"Fucking brilliant," says MacDries. "But I don't get it."

MacDries says, "Criminals and politicians think they are so clever (excuse me, I'm being redundant). But with a name like Sheddrick Deon what do you expect?"

Just in from Michael Winship
I'm sure the vice president simply meant that Senator Leahy should visit Austria...
I refer, of course to Austrian village of Fucking, which this week voted to keep their name. Siegfried Hoppl - the village spokesman - said this week: "Everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us Fucking is Fucking and it's going to stay Fucking..."
The village is named after one Mr. Fuck, who settled with his family there about 100 years ago.
You can email Michael and tell him if you would like to be included on his excellent email commentary. BartlebyMW@aol.com
Republicrat! (Worth Repeating)
Don't be a Koch sucker.
Demonstrate against elephants on the the streets of New York in August. Koch has always been a Republicrat. Did he support Rudy or what?
Full Disclosure? How much they paying you Ed?
Here's Arnie Again

SACRAMENTO, Calif. June 25, 2004 - Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to repeal a state law that requires animal shelters to hold stray dogs and cats for up to six days before killing them.
Instead, there would be a three-day requirement for strays. Other animals, including birds, hamsters, potbellied pigs, rabbits, snakes and turtles, could be killed immediately.
Schwarzenegger has told the state Legislature that the changes could save local governments that operate shelters up to $14 million.
MacDries says, "Arnie's on a PR roll. Hell, he should just toss the 14 mil in the pot. He makes that much captial gains in three days. Ya' gotta think spin, Arnie. Pot-bellied pigs? EEEEewwwww. Kill anybody with a pot-belly! Kill anyone who even mentions snakes. And Hamsters? they're just glorified rats(Excuse me, niece Jill.)."
Another Scorched Republican
CHICAGO - After facing embarrassing revelations about his marital break-up, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Jack Ryan of Illinois, dropped out of the race Friday, saying he wanted to to avoid a "brutal, scorched-earth campaign.
Ryan's long-ago divorce from actress Jeri Ryan made news when unsealed court papers showed she alleged he asked her to perform sex acts with him in night clubs.

MacDries says, "Ah, but eet was Gay Paree and Nawlins. Geez, who are these guys. Now, I'm an arrogant guy but it seems anyone with a politician's gene thinks they can get away with anything if they're handsome and play the "little people" card. (I thought Jack Ryan was what's his name... Harrison Ford.) So, we got J. Edgar, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon & Riboso, Hart, Clinton? And those are just the sexy guys. Carter only lusted in his dreams but then with a wife like Roslyn who needs to take it much farther?
I don't even wanna list the money guys... just put Cheney up there at the top.
Sex I can sorta see, but money? How much money do you need?"

At the morning press conference, attorney General John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a fearsome sleeper network," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search for absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval (geometry) with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'." You'd better believe it!

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller
This is the main higher up at Abu Ghraib. Miller's record as commander of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay (AKA "Gitmo"), his perceived anti-Muslim bias, and his now infamous recommendation that guards in Iraq soften-up prisoners for interrogation, all strongly suggest that he is The Man.

Between January and March 2003, 14 prisoners at Guantanamo tried to kill themselves, according to Pentagon figures. That's more than 40 percent of the 34 suicide attempts by 21 inmates since the prison was opened in January 2002.

Miller is now in charge of all military-run U.S. prisons in Iraq, a job he took after news broke of beatings and sexual humiliations last fall at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Miller had visited Abu Ghraib in August and September and recommended interrogation techniques that military lawyers said had to be modified to comply with the Geneva Conventions on treating prisoners of war.

Human rights groups say the suicide attempts at Guantanamo Bay may be evidence that conditions there amounted to torture.
A. Pig, Esq.
But he's our pig. Tarrantino, no stranger to sadism himself, (see Reservoir Dogs) awarded Moore 1st prize at Cannes for his exposure of The Shrub Administrtation's sadism in Iraq. I'm sure Kathleen Turner and her cohort had a ton of sway with the Indy Prince.
Flash!
I swear I did not plan this segue. Mary Kate Olsen, everyone's favorite billionaire twin has Anorexia. And she's the pretty one. Ashley is such a little doggie.

MacDries says, "Stuff this, Billary!"
Artist Of The Day
Kate Derry Dries
Poet Of The Day
Why Do You Love Me?

If you ever ask me
Why do you love me?
I'll be prepared

I'll look at you and answer
No hesitation

Why do I love you?
Because you say
Who loves you
I always answer "you!"

Why do I love you?
Because of the sympathy
I can only find in you
That is never fake
Always brimming with love

Why do I love you?
Because you call me
Your little sparkler
Because I call myself
Your little sparkler

Why do I love you?
Because of your kisses goodbye
Your wonderful dinners
How you make me feel safe
Your understanding soul

If you ever ask me
Why do you love me?
My answer will be
Infinite
-- Emma Derry Dries
Ray's Memorial Service

WNYC-FM in NYC will be carrying Ray Charles' funeral today (Sunday, June 20), at 3 pm. ET. If you don't live in the area, check your local public radio listings or you can listen on their Website.
Jesse, Please Shut Up!
Give us some music.

MacDries says, "Keep talking like that McCain and Kerry's gonna look for someone else."

"The Bush people have no right to speak for my father... Yes, some of the current policies are an extension of the 80's. But the overall thrust of this administration is not my father's - these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive and just plain corrupt. I don't trust these people."
--Ron Reagan

"A messy, horrible war that has spun out of control could very well determine the next election. So should the miracle of stem-cell research - a miracle the Bush White House thinks it can block."
--Patty Davis
Ole & Lena
Ole, while not a brilliant scholar, was a gifted portrait artist. His fame grew and soon people from all over the country were coming to him for paintings.
One day, a beautiful young woman pulled up to his house in a stretch limo. She asked Ole if he would paint her in the nude. This was the first time anyone had made this request. The beautiful lady said money was no object, she was willing to pay $50,000.
Not wanting to get into trouble with his wife Lena, Ole, asked the lady to wait while he went in the house and conferred with his wife.
In a few minutes he returned and told the lady he was willing to do it; however, he would have to leave his socks on so he would have a place to wipe his brushes.

"A great soul has gone on. He was a fabulous man, full of humor and wit. A giant of an artist, and of course, he introduced the world to secular soul singing. Undoubtedly, the music world will miss his voice. He's the voice of a lifetime."
--Aretha Franklin

"He was just a sweet and gorgeous and wonderful person ... a role model for all people that got to know him and his music. I respected the genius ... What set him apart? He was Ray Charles just that! We lost a genius and we lost my brother. You've lost a cornerstone of good, and that hurts real bad."
--James Brown

"His sound was stunning -- it was the blues, it was R&B, it was gospel, it was swing -- it was all the stuff I was listening to before that but rolled into one amazing, soulful thing."
--Van Morrison
Out My Window

10 Years
10 years since O.J. slashed Nicolle in Beverly Hills. 10 years since Reagan got alzheimers in Beverly Hills. Then Ronnie dies in BH, O.J. scores an interview on TV. Now the Righteous Reverend Ray dies in BH. Coincidence or some sort of weird conspiracy? Hmmmm.
The Shrub On A Mission
President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader's state of mind.
In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as "enemies of the state."
Go HERE for the complete article.
This Just In
My eldest daughter Gretchen has a Question:
How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a lightbulb?
Answer: SEVEN
1. One to deny that a lightbulb needs to be replaced.
2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the lightbulb.
3. One to blame the previous administration for the need of a new lightbulb.
4. One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of lightbulbs.
5. One to get together with Vice President Cheney and figure out how to pay Halliburton Industries one million dollars for a lightbulb.
6. One to arrange a photo-op session showing Bush changing the lightbulb while dressed in a flight suit and wrapped in an American flag, and finally...
7. One to explain to Bush the difference between screwing a lightbulb and screwing the country.

The most recent is former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, 65. The retired admiral took over a new Pentagon counterterrorism office this year. Poindexter was convicted in 1990 on five felony charges of conspiracy, making false statements to Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries. He was sentenced to six months in prison, time he never served.

Another former Iran-Contra defendant is Elliott Abrams. He now serves as Bush's special White House assistant for democracy and human rights. An assistant secretary of state under Reagan, Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress, then was pardoned by the first President Bush.

One of the most outspoken Iran-Contra figures is Otto Reich, the State Department's top official for Latin America, who migrated to the United States shortly after the 1959 revolution in Cuba. In his first speech since joining the department in January, Reich said Tuesday that the United States can speed a democratic transition in Cuba by "not throwing a lifeline to a failed, corrupt, dictatorial, murderous regime." From 1983 to 1986, Reich led a State Department office accused of a covert domestic-propaganda effort against Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government.

--Edwin Meese. After resigning while under investigation, Meese went on to become the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy, The Heritage Foundation, another "think tank" whose mission is "to formulate and promote conservative public policies".

--Robert McFarlane. In the months before the September 11 attacks, McFarlane was working behind the scenes in Afghanistan as a private citizen through a private businessman, trying to bring a man named Abdul Haq to power to overthrow the Taliban. After the war in Afghanistan started, though, Abdul Haq was ambushed and executed.
"Bud" McFarlane is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Global Energy Investors, director for the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, and co-founder and vice-chair of the America-China Society. He also serves on the boards of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the White House Fellows' Foundation. He is also actively engaged in the National Prayer Breakfast movement.

--Caspar Weinberger. After being pardoned for his Iran Contra convictions by the former President Bush, Weinberger went on to become Chairman of corporate mouthpiece Forbes, Inc

Others given jobs by Bush:
--Richard Armitage. Deputy Secretary of State. Questions linger over the former Defense Department official's 1986 contacts with Israel on the Iran arms sales.

--John Negroponte. U.N. Ambassador (now Ambassador to Iraq). His service in the 1980s as ambassador to Honduras, which the U.S. supported Contra rebels used as a base, has drawn criticism.

--Mitch Daniels. Budget Director. As Reagan's political director in 1986 and 1987, Daniels helped oversee a White House damage-control effort.

MacDries says, "Nothing like a little enlightened self-interest to set your priorities in a straight line. We all remember Nancy & Ron's avant garde sponsorhip of AIDS reseach. And who knows what it might do for cosmetic surgery as well?"
Thelonius Monk Memoir
Monk is coming up soon but I would not sully the man's name by placing it in the midst of the global vomit over Ronnie.

Here is John Kerry, some desperate voters Anybody But Bush candidate.
"Ronald Reagan and many of us disagreed on one issue or another, but he always disagreed with a smile, without partisanship. He always put America first."

MacDries says, "Fuck you Bill & Hillary and the horseshit you rode in on. Let's imagine Bill and Hillary, heads together, discussing the text of this Reagan eulogy.
What have you got to lose Bill? You were the Prez! And Hillary, you ain't never gonna make it so give it up. Be a Senator. Remember Paul Wellstone (D-MN)?

Fuck you Kerry! Ralph is looking pretty good to me.

"A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?"

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."

"Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. The U.S. Geological Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone is greater than the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia."

"Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?"

"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas."

"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal."

"What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice."

"Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders."

"We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet."

MacDries says. "I'm like, I just wish she could spell. Plus, who ever said guys were dying to see all those chubby bellies sticking out all over the place? Dizzgusting (sic)."