Christmas is Number One with a Depleted Uranium Shell

The controversy over how Christmas should be recognized is still as fresh and interesting as Calcutta sidewalks, but the United States Postal Service has really taken this issue to a whole new level, Ted Nugent style.

My wife received a Christmas card from a friend today (how sweet). The USPS, a private company, used an interesting cancelation mark:

Celebrating the 230th Army Birthday.

It includes the Army logo to its right, of course.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am of the opinion that Christmas should not be closely linked to the armed forces. The sad part about this is that it is probably the same people who are complaining about Sears' (67% Republican donations) and Wal-Mart's (78% Republican donations) decisions not to greet customers with "Merry Christmas" this season who will be most in favor of putting what may well amount to recruitment advertising on people's Christmas cards.

I will be attending Christmas services at my old church in Kirkland, WA, this year. I attend that service every time I visit my family for the holidays. I also don't need a lecture about the religious roots of Christmas, especially from someone who doesn't understand the Germanic, Druidic, and pre-Christian Roman origins of the holiday's key elements. If ever there were an assimilationist holiday, Christmas is it, and perhaps that is an argument in favor of the Army stamp; however, anyone wishing to take that stand must be prepared to surrender the Christian value of the holiday in the process.

After all, if he were to be stopped by an Army recruiter in the United States in our time, WWJD? Yeah, I agree: the M4 and body armor look good, but the haircut is all wrong.

Bush, a Hypocrite? Say it ain't so!

In response to the New York Times' article about secret NSA wiretaps, Bush addressed the nation, live. Yep, he went on the air without taping, though not without a controlled room. Here's his justification: We can't go into details about intelligence matters because doing so might undermine ongoing activities against (suspected) terrorists.

Gee, why doesn't that same standard apply to other intelligence assets such as CIA agents?

It's Tough Being a Centrist in a Polar World

As one who gets called a liberal by the right and a conservative by the left, I know I am doing something right. Sadly, we now live in a world that demands we become strident in order to get any real attention. Ah well, that's why we have Intentional Fallacy.

The right has really been giving us all kinds of fodder—more than the left lately, in fact. If the right doesn't slow the hell down, the number of Republican former members of Congress barred from voting due to felony convictions may soon exceed, nationally, 50% of those Democrats whose registrations Washington state Republicans challenge in Belltown (just north of downtown Seattle). Sadly, that is more of a comment on the number of challenges made in Belltown than on the number of Republicans currently under indictment.

Still, we have managed to garner a couple of readers, though many have come because of blogs Xaos and I have elsewhere. Recently, a former schoolmate—we're talking about all the way back to elementary school—Googled my name and found my blogger ID. We're now back in touch, and he seems to be aligned nicely with my fellow writers. Check out Thor's blog here. I need all the links I can get to other blogs that might restore my moderate appearance. Wait, then I might get ignored again. Aw, shit!

Patience becomes me

Just wait little freaks. Just wait. President Asshole and his merry sycophants are obstinately attached to the war that cannot be won. The Rovian smearing of any patriot who dares speak negatively of the conflict, its maker, or the corruption of the GOP is in high gear. Anyone who has the balls to talk about what the American people really want, that is to say WITHDRAWAL, are attacked as anti-American, troop bashers.

Watch your calendars, kiddies, because when the 5 turns into a 6 and we're in election year, you'll start hearing a change of tune. By the time, election season is in full swing you can expect a detailed withdrawal proposal to be touted by George II and it will look remarkably like Murtha's plan. Nothing this man or his administration does has anything to do with anything other than a political agenda. That political agenda makes them richer and more powerful and kills the rest of us.