Finally -- something Bush is good at (Jack Bog's Blog)

Detail, Fremont Bridge photo, courtesy Miles Hochstein / Portland Ground.

Meter updates every 30 seconds. Click here for
an instant update.
Our complete Portland debt series linked here.

Clearance sale
The bojack bumper sticker -- only $1.50!

To order, click here.

Search this site

... or let Google look around our site -- including comments:

Custom Search

Excellent tunes -- free! And on your browser right now. Just click on Radio Bojack!

E-mail us here.

About

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 30, 2006 9:40 PM. The previous post in this blog was I'm trying not to laugh. The next post in this blog is The sooner the better. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Clippings

E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

E-mail me

[What is this?]

« I'm trying not to laugh | Main | The sooner the better »

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Finally -- something Bush is good at

And only 650,000 civilians had to die to get us there. Mission accomplished! I'm so proud to be an American right now.

Posted at 9:40 PM | Permalink

Comments (14)

This has always been W's forté and can reasonably be assumed to have been the purpose of the Iraq war. The stories of Bush keeping Saddam Hussein's sidearm as a trophy are sickening.

Posted by Allan L. | December 31, 2006 7:27 AM

The whole thing was a joke, from the "executioners" who looked right out of central casting (complete with fake leather jackets, hoods, etc.), to the fact that the executioners were Shiites and were praising Muqtada al Sadr as they hung him, to the fact that it happened on a Muslim holy day, to the fact that someone managed to smuggle in a camera phone and took video, etc. etc. etc. What a complete, utter farce, and it "only" cost us 3,000 troops (so far) and a half trillion dollars. Yipee!

Posted by Dave J. | December 31, 2006 8:43 AM

I wonder if Saddam Hussein got the joke.

Posted by Allan L. | December 31, 2006 9:19 AM

Bush Baaaa-aaaaaad!

Posted by JenW | December 31, 2006 10:45 AM

The stories of Bush keeping Saddam Hussein's sidearm as a trophy are sickening.

I would have too. In a case right over the fireplace.

Posted by Jon | December 31, 2006 11:08 AM

"I would have too."

No, you likely would have been smart enough not to reveal that you had lied to congress and the public, spent half a trillion dollars of the public's money, wrecked a country (and perhaps ultimately a whole region), increased the threat of terrorism around the world, and wasted hundreds of thousands of lives just to settle a family score.

Posted by Allan L. | December 31, 2006 11:36 AM

"[...] to the fact that it happened on a Muslim holy day [...]"

I'm not sure how reality matched the plans, but I heard shortly before the event that it was to happen before dawn specifically to avoid holding an execution on a holy day.

Why they couldn't have waited for all the other prosecutions to finish is beyond me, though. Apparently some folks were a lot less interested in the truth coming out than they were in swift revenge.

Posted by Alan DeWitt | December 31, 2006 12:25 PM

At least we're giving everyone a fair deal at our prison camp in Cuba.

Posted by Jack Bog | December 31, 2006 12:43 PM

The way I understood it, the holy day is (or begins on) Sunday for Shiites, Saturday for Sunnis. Since Saddam was a Sunni, and the Shiites in Iraq were ostensibly repressed under his rule, there was an unusually attractive opportunity to send him off on the holiday he and his sect celebrate without offending the religious sensibilities of Shiites. Who could have this much fun without capital punishment?

Posted by Allan L. | December 31, 2006 12:54 PM

Man and you consider yourself a Catholic, a religious person?

Posted by wg | December 31, 2006 4:19 PM

"Why they couldn't have waited for all the other prosecutions to finish is beyond me, though. Apparently some folks were a lot less interested in the truth coming out than they were in swift revenge."

Alan: all is not lost. They can try him posthumously, dig him up, and hang him again.

Posted by Allan L. | December 31, 2006 5:00 PM

The war was a terrible idea made even worse by terrible management. But it is also true that the noose is a perfectly suitable terminus for bad leaders. Excepting rarities like Saddam Hussein and Nicolae Ceaucescu, most of the political monsters of history have taken extreme measures to die of causes other than the vengeful grip of their victims. Any other sort of death will do.

If leaders are ever justified in sacrificing the lives of their subjects and citizens for the good of their country, the people ought to be prepared to sacrifice their leaders as well. The heads of civilized countries are just as capable of hubristic destruction but, beyond losing an election or being treated rudely by comedians, they are largely protected from the consequences of their foolishness and their violence.

Posted by skyview satellite | December 31, 2006 5:29 PM

F*** Saddam and hang him again. I am proud as a peacock and so would your Father be! Hillary, Obama, Edwards, bring 'em on they are all dead meat!!!

Posted by Jim Golden | January 9, 2007 11:42 PM

Jimmy: Happy New Year to you. But I've got to ask you to please watch your language, as we have some readers who are very young and too immature to be reading that sort of thing. One of them in on the Portland City Council.

Posted by Jack Bog | January 10, 2007 1:20 AM

In Vino Veritas

Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
Cameron, Chardonnay
B.R. Cohn, Cabernet, Silver Label 2006
Graffigna, Cabernet 2005
Palo Alto, Reserve Red 2008
Menguante, Garnacha 2008
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Felsina Berardenga, Vin Santo 1997
Anne Amie, Pinot Gris 2009
McKinley Springs, Bombing Ramge Red 2007
Vieux Papes Red
Dionysius Chardonnay 2009
Haden Fig, Pinot Noir 2009
Vega Montan, Mencia 2008
Chateau la Vernede, Coteaux du Languedoc 2007
Mount Defiance, Hellfire (White) 2008
Root: 1, Cabernet 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Pinot Grigio 2009
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 White, 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 Rose, 2007
Abacela, Grenache Rose 2009
Avia Cabernet 2004
Lemelson Pinot Noir, Thea's Selection 2007
Chateau de la Roulerie, Rose d'Anjou 2009
Casal Garcia, Vinho Verde Rose
La Ferme Julien, Rose 2008
Cana's Feast, Bricco Red, 2006
Hogue, Genesis Merlot, 2008
Owen Roe, Sharecropper's Cabernet, 2008
Kim Crawford, Unoaked Chardonnay 2008
J. Scott, Pinot Noir 2008
Edmunds St. John, White, Heart of Gold 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2006
Stevenot, Cabernet, Sierra Foothills, "Stanford" 2000
Portuga, Vinho Rose 2009
Taylor Fladgate, First Estate Reserve Porto
Franciscan, Cabernet, Napa 2006
Chaparral de Vega Sindoa, Garnacha 2008
Quinta da Aveleda, Vinho Verde 2008
St. Francis, Chardonnay Sonoma 2008
E. Guigal, Cotes du Rhone Blanc, 2007
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Noir 2008
St. Innocent, Pinot Noir 2006
Jigsaw, Pinot Noir 2007
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Merlot, Indian Wells 2007
Charles Shaw, Chardonnay 2008
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Rosé 2009
Cameron, Willamette Valley Chardonnay
Il Valore, Sangiovese, Giovane, Puglia 2008
Duck Pond, Chardonnay, Wahluke Slope 2007
Kim Crawford, Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008
Domaine du Pesquier, Cotes du Rhone 2005
Cantina Zaccagnini, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2006
Domaine Matrot, Chardonnay, Bourgogne 2007
David Hill, Oregon Sparkling Wine, Brut
Chandler Reach, Monte Regalo 2006
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2008
Kirkland, Columbia Valley Merlot 2008
D'Aragon, Old Vine Garnacha 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2005
Pavin & Riley, Merlot 2006
David Hill, Estate Pinot Noir, Barrel Select 2006
Castle Rock, Paso Robles Cabernet 2006
Magnificent, Cabernet, Steak House 2008
Conundrum 2008
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1998
Saint Cosme, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
La Granja, Tempranillo 360, 2008
Santa Rita, Mendalla Real Cabernet 2006
Columbia Crest, Grand Estates Merlot 2006
Andezon, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
Collegiata, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Troon, Druid's Fluid 2008
La Granja, Tempranillo 2008
Monte Antico, Toscana 2006
Vieux Papes, Blanc de Blancs

The Occasional Book

Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 54
At this date last year: 50
Total run in 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269