Bush's Goodbye Kiss

I'm sure you've all known about this at this point, but if you haven't, well... here ya go. As reported by the Beeb.

An Iraqi journalist was wrestled to the floor by security guards after he called Mr Bush "a dog" and threw his footwear, just missing the president.
...

In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.

Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.

Mr Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, was then wrestled to the ground by security personnel and hauled away.

For the BBC news report quoted, and video of the shoe flinging, click here.

Once again... I remember.

That I have a blog.

So... in the past year what's happened? Some good stuff...

• I'm doing fairly well in graduate studies, with a 3.785 GPA
• I have a pretty enjoyable job at the Statue of Liberty (though I'm going to keep it at that; if I bitch too much I might lose it...)
• I've acclimated fairly well to New York City.
• I've become addicted to Sodoku (...okay, maybe not that good...)
• I got a Wii

So, things are okay right now. I have very cautious optimism about the future; is it January 20th yet, guys?

Hey, remember me?

Well, do ya? No? Well, that's what happens when you go to grad school!

Welp, been here for about three months now, and I'm enjoying myself so far... just wanted to remind you all I'm still alive and that grad school takes a lot out of you. It's an endless cycle... I do too much I burn out; I burn out, I have to force myself to do a lot... well, as far as I know, I'm managing. The big concern for me right now is final papers. I'm hoping to go to town on the easiest one over break next week, and the prelim for the other two... here's hoping.

I'm also working now; I'm tutoring at a nearby school in the Bronx. Oh, jeez, was the first day hit and miss! Hopefully, it'll get better...

Until then, this is Brad, signing off from the place he's wanted to be for seven years and not regretting a moment of it.

I... I can't take it anymore...

Yeah, I know... pretty quiet. Later, I'll spill some on why I've been AWOL lately. Fordham's been tough, and medical problems made it worse, but I think I'm okay now...

Okay, time to state the obvious: I don't like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. In fact, it's probably a hair away from hatred right now. They've completely destroyed all respect and faith in my government and American democracy, used the still-haunting 9/11 to do whatever the fuck they want, and live/work in a "you can't do anything about it" way. And the fucking Democrats have shown it again and again and AGAIN...

There's been quiet a few things these two men have done that made me really upset. I sobbed when Bush made his "We're going in in 48 hours" announcement. I winced at every passage of a bill that let them take away rights. I gnashed teeth as Bush used Christianity again and again to deny stem cell research and equality for the LGBT community. I looked on, agape, as they let the Gulf Coast and one of our defining cities turn into the Third World... and shrugged it off. Despite all this, I managed to swallow and keep watching the news.

Until today.

I've just found out that apparently Saddam Hussein and his sons were in negotiations to flee to Egypt and live in exile and prevent the war. However, Bush and Cheney refused and went in anyway. Further, Bush refused the pleas of British and Spanish leaders for an eleventh hour stay of declaration. And do you know why? As Bush himself said:

According to the transcript, [Spanish Prime Minister Jose] Aznar asked Bush to be more patient and emphasized the importance of a U.N. resolution. The president said he was out of patience. Aznar said he was worried that Bush was overly optimistic about what would happen. Bush reportedly said, “I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself.”

You heard it, gang. The entire four years is because Bush says he's right. Just seconds later, I scrolled up to see Cheney again say we didn't finish Saddam off in 1991 because exactly what's happened would happen.

I... I can't describe what I feel right now. Something... died in me, or snapped, or something. I felt ill. I felt angry. And, most of all... fed up.

Seriously, I'm done.

Unless it's of international scale or The Daily Show/The Colbert Report, no more. I'm sick of these two cruel, heartless, arrogant, conscienceless BASTARDS.

I'm sick of their textual blithering.
I'm sick of the feral growl and teeth gnashing Southern drawl that passes for their voices.
And I'm sick of seeing Quasimodo's lost brother and ESPECIALLY that beady eyed smirk.
----------------
Oh, and the Left?

The left bloggers are just as bad now. They DEMAND perfection.

The New York Times? It should die because it was cheerleading the war like, uh, everyone else before it came around.

CNN? Political propaganda.

Politicians or newscasters that slip up ONCE? Traitors.

Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Stephen Colbert don't ask a question or attack Ann Coulter? Spineless, BJ'ing cowards.

Oh, and then comes the best part of all... the part that makes me literally scream.

Bush signs X bill, he's Hitler... Cheney advocates Y bill, HE'S Hitler... Sean Hannity says something, he's Goebbels... Republicans do that, they're the Nazis, Democrats do that, they're Chamberlain... Abu Ghraib, it's Auschwitz... Iraq, period, is the Holocaust.... Anyone who disagrees with these idiot comparisons (IE me) is reality challenged and an abettor...

Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, HITLER!!!

*pants*

I'm sure the aspects of the left above is going to compare me to Martin "They came for the Jews..." Niemoller for this but... seriously, I can't take this anymore. I'm getting way too stressed and angry about this, and I'm sick of it.

I'm talking history, I'm finally a New Yorker... leave me the hell alone, and take your smirks and "X is Hitler!"s with you.

I'll leave you with the straw that broke the left side of the camel's back; an name withheld poster about Katie Couric bowing to NBC pressure on an interview with Condi Rice:

"The difference between Katie and a prostitute? Only the prostitute gets fucked when she sells out."

Regarding yesterday's rant...

...it took less than a day.

GAH!!!!!!

I'm so tired of this.

Everywhere I look, I see this...

Just as Hitler favored Farben, lucrative contracts were awarded to Dick Cheney’s Halliburton, circumventing even the pretense of a bid process.

...after this...

Hitler thought he had legalized his holocaust with the Nuremberg laws. Bushies are indulging similar and equally Nazi delusions

...after this...

Folks who think that there is some similarity between the political tactics used by the George W. Bush administration and the methods used by Germany’s chancellor for life are aware that the worst could still be yet to come.

...after THIS...

Neocons have all the qualities of Nazis

...AFTER THIS!

Recall how Bush's hatchet men impugned Senator Kerry's Vietnam War record. This was reminiscent of Nazi claims Germany's Jewish veterans of the Great War did not deserve their medals.

WILL YOU ALL JUST FUCKING SHUT UP!?!

Seriously. I'm fed up. Everywhere I read and look, here come the Nazis over the hill, with good ol' Adolf leading them! Are you people honestly being serious? Can you remind when Bush...

-annexed Canada?
-exterminated the atheists?
-invaded an entire continent?
-made it so just looking at him funny = shooting or hanging by piano wire?
-had half-decent evidence he destroyed an American landmark to get his way?
-set up camps across the country?
-had book burnings?
-had a lot of military success?
-severed with distinction in the army?
-made it so only HIS tastes are art and culture?

Oh, oh, don't you go pointing to Iraq, or Abu Ghraib, or 9/11, or the Patriot Act. I can see you trying that. Not the same thing at all. So fucking stop it right there. I can tell you what George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler have in common right now: they're human males of European descent! That's it! That's all! Cut it out!

*pants*

I'm better now... I'll time how long it takes until I see another comparison.

Welp, I just lost the will to live...

I was cruising a Titanic message board recently, when I found about an animated movie set on the Ol' Millionaires' Special. Except... well... look.


The plot is thus:

This one's plot involves an evil whale hunter, Baron Van Der Tilt, who wants to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of a rich industrialist, so he can somehow gain control of his company. When Elizabeth's father learns she is in love with a gypsy he cancels the marriage; which infuriates the Baron who then decides he will force him to sign the papers at gun's point and then sink the ship to cover his traces. Thanks to a magic flute that allows him to talk to animals, the Baron enlists the aid of a bunch of sharks who in turn convince a not so smart giant squid (I'm talking Dead Man's Chest large here) to prove its great strength by hurling icebergs, that were lying at the bottom of the ocean (...) seemingly about a couple hundred meters below, at the Titanic. One of them hits the ship of course and Elizabeth and her lover must now save their lives but fortunately they're helped by a bunch of rats whom they can talk to thru her magic hearings. The giant squid, realizing a lot of people will die, redeems itself by holding the Titanic afloat, even after she broke in two (between the second and third funnel!), giving everybody aboard enough time to escape in lifeboats.

...wow.

I've seen some really, really, REALLY bad ideas regarding the Titanic before, but this one just takes the cake and shoves it down your throat. I think it all speaks for itself. For more information, as well as where I took the above material from, check out this thread at Encyclopedia Titanica:

I leave you now with the coup de grade: The Titanic/Free Willy crossover.

Oh, ha ha, cute...

Remember that props I gave to Afterworld? Forget it.

Apparently, either Budweiser bought it out or had this catch all along; it's now being posted exclusively on their site. And you need to register to access it. And you need to have a driver's license. State ID won't do at all.

So, since I don't have a license (long story), I can't watch it because the site refuses to accept that fact. So, I can't imagine how many other people are stuck like me (I've heard of people who HAVE licenses being chased away from the invasion or privacy and reject of license).

So... fuck you Budweiser, and fuck you whoever devised this.