Dear Prez Shrub,

I couldn’t hear the man that well cause it sounded like he said you was a lion but surely he meant you was a lyin’ to us all those years like going back to the WMD’s in Iraq to torturing people to shredding our personal freedoms and authorizing people’s personal phone conversations to be tapped for no especially apparent compelling reason and acting like you were paying at least any attention to our economy which was crashing all around us but hey that was our fault because we didn’t spend enough at the mall I guess.  Well, you’re headin’ back to the ranch now and there’s a new guy in town and, with a little luck I’ll never have to look at your smug, lying mug again.  So I guess I’ll just say again what I said on inauguration day:

Hey, hey, GOOD-BYE!!!

What would your parting tribute to Prez GWB sound like?

Good riddance, you piece shit.  Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Gimme, don’t you want to add “stoopid motherfucker” too?

lol - yes I almost forgot my “stooping motherfucker”

OT, Captain Sullenberger was just honored in his hometown and finally spoke, and I could have told you what he was going to say: “I was doing my job.” It is exactly what my brother, also an airline pilot, and what most captains and crew would say. I’d like to spread a little love to the much-beleaguered other airline pilots in that deregulated and screwed-up industry.

Though Capt. Sully’s resume was so tailor-made for getting that plane down safely that it seems divinely inspired, and his sang-froid remarkable, I think the public doesn’t appreciate the constant, intense training airline pilots undergo, and the sort of temperament that fits a person to endure the rigors of training and years of work to attain the level of captain.

Every working pilot has friends who have been furloughed or just laid-off. Those still lucky enough to have a job may be based out of someplace far from home, requiring them to rent bunk space in “crash pads”, which aren’t swinging bachelor pads at all, but more like college dorms or warrens of illegal migrant workers, except they’re full of 40 to 60 year olds. It’s no longer a glamorous job. It’s an arduous, uncertain, infuriating job, performed by exquisitely trained, meticulous, tenacious, trustworthy people.

Just something to remember the next time there’s a possibility of an airline pilot walk-out.

Perhaps this was a letter to Bush after all. Mr. Ex-President, this is what expertise is like, as opposed to cronyism. Perhaps you should have thought to reward a few experts, instead of your dingbat friends.

Bush did indeed walk like a lion through the masses. His beady eyes squinted against the bright light of intelligent thought, and he avoided it at all costs. He held his head high, high enough to keep from seeing the carnage of dead bodies which lay under his bloody paws, he strolled unchallenged by remorse or guilt. A herd of hungry jackals tumbled and fell over themselves to be near him, howling their approval and hoping for scraps of raw meat to fall from his slackening jaws. His companion, a bull(shit) elephant Cheney, lumbered just behind, nudging Bush the Lion when he faltered in making yet another kill.

Fortunately, the old Lion finally retired as King of the Jungle. The pride he always fell back on had gone. He sat on his last day, looking out over the masses and heard the chants telling him to go.

It sounded like they were shouting, “FUCK YOU!”

I haven’t subjected myself to the full transcript, but I think this “walked about like a knowing lion” line is a strange one for this guy to employ. There’s an oft-cited passage from the the New Testament that sounds quite similar, but refers to SATAN:

“1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Maybe the congressman was actually referencing the line, to contrast Bush with Satan as a “knowing” rather than “roaring” lion? Seems unlikely. I suspect whoever wrote this bit just thought it sounded stately and didn’t recall what they were garbling it out of.

Or, it could be he really meant Dick Cheney.

I’m just glad Franks chose the plain old lion as a metaphor, rather than the mountain lion. Though the resulting thread over at PUMA PAC would have been a delight to see.

My parting tribute?

BYEEEEEEHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

I am in two minds about this, while one half of me says “na na na goodbye” the other half of me (the former Royal Navy) half says yes, as fucked up as he was he did keep us safe for 8 years (since 911), You have to understand that I am a Brit, born and bred, and we quite happily gave up any semblance of rights for the opportunity to stay alive, a la being searched going into department stores, not being allowed to wear uniforms off duty, not even being allowed to carry a suitcase that would identify you as a member of the armed forces, I mean really, no bumber stickers, no t-shirts, NOTHING that gave away your profession, if someone asked us we were supposed to say “government service”  I have to say (after saying don’t let the door hit you on the ass) that going 7 years without a major terrorist attack would have had the British Government doing cartwheels to be honest.  I DO thank Bush for that.  However, I am hoping (theres that Hopey thing again) that under President Obama (gawd I will never get tired of saying that) we will find a balance of protecting the citizens and retaining rights.  It is going to be a tough juggling act, but I hope he gets it right.

yes, as fucked up as he was he did keep us safe for 8 years

Litlebrit, get hold of yourself. ;-)  His ignorant refusal to pay any attention to the intelligence briefings he was receiving pre-9/11 very likely caused the whole thing to happen in the first place.  And his response to it wasn’t exactly stellar.  Yes, we haven’t had another major attack on U.S. soil since then but not for lack of many countries growing to absolutely hate us due to our unwarranted invasion of Iraq and refusal to engage in meaningful diplomacy v. a lone cowboy approach to world affairs.  If Bush has “kept us safe” it was totally by accident and not by design.  And I’m not sure the residents of New Orleans felt all that safe after Katrina. 

Just to try and give some perspective here.

What would your parting tribute to Prez GWB sound like?

You know the sound of a wet fart that you think is going to be all air but turns out to be the leading edge of an attack of diarrhea?

It sounds like that.

Litlebrit-
I hate that line of reasoning. Yes, there have not been any attacks on US soil since 9-11. If that is keeping us safe, then every single president since the revolutionary war (or I guess you could count the civil war) has done the same and better than Bush. After all, 9-11 was on his watch, and he took it and made the rest of the world hate us to boot.

Litlebrit, since he said in response to Richard Clarke’s warnings, “All right, you’ve covered your ass”, as well as ignoring that famous “BL Determined to Attack Within US” paper, I think this is one meme not going anywhere.

I also think that BL could have attacked again, but chose not to. Bush was doing the rest of the job for him: the terrorizing. BL had said he wanted to bleed the US until it was a weakened, shamed, wreck of a country. Bush did all that work for him: the quizillions of dollars plowed into “Homeland Security”, the constant alerts that were expediently timed, being told to seal off our homes with duct tape in case of chemical attack. Abu Ghraib.

I live five blocks from Ground Zero. Some of my neighbors died, everyone in lower Manhattan still looks speculatively at airplanes overhead, and jumps at loud noises a bit higher than people do in the rest of the city. But the damage from 911, the greatest part of it, wasn’t inflicted by Bin Laden, it was inflicted by Americans, some terrified, some ruthless, but Americans none the less. Bush and Cheney were at the head of it.

I think BL and Bush were each other’s biggest boosters, and, Orwell-style, found each other more useful in power than not. That’s why no attacks on U.S.soil.

Knowing Lion
...........Eats

Hobo’s
.......Face

———Wingnutz Poetical Society Pick of the Day

the greatest part of it, wasn’t inflicted by Bin Laden, it was inflicted by Americans, some terrified, some ruthless, but Americans none the less.

I’ve always been disappopinted in the behavior of most Americans, at least the ones since I’ve been born.

Mostly cowards and whores.

The big propaganda talking point to excuse the Israel barrel shooting civlians was, “What do you think the Americans would do if Canada were firing rockets into the US?”

The answer should be obvious.  You go see why the Canadians are firing rockets into the US, then pick a side.

Mrs. Polly, thank you for the most rational and sane answer I have heard to date.

Alright, who is Mr. Neutron over at the Newsweek bower article? Brilliant!

@#####

I have no idea. Really.

Oh dear. I chose a bad week to give up PUMAs.

I have my suspicions about Mr. Neutron, though if I’m right, he’s being quite restrained so far ...

Meanwhile, on the near-deserted soap opera that is PUMA PAC, Will Bower has popped up! Kat in your hat is overjoyed, but Trish is having none of it:

TrishfromCanada 01.24.09 at 10:37 pm

kat in your hat 01.24.09 at 10:04 pm [edit]

Will Bower #32

Good to see you here! Good job on the Newsweek interview! I still need to make a comment there. Yes, I am interested in Primary Reform–many pumas are, and so, many of us will help in any way that we can. We can all work together.
—

Count me out, the memory of Will stating Hillary’s debt was just about paid off by Puma’s and JSND and then we find out it was barely even close to being paid off, is too fresh in my mind.

Oops!

But Kat immediately goes for distraction tactics by trying to make me spray beer all over my laptop screen:

I have no idea. Really.

Well, bang goes THAT theory!

@will bower

barf!

When I first started posting on forums, I used to use *asterisks* like that. Then I finally learned some HTML. Because it was so frikking annoying.

@YAFB

Not exactly. ;->

oh no, now there is a ms. neutron who is a puma?!

Strangey—Shhh!

Ahahaha! Now they’re just baiting me. They’ve been going on all day about this (which gained a whole load of traction on the RW blogs) and even done a mini-prowl about it (roar):

When I first started posting on forums, I used to use *asterisks* like that. Then I finally learned some HTML.

The asterisks predate the web, when teh nets were all bulletin boards, newsgroups, and ftp, all ascii text, there were some really primitive plug-ins for text readers, e-mail, etc.. One that became widely used would display anything between asterisks in bold text, so it’s just an arcane remnant still proliferrated, that means Bold Text

And somebody PLEASE persuade me that this

@marindenver—Whatever it was, it wasn’t me.

doesn’t imply that kat thinks posting the link means she’s “captured” the site’s contents for posterity!

For the latest standardized interhub protocpols::
You must make the link into a tinyURL in order to exploit the website capturing hyperlink option.

I tried.  I really tried.  But I just couldn’t let that Will Bower profile stand unchallenged on the Newsweek site.  Their failure to challenge him on his lies about paying off Hillary’s debt, and the real damage it did to her legitimate fundraising efforts during the month of July when she might have actually garnered more donations, was a complete failure of journalism.

You’ll be hearing from Ms. Kitty Litter in their comments about this…

@Strange.  OK.  We’re friends again.  :-)

I have to stop. I’ll wake up Mrs, YAFB and the cat with my howling:

sandipuma 01.25.09 at 12:30 am

Pumas talk with integritty and show they have intelligence while obots talk like uneducated dimwitts.

psssst. Hey Strange.

**PSSSSTTTT**
the plan worked.

Meet me at the trailer. Bring the dark lantern and the camphor-wood chest.

Steady now.

Stay frosty.

Mrs. Polly -

All you guys ever had to do was just ask.

Murphy to the rescue!

sandipuma 01.25.09 at 12:30 am

Pumas talk with integrity and show they have intelligence while obots talk like uneducated dimwits.

Brad: Sure if you want to do it the easy way!

(BTW, I couldn’t plan a night of solitaire, much less anything else. I always forget to bring enough cocktail napkins)

Please take a second and post some supportive comments. Not surprisingly, the bots are out in force and really ridiculing Will. Comments HERE.

Looks like Murphy has put the call out to all tens of her minion to come help poor Will…lol

I really hate that “Obot” designation, since I’ve done more research than any of those self-pitying assholes will ever bother to do…and quite independently come to the conclusion that PUMA is bullshit and Will and Darragh are running the most insincere scam since Amway.

I’m also a BIG fan of Obama, who absolutely trounced Bill’s wife and that idiot Palin babe, in case they didn’t notice.

Yes, Will, it was terrible when John Kerry lost Ohio in 2004.

Which is why it was so wonderful to see Obama win it handily this year (despite all those “hardworking Americans—white Americans” who would never vote for the unqualified black guy with more time in elected office than Mrs. Bill Clinton) . . . along with Virginia, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina. . . and he did that despite the fact that, as one of the geniuses of the Powerless Pussy Posse declared, he lacked “half the party.”

Because 20 people now equal 18 million. All hail new math!

What a bunch of pathetic maroons. The biggest laugh is that Bower is an “intellectual property” lawyer, right? He really should find out who committed grand larceny on his gray matter.

And yeah, I hate how Obama has already fallen down on all his campaign promises in three days—except for petty little bullshit like closing Gitmo and getting rid of the Mexico City policy. (Quick, dyed-in-the-wool PUMA feminists! Tell me what that is and why REAL feminists care about it!) “I don’t know! It doesn’t have the letters H-I-L-L-A-R-Y in it!”

Also, not to pick nits, but the anthrax attacks happened after 9/11. Not that I think those should be laid exclusively at the feet of George W. Bush, but nor does he deserve credit for lack of attacks since 9/11.

Allan,

Were you Mr. Neutron?  If so, I’m in love.

LOL, sadly no.  Someone upthread makes a definitive denial of being Mr. Neutron…

I am the spinster daughter of Hank Litter.

Seriously, I am NOT “Mr. Neutron”...and I have no idea what he just posted about Ms. Neutron stepping on her own dick.

In fact, I think I’m NOT going to be “Mr. Neutron” again, right now…since antifish and trish refuse to go to bed.

Yeah, what’s up with that?  You would think they had no life…

@Allan

It’s fucking amazing. No matter how many times you show them they never mattered, they keep trying to salvage something from the wreckage.

I finally thought of an historical analogue to the PUMAs.  A group who set out on a misbeggoten mission, destroyed themselves in the process, and remained forever obsessed with their own failure and endless re-enactment of their humiliating defeat.

The PUMAs are the Confederacy.

Allan, Scooter nailed it entirely when he compiled the classic “Five Minutes of Hate From the Daughters of the Democratic Confederacy”.

But the spinster daughter of Hank Litter, I adore her.

What a peculiar night. Wherever those cats go, hissing, clawmarks, and civet odor follow.

@Allan

Since this thread will be examined for “evidence” I just want to say good night Darragh.  I’m sorry about your reverse Midas touch.  It’s tough when everything you touch turns to shit, and what with Obama’s FEC drawing up its warrants…

Knock knock, Darragh.

Oh, and if I’m not mistaken, I managed to engage antifish into making enough comments that our IP triangulation device should have honed in on its location successfully.  Isn’t it great now that Obama is President and we Obots have all these magnificent NSA toys at our disposal for PUMA hunting?

I wondering when those politicians proclaiming their love for Bush will come and say they do wanna make love to Bush? Like for Ted Haggard, there is just way too much sexual tension in the air.

Thanks for the intro, Rumroast

Still, picking up the rubble, 2008

@Allan

...or the Franklin Expedition.

I drive through Donner Pass on my way to Reno/North Lake Tahoe.  Always think about them as I do…

A few years ago, I attended a presentation at a national Human Resources convention by an HR practitioner who’s a direct descendant of Donner.

He spoke on the HR lessons of the Donner Party and it was quite fascinating.  A lot about leadership, planning, etc., but the most poignant part was that analyzing the diaries of party members, it became clear that had they simply taken a couple fewer days off from travel, they would have been through the pass before the storm hit that trapped them.

One survivor, a little girl at the time, summed up the advice as, whatever you do, just keep moving.

Well, from a boss’ perspective the Donner Party tale makes sense - don’t take vacations, slackers!  Who knew the little girl would grow up to inspire Hillary Clinton . . or, . .  what?

I was going to say, “At least he didn’t manage to completely destroy civilization,” but I figure the jury’s still out on that one.

I have deleted your link because only a sick fuck would tie something like that to the election of Barack Obama.

Human Resources convention by an HR practitioner who’s a direct descendant of Donner.

There’s something about Human Resources and Donner Party in the same sentence that makes me burp.

That’s prime motorcycle country and I used to ride around out there a lot.

I always wanted to open a Biker Bar/Restaurant there and call it the Dinner Party.  I actually know S.Clay Wilson, and could have paid him to do the signs.

We’d serve mostly Bar-B-Q and stick with a Homemade family atmosphere, cannibal montage, long pig cutlets, Hand Sammiches, Lady Fingers, Aunt Jo-Mama Pancakes, that sort of thing.

Snow Cones and Eskimo Pies, anything alamode.

Fresh Keg Beer from Sierra Nevada, maybe a specialty brew with a real bite to it.

The place would make a fortune as a Biker tourist trap, you could have mounted people heads over the fireplace that won’t stay lit.

Never could put any money together back in those days.

Oh, I just remembered why, we were spending it all on drugs.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1993, I took the California Zephyr so I could move more of my stuff. The train went through the Sierra Nevadas on the last day, and for part of the trip we were joined by a guide from the California Historic Railroad Association or somesuch. He had just finished pointing out the Donner Pass, and my friend Elliot, who made the trek with me, turned and said “Wouldn’t now be a great time for them to announce lunch in the dining car?”

And right then, they did!. (I declined lunch that day.)