Desperate ducks commit desperate acts!

So far this year I've had to eat a bit of crow on the Ducks. I was sure we'd see a breakdown by Dixon before now along the same lines as last year. As of yet that hasn't happened.

Still - I expect the fist real test will be facing Cal this weekend. I'm looking forward to this game as it ought to be a real, old-fashioned Pac 10 shootout. The true challenge will be when Dixon faces a tougher secondary than he has so far this year and throws a couple of interceptions. That seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Ducks last year.

If we can't win today, then none of us have a future.

Just to follow up on my last post.

A couple of weeks ago I listened to an interview with the contemptible Democratic congressman Brian Baird from Southern Washington and was struck by one theme running through his explanation towards supporting the war in Iraq- he knows better than us.

Baird was asked to explain his view of government in light of that; whether he thought it was the duty of congressmen to represent the views of the majority of their constituents or to try and make informed, reasonable decisions even if those decisions go against what the majority of voters want. Baird predictably stated that we are a "constitutional republic" and it was his job as a representative to vote his conscious; voters be damned.

Putting aside Baird's dubious understanding of his role as a legislator in the House of Representatives I still find his explanation more than a little pathetic. His argument might make sense if we were talking about how high to set the price of tariffs on beets imported from Canada as the average voter wouldn't have the time nor the inclination that a full-time legislator would have to sort through the information and come to a reasoned conclusion before voting.

But in the case of Iraq does Baird really believe that the voters aren't making informed judgements that we should get the hell out? Is he really saying that his few weeks on a Pentagon dog n'pony show touring the country trumps the views of thousands of military men and their families who are begging our government to end the war? Apparently so.

Hubris. Nothing less.

Today's vote on the Cornyn Amendment was more of that same thing. With both political parties failling to get the country to buy in to the whole Petraeus testimony act last week and it's importance towards changing the war or really, really turning a corner this time, the Democrats and Republicans decided to emphasize the point by giving the voters a middle-finger through this sense of the Senate resolution. They have nothing but contempt for us.

Here's the thing- in a democracy contempt doesn't get to work both ways, regardless of what congressmen think on the subject. If our leaders fail to make the changes on the important issues that the people want then we vote in new leaders. If -after voting in new leaders- they still fail to make changes- they wind up with their heads on pikes.

The political class is flirting with disaster if they believe the will of the majority of Americans doesn't matter. Many of us have already had enough where we won't participate in elections or provide monetary support to the parties we've previously supported. You can't keep poking that beehive before you get stung.

I don't care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do.

It's clear from yesterday's votes that it continues to be business as usual for the weenie Senate Democrats who continue to refuse to fail to use every legislative tool they have at their disposal to fight the Iraq/ Bush/ Republican idiocy.

I won't list out all the solutions progressives are practically SHOUTING at Reid and company (forcing actual fillibusters for a start) because the entire exercise continues to leave me frustrated. The whole D.C. establishment - government and media - are dangerously out of touch with the wishes of the vast majority of this country.

Last week's Petraeus testimony only forced to underline that fact. That does not bode well for the future of this country. It's one thing to have a deaf ear and it's entirely another to pretend that what you're not listening to in the first place doesn't really matter anyway. Especially if this country is governed by any form of a democracy.

Last Saturday we had dinner with a Marine EMT and his wife. He's been over to Iraq on several deployments spending huge chunks of time away from his wife and family. The financial impact has been severe and, at one point, his wife had to involve one of our congressman and the threat of a congressional investigation to work out a payroll issue with the Navy. I suspect that if the Webb amendment had been if effect and he'd been stateside longer, some if not much of this suffering could have been alleviated.

This guy is a super-patriot and a Marine to the core (pardon pun) and he feels after years of this war that the system is broken and we just aren't taking care of those that are serving now and have served. Why are we allowing this to continue and what can we do to change it?

That's the frustrating thing because we really don't have an answer to that last part of the question.

Your name is Kal-El. You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton.

This is not a perfect song but it's darned close. Especially the first couple of verses.

It's Been a Long Time.

(Sorry no embed.)

I like my privacy.

Fourth, and most importantly I don't think a retroactive grant of immunity to telecoms is the least bit constitutional.

"Ex post facto" law and all that.

Extreme feminine beauty... is always... disturbing.

More Star Trek news to drive CB nuts.

Uhura has been cast...

As a 13 year-old boy watching Star Trek I can say unequivocally that the beautiful Nichelle Nichols was my first encounter with the truism that racism is really a supremely stupid concept to live one's life by. The idea that someone wouldn't want to do the space nasty with Uhura just because she happened to be black seemed about the stupidest thing I could ever concieve of.

Of course I was later exposed to the writings and speeches of Dr. King and came across a whole bunch of other reasons why racism sucks but Uhura being an uber-hotty will always rank right up there near the top of my personal reasons.

I was afraid you wouldn't be able to stand up for me.

In response to Swinebread's "Leave Britney Alone" post I give you our President's take on that theme-

(She's the Mayor of crazy town.)

It's hard to believe but the reporting surround Bush's "surge" strategy by the media has been even more horrible than usual.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush plans to withdraw 5,700 troops from Iraq by December and has accepted recommendations on force numbers by the top U.S. commander and diplomat in Iraq, a senior administration official said on Thursday."

That thumping sound you hear is my head against my desk.

Oh, and the President isn't trying to sell his strategy to a "divided" public. As Atrios constantly points out the public universally hates Bush and hates his pet war. Once again the media and beltway elites somehow consider themselves one side of the equation.

In reality their opinion counts for shit. Perhaps when they're offered a last cigarette and a blindfold they'll finally get the picture.

Figure a man's only good for one oath at a time; I took mine to the Confederate States of America.

On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and after some personal reflection here are a couple of lessons I take from the attacks in the wake of the last six years.

Osama Bin Laden is a strategic genius. He was forward-thinking enough to realize that it was the perfect time to attack the United States. Our boy-president had just come into office surrounding himself with fellow deep-thinkers who could easily be counted on to go off the deep end and overreact accordingly. With Bush in office Bin Laden was assured that the United States was weak. He couldn't have been more correct in that assumption.

We will always be at war. One thing that leaps out and depresses the hell out of me is that there's a significant enough portion of powerful people who are so vastly intellectually immature that they simply can't define themselves outside of their violent opposition to some other ideology on the world stage, even if that ideology is in reality impotent. How else could one explain the almost effortless Neocon segue from "Oh my God the Ruskies are going to get us!" to "Oh my God the Islamofascists are going to get us!"

If pisses me off that these people continue to set an agenda in terms of resources and focus towards conflict when the vast majority of the world's population simply wants to go along to get along.

There is no longer an objective reality. Demonstrated most recently by the Petraeus testimony yesterday. All of those things that humans survive on a micro scale; the ability to learn from one's mistakes, objective reasoning, etc. are also a necessity on the macro scale that the entire society may survive. These things are missing and we are all suffering for it. Not to mention it drives the most rational of us absolutely bonkers.

Politicians don't really love this country. Their collective inability to defend our constitution in the wake of the attacks breaks my heart. I had always assumed that, regardless of our political leaders use of their elective office for personal aggrandizement, they had at least originally decided to serve and run for office based on a deep sense of patriotism. When push came to shove they would remember that original reason for service and act accordingly.

I was wrong.

Take a dispatch to General Sheridan. Despite overwhelming odds, a great victory was won here today.

Dear General Petraeus,

I understand that you just testified to congress that you need "more time" in Iraq.

No.

Now jog off you worthless, dishonorable jerk.

Sincerely,

America