I only caught the last hour and a half of it, and I was afraid that I missed the good part. I did not. I loved the testimony of one congressman, I  think his last name is Barasso, who was an orthopedic surgeon before going into politics. He said that people will be better off with only catastrophic coverage, because this way they would allocate their resources wisely. You know, like when your knee hurts just a little bit you will think twice before going to a doctor. And then when things get really bad that’s when you get coverage!

Obama could not hide his disgust with this guy when he asked him an obvious question: Would he support this kind of coverage for the members of Congress? Barasso said yes, what else was he gonna say? I at least give him credit for being consistent. Obama followed up with another question: What about if you only make $40,000? No answer to that one. He probably didn’t think about that. It’s hard for Republicans to fathom that there are people making less than $250K a year.

During the closing comments Obama was clear enough to send a message that he will do what needs to be done if met with continuous Republican obstructionism – reconciliation. That is passing the bill with 51 votes. Which is what needed to be done a long time ago.

Dear Lord! Give him balls to do it!

I had the strangest experience in this country. First, it’s a military dictatorship, but as a tourist there’s nothing to be afraid of as long as you don’t talk politics with locals. I take pleasure in breaking the rules, so I tried it of course, but they were not cooperative, so I didn’t press further. For their own safety.

Coming from Bangkok and being tired of pagodas I asked my guide to take me to places where tourists don’t go. He took me to the port and then to the produce market. Unlike in Vietnam no one bothered me at the market trying to sell me stuff, but rather they gazed at me like I was an elephant (a polar bear). There I made some of my best pictures.

The unpleasant part in Myanmar is that they block access to Yahoo and Hotmail and my roaming didn’t work there. So I was incommunicado for 10 days. That was intolerable. In Rangoon my hotel had wi-fi, but only in the lobby area. Freaking cnn.com(!) was blocked as well. I spent 5 days at the beach in West Myanmar (Ngwe Saung beach), where they didn’t have wi-fi at all. The resort is freshly and beautifully built as they try to capitalize on nascent tourist stream, but the road there is a disaster (it’s half dirt, half asphalt). It’s only about 200km, but it takes about 7 hours by car from Rangoon. The staff is extremely friendly but poorly trained, so their idea of a good service is to stand behind your back all the time. I always felt that somebody was watching me as I ate, as I sunbathed, hell even when I was in my hotel room. When they bring you a check they don’t walk away so that you can pay – they just stand there waiting. Every day, as I get out of shower at about 7pm there was a knock on my door. A girl and a guy come in, spray my room with insecticide, insist on making my bed even though I’m laying in it and disappear. They probably thought I was very pleased with that level of service! There was only about 10 tourists in my hotel and about 20 staff. I think they were just coming up with creative ways to show how top notch their service is. So in the end I decided not to bitch about it to the management. The fact that even the management had a poor command of English also played a role in my decision. 5 nights at the resort cost me $200. Burger and fries on the menu is $5. Local beer is $1. The most exotic thing I did in Myanmar was visit the squat style toilet. Yes, it was during that 7-hour trip. There was no other option!

Overall, Myanmar is worth the visit, but with company, considering that entertainment options are limited. I had my e-reader with me loaded with books I haven’t read, so I had my time occupied. But I was relieved to be back in Bangkok.

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In Blow to Taliban, 2 More Senior Leaders Are Arrested

‘Together, the three arrests mark the most significant blow to the Taliban’s leadership since the American-backed war began eight years ago.’

Yeah! A bookish constitutional law professor with the middle name Hussein had to be elected in order for this to happen. Which makes me wonder: What the fuck have they been doing out there for 8 years?

I don’t know about you but I’m long. I have been the most bearish beginning late 2006, but no more. Yes, perhaps I’m late to the long game, but I think it has more room to go. I’m sure that those on the right, while chuckling between themselves about “stimulus”, would literally need to have their dicks stroked before they stop complaining, despite the fact that it would be the government doing the stroking. For those the following statistics won’t mean anything. But for those that have their heads out of their asses, here’s some Bloomberg stats. I hope the source is legitimate enough for the Fox crowd.

Non-farm payrolls (scroll down to see the charts)

Notice that the unemployment number, which is going down, despite the shrieks on the right, is a lagging indicator. What’s more important is the nonfarm payrolls chart. The peak of job losses hit on Jan 09 when Obama took office and has been steadily going down and is now at about Jan 08 level. If this is not progress then I don’t know what is. There are those, of course, that won’t be appeased no matter what happens, proclaiming Obama’s failure because the unemployment hasn’t hit 5% yet. I’m sure they manifest their gloomy disposition by being short. However, I doubt that last year’s rally in corporates and mortage-backed was fueled by left-wing fund managers bent on proving Obama right.

Unfortunately, I don’t think unemployment will dip below 8% this year, which will be bad for Democrats, because the unemployed don’t care about the freaking statistics, but care about the paycheck.

But just some food for thought.

I am a political junkie. I need to go into rehab next year. It’s not easy when your dealers provide you with such good shit. I get my daily fix. Republicans are my uppers, Democrats are my downers. There were times when I was ambivalent towards American political process: The Right, The Left – what the hell is the difference? Perhaps, I could have made a good Republican under different circumstances. I was also pretty neutral about religion. That was before I went to Christian college. Not just any Christian, but Southern Baptist – they are the worst! And then Clinton had his dick sucked by Monica. And everything changed. Clinton was my gateway drug to American politics. Very appropriate I must say, as he was a pothead.

You see, politicians without vices give me pause. If you don’t receive occasional blowjob, don’t gamble, don’t drink, don’t smoke, etc. then what do you do for release? Imagine morality as a balloon. You suppress pleasurable activities in one area and they manifest itself in another. You suppress alcohol consumption, drugs, gambling – and next thing you know you’re discovered soliciting gay sex in airport bathroom. Bush made me very uncomfortable for that reason. Squeaky clean exterior only made me wonder about what he was hiding in his closet. Or were we supposed to ignore all that because he found Jesus? Or was I to believe that his stress mitigation technique was cutting brush? Also, his carefully crafted “cowboy” persona didn’t play well with the fact that he was afraid of horses and never rode them. Later, of course, it became obvious that his vice was dick competition on a grand scale. As in “my dick is bigger than yours”. Bush was my one big bad LSD trip. I had a continuous feeling that something really bad was going to happen, although I couldn’t tell what. I don’t mean 9/11, I mean what came afterwards. The same way, I guess, that Obama is a bad LSD trip for many conservatives.

By the way, I relaxed about Obama when I found out that he smokes and he’s a fellow poker player. I like my politicians to play poker. I’m just not sure of what he’s doing at this particular juncture.

Anyway, I wish to get off the political needle next year. I’m one step through – I have admitted I have a problem.

My wishes for Democrats are pretty obvious. Aside from growing a pair, I’d like them to expand their range of political tools. They seem to get used to shit being thrown at them and over all these years they still haven’t developed adequate responses to mudslinging. They will need it in 2010 and more importantly in 2012.  In fact, if they’d be the first to throw some outrageous nonsense at Republicans, that would create havoc in their camp as it would be something totally unexpected. Why the scenario always have to look like this: Republicans come over to your house, shit in your pool and then when you point it out to them they point fingers at you and scream “Look at you, you pathetic liberals – you have shit in your pool and you can’t even clean it!”?

I mean, look at the stuff they throw at you – the complete batshit stuff – you will kill the grandma; Obama is a Muslim AND a godless commie; government death panels. And it sticks! And you end up in a position where you have to prove a negative. I think you should just come with even crazier stuff to throw back at them and let them respond. For instance, Glenn Beck is gay. Frankly, I think this one might stick. Just look at him.

He has a cute round baby face.

Oh, just look at those sphincter lips!

He’s too emotional.

He likes to dress up.

Rush Limbaugh is an anarchist (this one should be easy – he hates government). See how they rush (no pun intended) to defend anarchists. I actually think that’s a plausible scenario – they will not try to deny it, they will embrace it and will compete with each other who is a bigger anarchist. Watch them quote Bakunin towards the year end!

I’m just throwing these examples at you, but I hope you got the idea!

For this kind of dirty work you will need someone like Lee Atwater or Karl Rove and I don’t think you have anybody who can do such kind of work. I know, I know. It’s ugly and you want to maintain your moral high ground. Well, folks, Republicans changed the rules a long time ago and now they have missiles in dirty war, where you still have spears. This war is upon you whether you like it or not.

That’s all.

I’m off to Asia for the next 2 months. My mind will be occupied with other, more pleasant things. I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Dear Democrats! As much as I want to use a bunch of epithets for you, I’ll restrain myself. Instead, I’ll tell you a story. You know, back in the days, when warfare consisted of men on horseback with arrows it wasn’t really that much different from warfare today.

In early 13^th century there was a powerful shah, Muhammad II, ruling a vast empire covering modern day Iran and Afghanistan. He was enormously wealthy and had a well-trained army. To the east of his empire the Mongols roamed the vast empty steppes. You know, of course, that Mongols didn’t have any structured government, didn’t have a capital and were, in the eyes of their cultured neighbors, a bunch of unwashed ignorant barbarians. Their presence, however, didn’t bother the shah much, since his armies were far more superior in numbers and better trained.

Genghis Khan, the leader of the Mongols may have been an unwashed barbarian, but he was also a smart strategist and a shrewd warrior. He sent a small caravan of goods into a small city of the shah’s empire to look like a gesture of good will, but in reality to test whom he was dealing with. The ruler of that city suspected they were spies and had their heads cut off and sent back to Genghis Khan. That, of course, meant war.

The shah didn’t worry too much about that. Let them come, he would crush them. The war maneuvers have unraveled along the 500-mile river that ran from north to south and separated the empire from the Mongolian territory to the east. The shah sent his mighty force to the river and after a fierce battle on the southern end the Mongols retreated. He also received the word of the Mongolian army consisting of motley crew of bums in rags on starving horses. Seeing that Mongols were not a match for his army he sent even more troops to the southern border. A few months later, however, another attack came unannounced, this time from the north side of the river. Unprepared for this kind of maneuver, the shah quickly dispatched a large part of his army to the north. This kind of back and forth continued for a few more months, exhausting the shah’s army. The troops were vast and immobile. They had the wagons and provisions and could not move as fast as the Mongols, each of who was riding one horse and having several other “spare” horses with them. This way they could drink horse’s milk, ride a fresh horse, and eat it if it became necessary.

As you can imagine this constant pestering, even though the Mongols were outnumbered, took a toll on the shah’s resources. Mongols relied on their mobility, dexterity with arrows while riding, communication techniques that included flags and torches rather than messengers. Shah had no option but to retreat to the west. Imagine his surprise when he arrived to the city of Bukhara, which was to the west of the capital city of Samarkand only to find the entire Genghis Khan army waiting for him at the city’s gates. Genghis Khan has managed the impossible: he crossed the impassable desert from the north, using his knowledge of chain of oases. Shah was destroyed; he fled with a handful of soldiers to an island in the Caspian Sea where he died of hunger.

Now, I hope I don’t need to interpret this story for you. You went to college, you know what a metaphor is. The teabaggers, the unorganized pests, are winning the battle. They are loud, they don’t have a clear message (they are against many things), they look like a bunch of buffoons, but their message sticks and yours doesn’t. You offer universal health coverage, they scream of the upcoming socialism and shit in your pool; your ideas are good, they don’t have any ideas. But they stand as one, they circle the wagons, they demand compromises from us and don’t give any concessions. And you, with all your intellectual superiority, bicker among yourselves, worrying about stupid minutiae when your house is on fire. For them when it’s time to think – they attack, when it’s time to attack – they attack. For you, when it’s time to think – you think, when it’s time to attack – you still think.

Indecisive pussies! Simply disgusting!

Freaking Democrats can’t lead a prostitute to bed. They can’t even pass the watered down version of Health Bill. They were busy trying to make friends with Republicans, got none, but lost the base in the process.

Dear Lord! Please take their brains away and give them balls! That’s all I have to say about this – too frustrated.