A Sneak Peek Behind-the-Scenes of the Hamas Superdelegates

"Can you believe those Americans keep falling for that old reverse psychology trick. We endorse Obama, we get McCain elected, and we keep breaking our own recruitment records."

Thanks, Don.

Halle-fuckin'-lujah!

Here's some fairly good news, if you can believe ol' Douchebag For Liberty:

Evangelicals, Huckabee allied to sink McCain?

An element of the Christian community is not reconciled to McCain's candidacy but instead regards the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as 'God's candidate' running for president in 2012. Whether they can be written off as merely a troublesome fringe group depends on Huckabee's course.

Nevertheless, reports out of the evangelical community dispute Huckabee's support. One experienced, credible activist in Christian politics who would not let his name be used (He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken! Heh. - G) told me Huckabee in personal conversation with him embraced the concept that an Obama presidency might be what the American people deserve. That fits what has largely been a fringe position among evangelicals, that the pain of an Obama presidency is in keeping with the Bible's prophecy.

Well, isn't that special! Or is it...SATAN?

Whatever. Let's pray, just this once, that one of those 'biblical prophecies' finally comes true. Remember the main premise of Christianity, at least as practiced by those with an agenda of control over the populace: Miracles yesterday, miracles tomorrow. Sorry, no miracles today.

POTUS 'n SCOTUS

Robert Parry

If John McCain wins the presidency – and gets to appoint one or more U.S. Supreme Court justices – America’s 220-year experiment as a democratic Republic living under the principle that “no man is above the law” may come to an end.

To put the matter differently, if a President McCain replaces one of the moderate justices with another Samuel Alito – as McCain has vowed to do – then Justice Department lawyer John Yoo’s extreme vision of an all-powerful Executive could well become the new law of the land

But the “strict constructionist” phrase is really a euphemism for a double standard, objecting to judicial decisions that conservatives don’t like while justifying judicial activism when it serves right-wing causes, such as giving President Bush authority to brush aside the Constitution as he prosecutes the “war on terror.”

Thus, perhaps more than any other question, the November election will settle whether a future Supreme Court will reshape the United States into an imperial system both at home and abroad – or roll back President Bush’s expansion of executive power in the direction of the Founders' original vision.

Or, do Americans want to go down the path marked by the likes of Yoo, Alito and Bush – ceding virtually all power to one individual who can operate beyond all laws and outside the rules of human behavior – and do so with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court?

Some do, and I hope there's not enough of 'em.

Even with the appointments of Roberts and Alito, we've been lucky. Justice Stevens just turned 88 years of age, and Justice Ginsberg is 75. Their positions will almost certainly come up for grabs during the next Presidency. Right now, their doctors are the most important people in America.

The future of our country as it oughta be, and not in the direction it's going, depends absolutely on McCain not getting the Office of President.

The Truth About Veteran Suicides

[A big welcome to Crooks and Liars readers. - F]

Here's some excerpts from an article on a huge problem that is not being adequately addressed, and the huge cover-up of it, in Foreign Policy In Focus:

Eighteen American war veterans kill themselves every day. One thousand former soldiers receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs attempt suicide every month. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas.

These are statistics that most Americans don't know, because the Bush administration has refused to tell them. Since the start of the Iraq War, the government has tried to present it as a war without casualties.

We should all be angry about what has gone on here, Filner said. This is a matter of life and death for the veterans that we are responsible for and I think there was criminal negligence in the way this was handled. If we do not admit, assume or know then the problem will continue and people will die. If thats not criminal negligence, I dont know what is.

Its also part of a pattern. The high number of veteran suicides werent the only government statistics the Bush Administration was forced to reveal because of the class action lawsuit.

Another set of documents presented in court showed that in the six months leading up to March 31, a total of 1,467 veterans died waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government. A third set of documents showed that veterans who appeal a VA decision to deny their disability claim have to wait an average of 1,608 days, or nearly four and a half years, for their answer.

Other casualty statistics are not directly concealed, but are also not revealed on a regular basis. For example, the Pentagon regularly reports on the numbers of American troops wounded in Iraq (currently at 31,948) but neglects to mention that it has two other categories injured (10,180) and ill (28,451). All three of these categories represent soldiers who are so damaged physically they have to be medically evacuated to Germany for treatment, but by splitting the numbers up the sense of casualties down the public consciousness.

Heres another number that we dont often hear discussed in the media: 287,790. Thats the number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who had filed a disability claim with the Veterans Administration as of March 25th. That figure was not announced to the public at a news conference, but obtained by Veterans for Common Sense using the Freedom of Information Act.

Why all the secrecy? Why is it so hard to get accurate casualty figures out of our government? Because the Bush Administration knows if Americans woke up to the real, human costs of this war they would fight harder to oppose it.

According to an April 2008 study by the Rand Corporation, 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans currently suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or major depression. Another 320,000 suffer from traumatic brain injury, physical brain damage. A majority are not receiving help from the Pentagon and VA system which are more concerned with concealing unpleasant facts than they are with providing care.

In its study, the RAND Corporation wrote that the federal government fails to care for war veterans at its own peril - noting post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury can have far reaching and damaging consequences.

Bush and Congress have the power to stop this problem before it gets worse. Its not too late to extend needed mental health care to our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans; its not too late to begin properly screening and treating returning servicemen and women whove experienced a traumatic brain injury; and it is not too late to simplify the disability claims process so that wounded veterans do not die waiting for their check. As the Rand study shows, this isnt only in the best interest of veterans, its in the best interest of our country in the long run.

To start with, the Bush Administration needs to give us some honest information about the true human costs of the Iraq War.

Well, that isn't going to happen, and neither will Veterans get the services they need and deserve from the current regime. They only care about money going to the military industrial complex, which includes themselves, and control of oil. They care not one whit about the human carnage they have created in the lust for profit. After all, it's other people's kids who've been dying and suffering. The administration has lied and conned them into volunteering by disguising their true agenda and wrapping it in the flag. They pay great lip service to 'support the troops', but it's just more of the lies and bullshit that characterize the Bush junta.

I am down-deep certain that someone, somewhere, in this administration is hoping, perhaps to a level of policy, that if enough Veterans kill themselves, die awaiting treatment that may never come, get locked up, or just shut the fuck up and stay out of sight, the problem will go away. Not having served themselves, they don't understand Veterans very well. Not being good human beings, they don't understand obligation to those they've hurt either.

This is just one more mess they've left for the next and subsequent administrations to deal with. And those had better.

As a nation, we will be cleaning out Bush's stables for the next generation and beyond, and I hope the crap lands right on those responsible, but I'm sure that in the world of reality they'll duck it and prosper as always. Dammit.

1.20.09

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Quote of the Day

Greenwald:

Most of what this government has done -- including, certainly, its most incriminating behavior -- remains concealed by the unprecedented wall of [secrecy] behind which this administration operates.

I'll betcha it'll take 20 years to understand the full depth and breadth of this administration's crimes.

On 'balance' ...

Froggy hits the nail on the head:

...

Balance is killing journalism. Balance in journalism these days means that no matter how factual a report, you have to include a contrary opinion, not so much in the way of giving a fuller picture of things but rather to avoid offending people who don't agree with you. See, I don't offer balance. I take a set of facts and go with that and try to get at truth. That's why I'd be a lousy journalist and CNN would do well to stay far from me. Instead of "offering balance", I offer the facts that tell the story accurately, even if it means somebody won't like it.

...

Update:

And so does Avedon, speaking about Joke Line and his sources:

... "But Klein seems to completely miss the point that, at root, this story isn't about the journalists. It's about the Pentagon. Good journalists shouldn't be trying to argue that they weren't misled -- despite the existence of a broad conspiracy to mislead journalists and the public. Good journalists should be outraged that the integrity of their stories can now be questioned. Good journalists should be running back to their sources and demanding assurances that they aren't paid shills." ...

It is why, over the past 4 years, almost 300,000 people have chosen to stop here to hear two crazy old vets and their pals give their take of what's going on. What Joke Line and other 'journalists' don't get is the damage they've done to their profession over the past 8 years and have probably assured its extinction. At this point it would be no great loss.

If anything ...

Remember this:

...

The Republican party is George W. Bush --- there is no daylight. They acclaimed him as the second coming of Winston Churchill and Alexander the Great just three years ago. They put him back in the White House and then swaggered around calling Democrats neutered farm animals.

...

They can run from that but they can't hide. Bush and the conservative movement he represents need to be tied around McCain's neck so tight he can't breathe.

Do not believe any Republican is different from the Chimp. McCain is not a moderate, not a maverick, and certainly not a 'straight-shooter'.

John McCain's Vietnam-based view of war

Glenn Greenwald on McCain's 'stabbed in the back in Vietnam' mindset:

[...] That narrative, says Carter, "is popular among American military officers of a certain age, who believe if only they'd had gutsy political leadership, support from the homefront, and a willingness to steamroll North Vietnam with overwhelming force, we might have won the war." As Carter documents (emphasis in original): "It's a good story, but it's wrong. No amount of America firepower could have crushed the North Vietnamese people's will."

What almost always goes unmentioned when this myth is discussed is that one its most faithful adherents is John McCain, and he applies this mentality not only to Vietnam but also to every subsequent military conflict, including the current one in Iraq. [,,,]

That's the very embodiment of the "stabbed-in-the-back" Vietnam narrative. We had our greatest success when we could bomb North Vietnam "not constrained by either congressional or presidential mandate." That's when we almost brought them "to their knees." But incessant complaints about civilian casualties and anger over irrelevant matters such as the bombing of hospitals is what prevented us from winning -- "which still angers him," because the number of dead North Vietnamese wasn't really "exorbitant." There was room for plenty more. Ponder what that means for Iraq, Afghanistan and any other new countries on which a President McCain decides to wage war.

"Bombing them into submission" only helps against industrialized countries whose war factories can be destroyed. The last time this worked was in WWII.

The tonnage of bombs dropped in Vietnam just in the Battle of Khe Sanh alone surpassed the entire tonnage dropped in WWII, and that was a use of strategic assets in a tactical application. I have no idea how much got dropped on North Vietnamese civilians, but I'm sure it was considerable.

It was wrong to bomb civilians as a terror tactic then, and it didn't work to shorten that war. It's still wrong, and it isn't going to work now.

It keeps the bomb factories and jet fuel makers happy, though, and isn't that the most important thing to Repugs?

Burnin' The Troops. Literally.

Fallen U.S. troops cremated at Pet Cremation Service.

One of many 'comments':

I think this despicable administration would throw the bodies into a ditch, if they thought they could get away with it…

I don't think this matters much to the crematee, but it should to us.

It also brings up this horrid thought: pet crematoria offer a choice between 'individual' and 'communal' cremation...

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq Arrested
Hunt begins for new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Russia Close to War With Georgia Over Sovereignty
Florida close to war with Georgia over water.

High Gas, Food Prices Force Tough Choices
Walk to McDonald's or drive to soup kitchen.

Consumer Spending Rises
Mainly in bankruptcy filing fees.

Many more, including my favorite for today:

Study: Breastfeeding Boosts IQ
At any age.

Oh baby, make me smart!

Bonus:

The Beer Factor in Electing a President

Update Bonus:

Classic rock music to stay in presidential campaigns for a long, long time

George W. Bush also falls under the Baby Boomers category; to his base, there was quite a bit of older country music on his iPod. The London Times described his list as having "No black artists, no gay artists, no world music, only one woman, no genre less than 25 years old, and no Beatles."

I am a little nervous to realize that the one thing we have in common is our love for the Knack's "My Sharona."

O'Lielly Flips His Wig

Normally I wouldn't waste space on this asshole, but this video will make you smile! Language, Billy, language! And, oh yeah, nice rug...

Betraying The Troops Is Big Bucks

Go see this video interview. Put something in between your teeth so you don't grind them to dust.

In their recent book "Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War," Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman present firsthand accounts of fraud, deception, negligence and treachery by contractors during the privatized invasion and occupation of Iraq.

This is the first war that was designed to rely on contractors - private companies with profit as their top priority - for transportation, food, water, spare parts and even protection. As a result, according to Rasor and Bauman, the government has been bilked out of billions of dollars, Americans and Iraqis have suffered and died, and the war effort as a whole has been deeply weakened.

Dina Rasor founded the Project On Governmental Oversight and now serves on the board of directors. She sat down with me to discuss the ongoing problems with military contracting and the complete lack of fraud prosecution at the Department of Justice.

For more information on Rasor and Bauman's work, visit Follow the Money Project.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Dumbasses ...

This is why I worry about the Dems' chances in November:

Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.

There are a lot of morons like this running around.

Late for work. I hate Mondays ...

Haven't we been down this road ...

A couple years ago?

There was something interesting missing from Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner's introductory remarks to journalists at his regular news briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday: the word "Iran," or any form of it. It was especially striking as Bergner, the U.S. military spokesman here, announced the extraordinary list of weapons and munitions that have been uncovered in recent weeks since fighting erupted between Iraqi and U.S. security forces and Shiite militiamen.

...

Didn't we 'capture' Iranian weapons in Iraq just before the last election?

...

Not once did Bergner point the finger at Iran for any of these weapons and munitions, which is a striking change from just a couple of weeks ago when U.S. military officials here and at the Pentagon were saying that caches found in Basra in particular had revealed Iranian-made arms manufactured as recently as this year. They say the majority of rockets being fired at U.S. bases, including Baghdad's Green Zone, are launched by militiamen receiving training, arms and other aid from Iran. [my em}

...

Once again, the facts don't support the propaganda. You know, at this point, even if we did get the truth from this administration we wouldn't notice in the sea of horseshit they've shoveled over the past 8 years.

1.20.09

Great thanks to our pal UL for the link.

Distance ...

For the last few months, since the Chimp's ratings have gone totally into the dumper, all the Rethugs are trying to distance themselves from his ass. Even McCain. Thing is, all they're doing is talking a good line. Seems the leadership thinks another four years of Chimpishness is a good thing:

Bless his little heart, let’s have House Minority Whip Roy Blunt on every week to talk up John McCain’s candidacy! Talk about living within a bubble, Blunt thinks nothing of touting the McSame presidency as a Bush third term, despite the record disapproval rating for the man and the vast majority of the country believing that the country is going in the wrong direction under his leadership. Apparently, Blunt didn’t get the memo that McCain is trying to distance himself from Bush and as Rep. Chris Van Hollen points out, on the two most important issues to the American people, McCain absolutely equals Bush. And Roy, that’s not such a good thing.

...

Go read the transcript of Wolfie interviewing Roy Blunt.

A.A.A.D.D.

Got this from my pal Larry:

[Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder. Somehow I feel better, even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, Put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the cup of coffee I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coffee aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coffee is getting cold, and I decide to make another cup.

As I head toward the kitchen with the cold coffee, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coffee on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, nut first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

The car isn't washed

The bills aren't paid

There is a cold cup of coffee sitting on the counter

The flowers don't have enough water,

There is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail....

Do me a favor. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who I've sent it to.]

That, folks, was no shit!

Stimulating the economy ...

24 hours ago, I didn't need a new bedroom set. 3 hours ago, I bought a new one. Details and a little story from my childhood.

Quote of the Day

Dem Underground

HANNITY on Foxnews: "Republicans need a new Contract ON America" (instead of a new Contract with America).

What, the old one didn't transfer wealth and power to the Repugs well enough? Out of the mouths of boobs...

Happy Mother's Day

To all you mothers out there. A couple from one of my favorite bands. First, our wedding song:

Led Zeppelin - Thank You

And second, one of the best blues songs evah:

Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You

Sunday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

"How Do You Like Me Now?" was a big hit for Toby Keith. He must be an awful good sport to participate in this!