Shinseki To Head VA

This is a great guy for the folks in the Cabinet Room to be listening to from what I can tell.

I'm just adding this to my list of good news, the light at the end of the dismal tunnel the Bush Regime threw us in to -- like Obama planning to go all FDR on us to get this country working again.

So far, despite talk of a Depression, we can be of good cheer because the Bill of Rights will get a reprieve with SCOTUS deciding to hear (and most likely strike down) the case of a guy locked up for the last five years just because someone in George Bush's administration labeled him an "enemy combatant," without even an offer of proof.  We have a chance to be reminded what it means to be Americans again.

See, it doesn't mean a damn thing what the FBI tells you or me or Sean Hannity about Marri's alleged guilt.  It only matters what they tell a judge since, despite Bill O'Reilly's fondest desires, FOX News does not have the authority to detain someone indefinitely without being charged -- and no one has afforded this particular "guest" of the commercial republic that used to stand for liberty such courtesy.  Forget FOX; our government doesn't have that kind of authority under the Constitution (like the right to a speedy trial, confront witnesses, and trial by jury for example).

Justice being served is always good for the soul, especially when it has a dose of irony like the border official busted for hiring illegals, and of course OJ going to prison.  Not that I really have an opinion on Simpson's guilt or innocence, now or then.  It's just that now with him safely behind prison walls we should be spared any more media circuses surrounding the guy for around a decade or so at least.

I'm also feeling tingly about the prospect of the Kennedy legacy living on with Caroline in the Senate.  And the automobile industry getting some breathing room is probably the best we could expect right now, so I'll take it and smile.

But there's nothing short of an in-your-face, Nya-naa feeling I get when I think of Don Rumsfeld hearing the news that General Eric Shinseki is going to head up Veterans Affiars for the Obama administration -- the guy who proved to be right in his assessment that Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were grossly underestimating how many troops would be needed to occupy Iraq after the invasion.

That's right, Rumsfeld's nemisis is back. The guy who'll be in charge of patching up the broken men and women who had their lives torn asunder because we never had enough boots on the ground is the guy who said: we needed more boots on the ground.  He's the same one who tried to prevent so many individual catastrophes the sociopathic civilian leadership of this country sent into a IED meat-grinder and no doubt will do his best to clean up the mess the Bushies left.

Let's be clear about this.  Just as Barack Obama was prescient in pronouncing the proposed invasion of Iraq a "stupid war" before we went in, had Bush and Rumsfeld really listened to (then) Army Chief of Staff Shinseki (instead of just offering lip service to the idea that they deferred to the expertise of their commanders on the ground), there wouldn't have been any need for the "Surge."

Think about it.  If they'd listened to Shinseki, we wouldn't have heard the incessant whining of John McCain about how he was right on the Surge.  No mystic powers attributed to General Petreaus by the dead-enders at Town Hall and the Weekly Standard war-monger brigade.  

QUOTE — "Beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division army" — Shinseki criticizing Bush administration Iraq war strategy in 2003.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the future.  We'll get over this hump and bounce back.  Yes We Will.

Obamawan Kenobi, Our Only Hope

Thanks to all my Facebook and Twitter pals for the birthday wishes.

I admit, I'm just not fired up enough. It's an obvious result of America becoming AWESOME again, like I thought of her when I was a kid. (Hat Tip: Oliver) I'm not pissed enough and the GOP fear machine has been rendered impotent. Walking around happy is a lousy incentive for writing.

I can't get worked up right now over that sludge still sleeping at the White House, or his nasty little dog. He's doing what he's always done, filling up the bureaucracy with incompetent ideological cronies, and twiddling his thumbs while scarfing escargot while the country world goes to hell. Generally being the same old ass he's always been.

Hillary? Sec State?!! Good pick, excellent in fact. But I can't get worked up over her or her usual detractors since they've already swung into enough of a tizzy for all of us. She's survived far worse and came out on top. It's not the Limbaughs of the world that should be quaking thinking about her foggy bottom, but Putin and Ahmadinejad.

Lieberman? He only has himself to embarrass now. Ditto Ted Stevens. Saxby Chambliss only matters if Al Franken sqeaks out a win on the recount -- and only then will Lieberman matter. But even then he really doesn't matter. He's a loser and is done when his term is up.

Sarah Palin and her cheerleader in chief, Bill Kristol, are in grave danger of becoming irrelevent. But fear not. Swine like that have a way of stinking up the place whether they're inside the tent or just snorting around the outside, trying to dig their way back in. Never fear, they'll be endless sources of outrage and stupidity for years to come.

The last thing I need right now is something harshing my Obamabuzz -- like the city of Toledo becoming a ghost town if we stop making cars here. But I'm still of good cheer, because Obamaphoria is our real hope.