...
This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.
...
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Too much ...
Even for Ol' Joke Line:
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A little less drivel ...
To assault your eyes:
Like he woulda said anything new. He's taken every position on every subject already.
... the New York Times had rejected a draft op-ed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ...
Like he woulda said anything new. He's taken every position on every subject already.
Picture it ...
Sicily, 1948 ... I loved that old broad:
And, according to Spudnik, I'm a closeted gay man:
Ah well, never too old to learn new tricks. Heh ...
Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.
...
And, according to Spudnik, I'm a closeted gay man:
... I know several dozen gay men that are going to be very distraught ...
Ah well, never too old to learn new tricks. Heh ...
Conservative Lawyers Urge Bush To Issue ‘Pre-Emptive Pardons’ To Officials Involved In Illegal Programs
Well, of course they are...
Think Progress
It isn't the 'investigation and expensive legal bills' they're worried about. It's the prison sentences.
Bush might do this and he might not. His dad preemptively pardoned a bunch of the Iran-Contra criminals, and Bush doesn't like to do anything like his daddy did.
Think Progress
[...] Bush “has made little use of his clemency power” compared to past presidents.
Except perhaps if you participated in any illegal activity involving the Bush administration’s controversial counterterrorism programs. According to the Times, “several members of the conservative legal community” in Washington D.C. are urging Bush to issue “pre-emptive pardons” to those involved so as to “not be exposed even to the risk of an investigation and expensive legal bills”:
It isn't the 'investigation and expensive legal bills' they're worried about. It's the prison sentences.
Bush might do this and he might not. His dad preemptively pardoned a bunch of the Iran-Contra criminals, and Bush doesn't like to do anything like his daddy did.
Joseph Dwyer, KIA
This is one of the grimmest articles I've yet read about a problem that is only going to get worse. Please read it. I want you to stay angry about a completely failed system that needs to get changed. Whatever it takes.
Raw Story
There are tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of cases out there like Specialist Dwyer's, and more to come. We don't hear about them until someone investigates and reports on them, and not all of them will end like that, of course, but even one is too many.
Until more than lip service is given to fixing the problems in the military and VA mental health care systems, the problem will exist until all the Iraq Vets are dead.
It's going to take more than yellow ribbons on cars. It's going to take guilt and anger by millions of people to fix the aftermath of a warmongering imperialistic ideology that is still sending Americans to a criminal war and then throwing them away in repayment for their service.
Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.
Raw Story
A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero.
But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work.
This broken, frightened man had once been the embodiment of American might and compassion. If the military couldn't save him, Knapp thought, what hope was there for the thousands suffering in anonymity?
In July 2007, Dwyer checked into an inpatient program at New York's Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He stayed for six months.
He came home in March with more than a dozen prescriptions. He was so medicated that his feet flopped when he walked, as if he were wearing oversized clown shoes.
The VA's solution was a "pharmaceutical lobotomy," his father thought.
"And so it's a dance between the clinicians and the patient."
Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, feels the VA is a lousy dance partner.
Rieckhoff said the VA's is a "passive system" whose arcane rules and regulations make it hard for veterans to find help. And when they do get help, he said, it is often inadequate.
"I consider (Dwyer) a battlefield casualty," he said, "because he was still fighting the war in his head."
There are tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of cases out there like Specialist Dwyer's, and more to come. We don't hear about them until someone investigates and reports on them, and not all of them will end like that, of course, but even one is too many.
Until more than lip service is given to fixing the problems in the military and VA mental health care systems, the problem will exist until all the Iraq Vets are dead.
It's going to take more than yellow ribbons on cars. It's going to take guilt and anger by millions of people to fix the aftermath of a warmongering imperialistic ideology that is still sending Americans to a criminal war and then throwing them away in repayment for their service.
Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.
The key to victory ...
For McCain. Looks like the Chimp is doing his best (not much to work with, on many levels) to give McSame a boost into the White House:
Catching bin Laden ain't hard. He's either at the Hay - Adams or the Greenbrier.
...
When Escobar pushes the issue the well connected Rubin acknowledges that there is an intelligence and special operations 'surge' in an attempt to capture Bin Laden before the election. The intelligence agencies, as Rubin heard from them, are not very happy to be part of electoral campaign, but will the issue give a new try.
...
Catching Bin Laden, for real or pretended, would be a perfect October surprise.
...
Catching bin Laden ain't hard. He's either at the Hay - Adams or the Greenbrier.
One can dream ...
That the same thing will happen here:
Wouldn't mind seeing the Chimp in handcuffs, being led into the ICC. What we've done in Iraq make Karadzic look like a chiorboy.
BELGRADE, Serbia - Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres and the politician considered most responsible for the deadly siege of Sarajevo, was arrested Monday evening in a Serbian police raid ending his 13 years as the world’s most-wanted war crimes fugitive.
His alleged partner in the persecution and “cleansing” of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, remained at large.
...
Wouldn't mind seeing the Chimp in handcuffs, being led into the ICC. What we've done in Iraq make Karadzic look like a chiorboy.
Quote of the Day
Pravda:
Translation: She's the only one who can put things in terms a simpleton can understand.
What you mean article is bullshit gossip? Is from trusted government newspaper! [/phony Russian accent] Heh ...
...
Ms. Rice has earned the reputation of the Bush’s family friend. She became close to President Bush mainly because of the fact that she is the only person who finds a common language with Bush to teach him wisdom of foreign politics. [my em]
...
Translation: She's the only one who can put things in terms a simpleton can understand.
What you mean article is bullshit gossip? Is from trusted government newspaper! [/phony Russian accent] Heh ...
Great thanks to my neighbor Bolndie for the link.
Presidential ...
Pic thanks to Mr. Soto.
I know looks don't matter but perceptions do. This is a man who's sure of himself and confident. Barry looks quite at home meeting with foreign leaders while McSame always looks worried he's about to crap his pants.
And just an aside: I don't know about you but that coffee table looks like a coffin to me. Wonder who's inside? Heh ...
Monday, July 21, 2008
The stupid...deux
The Carpetbagger Report, with actual clown video!
Yeah, the bad guys are holed up in the northwestern province of Czechoslovakiastan.
Hence followeth 13 examples.
Lemme guess - foreign policy expertise.
Johnny me boy, give in on the senility deal and go relax on your deck in Sedona up there on the Arizona-Montana border.
For those of you who can’t watch clips online, McCain appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” a few hours ago, and Diane Sawyer asked if he believed “the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.” McCain, carefully avoiding Sawyer’s adjectives, responded, “It’s a serious situation, but there’s a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I’m afraid that it’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” (my em)
Yeah, the bad guys are holed up in the northwestern province of Czechoslovakiastan.
And if McCain were generally coherent on matters of foreign policy, it’d be easier to overlook minor errors like talking about borders that don’t exist. But the real problem here is that McCain’s constant confusion seems to be part of a pattern.
Hence followeth 13 examples.
And this only covers McCain’s obvious incoherence on his signature issue.
Lemme guess - foreign policy expertise.
Johnny me boy, give in on the senility deal and go relax on your deck in Sedona up there on the Arizona-Montana border.
The stupid ...
It burns ...
"I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we'd had a Republican president at the time."
Bush for should do life
Larisa
Read it if you must.
And Fixer says he doesn't like Mondays. Yeesh.
Buckle up kiddies. I am cranky and this is not making things better:
Family Security Matters a neo-conservative based think tank has published an article advocating that George W. Bush should be a dictator for life. The organization has since taken the article down, but is still viewable via this cached link. (Oh no it's not - G)
Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy: By Philip Atkinson
The article written by Philip Atkinson states that Bush would fail his country by becoming an ex-President or can achieve greatness by becoming President-for-Life Bush in order to bring sense to Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Atkinson is bluntly advocating that Bush should become dictator for life with these outrageously anti-American statements.
From the article:
Read it if you must.
Removing the article was clearly a means of damage control and it shows how rabid and insane the neo-conservative base has become. This article shows that today's neo-conservative is nothing more than the 21st century equivalent of a Nazi in pre World War II Germany.
This is what comes of aligning with fascists in order to fight the Commies. Both should have been the enemy.
And Fixer says he doesn't like Mondays. Yeesh.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
BUSH ACKNOWLEDGES WE’RE “GOING THROUGH A TOUGH TIME”
His presidency.
Administration Calls Iraqi Demand That U.S. Troops Leave “Great Progress”
But hardly a reason to leave.
Elizabeth Dole Wants to Name HIV/AIDS Relief Bill After Jesse Helms
Calling it Helms Homophobia Protection Act.
Congressman Wants All American Flags Made in America
By undocumented seamstresses.
Vocabulary Builders
defense expert n. any military analyst in the media who has been so consistently wrong about Iraq for so long that other qualified media experts have accepted the analyst as a colleague.
All the news that's fit we're told to print...
ABC News
That must be the reason we heard about it at all.
White House Accidentally E-Mails to Reporters Story That Maliki Supports Obama Iraq Withdrawal Plan
The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.
That must be the reason we heard about it at all.
You're all anti-Semites ...
Greenwald looks at why 'evenhandedness' with regard to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict is political suicide:
Most reality-based folks know that our 'terrorist threat' is a direct result of letting Israel do basically what it pleases with regard to the Palestinians. Protecting Israel from it's neighbors, many of whom would like to see it destroyed, is one thing. To give them carte blanche to run roughshod over the human rights of a race of people who have every right to live where they do is another.
How quickly they forget, on their 60th Birthday, that the people who founded the State of Israel were once on the other side of the fence.
I'm going to work. I hate Mondays ...
...
It's pretty extraordinary that in a democracy, the political elite is able to render completely off-limits a view that the vast majority of Americans support. They actually render majority-held views unspeakable and then remove the issue entirely from what is debated. No matter what one's views are, there is no denying that our policy towards Israel is immensely consequential for our country. Yet, by virtue of the fact that presidential candidates are required to affirm essentially the same orthodoxies, there's very little difference in their positions towards Israel and therefore our current policy approach towards Israel will simply not be part of anything that is debated, even though most Americans overwhelmingly oppose that course.
Indeed, as soon as he secured the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama made a pilgrimage to AIPAC in order to avoid the "Howard Dean mistake" and to vow that there would be no such debate over Israel in this election: [em in original]
...
Most reality-based folks know that our 'terrorist threat' is a direct result of letting Israel do basically what it pleases with regard to the Palestinians. Protecting Israel from it's neighbors, many of whom would like to see it destroyed, is one thing. To give them carte blanche to run roughshod over the human rights of a race of people who have every right to live where they do is another.
How quickly they forget, on their 60th Birthday, that the people who founded the State of Israel were once on the other side of the fence.
I'm going to work. I hate Mondays ...
40 years ago ...
I was full of hope as I sat in front of my parents' TV, watching history being made. I thought it was the beginning of a time when anything would be possible. It's gone downhill from there.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Quote of the Day
Howard Fineman:
No shit. There's a lot of evidence just sitting there; too much for the Office of the Vice President to shred before Inauguration Day.
...
If you’re in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don’t want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way ...
With the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.
...
No shit. There's a lot of evidence just sitting there; too much for the Office of the Vice President to shred before Inauguration Day.
Yes you do ...
In response to Gord's post earlier:
Heh ...
Don't need no stinkin' Philharmonic Orchestra to play Beethoven...
Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic - Ludwig van Beethoven - Ode to Joy finale.
Heh ...
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