The Rumor Starts Here

BBQ BushI’m starting the rumor that President Bush plans to go back to Crawford, Texas and open a tire store, “Presidential Tires — Where the Rubber Meets the Rode” (sic), or possibly a small roadside barbecue stand, “Leader of the Free World Bar-B-Q.”

You heard it first, right here.

No, seriously. Undisclosed Capitol Hill sources have revealed that Bush will return to his ranch, which he has now successfully cleared of brush after 8 years in the White House, and will trade on his nationally-recognized name to launch a private business venture.

“I’m going to show everyone that my success in Washington, D.C., was no fluke,” said Bush. “This will pin down my legacy as the 43rd President of the United States with a commercial triumph in the field of rubber, or possibly barbecue.  I expect my venture here in Crawford to become a national chain, or maybe even worldwide.”

[Photo: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson listens as President Bush (man in gray suit on right) speaks about his upcoming venture into barbecue, or possibly tires.]

One More Day.

Whew.

I’m sooooo happy to be voting Tuesday, here in the U.S.

For Barack Obama, in case you wondered.

I kept a promise to myself, some of you may be unhappy to hear, that I would never donate another dollar to the Democratic Party, after they failed to impeach George W. Bush. Which is the ONE thing I wanted in the 2006 election cycle.

But oh, yeah, Obama gets my one little vote.

I’m so tired of Republicans. Ready for as much change as the Dems can manage.

And I still hope for some prosecutions. Heck, I still think we could SELL Bush to the Iraqis for a year’s worth of free oil. Considering how many other people Bush has sacrificed, I’d think Bush would be proud to finally show his American stripes and sacrifice himself. Talk about service to your country!

And there’s no worry about national secrets getting out, even if they torture him. I mean, it’s not like Bush KNOWS anything.

I still think he’ll go back to Crawford, Texas, and open a tire store. And then fail at it.

Seriously, here’s something I do expect, if I bother to follow Bush’s career post-presidency: Beyond giving a few speeches, he will accomplish exactly nothing of note. I doubt if he’ll even show an INTEREST in anything. For the rest of his life.

Getting Nailed

nailed.jpg[Apologies to my readers. This is more than 1,700 words, but I couldn’t say it in less. Exploring a new thought, and linking it to things you already know, just takes time. And when you write it out, it’s … longish. But I do have a couple of ideas here that were “Ahas” for me, so if you have the time, I’d love to know what you think. — Hank the Interminable]

Say you did something you thought was good at the time, but later turned out to be bad. You could admit the mistake. Or you could refuse to admit it.

Any sensible person would probably say the first option was the best one. If you can admit a mistake, you can probably do something to fix it, or correct your course so you don’t do it again. And you can move on.

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Debate Deux

gop-elephant.jpg

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the whole thing, but I saw a few outtakes of the second presidential debate.

I’ve already seen three mentions in various news stories about McCain’s use of the “that one” phrase in this debate.

Over the past couple of days I’ve been seeing stories about the atmosphere of Palin’s weirdly closed and secretive campaign. One story said the press not only doesn’t get the chance to question Palin, they don’t get the chance to question Palin supporters.

After accusing Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” Palin told a Florida crowd of 8,000 on Monday that Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist!”

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Our … President

bushwhack.jpgThey’re calling it “America’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

“On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 504 points, its worst drop since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But Bush did not address the nation that night.

“Instead, he held a state dinner for the president of Ghana. Gratin of Maine lobster, late-summer corn pudding, ginger-scented farm lamb and graham cracker crumble with cocoa pod shell was served. Eleven members of the cast of ‘The Lion King’ came down from Broadway and performed. It was quite a bash. The Washington Post described President Bush and Ghanaian President John Kufuor as ‘ebullient.’ ”

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Sarah Palin: Radioactive Girl

palin-radioactive.jpgGood things are happening right now: The news media has finally, finally, FINALLY grown a set, and is asking the McCain and Palin camp some hard questions, and demanding answers.

For Palin, the shit just keeps flowin’ on down. I can’t believe the kind of stuff I’m reading about her, on a daily basis.

McCain and his “soul mate” are goin’ down hard.

And oh, yeah, Palin’s post-election political career in Alaska? Toast. Even a conservative speaking career may be out. Conservatives will wake up on Nov. 12 and find themselves in bed with the ultimate Coyote Date, and will chew their own arms off to get away from her.

Continue reading “Sarah Palin: Radioactive Girl”

Email on 9/11

bush-in-classroom.jpgThis is from an email I sent out this morning, the anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The main part is the “Questions on the Anniversary” at the bottom. The “special note to friends” at the beginning was intended to be a tiny little side note, but grew into the not-so-tiny thing it is. Email begins:

I couldn’t resist sending this around, mostly because when I woke up this morning, the first thing I thought of was how much mileage Republicans and conservatives have gotten out of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

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Questioning Authority

barney.jpgI got into a little email dustup recently with some people over McCain and Palin. In reply to some of the glowing testimonials to Gov. Palin that had been sent me, I made the point that she has been the governor of Alaska, an entire state with fewer people in it than the single city of San Francisco, for less than two years. And if that so-called “executive experience” was so great, then former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, who for eight years ran a city with 12 times the population of the entire state of Alaska, should REALLY be something special. (And frankly, I would much rather have Rudy Giuliani a beat away from John McCain’s 72-year-old heart than Sarah Palin.)

I got back this:

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Letters to the Future: 1

lttf.jpgHello to the year 3008!

I was thinking about my life a few days ago, the things I’ve lived through, and I’m writing to tell you some of what I was thinking.

In my time, we have the musical scores of greats such as Ludwig von Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – I do hope you still remember them – but we don’t have any actual recordings of their own original performances.

On the other hand, musicians such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Bob Dylan were all alive in my lifetime, and I can listen to their actual performances any day.

Continue reading “Letters to the Future: 1”