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It's been a long, interesting week. I've found myself acutally thinking (quietly and circumspectly to be sure, but with more than a little certainty) that I could, in fact, support the notion of Impeaching George Bush....not for his War on Terror (that, the Economic Strength we enjoy, and the Judges he's appointed, are plusses to his credit) but for his support of this Awful McCain-Kennedy Illegal Immigrant Amnesty Bill.

This Bill is just wrong...it starts out wrong, and gets worse as we look under the hood. The very idea of giving a Gutting to the existing law of the land, paying only knockoff lip service to the concept of promoting Citizenship and Assimilation, but in reality just passing out legal status to proven lawbreakers, for the sole purpose of (very little) economic benefit.

Then, we have the specter of Bush ignoring his remaining few Conservative supporters, and generally just not getting it...maybe he has had a head injury that's not been reported? He's playing the 'dumb' role too well, nowadays. Time for a true wake up, George, before you find that the only supporter left to you is your wife...and maybe your dog. Is his name Buddy?

Bush isn't the only politician ignoring the very large segment of Americans against this Amnesty Bill. There's support for the Bill, coming from somewhere, but that support isn't from We the People.

Ya know, I believe that if we 'Citizens' knew what little of what we say to our duly-elected 'representatives', or for that matter who we vote for on various election days for whatever office, means to those in charge, we might be shocked.

If we, as taxpaying Americans, had a clue as to how little our opinions matter to these elected bozos, how tiny our concerns stack up as compared to the desires of the huge Economic Powers and Forces that really shape our lives, we might be somewhat surprised.

Well, maybe not surprised, but certainly feeling the need to take a bath...to remove that 'used', 'manipulated', and 'basement-grown, like a mushroom' feeling that we've grown so complacent to.

Look where we're at...we've watched both sides of the political aisle equally ignore what seems to be a national concern and consensus, then we see the Republicans turn on the Conservatives, the Democrats turn on the Liberals...those clues should cause all of us to realize our true use and value, that is, herded when needed, nudged and nuanced when a 'reaction' is desired, just generally kept stirred but contented.

Pass the soap?

"But the pain..." he said. "Pain," she sniffed. "A human can override any nerve in the body."

"Ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked. "We sift people to find the humans."

Paul Atreide's test, at the beginning of Frank Herbert's Dune

“I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts."

He said he supports the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy,’’ explaining that "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."

"As an individual, I would not want [acceptance of gay behavior] to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior..."

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I'm sitting here getting ready to watch (2) NFL playoff games back-to-back. For SOME reason, this topic jumped out at me (along with the desire to abscond with the code for this neat little .swf file right out from under a liberal's nose)...

Basically, Americans are getting fat, dumb and happy, and spoiled. That's a theme and theory I've witnessed and lamented for years. The proof is in the rise of Liberalism, and the desire of liberals to have a "Nanny State" care for them from the cradle to the grave. 'Cradle to Grave' was a complaint given to Hillary Rodham's first foray into governing, when Bill gave her a blank check and said, "Stay busy, don't bother me, I've got interns to train. Go bother Janet Reno!"

Now, she's BAACCKKKKK...between her and Obamabama, we're gonna be in deep doo-doo in '09, if either one of these two lefties gets into office.

On to the game (prediction: Chicago)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults
Source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, CDC.
(*BMI 30 or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5'4 person)

Roll over year to display map for that year...

"It's mind-boggling to hide someone that easily in plain sight," Craig Akers said. "It's hard to believe that someone could be that brazen. We've lost our sense of community."

Hornbeck also said he never went to school his entire time in captivity. But Craig Akers could not explain why his son did not escape when his captor went to work or why the boy never told a neighbor something was wrong.

Krista Jones, 25, who lives in an apartment across from Devlin, said he had a reputation for being a "road-rage weirdo" who constantly threatened to call the police on neighbors.

"We take it easy. We don't pay attention," Smith said. "Because we do pride ourselves (that) we're a quiet neighborhood. We're a loving family neighborhood. We have all middle class America here. I think that puts blinders on our eyes sometimes."

MS-13 took a slight hit in Nashville today.
According to the Nashville City Paper article today, we've had this "pack of jackals" for 11 years.

"Mara Salvatrucha" is Salvadoran (meaning "fear us"; or, ''Mother's Stupidity" (for not having that abortion?)).

(Photo from Gang War Blog)

The gang has a propensity for not only dealing drugs and guns (the usual fare of these lovelies) but bashing the brains out of rival gangs, including the ephemeral Bloods and Crips, and generally assualting whoever pisses them off, with little or no warning ...

"MS-13 members nationally are notorious for displaying unprovoked violence against rival gang members and members of the community, not to protect profits but just to protect their power"

“MS-13 is pound for pound one of the most violent gangs in the western hemisphere...”, from Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) .

Oscar Serrano, a/k/a “Diablin”
Escolastico Serrano, a/k/a “Chito”
Omar Hirbin Gomez, a/k/a “Lil Homie”
David Alexander Gonzalez, a/k/a “Psycho”
Ernesto Isai Mendez-Tovar, a/k/a “Joker,” a/k/a “Choey”
Francisco Dago Mendez, a/k/a “Silent”
Walter Hernandez, a/k/a “Spanky”
Nery Garballo-Vasquez, a/k/a “Cuervo”
Eliseo Iglesias, a/k/a “Smokey”
Ronald Fuentes, a/k/a “Spia”
Ericka Cortez, a/k/a “Shorty”
Geovanni Pena, a/k/a “Rata”
Jose Alfaro, a/k/a “Liche”

Found as a nickname of a MS-13 Gang Member arrested in Nashville, one of the 13 busted on January 11, 2006:
“Diablin”, “Chito”, “Lil Homie”, “Psycho”, “Joker, a/k/a “Choey”, “Silent”, “Spanky”, “Cuervo”, “Smokey”, “Spia”, “Shorty”, “Rata” and “Liche”.

Spia isn't defined yet, so I guess, given the company he keeps, this term 'spia' is related to 'spittle' or maybe 'soap' (what his father should have used instead of his mother...)

"Yo, Lil' Homie, don't pick up the spia when you're in the prison shower, or you might feel like you did when spanky got too much cuervo! Ha Ha, spia from the shorty!"

Ahhhh, I just listened to the President..he's out there, it's time to make or break, putting his (and our) credibility on the line. Do we leave the fragile Iraqi nation to crumble (like we did in Vietnam), and invite even more killings if the sectarian violence gets waay out of hand, or an extremist Islamic nation forms,with the worst of the Islamic Ideology allowed to frement? A new Kymer Rouge? Or do we try to prop up with a surge the nascent government, and while doing so, try to stand behind our country's ideology, which is supposedly superior to that of the Extremist Islamicists?

My wife tells me, "I'm ready for the troops to come home." Yes, we all are. Is it time to forget everything we've done in the past years of war, and pull out? Or do we give it one more surge, to try to right the ship?

I guess I will have to stand with the President on this one. One more try, to be on the ideological side that feels morally correct. I don't mind being in the minority of supporters of the President. I've always felt that I'll stick with my friends, have their backs through thick and thin, and not cut out if the going gets rough. That's why the President wants to succeed in helping the Iraqis generate a democracy, and that's why I will have to stand with him.

Absolutely No One on either side of the Republican-Democratic schism appeals to me. Zero, none, nada.

Democrats have a long way to go to get my attention; there are few who will support 2nd Amendment Rights (that's my main benchmark; everybody's got to have at least one...I feel that if a person or a party as a whole wants to limit an individual's right to self-protection, and keep the guns for it's own purposes...that party is dangerous and should not receive support, no matter what other qualifications he, she or it may present).

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann have an Op-Ed today in the New York Post pretty much running a want-ad for a Conservative Candidate for '08. Unlike the 'Crats, who have such stellar candidates as Hillary (Gaggage with Baggage) Clinton:

Rudy Guiliani? Pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, pro-gay rights, pro-immigration, pro-gun control

Sen. John McCain? The McCain of the Kennedy-McCain bill to let illegal immigrants become citizens? Of the "anti-torture" bill to handcuff our agents when they question terrorists? Of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill that the right wing hates? Of the Lieberman-McCain anti-global-warming bill that addresses a problem the right doesn't believe in? That John McCain for president? The right wing can't tolerate his apostasy even if he is the pro-life candidate that Rudy isn't.

Mitt Romney, who was pro-life and then switched to pro-choice when he ran to become Massachusetts governor and now is switching back again as he runs for president? The Mitt Romney who said "I will protect and defend the right of Massachusetts women to choose?" The Romney who has flip-flopped on gay issues? Will the right wing back him? No way.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich? A man who has never valued the right-wing social agenda?

Now...What's up with this???

Guard soldiers back off from armed men out of Mexico



"A Border Patrol official says National Guard troops acted appropriately this week when they abandoned their post near the border southwest of Tucson as four gunmen approached from Mexico."

"Guardsmen are strictly in a backup role along the border. That means performing administrative functions, building roads and fences, even conducting surveillance in some cases, such as with the team near Tucson.

But they're never to confront or attempt to apprehend border crossers."

"State Sen. Chuck Gray, a Republican and retired Mesa police officer, was surprised that Guard members would run in the face of an armed threat, unless they were seeking protective cover.

"I can tell you, as a police officer of 10 years, there was never a policy to flee," he said. "If they're running for cover, that's different than running away."

Floyd Reese resigned from his General Manager's position with the Titans yesterday.

In other breaking news, the sun came up in the east this morning, and Saddam is still dead.

This change was expected. I posted, after the 0-3 start, a long-winded narrative on the Reese/Fisher situation; check it out if you like. But nothing much has changed ; Reese's goose was already cooked by then.

The dramatic improvemens from a losing 0-5 start to a 8-8 finish had nothig to do with Floyd Reese; those immediate changes are credited to Jeff Fisher...and Vince Young. A General Manager's work is not field operations, or play calling. You can't measure a GM over the course of a season's worth of games, or even a couple of seasons. He's a long-term fixture (which makes the Matt Millen non-firing in Detroit even less understandable).

So, what brought down Floyd Reese? Mainly, his two top priorities: drafting, and contracting.

Sure, he got a few good picks (The Tennessean mistakenly credits him with Vince Young; that was soley Bud Adam's choice). But he made some bad ones too...#2 last year was LenDale White, who hasn't showed us a thing. PacMan (well, the jury's still out...Ouch!), 1st round pick in 2004 (I wanted Antrel Rolle), if he keeps his nose clean during this long offseason, we'll be surprised; Woolfolk, 1st round pick in 2003...who?; Heinous Haynesworth (first round, 2002) gave major trouble this year, and will he stay a Titan?

And the contracts...wow. Every other team in the league was probably looking at the Titans like they had serious brain damage...especially after the McNair fiasco, and the bloodletting of marquee players to get under the cap. All while New England was winning 3 Super Bowls.

I'm not going to re-hash this old stuff. But I'm not going to cry over broken pieces, either...

UPDATE 12/16/2006
Today, thousands marched in New York City, on 5th Avenue, lead by wheelchair-bound Trent Benefield (one of the survivors of the Police Shooting of Sean Bell last month.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre, was also among the marchers, as were U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, city transit union president Roger Toussaint and human rights activist Bianca Jagger. The marchers started at 59th Street and finished their protest more than an hour later outside Macy's on 34th Street.

"Three officers, including the officer hit by the car, were treated and released. Another detective remained hospitalized for hypertension..."

"They were murderers, murderers," she said. "They were not officers. No one gives anyone the right to kill somebody."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to soothe an upset community on Monday and said bluntly that officers appeared to use "excessive force" when an unarmed man was killed in a storm of police gunfire outside a strip club hours before his wedding.

"I can tell you that it is to me unacceptable or inexplicable how you can have 50-odd shots fired, but that's up to the investigation to find out what really happened," Bloomberg said.

I can see it all over the blogospere, the reeling Republicans peering into their navels wondering what and why and how this happened. How could the party of the Right be so wrong?

I found the best answer overseas....

Probably the best one-paragraph summary, and prophecy, that I've read on the post-election.

"It will take time for this to sink in among conservative Republicans. This election has been a major blow to their self-image and world-view. Like the Thatcherites, they got used to assuming that they were always right and would always be victorious. On Tuesday the voters told them they were wrong. It has taken many false starts for the Conservative party to get back in the game in Britain. Something similar could happen to the suddenly weakened Republicans. But there's nothing they like more than a fight."

"It was the crash heard round the world. It came in the form of a nationwide protest against the Iraq war and Bush's presidency. A new survey of actual voters, conducted since election day by Bill Clinton's former pollster, Stan Greenberg, confirms that Iraq was by far the most important issue that influenced Americans' votes. The divide among those for whom Iraq was the most important issue went 3:1 in favour of the Democrats. That, in a nutshell, explains what happened."

"What happened this week was not complex. It was the crash of the conservative political project begun by Newt Gingrich in 1994 and crystallised under George Bush since 2000."