Campanastan

Mbeki's Massacre

Thabo Mbeki's "misguided" (gees, what a euphemism - 'murderous' might be more suitable) policy that HIV was not responsible for AIDS has resulted in an unprecedented public-health disaster: 330,000 South African people died prematurely during 2000-2005 because of the unavailability of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.

Read the report by Harvard researchers for yourself. They also estimated that over 3.8 million person-years were lost during this period.

And don't forget the 35,000 infants who were born with HIV because their pregnant mothers could not get ARV drugs. 

Mbeki's likely sucessor as President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, is the guy who thought taking a shower after unprotected sex would protect him from contracting AIDS.

But at least Mbeki's leadership has been evident during the "troubles" in Zimbabwe. 

Where are you, Nelson Mandela?

"There is no crisis in Zimbabwe." -- President Thabo Mbeki, April 2008, after the 2008 election in Zimbabwe

On Thanksgiving Day, Here's to the Biggest Turkey of Them All

On this Thanksgiving Day, let me acknowledge the biggest turkey and ingrate of them all - Hamid Karzai, the bozo who "governs" Afghanistan.

Seems ol' Hamid is upset because foreign troops have not had success in making life better in his country. Yeah, he even wants NATO to give him a date for "success".

Success? Making Afghanistan "governable"? Perhaps Karzai should talk to the Brits and the Russians.

Our men and women and those of some of our NATO partners have made the ultimate sacrifice for this guy and his people, and the best he can do is bitch about their lack of "success". 

Meanwhile, Karzai has been sucessful in running a corrupt government and restoring Afghanistan to its former place as the number one narco-state in the world.

Not to mention presiding over the resurgence of the Taliban.

"Afghan Taliban are always welcome, they belong to this country ... they are the sons of this soil." -- Hamid Karzai, 6 April 2007

Ten Republicans Who Should Go Away

Friend Marc Herman, obviously paying me back because of the sweet postcard I sent him from New Orleans, alerted me to this great article by Ben Cohen from The Daily Banter:

With a new political era looming, veterans of the old political arena will scramble to redefine themselves in order to make a living. Politicians, media commentators and analysts may be ill equipped to deal with the changing electorate, increased power of the blogosphere and massive discontent with the status quo. Who will survive in the modern epoch? Here are 10 who should really think about calling it quits.

Who are the Terrible Ten?

1. William Kristol

2. Sarah Palin

3. Michelle Malkin

4. Dick Morris

5. Dick Cheney

6. Mitt Romney

7. Alan Greenspan

8. Bill O'Reilly

9. Sean Hannity

10. George Bush

Cohen's post contains more info on each of the above.

Today's quote is courtesy of Bill Kristol.

"We are tempted to comment, in these last days before the war, on the U.N., and the French, and the Democrats. But the war itself will clarify who was right and who was wrong about weapons of mass destruction. It will reveal the aspirations of the people of Iraq, and expose the truth about Saddam's regime. It will produce whatever effects it will produce on neighboring countries and on the broader war on terror. We would note now that even the threat of war against Saddam seems to be encouraging stirrings toward political reform in Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a measure of cooperation in the war against al Qaeda from other governments in the region. It turns out it really is better to be respected and feared than to be thought to share, with exquisite sensitivity, other people's pain. History and reality are about to weigh in, and we are inclined simply to let them render their verdicts." -- William Kristol, The Weekly Standard, 17 March 2003.

The Big Three Stooges Visit Washington, Poke Taxpayers in the Eye

The Big Three Stooges flew down to DC on their corporate jets to ask Congress for $25B.

 

GM CEO Rick "Moe" Wagoner, Ford's Alan "Curley" Mulally, and Chrysler's Bob "Larry" Nardelli testified before the Senate Banking Committee, predicting dire straits if they didn't get the money.

My thoughts:

• I realize here are good reasons for using corporate jets, but in this case, their PR folks should be canned for allowing them to fly to DC in their private jets. I suspect no one even thought to suggest that they take commercial flights. To me that shows how out-of-touch these magnates are. Scott Simon on NPR said it right - they should have all piled into a hybrid and driven themselves down to Capitol Hill. Trouble is, none of the Big Three Stooges' firms makes a hybrid. Hey, couldn't you guys have jet-pooled? [Read this piece from the Vancouver Sun.]

• They came down without a plan on how they would spend the $25B. That omission speaks volumes. Duhhh...Perhaps that is part of the problem, guys.

• The Big Three Stooges have dragged their collective feet on new CAFE standards and the building of fuel-efficient small cars, hybrids, etc. Toyota and Honda have left them in the dust on hybrids.

• The Big Three Stooges want the money not necessarily to retool and take their respective firms in new directions, but to help them get out from under their oppressive legacy costs.  So there is no assurance that the money will "save" them.  [Note: health care reform, anyone?]

• In fairness, we shoulder some of the blame. The Big Three Stooges would not have kept producing 3-ton Hummers and other gargantuan SUVs had the American public not kept buying them. But we did, and the automakers were happy to keep making the high-profit vehicles.

"Mini-cars make mini-profits." -- former Ford and Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, when asked why Detroit did not build more small cars

"...because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa." - Charles E. "Engine Charlie" Wilson, former GM CEO and Secretary of Defense, when asked during his confirmation hearings if he could make a decision contrary to the interests of General Motors

You, Too, Can Major in Criminal Justice, or University Studies, or...

USA Today ran an excellent series on Sports & Academics. Not a pretty sight.

Will anything substantive result? Dream on.

Some good news: Florida State safety Myron Rolle has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. He's a top football player, and has graduated in 2.5 years with a 3.75 GPA. 

"I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." -- Senior basketball player, University of Pittsburgh

Cartoons to Remember

Thanks to Marty Ennis.

 

   

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. --  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,"I Have a Dream," civil rights march on Washington, DC, 28 August 1963

Macho Mexico City Knows: Keepin' It Up Keeps Geezer Guys Grinning

Ah, those macho Mexicans! They know what's important.

Seems like the government of Mexico City is now providing free ED drugs to men 70 and over.

Here is the AP story from MSNBC:

MEXICO CITY - Mexico City is giving out free Viagra and other impotence drugs to men 70 and older.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard says the city is implementing the plan because sexuality "has a lot to do with quality of life and our happiness."

City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said Thursday that the government will start handing out doses of one or two Viagra, Levitra or Cialis pills on Dec. 1.

They will be distributed at three centers that specialize in sexual health for the elderly. The men will receive medical examinations before receiving the pills.

Ahued says an estimated 112,000 men 70 or older live in the Federal District, which has a population of 8.7 million.

Some 20 million people live in the greater Mexico City area.

The government has yet to figure out who would want to have sex with elderly Mexico City men.

"At 90, it's like using a rope to shoot pool." -- George Burns, on having sex

Dick Cavett on the 'Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla'

Dick Cavett, someone from whom we don't hear enough, opined in the 14 November 2008 New York Times about Sarah Palin, the 'Wild Wordsmith from Wasilla".

I doubt whether the good Governor will see it, since she doesn't read the New York Times or any other newspaper or magazine. But I am being unfair, since she said she couldn't name the ones she read - just "any and all of 'em."

Here's a Palin gem from Cavett's article:

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

All I can say is three words: WTF? Sorry I cannot be more articulate.

Cavett continues:

Has there been a poll to see if the Sarah-ites are numbered among that baffling 26 percent of our population who, despite everything, still maintain that President George has done a heckuva job?

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

More from Cavett:

Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult? (And yet…and yet…we did elect Obama. Surely not despite his brains.)

Yes, one thing her candidacy did expose is Americans' mistrust of smart people. Yeah, let's put someone average in the White House, not one of those Ivy League-types. Like George W. Bush, the Yale-Harvard BA-MBA grad, right?

I honestly don't think Palin is stupid, she just doesn't seem to know much outside of Alaska. What is more, she seems to revel in it - 'Jane Six-Pack', the self-styled "hockey mom", albeit with a $150,000 campaign wardrobe for her and her family.

One pundit commented that her primary function as Governor of Alaska was presiding over the distribution of lucre as head of a kleptocratic petrostate. She hasn't done much to dispel that image. But since oil prices are tanking, she may have to put some more thought into actually governing. I am sure she'll continue to do fine up there.

But a person many want to be President? I don't think so.   

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." --Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, 24 September 2008

Kakistocracy or Kakatocracy - WTF?

Marty Ennis might as well take over this blog. She sent this item - The End of Kakistocracy.

I remember discovering the word 'kakistocracy' years ago in a book about obscure words and thought it was intriguing. Believe me, I have thought of it more times than not over the past 8 years.

Then there is kakatocracy: rule by s**theads.

Kakistocracy: Government under the control of a nation's worst or least-qualified citizens; rule by the worst.

Do I Qualify for the Carpool Lane?

Today is Veterans' Day in the USA. Thank a vet for their service. 

Marty Ennis sent this along. And I thought the overloaded Toyota pickups in Honduras were bad!

 

Reminds me of a joke Hondurans like to tell:

Q: How many Hondurans can you fit in the back of a pickup?
A: One more.

Dear President-Elect Obama: Listen Up! Obamadvice From Campanastan

Okay, as someone who is President-for-Life of a semi-democracy I don't need, nor do I take, much advice. I realize that in the USA things are much different. So my advisors (few as they are) and I will offer some advice to Mr. Obama. He is free to accept or reject, but he should be aware that Campanastan supplies the USA with 95% of its imported oil and 80% of its imported gas, not to mention most of its porn films.

Translation: Listen up!, or in our native tongue "!Gzematlchop mnstghcew, Obama-lcztyhdte!" 

Here are our suggestions for a variety of important offices.

Secretary of State: Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM). Of all the Democratic presidential candidates, he had the "best and broadest" experience: Cabinet secretary, congressman, governor, ambassador, trouble-shooter. He has negotiated with "bad guys" - Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il. He also was a former Secretary of Energy, and energy is increasingly important in foreign policy. Honorable mention: Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). Good guy, knows a lot. Dark horse: Andrew Bacevich, retired Amry colonel and now Professor of International Relations at Boston University.

Secretary of Defense: Bob Gates (incumbent) or former Sen. Sam Nunn. Gates has done a good job after the megalomaniacal Ronnie Dumsfeld. He is a quiet, unpretentious leader who gets things done. Nunn is a long-time defense expert. 

Secretary of Transportation: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). One of the earliest House Obama supporters, he's an inveterate wonk, and very bright. Down side: I would hate to see him relinquish his House seat, because he's also a great WaterWonk and is rising to the top of the House leadership.   

Secretary of the Interior: Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) or Dave Freudenthal (D-WY). Western governors normally poplulate this position and these guys would be good. Also: Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), but he is too valuable in the Senate.

Secretary of Energy: T. Boone Pickens. Sure, he's an oil man at his core, and a capitalist from the get-go, but so what? He's willing to think outside the box, which is something we need these days. Runner-up: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute); Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA). The Governator is a smart guy, and if he sees something is a losing proposition, he adapts and looks for a new solution or path. Also: Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) - see above.

Attorney General: Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ). Law-enforcement background, immigration and trade experience.

Secretary of the Treasury: Warren Buffet or John C. Bogle (founder of The Vanguard Group). Both of these guys have ethics, something new for Wall Street. Or Laura D'Andrea Tyson.

National Security Advisor: Richard A. Clarke. Yes, that Richard A. Clarke. Or Andrew Bacevich. Or Susan Rice.

Secretary of Homeland Security:Willliam Bratton, LA police chief; Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA).

Director of National Intelligence: Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA)

EPA Administrator: Kathleen McGinty. Headed the analogous department in PA and CEQ Chair under Bill Clinton. Runner-up: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Shake things up, Bobby! Dark horse: Dr. Peter Gleick, President, Pacific Institute.

Press Secretary:Gwen Ifill (PBS)

Water Advisor: There is currently no such position, but Campanastan's advisors unanimously recommend that one be created and filled by Dr. Peter Gleick.

Important posts should be found for Tom Friedman (NY Times columnist) and Andrew Bacevich.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." -- Oscar Wilde

Abe Smiles...

  Thanks to Michael Dale for this cartoon, by Robert Ariail at The State.

"Martin walked so Barack could run so my children could fly." -- Unknown

TRANSFORMATION TIME!

Mary Frances and I thought we would never see a First Family who looked like this!

I'll leave with a quote from former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American to be elected governor of a USA state. It's often cited as a "dumb quote", but if you recall that he said it about 20 years ago when people like Jesse Jackson were running for president, it's not dumb at all.

And he was right.

"The first black president will be a politician who is black." -- Former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder

1968 Redux: The Trickster Returns

 

And you thought Dick Cheney was the original Tricky Dick.

Thanks to John Fleck.

Just 77 days left!

"When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." -- Richard M. Nixon 

Can't Think of a Reason to Vote? Visit RickeyPAC.org

Can't think of a reason to vote? Know someone who says his/her vote doesn't count? Visit RickeyPAC.org. I heard about it on NPR a few weeks ago. 

"Rickey" is the nickname of a college buddy of the site owner who doesn't vote because it doesn't count.

Speaking of voting and elections, Mary Frances and I still get calls (live and robo) about voting in New Mexico even though we have not lived there since May 2006 and don't have any New Mexico area codes for any of our phones. Just the other day Gov. Bill Richardson graced us with several calls.

Here in Oregon, we are beyond all that. We all vote by mail and the calls these days are few because most of us have voted.    

"I've heard you boys would vote for a nigger before a Republican. Well, I'm here to tell you that come this November, you'll get your chance." -- attributed to former Gov. Douglas Wilder (D-VA), addressing white coal miners in western Virginia during his gubernatorial campaign. 

"I don't know if you're going to use the word 'terrorist' there." --Sarah Palin, asked if people who bomb abortion clinics are terrorists, NBC News interview, 23 October  2008

Such a Deal in Iraq - Be My Guest!

I sure miss those African princes and ministers' widows who have a lot of money they need to move. How about an offer from someone you can surely trust - an American military man?

Since I am full of generosity today, avail yourself of the following opportunity from Sgt. Brandon Gary. I will even waive my customary 10% finder's fee.

Note that the sergeant's email address has a Hong Kong domain.

Hello friend,

I hope my email meets you well. I am in need of your assistance. My name
is Sgt. Brandon Gary. I am in the Engineering military unit here in Ba'qubah in Iraq, we have some amount of funds that we want to move out of the country.

My partners and I need a good partner someone we can trust. [We are It is oil money and legal.
Basically since we are working for the government we cannot keep these
funds, but we want to transfer and move the funds to you, so that you can
keep it for us in your safe account or an offshore account. But we are
moving it through Diplomatic means, to send it to your house directly or a
bank of your choice using Diplomatic Courier Service.

The most important thing is that can we trust you? Once the funds get to
you, you take your 30% out and keep our own 70%. Your own part of this
deal is to find a safe place where the funds can be sent to. Our own part
is sending it to you. If you are interested i will furnish you with more
details.

But the whole process is simple and we must keep a low profile at all
times. Waiting for your urgent response via my private
email: [email protected].

This business is risk free.
Regards,
Sgt. Brandon Gary

"Make something idiot-proof and someone will come along with a better idiot." -- Unknown