Contributors

Monday, July 07, 2008

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

A reader down in comments suggested that I respond to a post by just dave from the 14 points of Fascism thread. I want to say right off the bat that I really should do this more often. There are some really great things written in comments every day and from now on, I will take the time to bring them out top more often, as is the case with the post left by just dave.

His post also touches on some things I have wanted to talk about lately so without further adieu, let's break down this little ditty and have some fun.

His first point, in a nutshell:

I extended this to corporations in my comment as well and can provide examples of fascist policies...What party, here and now, looks for that kind of control? Who wants more and more regulation on business? The control looked for by the left should simply leave one gob smacked.

The real problem dave has here is that he is operating under a false paradigm. In 2008, we are not trying to protect business from government...we are trying to protect government (which is us, btw) from business. Take a look at most members of Congress and tell me who has more power...them or the lobbyists? This is true of both Democrats and Republicans. Honestly, does dave think that the US Congress is more powerful right now than Blackwater? KBR? Haliburton? I would like him to illustrate how this might be. What him and others that post here suffer from is corporate dick envy. They view companies such as these as being the way to succeed in life which, ironically, is the exact opposite of the values they purport to represent. I equate their beliefs about corporate America to an eternal school yard crush or blind love-whichever you want.

His second point, in a nutshell:

The media angle we simply will not agree on...it doesn’t matter a lick who “owns” the stations because they’re not the ones on the air talking.... must take people like Dan Rather at their word...

Ah, the "media is liberal" argument. How much money did Rush Limbaugh just get? How long of a contract extension? What are his ratings? What about Fox News? There are plenty of conservative owned media out there with far and wide tentacles that are akin to the so called liberal media. I say so called because it does matter who owns the stations. I challenge dave or anyone else for that matter to find me a liberal on the board of GE or Viacom. Or on any board in "liberal" Hollywood. In addition, compare the media's coverage of the Vietnam war with the current one. Iraq is heavily censored and all of the big networks are told by their corporate masters to not show images that make America look bad. It's bad for business.

His Third Point, in a nutshell:

Human rights… Why didn’t you provide an example? Liberalism cheapens life with policies of abortion and euthanasia.

Really, dave? How many people have we killed in Iraq? How many of them were children? When it comes to the sanctity of life argument, you will get no respect from me as long as you continue with this glaring hypocrisy. I think you need to re-read this post and take another look at these pictures which, btw, the "liberal" media has never showed anywhere and then, please tell me who cheapens life.

As for an example on human rights abuses, how about this one? Didn't you call me "loony" a long time ago for comparing our poor human rights record, under Bush Co, with that of China? Well, I guess your pals have decided that the Chinese method of torture (from 1957!) isn't all that bad and so they stole it. Would you like another one? Chained to the ceiling of an airplane hangar for days. Awesome! That really will show those bad guys....right to bin Laden's door to happily be fitted for a vest. Or about how about another one on the subject of water boarding? And this is from a guy who supports the Iraq War. Dave, we are acting the same way they do...doesn't this bother you at all?

His Third Point, in a nutshell

Religion. We have very different reads on our own history. Seems to me the Pilgrims were seeking religious freedom, not to have religion expunged from their lives. LIL already covered this in fine detail.

I would recommend that dave, and everyone else for that matter, read Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen. The book describes various accounts throughout our history of how we have glorified certain people (e.g. Woodrow Wilson, Stephen Douglas) and how we don't assign blame to anything bad that we have done. It all happens anonymously. It is the most honest account of our own history, which includes religion and government, that I have ever read.

His Last Point, parceled out with commentary:

Yes, I do believe we are safer today under George Bush than we would be under Al Gore or John Kerry. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind and no way that I could be dissuaded from this fact.

Thanks for proving my point about how open minded the right is when it comes to their thought process.

Here are some facts for dave and other who believe this line of thought, to consider.

Fact #1: President Bush spent the entire month of August, 2001, on vacation. Up to 9-11, he had spent more time on vacation than any other president in that same amount of time.

Fact #2: Al Qaeda attacked us on 9-11.

Fact #3: Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahari are the heads of Al Qaeda.

Fact #4: Both are still at large, nearly 7 years after the attacks, and, according to Bush's own NIE, have rebuilt their capabilities inside of Pakistan, to carry out attacks that would rival or surpass 9-11. This same NIE said that the war in Iraq has made it easier for Al Qaeda to recruit members and train them.

Fact #5: Al Qaeda was not in Iraq before we invaded in March of 2003.

You are supporting a belief, dave, not a fact. And it is a terribly blind one. If Al Gore had spent the entire month of August 2001 on vacation,was handed a report that said "Al Qaeda determined to attack inside US," and did nothing about it, even in light of all of the previous attacks (Cole, Khobar Towers), you and I would be an agreement. As it stands, your statement proves that you are stuck in belief system that ignores key facts, like those mentioned above. Or, perhaps you can't admit when you are wrong, which would make sense because that's how Bush Co acts all the time.

The bad guys say they want to get us…the bad guys have tried to get us but have been thwarted…and the bad guys are on the defensive because we’re not waiting for them to come get us, we’re actively going after them.

No, we're not. If we were, we would have finished the job in Afghanistan (see Gary Berntsen's Jawbreaker), conducted operations inside of Pakistan, and worked with our European allies to crack down on "bad guys" in places like Holland, Denmark, and England. Who are we fighting in Iraq now, dave? The Pentagon said last fall that Al Qaeda is all but eliminated in Iraq. Honestly, what is our mission there? First, it was WMDs. OK, fine. We took care of that. Then it was Hussein. He's dead. Done with that. Then it was Al Qaeda in Iraq. They're finished. And people like you are saying that if we leave now, we will be defeated? By whom?

You seem to constantly search for enemies that aren't there and, oddly, completely ignore the ones that are there and represent a very serious threat. Why is this so?

Clinton, Kerry, Obama are all on record as favoring “talk”, policing agencies and the courts to combat terrorism which is in fact the policy that was in place pre-9/11. How else can this be said? How can it even be debated?


Clinton bombed Al Qaeda when he was in office. He almost killed bin Laden and would've if bin Laden hadn't decided to go somewhere else. Can the same be said of Bush? Both Kerry and Obama want to bomb targets inside of Pakistan. So they aren't all just about talk. But talk is important (see Bush and North Korea). Talking does not mean appeasement. This another great example of your side's Orwellian doublespeak which preys upon the fear of the unknown.

Dave's PS, in a nutshell

I'm finishing this little nugget while watching the Euro2008 Championship. Events like this are great on so many levels. I particularly enjoy the patriotism the fans show throughout the tournament by displaying their flags and singing songs. It is so striking to think that you and your followers would never be at an event like that...would never show that type of pride in their country. How very sad.

Actually, what is sad is how little you understand "me and my followers." I have been to five baseball games this year and loved singing the national anthem every single time. I love this country. I think it is the best on the planet, even with all of its faults. And the faults are the real problem, aren't they? I look at them, reflect, and wonder how can we do better. You ignore them, re-direct, and say, "Fuck you, you are a traitor". As Mark Twain once said, "I support my country all of the time and my government when they deserve it."

Once the embarrassment that is our current administration leaves office, it is my hope that more people will be proud of this country. The real problem here, dave, and I think the Cliff May/Ed Schultz exchange below exemplifies this, is that you are under the impression that your side get exclusive rights to define what is and what isn't patriotic. You, and others on the right, also think, and this really makes sense in juxtaposition with your perceived grasp of patriotism, that you get
exclusive rights to define what the Bible means and, in particular, who is and who isn't a Christian.

You don't get to.

Thankfully, there is a whole country full of people out there with different views then your own. Views that are much more reflective than "
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind and no way that I could be dissuaded from this fact." These are the people that are going to restore some since of respectability to America. From now on, when it comes to defining patriotism and Christianity, you are going to have to get through them first, dave.

And me.

One final parting word of advice: I would be careful as to who you define as not having pride in their country. There are plenty of liberals that I know that won't be as nice as I have been. You see, dave, they live in "flyover" country too and they don't take too kindly to people questioning their patriotism.

But, hey, by all means, ignore what I say and please continue to do so. It just means another pile of votes for my guy!

Friday, July 04, 2008

Ed Schultz Opens Up A Can

Normally, I chuckle at all the pundits bickering with each other and I am not the biggest fan of Ed Schultz (McCain is not a war monger) but this clip is fucking money! One very good thing that has come out of the last eight years...especially the last four years...is that the left isn't going to let the right define them any more. Especially in sub moronic and immature way that Cliff May tries to do here.

I say tries because he utterly fails. I really hope the right keeps trying to do this for two reasons. First, it continues to prove that they have a child like understanding of that region of the world. Second, it gives the left a chance to show the country that every time the right pulls this shit, rather than shrinking back like frightened mice, they are going to come back heavy, like a big hard fucking horse cock.

So, please, righties, keep it up! (Pun fully intended)

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

A Navy Man, eh?

Regardless of who wins the election this fall, our new president is going to have some great people in the armed services to work with in our current ideological conflict. You may recall a post last November regarding General James Conway, head of the Marines and his desire to transfer troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. After a recent trip to Pakistan earlier this month, Admiral Michael Mullen (left), the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stated that the "epicenter of terrorism is Pakistan."

I know this doesn't jibe with the extraordinarily delusional fantasy of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their sub moronic supporters (e.g. right wing radio cocks, most conservative bloggers, and some folks who post here) who are still trapped in the single minded belief that Iraq is our best line of defense. Thank God it doesn't and it makes me feel a whole lot better knowing that there are guys like Admiral Mullen on the job. He has also said:

"There appears to be little political progress in Iraq. " (USA Today).

"If [the Iraqis] aren't making progress in [the political] realm, the prospects for movement in a positive direction are not very good. Failure to achieve tangible progress toward [political] reconciliation requires a strategic reassessment." (testimony before Congress).

Each day, we see more and more military leaders saying that without political efforts...ideological efforts...we will not succeed. This is a hard pill to swallow...especially for the crowd that: a) does not have the intellect to understand how to do this and b) is primarily motivated by fear of the "other" and an insecurity stemming from an inability to accept any sort of diversity. We all know who I am talking about.

People like Admiral Mullen are going to be the ones who are going to assist the next president in actually doing something (possibly not a military something) about the real problem we have...the problem we have always had...which is Al Qaeda. They are in Pakistan, folks. We need to get that part of the world and get there soon...with our ideas, our hearts, and even our troops. It's time to win. It's what I have been saying all along and now I have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff backing my shit up.

Fuck Yeah.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

(Sound of WWII figther being shot down...)

We have gotten to the point now where conservatives pretty much fuck up on a daily basis. It's fun to watch how stupid they look (see: American people not listening) because the same old tricks in their magic bag of bullshit don't work. They remind me of an old record album that is stuck in a groove at the end of the vinyl. We have seen how they govern and it hasn't worked. In fact, their performance has been poor. Piss poor.

On some days...and yesterday was one of them....they go that extra mile and do something really stupid. Grover Norquist, anti tax dude and one of the chief architects of neo conservatism (his Wednesday meetings are essential to the movement), dropped by the Time's Washington bureau for an interview on the election. He was giving his views on who McCain should pick for VP when he was asked what he thought about Senator Obama. He said:

"He's basically John Kerry with a tan."

Hee Hee. This is going to be more fun than I thought.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Look To The Left

On the left hand side of the page you will see a graphic which shows the latest count, based on the tracking polls, of the Presidential race, the Senate Race, and the House race. Click on it and you will go to Electoral-vote.com to see more detailed information.

This will be here until election day!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

14 Lovely and Beautiful Points.

Why not make this week a fascist week? Always a fun topic. Let's take a look at what Dr Lawrence Britt, political scientist, writer, and former executive at Xerox, Mobil, and Allied Chemical, defines as his 14 points of fascism. These are based on extensive studies of Nazi Germany, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, and Chile.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism

From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights

The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism

Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.

5. Rampant sexism

Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.

6. A controlled mass media

Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.

7. Obsession with national security

Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together

Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.

9. Power of corporations protected

Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated

Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts

Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment

Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption

Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

14. Fraudulent elections

Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.

Again, I ask, sound like any group we know? Or any country we know...say in the past eight years?

Monday, June 23, 2008

Who is Right and who is right?

The post below once again drew a flurry of emails (I will never get why more people prefer to email then post in comments), two phone calls, and two hearty hand shakes of approval. Since the topic of who is more like Nazis, the right or the left, came up in comments, thanks to returning champ, just-dave, I thought I would present a quote from the book Teaching Social Studies in Middle and Secondary School by Candy Beal, Cheryl Mason Bolick and Peter H. Martorella.

As you read this quote, I would like you to chime in, in comments, as to who you think these words more accurately describe...liberals or conservatives, as defined by the current state of affairs in the United States.

Extreme patriotism and nationalism, however, can lead to the oppression of dissident minorities and hatred and distrust of other nations. These forces can create barriers to greater understanding across cultures and reduce the opportunities for people to to work together to achieve common goals. They can also create an exaggerated sense of superiority, as occurred in Nazi Germany. Additionally, in an era where an increasing number of nations possess nuclear weapons and unstable political leadership, excessive patriotism and nationalism can threaten the very existence of the world.

Now who does that sound like.....hmmm?

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Not When They Do It!

I think I need to bring this picture out more often. Many right wing pundits (new term coming for them soon) have been attacking the education system more frequently of late and people are not seeing why this happening. It's pretty obvious.

So, I thought that on this beautiful Monday morning, I would share with you a poem that one of my colleagues recently gave to me in the hopes that an answer will come to mind as to why they are doing it.
BE DANGEROUS

My mother sat rocking in the shade of our apple tree
And reminisced about her youth,
Of her terrible days in the camps.
I sat motionless, in disbelief,
How could another people be so cruel?

I asked my mother
Why they took her to the camps? She was but fourteen.
She rocked thoughtfully for awhile....
Well, my child, she began,
When they took over our land,
They came looking for the politicians and their families,
They came looking for the soldiers and their families,
They came looking for the policemen and their families,
They came looking for the teachers and their families.
My blood pumped hard echoing in disbelief,
The teachers......the teachers..........the teachers.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, as stunned as I.

I asked my mother
Why the teachers? They are people of peace.
She rocked thoughtfully for awhile.....
Well my child, she began,
When they take over any land,
They come looking for the teachers because teachers are dangerous people.
Teachers cause children to think, to dream, to hope.
Teachers reveal history and new ideas.
Teachers bring a society to reading and writing.
Teachers cause children to question and teachers inspire action.
Teachers are dangerous people.

I asked my mother
What I should do? I am a teacher.
She rocked thoughtfully for awhile....
Well my child she began,
I know this is difficult to understand,
For in Canada, teachers do not understand their power,
For in Canada, teachers are always embattled,
Made to see themselves as less than important.
But, because this is Canada, you must continue to be a teacher.
You, the teacher, are freedom's greatest hope......be dangerous.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Holy....crap

Just bopped over to Electoral-Vote. Com to check in on the latest polls. Wow. I knew Obama would get a bump for being the nominee but I had no idea it would be 344 to 194! Say what you will about polls and how they don't matter in June...it's still 5 months out...blah blah....but the campaigns read them every day and make adjustments based on what they say.

Someone is campaign is shitting pick Twinkies....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Calling All Ostriches

For those of you who still think that the war in Iraq couldn't possibly be about corporate thievery I submit this article and this article from the New York Times.

The first article tells the story of one Charles M Smith, the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. He was fired because he refused to sign off on a billion dollars of "questionable" money that KBR charged to the US government. After he was fired, the money was gladly handed over. Gosh, what a shock.

The second article details the other half of why we went to War in Iraq...oil. ExxonMobil, Total, Shell, and BP are all set to take their no bid contracts on June 30th and begin to service the oil wells in Iraq. And there are still people out there that deride those like myself who think oil had anything to do with it?

I'm curious as to what the earth looks like with so many heads buried so deeply in it. Well, I'm sure they'll convince themselves that none of it could be true because it came from the "Traitor" Times. Maybe they should keep on thinking that and, in the meantime, I will be gently preparing their beds in the new asylum of cognitive dissonance they are going to enter in about seven months.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

This Is Wonderful

When I first saw this, I laughed for...oh...about an hour. Then I thought, well, this is an exaggeration. They aren't really like this. Then I watched it again and thought....fucking a right they are! It's time to start admitting the obvious:

Shit smells.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Who Is The Real Tax Man?

I got this graphic, at lleft, courtesy of Robo Cam Guy, who I just saw in St Louis. Unless you make over 2.9 million a year, why on earth would you vote for John McCain? Or any of the antiquated trickle down Republicans?

I know several of you that fall into the first category that are steadfastly Republican. So...you want to pay more in taxes then?

Sunday, June 15, 2008

A Welcome Homecoming

I came home tonight from weekend trip and found this sitting in my email box. It is an article from the Huffington Post regarding War Inc., the new film from John Cusack. It warmed my heart to read the following responses that John got regarding his film.

From Sgt. Brent Sammann (left), an active-duty soldier in the US Army:

I'm a first-hand witness to the exploitation by KBR and other companies lending their services to the war effort -- services us soldiers are fully capable of doing ourselves.... The military is being overcharged by these companies on a regular basis. Also, the poor service and treatment we get from some of their employees who make three times as much as those of us serving our country that are not in it for the money but are trying to make the world a better place for everyone.

From SPC (P) Johnny Rhodes in 3/2 SCR Infantry based in Diyala, Iraq:

After being awake for 3 days I may be a little bit out of it, so excuse any rambling or incoherence on my part. Off the top of my head, I can easily say that KBR in particular is of no help here in my area of Iraq. They do, jobs soldiers could do, get paid way better for it, but the work is almost always substandard.... at any given time there are hordes of these guys tying up the phones and internet, cramming the chow hall, etc. Which makes the soldiers have to wait. And wait. And wait. They also paid way more than me, for a job, I could do with my eyes closed.

From Brenda Clampitt, of Baton Rouge, LA, the wife of a soldier stationed at Camp Adder in Tallil, Iraq:

[My husband] drives the trucks and Humvees and escorts the KBR around where they need to go. He doesn't understand why they get paid way more then he does when [he and his fellow soldiers] are the ones doing the protecting, and are the ones getting shot at and blown up. He has seen soldiers die in front of him; he has seen lives destroyed and the country torn apart. My husband would serve his country whether he got paid or not, that is just how he is. He loves his country and wants to protect it but he sees first hand what is going on over there and he doesn't like it.... I myself am sick and tired of this war. It is dragging on and on and it is all about the money. I am not anti war. But I am FOR everything your movie is about.

The article also references a column in today's New York Times regarding the outsourcing of interrogation to private contractors (??!!?). I have a column coming soon on interrogation. I need to let it simmer a little while longer.

So, based on these quotes, would anyone of you "I just hate Bush" folks want to tell me, now that soldiers are starting to come forward, that there ISN'T any profiteering going on? Or maybe you could tell me what else you need-evidence wise?


Friday, June 13, 2008

Hypocrisy Defned

For those of you who are interested in the purest example of hypocrisy in the history of mankind, check out Kevin Baker' latest posts regarding the Gimto Supreme Court case, Boumediene vs. Bush. As is the norm with folks on the right, rather than putting the blame squarely on the people he supports in Washington (Bush Co) for causing the problem to begin with, he accuses the 5 judges who voted in favor of detainee rights of being activist judges (snore...).

This case would have never happened if our current leaders in the executive branch decided we could hold people without trial and torture the shit out of them. I find it hilarious that the "less government" crowd supports this. Kevin and company have been screeching in fear that a President Obama would create a fascist government with totalitarian control over its people.

Um....dumb assess.....it's already here and you are the biggest cheerleaders of it!!! And they accuse me of having a blind belief system? Good Lord....

Almost as funny is the arrogance that they FEEL that they know more about the Constitution than 5 Supreme Court justices and can't see the political bias of the Bush appointees, Roberts and Alito.

But the real kicker is the quote that Kevin has on the top of his page.....in the banner which defines his site!!!

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand

Well, I guess if the shoe fits....

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Obama is Pro-Life?

Great article today in the Huffington Post on how Barack Obama is the real Pro Life candidate. Since we all like stats...

Obama could remind the voter that only 11% of sexually active women don't use contraception and from this 11% comes 50 percent of the nation's abortions. Ninety-three percent of the American public strongly favors contraception because of this very reason. Very few voters are aware, however, that not one pro-life organization in the United States supports contraception. Or that instead, pro-life groups have been spearheading campaigns to prevent Americans from accessing birth control. No less than 80% of self-described pro life voters strongly support contraception . Few know that McCain has a long legislative resume devoted to voting against access to contraception and prevention.

So, how does John McCain plan on reducing the number of abortions in the US?


Monday, June 09, 2008

Please Kindly Remove the Pole.

On Saturday, The Minnesota DFL Party endorsed Al Franken to be their candidate for US Senate.

With the rest of the country fully nauseated with conservatives in general and aching to give them the heave-ho, one would think that his path to the Senate would be a cake walk, especially in the only state that voted for Mondale in 1984!

And when he is running against Norm "go with the flow" Coleman. A cinch, right?

Wrong.

We must pause here to note two key facts:
  • He is running in the No Fun Capital of the World (See this article)
  • His path to the Senate has been made much more difficult by the teaming (thanks to very astute conservative pundits) of the high fallutin' right wing, morals crowd with the PC "all porn is degrading to women" dorks who have ten foot poles up their asses.
There's nothing we can do about the first problem. Minnesota has one gigantic fun meter and if it goes over to far to the right...well....it's time to go find something miserable to do because, gol darn it, people shouldn't be allowed to have that much fun!! We can't spend our days playing sports, going to clubs, and having a good time with our friends. We have to spend all of leisure time at either Home Depot-Menards-Sears or using what we bought at Home Depot-Menards-Sears fixing up our houses or.......(smoke coming our of Mark's ears) cabins. (side note: this will be the topic of a future non political post entitled Next Stop: Coffin. Just wanted to give you a preview...)

But the second problem....ah the second problem...that is an issue we can do something about. Personally, I was under the impression that the faux "porn is degrading to women" argument was left behind permanently in the 1980s. Sadly, I was wrong. After several of Franken's old sketches from Saturday Night Live were revisited, as well as a piece he wrote for Playboy in 2000, every self righteous woman with a giant pole up her ass has been screaming at the top of their lungs for his head on a pike.

Ironically, and just as loudly, conservatives like Katherine Kersten and other members of the morality police have also been complaining about Franken and are licking their chops at running against him in the coming months. And why wouldn't they? They have a fairly loud group of uptight dingbats on the left who they can exploit and use to help them win the election. The race between Franken and Coleman is close enough that if the anti-porn lefties don't turn out to vote or vote for a third party candidate, then Coleman will be serving a second term.

I wish I could get both groups in one room and spend an hour with them detailing why the 95 percent of the rest of us wish they would shut the fuck up. Both groups need to realized that....PEOPLE LIKE TO FUCK!! In fact, people need to fuck. It is on the very lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. People also like to talk about fucking, how hot chicks' asses are, and how, on some occasions, it's OK to treat your lover like a plastic fuck doll. Sometimes they even like to write about it or make a joke about it.

And that's just what Al has done. To say that he is a misogynist, and focus on that ad naseaum, is so fucking ludicrous when you compare his Playboy column to....say....Coleman's support of the Iraq War. Why don't we go back and take a look the pictures of the dead children in Iraq? How important does Franken's joke about Leslie Stahl seem now?

It's satire, people. Please lighten the fuck up, remove the pole from your ass, try watching a porn film (I recommend Belladonna's Cock Pigs or Belladonna's Butthole Whores Volume #2-both were made by women) and let's focus on the real issues of the day like Iraq, health care, education, and the economy.

Can we...please?

Friday, June 06, 2008

A Special Dedication

It seems that quite a lot of hoopla has developed as a result of my post regarding GI Bills. In fact, this was a recent comment left regarding said subject.

How can any of you can even listen to what markadelphia says after his embarrassing post regarding McCain's position on the Webb GI bill?

I have to say that this comment is correct. I really didn't do my homework. In fact, I left out several key points and I thank God that someone else out there is more on top of this story than I am. Why doesn't everyone go take a peek at Edward Hume's recent piece on McCain and where he stands on GI Bills and realize how pedestrian my post was?

Some key points:

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Sen. Barack Obama expressed some well-timed astonishment at McCain's opposition, and the two have been feuding about it ever since. The media and pundits seem perplexed, collectively suggesting: That's not the John McCain we know. Which is true: It is the John McCain they don't know. If the media weren't so mesmerized by the McCain image they have long promoted and instead got to know the McCain record, they would realize that there is nothing surprising or inconsistent about his position on the GI Bill.

For years he has opposed legislation that veterans and their advocates deem vital. In doing so, he is simply being true to the contemporary conservative wing of the GOP and its leader, George W. Bush, in opposing social programs and benefits for individuals, even if those individuals happen to be veterans. The only surprise is that anyone finds this surprising.

And facts?

So let's take McCain up on his invitation. Here is how he has stood on recent legislation supported by major veterans organizations:


* On Webb's GI Bill, he expressed opposition, and he was AWOL when it was time to vote on May 22.

* Last September, he voted against another Webb bill that would have mandated adequate rest for troops between combat deployments.

* On a badly needed $1.5-billion increase for veterans medical services for fiscal year 2007 -- to be funded through closing corporate tax loopholes -- he voted no. He also voted against establishing a trust fund to bolster under-budgeted veterans hospitals.

* In May 2006, he voted against a $20-billion allotment for expanding swamped veterans medical facilities.

* In April 2006, he was one of 13 Senate Republicans who voted against an amendment to provide $430 million for veterans outpatient care.

* In March 2004, he voted against and helped defeat on a party-line vote a $1.8-billion reserve for veterans medical care, also funded by closing tax loopholes.

I stand corrected. My post was embarrassing as it left it these key facts. I humbly apologize and fully admit that my writings were lacking in depth. You know what...I....ah....I'll just let Hume finish...

Webb pointed out that there really was no compromise in McCain's proposal because it would have excluded most veterans by offering full education benefits only to those with multiple enlistments, even though 70% to 75% of enlistees leave after one tour.


Compare McCain's stingy standards with the original GI Bill: Any veteran who served 90 days during World War II, in combat or not, earned full benefits. It is Webb's bill that represents the reasonable compromise between the gold standard set for the "greatest generation's" original GI benefits and what is doable in today's economy: a GI Bill that will truly pay for a college education after three years of service, without the onerous payroll deduction.

So here is where the McCain image and reality part company. It is certainly true that his affectionate and respectful rhetoric for America's servicemen and women takes a back seat to no one. But when it comes to improving the health and education of our veterans, McCain's record leaves them stranded by the side of the road.

Oh...no...that's going to leave a mark.


Seriously, though, if you want to bring it to me, as Junior Soprano once said, you're going to have to come heavy, that is, do your fucking research and leave your confirmation bias at the door.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Gently Into That Good Night

Well, it looks like the Hildawg is going to throw in the towel tomorrow, privately, and then on Saturday in public. I really hope that Senator Obama is smart enough to NOT pick her as a VP. She needs to become a nice cheerleader now and wait for the chance to be Senate Majority leader.

As the general election campaign gets under way, make sure to stop by Electoral-Vote.com for all the latest polls and updates on all the other races that are underway. Right now, Obama is up on McCain 287 to 227.

The pundits on the right are coming up with all they can think of to go after Obama. I have to say that so far what they are bringing to the table is laughable. They are so fucking tone deaf and have completely lost touch with the American people. Maybe they never knew to begin with? The central theme on most minds of Americans is the economy. Everything flows from there...Iraq....price of oil...health care etc.

If I were a Republican strategist, I would focus on why Obama's plans won't work in these areas, specifically the economy. Of course, they run the risk of having to explain why conservative ideology has utterly failed in the last 28 years but at least the American people will listen. If they continue to talk about Obama's church, Bill Ayers etc., the votes will continue to pile up for Obama, even in traditionally red states.

The American people are tuning out the right wing douche bag who has a TV show, radio show or blog. After all, how have any of what these fuckers have said helped in any way? Thank God we are finally starting to wake up.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

History

"I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations."

-Senator Barack Obama, June 3, 2008, St. Paul, MN, upon becoming the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Monday, June 02, 2008

What IS That Smell?

I thought something smelled pretty bad outside yesterday as I was re-shingling my garage roof. It was coming from the southeast and it was a distinct smell...a cross between urine, arm pit sweat, and vomit-with a hint of diarrhea thrown in for seasoning. I couldn't quite figure it out what it was until I opened up the paper this morning.

Karl Rove was in Rochester, Minnesota yesterday at the state Republican Convention.

As I read the report of his speech and criticisms of Obama (more on that in a moment), I was perplexed to discover that there was nary a mention of WHY THIS FUCKING CRIMINAL ASSHOLE ISN'T IN FUCKING JAIL YET!!!!!

Oh, wait. That's right. I forgot the two main rules of America in the last eight years.

Rule #1: Any and all assertions that Rove, Bush, Cheney etc are criminals are to be immediately dismissed as partisan hatred.

Rule #2: When Democrats break the law, they should be punished. When Republicans break the law, it may look they are breaking the law but they really aren't. Don't let your eyes deceive you. Any accusations made towards Republicans are ALL lies made by godless whores who are trying to destroy America with communism.

Silly me. One would think that when someone...

...Breaks a federal law, punishable by death, and reveals the name of am undercover CIA agent, oddly one who was in charge of tracking loose nukes-something I thought was important

...Fires US Attorneys solely on the basis of their unwillingness to fabricate evidence against Democrats in the various states in which they worked

...Exchanges documents using RNC email servers or personal, third party emails in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

...Exercises improper political influence over government decision making such as using the Department of Justice to manipulate the court involved in the prosecution of former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Siegleman.

....Refuses to respond to a Congressional subpoena regarding #4 and has stated that he will also ignore another subpoena in regards to #2....

that they would be Vito's bitch in San Quentin right now. But not ol' Karl. Oh no. Karl gets a free pass from the same people who laughingly claim to be "tough on crime." These same people, and you know who you are, use the same line of defense that is often employed by high priced defense attorneys, painting the criminal as a victim of some great injustice or bias.

A line of defense that these same people, in what has to be the finest example of pure hypocrisy of I have ever seen, scream about being against all the live long day! Victim culture, my neatly shaved ass!

But by all means, please...continue to defend a piece of shit like Karl Rove and prove to the entire world that your words, regarding toughness on crime, are empty, hollow, and command an immediate loss of respect.

So, as I read Rove's criticisms on Obama as he delivered them to the "tough on crime" crowd, I had to laugh. In fact, I even guffawed! Let's take a look at a couple of them, with commentary of course...

Barack Obama is far out of the mainstream and someone who doesn’t necessarily have the same view of America that you and I do.

Well, this is true...if the mainstream is criminal scumbags and the view of America that he has is one that has him and a few, select others, as above the law.

Naivete and inexperience-a lethal combination.

Ah, the fear card...an oldie but a goodie.

Seriously, though, who is he kidding? Does he think the entire country are a bunch of fucking idiots? The above quote does not accurately describe Senator Obama...it describes President Bush! Take a look at the results of the last eight years...the loss of human life in Iraq...the incompetence of the response to Hurricane Katrina..the horse shit state of the economy and all the problems that go along with that...the complete ignorance of the people who actually attacked us on 9-11....and tell me again...please tell me with a straight face who is naive and inexperienced?

His speech was all the more surreal as it was met with "whoops, cheers, and ovations." Can someone please tell me what all these people are happy about? They're Republicans, right? And that means they deplore government overspending, correct? The Bush Administration has spend so much money that we are in debt up to our eyeballs to China. Our country may never recover its economic status in the world.

His whole speech made me really wonder, though...is this all the Republicans have for the general election? Boy, are they going to be in for rude awakening.

I can't wait.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Ah, (former) Fox News Commentators....

....proving two of my long running points for me. Michelle Malkin, last seen ripping Sally Field for being against wanton death and destruction, recently proved two Markadelphisms in her campaign against Dunkin Donuts:
  • Most conservative pundits (and many Americans for that matter) have a child like understanding of Middle Eastern culture.
  • Conservative portray themselves as being against the "victim" culture and yet still love to play the victim! Hilarious...
Malkin blasted a recent Dunkin Donuts ad, with Rachel Ray, as being pro-jihadist, because Ray is seen wearing a scarf (at left) that, according to Malkin, all the terrorists wear. Gasp!

Dunkin Donuts has now pulled that ads and Malkin thanked them, saying, "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

"Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons," she said.

Actually, no.

Amahl Bishara, an anthropology lecturer at the University of Chicago who specializes in media matters relating to the Middle East, said complaints about the scarf's use in the ad demonstrate misunderstandings of Arab culture and the multiple meanings that symbols can take on depending on someone's perspective.

"I think that a right-wing blogger making an association between a kaffiyeh and terrorism is just an example of how so much of the complexity of Arab culture has been reduced to a very narrow vision of the Arab world on the part of some people in the U.S.," Bishara said in a phone interview. "Kaffiyehs are worn every day on the street by Palestinians and other people in the Middle East - by people going to work, going to school, taking care of their families, and just trying to keep warm."

Well, she's a Marxist traitor professor bent on the destruction of all things wholesome and good so what does she know anyway, right?!!??

Actually the real answer behind the scarf picture was given recently by Christian Lander, writer of Stuff White People Like.

White People’s body temperatures do not operate on logical or consistent levels, and because of this white people are often forced to wear clothing combinations that might seem strange or illogical...But without a doubt, the one piece of clothing that helps to regulate white body temperature in all situations is the scarf...A thin cotton t-shirt paired with a scarf to enable maximum temperature control in bars and places with air conditioning.

Hey, that's just what Rachel Ray is wearing!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

GI Bills A Go Go

Andy Tannenbaum, over at electoral-vote.com, had a nice take on the whole McCain versus Webb GI Bill brouhaha.

John McCain celebrated Memorial Day by attacking the new G.I. bill that passed the Senate last week 75 to 22. The bill offers tuition payments and other benefits to veterans after one enlistment. McCain wants the benefits to depend on how long you serve--the longer you serve the more benefits you get. While this position is certainly defensible, it may come back to haunt him. One of the key sponsors of the bill is Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), himself a Vietnam veteran and an oft-mentioned possible Veep for Obama. If the Democratic ticket ends up being Obama/Webb, Webb is going to spend months saying: "I proposed benefits to help our men and women who fought bravely in Iraq and curmudgeon McCain opposes it." That position will be tough to defend.

I agree. What kind of sense does it make to attack a bill that give more benefits to vets in a time when there is a war that most of the people in this country don't support? As we move into the general election, I think we are going to see more of this tone deafness on the part of John McCain and other conservatives.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ah, Fox News commentators.....

....helping me to prove my point regarding middle ground every single day:)

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Bust The Joint Out

One of my favorite films of all time is Good Fellas. It stars Robert DeNiro (left), Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci....directed by Martin Scorsesse. The film is essentially a history of the Mob from the 1950s to the 1980s, as seen through the eyes of Henry Hill, a real life mobster turned informant.

During one scene, a restaurant owner goes to Paulie, the mob boss, and asks for financial help with his eatery. Over the next few minutes, we see, very clearly, how the mob operates. Once they get their hooks into an establishment, they can do whatever they want. If the owner can't come up with the monthly kickbacks, it's time to bust the joint out, which basically means they run up a tab n the restaurant's credit, spending as much money as they can before they burn it down for the insurance money. Sometimes they run up the credit even if the guy does makes his payments.

Over the last 45 years this has been the modus operandi of the United States government when it comes to smaller countries. We loan them money and if they can't pay us, we bust the joint out, which, in geo-political terms, means we get to dictate its policy....a policy which is, of course, favorable financially to US corporations. We also get to take whatever goods we want. If the country decides to not listen to us or fuck us over, well....then you get Iraq.

And, if you are a defense contractor who has helped to buy off an entire administration, you can make some serious coin....

Last Thursday, Mary L. Ugone, the Pentagon’s deputy inspector general for auditing, submitted an internal auditing report of 8.2 billion dollars of taxpayer money to a Congressional oversight committee. According to the report, virtually all of the contracts did not follow ANY of the federal rules regarding contract payments and many of them had little or no record of what, if anything, was received. In addition, the report says that there was no accountability in nearly 2 billion dollars of Iraqi assets that were seized and distributed in pallets of cash. No records were kept of these disbursements and no one knows if this figure of 2 billion is even accurate.

As examples of this financial mismanagement, the report offers:
  • a document identified at the top as a “Public Voucher for Purchases and Services Other Than Personal.” It indicates that $320.8 million went for “Iraqi Salary Payment,” with no explanation of what the Iraqis were paid to do.
  • A payment of $11.1 million was paid to IAP, an American contractor, on the basis of a voucher with no indication of what was delivered.
  • a US Treasury check for $5,674,075.00 to pay a company called Al Kasid Specialized Vehicles Trading Company in Baghdad for items that a voucher does not even describe.
  • $6,268,320.07 went to the contractor Combat Support Associates with even less explanation than the item above.
  • a scrawl on a piece of paper says only that $8 million had been paid out as “Funds for the Benefit of the Iraqi People.”
A fucking scrawl on a piece of fucking paper? Are you kidding me?

The report also notes that the preparers were unable to find a clear set of records of payments, by the American Military to its allies, in the amount of 135 million dollars. These payments include 70 million to the UK, 45 million to Poland, and 20 million to South Korea. The auditors made repeated requests to find out what these payments were for and their requests were left unanswered. As the chairman of the Congressional committee Henry Waxman said, " “It sounds like the coalition of the willing is the coalition of the paid — they’re willing to be paid."

Bear in mind that this report, the first of its kind to come directly from the Pentagon (which means it is a primary source-unfiltered by the media), is in ADDITION to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction report which could not account for 9 billion dollars in cash, last seen on these pallets. Remember this video from a while back?

Of course, this isn't even the best part. Because there were so many contracts to be examined, the auditors only took a representative sample of.......702 of them?!!? Just exactly how many defense contractors are there? And much taxpayer money has actually been wasted if 8.2 billion dollars is representative? Good grief....

I submit that Bush Co has busted the joint out and, stunningly, 28 percent of the voting public think he is an honest guy. I have spent a lot of time over the last few years wondering why this is and then I realized, after spending way too much time getting into the conservative mindset, that the reason for this is so many of them love to show the rest of the country how government is fucked up...even if it is done on purpose! Because then they get to point to reports like this and say, "See? This why we need less government and we need to privatize everything" while quietly masturbating (balls gently cradled of course) at the thought of a small government that lets US Corporations do whatever they want with no oversight.

Isn't that what we fucking have right now?

Apparently, the truth has been ignored or lost to them as this war has largely been run by private industry. There are just as many contractors in Iraq as there are soldiers. And there are private militias (Blackwater) running around doing whatever they want because they aren't accountable to the same laws that our armed forces are.

Take a look at these numbers. Go read the report. It is on the defense departments web site. Do any of you still think that we are in Iraq to "protect freedom?" It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened to this money. It went to our very own little version of the Mob-US Defense Contractors-and President Bush gave them his blessing to do it. This was the plan all along, folks. They knew there was a ton of money to be made in Iraq and they seized the day. Our CEO President really wanted to show, once and for all, that he can be successful in business and make money for his friends, even if it involved fraud. As with the Mob, Bush wanted to be "made."

We are at the point, folks, where we need to protect the government from corporations and not corporations from the government. This report is an excellent example of the sad state we are in. If anyone thinks that the last eight years has seen more government control and that's the problem (as some have intimated to me), they clearly have their heads so far up their ass that they won't need to get their annual colonoscopy this year.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Honoring The Fallen

Today is Memorial Day. If you get the chance, call up a friend or family member of an armed forces service member who lost their life. Tell them how important their lives were and how important they are to you. In our current conflict, this is all the more important.

If you don't know anyone who has lost a loved one in the armed services, take a stroll through your local cemetery and honor the unknown with some kind words and benevolent thoughts. These days, more than any other time, we need to deeply understand the sacrifice that our all volunteer army makes every day.

Here's to the fallen...

Saturday, May 24, 2008

She Almost Had Me

For a brief 24 hour period this week, I considered the possibility of Hillary as the number two on the Democratic ticket. While it is true that I don't like her and think she is just about as wrong for this country as President Bush is, she would help Obama get into the White House. I mulled over the cost of doing business with the Clintons, the concept of keeping your enemies close, and thought that, in the spirit of being open minded, giving her a chance at the VP post might be a good idea.

And then she opened her mouth and I was reminded why she is revolting.

My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it

I don't really care if she was tired or had a brain fart when she said this...it is just plain wrong. Given the fact that Senator Obama has received hundreds of death threats since declaring his candidacy, this statement is so unbelievably insensitive that there is no way she should be VP.

Obama can win without her and her name should be thrown in the fucking trash heap.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Support the...er...um...troops? (Part Two)

All of you may recall, I wrote a piece back in March of 2007 regarding the poor treatment that returning troops from Iraq have received at the various VA hospitals around the country. Rather than agree that changes needed to be made, many conservatives decided it would be better to use Walter Reed fiasco as an example of how government run health care doesn't really work.

Not really the point...but hey, remember, that is their modus operandi...re-direct, deflect, deny, blame liberals, and shirk all responsibility.

A couple of months back the conservative douche bag pundit machine, led by Bill O'Reilly, decided to come out with the statement that "there aren't that many homeless vets. Liberals like to make a big deal out of a few nutsos who live under bridges."

Actually, there are about 200,000 homeless vets and our government has all but ignored them. Put them together with the large numbers of PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) patients coming back from our current war in Iraq and what do you get?

A piece of shit administration that does not give a rat's ass about the troops. To them, they are just fodder that facilitates the purpose of making them and their pals rich on oil and defense industry money (side rant: a post is coming soon on this one, boys and girls, from a primary source in the Pentagon, which essentially proves this point).

Adding insult to injury was the vote of no support from John McCain and President Piece of Shit himself regarding Jim Webb's GI Bill. Take a look at what the bill has to offer and tell me....how can anyone honestly say that these douche bags support the troops? This is a bill that enjoys heavy bi partisan support (75 Senators voted in favor of it, including several fiscal conservatives) and offers extraordinary educational opportunities for returning vets. It gives something back to the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for us around the world and John McCain doesn't support it?

So when Senator Obama said this yesterday:

Senator Webb and the leaders of both parties have introduced a 21st century GI bill that would give this generation of returning heroes the same chance at an affordable college education that we gave the greatest generation. I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country. … but I can’t understand why he would line up behind the president in opposition to this GI bill. I can’t believe he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him and the president more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them.

....how did some conservative react? They accused Obama of mis-characterizing McCain's position, stooping down to a low level, being naive and stupid, and blah blah blah...we are going to hate him no matter what...blah blah blah....

Well, let's take a closer look at McCain's position, shall we?

First of all, he didn't even vote on the bill. He wasn't in town! He doesn't have the balls to vote no on something and then he whines like a baby at Obama for being "naive?" What a dick...

Second, according to Fox News, McCain doesn't like the bill because he has "concerns that offering education benefits as early as the Webb bill allows would discourage people from re-enlisting." So, he wants to keep people in the army longer? Gee, that has worked out really well. Stop-Loss, anyone?

Well, we all know what happens when people get an education. They listen to the Marxist professors propagate lies about all the bad things the United States has done in the world and then they start to (gasp!) question authority. And if that happens (double gasp!), it will be the end of all things wholesome and good (i.e. douche bags stealing tax payer money and using it to steal more money from brown people, killing a few hundred thousand of them in the process).

Give a person an education and what do you have?

The answer comes from my favorite episode of M*A*S*H. The episode, entitled "QuoVadis, Captain Chandler?", tells the story of a bombardier (Chandler) who ends up at the 4077th and says that he is Jesus Christ. He refuses to go back to the front and, as is sometimes the case, Colonel Flagg shows up. Flagg is in Colonel Potter's office with Hawkeye and BJ.

Flagg: Damnit, Colonel, Chandler's turned chicken. All it takes is one GI with a messiah complex and before you know it you'll have hundreds claiming they are Christ and refusing to drop bombs. Then what will have?

BJ: Peace?

Yep.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Great Line

From the comments section, courtesy of BLK:

Two days after Bush lectured the Knesset about "appeasement," Israel began peace negotiations with Syria.This man is completely out of touch with reality. He's like a five-year-old in a perpetual temper tantrum.

It really is true. I am counting the days when our country can lead again as opposed to being an international embarrassment.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

One Note Samba

With another big defeat for Obama in a primary, the "liberal" media are sounding like a broken record. If I hear the words "White" "Middle Class" and "Voters" together on any news station, I turn the channel. Are they that dumb that they can't think of anything else to talk about?

What really cracks me up is that it is simply not true. White middle class voters (d'oh) voted for Obama in Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, and yes, even Kansas. They did not vote for him in West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because that is where the supporting cast of Deliverance makes their home?

And, seriously, are any of those states going to vote for him in the general? Current polls show McCain up in all those states by 20 points.

Conservatives are cracking me up too. Bill Kristol wrote in his column, on Sunday in the New York Times, that he couldn't recall an eventual nominee losing that badly in a primary. Apparently he has a terrible memory because John McCain, THIS YEAR, lost to Huckabee in West Virginia by a score of 52 to 1 percent. And he lost to Romney in Utah by the score of 90 to 1 percent!

Ah, I love that feeling of a douche bag being so completely wrong.

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Big Lie

Last Thursday, President Bush was in Israel and addressed the Knessett, the country's legislature, to mark the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Jewish Homeland. Towards the end of his speech he said the following:

Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

The very night that President Bush made his speech I was sitting in the stands of my daughter's baseball game. A fellow parent and I were discussing our favorite television shows. She told me how much she liked 24 and I told her I was addicted from day one. She, being a conservative, looked at me, surprised, and said, "Wow. I didn't think a liberal would like that show."

Thus, we see how effective The Big Lie can be.

The Big Lie came up in comments recently and I really wanted to craft into a full blown column. I have to thank President Bush for providing me with an excellent opportunity to illustrate how the Big Lie works.

I find it hilariously ironic, on a number of levels which I will illustrate, that President Bush brought up Hitler while telling a "Big Lie." For you see, dear readers, it was Adolph Hitler himself that came up with the concept of the Big Lie. From his book, Mein Kampf

therefore, in view of the primitive simplicity of their minds they more easily fall a victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. Such a falsehood will never enter their heads and they will not be able to believe in the possibility of such monstrous effrontery and infamous misrepresentation in others; yes, even when enlightened on the subject, they will long doubt and waver, and continue to accept at least one of these causes as true.

In this case the Big Lie is that "some people" (meaning Democrats) who talk to our enemies are appeasers.

In listening to President Bush's speech, clearly he, and his merry band of cronies and pundits, don't have a fucking clue what appeasement means nor do they know what talking means. Let's consult the dictionary, shall we? Just as an aside, the simple fact that I have to explain this infuriates me, quite frankly, but when people with the emotions and intellect of eight year olds are running the country and supporting this president, I guess one must oversimplify.

appeasement: (noun): the policy of granting concessions to enemies to maintain peace.

Now, let's use it in a sentence.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain thought that a policy of appeasement would contain Adolph Hitler. By allowing him to take over small countries like Czechislovakia, Chamberlain thought Hitler would be satisfied.

How about talking?

talking: (verb): to speak or discuss; to give expression in words

And let's use it in a sentence.

President Reagan spent a great deal of time talking to the former Soviet Union. It was these talks, combined with America's overwhelming ability to outproduce the Russians, that led to the end of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

So, I think we can all see that appeasing your enemy is not the same as talking to your enemy.

What we can see is a Big Lie that comes, ironically, right out of Hitler's playbook. During World War II, the United States Office of Strategic Services prepared a psychological profile of Adolph Hitler, which stated:

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

Little did the OSS know, lo those many years ago, that they would be describing, in complete perfection, the conservative movement in this country sixty years later.The above paragraph sums up exactly how Bush et al operate and his speech last week further exemplifies this fact. Talking is appeasement, gol darnit, and if you don't subscribe to the Bush Doctrine, than you are weak and an appeaser! They have been very successful at doing this, hence my friend at the baseball game thinking a liberal wouldn't like a show like 24. She, by her own admission, spends her days listening to the "tap into your inner rage and pass it off as fact" talk radio hosts. They have convinced her that they are the keepers of the truth and the other, "liberal" media is all lies and propaganda.

Great....

So, President Bush, and other conservatives, want the country to believe that someone like Barack Obama would appease terrorists 0r terrorist states. This is a lie. To begin with, Obama is on record as saying that he won't diplomatically engage any terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and he won't recognize Hamas until they recognize Israel. As far as actual countries go, someone like Senator Obama knows that appeasement and talking are not the same thing. The two don't correlate and, if anything, the United States NOT talking with Iran has produced disastrous results and made them more influential in the region. He knows that if the Allies had spent more time talking to Hitler and studying him (reading Mein Kampf, maybe) rather than granting him concessions, we might have entered the war earlier and been able to prevent some bloodshed. So, we really need to start talking with Iran and re-establish full diplomatic ties with them. Both Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates, two member of Bush's cabinet, agree. Also, very ironic!

Senator Obama also knows, as do I and some of you, that when Bush and cronies say stuff like this, it is actually a mask for incompetence. The real reason why President Bush doesn't want to talk with countries like Iran is because he doesn't know what the fuck he is doing. The real reason why the pundits echo Bush's sentiments is because these people are completely devoid of any sort of cultural intelligence (i.e. they are bigots). Obama knows that Bush et al. don't understand anything about diplomacy and, quite frankly, they don't care. Bush would rather take the easy route. His actions prove that he always has. Rather than do the tough job of combating Al Qaeda, he chose to attack a weak country for a cheap win.

Bush's statement on talking and appeasing also makes no sense when you consider that the next day he went to beg the Saudis for more oil. The Saudis, who still have hundreds of madrasahs in which the hatred of America is taught on a daily basis and who were responsible for 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers. And what about North Korea? They are a state sponsor of terrorism and recently attempted to supply Syria with material to make a nuclear weapon. We just gave them a bunch of concessions, in the form of food and oil, and Bush has the gaul to say that he doesn't negotiate? Well, to be fair, he actually doesn't since, again, he doesn't know what he is doing and, is more or less, letting the Chinese and Asst. Secretary of State Christopher Hill handle negotiations.

Sadly, the irony doesn't end there. Standing in the Knessett, I wonder if George Bush thought of his grandfather, Prescott Bush, at all. In the 1930s, Prescott Bush was the director of the Hamburg-American Line, a shipping company between Germany and the United States. In 1933, members of this company attempted, unsuccessfully, to stage a military coup against FDR and install a military dictatorship. Prescott was also VP of A. Harriman and Co, an investment company and bank, during the 1930s. This firm was the main Wall Street partner of several German businesses and may have helped contribute funds to the Nazi Regime.

Perhaps the most ironic part of his whole speech was the following line, summarizing our enemy.

On the other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies.

Funny, isn't that exactly what he and his supporters are doing? They have a narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder in Iraq, they incite fear here at home with false alerts and sensational claims of WMDs, and they spread lies about fellow countrymen who have different ideas about how to solve the problem of global terror. They label them as weak and shout blatant lies over the airwaves regarding people like Senator Obama-lies which actually contribute more to degradation of our country while serving as a mask for their own total lack of intelligence.

Bush's speech at the Knessett was just another example of how much of a national embarrassment he truly is. The only thing he really accomplished, in my eyes, was proving how well he and his administration have adopted the same tactics used to fool an entire country into believing outrageous after horrendous lie.

Let's make sure that doesn't happen here.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Liberal Fascist Thought of The Day

I find it interesting that the evangelical/family values crowd is referred to, both within and without of the Republican Party, as "The Base."

Anyone know what the Arabic translation of "The Base" is?

Al Qaeda.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Once More...Into the Breach!

This post is a response to a discussion Kevin Baker and I have been having down in comments. He put a longer comment up on his blog, which you can find here, so I thought I would bring my reply out into a full post as well.

I would like to start off by saying that I appreciated the support of everyone who came to my defense down below. I think I am probably a little bit less as skilled of a debater as some of my defenders made me out to be but posting on Kevin's blog has certainly made me tougher, no doubt.

I also want to make it clear, before I respond to what Kevin wrote, that, even thought I may not post again on his blog, I do plan on continuing to read it everyday. In fact, it will probably be the only blog I read everyday, other than my own of course. Many people here think I am nuts for doing this but I have always thought that you can't be intelligently critical of someone's point of view unless you fully understand it. I'm not sure I fully understand the conservative/neo conservative/classical liberal/whatever mindset yet but life is about the journey after all and this journey will most assuredly continue. Why spend that journey reading blogs like The Huffington Post or the Daily Kos who basically give me information that I already know?

At the end of the day, I think all 200-300 of you that read my blog should read his as well. It is informative in more ways than I can possibly count. When I made comments there, I always found myself thinking, man this would make a great column on my blog. So, if I see something that sparks my interest there, more than likely, I will comment on it here. And with that thought, here is my commentary on the post he entitled "All Markadelphia All The Time." I will pull some quotes here and there for this post but if you want to read the full text, I urge you to go to his site.

Let's start out with an oldie but a goodie

Do it again only harder

I have to admit that this has always struck me as being a terribly wrong and short sighted way to characterize liberals/progressives but I couldn't really figure out why....until today. When one suffers from groupthink, as Kevin et al do in regards to libs, they cannot possibly conceive of them as being anything other than a walking monolith of a single thought. One of the reasons Hillary Clinton is doing as poorly as she is in this primary season is that people don't want to hear the same old bullshit anymore. Kevin and company see Obama as no different than Hillary so it is no surprise that the word "again" is in this phrase. It is a mistake that they will regret come November. They will be flabbergasted after the first year of an Obama presidency when they realize that many of their dire predictions never came to pass. I look forward to that moment.

The correct phrase, if they took the time to actually understand where Obama is coming from, is:

DO IT DIFFERENTLY AND WITH ACTUAL THOUGHT BEHIND IT.

Kevin fails to see the effect that Obama style politics can have on an area like....the South Side of Chicago, for example. If he took the time to talk to people there, as I have, they would tell him how Obama helped them out and (Gasp!) did it without the socialism/pile of skulls/boiling pit of sewage propaganda that Kevin's dogmatic belief system predicts.

that little factoid must explain why history doesn't appear to be taught in school much anymore

Actually, the reason why history isn't taught in school anymore is because it is not part of high stakes testing so schools remove it from curriculum at the grade school level. Thanks to No Child Left Behind, all of the focus must be on math, reading, and writing. I have a column coming soon on this topic. The reason why your daughter doesn't know about Pearl Harbor is due to the homogenized hoo rah version of America that has been taught in schools. Again, see Loewen's book. Speaking of which...

So Wilson was quite happy to use the Constitution as toilet paper, too.

Your long analysis of Wilson serves to prove a good point: all history should be looked at from a wide variety of angles and that is the job of educators. The bone I pick with you is that I do it and you don't. I am fully aware of how awful Communists regimes around the world were and still are. I am also aware of how horrible we have been and still are to this day. You aren't. Our government, throughout our entire history, has lied us into war after war. We killed four million people in Vietnam, Kevin, and you say that they were the ones who held the exclusive right to the title "monster" because they were....communists? If you were going by pure body count alone, those dirty commies might have the edge. So what? We have still killed millions ourselves in the name of our ideology. Does it make us better because we killed less people? Sheesh...

You almost grasp that there is no
"Third Way" you bend it to suit whatever situation comes up, but it's a system you apply daily.

Yes, it's true. I do bend to various situations and I am terribly sad to report that I do not set my feet in stone regardless of how much the world changes. The major reason we have fallen behind in the world is because we aren't malleable enough. This is the fault of people like you, Kevin. You refuse to change to a world that demands it. For some insane, illogical reason you take that to mean that the world is demanding that we become socialists. That is never going to fly here. We have to become more fluid and I'll tell you why: OUR ENEMIES ARE!!! They bank on us reacting the way you are and plan on us never changing our strategy, maintaining a shoot first, ask questions later policy.

then I suggest that we not darken each others doorsteps again


That's a little flowery, isn't it? Even for you, dude. I hope that won't be the case. You are always welcome to post here and I will be commenting here on ideas you throw out on your blog. As I have said before, I have learned a lot from our debates and hope to learn more.

Personally, I'm against government trying to make people... better.

So am I. But I am also against the government preventing people from becoming better. And that is why Obama is different. At the end of the day it really is going to be up to us, not him. Do you think the people on the south side of Chicago get any help from him anymore? No, he put some programs in place, removed some restrictions and cleared out some dead weight. There is less crime and more people back at work there. It's not perfect but it is better.

And that's what we are really talking about here. Pay attention to what the new wave of Democrats are saying. Take a closer look. They are not advocating a nanny state. That's what Hillary and John McCain are advocating. We are talking about an effort to bring this country back from the disaster that has been the last eight years. A large part of that effort is going to be centered around a return to good capitalism and a rejection of the "free market at gun point philosophy" we have now. Only in America, as Senator Obama says, can we have the freedom to pursue our dreams.

He is a living example of someone who took individual liberty and self reliance and succeeded. He didn't have anything handed to him on a silver platter and he certainly doesn't think that people are entitled to anything....other than to have a government that does not go out of its way to fuck them over by creating economic enemies around the world.

So, I am left wondering with what will happen if your predictions of the direction our country will take are wrong? You say you have history on your side but it is a history that strangely does not include an honest look at our foreign policy starting with the Monroe Doctrine and continuing through to President Bush's Iraq War today. Time and again, history has shown me that our enemies are born out of an abrasive and violent US policy that is little different than their own.

I see good in this country, too, Kevin. Unfortunately, those good people have been, for the most part, demeaned, mischaracterized, and slandered by people like YOU who do the bidding, consciously or unconsciously, of the men in this country who have the most to lose if we actually become decent for a change. Fortunately, most of the American people are pretty much done listening to this crap and they are beginning to see what it truly is going to take to get this country back on track.We are going to hear their voices in November.

It's going to be many voices and they are going to be loud.