Well, if Hastert were acting president, at least then we'd get to see if Bill Clinton really meant it when he said, "I'm afraid I might has assaulted him."

Politician Smackdown!

It's not Plei's dream of tubby white manlove, but, sort of the same ballpark.

I don't think lack of perspective is a requirement for the gig.

Oh, I'd guess there's a fair need for lack of perspective. For one thing, you have to be able to recite the same speech 100 times, without getting bitchy; for another, you have to know that people will hate your guts no matter what you do. I should think that lack of self-reflection (till afterwards) is a pretty big advantage, for most politicians.

It's not Plei's dream of tubby white manlove, but, sort of the same ballpark.

They could jello wrestle.

(Mainlines brain bleach)

And it just has to be sick and wrong tubby manlove, which knows no color.

Hastert

You misspelled "Tom Delay Puppet"

They could jello wrestle.

WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US PLEI? WHY?!

You must hate us or something.

I should think that lack of self-reflection (till afterwards) is a pretty big advantage, for most politicians.

Why does it require a lack of self reflection to deal with being hated, or to deal with being repetitive? How does it help? I mean, surely being zen about the whole thing, which is best achieved with a lot of reflection would help too.

I'm driving a 2006 Jetta rental today, and it seems peppier than the Passat rental I drove last oil change. But not as peppy as my VR6. Feels very big inside, though, and they've totally changed up the interior controls. Importantly, the cup-holders aren't in the dash anymore, but now the arm rest is too short for me to use it and still have that hand on the wheel.

Ah, life.

LUNCH is gonna be awesome.

Shrimp po'boy, fries and fruit cobbler. OMG YUM!

It's not Plei's dream of tubby white manlove, but, sort of the same ballpark.

Clinton's not so tubby these days.

I can't bring a mental picture of Hastert to mind (I keep switching to Hastur, which may or may not be an improvement).

So now I'm picturing Clinton vs. the Elder Gods. It's like the Republican Revolution all over again.

Breakfast is going to not rock, as it's going to be oatmeal and lactation support tea. (I'm training for a pump session, you see.)

I want bacon and eggs.

Why does it require a lack of self reflection to deal with being hated, or to deal with being repetitive? How does it help? I mean, surely being zen about the whole thing, which is best achieved with a lot of reflection would help too.

I don't understand the ways of zen.

For the others, someone who is reflective would be like, "He hates me. What did I do wrong?" and would open the door to doubt. Somebody who doesn't reflect would me like, "He hates me. Asshole." and never think of that guy again. The latter strategy, while indicative of a person I would like less, tends to sell better on TV.

(Personally, I'm a big fan of doubt, in any kind of leader you can name, because doubt is what keeps the finger off the red button of doom. But, a lot of people see doubt as "waffly" or lame.)

More fun:

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have refused to consider rolling back the $336 billion in new tax cuts that the richest 1 percent are slated to get over the next five years. They say we need to pay for reconstruction not by asking the wealthiest to sacrifice just a little bit, but by massive cuts to spending. And now we see what that means: The Navy Times today reports that those cuts "include trimming military quality-of-life programs, including health care." This, while troops are in battle.

The Republicans have put their cutting efforts in military terms, calling it "Operation Offset" - a further insult to the men and women in uniform they are now trying to screw over. The specifics are ugly. They are, for instance, asking troops to "accept reduced health care benefits for their families." Additionally, "the stateside system of elementary and secondary schools for military family members could be closed." In the past, this idea "has faced strong opposition from parents of children attending the schools because public schools [in and around bases] are seen as offering lower-quality education."

Support the troops! Unless it costs money. In fact, we're gonna take some of that money away.

[link]

And ION, the NeoCons have used control of Iraq's oil reserves as one of their justifications for invasion. They also said that we could easily double Iraq's oil production, and that this would pay for the war.

Well, guess what? The invasion made things worse. Possibly a lot worse.

As a result of such attacks, which continue to occur on a near-daily basis, Iraqi oil output has actually declined since the United States invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein. According to the DoE, total production stood at 1.9 million barrels per day in May 2005, compared to 2.6 million barrels in January 2003, just before the American invasion.

That's the "worse" part. The "a lot worse" part?

The corruption and mismanagement has had another serious consequence for Iraq's long-term oil potential: in order to maximize output now, and thereby keep the dollars rolling in, Iraqi oil executives are employing faulty pumping methods, thus risking permanent damage to underground reservoirs. For example, managers are continuing to pump oil from Iraq's main Rumailia oilfield, one of the world's largest, even though water injection systems (used to maintain underground pressure) have failed; in so doing, they are thought by experts to be causing irreversible damage to the field. "The problem is that [underground] pressure problems could lead to a permanent decline in production," observed one European buyer of Iraqi oil quoted in the Financial Times last June. Even if U.S. companies later were to gain access to Iraqi fields, therefore, they might find yields to be disappointing.

[link]