Bell Business

I Used To Worry About Too Much Elmo

One of the fatal flaws of the human race is that ANY couple with the proper plumbing can have a child.

This, from the NYT...

JERUSALEM, July 16 — Hamas television, which was criticized for a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfur who spouted anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish nostrums at children, has replaced the mouse with a bee named Nahoul, who says he is Farfur’s cousin.

Farfur was beaten to death by an Israeli who wanted his land on the previous episode of the children’s show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.”

Nahoul, the bee, says: “I want to continue on the path of Farfur, the path of ‘Islam is the solution.’ The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of jihad warriors.”

In the name of Farfur, the bee says, “we shall take revenge on the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets, the murderers of innocent children, until Al Aksa will be liberated from their filth.”

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli group that monitors Palestinian media for anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement, says the bee is referring to Jews and Israelis. Al Aksa refers to the mosque that is part of the Noble Sanctuary, a site holy to Muslims in Jerusalem on the Haram al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Please allow me to repeat the most incredible sentence from this article about a childrens' show.

Farfur was beaten to death by an Israeli who wanted his land on the previous episode of the children’s show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.”

Anyone can have kids. Fred Phelps can have kids. Ann Coulter can have kids (I think). Any old hatemonger can have kids.

I am not Israel's biggest fan. Basically, I'm not a big fan of ANY GOVERNMENT OR POLITICAL MOVEMENT (including Hamas, just in case I need to say it)  who claims that they have a right to this or that because "God said so."  But this is some CRAZY HATEFUL SHIT to be showing kids.

Think about how far we've come just in the last century or so. The moon, the internet, cell phones, fucking GOOGLE EARTH! And yet, in so many ways, we have never left the stone age. This isn't just Islam. This isn't just Hamas. How many Israeli children are taught to view Palestinians, or Arabs in general, as subhuman? And we have hate just as strong here in out own country. And it just doesn't make sense. Depressing.

(Hat tip to Deirdre)

Okay, now...

I know what you're saying. There he goes again... Bell really has it in for the President. Everyone knows how he feels about Bush. But COME ON! New video from AP shows Bush and Brownie and Chertoff being briefed on how terrible Katrina was going to be the DAY BEFORE the storm hit. Topics included the likelyhood that the levees would be breached and the strong possibility that we wouldn't be able to evacuate people from the Superdome. Read the story here, courtesy of Americablog. You all know how I feel about Americablog. Clearly, they are doing the Lord's work. Here's an exerpt, although you should read the whole thing cuz it's not that long.

Bush said days after the hurricane that NO ONE could have imagined the levees being breached:

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees"

When in fact, Bush had been briefed on that very potentiality the DAY BEFORE the hurricane hit.

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

He didn't ask a single question.

So Bush gets briefed on the impending disaster, a disaster that would wipe out a MAJOR AMERICAN CITY, and the next thing he does is GO ON VACATION!

Here's my thing. If I'm the President of the United States, and I hear that a HUGE storm might just wipe out New Orleans, I am not going on vacation. And then I am not going to NOT WATCH TV, so that my cowering underlings have to put together a DVD of the news to show me how bad the situation is. I'm going to BE IN TOUCH WITH FEMA 24/7 and I'm going to know WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THE GULF.

And I am not going to go on the TV after the storm hits and the levee breaks and say that no one could have anticipated the breach of the levees, ESPECIALLY if I am on tape at a meeting where they tell me that the LEVEES WILL PROBABLY BE BREACHED!

How many more strikes does this president get? How many more mulligans? This is so far beyond political ideoligies, isn't it? This is not about conservative vs liberal. This is about INCOMPETENCE.

The thing that makes me the maddest is the vacation business. You know what? If a major US city is in danger of being wiped out, the president should not be allowed to go on vacation. If we are AT WAR the president should not be allowed to go on vacation. Frankly, I would say that for the four years he is on the job, the president should not be allowed to go on vacation. If he gets re-elected, fine. Give him a week. Well done. Relax. But NOT IF WE'RE AT WAR! You don't get a vacation if we're at war. Sorry. You got the weekends. You don't get to go clear brush and shoot your friends in the face. I know people who go YEARS without a vacation. If the president can't take it he shouldn't be president.

I'm going to post on this more later, but anyone who stands up to defend this president is, in my opinion, either an idiot or evil. Tell me you want smaller government, less taxes, rights for gun owners, tough abortion laws, WHATEVER. I can debate with you on that.

But if you try to tell me that George W. Bush is a COMPETENT president, then I'm sorry, but the debate is over. I'm just going to step back and shake my head. You are an idiot. Or evil.

HUH?!!?!?!?!!?!??!?!

Courtesy of DailyKos, George Bush (President!) has been signing bills only with a CAVEAT!

For example, if a bill says we don't torture, he signs it with the CAVEAT, like "Yeah, but if I think the situation merits a little torure, then we're going to use a little torture. Or a lotta torture. Whatever it takes. Get 'er done!"

Congress is obsolete. EVERYONE is obsolete. What the Pres says goes. Deal with it.

In fairness, this practice was started (by Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito!) during the Reagan (used 76 times) administration, and continued throughout the HW Bush (146) administration and subsequently the Clinton (105) administration. But W has used this crazy business 500 TIMES! Waaaaah?!?!?!

This is nuts. This is NOT one of the things I love about America.

This is. Fish sticks ROCK!