XML Feeds
Archives for: July 2008
Former Ramstein medical chief denounces McCain
Oh what a tangled web he weaved, when first he practiced to decieve.
heh...heh....heh...
From Jonathan Martin at Politico.
VoteVets, the pro-Democrat group of retired military personnel, counters McCain's Black Hawk down statement with some outrage from Col. Katherine Scheirman (Ret.), the retired Chief of Medical Operations for United States Air Force in Europe Headquarters at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany:
"John McCain's new ad is dishonest and shameful, and I say that as the former Chief of Medical Operations. Senators Hagel and Reed confirmed to Bob Schieffer yesterday that Senator Obama visited the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad as a part of their CODEL, with no media present.
No surprise here
The rebate didn't work.
Ideologically I was 50-50 on the rebate idea. 50% in favor because it put money directly into the hands that would spend it. 50% against because it dovetails with the Norquist concept of keeping money away from the gubmint - it's tantamount to a tax cut.
Consumption drives 70% of our economy which makes it clear that neoliberal trickledown has not been a positive idea for our society. Neoliberalism has turned the US into yet another economic colony of multinationals - milk the US economy for profits, invest it in Indonesia or elsewhere to make MORE profit on the Western consumer, and damn the torpedoes - we gotta make a short-term profit NOW goddamit. When the Indonesians get ornery, move the factories to Bhutan or Zanzibar - there will always be a country full of peons. But what these people forget is that peons are only valuable if you have a market for what the peons make.
"Re-training" won't cut it, it's just another way of providing for corps. "Investment in infrastructure" could do the trick, but if it's outsourced you have to factor in a profit margin that invariably becomes more honerous than any losses from governmental inefficiency.
We urgently need government investment in projects that are labour-intensive. Our unemployment is relatively low but our underemployment has grown like never before - fewer hours, lower pay, worse jobs.
"Who will rid me of this turbulent neoliberalism?", to paraphrase an economist Shakespeare.
John McCain's Anger Problem
Brent Budovsky writes about McCain's psychopathy at the Hill.
McCain't spent years as a POW. He was tortured physically, mentally, and emotionally. So, it's a good idea for this man to become the most powerful man in the world?
The man who used to be John McCain is reacting to the pressures of a campaign by becoming Meat Ax McCainwith low-road attacks that raise core questions of presidential temperament.
Today, as Barack Obama hosts a meeting with financial leaders from across America, the anger-ridden, increasingly desperate McCain campaign accuses Obama of creating a future depression.
The performance of the man who used to be John McCain, and his campaign — run by foreign agents and Bush-Rove disciples — now raises grave questions about whether McCain has the temperament and stability in crisis to be president.
Iran
A straw poll:
1. Do you think that Iran has a right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes?
2. Do you think that Iran could be blamed for wanting a nuclear deterent?
3. Do you think that Iran (nuclear or non-nuke) poses a threat to the West/US/Israel?
The NAM has made it clear that they don't see eye-to-eye with what our propagandapress calls the "West".
That's 118 countries that are not in agreement with the UNSC, Dubya, McShame or Obama.
Interesting
A majority of voters (56%) say the country should have a third major political party in addition to the Democrats and Republicans, while 39% say it should not. Voters were split on a third party four years ago. Not surprisingly, independents (72%) are much more supportive of a third party than are Republicans (53%) or Democrats (47%). Young voters (65%) are also strong backers of a third party.
What is worrying is the "issue meter" - the issues that are/were central to Obama's campaign have lost much ground
The survey finds new evidence that rising energy prices are reshaping the campaign's issues agenda. As in April, more voters want the candidates to discuss the economy than any other issue. However, about as many voters now say they want the candidates to address energy and gas prices as the war in Iraq (17% energy vs. 19% Iraq). And energy has far surpassed health care as an issue that voters want the candidates to discuss
More and more
Stevens seem to be going down, yet another case of individual corruption in a larger environment of institutionalized corruption.
This is par for the course with the GOP. What is sadly also a GOP constant is their newish rhetoric...
Does the GOP know the uhmerican electorate better than the DNC? 'Cos their insistence on "drilling the continental shelf" is a pretty gross example of the "big lie" and apparently the public is lapping it up.
Doesn't the DNC have any attack dogs out there that can say "uh, sorry folks, the GOP and McShame are lying to you with this drilling stuff, they're playing you as stupid fiddles". Where's the killer instinct? Are they even TRYING to win?
Careful with Afghanistan
"...Take 20 minutes and read the stunning article in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine by Thomas Schweich, a former top Bush counternarcotics official focused on Afghanistan, and dwell on his paragraph on Afghan President Hamid Karzai:
“Karzai was playing us like a fiddle: The U.S. would spend billions of dollars on infrastructure improvement; the U.S. and its allies would fight the Taliban; Karzai’s friends could get rich off the drug trade; he could blame the West for his problems; and in 2009, he would be elected to a new term.”
Then read the Afghan expert Rory Stewart’s July 17 Time magazine cover story from Kabul: “A troop increase is likely to inflame Afghan nationalism because Afghans are more anti-foreign than we acknowledge, and the support for our presence in the insurgency areas is declining ... The more responsibility we take in Afghanistan, the more we undermine the credibility and responsibility of the Afghan government and encourage it to act irresponsibly. Our claims that Afghanistan is the ‘front line in the war on terror’ and that ‘failure is not an option’ have convinced the Afghan government that we need it more than it needs us. The worse things become, the more assistance it seems to receive. This is not an incentive to reform.”
Before Democrats adopt “More Troops to Afghanistan” as their bumper sticker, they need to make sure it’s a strategy for winning a war — not an election."
A Torture Paper Trail
Eugene Robinson spells it all out for us in a barn burner. Read the whole thing.
Some excerpts:
...in August 2002 by Jay Bybee, who was head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel -- makes the incredible claim that unless a torturer has the "specific intent" to inflict severe pain or suffering, no violation of U.S. laws against torture has occurred. Bybee, since appointed to the federal bench, wrote that the torturer needed only the "honest belief" that he was not actually committing torture to avoid legal jeopardy. Oh, and Bybee added that it wasn't even necessary for that belief to be "reasonable."
No government obeying the law needs a paper trail to absolve its interrogators of committing torture. Conversely, a government that produces such a paper trail has something monstrous to hide.
It is not difficult to avoid violating federal laws and international agreements that prohibit torture. Just don't torture people, period. The idea that there exists some acceptable middle ground -- a kind of "torture lite" -- is a hideous affront to this nation's honor and values. This, perhaps above all, is how George Bush should be remembered: as the president who embraced torture.
Barack Obama has stood consistently against torture. John McCain, who was tortured himself as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, has denounced torture as well -- and, although he voted against restraining the CIA with the same no-exceptions policy that now applies to military interrogators, he has been forthright in saying that waterboarding is torture, and thus illegal. On Inauguration Day, whoever wins the presidency, this awful interlude will end.
A clear and urgent duty of the next president will be to investigate the Bush administration's torture policy and give Americans a full accounting of what was done in our name. It's astounding that we need some kind of truth commission in the United States of America, but we do. Only when we learn the full story of what happened will we be able to confidently promise, to ourselves and to a world that looks to this country for moral leadership: Never again.
Hate him, but this is mostly true
Ahmadinejad gives a rant.
I challenge anyone to deny any of his assertion.
"The rich and powerful countries continue to exercise an inordinate influence in determining the nature and direction of international relations, including economic and trade relations, as well as rules governing these relations, many of which are at the expense of developing countries," it said.
Toldja so yet again
This time it's Rand that agrees with what many have said for years:
WASHINGTON - The United States can defeat al-Qaida if it relies less on force and more on policing and intelligence to root out the terror group's leaders, a new study contends.
"Keep in mind that terrorist groups are not eradicated overnight," said the study by the federally funded Rand research center, an organization that counsels the Pentagon.
Its report said that the use of military force by the United States or other countries should be reserved for quelling large, well-armed and well-organized insurgencies, and that American officials should stop using the term "war on terror" and replace it with "counterterrorism."
"Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests there is no battlefield solution to terrorism," said Seth Jones, the lead author of the study and a Rand political scientist.
Of course, the objective of the war on a verb was never the verb - it was the war.
Conspiracy?
Unusual, to say the least:
Police link US man's computer to India bomb e-mail
Home address Langley, Va???
U.S. Military Says Soldiers Fired on Civilians
From the New York Times:
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: July 28, 2008
BAGHDAD — The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements, asserting that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops.
The attack on June 25 killed three people, a man and two women, as they drove to work at a bank at Baghdad’s airport. The attack infuriated Iraqi officials and even prompted the Iraqi armed forces general command to call the shooting cold-blooded murder.
Got hope?
Obama's going economic.
Wunnerful, ain't it? Wall Streets' and the free marketeers' darling shows his colours yet again.
Is the surge working?
This graph has been my yardstick on Iraq, for years.
Bush mass for shut ins for 07-27-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Housing Bill.
HOUSING BILL CELEBRATION
Lord God Bush proclaimed new housing legislation that will solve the housing crisis that was created by the liberals in an effort to destroy America. Now we can all sit back, relax, and prosper.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
I'll light the fire
You put the flowers in the vase
That you bought today
Staring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you
Play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for me
Come to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is good
Such a cosy room
The windows are illuminated
By the sunshine through them
Fiery gems for you
Only for you
Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you
And our la,la,la, la,la, la, la, la, la, la, la.....
Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you
And Our
I'll light the fire
And you place the flowers in the jar
That you bought today
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF PAULSON
Then George the Ever Wonderful picked up the ballpoint pen of holiness and signed his holy name to the holy housing bill. He proclaimed "This bill will end the Clinton housing crisis" and the people cheered.
What is the Profit Paulson trying to say to us? It is that the housing bill will end this front of the liberals war on America. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Sickening Torture Revelation
Decades ago, North Korea and Red China tortured American captives, to force them to make FALSE CONFESSIONS in propaganda show trials.
In response, the CIA conducted case studies on the methods of torture used; in order to develop ways for captured Americans to survive torture.
So...
When the Bush Administration ordered use of torture, the CIA scrambled to comply, by re-visiting those same studies; now using them as how-to handbooks on torture techniques, rather than for their intended purpose: aiding in torture resistance.
Here's the rub: The Koreans & Chinese hadn't tortured in order to "get the truth" out of captives.
They WANTED the captives to lie! They -wanted- false confessions.
So is it any surprise that these techniques resulted in false confessions from captives at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, and secret detainment locations?!! The techniques were DESIGNED to yield false information!
Source: RFK Jr. on the radio today, interviewing Jane Mayer, the author of "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals."
This Column Made My Day
From Salon's War Room:
At this point, just about everyone agrees: It was not a good week for John McCain.
The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller, for example, has an interesting article Friday, a look back at how McCain fared over the past few days. It's not a rosy picture. Bumiller starts off by observing, "Senator John McCain's presidential campaign recovered from a near-death experience almost exactly a year ago, and political candidates stumble in and out of troughs all the time. But it is safe to say that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is not having a spectacular week."
To bolster her point, she turned to Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican strategist who was working for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee earlier this year. "McCain is having a disastrous week," Rollins said. "It would have been better if he had just kept a low profile and stayed out of the limelight. He got dragged into making a lot of stupid comments about Obama, and there's been this tremendous contrast with the visuals, which is what a lot of people pay attention to."
McCain: bin Laden could face Nuremberg-like justice
The McAnus campaign is quickly sinking into self-parody. I can't believe that Walnuts can say this stuff with a straight face. He really is a stupid SOB.
(CNN) — Sen. John McCain on Friday said that as president he would consider bringing Osama bin Laden to justice through a Nuremberg-like international trial.
He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “We have various options. The Nuremberg Trials are certainly an example of the kind of tribunal that we could move forward with. I don’t think we’d have any difficulty in devising an international — internationally supported mechanism that would mete out justice. There’s no problem there.”
McCain said that it would be a “good thing to reveal to the world the enormity of this guy’s crimes, and his intentions, which are still there.”
Obama Berlin Speech: US Foreign Service Workers Instructed Not To Attend
From HuffPo:
Although it appears most of Berlin is heading to Obama's speech today, US Foreign Service personnel will be banned from the event. And they are not happy. The American Foreign Service Association, a union of Foreign Service workers are opposing the rule.
The U.S. Embassy in Berlin has instructed Foreign Service personnel stationed there not to attend Sen. Barack Obama's public rally today, which the State Department this week labeled a "partisan political activity" prohibited under its regulations for those serving overseas.
Empathetic potus
How far we've fallen
Remember the Kitchen Debate?
Tricky Dicky and Nikita got their tongues wagging. A gem that show us just how far we've fallen:
Mr. Nixon explained that the model house could be built for $14,000 and that most United States veterans of World War II had bought houses in the bracket of $10,000 to $15,000.
"Let me give you an example you can appreciate," Mr. Nixon said. "Our steel workers, as you know, are now on strike. But any steel worker could buy this house. They earn $3 an hour. This house costs about $100 a month to buy on a contract, running twenty-five to thirty years."
Those were the days, eh? A steelworker with a housewife and 2.2 kids could afford a house. In fact, house payments were a third of his salary. Would you be considered lower-middle class today if you could do this?
But we're had decades of growth! The system works!
OK, both parties lie and manipulate...
... but this is just pathetic.
I mean really, criminally, pathetic.
McSame on Fantasy Football
Asked what first comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain chuckled, "the Steelers. I was a mediocre high school athlete but I loved and adored the sports but the Steelers really made a huge impression on me particularly in my early years."
And then McCain told a rather moving story about his time as a P.O.W. "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates."
"Did you really?" asked the reporter.
"Yes," McCain said.
"In your POW camp?" asked the reporter.
"Yes," McCain said.
"Could you do it today?" asked the reporter.
"No, unfortunately," McCain said.
Here's one reason he likely couldn't do it today -- the Steelers aren't the team whose defensive line McCain named for his Vietnamese tormentors. The Green Bay Packers are. At least according to every previous time McCain has told this story. And the McCain campaign just told ABC News that the senator made a mistake -- it was, indeed, the Packers.
Op-Ed piece by Republican presidential contender John McCain
July 21, 2008
Op-Ed piece by Republican presidential contender John McCain
Sent to The New York Times
Source: The McCain campaign
[Note: The Times wouldn't print it. Said it didn't contain any plan.]
In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation "hard" but not "hopeless." Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats.
The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains. Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there," he said on January 10, 2007. "In fact, I think it will do the reverse."
9 Reasons to Investigate War Crimes Now
"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account." - Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army's investigation into Abu Ghraib
1. World peace cannot be achieved without human rights and accountability.
2. The rule of law is central to our democracy.
3. We must not allow precedents to be set that promote war crimes.
4. We must restore the principles of democracy to our government.
5. We must forestall an imperialist resurgence.
6. We must have national consensus on the real reasons for the Bush Administration's failures.
7. We must restore America's damaged reputation abroad.
8. We must lay the basis for major change in US foreign policy.
9. We must deter future US war crimes.
In "The Nation".
FREEDOM DOWNTIME Movie Review
"Freedom Downtime" is a 2003 documentary, available for viewing free online in its 122 minute entirety here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6746139755329108302
It is also on YouTube and AOL video, but there it's posted as 12 seperate 10-minute segments.
The film was made by "2600: The Hacker Quarterly", a magazine long available at chainstores nationwide.
2600 primarily consists of intellectual curiosities-- technological how-to's that are unlikely to be very practical in the hands of greedy criminals. Such as descriptions of how to convert your amateur radio transmitter so that you can override McDonald's drive-thru system and talk to customers on the speaker.
However, that primary focus has yielded a secondary aspect to 2600. It is also a publication that is concerned with civil liberties, institutional power and manipulation of the masses by the powers-that-be. Why? Because the usually-benign activities of the hackers have been met with a systemic over-reaction, as if they were dangerous terrorists.
And so "Freedom Downtime" is not just about antics and woes of a few esoteric Bart Simpson-esque pranksters. But rather it's an illuminating dissection of our sinister society.
Before there was a "9/11" and a "Gitmo", there was a hacker held in maximum-security prison without any bail-hearing or trial for over 3 years. Before Bush SPIED ON AMERICAN CITIZENS BY THE MILLIONS WITH THE ILLICIT AID OF GIANT TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATIONS (who were recently indemnified for their crimes), hackers were sent to prison for very minor individual instances of snooping on the telcos. And the corporations had the nerve to claim this caused them millions in phantom damages.
Before we were led to a bloody war under false scare scenarios, hackers were given stiff sentences for possession of C4 explosives, which the Secret Service knew full-well Didn't Exist. And were held in solitary confinement for months on end, because of insane courtroom accusations that access to a telephone could allow a hacker to phone NORAD and launch nukes by whistling into the phone reciever. And before 'swift-boating' and the inflation of Saddam Hussein as a boogeyman threat, Kevin Mitnik was personally targetted in media campaigns by the New York Times... with wild false accusations of his activities and personal characteristics.
At times Freedom Downtime is sprawling and feels over-long. But one of the unspoken sins of hackers is that they don't have a tidy short attention span. They're willing to play with technology like a Rubik's cube, for the sheer joy of it. In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, available on youtube, she expresses utter confusion as to WHY a hacker would bother to learn about things if not for personal gain. In another YouTube-posted interview, Mitnick tells a young hacker that other prisoners respected his intelligence, but didn't respect or understand why he hacked for fun, not larceny.
In the seemingly extraneous segments of Freedom Downtime, such as man-on-the-street interviews with clueless passers-by, the movie is no longer a portrait of hackers. But rather a portrait of the rest of us-- in our ignorance and greed and careless abuse of power.
Bush mass for shut ins for 07-20-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Drill drill drill.
DRILL DRILL DRILL CELEBRATION
Lord God Bush opened new lands this week to oil drilling and thus the price of oil was lowered and we can shelve electric cars and alternative forms of energy.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire,
Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there"
Said "Californy is the place you ought to be"
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.
Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You're all invited back a gain to this locality
To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality
Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.
Y'all come back now, y'hear?.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Then George the Ever Wonderful smirked down upon the people and spoke. `Drill, drill drill.` and instantly the price of oil was lowered. This made everyone happy except for liberals who cried and cried and cried and cried.
What is the Profit Cheney trying to say to us? It is that more drilling will solve the oil crisis. Those who dont believe this hate America and dont wear flag lapel pins. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
Gitmo?
Prison ships, torture claims, and missing detainees
Sounds like the Gulag system. Out of sight, out of mind, and out of control.
It wasn't speculation after all
Oil prices tumble in biggest weekly drop ever
The rw politicos rejected speculation as a cause for the gas crunch, called for unnecessarily openning new offshore oilfields. It was supply and demand, it was China, it was...
But in the end profit-taking shows that the rw talking heads were dead-wrong, if they weren't indeed lying manipulating SOB whores for big oil.
And the left? Of course, every talking head says that you have to go left to earn the dem nomination and go "center" to win elections. But guess what! This is only true if you let the rw dictate the framing of messages.
I am -SO- pissed that this excellent opportunity to quash the rw myths has been thrown away. This is one of the reasons why I am so anti-dem; they've thrown away a heaven-sent opportunity to destroy, for the 2nd time in our history, an oligarchal control of our destiny. Such incompetence is one of the reasons why I have come to think that the lack of real opposition is because fundamentally the DNC is more closely aligned with the GOP and corps than it is with progressive ideals.
Reagan's/Newt's GOP went for the ideological throat of the DNC. It framed the political debate around "gubmint bad", "free market" and some nebulous ideals that appealed to the libertarian in all of us. It mixed it with jingo and fear - they pressed the right buttons and have prevailed. Now that the very heart of the GOP's ideology has been shown to be the same utter failure of the pre-Depression GOPers with whom they share so much, the reaction is so tepid as to be a tacit approval of said ideals.
Sure, some dems (and indeed some GOPers) correctly identified speculation as part and parcel of today's energy crunch and called for luke-warm regulation to curb it. But nobody is going to the heart of the matter, nobody has the "killer instinct" that could put the GOP against the ropes in a veritably existential sense.
The goddam "center" prevails, and the fulcrum moves inexorably to the right despite rw failures.
I wanna bitchslap the DNC, from Dean to Obama, from Pelosi to....
I miss Wellstone, the last REAL centrist (as opposed to rw appeaser)
McCain's a bigamist
"McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife."
LA TIMES
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,5924926,full.story
Phil Graham Out as Walnut's Campaign Co-Chair
Good lord, look at Walnuts in this pic. What a pathetic bastard.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm said Friday he is stepping down as co-chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign amid criticism for saying, "We have sort of become a nation of whiners."
Screwed, Blued, and Tattooed
From SFGate.
To put that number in human terms, the debt has reached $455,000 per U.S. household.
As the Bush administration proposes backstopping mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit and Congress contemplates another economic stimulus, the question is who will bail out the government?
"People seem to think the government has money," said former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. "The government doesn't have any money."
KBR death toll
Insurgents, terrists and accidents aren't enough, so KBR contributes to the number of soldiers killed in Ay-rack:
A Senate panel investigating the electrocutions of Americans on bases in Iraq was told last week by former KBR Inc. electricians that the contractor used employees with little electrical expertise to supervise subcontractors in Iraq and hired foreigners who couldn't speak English. The Pentagon has said 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003.
So, besides costing more and providing worse service, what was the rationale for the neolib doctrine of outsourcing as opposed to the tried-and-true corps of engineers?
Just another stone on the grave of the false prophet of ubbercapitalism.
Emmanuel Goldstein yet again
Al-Qaida draws more foreign recruits to Afghan war
If they're fighting us they MUST BE AQ.
Well, we're seeing the same thing that happened when the Ruskies were in Afghanistan, something that happened even before AQ began.
Gimme a goddam break.
Then we have this: "Dozens of Turkish Islamic militants have trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and taken part in attacks there, said Emin Demirel, an anti-terrorism expert in Turkey"
There are still AQ CAMPS in Afghanistan? Despite the satellites, predators, airplanes, etc? We can target enemies in wedding parties and somehow not kill innocents but we can't spot a goddam training camp?
Then we have: "Al-Qaida has financed the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, Yusuf told the AP. In the chaos created by the Taliban groups, al-Qaida has been able to steadily recruit, re-establish its public relations wing, plot new attacks and re-establish areas of operation on both sides of the border."
FINANCE?
Gawd.
PS, the new pope has rediscovered the devil.
Chastised for leading?
Jesse says Obama is "talking down to black people...telling n—s how to behave."
Was he chastising a possible or probable US president for showing some leadership and tough love talk? Was he feeling his black America moral leadership position is being threatened by Obama? Or, was he just being a hypocrite for uttering the very word that he would hold anyone else accountable for....and demand they vacate whatever position they hold?
It seems Bill Cosby also talked some tough love a while back....telling guys to pull their pants up and speak in a style more commonly called "English", iow, to fit in, and quit feeling so sorry for yourself. I assume the Reverend also wanted Cosby's balls on his shelf?
House passes CIA contractor ban over veto vow
From Yahoo:
More like this please. Let the little war criminal veto it. Get the asshole on record once again that he approves of torture. Vetoing an anti-torture bill is like invoking executive privilege on testifying on the Plame leak and is tantamount to admitting to torture.
By Randall Mikkelsen
Wed Jul 16, 8:39 PM ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers defied a White House veto threat on Wednesday and voted to bar CIA contractors from interrogating suspected terrorists, in the latest clash over detainee treatment in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved the provision in adopting a broad measure to authorize funding of U.S. intelligence agencies for the 2009 fiscal year. A related bill awaits action in the Senate.
Passage of the multibillion dollar bill came on a voice vote, indicating broad assent, despite the White House veto threat issued earlier in the day.
Billboard of Burning Towers And 'Please Don't Vote for a Democrat' Causes Controversy
From digitaljournal.com. Here's the billboard in FL I mentioned in a reply below.
Dubya strikes (out) again
“President Bush’s economic stimulus plan which involved sending cheques of up to US$1,200 to every taxpayer has provided a boom to the online porn industry, according to market research. The Adult Internet Market Research Company (AIMRCo) identified an ‘uncharacteristic’ increase in spending on online pornography since the cheques were sent out. Kirk Mishkin, head research consultant at AIMRCo, said: ‘Typically the summer is a slow period for this market. ‘But many of the sites we surveyed have reported 20 to 30 per cent growth in membership rates since mid-May when the cheques were sent out.’ The rebates were supposed to stimulate to the flagging US consumer sector, but it seems that many people are using them for a different kind of stimulation. Jillian Fox, a spokeswoman for LSGmodels.com, one of the sites reporting figures to AIMRCo, said: ‘In a June 2008 survey of our members, 32 per cent referenced the recent stimulus package as part of their decision to either become a new member, or renew an existing membership. Getting more people to buy porn was probably the last thing Bush had on his mind when he came up with his ’stimulus package’. But we’ll take it.’
Scandinavian sanity
Store disapproves of the way the Bush Administration has conducted the war on terror. “This paradigm of the war on terror, connecting all kinds of armed resistance around the globe in one huge ideological framework, as a new ideology at a stage in history when most of the major ideologies are gone, does not reflect the facts on the ground,” he told me.
Norway’s message to the United States is blunt: the next administration, whether headed by Barack Obama or John McCain, should pronounce the war on terror over. Because it has tended to isolate the United States, polarize the world, inflate the enemy, conflate diverse movements and limit scope for dialogue, its time has passed.
“The way this has been framed, as an indefinite war that will last for decades, has impoverished our ability to understand the point of departure of the conflict and how we should deal with it,” Store said. “Engaging is not weakness, and by not talking the West has tended to give the upper hand to extremists on the other side.”
He continued: “Moderates lose ground if they cannot show tangible results. You don’t engage at any price, but the price can come down and we can achieve more.”
Norway has kept channels open to Hamas and to Syria. It has spoken with the Hamas leadership. It is convinced the West missed an opportunity by not talking in March 2007 to the elected Palestinian national unity government composed of Fatah and Hamas members. It argues that Taliban elements can be drawn out of terror into politics through talks.
In all of this, Norway has used the greater diplomatic latitude it enjoys as a non-member of the European Union. The E.U., like the United States, lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“We have enormous reason to be upset with Hamas because it spent every day after Oslo trying to destroy Oslo,” Store said. “But there is a strong realist tradition in Hamas oriented toward a political landscape. In general, it should be in our interest to get organizations out of military activity and into politics. The political working method has not been sufficiently tested.”
Engaging, he insisted, does not mean lowering of requirements. It can be a means to set yardsticks, hold interlocutors accountable, and probe their thinking while surrendering nothing.
Might this be a Bad Idea?
Dangerous animal virus on US mainland?
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer
April 11, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is likely to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak.
Skeptical Democrats in Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision. An epidemic of the disease, foot and mouth, which only affects animals, could devastate the livestock industry.
One such government report, produced last year and already turned over to lawmakers by the Homeland Security Department, combined commercial satellite images and federal farm data to show the proximity to livestock herds of locations that have been considered for the new lab. "Would an accidental laboratory release at these locations have the potential to affect nearby livestock?" asked the nine-page document. It did not directly answer the question.
A simulated outbreak of the disease -- part of an earlier U.S. government exercise called "Crimson Sky" -- ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation's National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets. In the exercise, the government said it would have been forced to dig a ditch in Kansas 25 miles long to bury carcasses. In the simulation, protests broke out in some cities amid food shortages.
"It was a mess," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who portrayed the president in the 2002 exercise. Now, like other lawmakers from the states under consideration, Roberts supports moving the government's new lab to his state. Manhattan, Kan., is one of five mainland locations under consideration. "It will mean jobs" and spur research and development, he says.
http://www.usatoday.com/ news/ topstories/ 2008-04-11-1445284742_x.htm
More articles below.
Bush mass for shut ins for 07-13-08
Bush mass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Great Economy.
GREAT ECONOMY CELEBRATION
The economy is great. Those who complain are just whiners.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey,hey
Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?
Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you
Mister blue sky, mister blue sky
Mister blue sky
Mister blue, you did it right
But soon comes mister night creepin' over
Now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Then George the Ever Wonderful looked down upon the people and spoke. `Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are solvent. The economy is great. Those who complain are just whiners.`
What is the Profit Cheney trying to say to us? It is that our mortgage carriers are solvent and the economy is great. Those who complain are just whiners. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
It's official
Obama and a number of democrats are traitors.
Fuck them and their supporters. May they rot in hell.
Obama Wellstone?
...In contrast, Obama's closeness to big business and his accomodationist policy / issue philosophy makes a Wellstone connection quite questionable at this time.
Would Paul Wellstone have become the Senate's single biggest Democratic advocate of expanded subsidies to the coal industry that's driving the climate crisis? Would Paul Wellstone have voted, as Obama did, to allow credit card companies to raise interest rates over 30 percent? Would Paul Wellstone have supported expanding Nafta to Peru, sending Iowa jobs overseas? Would Paul Wellstone have taken so much money from hedge fund donors? Would Paul Wellstone have left millions of Americans out of his health care plan?
David Sirota
This op-ed is of interest as well.
Obamacans
'Obamacans' - Sen. Barack Obama's term for Republicans who whisper their support for him.
'Obamacons'- leading conservatives of various stripes who have declared their support for the Democrat.
I guess several cons and libertarians are backing Obama, many because they are NOT backing McCain...
Bush mass for shut ins for 07-06-08
Bush ,ass for shut ins is on the air!
LIVE FROM THE ST GEORGE THE BLESSED CATHERDRAL IN CRAWFORD TEXAS ITS BUSH MASS FOR SHUT INS!
Good morning Bush worshippers, those who are ill and those who it's just best not to mix with society. May Lord God Bush bless you all for coming. For it is he who brought us life and everything else. He is a thousand points of light! He makes the sun rise in the morning, puts the frost on our flakes and puts the fruit on the trees. All praise the glory of Lord God Bush. Today we celebrate Gas Prices.
GAS PRICES CELEBRATION
Gas prices is a good holy thing when it is high for the enrichment of the holy oil corporations. The higher the price the better. They make more money that way and the executives can give themselves lots of bonus checks.
SING PRAISE TO LORD GOD BUSH
Little GTO, you're really lookin' fine
Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389
Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa Ahhh, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
You oughta see her on a road course or a quarter mile
This little modified Pon-Pon has got plenty of style
She beats the gassers and the rail jobs, really drives 'em why-ee-eye-ild
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa Ahhh, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
Gonna save all my money (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and buy a GTO (turnin' it on, blowin' it out)
Get a helmet and a roll bar (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and I'll be ready to go (turnin' it on, blowin' it out)
Take it out to Pomona (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and let 'em know (turnin' it on, blowin' it out), yeah, yeah
That I'm the coolest thing around
Little buddy, gonna shut you down
When I turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa, Yeah, yeah, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Wa-wa Ahhh, little GTO wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CHENEY
Then George the Ever Wonderful looked down upon the people and spoke. `All my subjects must run their vehicles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If someone does not, they hate America.`
What is the Profit Cheney trying to say to us? It is that we must use as much gasoline as possible or else we hate America. If you see someone who isnt, alert the government of this suspicious activity so the terrorists do not win. This is the word of George.
Bush mass is over
Your attendance has been recorded and will be sent to the proper authorities. Go in arrogance, may the Lord God George W Bush be with you.
We're told...
... that the electorate is "sick of partisan politics".
Right or wrong, I think that this is a mistake, especially since there's been precious little "partisan politics" over the past 20-odd years.
What we've had is an intrasigient GOP and a DNC that rarely stands up to GOP bullying. IOW, what we need is MORE partisan politics, at least until the GOP gets off its mighty high horse.
BTW, where did the "sick of partisan politics" theme begin? It's an assertion that has not been questioned, and one that supports the GOP.
Neolib law in action
This is pretty disgusting.
Apparently this stuff started in 1993. And no move by "either" party to change that sad state of affairs.
Biofuels
Trying to replace one commodity-based energy source by another in an ubber-kapitalist world is like pushing bubbles in wall paper.
I said it before, and I believe that it wasn't believed at the time:
Biofuels behind food price hikes: leaked World Bank report LONDON (AFP) - Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.
Toldja so number infinite.
A small, petty man dies on July 4th
Jesse, you'll only be missed by cretins.
6th Straight Month of Job Losses
From Think Progress:
The monthly Labor Department jobs report released this morning says “payrolls dropped by 62,000” while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent. June marks the sixth month in a row that the economy has lost jobs. According to the Joint Economic Committee, nearly 440,000 jobs have been lost in 2008.
In a statement, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says, "Americans across this country are hurting and today's job numbers are just the latest indication. … At a time when our small businesses need support from Washington, we cannot raise taxes, increase regulation and isolate ourselves from foreign markets. These are the same old siren songs that have failed the American people time and time again."
Side splitter
"Gephardt is the one we're most
afraid of"
Gawd.
Is the country fuvked up? "In a new poll from the marketing firm Affinnova, Gephardt ranks high on the favorability rating, just second among those polled behind Colin Powell as the choice for Obama's running mate."
In case you didn't know, Dick is a liberal: "Another strategist said that Gephardt presents a friendly face of liberalism that would be
hard to attack. "
The world upside down - Dick as the liberal side of an Obama ticket and the GOPers afraid of such a combination. Take my passport, please!
Schmidt takes control of day-to-day operation
Seems as if McCain't has shaken up his campaign staff and named a former Bush campaign aide his day-to-day chief of operations.
Maverick my ass.
Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCain’s campaign, according to multiple campaign sources.
At a staff meeting in the campaign's Arlington, Va., headquarters this morning, campaign manager Rick Davis made the announcement about Schmidt's new role.
Schmidt, a bald and barrel-chested operative known for his aggressive brand of political combat, responded by exhorting campaign aides with a speech that one staffer likened to a locker room pep talk out of the football movie "Rudy."
McCain Warns of an Obama Court
J. Sidney Walnuts doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.
In the following article from the NY Times, Walnuts comments on Obama's criticism of the Supremes' ruling on the death penalty in child rape cases and then says this would be the type of decision that an Obama court would make. Being that the Supreme Court has been stacked by republics since the days of reegun, and the court made the current decision, I guess that fact is lost on Walnuts. This clown is dumber than dog shit.
Habeas Update
When the court ordered that that Chinese guy at Guantanamo be released or charged, they couldn't publicize their actual ruling until it had been screened for the removal of classified material.
The ruling has now been screened and is available for public viewing:
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/ common/ opinions/ 200806/ 06-1397-1124487.pdf
McCain: US winning in Iraq
As Timbo maintains in a comment on a prior post, we are getting close to the last chance. If that isn't crystal clear, get a load of McBombBomb, a crazy SOB whose delusions are becoming more frequent.
By BRIAN SCHEID
Bucks County Courier TimesSen. John McCain said that he is willing to stake his presidential campaign, as well as his political career, on his support for the war in Iraq.
In an interview with reporters on the back of his campaign bus, the “Straight Talk Express” Monday afternoon, McCain said that even in retrospect he would still have voted to authorize the war, as he did in 2002.
“I think there's no question,” said the Republican's likely presidential nominee. “I owe too much to these young people who are serving there to let political considerations interfere with what I know is right.
“I believe the American people, over time, will side with me, but if they don't I'll accept that,” he said. “I'd much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war.”
The Modern Republican Party: A Compendium of Catastrophe
It's often been said that the Republican Party, from coast to coast, has run into some pretty bad luck this cycle. But I think it's very easy to forget just how much bad luck they've run into. To remedy that, the Swing State Project has put together the most comprehensive compendium of Republican hubris, fuckups and misfortunes you will find anywhere, ever. Call it the "Year of Living Catastrophically", if you will.
I hope you packed a snack, because this is gonna take a while.
2007
January 9: US Attorney Chris Christie declines to challenge Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).
January 15: Colorado GOP Sen. Wayne Allard announces that he will retire at the end of his term, leaving his seat vulnerable to a takeover by Democrat Mark Udall.
Change you can have faith in
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today will reach out to evangelical voters and propose a programme of federal grants to faith-based social service organisations, including churches, Jewish synagogues and mosques.
The move would continue an initiative started by President George Bush, who as part of his "compassionate conservative" brand sought early in his presidency to provide money to religious groups that provide social services.
"The fact is, the challenges we face today – from saving our planet to ending poverty – are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama will say, according to prepared remarks. "We need all hands on deck.
"I'm not saying that faith-based groups are an alternative to government or secular non-profits. And I'm not saying that they're somehow better at lifting people up. What I'm saying is that we all have to work together – Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim; believer and non-believer alike – to meet the challenges of the 21st century...."
Add FISA, Canada, Pakistan and stir.
My side's splitting (in order not to cry)