A Tale Of Two Defectors

Defector 1: Reza Kahlili, a Iranian revolutionary Guard defector who went to work for the CIA following the revolution of 1979 says that Tehran will attack Israel. Speaking at a conference at The Washington Institute For Near East Policy, Mr Khalili (not his real name) has stated that Iran will unleash the largest suicide bombing mission ever! Of course, since Israel has nuclear weapons while Tehran doesn't, it will most certainly be a suicide mission, conveniently timed for the propaganda run up for the US/Israel attack against Iran, later this year.
Defector 2:Shahram Amiri is a top Iranian nuclear scientist. He went missing a year ago on a pilgrimage to Medina, a city in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian government claims he was kidnapped, the US denied that claim.
Well, fast forward a year later, and Mr. Amiri (his real name) has turned up in the Iranian interest section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC. Mr. Amiri has claimed he was kidnapped and held against his will where he was "under enormous psychological pressure and supervision of armed agents in the past 14 months".
Hmmm. Mr. Amiri then goes on to state that "I was not prepared to betray my country under any kind of threats or bribery by the US government."
So, in other words, the US government, desperate to start a war against a country that is not a threat to anyone (unlike, say, the US), kidnaps a top Iranian nuclear scientist, using various means of coercion tries to get him to betray his country (possibly by stating lies about Iran's nuclear power program). Then the man escapes, posts an interview on YouTube stating he is a prisoner, which is then countered by another YouTube video of someone resembling Amiri saying he is fine and every body should just go back to buying things and disregard the previous video. Now it turns out the first video is right, and all Mr. Amiri wishes is that he just be allowed to return back to his country.
So there you have it. A defector who (most likely) was coerced (or bribed) into telling the chickenhawk war mongers what they needed to hear, and a kidnapping victim that was tried to be passed off as a defector in order to lie to sell ANOTHER war to the American television watcher.

Sarah Palin's Coming To Town

Resigned ex-Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin kicked off her 2012 Presidential Campaign book tour today here in my hometown, with a book signing at Barnes and Noble, and lots of Grand Rapidians lined up to gawk and help push her ghost written tome on to the best sellers list. This is not surprising, as this is one of the most conservative parts of that state, a place where John McCain has been removed from McCain-Palin bumper stickers (like he was the weak link in that train wreck)on the back of elderly driver's Buicks, leaving Sarah, Plain and Tall. In fact some "news" networks went as far as to edit in old campaign footage to bolster the claims. I'm sure it was just because it's so much cheaper than sending a news crew out to film a bunch of obese and wrinkled septuagenarians who took time off from their busy schedule to stand in line.
Palin's book tour is focused on the "real America", because somewhere in the faltering brain cells of those few people left who still refer to themselves as Republicans, small cities and rural areas are more American than say, California or New York City. This is her way of saying that if you live in these outlying regions, and as long as you vote Republican, then your vote counts, darn it. And if you the other 78% of Americans, well, darn it, you're just not real enough to deal with everyday problems, such as your daughter's baby daddy posing for Playgirl, or being interviewed by Katie Couric as a political candidate, instead of as one working mother to another like you thought. Whatever it is, she's not going away anytime soon. You betcha.

The Selective Amnesia Of The Cheney Family

Does Dick Cheney have Alzheimer's? Did he contract it from his years of association with Ronald Reagan? In recently released FBI documents of an interview with then Vice President Cheney, he claimed that he has no idea" who leaked Plame's name to Bob Novak, he does not recall any discussion with Libby of perceived nepotism associated with Wilson's selection for the CIA assignment, and that the vice president is relatively certain that he spoke to someone about the article but he cannot remember exactly who it was.(UPDATE:A list of 22 things Cheney can't recall about the Plame affair) Which is pretty much the same testimony Reagan gave in the Iran-Contra case.
Well, if Alzheimer's isn't contagious, it certainly is hereditary. Take Cheney's daughter, Liz (Please). When President Obama went to Dover AFB to honor returning fallen soldiers, she shot back "I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this."
What she fails to remember is that President Bush never met returning caskets at Dover, EVER. Neither did her father. With cameras, or not, the previous administration loved to send US troops to die, make money for their crony friends doing it, and never having to be reminded of the end result of their handiwork. In fact, in 2004, Bush wanted to slash over one billion dollars from the Veteran Affairs budget.
So I guess it's okay for Liz Cheney to blather on about things she chooses not to remember, it's her right as an American. The problem here is that in their mad rush to torpedo the efforts of the Obama administration to undo all the evil inflicted by the previous administration (which is certainly no mad rush unto itself), the Fox "news" organization will put anyone on who is willing to lie or selectively remember events to cast an unflattering light on them to further their corporate right wing agenda.

The Hypocrisy Never Ends

Back when George W Bush was our president, every public event was stage managed down to who received invitations, down to who got let in through the door, and who was allowed to address Bush. It happened for eight years, and for eight years, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, and rafts of other "conservative" commentators said nary a peep. So, no problem, right?
Now, there's a problem.
Sure, if the story's true, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, that 11 year old Julia Hall was used as a "kiddie human shield",where's Malkin's gripe? Bush used to fill his events with supporters,hand out flags and signs without a peep from Ms. Malkin. The precedent has been set, and by complaining about it now, and not then, you show how stupid the American political system has become. Everything the opposition does is wrong, even if it's the same fucking thing your side is doing. And how can Obama continue to claim to be an agent of change if he keeps on using the Bush playbook?