Citizen Ray

Accept it or not, satire is a touch-and-go proposition in the blogosphere. Here's a brief attempt on my behalf. I'm at least halfway tongue-in-cheek with this. Readers are advised...

Soldiering just isn't what it used to be. 23 centuries ago, Alexander-The-Great (or Iskandar-The-Marauder, as he's referred to across Asia) kept his army marching for years. Many of his original band of Macedonian mercenaries were away from home for over 15 years.

So why in the world are people complaining about the Pentagon extending tours of duty to 15 months, ferchrissakes? Can't these soldiers find mistresses (and/or Lothario gigolos) among the camp followers in Baghdad? This Wired article is just ripe with self-indulgence and small-mindedness regarding service demands on our "tip of the spear". What have these front line soldiers got to complain about? Just because George Bush has taken more vacation time than any President in history doesn't mean that the troops need time for R&R. Somebody has to do George's work for him.

Albeit, Wired gets this zinger off on Pentagonese gone wild: "Yeah, yeah. Water is dry, ice is warm, and up is down, too. This is entering into "Baghdad Bob" territory, folks. Seriously."

Cheney is guilty as hell. A war criminal and thief who is guilty of moral turpitude and intellectual twerpitude.

Dennis Kucinich has the goods on this bastard.

If'n yer a lookin' fer a breezier treatment, try this from Raw Story.

OK, so here goes. It's your dime. If you hit the donation bucket, we will produce at least 5,000 bumperstickers that say just what the image says you are looking at. What you see is what you get, more or less. And if you let me know that you've donated, I'll be sure to send you a bunch of these bumperstickers and ride herd on you to make sure you get them on appropriate refrigerators, laptops, laptop dancers and vehicles. Don't mess with public transportation, please. They've got enough troubles.

OK, pony up. I created the art work and I didn't charge anyone. I expect you to pay for the privilege of distributing these beauties.

Start donating.

Next up....

Our awesome teeshirts and ballcaps. Hold on to your wallets. We're comin' atcha...

Bradblog has some good coverage of the Prosecutor-gate sage as it applies to thwarted investigations into the shenanigans of Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt.

More on the fired prosecutor scandal here.

Here's an interesting account from Ann Wright, a brave woman who was ejected from a U.S. House Committee meeting after she confronted the indecency, paranoia and xenophobia of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R. CA). If anyone in Congress typifies the ugliness of the proto-fascist, it's Rohrabacher.

OK, this Imus story stinks to high heaven...

I'm breaking the silence, the code of mordida, and we'll together attempt to enter the land of Mordor. Or at least what is today called the New World Odor.

There is something about the Don Imus "self-impaling, self-immolating white-man falls on his shield-and-sword" act that rings hollow.

Like how does a 10 Million Dollar Man get taken down for a silly aside about a women's basketball team, ferchrissakes? The real answer is that it don't happen, didn't happen, this isn't the first time and... the fix is in.

So just why did Don Imus go down in flames? Gentle reader, I'm asking you, because I don't know. All I know is what I read.

1) Carl Hiassen superficially says Imus was brought down because of hypocrisy. Maybe Hiassen is hinting at deeper motives, but he ain't about to jeopardize his future and join Imus in the pasture just yet.

2) Pravda (OK, you can stop laughing now) says that Imus touched today's political third rail, hinting that 9/11 was an inside job.

3) There are broad rumors that Oil Slick Dick took personal offense to Don Imus calling the creep-veep a "war criminal". Who knew that Dick Cheney could be so thin skinned?

4) Corroborating the fact that Imus was attacking the Bushista Regime is this remarkable interchange between uber-ho Mary Matalin and truth-teller Don Imus.

wicked grin

We'll leave the intertubes on for you.

Colorado's charismatic megafauna amidst the grandeur of the wilds.

...whether Citizen Ray would be advocating anything precipitous like an armed rebellion against the criminals who infest the White House. Citizen Ray wants to assure his gentle reader that, indeed, we do not advocate such a thing. What we do advocate is getting all the guys with guns on our side and then we can, in a very civil fashion, tar and feather Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Gonzo and the rest of the goobers in the White House and send them packing back to where they belong, that clapped out pig farm down in Crawford.

***
I'm reminded of one fellow's story about his grandmother coming into America about 100 years ago. In that wave of immigrants there were many Eastern European intellectuals who were familiar with the writings of Kropotkin, Bakunin, Marx and Engels. One such was this woman who arrived at Ellis Island with great anticipation of a new life. But first she had to take the health test. Passed. Then she was interviewed by the Immigration Officer who asked her, "Would you advocate the overthrow of the U.S. Government by means of armed revolt or sedition?"

After a moment to consider the question, she said: "Sedition."

While I scoff every time I hear Rush Limbaugh say he's got "talent on loan from God", I think such a boast might reasonably apply to this remarkable artist, Kathleen Connelly.

What better day than today to enjoy some photos of the glories of nature. Galen Rowell's galleries are among the most satisfying eye candy imaginable.