The saddest number

4000

145 Billion can buy a lot of stuff

145 BILLION! BILLION! That's what Bush is asking for the war in Iraq.



Let's see, what ELSE can we possibly do with that amount of money?

1. We could afford free healt insurance for every family in this country - $124 Billion

2. We could have free gas on Mondays wendesdays and Fridays - $116 Billion

3. We could give a free laptop to every student from K-12 - $86 Billion

4. Convert every Registered car in the US to run on Ethanol- $68 Billion

5. We could provide Primary Education to every child on earth- $30 Billion

6. We could provide universal acess to water and sanitation to everyone on earth- $21 Billion

7. We could end Hunger in America.-$7 Billion

Get that? We could end Hunger with 7 Billion dollars. 7 Billion dollars, and hunger..no more. But we can't afford that, can we? Not when there's a war on.

Data: FromDeath and Taxes!.

The War In Iraq/The Battle for Minastirith

Wonkette has made some interesting comparisons between LOTR and the most recent developments in Iraq


There are massive desert battlegrounds covered in bodies.

The dead are mostly part of an evil cult.

The cult is trying to get the 12th wizard, Al Mahdi, to come back.

He became the Magical 12th Imam when he was 5 years old.

He vanished down a well in Mordor Sammara in the 9th Century.

Only an occult combination of spells and chaos magick and horrible fear will bring back the wizard.

Ahmed Hassani al-Yemeni is the current “vanguard of the messiah,” or wizard.

His warrior cult is Sunni and Shia, united in common cause to bring about the End of Days.

Luckily, other Sunnis and Shia are still fighting the Sectarian War and are now bombing each other’s schools, to kill all the children.

Nearly 300 of the warrior cultists were slaughtered by the broadswords of the American warriors, yesterday.

A chief goal of the Soldiers of Heaven is to murder the “Shia Pope.”

Another main goal is to slaughter all the tens of thousands of religious pilgrims traveling to various holy sites, because more blood & horror = more chaos magic.

“There are no safe havens for Sunnis” anywhere in Iraq now, meaning that those Sunnis who don’t escape to Syria or Jordan will soon be murdered.

Bombing continues as usual in Baghdad, with a couple of hundred people killed in the past few days.

The “Shia Pope” is the Grand Ayatollah Sistani, otherwise known as Saruman the White, Chief of the Istari.

Oh, and the U.S. Army is now aggressively recruiting people who speak elvish.

Via Wonkette

The Symbolic Gesture

Last Saturday, Danielle and I went to the Anti-Escalation in Iraq protest in downtown Los Angeles, with Cindy Sheehan and Ron Kovic. In the midst of what can best be called a leftist circus with a theme, we marched innumerable blocks all the while chanting and voicing our general displeasure at the Administrations Iraq Policy.


Me

The Ringling Brothers Marx and Engels Circus

Danielle, who posesses a certain wisdom that eludes me, pointed out the banality of protesting at federal buildings on a Saturday. Furthermore, I was a bit turned off by the party atmosphere, and the strange attentionmongering of certain folk. In particular i had to question why Hugo Chavez supporters and Indigenous Mexican dancers were donning their particular gear and adding their cause to the general melee of anti war protestors. Yes, yes, we are all lefties. I UNDERSTAND. But it's like donning cocktail attire for Easter Mass. Yes, it's TECHNICALLY dressing up for church, but wholly inappropriate and somewhat tacky. It gave me pause. Was i just adding to a general lack of dignity in this whole affair? People are dying, surely we need to treat this subject with respect. I tossed the question back and forth in my noodle for a few days, and finally I have come to a happy conclusion.
The chants of "What Do We Want? Troops Home! When do We want it? Now!" (Surely "NOW!" is a bit unrealistic, isn't it? I mean the have to pack and book a flight) , the marching to an empty federal building with anti war icons leading the parade of demi-freaks, is not for naught. Rather, the image of thousands of people spending their Saturday, yelling about something helps to add urgency and immediacy to the debate. I gave some thought to my previous encouters with protestors. Anti abortion wack-jobs yelling at women who are just getting their annual pap, Indignant College girls "Taking back the night", when their original ownership of "the night" , is debatable. All these instances helped to physicalize an argument which cannot remain indoors. So for all the idiocy and amateur dramatics, it was important that people see a crowd. It is important that we go out there and join the very silly and often very stinky people and lend our voice to the opposition to an unjust war. No matter how silly the people next to you are, and no matter how empty the parade route.

For all the silliness, please take a gander at my Flickr Set

Nerdery in the The House of Representatives

Rep. David Wu (D- Nerdville)

Well, now that you mention it...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who found the Irony in this little gem from "Poppa Bear". Considering that the death toll for American troops in Iraq has surpassed the death toll from 9-11. The question is, who is the more evil? The brazen tryants and lunatics who kill our people in the name of their religion, or the one who does it with our "approval"?

1937- 2006 صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي

Why is it that when I choose to cope with the insanity in the world, I turn to silliness for solace?
Let's remember our only fond moments with Saddam.

Why we are losing in Iraq

Kindly Click HERE.
The horror, the shame. (Be sure to watch the video on the sidebar)

** UPDATE!!
Now watch it on YouTube (Its still more shocking to watch on the Whitehouse site)