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If only Blaze were still alive 
If Blaze Foley were still alive he'd have something to say about George Bush.
Here's what he had to say about Ronald Reagan:
Oval Room
By Blaze Foley
(Ode to Ronnie Ray-gun)
In his oval room, in his rockin' chair
He's the president, but I don't care
He's a business man, he got business ties
He got dollar signs in both his eyes
Got a big airplane, take him everywhere
Got his limousine, when he get there
Everywhere he goes, make the people mad
Makes the poor man beg, and the rich man glad
He's the president, but I don't care
Ooh, Ooooooh, Ooh
At the factory, never been so slow
Got a big fourth down, ninety nine to go
And down on the farm, nothing growing there
But the debts they owe and their gray hair
In the desert sand, and the jungle deep
He thinks everything is his to keep
He's a real cowboy, with his makeup on
Talks to kings and queens on the telephone
He's the president, but I don't care
Ooh, Oooooh, Ooh
He's a movie star, if you stay up late
And he'll search your car, if you don't look straight
In his Oval Room, in his rockin' chair
He's the president, but I don't care
He's the president, but I don't care
Ooh, Oooooh, Ooh
He's the president, but I don't care
Ooh, Oooooh, Ooh
Learn more about Blaze at Blaze Foley's Front Door
Steve-O's Blaze Foley Homepage
What other say about Blaze Foley
Blaze Foley by Larry Monroe
Guns can change things quickly, drastically, and tragically.
The Duct Tape Messiah died in a single blaze of rifle fire on February 1, 1989. He was 39.
My first memories of Blaze Foley date back to emmajoe's. He was decked out in duct tape and mercurochrome. He was asleep under the pool table. A game of 8-ball was in progress on the green felt above him. Every time someone made a ball and it dropped with a thud Blaze would rouse up, smack his forehead on the bottom of the table and sprawl back out. Several championships were decided over his head as he slumbered on.
The week "Pancho And Lefty," sung by Willie & Merle, hit No. 1 Townes Van Zandt, who wrote it, checked into the State Hospital on Tuesday. On Saturday he checked himself out to play his end of the month rent gig at emmajoe's. Sober and determined, but strained and weak, Townes struggled through his set that night.
During "If I Needed You" he forgot the lyrics and faltered. Blaze glided gracefully to his side and sang the words for him, then harmonized with him as Townes got back on track. After the song Blaze quietly sat back down near the stage. Townes grew stronger from that point and it almost seemed that a direct energy transfer from Blaze had occurred.
My opinion of Blaze had been vaguely negative until that night. That single gesture caused me to change my mind. I realized he had character. He had displayed courage, caring, and perfect timing. From that moment on I took him more seriously. I began to listen to his music. And I got to know him. [more
From Larry Monroe's Segway City website we also learn:
Click the graphic and go to Larry's new website He Grew Bogus
And while you're at it, listen to Larry Monroe on KUT.org. Larry hosts Blue Monday (Monday's 8:00-11:00pm Central time), one of the countries longest running blues radio programs, and several other shows during the week. Larry is one of best free-form radio hosts still on the air. He's what radio should be all about.
Righteous Indignation
Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio rocks -- watch the speech
The text of Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio's speech on the draft
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
I rise in opposition of this bill, but I would like to clarify something. We are not trying to scare kids. This President's foreign policy is what is scaring the kids of this country. And people have said today, why are people believing this? Why are people believing this big Internet hoax?
It is the same people who told us that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11; the same people who told us Saddam Hussein had something to do with weapons of mass destruction; the same people who told us we would be able to use the oil for reconstruction money; the same people who told us we would be greeted as liberators, not occupiers; the same people, the same President who told us the Taliban is gone; the same President who told us that Poland is our ally 2 days before they pull out; the same President who tells us Iraq is going just great; the same President who tells us the economy is going just great; the same people who told us the tax cuts were going to create millions of jobs; the same people who told us that the Medicare program only cost $400 billion when it really cost $540 billion.
So please forgive us for believing what you are saying. Please forgive the students of this country for not believing what you are saying. Not one thing, not one thing about this war that has been told to the American people or that has been told to these college students has been true. Not one thing. Bremer says we need more troops. The Pentagon says we need more troops, and this President cannot get them from the international community. There is only one option left. Let us be honest with the American people.
Educated people agree
Security Scholars Say Iraq War Most Misguided Policy Since Vietnam by Jim Lobe
The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has been the "most misguided" policy since the Vietnam War, according to an open letter signed by some 500 U.S. national-security specialists.
The letter, released Tuesday by a Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy (S3FP), said that the current situation in Iraq could have been much better had the Bush administration heeded the advice of some of its most experienced career military and foreign service officers.
But the administration's failure to do so has actually fueled "the violent opposition to the U.S. military presence," as well as the intervention of terrorists from outside Iraq.
"The results of this policy have been overwhelmingly negative for U.S. interests," according to the group which called for a "fundamental reassessment" in both the U.S. strategy in Iraq and its implementation. [more]
Full text of the letter: An Open Letter to the American People
Thier website: Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy
Everyone's crowing about the Afghan vote. Why?
Christian Parenti in Afghanistan: Saturday's Elections Were A "Farce" Amy Goodman interview Nation Magazine correspondent Christian Parenti
(...)
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe what happened this weekend?
CHRISTIAN PARENTI: Basically, the election was marked by massive fraud and intimidation, as well as lots of technical errors. The ink, as you said, was running off peoples' hands. Maybe you might hear the prayer call behind me; sorry about that. There was -- many polling places had no pens, they ran out of ballots, some polls closed and reopened, lots and lots of people had multiple voting cards, including myself. One of the parties gave me two valid voting cards that I could add my photograph to and I could have voted if I wanted to.
So then there was this protest, and a bunch of us journalists went up to the house of one of the candidates, Satar Sirat, and he held this meeting. They came out and 14 of their candidates said that they were going to boycott the election. They also said they would not take positions in Karzai's government, and as you mentioned, that's sort of falling apart. What's going on beneath the surface is the fact that in the interests of avoiding war and creating peace, there's been all sorts of back-room deals and warlords have been brought into the Karzai camp. But when you come to a place like Mazar-i-Sharif, where I've been for the last two days, you see that on the ground, life is still marked by really intense intimidation and exploitation. I spent the day out in fields as far as the eye can see of marijuana, it's the hashish season up here, not the poppy season. So the farmers are about to bring in the marijuana, the hashish. And they complain, once one gets their confidence, very openly about intimidation by local commanders who are all allied to and loyal to a guy named Mohammed Atta, who is the main rival of Rashid Dostam up here. Now Mohammed Atta is now loyal to the central government, Hamid Karzai.
So regardless of who wins the this fraudulent vote, all sides were committing fraud. And the protests by many of these people, of these other candidates, was quite disingenuous, because a lot of them are pretty corrupt, opportunistic people. The fact of the matter is that what's happening is the solidification and legitimation of a government that is going to be heavily populated by really, really brutal, cruel criminals, most of whom are part of the mujahedin, which was a force that was created by the Pakistani intelligence and the U.S. in the 1980s to fight the Soviet Union and the Afghan communists. And these are the people, once again, running Afghanistan. And the way they run Afghanistan is to exploit and steal from the common people. And you literally have, land theft is rife. I interviewed a guy today who lost two motorcycles. It was him and a friend were driving to their crop and one of the local commanders' men just took their motorcycles. They went to the governor, Mohammed Atta, who has just been appointed governor by Karzai, and Mohammed Atta essentially told him to go away.
In the same area someone talked about how a woman, a young girl, had several weeks ago been taken by one of the these commanders and raped and beaten for several days, and then released, and she fled the country. So underneath the machinations about the election, that's what life in Afghanistan is like. And the U.S. is cooperating with these people, the mujahedin leaders, who have been reincarnated as the, quote-unquote, "Northern Alliance," but they're really just a bunch of feudal thugs who is use Kalashnikovs and R.P.G.'s instead of swords and horses. [more]
Ex-Bush supporter
Former Bush adviser promotes Kerry by Alex Muller
Foreign policy was the topic when retired four-star U.S. Air Force Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak spoke in Chambers Building last night.
McPeak originally supported George W. Bush in the 2000 election but has since registered as an Independent and is supporting the Kerry/Edwards ticket. He said he is upset with Bush's foreign policy and does not feel the answers lie in a war with Iraq.
"I had great admiration for the Bush parents, so it was natural for me to drift to the Bush side in the 2000 election," McPeak said. "I have regretted it from day one."
McPeak was a military advisor to the Secretary of Defense and President George H.W. Bush as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Now he calls himself a "recovering Republican."
"Let's just say that I'm having dinner with some more pleasant and interesting people now," McPeak said. He said he does not feel Bush accurately foresaw the outcome and consequences of a war with Iraq. "A lot of people were smart enough to see that this [war] was going to be a mess," McPeak said. "President Bush was not one of them." [more]
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