This from CNN.com:

Seventy percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say things are going badly in the United States. The last time the public gave the country’s condition such a bad rating was January 1992 in the last year in office of the last president named Bush.  

Really? Huh. I would have never thought something like this could happen. I hope every single one of you remember this next time you want to vote for a dip shit for president.This is also what happens when you put good leadership well behind, hmm, where do I start? “Who do I want to have a beer with?”,  evangelical pagan worship, excessive right wing hate, oh and you have your administration working hard to figure out every possible way to legitimize illegal behavior INSTEAD of taking care of business. Don’t make me list the woes, just read the article or look outside.

As you might be reading about our President’s recent speech in which he continues to show his detachment from reality.

From the Wash Post:

Historian Robert Dallek, who has written about the comparisons of Iraq to Vietnam, accused Bush of twisting history. ‘It just boggles my mind, the distortions I feel are perpetrated here by the president,’ he said in a telephone interview.

‘We were in Vietnam for 10 years. We dropped more bombs on Vietnam than we did in all of World War II in every theater. We lost 58,700 American lives, the second-greatest loss of lives in a foreign conflict. And we couldn’t work our will,’ he said.

‘What is Bush suggesting? That we didn’t fight hard enough, stay long enough? That’s nonsense. It’s a distortion,’ he continued. ‘We’ve been in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. It’s a disaster, and this is a political attempt to lay the blame for the disaster on his opponents. But the disaster is the consequence of going in, not getting out.‘ (em added)

Bingo. Once again. We on the left were correct. ‘Nuf said.

HAHAHAHA - Do a little dance, we were right:

After offering a bleak assessment of the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said today that he was urging lawmakers and President Bush to change course quickly to protect a further erosion of America’s standing in the world.

It was only a matter of time before the cripple wounded made this just like Viet Nam. Thank you modern medicine, because of you Americas mistakes are even more numerous and walking into our grocery stores, churches, and right in the faces of the people who supported this boondoggle.

Now if we can only feel the backlash in middle America. If only. Who dares to call themselves a neo-con now? Creative destruction anyone? What a freakin’ mess.

All done on Jesus’ watch too. Thank you religious zealots in Alabama. Thank you for this chance to once again prove intellegence and education will win out over you backwards ways. What was that about “them uppity northerns bettah stop comings downs here ands treatins us like some kind of anthramapology experiment?” What way my reply? “Stop acting like protohumans and there will be nothing to study!”

I guess that “I’d rather have a beer with Bush” sentiment now includes a beer with Bush and an artificial leg and PTSD.

And before you think I am not sympathetic to people who are hurt in war, this is not personal, this is politics. I feel really badly for these people, they were consumed by a machine that doesn’t give a fuck about them and to make it more onerous (entailing obligations that exceed advantages) the machine duped them into thinking this was their patriotic duty.

Look into the eyes of hate. These are supposedly our brothers and sisters. But there is no moral justification for detailed adherence to orthodoxy because of issues like this:

Jerusalem Police on Thursday arrested a 32-year-old haredi resident of Mea She’arim, who was caught in possession of an improvised explosive device, police said.

The suspect, who was apprehended on Jaffa Road, told police that he planned to set the bomb off in some bushes to scare people away from attending the Gay Pride parade, set to take place in the capital on Thursday evening, Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

Now you watch what happens, a slap on the wrist for this hate mongering Jew - dare I say Jewofascist - while he and his ilk routinely call for genocide of Arabs.

How are Ultra-Orthodox the problem, let me count the ways…

Is anyone at all shocked by this headline from the NY Times: ‘For the First Time, New York Links a Death to 9/11 Dust’? And a needed first sentence quote:

New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, has for the first time directly linked a death to exposure to dust from the destruction of the World Trade Center.

GASP: A Bush official lied and failed to protect the public (I remind you this was EPA head Christine Todd Whitman)!!! Banish the thought.

I have said it before, I say it now, we get everything we deserve for voting these assholes into office. When the blowback from Iraq reaches our shores, I for one will point to this post and say, “I Fucking Told You So!”

You war mongering Republicans (and Hillary Clinton!) who decried the left for the last 6+ years have simply proven us to be right in everything we have said. You are a bunch of worthless unethical liars who have squandered our national reputation, our national pride and most importantly actual living citizens of our nation.

When mankind is Judged for its sins, I really fucking hope I get to see all those worthless right wing moronic Christians who helped put these kind of people in office burn in a living and all consuming fire.

Bring it on Al Gore.

Some notes…

1. death of JFK JR. - who cares
2. death of John Lennon - who cares
3. death of Princess Di - who cares
4. eve of Iraq invasion, 1 & 2 - scary, we are a f’ed up war mongering nation
5. shots of 9/11 - do not need to see them, ever, please stop showing them
6. Vietnam - see #4
7. Clinton Mon-mon quotes - interesting since there were NONE of either Bush
8. see #8 - none of either Bush - Oh Fox you are so transparent and predictable

worst of all - this preempted my nightly “what is gonna kill me today” segment. now I have nothing to obsess about all day tomorrow…

G-d Bless Rand:

President George W. Bush’s most recent address to the American people on Iraq may be the scariest presidential message since Ronald Reagan announced that he had launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Reagan was just kidding. Bush is not.

Immediate reaction to the president’s speech has focused on the intended increase in the U.S. troop commitment to Baghdad. However, the greatest danger posed by the Bush plan is not that of horizontal escalation in Iraq, but of vertical escalation throughout the surrounding region.

This is going to be fun to watch unfold. Add these comments to those of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The terrible and still unprecedented destructive power of nuclear weapons led Albert Einstein to observe, “With nuclear weapons, everything has changed, save our way of thinking.” As we stand at the brink of a second nuclear age and at the onset of an era of unprecedented climate change, our way of thinking about the uses and control of technologies must change to prevent unspeakable destruction and future human suffering.

and

[Scientists] warn that the consequences could drastically alter both the planet and human life. Already, ice packs in Greenland are rapidly disappearing, which, in turn, threatens the existence of hundreds of species such as polar bears and the traditions of whole societies such as the Inuit. The future looks even bleaker, as scientists continue to observe cascading effects on Earth’s complex ecosystems.

Nothing to say on this, I just wonder who is listening and what can I do?

Ellie My Siberian Husky

The name of this blog comes directly from my attempts at learning Hebrew. Nearly the first thing I learned to say was “The dog jumps.” It became a running joke amongst friends. But as you can see, I have a dog, who can jump, so it is kind of even sorta more funny…ANYWAY…here are some facts about me:

• Grew up in Maine
• Moved to NYC to go to Columbia Grad School - which I hated - you can read about what the lab does.
• Left school and started working for internet companies - some small startups, Toys R Us.com before they sold out to Amazon.com, then for the airlines, Chuck Schwab, and now I work for a big publisher in “The City”.
• I have a lot of experience with computers, but please do not ask me to help you with Windows because my answer will be “Buy a Mac.”
• Into my saltwater tank, riding my Ducati, playing with Ellie & Blue (my sister’s smelly black lab)
• Enjoy traveling
• I have lots of random thoughts, like people should walk on their own side of the side walk, current fashion trends are abysmal, Louis Vuitton used to be classy now it is trashy, people who stand on the bus should be let off first because they have been standing the whole time, revolving doors are irritating, RFID is not the end of the all security forever, credit card companies are seriously predatory and the government should do something about it, Bush is an idiot, Gore has emerged as an elder statesman, marriage is a sham to allow women to take everything from men, post-feminism may just have it right, being Jewish is a wonder not a chore, and so many many many more.
• Family: Pretty much, Adam and my Father, Kent along with my Aunt’s and their families. I have a few other relatives that I am not in touch with, mostly due to internecine battles on both sides. Who knows why my Mother’s brother and sister have not been heard from in 25 years? It all gets so boring after a while.

Take a listen to today’s The Brian Lehrer Show (podcast):

Back to the Future, Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at New York University and author, Fooled Again (Basic Books 2005) accuses George Bush of electoral fraud in Ohio

And if that is not enough, check out his blog.

Not bothered yet? How about the proof that the voting machines are not secure?

Be prepared to, at the least, question what that smell is. It is America rotting at the core. Just get back in your war mobile and drive up to you chemical lawn, eat your hyper processed vitamin free food, and ignore it all.

I want to share another fun tidbit from my reading yesterday. It has to do with consulting the Urim VeTumim. There are rules, this is Judaism, after all, there are always rules, about the proper method of consultation. However, the gist is there is a piece of parchment, given to Moses by G-d, with the tetragrammaton written on it, slipped into the fold of the breastplate worn by the Kohen Gadol that had the power to make the letters inscribed on the breastplate rise up or glow in order to spell out the answer to the question at hand. There is some debate as to how the Kohen Gadol would read and interpret this vision, but the essential process remains the same. While reading, I made note of the nice “take home message” not ask a multi-part question, but be clear and concise as to what you want to know.

This is well above and beyond the whole supernatural freakiness of this tale. Dad please take note: Indians are not the only ones who see the manifestations of the supernatural (I could not resist). I guess it isn’t any more strange than a burning bush that isn’t consumed, parting of the Sea of Reeds, and so on. I can just imagine the letters glowing and being transcribed and interpreted à la Indiana Jones or something. I go back to my earlier statements: rationalism, which I am a fan of, killed this kind of mysticism and Jews are one heck of a strange freaky cult!