Mad props to MadKane.

A discussion with a friend of mine turned up a nice analogy for the chickenhawks' whimperings about "liberal" criticisms of President Bush. See, the chickenhawks think it's wrong for us to be pointing out that WE FUCKING TOLD YOU SO back when the Iraq disaster was first being shoved down our post-9/11 throats. The chickenhawks feel we shouldn't point out the failings of Our Most Holy And Wonderful King George The Lesser, because doing that will somehow weaken America and our efforts overseas, and they seem to expect anti-war protesters to be the ones who supply solutions to the problems created by the war that they oppose. So we decided that this is what the chickenhawk bitching boils down to:

"George W. Bush threw a bowling ball off of a tall building. All you gravatationists said that it was going to hit the ground and probably kill whoever it landed on. All you do is bitch and whine and complain about his ignorance of gravity and callous disregard for the safety of the pedestrians below. Well the fact is that he's dropped the ball and it's hurddling towards the ground as we speak. So what are you gravitationists going to do about it? What's your idea for keeping the bowling ball from hitting and killing someone? If we just leave it alone now, the bowling ball is going to break the pavement and possibly injure and kill someone. All your whining and mathematics do is to distract from the efforts catch the bowling ball. The people hanging out of third floor windows getting ready catch that bowling ball are being dishonored and demoralized by your efforts to point out that it is not humanly possible to catch a bowling ball dropped from a height of 800 feet. If we close the sidewalk until after the ball drops then the bowling ball wins."

I don't post much about the Farce In Iraq. Generally, that's because there's nothing much for me to say that isn't already being said by plenty of other people who are more informed and elloquent than I. Also, I don't care to attract rabid chickenhawks to my comments section.

However, I think I've found a way to deal with both of those factors, and still make a statement about the war. I present for your enjoyment, the great words of our Republican leaders...back when Clinton was the one sitting in the big chair. I've highlighted some of my particular favorites.


"President Clinton is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
* Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it."
* Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/5/99

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
* Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of presidential candidate George W. Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
* Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo."
* Tony Snow, Fox News 3/24/99

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
* Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"I'm on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so you can trust me and believe me when I say we're running out of cruise missles. I can't tell you exactly how many we have left, for security reasons, but we're almost out of cruise missles."
* Senator Inhofe (R-OK )

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarifiedrules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today."
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"I don't know that Milosevic will ever raise a white flag."
* Senator Don Nickles (R-OK)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
* Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
* Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem."
* Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

"The two powers that have ICBMs that can reach the United States are Russia and China. Here we go in. We're taking on not just Milosevic. We can't just say, 'that little guy, we can whip him.' We have these two other powers that have missiles that can reach us, and we have zero defense thanks to this president."
* Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)

"You can support the troops but not the president."
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"My job as majority leader is be supportive of our troops, try to have input as decisions are made and to look at those decisions after they're made ... not to march in lock step with everything the president decides to do."
* Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"For us to call this a victory and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce"
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly."
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Once the bombing commenced, I think then Milosevic unleashed his forces, and then that's when the slaughtering and the massive ethnic cleansing really started."
* Senator Don Nickles (R-OK)

"Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode."
* Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"America has no vital interest in whose flag flies over Kosovo's capital, and no right to attack and kill Serb soldiers fighting on their own soil to preserve the territorial integrity of their own country."
* Pat Buchanan (R)

"These international war criminals were led by Gen. Wesley Clark ...who clicked his shiny heels for the commander-in-grief, Bill Clinton."
* Michael Savage

"This has been an unmitigated disaster ... Ask the Chinese embassy. Ask all the people in Belgrade that we've killed. Ask the refugees that we've killed. Ask the people in nursing homes. Ask the people in hospitals."
* Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"It is a remarkable spectacle to see the Clinton Administration and NATO taking over from the Soviet Union the role of sponsoring "wars of national liberation."
* Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-ID)

"By the order to launch air strikes against Serbia, NATO and President Clinton have entered uncharted territory in mankind's history. Not even Hitler's grab of the Sudetenland in the 1930s, which eventually led to WW II, ranks as a comparable travesty. For, there are no American interests whatsoever that the NATO bombing will either help, or protect; only needless risks to which it exposes the American soldiers and assets, not to mention the victims on the ground in Serbia."
* Bob Djurdjevic, founder of Truth in Media

Something fun crossed my desk this morning (besides the usual donut and naked undergraduate assistant)...

Can you name the ultra-religious former US President who said the following?:

"Like every other man of intelligence and education, I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that at this late date such questions should be raised."

It was Woodrow Wilson. In 1922.

If Jesus died to redeem Pat Roberson, he sure did a piss-poor job of it.

If any of you need helping coming up with fun and interesting new ways to rot your brains, I highly recommend that you follow Jeff's kickass gaming column over at OGT. Seriously, Blizzard should have him on commission.

A status update for those of you with a Minnesota-type flavor: I will be coming home to roost at my folks' place from August 10 to August 17.

Those of you who don't think Minnesota is cool...well, you're mostly right, but lots of cool people hide out in Minnesota so the world won't catch on to their awesomeness and force them to become brutally-scrutinized celebrities.