected with the Left. Hillary is angry. Liberals are angry. Due to recent events, in private Karl probably accuses God of being a little pissed too. Karl wants to paint us all as angry people. Well, Karl my man, we are angry and damned do we have good reasons. But, we can laugh. We can laugh and sometimes buddy, we laugh at you.

Yeah sure, sometimes we laugh to keep from slitting our own throat, but shit it works and it keeps us from going nuts. Conservatives on the other hand can’t laugh and that may be why some of them are nuts.

Give this man an Oscar!

Since I’m not a big movie watcher, I cared as little as possible about the Oscar awards last night. I haven’t seen a single movie that was nominated for anything, so I only watched the intro to the show.

As actors go, I would like to make my own nomination for best actor. After seeing General Peter Pace on Meet the Press yesterday and hearing him say things are going very well in Iraq, well hell, Peter wins hands down. Who else could look at a brewing civil war in Iraq and say things are going well, all the while keeping a straight face? Now that’s some fine acting!

Breaking News from CNN

I just received the following email from CNN

"A criminal probe is being opened into the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Defense Department inspector general has directed the Army to open a criminal investigation into the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman

I'll add more when I can find out more information

Catapulting Happy Faces

By now we have all heard that the US is still paying to put happy face stories in the Iraqi newspapers. It’s one more lame attempt to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis.

Okay, lets say you’re an Iraqi in Iraq. Yesterday half your family was blown all to hell as they shopped at the market. Your heart is forever broken and your life will never be the same. You glance at the newspaper this morning and you read that the soldiers from the US completed painting a school yesterday in a town somewhere in your country. That story is not going to do much to heal your broken heart, is it?

We invaded that country for whatever actual reasons, no one really knows. We have been, if not the direct source every time, at least a contributing causation of so incredibly many deaths. There is no damned happy face story planted or otherwise that will gloss over what this war has cost the people of Iraq. I doubt they think of Americans as liberators any longer, if they ever did. Probably now they think of us as people who barge in, take over, and bring death to their loved ones.

We may be able to place happy face stories in Iraqi newspapers but we can’t place happy faces on the Iraqi people. It's much too late for that.

President has a blast in India but there were disappointments

President George Bush continues his world tour searching for one damned country that doesn’t hate his guts. So far it’s been a futile mission. During his visit to India, Mr. Bush sounded a bit disappointed when he stated that he had seen a lot of Indians but not one single teepee. Before leaving India Mr. Bush proudly stated that trading with the Indians was a blast! He said that he had traded them a pile of nukes for a large quantity of mangos. He likened it to the trading done long ago by the pilgrims. Apparently someone in his entourage corrected Mr. Bush because he has ceased to raise his hand and say “How” each time he encounters anyone in India.

Mr. Bush’s next stop will be Pakistan. Although deadly violence has already broken out in that country due to just the anticipation of his arrival, Mr. Bush boldly proclaimed that he wasn’t a-scared of nothin’. It was difficult to hear the rest of the president’s message because he was surrounded by a gazillion, armed Secret Service men.

After Mr. Bush visits Pakistan he will visit the United States as he continues his search for one damned country that doesn’t hate his guts. Due to recent developments, expectations are low that he will be any more successful in this country than he has been in all the others.

Dear Emily, the little girl I never had

Sweet Emily, you’re the little girl I never had. You were not aborted. You were never conceived. Perhaps I should tell you why.

The woman who would have been your grandmother, my mother, reminded me on a regular basis, for as far back as I can remember, that she almost bled to death when she gave birth to me. She also told me on a dreaded regular basis that she took some medication to try to abort me, but the medication failed her. She seemed to resent that failure.

Emily, she wasn’t a good mother in any sense of the word and since I had her genetic pattern, I feared I would repeat her errors. I feared that I would treat you the way she treated me. At a very young age I made the decision that I would never give birth to a child. I was afraid that I too might come within an inch of losing my life during childbirth. All I knew of the event is that profuse bleeding would be involved. I know now that all that was wrong, but I didn’t know it then. Also Emily, I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to do to you the things she did to me, but I was afraid I would. I couldn’t take that chance.

You see the home where I grew up was not a loving home. The man who would have been your grandfather was a horrible alcoholic. As with many alcoholics, he was all about himself and his family was his burden rather than his pride. His alcoholism was propped up by my mother. She covered for him and she demanded that I do the same. When I was old enough she made me call his employer and make excuses when he was too drunk to come to work. When he would go on his two week drinking binges she would not let me go outside and play. She would tell me that she had enough to deal with, without having to worry about me getting hurt or run over by a car. Emily I wasn’t that irresponsible, I was a good kid and knew not to play in the road.

I think that’s probably enough for today. You probably need some time to think about what I’ve said so far. Tomorrow I will tell you more about why I never knew you and perhaps you’ll understand why it might be best that you never knew me. I’ll also tell you about the world you would be living in today.

Reasons why Bush is so adamant about the Dubai Deal?

Was there some sort of quid pro quo there? Did he promise them the contracts in order keep their mouth shut about something?

Did he fall off his bike while visiting Dubai and they promised to destroy the photos of the event?
Did Dick Cheney once shoot a man while on a hunting trip in Dubai?
Did Bill Frist misdiagnose a four year old film of a brain-dead woman there?
What could it have been?

Reducing Hurricane Forecasters Nationwide

From the newsletter email sent by Senator Bill Nelson, of Florida

Opposing NWS Layoffs
As part of a cost-cutting measure, the National Weather Service (NWS) is proposing to offer early retirement to as many as 1,000 employees nationwide, including 68 in Florida. This is the most ridiculous budgetary policy decision I've ever heard. We are dealing with a matter of life and death here, and I will use my position on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the NWS, to fight any loss of veteran forecasters at a time when the state is especially vulnerable.

So how do you feel about your president’s desire to keep America safe now? Only six months after the worst hurricane season in history, what would you do? Of course, cut back on the very professionals we depend upon to let us know where the hurricanes are and where they are going. Freakin’ insane!

Thank goodness for Senator Nelson’s sane voice in this insane world.