The Power of the Poon

Black Poon Friday has come and gone. As Poon Hunters everywhere try to pick up the pieces, answers have been rolling in.

Poon Regulators have successfully mounted up in the important Saban poon investigation.

SEC Poon was shut down due to a request by Bama coach Saban or more than likely, his legal reps. A picture of his 15 year old niece was posted on the site. You can access the google cache on this link and the infamous picture was under the "Please Help!" Post from Monday, September 10.

The original post had a picture of 2 girl Bama fans, covered in red/white paint with coconut bras. The picture on the cache link now has Saban's niece cropped out and the title was changed to "We found her," singular, instead of the previous plural language.

The conclusion is that the creators of SEC Poon attempted to keep the site alive by deleting her picture, before the plug was eventually pulled on ALL of the Poon. Enter expletive against Saban's attorneys here______!!

I have recovered the picture but fear posting it or commenting on the niece's appearance. If God Saban has time to crush a popular harmless Poon blog, good ole little Mac G's World stands little defense to his team of high priced lawyers.

I am in discussions with some fellow poon lovers to keep the SEC Poon site alive. Please send any poon pix to macgsworld@gmail.com. Poon pix are welcome from all conferences, but SEC Pooners will still take top billing until proven otherwise.

The wounds of Black Poon Friday can only be healed by focusing on tailgating, college football and poon hunting. It's Gameday, BITCHES!

The message is clear: Do Not Underestimate the Power of the Poon.

UPDATE: The Poon of the SEC has been reborn. Check out the newbie site.
UPDATE II: It is a POON Outbreak!

Black Poon Friday

The Poon of the SEC
Big Ten Poon


Mac Gs World

Black Poon Friday

The never ending Iraq war has had me in the dumps lately and now this almost made me throw up my hot java on a glorious Friday morning.

SECP sincerely apologizes to Coach Saban & his niece.

My favorite site and absolute genius idea known as SEC Poon has been completely shut down! All posts and pictures have been deleted. NOTHING is left but a picture of Bama Head Coach Nick Saban's pompous mug with the above message.

We are left assuming that SEC Poon had displayed a picture of Saban's niece, resulting in its termination.

SHOCK, Disbelief, Outrage!

I was just starting to warm up to the South too and was finding it in my heart to move past the Civil War. Now this? Several of my friends have already contacted me and are pissed. SEC Poon fans are similarly traumatized by today's tragic news. Commenters' scorn have focused on Saban. Here is my favorite.

wtf? The guy lies about everything he does and then he ruins SECPOON!!!!!
I Hate Satan...I mean OSaben Bin Lien..whatever his name is.

I could not agree more with those sentiments. Poon Hunters need to MOUNT UP to find some answers. I plan on buying a 40oz at lunch and pouring some out for SEC Poon.

September 14th, 2007: The Day the Poon Died. RIP

UPDATE: SEC Poon Lives on in Google Cache Form!I hope I do not get sued for this (Mac G is broke!) but Poon hunters everywhere deserve one last taste of this delicious site. We all have been through too much on this horrible day: Black Poon Friday.

UPDATE II: The Power of the Poon and answers to the Saban Poon investigation.

UPDATE III: The Poon of the SEC has been reborn. Check out the newbie site.

UPDATE IV: It is a POON Outbreak!












SEC POON MEETS ACC POON

Mac Gs World

Planet BUSH and the Daily Reality in the County that Used to be Known as Iraq

PLANET BUSH!
My man Froomkin summarizes the reality outside of Bush's small world, you know, real life.

In the alternate universe that President Bush occupies, he gave a smashing speech last night.

Over there, the people of Iraq need our help to save them from the al Qaeda terrorists who intend to overthrow their brave and united government on the way to attacking America. It's a battle of good versus evil. We have 36 countries fighting alongside us. And the fight is going very well indeed. Ordinary life is returning to Baghdad.

A few more things about Bush's universe: There, the president can make things true simply by solemnly pronouncing them from the Oval Office. He can reach out to his critics just by saying he is doing so. And people believe him.

But over here in the real world, things are different.

Iraq is mostly ruled by armed gangs, not a central government. American troops are dying in the crossfire as the country continues to violently disintegrate along ethnic and sectarian lines. We're in it pretty much alone. There's no end in sight. And the real al Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan.

President Bush is trying and failing to rally support for a war that the majority of Americans have concluded is not worth fighting. He's not going to change anyone's mind because he's too stubborn to change his own. And in any case, his credibility is shot to hell.

PLANET BUSH


Please Check out this video and this is the type of reporting that we do not hear from our US media at all. It shows how messed up our policy is and we have no long term solutions for the mess at all.


Juan Cole had posted this great video.

Hold....Hold....Hold.... NOW!!! Petraeus! Petraeus!

You Call that Center?

The President tonight plans on telling the country that the his "Surge" 30,000 troops will be coming home next year but will still leave the same number of troops as before he announced the surge last January.

I can not comprehend this shit anymore. I just want to drop F bombs all over the place. This action is WAY out of touch with what the public wants.

Kids keep dying, Iraqi refugees are fleeing(2mil and rising), Hundreds of separate highly armed Militias control their own individual neighborhoods and could care less what is going on in some inconsequential "Green Zone."The propped up US Iraqi Govt has absolutely no control over them.

Osama is still alive and we keep going further into debt as a nation.

People against the war are continually smeared as unpatriotic, defeatists but pro war supporters are labeled as strong Americans who fight for freedom and want victory.

Against the War= Pussies, Losers, Un American
For the War= Tough, Winners, True Patriots

Being against this war is a pretty main stream idea and no matter how hard the WH spins this "Surge," all it really is more death and destruction for Iraqis/US soldiers. Losing more US life sure does not seem to bother House Minority Leader John Boehner. He was on CNN saying more US troop deaths are a small price to him. Of course, they are not HIS kids or HIS family members. Check out the video here.

Our political debate has sunk to new lows. We can not even admit our mistakes and try to move forward. The policy is a complete failure and has been since the day we disbanded the Iraqi Army. Do not ask Bush about the decision to create large numbers of unemployed, highly military trained insurgents with arms. He can not recall who made the decision. SHOCKER!

"The policy had been to keep the [Iraqi] army intact; didn't happen," Bush told Draper. Asked how he had reacted to Bremer's reversal, Bush replied, "Yeah, I can't remember. I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?' "

The Pro War cheerleaders keep arguing things are not mistakes and that they need more time to prove everyone wrong. Where is the leadership in this country to finally say hey, after 4 1/2 years, 600 bill, 30,000 casulaties that we have no clue to what we are doing. Therefore, it is time to cut our losses and get international help out of this situation.

F BOMB times FBOMBS!

No one wants to abandon what our shitty leaders did to these poor people in the middle east because of our imperliastic hatred of their former dictator. We have to find real solutions for them and us. Political ones and not military.

The people in charge are so vested in to "winning" that they will not face reality.

FBOMBS!

My Man Froomkin sums up our political leaders ignoring the demands of the people up quite well in his column today.

You Call That the Center?
What's a middle-road approach to Iraq?

The White House would like you to believe the middle road is what President Bush will announce tonight from the Oval Office: The possible return to approximately pre-surge troop levels by sometime next summer.

A growing bipartisan movement on Capitol Hill would like you to believe the middle road is Congress agreeing on some modest, incremental, and in some cases non-binding limits on the president's policy.

But what's middle-road for the American public? A sizeable majority wants Bush to bring most of the 160,000 troops home from Iraq in about the same time frame that he is proposing to withdraw less than 30,000. According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, for instance, 55 percent of Americans support "legislation that would set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq by next spring."

On the antiwar extreme, some Americans want all U.S. troops of out Iraq right now; on the prowar extreme, some want those troops to stay indefinitely. But the consensus view is that Americans want out -- starting now, ending soon.

How, then, has the political debate in Washington become so skewed? Why is it so out of step with the will of the people?

One answer, of course, is that most Republican members of Congress are sticking with Bush. But a lot of the credit belongs to the White House, for a public-relations push that flooded the zone starting in early August.

The emphatic and persistent White House message about nominal military successes in Iraq, culminating with Gen. David Petraeus's congressional testimony this week, dominated the airwaves and shifted the inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom about Iraq policy -- while not, interestingly enough, diminishing the public's desire to get the hell out one bit.

Froomkin Column
US deaths are a small price to Boehner
One Sided Political Debate
Who Disbanded the Iraqi Army? We Still Do No Know

I Heart the 90s

Blind Melon burst on to the scene in the early 90s and is one of the decade's biggest underrated bands.

Similar to brilliant front men of the era(Cobain, Nowell, Sandman), Blind Mellon's lead singer Shannon Hoon died prematurely of a drug overdose.

Blind Mellon has a new tour scheduled with a new singer. I have my reservations on calling a band the same name with a new vocalist and for now I will stay with my old Blind Melon.

I have attached 3 vids from their prime and they are pretty FLY.

I heart the 90s!
WICKED,
Mac G.






Mac Gs World

Austin City Limits Music Festival

Austin is one of the cooler must visit cities on this planet. I could live there tomorrow and it gives you the feeling that you are not in the mess called Texas. My one trip to Austin was about the only positive thing I salvaged from a tumultuous relationship with this Spurs fan girl. I would elaborate in greater detail but I believe her sibling is one of Mac Gs World's number one fans so I will pass for now.

Austin City Limits Music Festival is this weekend and the lineup is SICK! The webcast will be streaming live on the AT&T Blue Room. I hope the At&T Censor Masters will allow free speech on the ACL stream unlike what they did to Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza.

Eddie Vedder said what an overwhelming majority of Americans already agree with: Bush sucks at his job and the war needs to end.
They edited his anti Bush lines from the broadcast. LAME!

Regardless, here are the bands that I would watch each day. Here is the Blue Room link and the ACL Link

Day 1, Friday 9/14 Must See Music Acts
Bela Fleck
JJ Grey and MoFro
LCD Soundsystem
M.I.A
Queens of Stone Age
Spoon
Reverend Horton Heat
The Killers

Day 2, Saturday 9/15, Must See Music Acts
Railroad Earth
Cold War Kids
Artic Monkeys
Damon Rice
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Arcade Fire

Day3, Sunday 9/16, Must See Music Acts
The National
Sound Tribe Sector Nine
Grace Porter and the Nocturnals
Robert Earl Keen
Common
Patterson Hood
Rose Hill Drive
Wilco
My Morning Jacket
Ziggy Marley
The Decemberists
Bob Freaking Dylan

I am missing tuns of bands that I have never seen before that are probably pretty good.

Enjoy the Show. Word, Mac G.

Eddie Vedder Censored by AT&T
Austin City Limits Music Festival
ACL Music Festival Streaming Live
Everyone Knows Bush Blows!

Mac Gs World

Democratic Mashup

Yahoo, Slate, and the Huffington Post recently completed their own debate with the Democratic Candidates for President. It can only be viewed online. I can not stand most of these debates on either side because they are BORING and every presidential hopeful says the same things over and over.

This new forum lets you chose which individual candidate that you want to listen to on a certain topic with Charlie Rose asking most of the questions. Every candidate has to answer a Bill Maher question, which range from legalizing Marijuana to the 10 Commandments.

Check it OUT.

Presidential Mashup
Huffington Recap of Mashup

Mac Gs World

Today in America: Prices and Debt Rising, Wages Flat, R Word Coming?

Remember our country America? The one that we all live in every day and not the country formerly referred to as Iraq that we blew up and can no longer put back together in a self sustaining fashion.

Well, we have a plethora of our own Fd up problems that everyone faces here. I could write down the long laundry but I just read a great recap of the state of things domestically here in the US by the Boomnan Tribune.

"What costs $80 buckaroos?" you ask. The answer is: The price of a barrel of crude oil, my friends. And isn't that just wonderful news for all the little people, like you and me?

The price of oil last night broke through the $80 a barrel level for the first time on fears of winter supply shortages. [...]

Analysts said the 500,000 barrels per day increase in quotas from November announced by Opec this week had not been enough to outweigh concerns that a fresh wave of hurricanes could hit American oil installations.

Crude oil stockpiles in the United States fell 7.1 million barrels last week to their lowest in eight months, according to the Energy Information Administration. Analysts had expected a fall of 2.4 million barrels.

Let's see. Health care costs continue to rise at a rate nearly 4 times greater than wages have risen since 2000. Milk prices are also way up, costing more per gallon than gasoline. Income inequality between the rich and everyone else is the highest it's been since the Depression era.

We are in a severe credit crunch thanks in large part to Republican led de-regulation of financial institutions. And after one of the worst economic recoveries in terms of generating jobs and wage growth in US history, economists are finally starting to use the R word to describe the meltdown of the US economy, led by the free fall in the housing market and the mortgage crisis.

I guess we need to cut more of Paris Hilton's and Bill Gates' taxes, eh? Obviously we haven't done enough in that regard. Not to worry though. I'm sure President Bush will find a way to blame all this on the Clintons.

I would also add that the average American owes 9 grand in credit card and the price of a college education continues to sky rocket higher.

The recent student loan scandal unmasked the scam of university officials and their preferred lenders being far more interested in maximizing their own profit margins to the point of gouging families then honestly assisting young people with their higher educational needs.

We should be bending over backwards to help out our youth in every way fathomable become smarter and more trained to excel in an uber competitive global economy.

Instead, we let credit card companies issue these naive and mostly unemployed young adults huge lines of credit and then saddle them with huge college loans after they graduate. Here is a good personal article about the struggles post graduates face paying back their student loans.
The Project on Student Debt has these great policy recommendations for Congress.
Here are our four top priorities for Congress:

1. Ensure that borrowers with federal loans have fair and manageable payments;
2. Rein in private student loans;
3. Restore integrity to financial aid counseling; and
4. Increase access to need-based aid.

Booman Tribune and 80 dollar Oil
College Loan Scandal
Steep Student Loan Debt
Project Student Loan

Mac Gs World

Hello Larry Summer Music Awards

Here is Hello Larry's Movie Review

Mac Gs World

Football is Paradise Part 1(Long)

The Summer was a very long one for sports fans. The headlines were dominated by dismal stories of dog fighting, NFL player suspensions and a crooked NBA ref scandal. Baseball's climatic moment, Barry Bonds breaking Henry Aaron's Home Run record, was marred by the media's constant pounding of the steroid storyline of his accomplishment.

Even Arod's monster 07 season seems diminished due to the fact his own fickle Yankee fans spent the off season solely blaming him for their recent playoff futility and even openly booed him at every chance late last season. The Yanks struggled out of the gate and ESPN's typical Yankee/Sox intoxicating coverage seemed more out of place than usual for your average baseball fan.

To make matters worse, Sports fans suffered through ESPN's putrid month long "Who's Now?" segment on Sportscenter. LT or Tiger? Who Cares? Is this a sports channel or VH1? I actually have switched over to ESPN news for my sports highlight needs and they are far more reliable than Sportscenter anymore. Sad but true days for the good Ole Big show that I grew up on.

I love baseball but if your favorite team is out of contention, of course my Orioles always are, the dog days of summer can seem longer than Tommy Lee's G unit. That could be what the MTV VA fight was all about.

Preseason NFL games and the opening of college practices start to satisfy your football taste buds. Both of those, particularly the NFL preseason, reminds me of the feeling you get when you leave a gentlemans club. Sunshine, who winked at you all night, was being dishonest about you being her only special friend.

Your wallet is much lighter and this wicked case of blue balls now overcomes your body.This cheap feeling is how preseason football leaves me, highly teased but never truly satisfied.

This shallow brief arousal finally ended with this past stellar sports weekend. Second Week of College Football on Saturday and Opening Day of NFL on Saturday.

Throw in the US Open tennis Final, a Brazil/USA soccer match at Soldier Field and another Tiger domination of a final round of golf and it was like all the summer futility never took place. One of the best sports viewing weekends of the year so far.

I watched at least over 25 hours of football over the past 3 days. I have 3 TVs going, all the packages from Direct TV and a no commercials allowed rule with a quick trigger finger. People think I am nuts, YES, sir, may I have another!

Aside from my obvious contributions to bottle recycling and liver decay, I feel like giving back to my 8 readers by recapping my thoughts here on Mac Gs World every week about the games I viewed.

I will try my combination of couch potato humor, drunken kill the coach crazy fandom and buck fifty worth analyst skills. Feel Free to rip on me all you want, I encourage it.

Week 2 of College football contained some of the same story angles of Week 1.

• Michigan and Notre Dame both still suck. OU/LSU looked fast, hungry and dominant.
• Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr post game quotes sounded like a defeated man. 4 games ago, Carr's undefeated team was playing Ohio State for a spot in the BCS title game and now he is dead man walking in Ann Arbor with his coaching career pretty much over. Crazy how quickly things can change. "Boy that Escalated quickly!"
  
• My Hawkeyes Crushed the Cuse 35-0 and my home state Huskers escaped Wake Forrest with a W. I would go in to further detail but I will save those comments for Hawkeye/Husker blogs and message boards.
  
• I love watching West Virginia play and their lethal spread offense. More teams should copycat their style and raid Rich Rodriguez's coaching staff. Slaton/White is the best 1/2 running punch in America and the new true frosh RB is legit. The question mark is whether they are able to stop anyone on defense.
  
• Washington Huskies are 2-0. Hey, Golden Domer fans, Ty Willingham might not be such a bad coach after all. Fat Chuck Weis is now 0-2 with starting QBs not with Brady in their name. Coincidence? Jimmy Clausen, welcome to Major D1 football and this is not small school California High School ball anymore.
  
• Does Hawaii QB Colt Brennan play real football or his own video game version? His weekly stats are SICK!
  
• The Big Ten is going VERY slow out of the gate as the Suckeyes had 3-2 lead for WAY too long over Akron.
  
• SEC appears its usual force but had a few slip ups with Auburn and UGA upset losses. I am sucker for a Southern Poon Bell. Ring a Ding, Ding!
  
• Pac 10 will be its typical overrated self. Aside from USC, name me one Pact 10 school that has won a major BCS bowl in the past 5 years? I think Cal maybe won a Holiday bowl but I could be wrong.
• The Big East could be better than the ACC.
  
• The most entertaining game I witnessed was the Fresno St/Texas A&M, triple OT thriller. Fresno has a squad this season and A&Ms defense looks VERY shaky.
  
• Miami/Florida St have still lost their edge as premier programs and both of their offenses look very pedestrian. Bobby Bowden's time is up. I am convinced that Paterno and Bowden are both destined to coach until the other one croaks.
  
• ESPN College Gameday Crew still brings their A game every week and continually prove to be one of the few things right about the 4 Letter. A blog giving Props to ESPN? STOP THE TUBES! My Boy Tree Rat provided me with his pix from Baton Rouge and Blacksburg.
  

I will write my NFL recap on a new post. I still love Poon POON, and more Poon!




Mac Gs World

Trapped in a Men's Room

Jon Stewart picked the wrong 2 weeks to take a vacation. Wide Stance Craig story was right up their comedic alley. Rob Corddroy is BACK to help them cover the story and he is better than ever. Oh, Watch out for wide stance people wearing Crocs.





Mac Gs World

Gimme No More

Unless you have been hiding under a rock or smoking one, I am sure most everyone has heard about Britney's latest abominable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

I watched it on the web yesterday and it is just AWFUL.

Her dance routine is wooden/zombie like with absolutely zero energy. I feel bad for the other dancers because they seem to carry the whole performance but they are the BACKUP dancers! At the end, she just gave up trying to lip sync. TOTAL DISASTER!

Her outfit reminds me of the gross overweight tubby women that I see in tight clothes in my hood. Hey Brit, time to hit the Ab machine and treadmill or wear something a little less, what is the word, um, Provocative? or Slutty? Cover the Jelly Roll up!

Her reps are already admitting that she sucked and are blaming her performance on Britney being rattled after hearing my girl Sarah Silverman practicing a joke about her kids. Whatever.

I try not to talk much about Britney on MGsW because I find her irrelevant in current pop culture. The only newsworthiness from this ex pop superstar is the relentless tabloid coverage of her bizarre personal life. She has became a pure circus act and even KFed seems like a great parent compared to her. Shocking.

Britney is nowhere near hot anymore and quite apparently can no longer dance. Those were the only two things she was consistently good at as her singing ability always was lackluster, compared to lovely chords of Christina Aguilera.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time but now it is totally official in pop culture lexicon. PUT A FORK IN HER! She will never ever be in the same universe as Madonna and is slowly falling into the fading Debbie Gibson/Tiffany category.

Carrie from the great South Dakota Dark blog has complied all of Britney's MTV VMA performances and you can witness her tragic demise in up close Youtube form.

I have already spent WAY too many words on this washed up fat trailer trash but this kiss still gets me hawt. 3:56 for the infamous tonguing.

UPDATE: Fan is REALLY Upset and wishes people would leave Brit alone!Sorry I can not embed this video.

Gimme More DISASTER, Bitch
Hottie Teen Superstar to Porky Washed Up No Talent Trash
Blaming Sarah Silverman for SUCKING
KFED=Father of Year
Christina Aguilera is Married to a DBAG
Silverman loves her some cheese

Mac Gs World

Erin needs Fed

Please feed this woman soon! No truth to the horrific rumors that Erin Andrews was getting her dirty badger on with Wisky head coach Bret Bielema.

Thanks to TV Tan Line for the photo.
Mac Gs World

Remembering the Dead on 9/11

I just read an unbelievable piece from the Booman Tribune's Steve D about remembering those who died on 9/11. I have copied excerpts down below.

For all the poon hunters and google horn balls who end up on my site, I am sorry for the multiple political posts but it is 9/11 and our world has been WAY FD up ever since that horrible day.

On a personal note, I lived in DC on that morning and I was still sleeping. I drove out alone to the Pentagon that evening and watched the Pentagon still burning. I believe it took almost 2 days for the smoke to stop.

It was a very surreal experience. I still to this day think what it was personally like to watch a plane go in to the Pentagon and the mental anguish all of those who were directly affected.

Oh on I side note, I wish we had Osama Bin Laden's head on a platter! The devil is probably not in some caver either! Enjoy the Read.

Today, six years later, the memory of their deaths that day is a bitter one which still haunts me. I have watched as Republicans, politicians and ordinary party members alike, have perverted the memory of those who died to justify even greater atrocities.

An illegal, preemptive war in Iraq that has killed hundreds of thousands and made millions of innocents refugees. The use torture as the official policy of our nation. The loss of habeas corpus. Warrantless surveillance of our neighbors, friends and families.

The suppression and demonization of dissent. And a host of lies swallowed whole by a news media either too gullible, too enamored with access to power or too intimidated to tell the truth.

And always, always, the evocation of the dead is made without any acknowledgment, by those whose abuse their memory, of who they were, what they were, the lives they led, the people they left behind to mourn them.

They have become a mere symbol, an icon for the right wing, a talking point to be trotted out by pundits and cynical politicians alike.

Just another prop, a slogan to place on a bumper sticker, a by now standard reference in countless speeches by our President and his supporters to validate his failed policies of death and destruction, of war without end, and of justice, not delayed, but forever denied.

The greatest change in our country since 9/11/2001 has been the failure of those in power to remember these dead as real people, whose lives were as full of joy and sorrow as our own.

Instead, our leaders and our media pundits and all the very "serious people" of Washington think tanks, who offer their ill-informed advice so freely on the op-ed pages of our newspapers and at conferences of "experts" and policy makers, have savaged their memory, turning the dead of 9/11 into the faceless "3000" who must only be employed to attack and besmirch those who question the murders and atrocities which are perpetrated in their names on a daily basis.

Our political and military leaders long ago abandoned justice for these poor souls, allowing Al Qaeda, the organization that murdered them, to regroup and thrive in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We cannot even claim that what we are doing in Iraq amounts to petty vengeance on their behalf despite General Petraeus' best efforts to equate the small, disorganized band of terrorists who call themselves Al Qaeda in Iraq (and who account for an ever smaller amount of the violence in that war wracked country) into the same people who ordered the deaths of the people I knew.

Their deaths and our memory of them have been made to serve a lie, and the political goals of men and women whose moral values are inversely proportional to the size of their ambitions.

In a sane universe, we would have hunted down and brought their killers to justice, not with indiscriminate bombing that kills thousands of innocents, but through the careful and diligent pursuit of these criminals by our armed forces and our law enforcement agencies, working in tandem with our allies in the region.

Those who we captured would not have subjected to torture, making it impossible to ever bring them before the bar of justice, but would have been tried in a court of law for their crimes as required by our laws, our constitution and our legal traditions. Sadly, insanely, none of that has been done.

The deaths I, and you mourned, six years ago, have morphed into thousands, perhaps millions more, and it was our government that ordered these additional deaths, and our military which carried out these horrific orders. Six years, and the souls of those who died on September 11th have found no rest, no peace.

Every day our memories of them are tortured, distorted and abused. Every day more misery is inflicted upon innocents, many of them children, many of those children now orphans, all in the name of the those whose lives were so cruelly taken from them six years ago.

We have not honored their memory by bringing out the best in our society in response to their deaths.

Instead we have defiled it, by resorting to the worst impulses, propagating and implicitly sanctioning the most inhumane acts, and playing on the darkest, most hateful passions in our collective nature.

9/11 didn't change everything, but everything it changed has been for the worse.

Remembering the Dead on 9/11
Osama likely chillin in Northern Pakistan Compound
Booman Tribune

Hey General, what year is this? 04 or 07?

My Man Glenn Grenwald, one of the best writers and minds on these sets of tubes is on fire lately. His Blog on Salon is a must a bookmark or rss feed. He exposes both parties, the Washington political class and the beltway media on a daily basis. Check out the above video for some truth about General Petraeus' report and more background on earlier rosy predictions from this same General.

As MGsW has expressed in my recent rant, Mr. Greenwald is equally distrustful of General Petraeus' report and the total PR spin of the hollow surge. He touches on how out of touch the Washington Establishment is on what the public truly wants.

Ever since the Surge was announced (and allowed) back in January, Conventional Beltway Media Wisdom continuously insisted that September was going to be the Dramatic Month of Reckoning, when droves of fair-minded and election-fearing Republicans finally abandoned the President and compelled an end to the war. But the opposite has occurred.

Democratic Congressional leaders -- due either to illusory fears of political repercussions and/or a desire that the war continue -- seem more supportive than ever of the ongoing occupation (or at least more unwilling than ever to stop it).

They are going to do nothing to mandate meaningful troop withdrawal. Most Republicans are hiding behind the shiny badges of Gen. Petraeus and his typically sunny claims about Progress in Iraq, and they, too, are as unified as ever that we cannot end our occupation.

The public wants the war to end and is not buying this "Pro-Surge" PR campaign.

Perhaps most remarkably, in light of the bipartisan canonization rituals to which we have been subjected, a strong majority (53-39%) believes that Gen. Petreaus' report "will try to make things look better than they really are" (rather than "honestly reflect the situation in Iraq").

Moreover, huge majorities continue to believe that the war was not worth fighting (62-36%) and that the U.S. "is not making significant progress toward restoring civil order in Iraq" (60-36%).

Only a small minority (28%) believe the Surge has made the situation in Iraq better, while vast majorities believe it has made no difference (58%) or has made the situation worse (12%). And a sizable plurality continues to believe the U.S. is losing the war (48-34%).

More significantly still, overwhelming numbers of Americans understand what the D.C. Establishment refuses to accept: namely, that even if there are marginal and isolated security improvements, there is still no point in continuing to stay in Iraq.

Large majorities want the number of U.S. troops in Iraq decreased (58-39%); believe overwhelmingly that a decrease should begin "right away," rather than by the end of the year or next year (62-33%); and favor legislation now to compel troop withdrawal by the spring (55-41%).

He explains with great clarity why the war will not end anytime soon.

The Establishment is so invested in ensuring that the war they created can be painted as a Success, and even more so in the notion that forced withdrawal is something only the Unserious People advocate, that they will never follow their premise (we are doing nothing good in Iraq) to its logical conclusion (therefore we should force Bush to withdraw whether he wants to or not).

And the entire leadership strata of our political class, including Congressional Democrats, either shares those premises and/or are far too weak and afraid to defy them. The war thus continues, and the gap between our political class and American public opinion continues to grow.

His other post focuses on the Pro War crowd and their never ending obsession with being right, even though they ALWAYS have been wrong. Only a 1/4 of Iraqis actually see any improvements but that does not stop the war mongers and policy experts from blurting out their own statistics.

When determining whether "progress" is being made, fewer things could be less relevant to our genius war scholars and our DC Establishment pundits than whether the Iraqis whom we have Liberated actually say they are more secure.

Far more trustworthy are American War Supporters and Members of Congress who take week-long, highly planned jaunts to Iraq, spend every night protected in the Green Zone, spend their days talking to American military officials, and then return and declare Iraq to be Much Safer. That is much more reliable.

But whatever else is true, the viewpoint of actual Iraqi is fairly compelling "primary source data" suggesting that Gen. Petraeus' sunny claims about Iraq are anything but "undeniable."

American Public Wants War To End Very Soon, Political Class Does Not Care
One Day Guide to War Supporters
Glenn Greenwald's Blog
Fire Dog Lake

Mac Gs World

A New Way Nowhere (Long Political Rant)

(This is a long political rant on Iraq and does not contain Poon, hot chicks, or sports.)

Down below is a Daily Show segment to get everyone in the mood for today's General Petraeus' expected and most likely "Pro Surge" Iraq testimony in front of Congress this afternoon. I can not even follow this topic anymore and my head is about to explode. Of Course, I still will and it sucks because this is the most important discussion American's will face in our lifetime: What to do about the Iraqi Clusterfuk. All of our options are bad, very bad, and awful.

Congressional Republicans have locked in to letting Bush control their parties destiny by continuing their recent foreign policy platform of nation building/kicking the can down the road and "hoping" things just work themselves out eventually. They steadfastly support this policy no matter the continual cost of our precious blood and treasure. HUGE Mistake for our country and the GOP's electoral future. More on the Republican Party on a another post. I can not let this rant spiral out of control like the national debt or my late night drunken messages on buddy's voice mails.

It is laughable that the Bush administration, who prided themselves in running the government like a business and placed boatloads of CEO's in charge of Cabinet offices and Federal Agencies, would continue to throw unlimited amount of money at a major problem(Iraq) with no concrete results. Typical successful CEOs would look at their flailing stock price, listen to their shareholders, and figure out ways to cut their losses and move on. The inability of the Administration to truly recognize or admit their failures just baffles the mind. It could be one of the main contributors to consistent near record low approval ratings for Bush.

Also, this "Whack a Mole" surge strategy is the biggest joke ever and this cartoon depicts it quite well.

20K more troops in a country the size of California is a "Surge?" I would say 500K troops would be my definition of a "surge" or its correct definition of increasing US forces in an area: "An Escalation."

Are you ready for some popular talking points in the next few days? Drumroll Please:

"6 more months, We need more time, Signs things are working, We can not lose, Al Qaeda is evil" and my personal favorite: "Progress."

I could be on an island beach sipping drinks with umbrellas if I had a dollar for every time progress has been mentioned by the media, White House or GOP officials over the past 4 and 1/2 years. They can barely answer a question on Iraq without talking about a Friedman Unit.

Repeating the word, "Progress" is some gag reflex for pro war politicians. It should be illegal to play any political drinking game where "progress" is a key word. Everyone would black out quickly.

I actually feel like blacking out when I read about US Soldier's Arlington Cemetery funerals in the Wpost. This is the reality of WAR, broken families and shattered lives. Here are some faces and names of our fallen US Soldiers.

Please REPEAT after me:

There is NO military solution in Iraq and we will NEVER EVER "WIN" an occupation. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, Al Qaeda was never in Iraq before we invaded and destroyed the Iraqi government infrastructure and we are in the middle of a century old Sunni/Shiite civil war. REPEAT.

There is no military solution in Iraq and we will NEVER EVER "WIN" an occupation.

The War will continue because the Democrats have no spine or GOP votes to over ride any presidential veto on continuing the Iraqi war funding albatross. It burns my progressive bones to say this but Democrats would rather have the Iraqi War as an issue for the 08 election cycle. They do not want to take a true stance on this issue like Shut the FN government down until Bush caves! Even though it is also the right thing to do for our country, the Democrats do not want to risk their political capital/advantage and open themselves up to the likely "Dems hate the troops" attacks by the GOP. Pathetic.

Welcome to Washington bubble of partisan politics and the two parties never ending tug of war for power. I sometimes believe that I am watching a debate class gone wrong, where no one really cares about the position they are defending but just are arguing to argue. Once again, another blog post for another time.

Back to the Clusterfuk. Even though the an overwhelming majority of the public wants the war to end, the only way Congress makes it happen is if the Republican Caucus splits and starts to vote with the Democratic majority on gradual troop redeployments. I highly, highly doubt this will occur and this is my chilly, pound my head into the wall conclusion:

There are no true plans or momentum to end our occupation in Iraq by either party, PERIOD.

Oh, We are probably going to bomb Iran at some point soon too. Maybe the public will get really pissed when we bomb another country and they will get their fat asses off of their lazy boys. Actually, most Americans are too busy watching a chubby, washed up pop star dance like a mannequin and forget she was lip syncing on national TV to care about our broken foreign policy. Sometimes I do not blame them.

The Media continues to let the president set the terms of the debate too.
Most pundits would have never predicted that the bumbling Governor from Texas dwindling power relevance as president would be his lone access to the Bully Pulpit.

"Dang Gum, The Good Ole Decider is still deciding."

Huffington points the lackluster job of the media and its lazy reporting about Iraq,"The time has come for the media to stop acting as if there are two sides to the story of what's happening in Iraq when there is only one."

Eric Boehlert has an excellent column about the press taking the summer off on reporting about Iraq.

From the cost and length of the war(50 billion&3 months) to the reasons for it (UN/WMDs/Iraqi Democracy/War on Terror/Al Queda), the American people have continually been misled and straight up lied to about Iraq. Every single one of theses "experts" predictions on Iraq has turned out wrong. Why should any American keep believing in the administration or their pro war cheerleaders on this topic?

They long ago lost the benefit of the doubt and it is why I believe this country's next executive leader in 2009 needs to be someone Americans can believe in. This country needs a JFK, a Reagan or a Clinton. Someone to renew their faith in our country/government and reclaim the respect of the world. Americans are good, honest, caring people and I am fed up that a few shitty leaders has made us all look like selfish, greedy, imperialistic pigs. I am too busy worrying about the lives of our US Soldiers to start commenting on the 08 presidential Horse race.

The worst part is that I can not even believe a word these government officials say about Iraq, Iran, or North Korea. They can be telling some truths about these countries but their track record gives them ZERO credibility.

Matthew Dowd, Bush's main campaign strategist in his 00, 04 election victories, no longer believes in anything Bush says about Iraq.

My biggest problem with the policy discussion in Washington right now is that both parties and the media should be talking about answers to the obvious problem in the Mid East. We should be discussing the pros and cons of our bad options out of this hornets nest, analyzing what are the best ways to protect our interests and prevent more US deaths.

Instead, the administration keeps spewing talk of us "winning," and keeping faith in their repetitive hollow promises. I do not have all of the answers nor does anyone for that matter but until the public and media demand a true debate from our political leaders, we will continue to deny the reality of our problem in Iraq. Things only have the chance to get worse and not better.

Now Enjoy this video and I am sorry if you made it to the bottom of my rant. Happy Munday.




The Real Heros in Life, Our Fallen Soliders
Cartoon by Stuart Carlson
Whack A Mole
Dowd NOW disagrees with Bush, thanks Pal
Bush Sets Debate
Dems Folding on Iraq
Our Pointless Pilate Press
Press Blackout Summer
9 US Soliders Died in Iraq

Mac Gs World

Bluegrass Poon

My Sports Weekend Recap is coming shortly but I thought this picture could help everyone get over their Munday morning headaches/blues. My new favorite Site, SEC Poon, keeps delivering better than Santa Claus and Jon Stewart combined with this new photo of the UK Thong Sisters. Tickle Me Blue. No word yet if Jay Glazer has changed his mind on the Bluegrass state.

SEC POON
Jay Glazer is an Ahole but right on about stupidity of dry counties

Mac Gs World