Apparently incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Silvestre Reyes, isn’t up on who’s who in the world of terrorism. I realize congressmen spend most of their time soliciting, dining and getting drunk in Washington’s ultra-overpriced bars and restaurants, golfing with their rich buddies, and having sex with the attractive young people on their staffs. Maybe, though, Reyes could take, say 15 minutes a day or so, to read the newspapers, now that he has his hands on the reigns. We overlooked Bush being an ignoramus, and to our peril. Reyes needs to get with the program or just get.

Here are a few posts from around WordPress.com.  I’m linking to them because I enjoyed reading them and thought maybe somebody else would too. They aren’t in any order, other than how they popped up in my aggregator , or the order I found them via their tags.

• A Broken Promise Under the Golden Arches
• What’s Your Favorite?
• Rainforest Catastrophe: Chevron’s Fraud and Deceit in Ecuador
• Metropolis: The Vanishing Class
• Oregon Fiscal Recklessness
• Agents, landowners killing more wolves
• Evangelizing Atheists
• New York City Trans Fat Ban is No Good

That I liked something doesn’t mean I agree with it, believe it, or anything else. It just means I liked it.

Click over to Doug’s Darkworld and read his entertaining but bleak assessment of some of what’s going on in the world. I’m a regular reader now. If you’re not an ideologue you’ll enjoy his writing.

If you need to shut somebody up, and duct tape is too short-term, consider Polonium 210. What is Polonium 210? Click over to A Quantum Diaries Survivor for the nasty facts.

On the evening news I saw Michael Richards apologizing, yet again, this time on Jesse Jackson’s radio program. It called to mind the following not-very-amusing, but perhaps instructive story.

Once there were two psychiatrist, one short and one tall, who daily shared an elevator up to their offices. Everyday, as the doors opened and the short psychiatrist prepared to disembark, he turned to the tall one and spit on him. This went on, day in and day out, for years.

On his last day prior to retirement, the elevator attendant who’d witnessed this ritual countless times was overcome with curiosity. “Sir”, he asked the tall psychiatrist, “why does that little man spit on you everyday, and why don’t you do something about it?”

The tall psychiatrist, without looking at the attendant, replied as if annoyed, “How should I know? It’s his problem“.

Anyway, …

As a matter of policy, I don’t link to online newspapers. Those links turn to broken links, usually in about two weeks. Nevertheless, I’ve made an exception. Go forth and read Senator Chuck Hagel’s (R – Nebraska) letter to WAPO.

Could Chuck be presidential timber?

(Hat-tip to The Lady Speaks)

Is the US government covering up the truth about the 9/11 attacks? Worse, was the government somehow involved? A large number of otherwise-sane citizens think so.

I’m a product of the times I live in, namely, the Age of Bullshit. As a result I’m naturally suspicious. Nevertheless, I haven’t seen or heard one thing that causes me to believe there’s more to the 9/11 tragedy than immediately meets the eye. The attacks were orchestrated and carried out by Muslim religious fanatics. End of story.

Why do so many people buy into senseless bullshit like conspiracy theories? Isn’t the sad state of affairs that is reality bad enough for them? I don’t know, but I have three possible reasons for people believing the unbelievable.

• Our government has so thoroughly discredited itself with its ongoing shenanigans that people are willing to believe it’s essentially the root of all evil.
• We’ve done such a bad job of educating our citizens that most don’t have the critical thinking skills necessary to differentiate the true from the false.
• Many of us are ennui-crazed and will believe anything we gain a moment of amusement from.

It makes no difference to me if you believe Elvis is still alive or that Jesus is en route. Delusions are healthy. I like to think I’m smart and good-looking. But wasting time on conspiracy theories about 9/11 when the truth is so glaringly obvious? It’s mental masturbation.

Illegal immigration is a hot topic in the ’sphere about now. I visit blogs of all political persuasions throughout WordPress.com, and I’d say opinion seems to run about seven against to three for an open door policy in the USA. I don’t possess the economic chops (or the intellect to acquire them) to comment on the subject intelligently. Of course something similar can be said about any subject I blog on. I don’t let awareness of my ignorance stop me from showing it.

Firstly, I have nothing against hispanics. (I realize hispanic is a bad term. I use it in the interest of brevity and clarity).  I don’t know any hispanics personally. Those that I’ve met were charming folks. I suspect that there are a few nice ones, and that most are jerks, just like I’ve found to be true in all the other races I’ve dealt with.

That said, I am concerned about how the invasion of my country by millions of potential competitors affects my future. As an unskilled, uneducated individual, I think my concerns are valid. Contrary to what Mr. Bush and his liberal buddies say, illegals aren’t just taking jobs no one wants. Anyone who works in the service or construction sectors of our economy can tell you illegal aliens are very well represented there. While those may be jobs no American wants, many of us have to work at them, en lieu of turning to crime.

In a nutshell, I don’t want to pay $100 bucks for a flat of strawberries. On the other hand, I’d like to earn enough money to afford cheap strawberries. Am I a bad person?

As a life-long resident of the South and recovering Southern Baptist, I am more than a little familiar with the so-called “religious right”. I think it’s pretty clear that the religious right is, for all practical purposes, the GOP’s base. Maybe I have a strong sense of the obvious, but I think the following is perfectly clear to anyone who isn’t blind in one eye, and can’t see out of the other.

Rudy Giuliani has no chance of becoming president unless he defects to the Democrats. He’s pro-gay, pro-abortion, and anti-gun. In other words, the base of the GOP won’t support him. It’s really that simple. I can’t imagine a scenario where he could win the nomination. Should he, a third party candidate would emerge and the Dems would win by default.

Rudy’s chances are, however, better than Mitch Romney’s. Mitch is a Mormon. While Mormons make up a small percentage of the religious right, there’s absolutely no chance of the bulk of the religious right supporting a Mormon. The fundamentalist and the Catholics don’t even consider Mormons to be Christians! Romney might as well be a Muslim.

How long will it take for the hapless Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot? Not long, if the few days since they took Congress are any indication. They’ve already chambered a round and drawn a bead just behind their big toe.

It seems that hearings are in the works concerning the war in Iraq, and the questionable intelligence the neo-cons served up as justification for it. In a phrase, that’s spilt milk. Democrats need to concentrate all their energies on getting us out of that shit-hole. How we wound up there is irrelevant as long as Americans are dying. The independents are watching the Democrats to see it they are capable of anything more than blathering and preening. It doesn’t look good so far.

Plagiarist Joe Biden has vowed that John Bolton will never be confirmed as ambassador to the UN. Most Americans probably don’t give a damn one way or the other. Those that think about it probably realize that Bolton, on his best day, is an asshole, and that an asshole is just what we need dealing with the disaster that is the UN. Joe, Bolton is insignificant. We want you to do something about Iraq.

Now some crackpot has filed charges against Don Rumsfeld in Germany because they believe he’s permitted the torture of terrorist. Let me break it down; torture bad, Rumsfeld worse, filing charges against an American in a foreign court, worst by far. I realize this isn’t the work of the Democrats per se, but it reflects badly on them, at least as I see it.

If the Democrats are serious about maintaining power for more than two years, and want to have a chance at winning the White House, they better get their shit together fast. Americans despise George Bush because he’s a terrible president. Nevertheless, I suspect most Americans, given a choice between Mr. Bush, and a Kerry or a Gore, would vote for Mr. Bush again. The ball is in the Dems court. I’m betting they fumble.