Congratulations To The Lion! Yaaaayyyy! August 31, 2008

With the Palin Butt post The Lion reached the magic goal of 500 posts, all top quality, brilliant writing, profound thinking, of course.

Please send donations to The Lion Coffee Fund, so that The Lion can help downtrodden coffee farmers in miserable, pathetic  third world countries  by buying more coffee.

Or just send pretty women to The Lion Pretty Woman Collection. After careful review of all the women he receives, The Lion will choose one, maybe two, to have coffee with at the neighborhood Starbucks. Dutch treat, of course.

Technorati Tags: Grumpy Lion, Congratulations

McCain Likes Palin’s Butt August 31, 2008

Check out Johnny BB Brain checking out Sarah Palin’s butt while he twiddles his wedding ring. Good laugh. True character study.

Technorati Tags: McCain, Palin, Ass

Gustav Makes The Rethuglicans Look Bad No Matter What They Do August 31, 2008

Trying to make themselves look concerned, the Republicans are shredding their convention plans 1,500 miles from the storm.

Caught between a rock and hard place. Hoist on their own petard, courtesy of George W. Bush and the Incompetents. Can’t be seen to be enjoying themselves at a convention while New Orleans once again drowns while Republicans watch and eat cake.

But by busting their convention they look like what they are, political opportunists salivating for photo ops with victims of the storm.

McCain’s going to go to the disaster zone? Why? He, his staff, Palin, her staff, and the Secret Service army traveling with them will contribute nothing but clutter to the relief effort, will do nothing but impede relief efforts, all for the sole purpose of making McCain/Palin look good to somebody, all for the sake of some photo ops, just like Bush did during the Katrina mess.

And of course McCain will rush to say that he went to the disaster zone to care for the poor victims while Obama was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe Obama knows he’d just be in the way with his staff and Secret Service army. Instead he’s setting up to have his millions of supporters contribute to the relief effort.

And of course if Obama did go to the area, McCain would be rushing to his news pals to criticize Obama for getting in the way of the relief workers.

Johnny Bomb Bomb is a sick puppy. Maybe not quite as sick as the fundogelical bimbo Palin he’s carting around with him, but sick.

In the meantime Bush is going to Texas to ‘monitor’ the situation.

Yeah. Right. He’s going to sit on his ass while his staff sets up photo ops of him looking concerned. And just like McCain, Bush will haul his staff and Secret Service minions down there to get in the way. There’s not a damn thing he can contribute in Texas or Louisiana (or anywhere in the world for that matter). There’s nothing he can do there that he can’t do from DC.

Sorry for your trouble, New Orleans, but you’re being used again by Republicans to pad their resumes.

Technorati Tags: McCain, Bush, Palin, Gustav, Hurricane, New Orleans, Katrina, Politics, Hypocrisy, Republicans, Obama

Police Stage Massive SWAT Raids In Minnesota Against Peaceful Protestors Before They Protest… Who’s Giving The Orders For The Raids? August 31, 2008

Look at this over at Salon.

Somebody in the Republican Party, either in the RNC or the White House or one of it’s slave bureaucracies, has to be behind these raids.

These actions are what Republicans look like. These actions are what Republicans do now, and will do far more of if they win in November.

The Republicans behave like jackbooted thugs, and they get their jackboots from the White House. These people are the new Nazis. Political leaders running operations like this are what a nation’s people get when they stop thinking for themselves, when they listen to and agree with blatant propagandists, when they surrender their rights to liberty and freedom, when they choose to flush democracy down the drain.

The Minnesota police raids are a Sieg Heil moment.

Pawlenty, Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin, Chertoff, Mukasey. They’re all cut from the same swastika.

Technorati Tags: Minnesota Police Raids, Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin, Chertoff, Mukasey, Nazis, Republicans, Pawlenty, Politics, Salon, SWAT

Suppose McCain Wins In November… August 30, 2008

Then what do you do?

Sarah Palin, Good Choice For McCain, Bad Choice For America August 29, 2008

Johnny Bomb-Bomb McCain announced today that he has chosen a mystery woman to be his Vice-President.

All the pundits are wagging their empty tongues trying to figure out why he chose her.

The obvious reasons: she’s a conservative, she’s a woman, she’s pretty, she’s anti-abortion, she’s pro-drilling, yada yada yada.

She can also lay claim to some executive experience, which the Cainanites make a big deal of in their criticism of Obama. They’ll continue to do that, of course, conveniently ignoring all the CEOs, including the Enron crowd enabled by Phil Gramm, who with all their executive experience run companies into the ground and walk away with big pay packages. The experience thing is pretty much a dead issue, no matter how hard Johnny BB flogs it.

But what the pundits appear to be missing is the real reason McBush chose Palin.

Emotional resonance.

The Republicans are good at that.

And what will the voters look at? She’s a woman. She’s a wife. She’s the mother of five, including her latest, born with Down’s Syndrome (everyone go ‘Awwwww!’ – which is the point). She’s youngish. She’s a looker. She’s worked her way up from being a television sportscaster to being governor of Alaska.

Her political qualifications are less important than the emotional resonance. That she has no foreign policy experience matters not a bit (until she comes up to the veep debate with Biden). That she is under investigation in a state rapidly becoming famous for the corruption of its politicians, including one Senator and its sole Representative, is of little consequence to the voters who respond emotionally to her story.

She apparently doesn’t really give a damn about the environment, being perfectly willing to kill off the polar bears so the oil companies her husband works for can pump more fossil fuel into the atmosphere. She may even be willing to go out and shoot a few herself, since she’s a lifelong member of the NRA, leading The Lion to assume that she’ll be happy to see that everyone in America has a right to an assault rifle, which is far more important to Republicans than healthcare for people who get shot or just get sick. She’s likely happy as a pig in crap that the Arctic ice cap will soon be gone, thus allowing her state to become a center of more drilling for gas and oil.

But by golly she’s got those five kids to parade around and all that hair piled up on her head and that pretty face, all to contrast with the old pre-Alzheimers nutcase who picked her to run around the country with him. The voters will just eat that up.

And so will the mainstream media who are so far out of touch with the reality of John McCain that they give him a free pass on virtually every one of his flaws and failures and lies and deceptions. Apparently, since he was jailed by the Vietnamese for five years for killing thousands of Vietnamese people, the people of the United States owe him a Presidency. And by golly if he has to drag around for a couple of months a woman who has virtually no qualifications to be president, then that’s what he’s gonna do. Whatever it takes.

So now the Republicans have presented the country with two people manifestly unqualified to deal with the world as it is. After eight years of Republican leadership by a whole bunch of political hacks and ideologues and bureaucrats, all manifestly unqualified to deal with the real world, McCain and Palin are the best they can do?

If the voters fall for this latest version of Republicrap, then we can pretty much kiss goodbye the democratic republic of the United States. But that’s what Sarah Palin is doing on McCain’s arm – she’s there to help him deliver the death blow.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin, McCain, Republicans, Elections, Politics

Why Obama Is Going To Have A Tough Time Winning The Election August 27, 2008

Never mind all the fooforaw about focus groups and polls and Luntzian and Lakoffian language.

No, here’s the reason the Democrats will have a tough time this year:

More than two-thirds of Americans don’t know that DNA is the key to heredity.

Ninety percent of Americans don’t understand radiation and what it can do to flesh and blood.

Twenty percent of Americans firmly believe the sun revolves around the Earth.

And so on.*

That kind of citizenry is not going to listen to intelligent and rational discussions of the issues. They aren’t able to gain even a slight understanding of complex issues.

They do understand things like ‘Bomb bomb bomb Iran because Iran is evil’. They do understand ‘Abortion is murder’. They do understand ‘Fight them over there so they won’t come over here and marry your daughter’.

In other words they are capable of understanding only the dumbed down talking points the Republicans put out. And the Republicans understand that their favored citizenry is really pretty stupid, so that’s how they talk to them. That’s why they know they can say, in their cute little codes and through their psycho surrogates, that Barack Obama is a nigger and a raghead and if you elect him the rest of the niggers and hadjis will rape your daughters and take over the country and take away your jobs. The Republicans know their people understand that message.

They should know it. They’ve been pushing versions of it ever since Dickie Nixon started it with his so-called Southern strategy. That’s the kind of citizenry the Republicans like. That’s what they want the whole country to look like. Stupid, ignorant, redneck. People who understand nothing but money, hatred, and bigotry, and who can’t think their way out of a wet paper bag, because if they could they might start shooting Republicans in the street with the assault weapons the Republicans are only to happy to hand to them, no questions asked.

That’s McCain’s kind of people. They’re the people who will gladly hand the country over to McBush for eight more years of disaster and catastrophe. They’re the people who will stick out their right arm to salute the flag while holding their Bibles under their left arm and who will remain blissfully unaware that the Republicans are taking their beloved country right down the toilet.

Or maybe it’s just that the Republicans have been crapping on them for so long that they think living in the toilet is normal.

Yup, for these people the sun rises and sets on McBush while it revolves around the earth.

Try to explain the nuances of health care policy or the complexities of foreign policy to these bozos, Senator Obama.

Aw, hell, don’t even think about bothering. They’re going to vote for McBush no matter what. After all, he’s white and he’s simple-minded. You, you’re barely one step removed from the jungle, according to them. And, well, let’s face it, you just sound smart and christ knows we can’t have an intelligent man running the country.

Technorati Tags: McCain, Bush, Obama, Politics, Nixon, Education, McBush, Elections, Science, Ignorance, Racism

* Figures from The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby

Johnny Bomb-Bomb Sending Wife Cindy To Georgia-Russia Conflict August 25, 2008

MSNBC a short time ago reported that Senator Bomb Bomb McCain, in response to Senator Obama sending Senator Biden to the country of Georgia recently, is sending his wife, Cindy, there.

The Lion doesn’t know if this is of a piece with Johnny’s offer of her to take part in a biker beauty contest in South Dakota recently, a contest that features simulated sex among other things. Perhaps she’s going to simulate diplomacy with President Saakashvili?

Of course sending his wife to the war zone to talk with the Georgian president demonstrates McCain’s profound, knowledgeable, and intelligent experience dealing with international crises.

He sends his wife, whom he once called a cunt in public and for whose money he dumped his first wife, to a critical conflict zone. His wife, Cindy, the omnipresent blonde at his side. A woman with no diplomatic or foreign policy experience, no qualifications to deal with the leader of Georgia or any other country in matters of war or any matter of serious import and with absolutely no authority to speak for the United States.

Senator Obama sent Senator Biden, an acknowledged expert in foreign policy to have a quiet discussion with President Saakashvili.

So just who is the inexperienced candidate who’s not ready to lead?

Hint: His nickname is Johnny Bomb Bomb McCain.

Technorati Tags: Cindy McCain, John McCain, Georgia, Sakashvilli, Obama, Biden, Politics, Foreign Policy

Joseph Conrad Wins A Clawdie, With Gold Fig Leaf Cluster August 25, 2008

No, not that Joseph Conrad. This Joseph Conrad is from Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, and here’s his letter from today’s Globe:

Hippocratic oafs at HHS

THE HEALTH and Human Services position advanced by Secretary Mike Leavitt is but another in the seven-year Bush administration continuum of monumental stupidity (“HHS: Doctors can refuse abortions,” Page A2, Aug. 22). Granting healthcare professions the option to cherry pick which procedures they perform is insane. Shall it be fair game for healthcare providers to deny care to the product of a consanguineous relationship based on a “religious” belief in genetic purity?

Speaking on behalf of the sane measure of civilization, denial of medical care for any reason other than medical necessity should result in loss of license, and if injury is a byproduct of denial, fine and or prison. Any person entering a medical facility should have complete confidence that care will be based on medical reasons, not denied by some bozo standing behind a cardboard mockup of Bush or one of his minions.

JOSEPH CONRAD
Mont Vernon, N.H.

The last sentence alone would win a Clawdie for its plain speaking of truth to power, but in context it earns the Gold Fig Leaf Cluster for ripping the fig leaf off another sick Republican policy driven by ideology instead of reality.

Congratulations, Joseph! Enjoy your Clawdie award, but don’t spend it all in one place.

Technorati Tags: Clawdie, HHS, Abortion, Mike Leavitt, Globe, Grumpy Lion, Bush, Republicans, Politics, Joseph Conrad

Eight Years Of Republican Stupidity And Arrogance Come Home To Roost In Biden August 24, 2008

When Barack Obama picked Joe Biden to be his vice president, the Republicans did the predictable thing and committed a vicious act of jujitsu on themselves.

Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager, said:

Senator Obama’s choice in a running mate once again brings up his questionable judgment when faced with making major decisions. Senator Biden has long been a leading critic of Senator Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience.

Indiana GOP chairman Murray Clark said:

Obama has spent millions on his change message in Indiana. Biden has held on to a seat in the Senate since 1972. How does that represent change?

And the Executive Director of the Massachusetts GOP, Rob Willington, said:

It would be hard to find a harsher critic of Senator Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. This pick only highlights what the people of Massachusetts are beginning to realize: Barack Obama is not ready to be President.

And just what did Senator Obama do?

He chose to work with him a man who criticized Obama’s lack of experience at various points in the primary campaigns.

And who is Joe Biden?

An experienced Senator who is an acknowledged expert in foreign relations and who has a strong, if not unblemished, record in reform and in speaking truth to power.

Obama picked a guy who is tough and who is tough on Obama, and who provides Obama with expertise in precisely the areas Obama is criticized for weakness.

Contrast that to the Republican leadership of George W. Bush, Dick ‘Darth’ Cheney, and John Bomb-Bomb McCain.

George Bush came to office almost completely ignorant of the world outside Texas. He demonstrated no tolerance for criticism, firing or demoting or minimizing anyone who dared criticize him or his plans. When he held public meetings with the citizenry, the citizens were vetted Republicans who wouldn’t think of criticizing him in one of those scripted events. And heaven forbid he should ever see a protester or demonstrator carrying an anti-Bush message – those people were arrested or hustled off to s0-called free speech areas miles from where Bush was or would be.

The country’s had eight years of this thin-skinned, arrogant Texas ignoramus. Are we better off?

We know his puppetmaster, Cheney, is thin-skinned. He works in the dark, not only intellectually, but metaphorically. He’s afraid of the light of intelligence, in more than one sense, and brooks no dissent. He cares nothing for American democracy, for civil rights, for liberty, for freedom, for the law, for the Constitution. He has betrayed and trampled on all of those things, and his only response to criticism is ‘So?’

After eight years of this man’s criminal behavior and paranoid secrecy, are we better off?

And what can one say about Johnny the Bomber?

Is a man who gleefully sings ‘Bomb bomb bomb Iran’ during a prolonged, if manufactured, crisis with that country ready to be President?

Is a man who can no more stand criticism than his hero, George W. Bush, ready to be President? A man who listens only to his own inner anger, is he ready to be President?

He can’t remember how many homes he owns, but the Republicans assure us he can keep track of the complexities of government. Is his foreign policy to be summed up thus: “No, I don’t know how many bombs we have, but we’re going to use them all, God bless us.”

Is a man whose own campaign staff won’t let him speak off-the-cuff anymore because when he does he demonstrates what a weak-minded bumbler he is, is he ready to be President?

Is a man who shot his mouth off about and demonstrated his ignorance of the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia, who interfered in that event by his pronouncements, ready to be President?

John McBush is not ready to lead. He’s pretty much ready for the old folks senility ward.

Does anyone with a lick of common sense, with the slightest ability to think critically and to see objectively through the media smokescreen around McCain think that the country will be better off after eight years of this pathetic little man and the hordes of greedy, power-hungry traitors who surround him?

The Republican leadership that will spend the next little while criticizing Senator Obama’s choice of Biden seem to lack the intelligence and awareness that they have simply exposed their own party’s weakness and the pathetic weakness of their candidate.

The Lion has spoken against Obama for his move to the right and his abandonment of truly progressive policies. But The Lion does applaud the choice of Biden, and hopes that the Democrats will now begin to run the sort of in-your-face straight talk campaign they need to bury McCain and the Republicans in their own mud and dirt in November.

Technorati Tags: Biden, Obama, McCain, Bush, Republicans, Democrats, Politics, Elections