He Certainly Needs Protection

As vice-president, Dick Cheney receives secret service protection, which usually expires once he leaves office. However, Dick Cheney could keep his security detail, another perk at taxpayer's expense. We are being told because we have a "sworn enemy" who has "vowed to killl the president and vice-president", however, the truth of the matter is-Dick Cheney is afraid of the American people.
His recent remarks concerning the citizen's opposition to the war in Iraq ("So?") and his lack of concern for the over 4000 soldiers he has sent to their deaths in an illegal war ("They volunteered") have resonated as arrogant and unfeeling with the American people, and will have him go down in history as the most hated VP in the history of the US.
Regardless of the reason, it has been Cheney's actions that have generated the animosity towards him, of course, Republicans being the hypocrites they are and personal responsibility is for poor people,we will once again be forced to waste money that could be better spent somewhere else to protect this paranoiac from the responsibilities of his own actions.
But, unless there is action from congress, Cheney's protection will only be extended for six months. Let's just hope his health care isn't.

List of Republican Criminals

So what if another Hillary campaign person is tied to the Colombian government's trade agreement?
Here's a lengthy list of Republican offenders. Enjoy!

Rest In Peace: Charlton Heston

There's a scene in Bowling For Columbine where Charlton Heston, after being blindsided by Michael Moore, turns from being a robust gun rights supporter into a frail old man as he walks away from the camera. You almost felt sorry for him. It's not as if he was doing anything wrong,he just felt that responsible gun owners shouldn't be punished for the actions of the irresponsible anymore than auto owners shouldn't be punished for the actions of drunk drivers or responsible marijuana users should be punished for those who keep shows like Family Guy on the air.
Charlton Heston marched with Martin Luther King during a civil rights march in Washington DC in 1963, but is perhaps better remembered for his roles in his science fiction trilogy: Col. Taylor in Planet of the Apes ("You maniacs!"); Col. Robert Neville in The Omega Man ( recently remade starring Will Smith as I Am Legend); and detective Robert Thorn in Soylent Green ("It's people!"). Okay, maybe more people will remember him for his Oscar-winning role as Judah Ben-Hur, but around here, it's his over-the-top acting that we appreciate, not his increasingly right wing political stances he took in his later years (We attribute that to the onset of Alzheimer's disease).

Check Your Calendar, Know Your History

In a question and answer period on a campaign stop, Hillary Clinton stated:

“I started criticizing the war in Iraq before he did. So, I’m well aware that his entire campaign is premised on a speech he gave in 2002 and I give him credit for making that speech. But that was not a decision.”

In 2002, the war had not yet begun. Millions of Americans were opposed to it then, but Senator Clinton voted for it. How can that be considered criticizing the war before Senator Obama?
This is the problem I have with Clinton, her whole campaign has been a slew of misstatements. How can you trust her to do anything she is promising when she keeps making these statements that when closely examined, prove to be entirely false?
While I would prefer to have Nader in the White House, if we are to have a democrat, why have one who's going to be a constant target of the right wing noise machine?

Douglas Feith Is Full Of Crap

So now we know. Douglas Feith is a chickenshit, or else just full of crap. In a segment to be aired on 60 Minutes, he claims that we invaded Iraq because we believed they were going to attack us.
Bullshit.
Feith, as co-author of A Clean Break: A New Strategy For Securing The Realm, called for removing Saddam Hussein in 1996, not because he was going to attack the United States, but because it would be good for Israel. So when Donald Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense in 2000 he specifically hired Feith to cherry pick and stove pipe intelligence against Iraq, before there ever was a 9/11. So while the reasons given now and then, the war was launched to liberate the Iraqi people( yes, they are much freer now), destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (which never existed, except in the paranoid minds of brainwashed right wing television watchers)(WMD) and to protect the United States( from a country we were already containing with no-fly zones and economic sanctions), the real reason is to protect Israel.
If there were such a thing as justice in this universe, people like Douglas Feith, and all the other neocons who lied us into the war in Iraq would be prosecuted for their crimes. Instead, they'll go on to a six-figure salary at some think-tank while the rest of us suffer under $4.00 a gallon gas, runaway inflation and all the other side effects Feith's decision to lie to the American people have caused. What a shithead!

Not Feeling Bloggy Today...........

............so here's a goofy picture of John McCain.

The Hypocrisy Of Some People

When Ralph Nader announced his candidacy, the cry across the "progressive" blogosphere was almost palpable. "Spoiler" was one term used, "determined to put the Republicans in the White House four more years" was another. But, more often than not, the term "egomaniac" was thrust upon him by people who take offense to negative labels. Sure, Ralphie's as unelectable as Dennis Kucinich, but who can argue against his agenda and still refer to themselves as "progressives"?

Adopt single payer national health insurance
Cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget
No to nuclear power, solar energy
Aggressive crackdown on corporate crime
and corporate welfare
Open up the Presidential debates
Adopt a carbon pollution tax
Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East
Impeach Bush/Cheney
Repeal the Taft-Hartley anti-union law
Adopt a Wall Street securities speculation tax
Put an end to ballot access obstructionism
Work to end corporate personhood

All the above issues are "off the table" for the corpocratic candidates, Nader, on the other hand think these are more important than flag lapel pins, supporting a never ending expensive war, or any other "issue" either candidate has put forward.
But what I find most ironic is the label "egomaniac" being thrown at Nader by Clinton supporters. Clinton is trailing Obama in the most recent poll, the mathematical improbability of Mrs Clinton securing enough delegates to win the nomination, with Obama picking up more delegates in Texas, yet Sen. Clinton has vowed to stay in the race until the end. She has as much of a chance of winning as Nader, yet she is allowed to remain in the race unscathed by those brainwashed by the Clinton cult of personality?
These very same people have vowed to vote for McCain if Hillary doesn't get the nomination, a kind of 'I'm-taking-my-vote-and-going-home' from people who feel that despite having enjoyed the plush front runner status since 2006, the media hasn't treated Sen. Clinton fairly (like digging up video of her trip to Bosnia, which shows us she will be as able a liar as her predecessor if elected). I guess that makes them "determined to put the Republicans in the White House four more years", the very thing they have accused Mr. Nader of doing.
But don't get me wrong, I'm with Mr. Nader, who thinks Senator Clinton should stay in the race. Then, when your party's all broken and bleed ing by a real egomaniac, you'll have no other choice but to go with the only candidate who isn't all about themselves.

Conservative Windbag Flaunts The Law Again

In the Michigan primaries this year, I had three choices, if indeed I did choose to vote. I could have voted for Sen. Clinton, or I could have voted uncommitted, neither which would have mattered since the Michigan delegation won't be seated at the Democratic Convention for violation party laws and having it's primary early. My third choice was to vote Republican.
I voted for Ron Paul.
Unlike Rush Limbaugh who has been asking listeners to break the law,cross party lines, and commit voter fraud, the only way Republicans can win, I wasn't breaking the law. As I have explained before, I am a registered Republican. Happy with his results in Ohio extending the Democratic primary, Rush is now asking Shittoheads in Pennsylvania to do the same. Dubbing it "Operation Chaos", the republican propagandist will do any underhanded trick to keep the party in control of the White House, even though the ones in charge now have nearly completely decimated the whole country.
But if you dig deeper, this is really a method to keep the White House in the hands of the Council on Foreign Relations of which Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama are all members, as well as Rush Limbaugh himself. But McCain and Clinton are drinking buddies who bonded in Estonia three years ago, probably while Senator Clinton was dodging sniper fire. Senator Obama, a junior member, probably lacks the alcohol tolerance that the other two senators have, which would make him no fun at Russian summit meetings where the latest president there could drink him under the table.
So now Mr. Law and Order doctor shopping drug smuggling and vote fraud perpetrating Rush has broken the law again. There probably isn't a cell that can hold him, literally.

Let Them Eat War

America is a nation of suckers. We all are. Every morning millions of us arise, go to work, purchase items and pay our taxes for what we consider to be the best government on the planet. Every two years, we vote on people who will lead our country on to glory, and will do what is best for all Americans, regardless of race religion or political affiliation.
Some of us are bigger suckers than other, however. Gullible people who are sucked in because their candidate decides to wear a flag on their lapel, they believe said candidate must be patriotic. These people are Republicans, bizarre occupants of opposite land, where bad is good, slavery is compassion and failures are successes. Fear is freedom to them and all those they fear must be bombed into submission, no matter the cost in dollars or human lives.
Not all Republicans are suckers. The people who lead are very crafty indeed. They don't really care about this country (which, one would think, would qualify them as being unpatriotic)and yet their followers, brainwashed by lapel pins and empty rhetoric, feel that they are truly the most patriotic. But the truth is:Dick Cheney doesn't give a fuck about America.
Confronted with the fact that nearly two thirds of Americans think the war in Iraq was a bad idea.
"So?"
Reaching the milestone of 4000 dead soldiers,
"They volunteered."
Dick Cheney has turned his position as vice-president of this country as not an apparatus for doing good, but merely as a cash machine. Sure, all those Halliburton no-bid contracts were signed before Cheney even ran for VP, but in his position as VP, he has pressed the case for pointless wars that have filled his personal coffers.
But it doesn't end there:(via Information Clearinghouse)

Is Cheney betting on Economic Collapse?

By Mike Whitney

07/04/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Wouldn’t you like to know where Dick Cheney puts his money? Then you’d know whether his “deficits don’t matter” claim is just baloney or not.

Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney’s financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly.

The article is called “Cheney’s betting on bad news” and provides an account of where Cheney has socked away more than $25 million. While the figures may be estimates, the investments are not. According to Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney has invested heavily in “a fund that specializes in short-term municipal bonds, a tax-exempt money market fund and an inflation protected securities fund. The first two hold up if interest rates rise with inflation. The third is protected against inflation.”

Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to $25 million in a European bond fund which tells us that he is counting on a steadily weakening dollar. So, while working class Americans are loosing ground to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth Cheney will be enhancing his wealth in “Old Europe”. As Blackburn sagely notes, “Not all ‘bad news’ is bad for everybody.”

This should put to rest once and for all the foolish notion that the “Bush Economic Plan” is anything more than a scam aimed at looting the public till. The whole deal is intended to shift the nation's wealth from one class to another. It’s also clear that Bush-Cheney couldn’t have carried this off without the tacit approval of the thieves at the Federal Reserve who engineered the low-interest rate boondoggle to put the American people to sleep while they picked their pockets.

Reasonable people can dispute that Bush is “intentionally” skewering the dollar with his lavish tax cuts, but how does that explain Cheney’s portfolio?

It doesn’t. And, one thing we can say with metaphysical certainty is that the miserly Cheney would never plunk his money into an investment that wasn’t a sure thing. If Cheney is counting on the dollar tanking and interest rates going up, then, by Gawd, that’s what’ll happen.

The Bush-Cheney team has racked up another $3 trillion in debt in just 6 years. The US national debt now stands at $8.4 trillion dollars while the trade deficit has ballooned to $800 billion nearly 7% of GDP.

This is lunacy. No country, however powerful, can maintain these staggering numbers. The country is in hock up to its neck and has to borrow $2.5 billion per day just to stay above water. Presently, the Fed is expanding the money supply and buying back its own treasuries to hide the hemorrhaging from the public. Its utter madness.

Last month the trade deficit climbed to $70 billion. More importantly, foreign central banks only purchased a meager $47 billion in treasuries to shore up our ravenous appetite for cheap junk from China.

Do the math! They're not investing in America anymore. They are decreasing their stockpiles of dollars. We’re sinking fast and Cheney and his pals are manning the lifeboats while the public is diverted with gay marriage amendments and “American Celebrity”.

The American manufacturing sector has been hollowed out by cutthroat corporations who’ve abandoned their country to make a fast-buck in China or Mexico. The $3 trillion housing (equity) bubble is quickly loosing air while the anemic dollar continues to sag. All the signs indicate that the economy is slowing at the same time that energy prices continue to rise.

It goes on, but what it really means are that the billionaires are looting the country and sticking taxpayers with the bill (Must be the 18% who still approve of Cheney). We're also getting stuck with the check for a war that nobody wants any more. Isn't democracy wonderful?

Pantsuit's On Fire

So Hillary lied? Er, I mean, she "misspoke". And then she told another lie. As far as we know, she's not an alcoholic and former (alleged) chronic cocaine abuser, so who cares if she keeps telling lies. She does have command of our native tongue, even though she has a problem with the truth. Am I sexist because I choose to choose to point out every lie? What's worse, a befuddled old coot who doesn't seem to grasp anything beyond his shoelaces or a pathological liar?
You would think she would have quit while she was ahead, but as it stands now, she's behind and won't quit. What she really needs is one good whopper.
(I know we were going to go after McCain, but you can't let one like this get away because we decided to go easy on the Democrats. And far as I know, Obama's not much of a liar and they worse they can dig up on him is his pastor speaks the truth,)

The Continuously Clueless Candidate

It's the old fallback political position, when caught in a lie, always claim you "misspoke". No, I'm not talking about Hillary Clinton, I'm talking about John McCain. Last week he stated that Iran was aiding alQaeda in Iraq, which would be sorta like the Church of England backing the IRA, but a doddering old fool can be forgiven, as long as he's not, you know, running for the president of the United States.
Now he's alluding to an audiotape made by Osama Bin Laden about Iraq, saying they both agree on "Iraq as a training field for jihad". How nice. A guy who's dead as dirt and a guy who's as old as dirt agree on something. Except they don't.

"We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground,"

the continually clueless candidate commented. That must have happened right before Sadr militia fighters battled troops in four Iraq cities. Yes, senator, tell us again how that surge is working. Just as well as your brilliant plan for helping the economy. America has spent the last eight years with a lying clueless president more interested in starting wars and handing out tax cuts to those who don't really need them, than he is in doing something for the other ninety-nine per cent of the people. I don't think we can stand even one more year.

Intimidation and Spying:Our Government At Work

The IAEA recently "reaffirmed such an unprecedented, resolute voluntary cooperation, beyond Iran’s obligation in accordance with the comprehensive Safeguards agreement (INFCIRC/214), “clearly reflects the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear program.” . Despite this fact, the UN has imposed more sanctions on Iran. If they haven't been proven to be doing anything wrong, how can they be punished for it?
According to the Chilean envoy to the UN the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war.

In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished" for their refusal to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action against Saddam Hussein's government

The book written by Heraldo Mu¿oz, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations,"A Solitary War: A Diplomat's Chronicle of the Iraq War and Its Lessons", details a list of intimidation and spying by the US to get what it wanted from it's allies. It even dangled the U.S.-Chilean free trade agreement as incentive to comply with the Bush administration's wishes. In other words, your job was traded for a war.
So following the logic that if the Bush administration is spying on the American people, and spying on it's allies in the UN (the book details an account of a meeting in the German embassy's secure room, much to the consternation of the Bush regime), I would safely say that they are also spying on members of Congress, and using damaging information to get what they want from our representatives. And, one would surmise, they are doing this to gain justification for another war, this time with Iran.
What Iran has done is started selling it's oil in denominations other than the dollar, which is the same thing that Saddam had started doing in November 2000 and what Hugo Chavez has started to do that has made him a member of the US terrorist list.

Poor Dick Can't Get His War on

The Saudi King Abdullah has rejected any military strike against Iran in a meeting with VP Dick Cheney.
Wait a minute-wasn't the reason for Dick's visit to discuss peace, and oil? I'm sure that no one is surprised that once again we have been lied to, not only by the Bush administration, but by the corporate media.
But clearly, what's more disturbing than the fact that Cheney could give a fuck about US citizen's opposition to war is the fact that he has to beg for permission from somewhere else. I guess Cheney feels the American people have had their input into war no matter if the 2004 election was rigged.

Ozombie BinLaden

I've decided that if I were to convert to any religion, it would have to be Islam. Why? because even tough he's been dead for six years now ,Osama BinLaden keeps making audiotapes How kick ass is that? I mean, the best Jesus Christ can do is appear in a burnt tortilla in Mexico, but Osama keeps making tapes! And, while Jesus was the Son of God, Osama was merely a follower of the prophet Mohammed.
Is it coincidental that Osama keeps making tapes whenever the Bush administration needs a boogey man to shake at the television watchers? Here it was yesterday, the five year anniversary of the bungled invasion of Iraq under dubious reasons, and a majority of people saying the war's not worth it (to a response of "So?" from Dick Cheney), all of a sudden Osama makes an audio tape (easier to clone a voice than find a look alike) sounding an awful lot like John Hagee (I mean, without all that love for Israel Hagee wears).
So if this guy can keep making tapes long after he's worm food, than Islam is the bestest religion of all, the rest of them are weak little girly religions compared.

Five Down, Ninety Five To Go

Bush thinks the war in Iraq was worth it.Even though most Americans say the war in Iraq wasn't worth it.The Iraq War is killing our economy, but Dick Cheney thinks the war was a successful endeavor. Uh, sorry Dick, but if it was "successful", it would be over and done with our troops would be back home and the Iraqi people would be free of an occupation force. The US has lost power, prestige and influence, but to our leaders, that's a good thing.
In his most recent speech, Bush declares that those who oppose the war want the US to "retreat", and failure there would give a victory to our "enemies". This comes from a man who used 935 lies by both him and members of his administration to the American citizens to try to gain backing for this illegal war. Criminals and liars and yet no one dare stand up them. Victory cannot be attained because there is no clear definition of terms within the confines of the war, and there is no exit strategy because they never intend on leaving.
Meanwhile returning US troops suffer psychological wounds , two and a half million Iraqi men, women and children have been left homeless while the prospect of creating more refugees hasn't swayed the mind of the disconnected from admit that the war in Iraq was nothing but a colossal bungle.
End The War

So Brilliant, It's Stupid: How We Wound Up In A Quagmire

Think hard about it: I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of villains. I'm down to Castro and Kim II Sung.-Colin Powell
What a world we would live in if we had run out of villains. The statement above was made by Colin Powell while he was chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs. A soldier needs an enemy to do a job, but by time the former Soviet Union fell, the US had run out of enemies. Which would be a good thing, unless you're the Defense department. The permanent national security state needs an enemy to justify bloated budgets so that retiring military officials can be guaranteed a job with defense contractors when they retire. Defense contractors need to make billions so they can buy politicians, Republican and Democratic, who will continue to okay large budget appropriations for the military. Republican and Democrats need large campaign financing so they can continue to keep their lock on the political system. It's a vicious circle, and for years it fed on the fear of the godless communists destroying our way of life. But then, with thanks to the petrodollar, we were able to outspend those dirty commies, because we had the ability to dig ourselves deeper into a hole than the Russians, mainly because by supporting the mujahadeen in Afghanistan, we were able to keep the Russian oil from going to port..
It's right there in the PNAC statement of principles: "Cuts in...defense spending...are making it increasingly difficult to sustain American influence ". It's clear; the US needed an enemy to increase defense spending, even if had to fabricate one. Then, almost as if on cue, as if planned by the PNAC itself, we had our "New Pearl Harbor", a "blowback" attack by those very same people we had armed and trained to fight the commies In Afghanistan, were now fighting us.
But it didn't stop there. Now fully committed to a war in Afghanistan, just when it looked like the war may end quickly with Army rangers chasing the enemy into Pakistan, the defense secretary decides to pull troops out of the region for use in another war. can't let that one end too quickly, got to keep the people's attention distracted from the $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon. Plus, the permanent national security state needed a war, any war.
Or hell, why not two? Dick Cheney knew the war in Iraq would become "bogged down", that's why they didn't go to Baghdad in 1991. Now John McCain says we could stay in Iraq for hundred years, I'll bet that sent the dollars flying into his campaign coffers from defense contractors. It's all about the money folks, not any other reason.
Fighting "Terrorism"-The reason we are told we are in Iraq is because we are fighting the "Islamofascist" (by attacking the only secular state in the region). But our tactics only serve to bring more fighters to their cause. Which of course, means the longer we'll have to stay there, and spend more money. Every bomb dropped, not also equals more money spent, it also means the likelihood that it will draw another recruit to the insurgency we are fighting there. But according to a report recently censored by the Pentagon there were no links between Saddam, al Qaeda, or 9/11.
Oil-Sorry, while controlling the oil is an attractive aspect of the war in Iraq, if it were really about providing oil for fuel starved Americans, we wouldn't have pledged to maintain OPEC production levels. And while it's true that we did go in there to stop Saddam from switching from the petrodollar to the euro, this was done more to to protect the investments of the MIC than it was to help the average American.We'd be pumping it out of the ground and shipping it here. The only thing this has to do with oil is allowing oil companies to sell $75 a barrel oil at $106 a barrel prices, netting them a tidy profit for doing absolutely nothing, the American Dream!

And who pays for this? We all do. We pay for it with our crumbling infrastructure. Our loved ones who come back, or those who don't. We pay for it with higher fuel prices, which drives up the price of everything. We pay for it with an increased national debt, and rising inflation.
The only people who don't pay for this are the ones who are making a bundle, the defense contractors. They are the recipients of a tax cut.


Join The March 19 Blogswarm

MCCain Makes taxpayer Funded Photo Op Stop In Iraq

Ol' Flapjack Johnny McCain made a surprise unannounced visit to Iraq to prove that the surge is working. He proudly showed how safe the streets of Baghdad are to a US senator surrounded by a gaggle of reporters, a squadron of US troops and a flak jacket. Of course, the dead child at the bottom of the picture didn't have any of that, so the streets of Iraq weren't safe, and now the child lies lifeless, mourned by parents who only want the nightmare to end. It's sad, true, but it's a sacrifice Sen. McCain is willing to make.
Sen. McCain's trip to Iraq was merely a taxpayer funded photo op for his candidacy, thanks Johnny-Boy, money that could be better spent here at home was instead used to further your goal of, well, I'm sure you have one (I mean besides making sure all the Republican donors get to keep getting rich and fat from the taxpayers wallet).
Talking out both sides of his ass, McCain first made the point that there's been a drop (until recently) of violence in Iraq since the surge, which proves it's working, right, except he worries that insurgents might try to influence the November presidential election with increased attacks in Iraq, which implies that the surge isn't working. You can't have it both ways Johnny.

(dedicated to DBK, who asked us not to beat up on the Democrats more than we do McCain whilst he is in transit)

The Election Is The Democrats To Blow

One of the two Democratic front runners should step down (actually, there's only one front runner and a second place person trying to redefine the rules to their advantage) not for the sake of the party, but for the sake of the country. By extending the nomination process well into June now, what with the possibility of a Michigan do over, (and trust me Senator Clinton, you will not win that) you are allowing the Republican nominee to define the issues and continue feeding right wing misinformation to the public, with a little help from the corporate media.
Even though violence has increased in Iraq and the Iraqi leadership has fallen short of goals set, John McCain is basing his campaign on foreign issues such as Iraq. Support for the war is at it's highest level since 2006, likely because the Pentagon has canceled release of a report confirming the fact that the war was based on lies. This is all information that a Democratic front runner could use, if they didn't have to spend this time fighting for a nomination that will seem less likely to win once the disinformation takes hold in the mind of the average American television watcher. And the war in Afghanistan is going so well, that NATO is approaching Russia to come to our aid, which is odd, since we originally backed the mujahedeen there to keep the Russians out.
The Democrats need to point out the collapse of the dollar, the falling stock market and the prospect of a severe recession, all products of a driving US economy driven too long with Republicans at the wheel. But they can't do that by bickering over who gets to be the nominee, statements made by supporters and other non-issues that will rapidly begin to turn off voters on either side of the party. One of the two nominees needs to be a bigger person and step aside, but unfortunately, if one of them were to do that, the one that did would probably be better suited to be our next president.
Meanwhile, John McCain can make ludicrous claims about al Qaeda trying to tip the US election, and there's no one there to call bullshit on that because they're too busy arguing over things Geraldine Ferraro or the Reverend Jeremiah Wright have said (no matter how right the reverend is)which is irrelevant to the fact that the US is no longer the greatest economy in the world

Clueless, Clueless, Clueless

In Washington DC, it's 3am everyday, and I worry because the chimp-in-charge is as clueless as a game of Password between two blind and deaf mutes. I imagine he sits around watching old war movies because he says stupid things like he would like the "romance" of fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan. I don't believe the war in Afghanistan is as cut and dried as a WWII movie with "us" (the good guys) vs. "Them" (the indigenous people fighting off a hostile occupation force)facing off across an empty field. But that's how Bush sees it. He wishes he were young enough to fight there, but when he was young enough, he opted to party down in the Texas Air Guard, rather than enjoy the "romance" of fighting at Khe San.
And with the economy quickly sliding towards a depression, Bush is urging us to go shopping and spend, spend, spend. Just like he did right after 9/11, so you know that we're in some deep shit now. That's what the rich people do to take their minds off their troubles, shop, shop, shop.Of course, with rising oil prices driving up the price of everything, most people don't have extra cash to buy, buy, buy, and those who refinanced their homes to pay off credit card debt have lost money because the value of their home dropped with the falling housing market. Nobody wants to extend themselves because their job could be gone tomorrow, and then, with the new bankruptcy laws passed by the Republicans, they'd be stuck with a debt they couldn't get out from under forever.
Then the State Department releases a report criticizing the Russian Federation for human rights abuses. Hell? Our Congress just voted to make waterboarding okay, and we're complaining about human rights abuses there? How about a government that spies on it's citizens? The report goes on:

Security forces reportedly engaged in killings, torture, abuse, violence, and other brutal or humiliating treatment, often with impunity. Hazing in the armed forces resulted in severe injuries and deaths. Prison conditions were harsh and frequently life threatening; law enforcement was often corrupt; and the executive branch allegedly exerted influence over judicial decisions in some high‑profile cases.

Government pressure continued to weaken freedom of expression and media independence, particularly of the major television networks.he government restricted media freedom through direct ownership of media outlets, influencing the owners of major outlets, and harassing and intimidating journalists into practicing self-censorship. Local governments tried to limit freedom of assembly, and police sometimes used violence to prevent groups from engaging in peaceful protest. The government used the law on extremism to limit freedom of expression and association. Government restrictions on religious groups were a problem in some regions. There were incidents of discrimination, harassment, and violence against religious and ethnic minorities.

Maybe you should work to fix these problems at home before you start pointing the finger at other people. Double standards are for hypocrites, and you'd be their King.

The Clintons Are Born To Run

Well Ron Nasty is pleased with himself since this got posted here. The gauntlet has been thrown down!

In the day we'd sweat it out in the swamps of a runaway land development deal
At night we'd ride to the governor's mansion with state troopers at the wheel
Sprung from the airport in Mena Arkansas
Cold hearted and perjured, stepping out over the law
Baby DC rips the bones from your back
It's a suicide rap on the Potomac
By now this campaign should be done
Because Bill and Hill, baby they were born to run

Obama let me win I want to be your friend
And maybe you'd be my VP
And if you do, I promise you
Bill will stop acting creepy
I'm in it to win it, I run every minute, looking for the right spin
I'll keep fighting down to the wire
Being the first female president's my obsessive desire
I want to win it while I'm young
Because Bill and me, baby we were born to run.........

You Have Been Played

The US is concerned because China has increased it's defense budget by 17 percent because it's unclear as to what China's intentions are. Even with the Chinese increase, it is still but a fraction of what we spend on our defense budget ourselves. We spend nearly as much as the rest of the world combined does on our military, and yet, we are still worried about national security in this election.
The economy is slipping into a recession, the dollar is falling as the price of oil rises, and all any of our presidential candidates can use to mobilize voters is fear. Not fear that the economy is in rubble, but fear of attacks from people with no standing armies on the other side of the world. People, you have been played.
Since we are outspending the rest of the world on security, we should be fairly secure, whether it's a high noon or three o'clock in the morning. If we are not, than we are spending way too much money on a system with no guarantees. The US is involved in two wars, fighting the alleged enemy, which has not made of safer than we were before the wars, and has, in fact attracted more people to the cause of the "Islamofascist". These wars, which were supposed to be relatively cheap(around $60 billion, according to administration officials) has actually cost us trillions of dollars. They are a drain on our economy and yet not one single presidential front runner has suggested we end these boondoggled quagmires.
There is one candidate who thinks we should cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget, or that we should reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the nation of television-watchers, with their minds turned to mush from being fed a diet of constant fear are being herded like lambs to slaughter by the corpocracy's lesser of two evil strategies that will have people actually not voting for a decent candidate with good ideas, but against a candidate with whom they do not like.
Suckers.

Clash Of Cults

I've been amusing myself lately reading the comments sections at various blogs such as this one or this one. The comments are sharply divided with the Clinton camp calling the Obama camp a "cult", which I find to be hypocritical. The Clinton followers are just as cult-like, whereas the Obama cult is more like a New Age cult, the Clinton cult shares the same scorched earth politics as Scientology.
Both cult of personalities fail to recognize there is no difference between the two!
Hillary Clinton recently rapped Barack Obama for saying he is anti-Nafta, while also reassuring Canada. Guess what? she did it too. It is at this point I begin to wonder: what fucking difference does it make whether or not the fuckwad in the White House lying to us is a Democrat or a Republican? These people will say anything to get elected and then find ways to screw the taxpaying citizens in order to divert more money to the corpocracy, so they can get more funding to win more elections. The rest of us are all just wallets to them, and they know that we probably have a couple dollars floating around in there that rightfully should be theirs.
That's why I've decided to support Nader for president. Sure, I know, he won't win, and his candidacy will probably help the Republicans hold the White House, but really, what's the fucking difference whether the lying shitheel in the Oval Office is a Democrat or a Republican, they're still a lying shitheel.And we all will lose.

Elections For Sale

Diversification is the key of any large multi-national corporation. general Electric, which makes home appliances also is a major defense contractor. It also owns NBC The same can be said for Westinghouse, which owns CBS. Gotta put those war bucks somewhere, right? Why not control the information that most Americans receive nightly?
Not to be outdone United Technologies initiated a hostile takeover of Diebold makers of voting machines, which have been found to be easily rigged to throw elections. (Anyone remember 2004, when the then CEO and Bush supporter promised to "deliver Ohio to Bush?) Why waste time feeding propaganda to the masses when you can just rig an election to the guy who promises to throw you the most bones?

There Is An Answer

I'm sick of the religion pandering shitheels. And believe me when I tell you that Obama is no Messiah, Lew. He's like every other politician: dishonest as they make 'em. If you think he's much different from McCain or Clinton, you're fooling yourself.

That quote came from dbk in response to yesterday's post, and I will say it here: he is exactly correct. What with the Democrats ready to cave-in to Bush on immunity for telecoms who broke the law (under Bush's orders), the difference between the two parties is quite evident. The Republicans will come right out and tell what evil fucks they are and the Democrats will pretend that they care (just enough to gain your support) and then go ahead and do the will of the unitary executive.
I am not a Democrat. I do not support either Clinton or Obama, (although I will say I favor Obama, even though I know that if Hillary wins, I'd have more fodder for my posts, sort of like an unfunny comedian who voted for Bush because he's the type of idiot who's an easy target) because, as I have said elsewhere, when the Democrats win the White House (and they will, or hide their faces in shame forever for losing to John McCain), those on the left will be placed in the uncomfortable position of Defending their candidate, much the way that there are bloggers on the right who still defend Bush.
For the past seven years, we've had a politician who exploited the ignorant fears of the masses to institute despicable, immoral and unconstitutional agendas. I saw in Senator Clinton's statements about Senator Obama's religious beliefs the same cynicism. Is this the "change" she is claiming to bring to America? The previous post was satire, the use of mockery to ridicule something that I consider to be wrong. I was not defending Obama, nor do I drink the Obama Kool-Aid. I merely feel that in a democracy, for two families to control the executive office for nearly a quarter century is not much of a democracy at all. And if you really wanted to see change-

Vote Nader!!

Is Hillary Clinton A Satanist?

As far as I know she isn't, but her desperate attempt to paint Obama as a Muslim seems pretty evil to me.
And if Obama is a Muslim(which he is not), does that mean he can't be president of the US? After all, we are a secular nation, and religion shouldn't play a part in our selection process. So even if Hillary is a satanist (which as far as I know, she isn't), that doesn't mean she isn't fit to be president either. Neither race, gender, wealth, or the propensity to slaughter German Shepherds to Beelzebub (which, as far as I know Hillary doesn't partake in)shouldn't prevent any person from holding highest office.

(Image stole from Ron Nasty)
So if Hillary does drink the blood of aborted Christian fetuses( which, as far as I know, she doesn't) it really wouldn't affect her performance should she win the nomination and go on to win the general election. We should accept her as our president whether she is satanic(which, as far as I know, she isn't)Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Muslim. As long as she remembers to suck up to the Jews.

Who To Believe...........

In crisis management, the first step is admitting there is a problem. The second step is indentifying the cause of the problem. Of course, if you have caused the problem yourself, the first thing you do is deny there is a problem, or try to blame others for the problem that doesn't exist.
Our president denies there is a problem, or that it's not as big of a problem as we're being led to believe. Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says there is a problem, caused in part by the war in Iraq. So who do you believe? An imbecile who can't open his mouth without letting a plethora of untruths fly forth, or a respected economist. Hmmm. That is a poser.
This really illustrates the disparity between the two Americas. On the one hand, there's the billionaires who are making money in this economy, and they don't really feel the pinch of $3+ a gallon gas and rising prices for everything else, then there's people who work everyday and have to figure out how to make do with less because some greedy bastard doesn't have enough yet. And that's a situation that's not going to change until we get a government that works for everybody.

Welcome To The Corpocracy

...you think you're all clever and classless and free-John Lennon, "Working Class Hero"
You are a prisoner. You don't know it, because you've been so well-conditioned, you lock yourself in your cell every night. You think you have choices, but only choices you have are the ones that they offer you.
Most of you are happy, not knowing that you are in fact a prisoner. As long as you have the latest gadget, or can read up on the latest escapades of the current out-of-control media star, or watch the seasonal sporting event, your mind is too distracted to examine the truth. You see, right there, three choices.
But you're still a prisoner. The minute you get too close to the perimeters they have set up for you, they scare you with the latest health crisis, money scam, or dangerous gadget (that they urged you to buy last year) to keep you isolated, away from the other prisoners, lest you share your discoveries with them. They'll even create threats where none exist, because they need to keep you afraid, because a scared mind is an unclear mind, and more susceptible to advertising.
But wait, you say, I'm free to go where ever I choose, to talk to whomever I choose, to read what I want. But everywhere you go, from the grocery store, to the gas station, the bank, even driving down the street, you are under constant video surveillance. You say it's there to prevent crime, but I ask, are you a criminal? has crime actually stopped because of this? They can even search your computer's hard drive with out a warrant or even probable cause. And soon enough, even travel will be restricted those who lack the proper identification. But we still labor under the illusion of freedom.
America has the highest percentage of it's population in prison, while while members of the elite avoid investigation. A person can be jailed for political reasons while the president commutes the sentence of a crony and demands immunity for telecoms who helped him violate the law. Equal protection under the law is a farce, only for the gullible to believe, like the Constitution. You can even be arrested for video taping police officers making a forceful arrest. They can spy on you all they want, but don't you think that you have the right to hold them accountable.
Enjoy what little freedom you have left because it's not going to last. The detention camps have been built, with the US and Canada agreeing to allow the military from either nation help the other out in cases of civil emergency (Part of that whole NAU thing that Hillary Clinton swears is just a "conspiracy theory"). The FBI has partnered with businesses to gather information on persons suspected of "terrorism or other crimes. The corpocracy is positioning itself for a complete takeover, and when they do, all the remaining freedoms you posess that are bad for them but good for you will be gone.

The Name Written In Blood

Much has been made of Sen. Obama's endorsement of his candidacy by Louis Farrakhan, but does a candidate really have control over who endorses them? Whether they want them or not, they're stuck with it, so can you really hold it against them? And if said candidate denounces statements made by supporters, are they exonerated? How about if the candidate embraces statements made by an endorser?
Such is the case with John McCain's endorsement by none of than John Hagee. Will MSNBC devote as much coverage to McCain's embrace of Hagee's support as it did to Obama's rejection of Farrakhan? After all, Hagee has denounced homosexuality, the Catholic Church, Islam, and feminism, why is he given a free pass?
Hagee likes MvcCain because he believes McCain will be good for Israel. Funny, I thought McCain was running for president of the US. I have nothing against the people of Israel (just the government which is strangling Gaza, but hey, in Hagee's mind you gotta kill them Mooslums before they kill you) but shouldn't the president of the US do what's right for the American people? We're the ones who are paying the taxes, as well as the ultimate price for Washington's Israeli-centric foreign policy.
Hagee is arrogant (or psychotic, or deluded ) enough to think that if we wipe out all the Mooslums, God will send Jesus back. That his mighty and all powerful God can be told what to do by some chunk with bad skin is lost on Hagee's followers, but you can take two unrelated passages in the Bible and interpet them any way you wish in Hagee's world, as long as it serves his anti-papist, misogynistic and homophobic agenda.
Just remember, these are all ideals that John McCain, by refusing to denounce, has embraced as ideals for America.

Get Real

So now Hillary Clinton says she has proof of media bias towards Obama. She claims a skit on Saturday Night Live proves there's a media bias towards Sen. Obama.
Saturday Night Live? That show has been funny in a decade and hasn't been relevant since the 70's. Now she's claiming a skit that was written as a gag is proof of media bias for Barack?
Funny, when she was the front runner, and had all the media attention over better candidates (such as Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards), she didn't have a problem with the media bias, but now the media has dumped her like a dumpy girlfriend for a more attractive candidate, all of a sudden she's upset? Get over yourself, lady. The American people have spoken and they have decided they don't want you or your lousy-excuse-for-a-president-and-husband/life partner Bill.

Everywhere You Go, There's a Drunken Idiot

I took my boys to their first concert this weekend, to see 1964-The Tribute, a Beatles tribute band. The guys have been really been into the Beatles for sometime, and their step-father gave us some tickets for Christmas (he's not such a bad guy-for a Guard recruiter), so we hopped into the car and headed down to the State Theater in Kalamazoo.
We went down early and walked around downtown Kazoo looking for a place to grab some dinner. We found a nice place, although the guys became confused because it had cloth napkins and they didn't know whether they were napkins or handkerchiefs. Wilbur found a quarter on the floor under our table (which he is holding up in the picture) and nelson is holding up an after dinner mint.
The crowd was mixed, aging boomers and young hippie-wannbes coming together in celebration of the music that was John Paul George and Ringo. The band did a fantastic job of recreating the four piece sound of the Beatles, the kids loved it, with Nelson singing along with every song. They did two sets, and left the stage, then Wilbur wanted to go.
"Wait," I said and began clapping rhythmically with the rest of the crowd, "Encore."
Sure enough, the band came back and did a two-song encore.
"I can't believe we encored them!" said Wilbur delighted. I didn't tell him that most bands will do that.
All through the show, there was a man who had imbibed too much sitting behind us, and in between songs, he would holler"Norwegian Wood!" or "This Bird Has Flown" like the band was a bunch of trained monkeys asking for requests. I knew they wouldn't do it, because one, the Beatles never performed it live, and two, there was no sitar on the stage. But it didn't stop this jerk from yelling it out every chance he got. And we didn't let him ruin our good time, either, all the way home we kept making fun of him by yelling out "Norwegian Wood", or "This Bird Has Flown".
I thought I might see my brother Sean at the concert, since he gets into shows like this, but the drunken idiot brought back a recent memory.
In 2004, he and I went to see the Vote For Change Tour at Cobo hall (or maybe it was the Joe Louis) in Detroit. It was a great concert, with Bright Eyes, REM, Bruce Springsteen and John Fogerty. It was sponsored by Move On, in an effort to get voters registered to help elect John Kerry, and more importantly, get rid of George Bush.
The crowd was into it, except, once again, behind us sat another drunken idiot. When ever anyone urged people to vote, or spoke out against the war, he would boo, or yell out "Four more years!" I did my best to ignore him, figuring that there was probably a time when I was that drunken idiot, thinking I was being funny when I was really being a moron, but my brother became upset, and let that one person ruin what was an awesome concert. He then swore he would never see another concert again, and to this day, will not go see any artist at all.

Rebumblicans Bumble Again

Do you know what is the proper thing to do as the National Anthem is played?
Does one stand straight up, or do they put their hands over their hearts?

If you answered put your hand over your heart, you're a fucking idiot, and probably some mouth breathing television watching Rebumblican as well. You put your hand over your heart when you're saying the pledge of allegiance.
Once again, the jingoistic and chauvinistic Rebumblicans, who have pretty much lost the election due to their choice of a philandering, lobbyist linked flip flopper have decided that the election hinges not on who has ideas to change the direction the country is going in but who is more patriotic. What's more important? Wearing a silly flag pin on your lapel, or getting our troops out of the quagmire that is Iraq?
The problem is that there are more people worried about whether Obama adopts what is their own ignorant idea of which is the proper stance during the Star Spangled Banner than who is going to do something about the economy, health care, or continuing the unsuccessful Bush foreign policy of not speaking to our enemies. If the American Idiot is stupid enough to fall for this neolithic neocon ruse, then it's time we split the country up and give all those morons Texas.

If Hillary Had Fought Bush As Much As She's Fighting Barack, She Might Get My Support

Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter, and a champion for those who need a voice-Hillary Clinton

Ahh, the world of Hillary Clinton, one where she attempts to have it both ways. For instance at one point she says "My opponent has taken to attacking me on NAFTA. I've long been a critic of the shortcomings of NAFTA" forgetting the fact that when she was ensconced in the 35-year-period of change she keeps harping on, she was a champion for NAFTA. Like her vote on the authorization for the war in Iraq, she supported it then, but now, in retrospect, it doesn't seem like a good idea. How many truly awful and horrible decisions is she allowed to make before she realizes she isn't fit to be president?
Now Hillary is caught in the fight for her political life, she's come out swinging against Obama. Now she's fighting, but when the Senate was voting to strip immunity from the telecom bill, was she fighting then? When Bush used the Congress authority to use force to start an all out war, was she fighting then? Did she fight against the use of torture? Is she fighting for better conditions from our soldiers when they return home from the war? Is she fighting to end the war? No, no, no, no and no.
Is she speaking out for the Iraqi citizens, caught between warring factions and the US military? Did she speak up for the Lebanese people caught between Hezbollah and the IDF? Is she speaking out for the citizens of Gaza, caught between the Israeli government and the democratically elected Hamas fighters? Is she speaking up for the displaced residents of New Orleans, whose city is still feeling the negative effects of hurricane from almost three years ago? No, no, no and no.
Did she fight Bush on any of his Supreme Court nominees? Has she fought against any of his signing statements? Has she the Bush administration's various abuses as much as she's fought to have the Democratic Party convention rules so she can become the nominee she arrogantly assumes is her right and destiny?
No, she hasn't fought for anything except her own political future, placing it higher than the American people. She might make a better president than Bush, but only because he lowered the bar.

UPDATE- Over at Fred's I just found a link to this about Hillary voting for war with Iran. Tell us about how you're for change again.

"But, Hey, Defense Contractors Are Making Money. Wait, You Mean There Are Americans Not Employed By The Military-Industrial Complex?"

So George Bush thinks the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the economy. This chimp faced chump couldn't buy a clue if he was the only bidder at a clue auction. Not that anyone expects him to admit to any of his numerous failings, in his mind the economy's doing swell.
Let me spell it out for you, Mr. Presnit: The war in Iraq has increased the budget deficit. Deficits mean the government has to print up more dollars, which in turn makes those dollars worth less than before by virtue of the fact there's more of them floating around. That increases inflation, and if you don't think prices are going up, you haven't been to a grocery store recently.
The war in Iraq has also increased instability in the Middle East. This coupled with your threats against Iran have driven up the price of a barrel of oil. Higher oil prices means Americans are paying more at the pump. In the last three years, gas prices have doubled. Paying more for gas means people have less to spend on other things, which in turn has led to slower retail sales. That in turn leads to lay-offs, etc., etc.
So never mind that most Americans think that leaving Iraq would boost the economy, even though most Americans have a higher capacity for intelligence than you. You are like a fart in a stiff wind, you're talking out of your ass and your breath probably stinks as well.

Electability?

The latest Clinton camp buzzword is "electability".

“Winning Democratic primaries is not a qualification or a sign of who can win the general election. If it were, every nominee would win because every nominee wins Democratic primaries.”

Clutching at straws, getting weepy whenever you start trailing, this is not how you become electable. (is that even a word?) You become electable by, uh, winning elections. The Clinton camp seems to think that only she is strong enough to go up against McCain in November, but really, who couldn't beat Senator Hothead?
The primary reason for the presidential primaries is for each candidate to flaunt their appeal for voters. The voters listen to each candidate and measure what they have to say against what they have done in the past. They measure each candidate against the other then follow the one who seems to know where they are going.

It All Comes Down To Tuna

We've been told for years that the reason businesses needed to offshore many of our manufacturing jobs is because the cost of American labor had gotten too high. Things such as taxes, health benefits and other costs that kept the worker able to complete their mundane tasks and live comfortably were hurting the bottom line. But I see it differently.
The company I work for provides food service for corporate settings. We provide breakfast and lunches, and dinners in factory and executive locations. This gives me a unique perspective to see the differences between the two extremes.
A good example of this is tuna. The line worker in the factory gets canned tuna, usually made into tuna salad. The bread usually comes in frozen and is never fresh. The worker also pays for this food from their own pocket. The worker has twenty minutes to eat their food, unable to leave the grounds, because the company feels if they return late from their lunch break, productivity will be compromised.
The executive flying on the corporate jet, however, is fed sushimi grade tuna. While the worker in the factory would be fortunate to get flank or skirt steak on rare occasions, the executive can have nothing less than steak cut fresh from tenderloin. And the executives meals are provided for by the company itself.
Once a quarter, if the worker has not missed any days of work, the company will throw an "attendance celebration", where they get to dine on a five ounce strip loin steak, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and off brand fruit juices. The executive has weekly meeting where only the finest pastries, juices, and fresh fruit are served. While the factory worker has to make do with regular-old-coffee, the executives can have nothing less than Starbuck's coffee.
The executives have their own dining area, where they are waited on by good looking young women (as opposed to the worked, who gets food slopped on a plate by an old cafeteria worker), and have their choice of refreshments (including beer, wine, and liquor) to wash down their meals.
The job of a CEO is to make their company as profitable as possible, which in turn will make the price of the stock rise along with profitability . You would think that meant manufacturing products that people would buy, but as of late, it has meant cutting costs to make the company more attractive to prospective investors. Trade agreements such as NAFTA allow these companies to offshore manufacturing jobs with impunity. The downside to this is that the service jobs created don't pay as well as the manufacturing jobs they are replacing, and as a result, the economy has slowly been sliding downhill because people no longer have the money to buy the items made in this country that have traditionally driven the US economy, such as new cars or houses.
And now, the subprime crisis has led to a global $77 trillion in stock market loss, and the country is headed towards a recession. And it's all because some bigwig is too good for canned tuna.

A Torture Romance

The Senate has voted 51-45 to prohibit waterboarding and other harsh methods of interrogation (i.e., torture) with Sen John McCain voting against the measure. Surely this is a bid to woo the sick fucks that are conservatives and prove he's just as soulless and evil as they and their president are, so pretty soon the endorsements will come rolling in. Bush is already planning on vetoing the bill, because we need to get people to confess to crimes others have committed to enable the loss of our civil liberties in the so-called war on terror.

The Latest Distraction

Today, I happened to catch a glimpse of the congressional hearings on steroid use by professional athletes, and I wondered, who really gives a fuck if some juiced up ball player is taking performance enhancing drugs? All it really does is add some excitement to an incredibly dull game. In a capitalistic society, independent contractors should be allowed to do what ever is necessary to give them an edge in the race for glory, history books and astronomical salaries. Next you'll be telling me it's a bad thing that Amy Winehouse is a crackhead.
Sure, some of you may say that, hey, these professional athletes are setting a bad example for the youth of our nation. We have an executive seeking immunity for telecoms that spied on Americans, illegally, a political party that thinks torture is okay, and a White House that has abused it's power more than a teenage boy with a stack of Hustler magazines abuses himself, these are far worse examples being set by our leaders that will have far reaching ramifications in the years to come. Why not investigate these? Why waste taxpayer's money on something that will have no immediate bearing on the lives of many Americans?

Ouch, That Stings!

"Of course President Bush would attack the one candidate in this race who opposed his disastrous war in Iraq from the start. But Barack Obama doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation," - Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
(Picture stolen from The American Insurgency)
George W Bush, in an unbridled act of arrogance (of which he is so proficient) has decided to attack Barack Obama. Of course, Bush knows from inexperience, Bush had no experience of foreign policy to speak of when he took office, just lots of plans to take it easy at Camp David, and look at the mess he made of this once fine country.
I hear the experience argument thrown around a lot recently, and really, no one running for president for their first term has experience being the leader of the free world. What we need to judge them on is there intelligence, not their opportunism. Their judgment, not the insincere apologies for lapses of judgment.
And so, the Obama campaign issued the above rejoinder, the first time anyone with in this campaign has dared to blame the great dictator for the mess he has made. And for that, he gets my respect. And if the Democrats have the good judgment to make him their candidate, he has my vote.

Join The Blogswarm-Save Nelson's Birthday!

March 19, 1999, was a very important day in my life. that's when my youngest son, Nelson was born. Four years later, the US invaded Iraq. Now his birthday will be forever linked with that fateful day, unless we all do something. I know how it is to have a birthday associated with a tragedy (I was born on Groundhog Day), and believe me, it never really goes away.
In the day's leading to the illegal (under international law) invasion of Iraq, I wrote my congressperson. I stood in the freezing cold along with fifteen million other people around the world to protest a war that hadn't even begun. I began blogging, because as John McCain recently said, we'll be in Iraq for a hundred years, and with 3956 US soldiers sacrificed to the corpocracy, not to mention the many injured, or soon to be debilitated due to the effects of DU, it won't be long before they institute a a draft to fill the gap since the children of the corpocracy won't be asked to fight. And I don't want Nelson or his brother to be forced to fight in a war that began when he just had turned four years old.
So i joined the March 19 blogswarm and am asking all of you to do the same, since the elections, the faltering economy, and the psychotic ravings of pop stars has pushed the war from the consciousness of the American people. Remind them the war is still there, it was still based on lies, and it won't go away unless we fight to end it. And I'm asking you please, please, please, do it for Nelson.

Winter Blues

Here in West Michigan we have a saying (by "we", I mean undoubtedly me), a winter storm is when kids can't make it to school, but a blizzard is when you can't make it to Meijer's. Here in the frozen north, when a front is looming, people often flock to the supermarket to stock up on comfort food, alcohol and cigarettes to help them ride out being snowed in. This evening when I visited the store it was virtual empty, or as empty as I've ever seen a Meijer store at five o'clock. So if the hour drive home from work when it usually takes me twenty minutes wasn't enough of a tell, nor the multiple accidents on the way home, or the quarter mile visibility in white out conditions, the emptiness of the grocery store was all the sign I needed that this was in fact a blizzard.

Like I Said, A Couple Of Posts Down

The problem inherent in backing one political party over another is obvious. The Republicans had this problem in 2000. many of them, unhappy with their candidate, simply held their noses and voted for him anyway, because in their mind, the alternative was worse. And so, vote fraud notwithstanding, they elected what has come to be known as the worst presidency in the history of the US. Of course, some of them, following a false flag "terror" attack on our country, were sucked in and began defending his actions, no matter how morally wrong or unconstitutional. They had to because he was their man.
When I started blogging, they were all over the net, responding to any criticisms with out logic, with out reason, with out sanity. Slowly, they began to see we were right. They ran to the comfort of their like minded set, grumbling about the "wing-nuts", but less and less, defending the presidency they helped wrought on this country.
And now, history is repeating itself, only this time, it's the Democrats. many of them have said they wil hold their noses and vote for a candidate who refuses to commit to a pledge to renew the Constitution. A simple pledge:

"We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people's phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power. I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from attack by any President."

Every other Democratic candidate has signed it, save one. Would you still vote for this person?

Nothing Israel

Over forty years after barring the Beatles from playing a concert there, Israel wants the Beatles to play a concert there in celebration of it's own 60th anniversary. Considering half the Beatles are dead, you would be treated to an evening of Paul McCartney songs bookended by "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus' Garden".
It seems the Beatles were booked to play a concert there in 1965, until the government refused to grant them the necessary permits because their music might corrupt the morals of the country. You know, with those obscene songs like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" or "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You".
Of course, the Israeli government somehow managed to get morally corrupt with out the aid of the Beatles, so messages were sent to the two remaining Beatles, as well as the CEO of the Beatles Story

This Is Serious, Senator Specter?

I often feel that the US puts too much emphasis on sports. This weekend is a good example, but what is essentially games that children play to burn off energy has become a multi-billion dollar racket, which in the end is mere entertainment, no more important than movies or television and not having any type of bearing on reality whatsoever.
Remember when Congress had a big investigation into steroid use by baseball players? How is professional athletes using performance enhancers bad, while the US military is using depleted uranium for the exact same result? Winning is everything, because we are not a society of losers! What's next? An investigation into actresses who used cleavage enhancing breast implants? (Please,sir, can I be on that committee, sir?)
Early on in this season, the New England Patriots were caught videotaping defensive coaches' signals to players during games. The tapes were confiscated by the NFL, who then fined and denied a first round draft pick to the Patriots. After which, the tapes were destroyed. Now, Sen. Arlen Specter has declared the tapes' destruction analogous to the CIA interrogation tapes destruction. Except with those tapes, they were destroyed before an investigation and no punishment has been meted out at all because of it. Or how about the deletion of emails missing from White House servers? It seems to certain Senate Republicans, only other crimes bear closer scrutiny (or maybe Sen. Specter heard there were some awesome cheerleader upskirts on there he needed to see).

Hillary Clinton Is Just George Bush In An Ugly Pantsuit

Strange things are happening. Kenya's voting was rigged. How do we know? The exit polling differed from the final results. Funny, when that happened in New Hampshire last month, it was the exit polling at fault, not vote fraud.
All over, I read "progressives" talking about how great it would be to have a woman president, and I agree, as long as it was a great woman. That is not Hillary Clinton.
Why are progressives, so famous for opposing any unnecessary use of force, so happy to get behind someone who voted for the Iraq war? Someone who has chided President Bush for not being tough enough on Iran, a country who has yet to be proven has any nuclear weapon program? Who posed with children as Israel dropped cluster bombs all over southern Lebanon while stating "America stands behind you, Israel!"? Not only that, but she voted against the Feinstein-Leahy Amendment, which would restrict the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas around the world. Does this sound like a progressive?
The answer is no, and Democrats are deluding themselves if they think they are better than the Republicans they've been bitching about for the last eight years who blindly supported George W. Bush because he was their candidate. Hillary Clinton is George W. Bush in a pantsuit, not any one who would “discipline the corporate crooks and lobbyists and their corporate candidates."