Democracy

Our eyes & ears runneth over w/ the "This is a judeo-Xian nation" line of "thought." Most of those espousing it don't mention the Greco-Roman packers of much/most of the intellectual baggage the "West" hauls behind it in its wheeled bag, searching the station for someone who can speak English & will tell them which track the train to hell is on.

They'll whine about "libertyfreedomresponsibilityaccountabilityblahblah" until the words have lost their meaning & they're blue in their faces, but to see some of these concepts in action we have to return to our Greco-Roman roots. 

Rioting in several cities, including Hania in Crete and cities in northern Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Exarchia. The downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants is seen as the anarchists' home base. Soon stores, banks and cars were ablaze. The rioting was some of the most severe Greece has seen in years. The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting — during a demonstration in 1985 — it sparked weeks of rioting.

Now think of the United Snakes. When what we used to call a "pig" shoots an unarmed, law-abiding citizen who was "reaching for his waistband," every politician stands up & screams about the "thin blue line," the officer(s) involved are put on desk duty, & it's turned over to the legal system, where it essentially disappears. Short of smoking gun level evidence (Rodney King) the oppressed return to being oppressed.

In Greece, not only do the righteous riot, as they should, but 

The two officers involved in Saturday's shooting have been arrested and charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the illegal use of a weapon, and the other as an accomplice. They are to appear before a court Wednesday. They and the Exarchia precinct police chief have been suspended. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose offer to resign was rejected Sunday, has promised a thorough investigation. "It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person loses their life, particularly when it is a child," he said. "The taking of life is something that is not excusable in a democracy."

Damn. We've never heard a Yankee pig-dog pol say anything like that, let alone offer to resign when there is a screw-up under his or her responsibility. (Although we're sure that many of the "offers" to resign that we hear of any as bogus as the day is long. Still, here in AmeriKKKa, even the gesture goes unmade.)

One point w/ which we don't agree:

"I understand the anger and the right to demonstrate it," Pavlopoulos said Sunday night. "What is inconceivable is the raw violence that undermines social peace and turns against the property of innocent people."

No one who "owns" property is innocent.

P. S.: Plenty/swell pix & vids of disorder & arson at the link. And: They still call 'em "pigs."

Violence broke out again Sunday afternoon in Athens and Thessaloniki during demonstrations to protest the shooting. "Cops, pigs, murderers," protesters chanted.

"The Surge Is Working, Damnit!"

Another big surprise from the Bush admin. Was it a surprise to them, as well, or a feature rather than a bug in the pathetic planning that led us to our current quagmire? 

From the southern port city of Basra to bustling Irbil in northern Iraq, Iraqi activists are trying to counter the rising influence of religious fundamentalists and tribal chieftains who have insisted that women wear the veil, prevented girls from receiving education and sanctioned killings of women accused of besmirching their family's honor. In their quest for stability in Iraq, U.S. officials have empowered tribal and religious leaders, Sunni and Shiite, who reject the secularism that Saddam Hussein once largely maintained. These leaders have imposed strict interpretations of Islam and enforced tribal codes that female activists say limit their freedom and encourage violence against them.

Islam's been fighting their version of The Hundred Years War for some 700 yrs. now. Is it any surprise that men willing to kill on the basis of an internal religious difference rigorously enforce the various laws & customs of their superstitious, patriarchal tribal cultures? 

We doubt that the neo-conservatives who "planned" the entire sordid mess gave thirty seconds of thought to any such repercussions. After all, they're big picture, macro-types. The survival of the nation is at stake! Human lives? Mere statistics, in that Stalinist way the neo-cons dig so much.

Worse & Worser

Hoo boy!

Obama warns economy to get worse

McCain: Afghanistan will get worse

Is there any meaningful difference between "to get worse" & "will get worse"?

The Very Definition of "Matron" & An Old Joke Made New

Note the two women standing in the background.We have eight yrs. of hate, pain, fear & rage stored up (OK, OK, we have well over fifty yrs. of it packed away somewhere, but we're talking eight specific yrs.) much of it on the hard-drive, & we'll be trying to clear it away from now through 20 January 2009.A tip of the Bouffant chapeau to  ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© for the shot of Mrs. George Walker "Pickles" Bush scaring the troops.

Revisionism

So, the ceremonies marking the 67th anniv. of the Pearl Harbor attack focused, for some reason (we know what it is, really) on the response to the attack. As if Doolittle's Tokyo raid has anything to do w/ the occupation of Iraq.

Unlike past observances, which focused on the attack itself, this year's remembrance ceremony focused on the aftermath, including the B-52 bomber raid on Tokyo led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle.

We might point out to AP reporter Herbert A. Sample that Doolittle's pilots flew B-25s, not B-52s, but it might be a simple transposition error. Or the editor's a moron. Or they're all historically ignorant. Or, or, or...

UPDATE (Moments later): The AP has updated as well, lengthened their story, added pictures, & fixed the B-52 inaccuracy. Good for them.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Xmas

Last night there was a plastic Xmas tree, w/ blinking red & green lights, in the office here at the Neon Motel. Tonight, the lone palm tree, in the parking lot in front of the office, was garlanded in red & white lights. We don't want to get anyone excited about Consumermass too early, but we may show you a picture sometime soon. It's very festive.

By The Associated Press – Sun Dec 7, 12:01 am ET

Today is Sunday, Dec. 7, the 342nd day of 2008. There are 24 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American and British territories and possessions in the Pacific, including the home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Also on this date: In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1796, electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. In 1808, electors chose James Madison to be the fourth president of the United States. In 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States. In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze killed 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff. In 1972, America's last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. In 1982, convicted murderer Charlie Brooks Jr. became the first U.S. prisoner to be executed by injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas. In 1983, in Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff, killing all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 aboard the Iberia jet. In 1987, 43 people were killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger, the two pilots and himself, causing the plane to crash. In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at 25,000. Ten years ago: On the eve of historic hearings, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde said there was a "compelling case" for impeaching President Bill Clinton. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of President Clinton over 1996 campaign financing. Five years ago: Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in Russia's parliamentary elections. Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, which had suspended it for alleged abuses of civil liberties. One year ago: Congressional Democrats demanded a full Justice Department investigation into whether the CIA had obstructed justice by destroying videotapes documenting the harsh 2002 interrogations of two alleged terrorists. Two window washers fell 47 stories from a Manhattan skyscraper when their scaffolding failed; Edgar Moreno was killed, but his brother, Alcides, miraculously survived. Barry Bonds pleaded not guilty in San Francisco to charges he'd lied to federal investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs. Today's Birthdays: Actor Eli Wallach is 93. Political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 80. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 77. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 76. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is 71. Broadcast journalist Carole Simpson is 68. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench is 61. Country singer Gary Morris is 60. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 59. Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, is 56. Actress Priscilla Barnes is 53.Basketball Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird is 52. Former "Tonight Show" announcer Edd Hall is 50. Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic Furs) is 50. Actor Jeffrey Wright is 43. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 42. Football player Terrell Owens is 35. Thought for Today: "No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace or insure it victory in time of war." — President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933).

College Football Wrap-Up: Last Sat. of the Season

Just as we promised not to bother even laughing at the Raiders this season, we've kept our college football mania[end humour] under check until last gasp wknd. We're amused to report that Army, despite digital camo helmets & pants(Press releases. Pix here.) was shut out by Navy, 34-0, giving the Brigade of Midshipmen a seven to zip streak against the Corps of Cadets, as well as their sixth consecutive Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Speaking of the Commander-in-Chief's last gasp, he'll never be back to this game. Remember when it was a badge of some superficiality or another that senile old fool Reagan would never enter the Oval Office w/o sporting at least a sport coat & tie? As if it were a "better" restaurant? Here's G. W. Bush w/o a freaking tie on, when every middie & cadet in the stadium is in full uniform. He's already checked out, he's just waiting in the room for a flunky to come & get the bags. "Hey, down in front! Take your fucking sailor boy hat off!!"Pres. Bush, to his right Naval Academy Sup't. VADM Jeffrey Fowler, & — who's that off the adm.'s starboard quarter? It's Cinderella! We never thought she'd come out in the light of day again. Maybe this is a final appearance for her as well. WashTim reminds us that Bush is always playing to his base.

Earlier in the day, Bush got a look at how history will remember him at least in one artist's view as he presided over the unveiling of his portrait at a private club. "Welcome to my hanging," Bush said, drawing laughs from the well-dressed audience in The Union League's ornate hall. The portrait shows Bush staring straight ahead, looking comfortable but not quite smiling, against the backdrop of the White House's Treaty Room. The sitting took place in March, when artist Mark Carder took hundreds of photographs to capture details, such as Bush's skin color.

Read the next part carefully. See? We've said more than once that Bush's cheer leading, boozing & the like could easily be due to his being a closet case:

The president put his hands on his hips and eyed the painting when it was unveiled, as if to judge whether Carder got it right. "He did a really fine job with a challenging subject," Bush said.

Was he wearing a tie at The Union League, among the well-dressed in the ornate hall? Amazing. We are so deranged & hate-packed that we can't even discuss college football w/o viciously attacking the war criminal Bush. So we wrap on a lighter note. The University of Spoiled Children & the Westwood Weasels (Half-time score: The forces of the extra-privileged are leading the merely privileged, 21-7.) both look good playing in their home uniforms. The cardinal of USC & the whatever-kind-of-blue of UCLA offset each other nicely. New score: 28-7.

Kill Your Television

Watch crap on the Intertubes instead!!

Play VideoVideo: Hebron settlers in arson row Reuters

Play VideoVideo: Hebron settlers evicted by force Reuters

Why We Are Not A Muslim, Either

Since most on the left are Satanic atheists, the non-stop accusations from right wing blatherers that we're all a bunch of moooslim patsies is a load of crap. Those barbarians won't even let Satan in the hair salons.

"Police confronted rascals and thugs who appeared in public wearing satanic fashions and unsuitable clothing," Qaemshahr city police commander Mahmoud Rahmani told IRNA. Rahmani also said that five barber shops were shut and 20 more warned for "promoting Western hairstyles." In the past, such crackdowns have lasted a few weeks or months, but the current campaign was launched in 2007 and has not let up. It includes measures against men sporting spiky "Western" hairstyles or women wearing tight trousers and high boots.

Which puts them on the same level as the Mormons, who recently put their morals squad in effect in California, though more w/ money than arrests. And while we'll wag our finger at asshole ayatollahs as much as the next finger-wagger, there's not much more we can do about religious ugliness in Iran. We don't think bombing them into the stone age will necessarily cut down on strict dress code enforcement. (It's not the "nanny" state, it's the "junior high" state.) So pardon us as we citizen patriots of Unreal America deal w/ religious bullies right here, where we can do some good. Hey, look, here comes the morals squad now. As a patriotic American, we must get up at 0900 to watch the Army-Navy game, so we'll deal w/ William A. Donohue & his co-signers later. Much later.

Spoiled Fucking Brats

Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/APOn the other side of the world, Israeli "settlers" (colonialist religious fanatics) were forcibly removed from a house they may have scammed from a Palestinian gentleman.

After losing a swift afternoon battle, settlers struck back into the night with gunfire and arson attacks on Palestinians in this troubled city and other parts of the West Bank, raising tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Seventeen Palestinians were wounded along with at least 35 Israeli soldiers, police officers and settlers. Fires blazed after dusk along a ravine dividing Hebron, a largely Palestinian city, and the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba as police skirmished with settlers on both sides. [...] "The expulsion has begun!" an Israeli named Orel wrote on eretzil.org, a Hebrew-language settler forum. "Anyone who can arrive at the House of Peace should come now. Those who cannot come should begin acts of revenge in the towns." [...] At that point, the settlers began clashing with Hebron's Palestinians, who threw stones at them from rooftops. Settlers set fire to two homes, a store and nine cars, Palestinian officials said. In an incident caught on film, a settler shot and wounded a 65-year-old Palestinian and his adult son outside their Hebron home. Settlers briefly sat on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, snarling traffic. In the West Bank they pelted cars with rocks and blocked roads with burning tires near Ramallah, Kalkilya and Nablus, and set fire to olive groves near Nablus, witnesses said.

Dem a-loot, a-shoot, a-wail & a-arson on the weaker like the bullies they are.

Above: "Settlers" rampage on Palestinian roofs. Photo: Rina Castelnuovo/NYT

And then blame leftists.

Because elections are scheduled for February and Mr. Barak is his party’s leader, opponents of the evacuation accused him of seeking political advantage through his decision.

“Barak sent the army and police as part of the left wing’s election campaign and the blood of the casualties is on his hands,” said Arieh Eldad of the National Religious Party.

And they take the Sarah Palin approach to child-raising. Children are little props to be used.

Many Jews who charged into Hebron from Kiryat Arba to skirmish with police had their families in tow. Nir Nahum, a 42-year-old teacher, clutched his 8-year-old son's hand while retreating from a charging police phalanx. "We don't have the power to recapture the house right now," the teacher said. "Our power is in our ideas, in the Torah. This is the land of Israel, and we'll keep fighting to preserve it for our children. We will not give up easily."

Your ideas, or the old crap from the Torah? Can't have it both ways there. And don't forget the struggle over corpse worship. Religion. As charming as ever.

The contested building, which occupants had dubbed the House of Peace, is on the road to the Cave of the Patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives are said to be buried, a site Muslims and Jews have coveted and fought over for centuries.

Clever Cons

What Republicans think is clever:

I'm also, as you may have guessed, a Republican. I've been in the political minority in Manhattan for eight years, and before that, I failed to fit in at my super liberal upstate university. It isn't always easy, but it can be a lot of fun. Wearing GOP paraphernalia to Whole Foods is a favorite Saturday-morning pastime.

Bet that really makes those hateful liberals spitting mad.

Sophoclean

A brilliant synopsis of the Oedipal drama of the Bush Era, from commenter "jim" at Sadly, No!.

W - “So, Pappy, about that whole S&L deal - you only took them for a measly half a trillion, & it took you YEARS to pull it off? Not to mention some of your buds wound up under indictment? So THAT’s where the expression "Bush League" comes from! Hee hee hee!” Pappy - (scowls)

Ai yi yi. Too fucking true.

MSNBC Economy Wrap-Up

• Economy shed 533,000 jobs in Nov.
• Record 1-in-10 Americans in mortgage trouble
• Short on cash, some sell own body products

Into the toilet America goes, soon to be followed by the rest of the world.

Hic!

Today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. We were informed of this not by a "reputable" news source (Just Another Blog™ is the only source for reputable news!) but an advert in the Incredible Shrinking Newspaper©™ from the enablers at Dewar's. Hell, we might even knock one down today. (Except we'll probably forget about the whole thing, or decide it's too much bother. And really, what isn't too much bother?)

Knocked Up?

We'd heard a bit of this stuff, that somehow Sarah Palin really wasn't pregnant w/ the newest dummy added to her family. (The implication being that one or another of her daughters was knocked up, maybe the sluttiest one who is now pregnant. Again?)

Now Andrew Sullivan comes up w/ research, photos & the like on the subject. Interesting, to say the least.

Maybe I am crazy to even wonder. Or maybe we have witnessed one of the biggest frauds in American political history and the biggest failures among the American media in a very, very long time.

It would be irresponsible not to speculate. (And stop splitting your infinitives, limebag. Don't they teach you anything in Albion?) Randy Andy, of course, is some sort of fanatic Catholic weirdo, & comes up w/ this bizarre statement:

I have always stated that bringing a baby with Down Syndrome into the world is a noble and beautiful thing.

What a colossal asshole. (Which, of course, is whence he'd have to "bring a baby into the world.") How the fucking hell does he think the Down Syndrome person feels after being "brought into the world?" No, it's all about the "nobility" that a selfish, brain-dead witch like Palin can enjoy, as well as the exploitation of the child. (Worked quite well on another Catholic.) And the world may not appreciate it so much when it has to start taking care of & paying for said child. 

It may not have been as beautiful & noble as completely irresponsible for an old biddy like Palin to get knocked up at her advanced age. Not that she'd pay any attention to medical facts or statistics that would tell her she might not want to get knocked up by the so-called First Dude. Assuming he's the father. Ho, cheap shot!!

Open Letter to Certain Right-Wing Mouthpieces

Many of the idiotic morons & simpletons on the wrong side of virtually everything have been screeching w/ joy (& there's little to bring them joy these days) that, somehow, someway, for some reason, the United Snakes won't be pulling troops out of the Iraqi occupation. We're not sure where they get these ideas (really, we do know, but we're not saying) but we can now point out that not only will AmeriKKKa's baby-killers be withdrawn, but Bobbo Gates of the DoD wants to get a move on.

As the only Republican Cabinet member asked to stay on by President-elect Barack Obama, Gates told reporters that military commanders are looking at ways to more quickly pull troops out of Iraq in light of the 16-month timetable that was a centerpiece of the Democrat's campaign.

Haw-haw, you stupid fucks!! Wrong, wrong, wrong, again, again, again.

Pardon Our Soup

Last Ditch Efffort

Soon we won't have Bush to kick around any more. But it doesn't seem as if he's averse to getting the last kick in himself. Just the kind of weaselly little jerk-off he is. If you just can not get enough of Bush cartoons, here are a thousand or so.

Nixon Calls McGovern a "Prick." Can You Fucking Imagine?

The morons at ABC/Disney won't or can't let us embed one of their pathetic "news" videos, but it's worth the extra click to listen to more of the Nix at his very best. Note similarities between Agnew & Palin. We wonder how ol' Johnny McCain really felt about sweet Sarah.

Remission

We s'pose we'd be remiss in not mentioning that today's the fifteenth anniversary of the premature death of our semi-hero & acquaintance Frank Zappa, but at this point in the game who gives a fuck?

More Songs About Buildings & Food

Wrap-up (maybe, maybe not, you can't really trust slime who would essentially hold people prisoner for potential profit) of the people held prisoner for potential profit story from McClatchy.

And once we read the story, it looks as if these guys are screwed, period. Months of living like a homeless person/PoW, w/o pay, & it's pretty damn obvious Najlaa Catering has no intention of paying them.

About 400 were taken on buses to the airport Wednesday to board planes for Dubai, a hub for flights in and out of Iraq. Flights weren't available, however, and the men were returned to the warehouses. Kodithuwakku said that about 160 were asked to get on buses again Thursday night, but they were holding out for stronger guarantees that Najlaa would pay them. [...] Rizk told McClatchy this week that the company had encountered unspecified obstacles to its contracts in Iraq that delayed the jobs it anticipated giving the men. He said Najlaa took care of the men's basic health and safety needs, though the workers have complained about poor food and inadequate restrooms. Spokesmen for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq have declined several requests for comment about the warehouses this week.

Reminder: The AmeriKKKan liberators are so loved in Iraq that the contractor's sub-contractor has to hire exploitable poor people from thousands of miles away to handle food & cooking, out of fear that Iraqi workers would poison "our" troops. What a colossal, pathetic joke. Yet no one laughs.

Lessons From The Bush Yrs.

A good point: 

And in my most humble of opinions, when you put a microphone in front of someone who wants to be President and a whole lot of stupid falls out of their mouth…  Well, I no longer take that lightly because I now know that a whole lot of stupid can still be elected President if you’re not paying attention. Thanks everyone.  I promise to try and move off the Palin topic soon.  I’ve just never been good at ignoring idiots.  You see, in a country that offers you a free public education and free public libraries there is just no excuse for ignorance… except ignorance itself.

We have nothing to ignore but ignorance itself.

Sore Losers (Though We'll Guess They've Been Losers For A Long Time)

Slate wraps up the nut jobs trying to reverse the will of the American people by claiming that B. O. is a dirty Muslim Limey foreigner. Seriously. Here's the Limey part: 

More likely, the justices will consider the lawsuit—which claims that Obama Sr. made his son a dual citizen of the British Empire and thus ineligible for the presidency—frivolous, decide that Donofrio lacked the standing to sue Obama anyway, and move on.

We'd love to see B.O. (or his flunkies) counter sue all these morons, & bankrupt them so they'll crawl away, tails between legs.

Thank You, Masked Moose Murderer

Lame Duck Wrap-Up

Right Wing Humor

Ha ha, we're doubled up from the yuks.

And very offended. By the stupidity. That's what offends us.

(And the crummy Photoshopping. Well, it does make Old Hair Dye look like the pinhead he was.)

Is that the Bitch Moose Party she's supporting?

This Date in Music History: Not Good in the '70s

Ah, nostalgia. 1729 - Composer Padre Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler was born.  1925 - "Concerto in F," by George Gershwin, had its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall. Gershwin himself played the piano.  1960 - The musical "Camelot," by Lerner and Loewe opened on Broadway.  1961 - The Beatles met Brian Epstein for the first time at his record store in Liverpool.  1965 - In Sacramento, CA, Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) was shocked and knocked unconscious during a concert when his guitar made contact with his microphone during a performance of "The Last Time."  1965 - Ray Charles was convicted of possession of heroin and marijuana. He was given a five-year suspended sentence and fined $10,000.  1966 - The first Monkees concert was held, in Honolulu, HI.  1967 - The Supremes guest on a "Tennessee" Ernie Ford TV special.  1968 - Elvis Presley's NBC-TV special "Elvis" was aired.  1969 - John Lennon was asked to play the title role in "Jesus Christ, Superstar." The offer was revoked the next day.  1971 - The Montreaux Casino was destroyed by fire during a show by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.  1973 - Ringo Starr released the song "You're Sixteen." It was his second straight number one single.  1976 - The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." was released.  1976 - Seven gunman fired shots into Bob Marley's home in Kingston, Jamaica where he and the Wailers were rehearsing. No one was seriously hurt.  1979 - At Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum eleven Who fans were trampled to death in the rush to gain admittance for general (unreserved) seats to the band's concert. 1986 - A lawsuit was filed against Judas Priest and CBS Records, alleging that two fans shot themselves after listening to the band's music for six hours.  1990 - Nightline aired Madonna's video for "Justify My Love." The previous week MTV had banned the video.  1991 - Gilby Clarke replaced Izzy Stradlin as rhythm guitarist for Guns 'N' Roses.  1991 - Alan Feed received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  1995 - Prince opened the inaugural VH1 Fashion Awards.  1997 - Janet Jackson got an injunction against Eric Leon Christian, who she claimed had been harassing her.

HIstory Link

If you give a shit about anything that happened of any interest anywhere on the 3rd of December, this is the site. And we don't plan to put all those pixels here. Deaths. Births.

Last Dose, Really

The Nix & The KISS of Death. AP file photo.Here, for the price of one, is a link to several more Nixon stories.

Nixon on Agnew

The Nix at the controls. AP file photo.More from the new (to us) Nixon tapes.

Nixon was told by his Deputy Asst. for National Security Affairs, Alexander Haig, that Vice President Spiro Agnew disagreed with Kissinger, then serving as national security advisor, about some diplomatic and political strategy regarding Vietnam. Nixon said he thought Agnew "was on board," but that he "is a god damned fool" who "doesn't know a god damned thing. He bores the hell out of me. Christ ... I'll have to have him come in here."

Nothing else new, really.

In the conversation with Kissinger, filled with long pauses, Nixon expressed fears that Congress would cut off funds for the Vietnam War. Nixon: "We may be faced with that. So what do we do then, Henry?" Kissinger: "Blame the Democrats."

Nothing new at all. This one's good too.

In a later exchange, Nixon says he wants an Italian in his cabinet: "Goddamn it, Chuck, we haven't got an Italian yet. I can't find any," he says on the tape. Colson suggests former ABC News correspondent John Scali for the United Nations Ambassador job. Nixon thinks that's a good idea. Scali is not only Italian, but Nixon believes "he'll take orders.

That is important, Nixon says, because, "That whole staff up there is violently anti-Nixon... and (George H.W.) Bush hasn't done one damn thing about it. He's become part of it." When considering an African American for the post, Nixon says, "We don't owe the blacks a damn thing, anyway." Colson agrees: "Oh, hell no. As a matter of fact, Mr. President, I think it's a bad signal to put a black in the cabinet."

And now there's a person of color in the Oval Office, Chuck. Whaddaya say to that? Maybe if the Republicans could stop running old jackasses for a change. 36 yrs. ago they had the same problems.

In a different taped conversation between Nixon and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on election night 1972, Nixon tells Kissinger that Republicans have lost some Senate races because some incumbents were too old and because one of them, former Senator Jack Miller from Iowa, was a "jackass."

It's quite an improvement that in 2008 they managed to combine the age & jackass elements into one candidate. Although we suppose that Bob Dole qualifies as well.  That Nixon. A political genius.

Prisoners of War

We didn't know McClatchy had officially set itself up as anti-gov't., but there it is, Service Marked & everything, on their header: "Truth to Power." And have you ever seen more liberal elite media bias than this list of stories?

MORE ON THIS STORY

• Story | Vast U.S. Embassy in Baghdad: A monument to what?
• Story | Iraq still thirsting for water that's safe to drink
• Story | Another success? Iraqi mayor Bush once hailed flees to U.S.
• Story | Displaced Iraqis, now told to go home, fear for their lives
• Story | Cost of massive unemployment in Iraq could be paid in blood
• Story | GAO: Iraq's oil profits huge as U.S. bears reconstruction load

But this is what we were looking for.

BAGHDAD — About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work. [...] "It's really dirty," a Sri Lankan man told McClatchy, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he still wants to work for Najlaa. "For all of us, there are about 12 toilets and about 10 bathrooms. The food — it's three half-liter (one pint) bottles of water a day. Bread, cheese and jam for breakfast. Lunch is a small piece of meat, potato and rice. Dinner is rice and dal, but it's not dal," he said, referring to the Indian lentil dish.

Sounds like a homeless shelter. 

Nixon & Friends

It never gets old. Hearing what douche bags Nixon, Kissinger & all their buddies were is a gift that keeps on giving. Technically, it's the National Archives that keep giving us these recorded goodies. And the Nixon approach continues to this day in today's Republican administrations & campaigns.

They still cook the numbers:

Inside the administration, even the government's statistician did not escape political scrutiny.The knock against him, as related by a December 1971 memo from Colson, was that he stuck to numbers, "applies little imagination to the statistics" and is "a very poor advocate for our point of view." Suspicions about staff did not die off after the election. Buchanan proposed a "housecleaning" of insufficiently loyal employees. He described the Latin American office of the Peace Corps as "a hotbed of Kennedy-Shriver types, and said of the Health, Education and Welfare Department: "Those responsible for the concerted and continuing effort to win support for discredited child development 'schemes' should be ferreted out."

Of course Republicans are paranoid. Also evidenced here.

"Never forget," Nixon tells national security adviser Henry Kissinger in a taped Oval Office conversation revealed Tuesday. "The press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy.

"Professors are the enemy," he repeated. "Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it."

So sad. Pathetic, really. But he was elected & reëlected, wasn't he?

"Join The Rejects & Get Yourself Killed"

As previously noted, a crummy economy enables the Army to meet its recruiting goals. Now the economy is so bad that people are re-upping.

"I want a stable life for my wife in a very shaky economy," Stewart said. "There were no other options." Stewart's new assignment will take him to Germany, where he will serve as a truck driver, though it is always possible he could be sent back into combat. "I figure if I do another five or 10 years in the Army," he said, "the economy will turn around and I can get a truck-driving job."

Wow, a truck-driving job? We were under the impression that the military will train you up so that you can do anything you want. But after another five or 10 yrs. in the Army he thinks he can get a truck driving job? 

Nausea

Why are these redneck morons who couldn't have an original thought if it were shoved up their noses & directly into their brains always so fucking grateful & thankful? It's just plain nauseating. Shut up already. Note Saxby's move on his granddaughter at the end, by the way. Found at I Am TRex.

Today in Entertainment History

On December 2nd, 1933, "Dancing Lady," Fred Astaire's first film, was released. Joan Crawford was his dance partner. In 1943, "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway. It was Oscar Hammerstein II's contemporary reworking of the Bizet opera "Carmen" with an all-black cast. In 1949, Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" hit the pop charts. In 1973, mail-in ticket requests for a Bob Dylan U.S. tour went on sale. At one San Francisco post office, there was a five block-long traffic jam. Also in 1973, The Who spent the night in jail in Montreal after causing $6,000 worth of damage to a hotel room. The incident inspired John Entwistle to write "Cell Block Number Seven." In 1979, Stevie Wonder appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. He performed selections from his album "Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants" with the National Afro-American Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1983, MTV first aired Michael Jackson's 14-minute "Thriller" video. In 1986, Jerry Lee Lewis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to overcome an addiction to painkillers. In 1990, composer Aaron Copland died at age 90. Also in 1990, actress Katharine Hepburn made a rare appearance in Washington to accept the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime Achievement. In 1996, actor Burt Reynolds filed for bankruptcy. In 2000, Smashing Pumpkins played their last concert, at a club in Chicago. It was the same club where they played their first show 13 years earlier. In 2004, Brian Williams anchored his first "Nightly News" on NBC. He took over for Tom Brokaw.

Associated Press - December 2, 2008 3:13 AM ET

Today in History - Dec. 2

Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 2, 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time, at the University of Chicago. On this date: In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French. In 1823, President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., the previous October. In 1927, Ford Motor Co. formally unveiled its Model A automobile, the successor to its Model T. In 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute." In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations. (The reactor ceased operating in 1982.) In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus. In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered outside San Salvador, El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.) In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device. In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan. Ten years ago: Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was acquitted of all counts in a corruption case involving sports tickets and travel that he'd accepted from companies that did business with his department. Five years ago: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that after knocking, police don't have to wait longer than 20 seconds before breaking into the home of a drug suspect. Authorities in Ohio announced that they had linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window at an elementary school. (A suspect, Charles A. McCoy Jr., later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and 10 other charges, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.) One year ago: Venezuela President Hugo Chavez suffered a humbling defeat as voters rejected sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 to 49 percent. Russian President Vladimir Putin's party swept 70 percent of the seats for a new parliament in a vote whose fairness was called into question by European election monitors. Brian Wilson, Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin, Diana Ross and pianist Leon Fleisher were the latest U.S. artists to receive Kennedy Center honors for their career achievements. Today's Birthdays: Character actor Bill Erwin is 94. Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig is 84. Actress Julie Harris is 83. Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 77. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is 69. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby is 64. Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 63.Actor Ron Raines is 59. Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 58. Actor Keith Szarabajka is 56. Actor Dan Butler is 54. Broadcast journalist Stone Phillips is 54. Actor Dennis Christopher is 53. Actor Steven Bauer is 52. Country singer Joe Henry is 48. Rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) is 48. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Tracy Austin is 46. Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 40. Actress Rena Sofer is 40. Rock singer Jimi HaHa (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 40. Actress Lucy Liu is 40. Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) is 38. Tennis player Monica Seles is 35. Singer Nelly Furtado is 30. Pop singer Britney Spears is 27.

Scab of a Nation, Driven Insane

America may not be eating its young any more (other than the several thousand dead in recent meaningless wars &, you know) but it's sho' nuff drivin' the kids nuts.

Counting substance abuse, the study found that nearly half of young people surveyed have some sort of psychiatric condition, including students and non-students. Personality disorders were the second most common problem behind drug or alcohol abuse as a single category. The disorders include obsessive, anti-social and paranoid behaviors that are not mere quirks but actually interfere with ordinary functioning.

That's right, our precious, holy, Gawd-inspired, free-market America has damaged close to 50% of its "future." We should be fair & note that anti-social & paranoid behavior is, as often as not, generously rewarded by This Great Nation of Ours™.

Squawking Heads

Also from Newsweek, three of their employees get the PBS rather than MSNBC visual treatment as they blather about the Obama/Clinton dynamic. Final word: No furrin leader will pay any attention to the former junior Sen. from N. Y. if she's perceived as not doing Pres. Obama's bidding/policies.

Waste Of Electrons

12 pp. (well, Internet pp.) from the Council On Foreign Relations (via Newsweek) for "an outline of the positions Clinton took on foreign policy issues during her presidential campaign and as senator" Might we inquire what any of this spin/crap/whatnot has to do w/ 

a) the real world 

b) what Ms. Clinton really thinks or would like to do 

c) what B. O.'s going to tell her to do? d) Council On Foreign Relations? Will we get be getting policy suggestions from the Illuminati in next wk.'s Newsweek?

Bush "Opens Up," Revealing More Nothing

The unaware, self-centered, unreflective G. W. Bush has been opening up now that he is the lamest duck ever, removing any lingering doubts as to what an absolute shit he is.

"I think I was unprepared for war," Bush said during the interview with ABC News, which was broadcast last night. "In other words, I didn't campaign and say: 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

Yet he did campaign as a "uniter, not a divider." And while he managed to unite 75% or so of the country against him, after six yrs. of hard work, that's not what he meant. Nor is "I didn't anticipate war." Here's documentary evidence that a "Post-Saddam Iraq" was the first thing on their list.Truly, this creature & his fellow ghouls must be punished, soundly, severely & soon.

One may subject oneself to the WaPo article here, or even look at the interview w/ Chuckles Gibson, which the ABC News ninnies have cut into tiny chunks. Both one's blood pressure & gag reflex should be taken into consideration before any unwise clicking.

Annals of Gov't. Incompetence

What is it w/ gov'ts. that makes them unable to deal w/ anything before it happens, & allows them to ignore warnings, no matter how clear & detailed? One thing we might remember is that the current Indian gummint is composed of Hindu nationalists. 

Let's review. Nationalism. Religion. A deadly combination often leading to fascism, & its handmaiden ideological purity. From there it's a hop & a skip to plain denseness. Case in point: The Bush Admin.

Bush Fiddled as Mortgages Melted Down

Below: The Gang of Four, President George W. Bush, center, is flanked by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, right, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, left. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox trails behind. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images file.Blame it on the liberals & their forcing banks to loan to poor people. (Bush's "Ownership Society" talking point being as accurate a title as "Clean Skies" or "No Child Left Behind.") No, wait a minute...

The administration’s blind eye to the impending crisis is emblematic of a philosophy that trusted market forces and discounted the need for government intervention in the economy. Its belief ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since the 1930s.

Were we editing this it would read "discredited philosophy." Which is why we aren't editing anything but ourself, & that just barely.

Looks as if there was criminal negligence going on. There's no question there was plenty of greed,  sheer incompetence & economic foolishness. Where, then is the punishment for failure? Where is the corollary to "risk deserves reward?" 

We'd like to see most of these bastards on a nation-wide tour, on the back of a flat-bed truck, in the stocks. (If you can prove you really suffered, a rock or two may be provided as well.) Everyone in every hamlet & burg from Canada to Mexico & from Pacific to Atlantic should be given the chance to heave a few tomatoes at the executives & regulators responsible. And the costs of the entire tour should come from the pockets of the villains. Including all the costs of the rotting fruit. And if they get whacked in the head by a rock, the stitches come out of their wallets as well. Fuck 'em!!

Political Loyalty

We'll probably never tire of comparisons between B. O. & his predesscessor, whose name we dare not speak. More than enough change for us. 

Those presidents who fixated on personal allegiance, such as Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush, tended to perform far worse in office than those, such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, who could tolerate strong, independent actors on their teams. [...] The price was a surfeit of reliable hacks such as Alberto Gonzalez and outright incompetents such as Michael Brown ("Heckuvajob, Brownie"). My favorite illustration of the misguided notion of loyalty that ran rife through the Bush years was the testimony of White House Political Director Sara Taylor to the Senate committee investigating the firings of U.S. attorneys deemed insufficiently loyal. Declining to answer a question, Taylor said, "I took an oath to the president." "Did you mean, perhaps," Leahy asked, "that you took an oath to the Constitution

Snap!

Annals of Cognitive Dissonance

From Slate's "Today's Papers:"

The Los Angeles Times leads with a look at how there appears to be a consensus emerging among disparate interest groups on how the nation's healthcare system should be reformed. Although there are still many details to be worked out that could easily derail the process, there's a general agreement that the government needs to get involved in order to make sure that everyone is protected while preserving the employer-based insurance system.

Can anyone spot the problem in that last sentence? Anyone? Bueller?  The issue here is that the insurer-based health system is what "everyone" is trying to preserve. And that covering everyone while preserving insurance co. profits is not going to work. We are still screwed for the foreseeable future.

Annals of Self-Defense

Last wk.'s Nitwit of the Wk. Award goes to Plaxico Burress, who managed to plug himself in the thigh while trying to drink or something. You figure it out. 

Burress had been allowed to bypass security, even though they knew he was armed, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The club is said to be fully cooperating in the investigation.

Around 12:05 a.m., as Burress was being escorted to a VIP area with a drink in one hand, he somehow ended up fumbling his gun and it discharged, hitting his thigh. Pierce was with him when that occurred, police said.

It's believed Pierce took Burress to the car and then left with him, according to police. The .40-caliber Glock was found in the glove compartment of Pierce's Cadillac Escalade, but it's unclear who put the weapon there.

If celebrity makes you a trouble magnet, get a freaking bodyguard who knows how to use a gun. Or just stay the hell out of places in which you feel you need a gun.

Communist Menace

Eleanor R. & Nikita K.

Gotta love the newshen, w/ her literal-minded questions.

Black Helos Here At Last

National Guardsmen standing guard at New York's Holland Tunnel.Sure, we'd heard some people on the radio mumbling about the "First Brigade" being stationed somewhere in our own United Snakes, & that they were up to to no good, but not having received any printed, textual info about it, we didn't take it so seriously that we were walking around looking over our shoulder every ten seconds, expecting to see the red dot of a laser sight from an M-16 on our back. Now we are. Holy crap. They don't appear to be kidding.

Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said. The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

Yet there is squawking from the other side of the aisle when President-elect Obama's proposal for some vague volunteer force thing or another is decried as an attempt to get the brown shirts back together.

Bush seems to have gotten his wish, he's officially turned America into a banana republic. This reporter was quite impressed w/ Madrid in 1970, when Generalissimo Franco was still alive. The number of uniformed people, & the variety of uniforms was out-done only by the number of soldiers, police officers & whatever who were armed w/ sub-machine guns & wandering the streets. "Never in America," we thought. We are proved wrong often.

G. O. P. & G-O-D

Two views of conservatism/Republicanism, one from self-styled "crunchy con" (Sounds awful, dunnit?) Rod (Tee hee!) Dreher, who thinks the conservative/Republican movement is composed of

Traditionalist conservatives [who] focused on questions of cultural and social health; libertarian conservatives [who] were more concerned about the economy and the overweening state. The two tribes sometimes fought bitterly, but they eventually reconciled and established what has been for nearly half a century a successful political partnership

& one from Neal Gabler, whose take is a little different.

The creation myth of modern conservatism usually begins with Barry Goldwater, the Arizona senator who was the party's presidential standard-bearer in 1964 and who, even though he lost in one of the biggest landslides in American electoral history, nevertheless wrested the party from its Eastern establishment wing. Then, Richard Nixon co-opted conservatism, talking like a conservative while governing like a moderate, and drawing the opprobrium of true believers. But Ronald Reagan embraced it wholeheartedly, becoming the patron saint of conservatism and making it the dominant ideology in the country. George W. Bush picked up Reagan's fallen standard and "conservatized" government even more thoroughly than Reagan had, cheering conservatives until his presidency came crashing down around him. That's how the story goes. But there is another rendition of the story of modern conservatism, one that doesn't begin with Goldwater and doesn't celebrate his libertarian orientation. It is a less heroic story, and one that may go a much longer way toward really explaining the Republican Party's past electoral fortunes and its future. In this tale, the real father of modern Republicanism is Sen. Joe McCarthy, and the line doesn't run from Goldwater to Reagan to George W. Bush; it runs from McCarthy to Nixon to Bush and possibly now to Sarah Palin. It centralizes what one might call the McCarthy gene, something deep in the DNA of the Republican Party that determines how Republicans run for office, and because it is genetic, it isn't likely to be expunged any time soon.

That would be the gene, as Gabler goes on to demonstrate, that allows Republican candidates to campaign on platforms of fear, resentment, jingoism & every other pathetic emotion to which the species is prey. Karl Rove is only the latest in a long line of dividers/polarizers, & so-called Reagan Democrats are really Nixon Democrats.

Now Just A Damn Minute Here

A rebuttal of sorts to the demand for an apology for Democratic Party racism by the National Black Republicans Association, from a (Ta da!) black Republican.

With those words Reeves expressed what many of us have felt over the years — and felt again during the recent campaign as we listened to racially coded Republican ads and speeches aimed at scaring working-class and rural white voters about Obama. Reeves expressed why so many of us, including me, ended up, after struggling with our consciences, supporting and voting for the Illinois senator. After losing our votes this time around, the question is whether the GOP will learn from its failings or continue to compound them. Rumor and e-mail has it that some black conservatives are angry with black Republicans such as Gen. Colin Powell who publicly backed Obama and have issued calls to “throw out” those who did so. But instead of doling out retribution, the party would be better off reflecting on its failings vis-a-vis African Americans, and on the transformation of Abraham Lincoln’s Grand Old Party from one that freed the slaves, stood with the suffragists in the early 20th century and helped pass both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts when Southern Democrats would not yield to a party that now appeals to the old Confederacy and a few mountain states out West.

What do you say to that, NBRA?

B. O., M. O. & The Kids

Pictures of the world's first celebrity president & family giving out plastic bags at a food bank in Chicago. Is this just an indication of the hand-outs to come? We sure hope so.

Random Thoughts

Today is the first day of the last mo. of the yr....Can we make it until January?...Will America survive for another mo.?...Where did we leave our glasses...Just one more, & we'll be able to refer to the depression of 2008-09.

Billy Paul Is 74?

Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2008. There are 30 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a yearlong boycott of the buses by blacks. On this date: In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.) In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis closed after seven months and some 20 million visitors. In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company opened in Pittsburgh In 1921, the Navy flew the first nonrigid dirigible to use helium; the C-7 traveled from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference. In 1958, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum Song" opened on Broadway. In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II. In 1973, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87. In 1992, in Mineola, N.Y., Amy Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco. (Fisher served seven years.) In 2000, Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination. Ten years ago: Exxon agreed to buy Mobil for $73.7 billion. Cuba's Communist Party recommended that Dec. 25 be re-established as a permanent holiday. Five years ago: India and Pakistan agreed to restore airline overflight and landing rights by Jan. 1, 2004. Boeing Co. chairman and chief executive Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly. U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow went on trial in Flandreau, S.D., charged with manslaughter in the death of a motorcyclist who'd collided with his automobile. (Janklow was convicted and served 100 days in jail.) One year ago: Police in Wichita, Kan., identified a body found days earlier as that of Emily Sander, a missing college student whose disappearance drew nationwide attention after the discovery she was also an Internet pornography model named Zoey Zane. (A suspect, Israel Mireles, is fighting extradition from Mexico.) Four suspects were charged in Miami in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. (One ended up pleading guilty to second-degree murder; a fifth suspect was also charged.) Today's Birthdays: Actor Paul Picerni is 86. Former CIA director Stansfield Turner is 85. Singer Billy Paul is 74. Actor-director Woody Allen is 73. Golfer Lee Trevino is 69. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 69. Country musician Casey Van Beek (The Tractors) is 66. Television producer David Salzman is 65. Rock singer-musician Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult) is 64. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 64. Actress-singer Bette Midler is 63. Singer Gilbert O'Sullivan is 62. Actor Treat Williams is 57. Country singer Kim Richey is 52. Actress Charlene Tilton is 50. Actress-model Carol Alt is 48. Actor Jeremy Northam is 47. Actor Nestor Carbonell is 41. Actress Golden Brooks is 38. Actress-comedian Sarah Silverman is 38.Thought for Today: "Life begins when a person first realizes how soon it will end." -- Marcelene Cox, American writer.