Brendan Calling Is Now Officially Open For Business

The blogroll isn't up yet, the presentation needs a little work (I have some photos fready to go, but these are small matters
More important is the fact that my archives are now fully imported and established at Brendan Calling (dawt cawm). I finally feel... at home. I feel at home at my new site. Thanks SO much to Chris from Booman Tribune and Rowhouse Logic. Dude, you kick ass and I owe you beers pretty much forever.

Thanks to Chris, there will be no more posting here at blogger, which as I have said numerous times in the past can suck my balls. Literally, just take those lovelies in your mouth blogger and kinda gargle them. Oooh, not so hard, you're not eating them. Yeah, gentle just like that. Yeah, lick that scrotum, lick it blogger. And don't forget the taint!


I'm outta here. Everyone else, click on Stewie to visit my new digs.

Brendan Calling

I have a new blog open for business. Sometime over the next week or two, i'll be importing everything from BCFTU to mty new digs, Brendan Calling.

I'll take this opportunity to say THANKS! to Chris from Rowhouse Logic and Booman Tribune for giving me space on his server, as well as for designing the site and helping me edit it to my satisfaction.


As you may imagine, posting here at bcftu will gradually begin to peter out, until I no longer have to give blogger, which sucks, any of my business again. Please bookmark my new niche on the net, and drop by. Today I'm wishing misfortune and flooding on Washington DC, and discussing how I threw a full bottle of beer at someone's head last night.
Fuck with me, will you?

Drinking Liberally!

Act 1. Scene I

SCENE I. An urban place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three disgruntled Lefties.

First Lefty:
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Lefty:
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.

Third Lefty:
That will be ere the set of sun.

First Lefty:
Where the place?

Second Lefty
Why, Drinking Liberally of course, Tuesday, at Tangier, corner of 18th and Lombard Streets in Philadelphia PA! From 6:00 PM until the last of us go home. Oh, and free wings for early birds. Drink specials too!

Third Lefty
There to meet with Macbeth. And Atrios. And Upyernoz. And others with clever bloggy nicknames.

First Lefty
I come, Graymalkin!

Third Lefty
SHUT UP! For the last time Bob, I told you I blog anonymously! For crying out loud, get it through your head!

Second Lefty
By the way, did anyone else get marching orders today from Markos?

Witch
I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!

First Lefty (aside)
You're on the wrong sound stage! You want Stage 9.

Witch (aside)
Ooops! My bad. (Exit)

ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air
Of Philadelphia. Bring a friend,
We'll See you there.
(Exeunt)
(crossposted at Brendan Calling.

Word Press Eludes Me

Brendan Calling is now up, but I haven't blogged there yet because I don't understand wordpress.

As soon as my admin gets in touch with me (Chris, where are you??), I'll be importing everything from blogger, and getting started.

Just an FYI.

More on Amnesty for Insurgents

Today, the GOP rejected this amendment by the Democrats:

SEC. 1209. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE GRANTING OF AMNESTY TO PERSONS KNOWN TO HAVE KILLED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN IRAQ.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The Armed Forces of the United States and coalition military forces are serving heroically in Iraq to provide all the people of Iraq a better future.

(2) The Armed Forces of the United States and coalition military forces have served bravely in Iraq since the beginning of military operations in March of 2003.

(3) More than 2,500 members of the Armed Forces of the United States and members of coalition military forces have been killed and more than 18,000 injured in operations to bring peace and stability to all the people of Iraq.

(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--

(1) the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked, killed, or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States; and

(2) the President should immediately notify the Government of Iraq that the Government of the United States strongly opposes granting amnesty to persons who have attacked members of the Armed Forces of the United States.

NAYs ---19
Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
McCain (R-AZ) (the soldiers friend, my eye)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)
Thomas (R-WY)
Warner (R-VA)

Got that? The Republicans want to keep the troops in Iraq indefinitely, but has decided it's A-OK if the insurgents (or is the the Iraqi troops themselves?) keep pickin' them off like ducks in a shooting gallery.

Cut-and-run? Not when you're a sit-and-watch Republican.

Britney Spears

I used to hate Britney Spears, and I still have no use for her music. I did however gain a shred or two of respect for the girl when i caught a few seconds of some interview a year or so ago, where she played some piano. Bless her heart, she actually DOES know how to play music, I thought, and made a note. Ever since, I've given her a bit of slack.

No matter how rich you are, it's GOTTA suck to go from this



to this

.

I've got a nice size beer gut of my own brewing (no pun intended), but I was never all that attractive to begin with. I mean seriously, she looks like she lives in a trailer, and not even a double-wide!

Tonight is The Night!

18th and Lombard, Philadelphia: Drinking Liberally holds its weekly get together starting at Tangier, from 6:00 PM until whenever they throw us out or Duncan starts throwing punches. Come on out and talk some shit about George Bush the Fecal King.

On Gay Marriage

It is always delightful to watch the Christian right's apologists, the Republican Party, rail about gay marriage and the threat it poses to heterosexuals everywhere.

I enjoy this periodic outburst, because it means I get to throw scripture right back in their faces. Like this one from Matthew 7:3: "You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye."

(tip of the chapeau to Susie and the recovering liberal for the link:

BREAKING NEWS: EVIDENCE NOW EMERGING THAT THE CONSERVATIVE WING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS ON THE FAST TRACK AS A HAVEN FOR SEXUAL PERVERTS AND OTHER SCOUNDRELS?

Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania pled no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo of Floyd County, Kentucky was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins of Asbury Park, New Jersey pled guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker of Nashua, New Hampshire is a convicted child molester.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano of Waterbury, Connecticut is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8 and 10-year old girls.

Republican Mayor John Gosek of Oswego, New York was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz of Richland County, Ohio pled guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain of Monroe County, Pennsylvania was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth of Kannapolis, N.C., is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader of Witchita, Kansas pled guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency of Camden, New Jersey pled guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge of Soputhbay, California was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz of Des Moines, Iowa, who George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble of New London, Connecticut pled no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer of Arizona was charged with molesting his 9-year old step daughter after including her in an anti-Gore television commercial.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. and Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence both of Washington, D.C. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens of Columbus, Ohio was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio of Burke, Virginia was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen of Colorado Springs. Colorado was convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney of El Paso County, Arizona pled guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane of Illinois had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition and South Carolina Republican leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline of Orange County, California was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman of Maryland was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman and attorney Jeffrey Patti of Sparta, New Jersey was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman of Florida (a.k.a. “Republican Marty”), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD. It was Glickman, interestingly enough, that claimed Bill Clinton came from a low rent state and had torn down all of the standards for the highest office in the land.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks of Quartz Hill, California was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway who had relocated to Maine from Huntsville, Alabama after having been accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews of Houston, Texas pled guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling of Anderson, Indiana was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram of Thurston County, Washington pled guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan of St. Louis, Missouri was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr, also of St. Louis, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland of Kingsport, Tennessee was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt of Pensacola, Florida was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs of Hawaii County, Hawaii pled guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler of Cass County, Illinois was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner of Clark County, Nevada admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter of Boothbay, Maine pled guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. of Wrightsville Borough, Delaware pled no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall of Virginia was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris of West Bend, Wisconsin, who has been described as a “good military man” and “church goer,” was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the “Young Republican Federation” Nicholas Elizondo of Bakersfield, California molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp, Russell Harding, pled guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen, Sr. of Kalispell, Montana, was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

... so you'll pardon me if I'm not exercised about two adults doing things to each other. At least grown-ups can consent.

And the Chickens Begin to Come Home to Roost

May 24, 2006: "[A] NEWSWEEK investigation shows that, as a means of pre-empting a repeat of 9/11, Bush, along with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft, signed off on a secret system of detention and interrogation that opened the door to such methods. It was an approach that they adopted to sidestep the historical safeguards of the Geneva Conventions, which protect the rights of detainees and prisoners of war. In doing so, they overrode the objections of Secretary of State Colin Powell and America's top military lawyers—and they left underlings to sweat the details of what actually happened to prisoners in these lawless places. While no one deliberately authorized outright torture, these techniques entailed a systematic softening up of prisoners through isolation, privations, insults, threats and humiliation—methods that the Red Cross concluded were "tantamount to torture."

Joe Biden, who supported and continues to support the war (h/t First Draft): [P]rohibitions against torture are intended to "protect my son in the military. That's why we have these treaties. So when Americans are captured, they are not tortured. That's the reason, in case anybody forgets it."

June 20, 2006: Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at Iraqi Ministry of Defense said the soldiers had been "barbarically" killed and that there were traces of torture on their bodies. He offered no further details.

Geneva Conventions, yawn. How quaint.

Not Cool.

I don't like that feeling badly kept me from doing something I'd been looking forward to the past three weeks, something that I'd played no small hand in organizing.

I don't like it at all.

The Cloud's Back

I was expecting to be really depressed yesterday, but I got busy cleaning my house and buying sealant for my deck. I guess I thought I would skate by without incident, but it looks like the Cloud is back, and in a pretty big way. It started moving in around 6:30 this morning as I was thinking about how I have to buy blocks, Duplo Bricks, and other age-appropriate toys for Sam to have around my place, which brought on guilt that I haven't already bought them, which reminded me of how surprised I was when Melissa told me Sam could ride a tricycle, which reminded me how absent I am from his daily life, I mean for fuck's sake how do you not know when your kid learns how to ride a trike which reminded me why I don't have a house filled with toys, and you know the rest of the story, duck and cover, stop drop and roll. Now I'm sitting here feeling hollow, like a babushka doll with the guts thrown away. [Ill wishes, expletives deleted.]
It just doesn't stop hurting. It hurts and hurts and hurts. Anyone read this one in the Times yesterday? I did. Didn't help matters much.

I'm supposed to see Glenn Greenwald tonight, but I believe I'll be skipping out.

Maybe It's Just Me

Maybe my well-known loathing for Hallmark Holidays combined with my well-known depression from being separated from my son to scare off everyone, but the only person who called to wish me a Happy Fathers' Day was my brother.
I mean, I can understand Melissa not giving me a call, since I resolutely stayed away from the phone on Mothers' Day (and actually Melissa DID call, but the new phone doesn't ring very loud and I was out back grilling).
But other than that, no one else.
No emails either.

I'll remember that.

We're Moving!

In the next few days (weeks?) the staff and offices of Brendan Calling From the Underground, INC, LTD, LLC, is packing up and moving out of blogger. As you may know, we've been unhappy with blogger and its frequent freakouts and foibles for quite sometime, and last week's outage was the final straw. We've found some free space on a different server, and pretty soon, you'll be able to find us at Brendan Calling. Please make a note of our new url. We'll be sending out a grand opening announcement soon.

The Stoneman Family - Surf Bluegrass Instrumental

This is my first youtube blog. Here's hoping it comes through, because this is some hella bluegrass. That is some WICKED mandolin playing.