Still looking for a blogger to take over here. Got a couple nibbles but not much yet. Same deal I had with X. Just post insightful political and social commentary and I'll handle the rest. Email me or leave a comment.
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Clinton on race
Bill sits down with Cassandra Butts [there's a joke in there somewhere] to talk about race at the Center for American Progress.
Read the whole interview.
And contrast Bill's programs with 'No Child Left Behind'. The major difference, Bill funded his programs.
Q: Education is seen as fundamental to the future opportunities of all Americans, but the failings of our education system are felt most acutely by children of color. What do you believe was the single most important policy put forward during your presidency to address this problem?
President Clinton: Oh, I think requiring uniform standards and providing more money to the schools to support them, along with after school programs and tutoring programs. This whole idea that we could have uniform achievement, but we had to give more help, and we gave very specific help. We had, by the end of my term, for the first time in American history, a high school graduation rate in the African-American community that was almost exactly the same as it was among whites.[my emphasis]
Read the whole interview.
And contrast Bill's programs with 'No Child Left Behind'. The major difference, Bill funded his programs.
Right-wing jerk offs
From The Agonist:
Entire post.
Just because they promote abortion in China. Speaking of values, who are we to impose ours on others? Overpopulation is a serious concern and even some of the drastic, draconian measures taken by the Chinese government haven't helped. Figures President Stroke-the-base would withold an array of programs just to pander to the right-wing Nazis who will buy him the presidency.
U.S. Cuts Off Financing of U.N. Unit for 3rd Year
Christopher Marquis | Washington | July 17
NYT - For the third year in a row, the Bush administration will withhold funds from the U.N. Population Fund because the agency cooperates with activities in China that promote abortion. The decision to withhold $34 million has dismayed supporters of the agency, who say it does not condone abortion and advocates voluntary family planning. The debate has election-year overtones.
Comment: Not just a women's issue, of course, but isn't that the case with all of the articles in the "Global Women's Issues" Section?
[. . .]
Entire post.
Just because they promote abortion in China. Speaking of values, who are we to impose ours on others? Overpopulation is a serious concern and even some of the drastic, draconian measures taken by the Chinese government haven't helped. Figures President Stroke-the-base would withold an array of programs just to pander to the right-wing Nazis who will buy him the presidency.
Values
Robbed the entire bloody thing from Athenae at Eschaton:
Yeah! One major Amereican value that people forget so easily is 'live and let live'.
The Values System
Posted by Athenae
President Bush, citing government stats, makes the shocking declaration that strong families and strong communities lead to lower crime rates, less kids getting knocked up or shot, and less general mayhem.
To which I'd say okay, file it under "no shit, Sherlock" and move on, but for the unfortunate way Preznit Master & Commander makes an argument he's been screwing backwards from day one of his preznitcy. Play along with me:
Preznit words: Children raised by married parents are less likely to live in poverty.
Preznit actions: Tries to deny marriage to thousands of couples, some of whom would likely raise children in that marriage.
Preznit words: Schools can "send the right message" to American children.
Preznit actions: Proposes drug testing in schools and "character curricula," and cuts afterschool programs.
Preznit words: The lot of children in America is improving.
Preznit actions: Presided over the first increase in child poverty in a decade.
I could go on all day with this nonsense, but the real reason it irritates me is that every time Bush talks about "values," it's code word for God, manners and pissing in a cup after lunch hour. And if you need child care, or housing assistance, well, those aren't subjects to be talked about under the guise of "values." Those don't "strengthen communities."
From the article:
Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry are trying to define and dominate the debate on gay marriage, abortion, gun rights and other values issues.
It's time for a radical redefinition of what constitutes the "values issues" in this election. Instead of trying to be slightly less craven than the other guy, slightly less offensive on what Bush defines as "values issues," we should raise our own, what we consider "values." And then make him try to out-liberal us.
It's not that crazy. The reverse has been working for years.
Yeah! One major Amereican value that people forget so easily is 'live and let live'.
Yeesh
From The Jerusalem Post:
This may be interpreted as a good thing. The security people are tired of the mess in the Territories and it seems they're tired of Arafat's intransigence and dishonesty. While still powerful, the cracks are beginning to form in Arafat's coalition and maybe more sensible heads will come to the fore now that they realize they have a genuine opportunity to make things better after the Israeli pullout. With a little give on the Palestinians' part, the results could be fruitful for the people on the street. Hopefully there are still some people there with the vision to see a day when little boys don't throw rocks at Israeli tanks and young men don't detonate themselves on Tel Aviv buses.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza City on Saturday night to protest against the decision to name Musa Arafat commander of the PA national security forces.
The demonstrators called for getting rid of all the corrupt officials in the PA.
[. . .]
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat appointed his cousin, Major-General Musa Arafat, as commander of the PA National Security Forces in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in light of a deteriorating state of chaos and lawlessness.
[. . .]
Qurei was the third top official to submit his resignation to Arafat in the past 48 hours. On Friday night, Arafat also rejected the resignations of General Intelligence Chief Amin Hindi and Preventative Security Chief Rashid Abu Shabak.
The two security commanders cited the growing anarchy and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip as the main reason behind their decision to resign.
[. . .]
"With all due respect to President Arafat, the Palestinian Authority cannot continue to be monopolized by (Arafat) and his relatives," said Abu Iyad, the leader of Fatah's Jenin Martyrs Brigades. "We have our own ways to show our opposition to this move."
[. . .]
This may be interpreted as a good thing. The security people are tired of the mess in the Territories and it seems they're tired of Arafat's intransigence and dishonesty. While still powerful, the cracks are beginning to form in Arafat's coalition and maybe more sensible heads will come to the fore now that they realize they have a genuine opportunity to make things better after the Israeli pullout. With a little give on the Palestinians' part, the results could be fruitful for the people on the street. Hopefully there are still some people there with the vision to see a day when little boys don't throw rocks at Israeli tanks and young men don't detonate themselves on Tel Aviv buses.
Dirty wars
Go over and read this. Lambert at Corrente details Bush's 'war on terror' and likens it to Ronnie-boy's fooling around in South America. This is a far more deadly game, however.
As I said, go read the whole thing.
[. . .]
Blowback from the Middle East will probably take the form of the loss of an American city to a loose nuke in the hands of a fundamentalist. However, since most target cities (even Washington, DC) is not part of the base—that is, not SIC, more likely to be gay, more likely to be immigrant, less likely to be white, and much more likely to vote Democratic—they are almost certainly regarded by the Bush administration as expendable. (The rhetoric of "cleansing fire" was already prepared in the aftermath of 9/11. Please refer all comments involving the words "tinfoil hat" to the Department of "No! They would never do that!")
So, yes, the stakes are great in November. Bush—on no authority but his own—has initiated a dirty war in the Middle East that we are almost certain to lose, because a strategy built for Latin America isn't going to scale to the Middle East. In prosecuting this dirty war, which will involve not only "terrorists" but Europe, Russia, and the rest of the Middle East, the United States is going to lose its character as a constitutional republic, plant the cultural seeds of fascism, and lose a city or two to nuclear weapons through blowback.
If you want that, vote for Bush in November.
As I said, go read the whole thing.
Just because
I'm a dog person, and I love the British hounds, (Foxhouds, Harriers, Beagles, Bassetts) so when I saw this at TBogg . . .
And of course, Mrs. F wondered where I put the picture of our little princess. Here it is:
Schoene Maedchen (German) a.k.a., Shayna Maedel (Yiddish) a.k.a., Shayna the Australian Cattle Dog. (Translation: Pretty Girl)
By semi-popular demand...
People have written asking to see Satchmo who has been mentioned so many times on this blog Here you go:
Satchmo the Wonder Bassetrt and Beckham the Possessed -By-Satan Bassett.
No. This doesn't mean the beginning of Bassett Blogging Saturday....
And of course, Mrs. F wondered where I put the picture of our little princess. Here it is:
Schoene Maedchen (German) a.k.a., Shayna Maedel (Yiddish) a.k.a., Shayna the Australian Cattle Dog. (Translation: Pretty Girl)
Mo Dowd
Go read:
I got nothing to add. Go read the full editorial here.
[. . .]
When the British report came out yesterday declaring that Saddam Hussein had no significant W.M.D., or perhaps no W.M.D., Tony Blair accepted "full personal responsibility" for "the way the issue was presented and, therefore, for any errors made."
Mr. Bush, by contrast, took full personal irresponsibility. Still pressing the preposterous case that he has made America safer, even though we are inundated with threats from Al Qaeda, and that he is winning the war against terror, even though there are more terrorist attacks, the president had to go farther afield to find a sufficiently enthusiastic audience.
Instead of fleeing to Canada to dodge a war, W. had to flee practically to Canada to defend a war. In the middle of July, the president was campaigning in the middle of nowhere, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — the first president to bother to trek up to Nick Adams country since William Howard Taft.
Mr. Bush must have left the buck in deer country because the White House keeps passing the blame to the same C.I.A. that Dick Cheney and his Pentagon henchmen leaned on to supply the rationale they needed for the war they were determined to launch.
They're trying to turn George Tenet from lapdog to scapegoat, while letting Dick Cheney, the 800-pound gorilla who tried to turn the little C.I.A. analysts into parrots, continue his rumble in the jungle.
If this sounds like "Animal Farm," it is. What is more Orwellian than President Bush's rhetorical fallacies?
Campaigning at the nuclear lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — he finally found nuclear-related capability — Mr. Bush defended the Iraq war: "So I had a choice to make: either take the word of a madman or defend America." He also said of the terrorists, "We will confront them overseas so we do not have to confront them here at home."
That's nonsense. Just because more terrorists are attacking Americans abroad doesn't mean terrorists aren't poised to also attack us at home. And in fact, Bush officials keep warning us that terrorists are planning "something big" here, as the acting C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, said yesterday in a radio interview.
It's just like the president's other false dichotomies: You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists. If we don't stop gays from marrying, it will destroy the institution of marriage.
[. . .]
I got nothing to add. Go read the full editorial here.
Amazing
From Kevin T. Kieth at Lean Left. It's amazing that this got through the House at all:
Do you think President Dickhead will sign it? Depends what's in the Ag Bill it's attached to. If some of his cronies stand to make money from it, it will pass. If not, it's DOA before it gets to Dick-boy's desk, if the Repubs in the Senate don't kill it first.
Finally some good news in an ugly week: the House accepted an amendment to an agriculture bill, added by Carolyn Maloney and Henry Waxman, that would prevent the FDA from restricting emergency contraception pills as a prescription-only medication. This would codify the recommendation of the FDA's expert advisory panel last year to release the drug on an over-the-counter basis, which the FDA refused to act on under pressure from right-wing groups. The bill was passed by voice vote this week and sent to the Senate; if the Senate version also passes with the EC rider, the bill will go to Bush for signature. Here's hoping.
Do you think President Dickhead will sign it? Depends what's in the Ag Bill it's attached to. If some of his cronies stand to make money from it, it will pass. If not, it's DOA before it gets to Dick-boy's desk, if the Repubs in the Senate don't kill it first.
Remember Afghanistan?
From Asia Times:
President Photo Op and his minions don't give a shit if Afghanistan (or Iraq for that matter) is successful, or acheives democracy. All they care about is that it looks as if it's working until the elections. Rat Bastids.
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - After much debate and two postponements, presidential polls will be held in Afghanistan on October 9. However, the parliamentary election - which has also been deferred twice - will be held next April. While the deferment of parliamentary elections has been widely welcomed, the decision to press ahead with the presidential poll when the situation in the country is far from conducive for any elections has evoked a mixed response.
[. . .]
Though most of the recent spurt in election-linked violence has been blamed on the Taliban, there is evidence that warlords and their militias are responsible for much of the instability and violence outside Kabul. Militias loyal to General Rashid Dostum and General Atta Mohammed dominate the politics of the north. In a recent interview, President Hamad Karzai admitted that the private militias posed a greater threat to Afghanistan's security and dismissed the threat from the Taliban as "exaggerated".
[. . .]
The authority of the Karzai government is limited to Kabul. A plan to disarm the 100,000-strong militias controlled by warlords before the election is floundering badly, with only an estimated 10,000 having agreed to leave the militias and only 7,000 weapons handed in. Voter intimidation will be high under such conditions.
[. . .]
The rush to hold the presidential elections in Afghanistan in October has to do with the fact that the United States goes to the polls in November. President George W Bush, who has nothing to hold up as achievements on the foreign-policy front, is hoping to present the Afghanistan election, the country's "return to democracy", as a major accomplishment of his administration.
[. . .]
However, democracy is not just about holding elections. It is as much about ensuring that people can vote without fear, about building democratic institutions and so on. But Bush is determined to make the Afghans vote in October and that is all that seems to matter.
President Photo Op and his minions don't give a shit if Afghanistan (or Iraq for that matter) is successful, or acheives democracy. All they care about is that it looks as if it's working until the elections. Rat Bastids.
Platform
Via Kicking Ass:
The 2004 Democratic Party Platform. Instead of listening to the talking heads on TV telling you what the party stands for, go read it yourself here. It's in PDF so you'll need Acrobat Reader (free).
The 2004 Democratic Party Platform. Instead of listening to the talking heads on TV telling you what the party stands for, go read it yourself here. It's in PDF so you'll need Acrobat Reader (free).
Trumped
From Democratic Veteran
The Donald knows what makes the world go round, from an economic point of view. He knows President FTW's tax cut didn't spur the economy along, and he knows what it takes to keep it going strong. Too bad Bush & Co didn't ask his advice first.
The Donald
Well in the world o'strange, this has to be one of the stranger things I've seen in a while. The Donald has little regard for Preznit No Accountability. In fact, The Donald says he'd fire him...will he put his not-inconsiderable bank account where his mouth is?
"Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in. I would never have handled it that way. Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the country?," Trump said.
"C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he'll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn't have," Trump said in excerpts of the interview released in advance to Reuters. ...
What was the purpose of the whole thing? Hundreds and hundreds of young people killed. And what about the people coming back with no arms and no legs? Not to mention the other side. All those Iraqi kids who've been blown to pieces. And it turns out that all of the reasons for the war were blatantly wrong. All this for nothing!," Trump said....
"Bin Laden would have been caught long ago. Tell me, how is it possible that we can't find a guy who's six-foot-six and supposedly needs a dialysis machine? Can you explain that one to me? We have all our energies focused on one place, where they shouldn't be focused," he said.
Mr. Trump, we've been asking that since Sept 12, 2001. Unfortunately, the 1600 Crew declines to answer on the grounds it might cost them the election...let's make sure it does.
The Donald knows what makes the world go round, from an economic point of view. He knows President FTW's tax cut didn't spur the economy along, and he knows what it takes to keep it going strong. Too bad Bush & Co didn't ask his advice first.
Friday, July 16, 2004
Martha
Cross posted from The Fixer:
Just this one on Martha Screwit. If she wouldn't have been so fucking greedy, she wouldn't have got into this fucking mess to begin with. Fucking Christ, she only made 40 grand on the deal. When they caught her, she should have said 'so sorry, I fucked up' and given a hundred grand to the United Way. The greedy bitch would be a hero today instead of a fucking convict.
Update 18:30: Just heard her whiny little speech outside the courthouse. Fuck my ass! Man if I finagled 40 thousand illegally, I'd be doing 2 1/2 to 5, and I sure wouldn't be allowed to whine about it afterward. My ass would have been on it's way to Rikers, not Danbury Minimum. Bitch.
Just this one on Martha Screwit. If she wouldn't have been so fucking greedy, she wouldn't have got into this fucking mess to begin with. Fucking Christ, she only made 40 grand on the deal. When they caught her, she should have said 'so sorry, I fucked up' and given a hundred grand to the United Way. The greedy bitch would be a hero today instead of a fucking convict.
Update 18:30: Just heard her whiny little speech outside the courthouse. Fuck my ass! Man if I finagled 40 thousand illegally, I'd be doing 2 1/2 to 5, and I sure wouldn't be allowed to whine about it afterward. My ass would have been on it's way to Rikers, not Danbury Minimum. Bitch.
Reminder
And remember, I'm looking for somone to blog here at The Alternate Brain so I don't have to. Email me or leave a comment here if you're interested.
Light day
I got a wedding this afternoon at 4 so I probably won't be blogging today. Go wade through the links section. I'm sure you'll find something stimulating there.
Is Blogspot fucked up?
I can't get this page to display correctly. It started after I posted this morning. Anybody else got this? I changed templates and everything, removed my customizations, all that shit. And BTW, what's with the new 'Create' page?
Update 13:50: No it was me and the part of the post I pirated from Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge. My bad.
Update 13:50: No it was me and the part of the post I pirated from Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge. My bad.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Outta here
Got shit to do. If you want to read more of my crap, go to The Fixer. And remember, I'm looking for somone to blog here at The Alternate Brain so I don't have to. Email me or leave a comment here if you're interested.
See ya!
See ya!
NK, again
From the Agonist:
Duh. What I wrote on this subject last week:
US: North Korea admits its nuclear programs are weapons related
via AFP Wire
North Korea acknowledged that most of its nuclear programs are weapons related, during the recent six-party talks to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said Thursday.
"While they said they wanted to maintain a civil nuclear program, they also acknowledged that most of their nuclear programs are weapons related."
Duh. What I wrote on this subject last week:
Remember my standard bitch, the one I used yesterday on The X over at TAB?For somebody who was a gleam in their daddy's eye the time I was killing Communists . . .
Well, some of those Communists I'd dispatched were from north of the DMZ. The North Koreans were trying to get nukes as far back as 1980, back then, trying to get them from one of the Soviet Republics. That's about as far as I'll go, the shit we did there is probably still classified, but my point is that we knew they were after nukes 25 years ago. Reagan knew it, Bush 41 knew it, Clinton knew it, and now President Axis of Evil knows it.
[. . .]
It's been over 20 years since I chased those little bastards through the tunnels under the DMZ, over 20 years since we knew of NK's desire for nukes, and what do we do? We attack Iraq when North Korea can blow Hawaii out of the water. Motherfucking, low-life, stupid, lying bastids. I need a drink now.
Tucker Carlson=Slimy Asshole
How low can they go?
Stole this from Atrios:
This guy deserves to be euthanized.
Stole this from Atrios:
Pierce
Posted by Atrios
Because no one blog is big enough to contain him. From Altercation:
In 1994, an eight-year old girl named Valerie Lakey was playing in a wading pool. She got caught in a defective drain. Her intestines were ripped from her body by the suction. She is now 17. She will have to be fed through a tube, 12 hours a day, for the rest of her life. In 1997, John Edwards won her family a $25 million judgment, of which he took a portion. The judgment helped jump-start his political career.
On the first day of last year, as part of his opening comments on Crossfire, this is how the incident was described by Tucker Carlson, whom public and private broadcasting networks tumble all over themselves to hire: "Four years ago, he (Edwards) was a personal-injury lawyer specializing in Jacuzzi cases."
Jacuzzi cases.
An eight-year old who got disemboweled.
Jacuzzi cases.
A child who'll have to be fed through a tube for as long as she lives.
Jacuzzi cases.
Now, I know it's a terrible thing when Whoopi Goldberg makes salacious fun of C-Plus Augustus's last name. I know that society may simply collapse. But here is a professional communicator at the top of his profession who, because he couldn't come up with anything else to say at the moment, smugly dispatches the tragedy of a child whose guts were ripped out. (Later in the same show, he told co-host James Carville to "Lighten up," about his comments.) It was an interesting evening -- not only should Tucker Carlson have lost every job in the professional media that he has, and not only did he lose forever any right to criticize anyone for intemperate speech, he at that moment should have been shunned by decent people for the rest of his sorry life.
Jacuzzi cases.
Christ.
This guy deserves to be euthanized.
Health care
Cross posted from yesterday's The Fixer:
Okay, I might sound like a Communist but I think there should be universal (socialized, if you will) health care for our seniors. What we're doing to people (I'm talking the government now, not these rat bastid corporations who fuck with their employee retirement benefits) on fixed incomes is disgraceful. I saw what my mom got from Social Security and the meager pension from 1199 (now SIEU) when she retired was a joke. Thank God that when she was stricken with thyroid cancer, she went quickly.
I know it sounds harsh, but a lot of my customers are old folks, and I see what they pay for medications (they may be old but they can sure talk). We know their situation and we work with them on their car repair bills, but that's beside the point. The problem is that they can't afford the necessaries, and on Long Island a car is a necessity, including food and medications. I wouldn't want my mom in that situation.
These people have worked all their lives, most of a generation who'd worked at the same company for 30 or 40 years, and they have squat to show for it, thanks to the care they need in their advancing years. I know many who've taken out reverse mortgages on their houses, just to pay medical bills that their Medicare won't. We can send billions upon billions of dollars overseas, run up the fucking deficit like money was free, and our seniors are starving to pay for medication.
I got an idea. Why not repeal the Bush tax cut and use it to pay for universal health care for seniors? These people have given the best part of their lives to this nation, why not take care of them when they turn 65? I'll pay more if I know the money would go there. You know, what we've given to Halliburton as we outsource yet another war would cover it. Or all the bucks wasted on the Star Wars shield. Or all the millions upon billions Bush has thrown away, or given away, in other places. It's not just the Republicans, but they've been so blatant about it it's criminal. And it's criminal to have our old folks cutting pills in half to make them last longer.
I swear, if you have a mom and dad, or aunt and uncle, or care about someone who's a senior, you have to vote Democratic in November. And then we all have to crawl up their asses until they do something. The rich will always be able to afford the best doctors and still eat. The rest of us will be old someday and probably will have to make the decision the Bush cronies won't have to.
At least with Kerry and a Democratic Senate (hopefully), more could be done than with the current situation. Not when the pharmaceutical corporations have the ear of the White House and Congress by the balls.
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