Great day for democracy. Racist Lou Dobbs leaving CNN.

He's not even welcome at Fox News. That's what an asshole this jerk is.

Rupert Murdoch: Obama is a racist

Rupert Murdoch, poodle to Bush, thinks that Glenn Beck was correct in calling Obama a "racist". So some ignorant Aussie supports some fat fuck on his network and makes millions on the stupidity of the south of America? That's the way it goes in Memphis, Birmingham and Banghor. Even the north is as stupid as the south these days.

Go here to petition Murdoch to apologize.

I'm genuinely surprised that Maine is a redneck state

Who'd a thunk?

The biggest mistake of Obama's presidency.

No doubt, sending 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan will make Obama an all-to-brief hero among the neocons and the generals, but the long-range prospects for the troops and for Obama is bleaker than bleak.

Afghanistan, as any historian will tell you, is not just unconquerable but is as immovable as the neocons and generals who are prodding Obama to commit the extra troops to an obviously futile - and deadly - operation. Afghanistan is a wild landscape occupied by an ultra-conservative population who will not put up with any foreign dominance over it or even the attempted integration of our supposed more civilized democratic ideals. The people are too ingrained into the hills, the deserts, the religion of its history to lay down to a western will so foreign to the annals of its pride in its steadfast past.

Obama may not have a choice in this matter. He is pinned against the wall by liberals and conservatives alike. He can do no right and he can do all sorts of wrong. He has to pick and choose his enemies or his friends.

That he has chosen his enemies in this matter is a great mistake. He will be defeated and then defeated again when the neocons and generals blame the defeat of the American forces in Afghanistan not on their miscalculations and frothing but on the weakness of the latte-sipping Obama.

With that assessment, I have no argument. It will be Obama's defeat, not because he wasn't strong enough to fight Afghanistan, because obviously he isn't, but because he did not fight the warmongering nuts who so infiltrated Bush's psyche and actions.

Postscript: The right wing loves to explain that we fucking dirty hippies were only right about Iraq because of our suspicions of the intentions of George W. Bush. We were right, not just because of our intuition but because many of us in the progressive community studied the history of the region, listened to experts such as Blix and Ricks, read about the machinations that escalated the Vietnam conflict and, yes, trusted our own guts about the intelligence of invading a country that professed to hate Al Queda and that had nothing to do with a all to recent bombing of American by an ally of the United States.

And yes, we did hold into account the competence of the man in charge and his charge, the VP, and the debate among even the conservative community of who in the White House was exactly in charge. We were and will never be given the honour of our correct beliefs. We are as right now about Afghanistan as we were then about Iraq. The result will be no different. This time, the Democratic Obama will be maligned as a failure while Bush will be forgiven.

And us? In the eyes of the almost always wrong conservative-driven media, we will always be dirty fucking hippies. And for that, even if we are right - especially if we are right - we will not be given even a symbolic place at their gated community dining room tables.

I say, fuck them. We wuz right on Vietnam and Iraq. We are prescient on Afghanistan. So at least we got that going for us. Those 40K soldiers heading to hell have not got much going for them. The neocons, generals and certainly Obama, are digging into pink grapefruits in the morning. Their maids are applying the shoulder massage. Their wives and husbands are whining about the NY Times editorial. We, are trying to keep our jobs. We have no longer massages and grapefruits. The right, with their mothers and fathers giving them jobs, are writing columns at this moment benefiting their guilty uncles who control the media

It was one year ago today

That I ventured into blogging with Let Freedom Rain. It was a project borne of the wingnut blog style. I had been reading blogs of both stripes - left and right - and found that the righty blogs were far more incendiary, with often misleading headings that were irresistible - and successful at the time - while the lefties, for the most part, were all business and somewhat boring. So, taking the model of the righty blog sensationalism and their penchant for short, accusatory posts, I embarked into the wild world of blogging.

It started out slowly like many blogs but within weeks picked up a series of high-profile referrals from the likes of The Huffington Post, New York Times, Time, Christian Science Monitor and some local newspaper blogs around the States. The blog was sailing on hits and it was fun. Even Mark Steyn was throwing referrals my way every time I mentioned him. However, when I made fun of how quickly he would link to me after I ripped him, he obliged and stopped his links.

(Come to think of it, what a vain, self-important asshole must this Steyn character be that he would immediately respond to a mocking post from a lowly beginning blogger whose only intention was to manipulate him to do exactly as he did? That alone says more about the easy action afforded the right wing from susceptible, not-so-bright neocon journalistic sycophants who make their money doing the deeds of the like of the sons of former relatively sane conservatives who do not have the judgement nor the intelligence of their parent[s])

It was a heady time for a new blogger and I thought it would last forever. It didn't. LFR has settled into a comfortable groove, getting the odd referral and a comment here and there and doing what it wants when it wants and how it wants. It's a good freedom. Like most bloggers, I am not making any money. Nobody's ever donated. The profits from ads have totalled a whopping $35 in the last month.

On the other hand, the content is improving. The inflammatory language is slowly morphing into a milder but more precise nature. The righty style influence is thankfully fading. The cursing is still an integral part of how I write but now it no longer permeates the post titles and is best kept hidden in the body. I'm learning not to post after hoisting a few. This is not to say LFR is any less irreverent than it ever was - I rip Obama and Ignatieff as much as I do Bush and Harper.

It's my own fault I don't try harder. I seldom venture into the comments section since I figure that's the reader's place and I don't particularly feel like engaging anyone after the post is done. Once it's written, that's it.

Now, that I've gotten a rhythm for what LFR is about, I know this. It is not a heavy dissertation-type blog, obviously. It is a collection of links to other blogs with a little commentary thrown in. Nothing too long or too deep, I admit that. The intention now is to just report what other blogs are discussing and what I may feel about what is being written. If there is a little humour thrown in, all the better. If the post is irreverent, perfect. If I have pissed someone off, the best.

It's only been a year and I learn something new every day. It's fun. It's sometimes hard work. It's always rewarding and more often than not like riding a stationary roller coaster. The thrills are usually passive. Friendly fire can be as faint as praise and a thick skin is a prerequisite to carrying on as blogger. Most of all, it's fun. And that is why I do it.

Something wicked this way comes

Mike Duffy. Bart Stupak. Catholic Bishops. Blue Dogs. Teabaggers.

But all is not lost. At last, some Dems are growing a pair. Unlike Republicans, some Dems include all Americans. It's just too bad more Democrats are not so inclusive.

How long will it be before the great American gender and age gap stops this war against women and gays, respectively?

Just think, this is the kind of terrifying inequality and discrimination Stephen Harper lives to enforce.

America, welcome to the 21st century

It looks like the USA will have a health plan passed tonight. It's about time. While the USA excels in many areas, it is a third-world country when it comes to the health of its citizenry. While the health bill will be relatively weak and stingy, especially when it comes to women, it will be better than nothing.

Most of all, this bill turns the corner on a country grasping madly to its mostly imagined past. Things change and sometimes change has to be forced on a people who are afraid of anything that is new. Obama is a threat to so many on the right because he wants to improve and expand the lives of all Americans, not just the most privileged. He wants to level the playing field and that is scary for many. But to survive in this century, the residents of a country must be protected - even the poorer ones -to keep the entirety of the population safe and productive. America will be a better country for this change.

Now, on to the Senate!

I'm a LINO (liberal in name only)

I despise Muslims. They kill because they can.

Jews are just as bad.

I loathe Catholics just as much.

Most of all, I piss on Anglicans. Those people piss me off the most. I was raised an Anglican and now I find out I was almost a brain-dead, sociopathic Catholic?

But most of all, I piss on your religion, whatever it is. Get off your knees you pieces of shit and do something that will not hurt your neighbour

Get out of Afghanistan, stupid

They don't want us. They are not good people. Terrorism happens. It's Iraq, assholes. This won't end well.

UPDATE: The Guardian weighs in.

UPDATE II: More joy from the endless war.

BC Lions, Skeeter Davis, Liberals, Mad Men and me

To put it all in perspective, has there ever been a greater first name than Skeeter? Answer: January Jones.