Happy “Mission Accomplished” Day.

It’s been 6 years.  How time flys.

Words George W. Bush wishes he had thought of.

If only he had thought of this to say during the Katrina mess.

“They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food… Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. but they should see it like a weekend of camping.”

The Old Fart’s Wednesday Recommendations.

After a couple of days where I was doing other things, mostly cooking, I’m back with a few recommendations for you:

• MoDo on “Cheney and the Goat Devil.”
• Marc Ambinder on the shifting tone among potential GOP presidential candidates on the issue of support for gay civil unions/marriage.
• Lots of interesting editorials and op-eds on bipartisanship and on the GOP just saying no. Thomas Frank on the media obsession with bipartisanship, James Morone on a historical picture of bipartisanship, and even Bush’s former speech writer, Michael Gerson thinks the GOP needs to move from its “No” posture.
• Thanks but no thanks for that senator from Chicago. As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, “you have your black senator now, isn’t he a dandy.”
• A great article in The Atlantic on how the current economic crash will reshape America. It’s long so take the time to read it and weep (or not).
• Cathleen Falsani on is A-Rod forgivable.
• Paul Martin posts a new creed for the “Church of the Free Market.” All I have to add to that is, “Amen!.”
• And, finally, an interesting blog post on “Amish Hackers” by Kevin Kelly. Having grown up not too far from Amish Country in Pennsylvania, I found it an interesting read.

The Old Fart’s Tuesday Recommendations.

• I watched Obama’s prepared statement at his press conference and then listened to the Q&A as I was driving to LAX.  Forgetting the actual answers, I was amazed at what I was hearing as far as the language, complete sentences and fully thought out answers. Mark Nickolas has run Obama’s answer through Word’s readability scoring and compared them to Bush’s with a not very surprising result if you you’ve been paying attention.
• Anne Appelbaum on our only ticket out of Afghanistan, the Afghan army.
• Noam Scheiber on Obama’s mastery of the old “rope-a-dope.”
• When you hear the word “Christian,” what comes to mind? Is it love, compassion, service, humility and grace? Or is it more along the lines of anger, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and hypocrisy? Cathlene Falsani on, one of my pet issues, the need to re-brand Christianity and the documentary, “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.”

Deep thought.

Watching the talking heads this morning it is clear that:

“Obama is a failure because in 2 1/2 weeks he hasn’t fixed all that Bush screwed up in 8 years.”

Dear God, make them go away.

Get a sense of humor people.

Some people need to be less uptight and get a sense of humor. As my friend Chris would say, “now, that’s funny.”

“We were joking that now that he was out of office, he could do whatever he wants,” Mr. McKay said, “and so I said, ‘Let’s have him show his own penis,’ and Ferrell was like, ‘O.K.’ ”

“He is a frat boy, a big party guy, and you could imagine him doing this,” Mr. McKay added, describing Mr. Bush, who is 63. “Though I want to make clear I’m not blaming the president for our very bad taste.”

The Old Fart’s Friday Recommendations.

• Check out the Rock and Theology project.
• With all the Republican talk of spending in the much needed stimulus bill, they forgot to look at the Bush administrations wasteful overspending on the first half of the TARP. $78 billion worth.
• Paul Krugman continues to warn us of the dire consequence of failure to stimulate/spend enough.

But we maintained our dress code.

We may have screwed up the economy, the war in Iraq and other important things but at least we did it with our jackets on.

-Andy Card

Personally, I’d rather President Obama and his team roll up their shirtsleeves, work hard and get things right rather than worry about if they are wearing a jacket. (As for me, I’m sitting here half naked and getting lots done. Picture here.)

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Flavors.

You may know that Ben & Jerry’s created an Obama flavor, “Yes Pecan,” to celebrate the inauguration.  My friend Chris sent this list (I suspect it’s been passed around the Internet) of suggestions from consumers on a name for a Bush flavor.

Grape Depression
The Housing Crunch
Abu Grape
Cluster Fudge
Nut’n Accomplished
Iraqi Road
Chock ‘n Awe
WireTapioca
Impeach Cobbler
Guantanmallow
imPeachmint
Heck of a Job, Brownie!
Neocon Politan
Rocky Road to Fascism
The Reese’s-cession
Cookie D’oh!
Nougalar Proliferation
Death by Chocolate… and Torture
Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
Credit Crunch
Mission Pecanplished
Country Pumpkin
Chunky Monkey in Chief
George Bush Doesn’t Care About Dark Chocolate
WMDelicious
Chocolate Chimp
Bloody Sundae
Caramel Preemptive Stripe
I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands…with nuts

Sarah Silverman Says Goodbye to Bush.

See the good he’s done.

The Old Fart’s Saturday Recommendations.

• An interview with Steve Turner regarding Christians in the arts and how “Christ didn’t die to make us religious, but to make us human.”
• All those who have been quoting a CBO report to counter the President’s economic stimulus package need to read this.  It doesn’t exist.
• Bob Herbert on what we’ve watched this week, it’s called leadership. “Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.”
• Newsweek on the obliteration of the Bush Legacy. And, it can’t come fast enough for me.

Quote of the Day.

“If they didn’t know that was the judgment of people, then their subscription to the newspapers were canceled over the last three years.”

-Rahm Emanuel, on the reaction of former Bush advisers to Obama’s Inaugural Address

The Old Fart’s Friday Recommendations.

• Ann Telnaes animated cartoon.
• Closing Gitmo is harder than we may think.
• For Muslims, what a difference a year makes. A Muslim’s take on the inauguration of Obama.
• Obama as the anti-Bush by Juan Cole.
• Jeralyn Merritt on lowering the drinking age to 18.
• Brian Mclaren on the  generational shifts that are taking place in many Christian communities and how they connect to Obama’s Inaugural address.
• Craig Detweiler on Embracing Dissent–moving beyond the inauguration.

And on a completely different front, there’s Jesus General’s letter to Pope Benedict on sex in the seminaries.

DC Flips Off Bush.

From AmericaBlog comes this photo of Bush leaving DC and this comment from Flickr:

“I’m sure it was just luck, but this is an awesome shot of the entire city flipping Dubya off.”

Photo of the Day.

One Last Goodbye to Bush.

My favorite editorial cartoonist (as you know if you’ve been a regular reader) is Mr. Fish in the LA Weekly.  Here is a cartoon he did on the 20th of January, 2001. How prescient was he?

Oh the History They Will Attempt to Rewrite.

I guess I don’t understand how anyone can say Bush “inherited 9/11.” But, it’s Fox News and they just make things up anyway.

Cartoon of the Day. (Almost ex-president edition.)

Hat tip: Ellie

Goodbye Bush Advertising Humor.

From the Townhouse Spa and Beauty Bar, comes a fairwell to Mr. Bush.

Photo of the Day.