Gitmo prisoner discovered at Disneyland

When we arrived last Wednesday in the Emerald City, we caught a limo to dinner at this place, which was renowned for the view but not so much the food. My halibut crowned with crabmeat (hold the bearnaise) was excellent however, as was Sue's alderwood-planked salmon. Some small asparagus spears sliced half-inch size mingled with the garlic-smashed potatoes underneath my fish, and that was scrumptious as well.

My reading on the plane was Greg Palast -- in the previous post I told his joke -- and here's a little more from Armed Madhouse:

I'm going to tell you something which is straight-up heresy: America is not under attack by terrorists. There is no war on terror because, except for one day five years ago, al-Qaeda has pretty much left us alone.

That's because Osama got what he wanted. There's no mystery about what al-Qaeda was after. Like everyone from the Girl Scouts to Bono, Osama put his wish on his website. He had a single demand: "Crusaders out of the land of the two Holy Places." To translate: get US troops out of Saudi Arabia.

And George Bush gave it to him. On April 29, 2003, two days before landing on the aircraft carrier Lincoln, our self-described "War President" quietly put out a notice that he was withdrawing our troops from Saudi soil. In other words, our cowering cowboy gave in whimpering to Osama's demand.

The press took no note. They were all wiggie over Bush's waddling around the carrier deck in a disco-aged jumpsuit announcing, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." But it wasn't America’s mission that was accomplished, it was Osama's.

Am I saying there's no danger, no threat? Sure there is: 46 million Americans don't have health insurance. IBM is legally stealing from its employees’ pension plan and United Airlines has dumped its pensions altogether. Four million three hundred thousand Americans were injured, made sick or killed by their jobs last year. TXU Corporation is right now building four monster-sized power plants in Texas that will burn skuzzy gunk called "lignite." The filth it will pour into the sky will snuff a heck of a lot more Americans than some goofy group of fanatics with bottles of hydrogen peroxide.

But Americans don't ask for real protection from what's killing us. The War on Terror is the Weapon of Mass Distraction. Instead of demanding health insurance, we have 59 million of our fellow citizens pooping in their pants with fear of al-Qaeda, waddling to the polls crying, "Georgie save us!"

On Thursday we went to Mount Rainier, took a nice hike to see the glacier, had a salmon burger and drank a Moose Drool. Friday we bumped around at the Pike Place Market and watched the fellas sling the fresh catch, and Saturday we went to see the Rangers play the Mariners at Safeco Field. The game went extra innings but we had long gone to eat sushi, not having lost our appetites over the UT-OSU debacle.

That's it for our little anniversary trip.

Still wondering about the headline of this post? ABC/Disney really showed their ass. Go watch some Keith Olbermann telling the truth instead...

So Osama goes into this bar, see...

... and Dubya, who's tending, says, "Whaddle ya have?"

And Osama says: "Well, moron, what's on tap today?"

"FEAR," Dubya says, and Osama yells, "FEAR beer for everybody!" and the crowd cheers and rushes the bar as George starts pulling the tap.

After everyone gets served the presidential bartender walks down to Osama and says, "Hey ... who's payin' for this?" And Osama hooks a thumb over his shoulder and says, "They are."

And both men laugh.

(Yes, I'll find time to write more here. Soon.)

See you from Seattle

... but perhaps not until Friday. Tomorrow's travel day and our anniversary dinner in the evening; Thursday's an all-day outing to Mt. Rainier.

Postpourri: Nellie Connally, the killing of GWB, and the cracks showing in the TDP

There's still a few things to talk about before I get busy in town and out ...

Nellie Connally passed away yesterday. She was the last person left who survived the limosine ride through Dealey Plaza in November of 1963. The phrase "blood and roses" had a singularly stark meaning to her:

"It's the image of yellow roses and red roses and blood all over the car ... all over us," she told the Associated Press.

"I'll never forget it. ... It was so quick and so short, so potent."

(I have previously mentioned here that when we attended the state Democratic convention in Fort Worth earlier in the summer, we stayed in the same hotel where JFK slept on the last night of his life. We also, last summer, stood on the hill in the Texas State Cemetery where she will be buried, next to her husband.)

Speaking of the deceased, a British producer wll release next month a docudrama of the assassination of George W. Bush, to take place in 2007.

Expect (what else) Republican outrage.

Some recent discussions elsewhere point to a fissure developing in the Texas Democratic Party (specifically, between Democratic activists). Essentially the question is: should the organization spend the money it has recently been given by trial attorney Fred Baron on electing Democrats now or later?

Read those discussions and leave your thoughts on this question here (or there).

There's more video of Bush -- and also his wife this time -- talking about his alcohol consumption. Again, it seems obvious to me that the White House is falling down on the job of trying to conceal Bush's drinking problems.

Politics this weekend, grunge the next

This afternoon I will be the brisket judge at the Harris County AFL-CIO Barbecue Cookoff in Pasadena, and despite posting this information a handful of times online, have not yet been tempted to influence the contest in any way. (Rats.)

This evening in what used to be DeLay Country, the Fort Bend Democrats, together with many of our statewide slate of candidates, will flex their muscles in advance of the real competition in November. No county in the state more accurately demonstrates the possibility of flipping Texas from red to blue than this one. Republicans in Fort Bend remain sleepily complacent or actively depressed; Democrats are engaged, active, and working it hard.

Tomorrow, La Marcha, then the Impeachment Town Hall with Ann Wright, and the Clear Lake HQ grand opening.

Next week and through the weekend, Mrs. Diddie and I will be in Seattle celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary, and I'll post a bit from there.

Happy Labor Day

I'll be in Fort Bend County on Sunday and in Clear Lake on Monday, but the Friday afternoon news dump has me apoplectic:

President Bush this afternoon made another backdoor appointment to his administration. He used a recess appointment to install a lawyer who represented Wal-Mart with a long record of urging restrictions to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA’s) overtime pay and other provisions to head up the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Paul DeCamp, who was grilled at an August Senate confirmation hearing, backed the Bush administration’s move to gut the FLSA’s overtime pay protections saying it presented:

... a window of opportunity, particularly in light of the federal elections of 2002, for the business community to achieve positive results that can bring the FLSA into the 21st century.

He even warned that if the overtime laws were not changed, millions more workers could become eligible for overtime. Strangely enough, he also said that it would not be “in the interest” of the workers who might earn overtime eligibility.

It is time to bring the FLSA into line with current notions of public policy. If reform does not come, then the risk and expense of collective and class action litigation may compel employers to reclassify millions of workers as non-exempt [i.e., eligible for overtime], a change that is in the interest of neither the employees nor their employers.

Enjoy your long weekend, and be sure to thank a union member for their forebearers, who fought to give us the 40-hour work week, paid vacation and holidays, health care, safe working conditions, and all the other things the corporations are now busy trying to take away by paying off the Republicans.