Throwing Our Own Shit Back in Our Faces

That is the thrust of an editorial in Pravda: The Russians are asking what right do we have to complain about Russia invading other nations, destroying their infrastructure and occupying their lands?

I've been saying for a long time that the Bush Administration has frittered away our moral authority in the world. The editorial in Pravda is proof of that.

Saakashvili is George Bush

Or Baghdad Bob, for all of them seem to have a problem with reality. This is what Georgian President Saakashvili had to say about fighting the Russians: “We will fight to the end, until the last Russian soldier leaves Georgian soil and this country is not going to be brought to the knees anymore. We are not surrendering, no matter what.”

Such as the Battle of Gori, where the Georgian Army abandoned the city and fled to Tblisi without firing a shot? A Russian battalion commander had a more honest view of Saakashviili:

"If he doesn't understand the situation, we'll have to go further," the commander said on the condition of anonymity. "He doesn't seem to understand that the Russian Army is much stronger than the Georgian Army. His tanks remain in their places. His air force is dead. His navy is also. His army is demoralized."

Bush sends some medical supplies to Georgia and Saakashvili sees that as a "turning point" and proof that we will support him in his war against Russia:

Saakashvili interpreted the aid operation as a decision to defend Georgia's ports and airports, though Bush administration and Pentagon officials quickly made it clear that would not be the case. A senior administration official said, "We won't be protecting the airport or seaport, but we'll certainly protect our assets if we need to."

If that is what he truly believes, he has smoked as much crack as George Bush. As seen in his behavior at the Olympics, Bush is either drunk most of the time or he is retarded (those are not mutually exclusive). I don't know what Saakashvili's excuse is.

(For Sale: 10,000 M-16 rifles, as issued to the Georgian Army. Never fired, only dropped once. Best offer. Contact v.putin@moscowrules.ru)

The Oscar for Unintended Irony Goes to...

Sen. John McCain, for this corker:

"I'm interested in good relations between the United States and Russia," [McCain] said. "But in the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations.''

Refresh my memory, Senator McCain. Do you recall the name of a certain desert nation that borders Iran, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey? Remember how you walked around the capital of that nation, wearing your flak jacket, protected by a few hundred soldiers and you said it was a safe place? There are about 140,000 American troops occupying the place after we fucking invaded them!

Remember the name of that nation now, Senator?

(Fucking decrepit dumbass)

GOP Hypocrisy on Hawaii

Remember very recently how the Republicans tried to criticize Obama for taking his vacation in Hawaii (where his grandmother lives)?

But now, the senior mucky-mucks in the Department of Homeland Stupidity Security are going to fly to Hawaii for a conference. A boatload of those fuckers were going there, until reporters started asking questions. Now, maybe only enough to fit in one of DHS's Gulfstreams will go. For you know those highfalutin' brass are not going to subject themselves to riding Untied Airlines out there.

A Thought Experiment

Just suppose that Janet Reno did this:

• Fired prosecuting attorneys so that she could move people into their jobs who were "more loyal to Clinton."
• Engaged in prosecutions to imprison Republican election workers.
• Had her underlings screen applicants for civil service jobs to weed out any lawyers known to be Republicans or members of the National Rifle Association.
• Closely worked with the Clinton White House to make certain that Republicans were taken down wherever possible.
• Wiretapped the electronic communications of Republicans.
• Asked new hires "what is it about William J. Clinton that makes you want to serve him?"
• Tortured people.
  

What do you think the reaction of the Republicans would be?

For extra credit: Compare and contrast those theoretical reactions with the actual reactions of Republicans when confronted with the misdeeds and crimes of the Justice Department under Ashcroft/Gonzales/Mukasey.

Blah, Blah, Blah

That is the unofficial translation into Russian of this statement by George Bush:

"The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said sternly, during brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden.

Yeah, right. Bush talks about sending ships to Georgia, but he clearly has no clue what he is talking about. He has probably never looked at a map of that part of the planet and he probably does not know that the ships have to come out of the Mediterranean Sea, through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and then go all the way across the Black Sea, which is as much a Russian lake as the Gulf of Mexico is an American one. He probably doesn't know that the Montreux Convention is fairly restrictive as to what numbers and types of ships he can send.

The bluster of the Bush Administration amounts to just noise, as there is little that can be done to stop the Russians and everyone, other than the neo-cons and their puppet in the Oval Office, knows that.

Legal Quote of the Day

"Under the Bush Administration, you'd think this would be a fucking pamphlet by now." -- an unnamed attorney, upon seeing West Publishing's compilation of Federal Labor Laws for 2008, which is over 1,600 pages thick.

Quote of the Day

From the Political Cat:

"Vladimir Putin is an ex-KGB man and nobody's fool. And unfortunately, the U.S. is currently in the hands of the biggest fool to ever walk the planet"

Pot, Meet Kettle; pt 2

Police State News

Not so much new, this is actually two months old, but here it is:

If you want to fly on the airlines and you lose your ID, then they will ask you some questions and give you the full-9-yards security screening, and they will let you pass. But if you refuse to show them ID, they will turn you away. So if you're careless or stupid, you can fly, but if you don't want to submit to the police-state mentality of the TSA, you are shit out of luck.

I suppose this makes sense, but don't ask me how.

(H/T to Schneier on Security)

UPDATE: If you do show up at the airport without your ID, the TSA puts you on their threat list because, after all, the grandmother who lost her purse just might be an al Qaeda operative..