Five Days

Till the release of SAFE AND SOUND.

You might want to pre-order now. Lines are expected to be long. And rowdy.

Happy Birthday, America!

“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
-Thomas Jefferson

"There is a New America every morning when we wake up. It is upon us whether we will it or not."
-Adlai Stevenson

“What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise.”
-Barbara Jordan

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."
-William Jefferson Clinton

On A Happier Note...

January Magazine reviewer Anthony Rainone gives a thumbs up to SAFE AND SOUND:

Rhoades’ commanding writing will leave readers simultaneously disturbed and hugely enthralled.

Thank you, Anthony!

Bush to Rule of Law: Fuck You.

From washingtonpost.com:

President Bush today commuted the prison sentence of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, sparing him the 30-month term to which he was sentenced last month for lying to federal investigators about his role in the White House leak of a CIA officer's identity.

Hey, what has he got to lose? The 28 percent or so who still support him wouldn't care if Dubbya raped a small child, gutted it, and ate it raw on the White House lawn. And the rest of the American people already hate his guts. So why not free Scooter from the threat of jail and give the big middle finger to everyone who'd point out the gross obstruction of justice here?

Because here's the thing: If Bush pardoned Scooter, he'd lose the protection of the Fifth Amendment and he could be compelled to talk about what went on in the Dark Tower...sorry, the White House. If Scooter went to prison, there'd be the risk he could decide to talk willingly. The fine will no doubt be paid by rich Republican supporters who've been filling the coffers of Libby's defense fund. And the appeals go on, so Libby can still take the Fifth.

Scooter's being paid to keep quiet. And who's going to do anything about it? The Democrats? Please. We'll hear a few indignant squeals, then they'll move on for fear of being thought partisan.

You got punk'd, America.

National "Bring Them On" Day

Four years ago today:

There are some who feel like that if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they're talking about, if that's the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like -- that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on. We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.


Over 3,000 dead soldiers later....happy now, Mr. President?

Dubbya celebrated this anniversary by going fishing. And he managed to fuck that up, too.

Relaxing before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the president went fishing with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and daughter, Barbara.

They dropped the anchor to fish less than 100 feet from shore at Biddleford, Maine, but when they decided to leave, they couldn't, according to an Associated Press photographer who took pictures of the incident.

A fishing guide along on the trip tried unsuccessfully to pull up the heavy anchor.

Soon after, a member of the president's security detail called divers aboard a Secret Service boat that had been following behind.

The anchor was untied, and the elder Bush backed his boat, a blue-and-white craft named Fidelity III, out of the way. After a diver dove down into the chilly water, the president, nonchalantly, resumed fishing.

But he had time to cast his line just a few times. Within minutes, the diver surfaced with the anchor in hand.

How are YOU celebrating "Bring Them On" Day?

R.I.P. Jake

Farewell little friend, you will be missed.