AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka on Racism and Obama

This is an example of America at its finest.

David Letterman-Brian Williams-1of2-Oct-3rd-2008

Had John McCain slapped an invalid, wheelchair bound child on national television he would have done less damage to his campaign than bailing on Lettterman. HUGE Mistake.

Harrison Ford: George Lucas In "Think Mode" About Indiana Jones 5

Hey George, how about this story idea?



Indiana Jones comes upon a plot by which Right Wing American Neo-Fascists, in business and military, intend on using a vast hoard of gold they discovered in the Philippines, that was plundered from the whole of WWII occupied Asia and SEA by the Imperial Japanese and hidden there in elaborately protected vaults, to fund the overthrowing of the United States government in order to establish a New World Order based on elitist, white supremacist messianic principles.



You could call it "Indiana Jones and the Broken Trust" .... sound farfetched?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Campbell Brown Shifts Towards Commentary

"As journalists, and certainly for me over the last few years, we"ve gotten overly obsessed with parity, especially when we"re covering politics," Ms. Brown said. "We kept making sure each candidate got equal time " to the point that it got ridiculous in a way."



The Right eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in order to do away with parity in the media, and for years they benefited from that by pushing partisan propagandists on television and radio from their side while attacking the MSM's "Liberal Bias".



Now we have Olbermann and other Journalists on the left recognizing that turn about is fair play and the Right is livid that the Left has caught on. Brown is absolutely correct, one doesn't need to necessarily be a partisan in media to push back against artificial and illogical attempts at balancing issues that have an obvious Right and Wrong side. Pushing artificial parity actually undermines fairness, as opposed to promoting it.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Humpty Dumpty 2.0

Something to think about ... what if the world economy is so far gone that this bailout wouldn't have worked to begin with? When ponzi schemes unravel a little cash infusion may slow down the scams collapse long enough for a few important people to get their money out, but it won't change the death spiral of the unravelling process.

When Bernanke rushed to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into global liquidity this morning before the vote even occurred it pulls back the veil on the nature of the credit collapse ... it is in a state of perpetual motion downwards. This bailout bill may have stalled the inevitable until after the election, but the outcome for the ponzi world economy can be summed up thus ...

Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall
Humpty Dumpty had a Great Fall
All the King's Horses and All the King's Men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

The Congress should sit on its hands and wait for when Obama is President and they have the chance to vote for FDR's New Deal 2.0

$700B rescue plan finalized; House to vote Monday

Let's see when this $700 billion bailout bill passes whether or not we find ourselves in the same situation again next month. There is a lot of assumption associated with this bill. like



- We allow the banks to dump the bad securities, and they will, in turn use the liquidity to reinvigorate lending.-



Why is that true? What if the financial institutions use these funds to cover undisclosed areas of internal liquidity problems and don't use it to lend? Is there anything in the bill that mandates the Banks lending if they get relief? If not, then the $700 billion dollars will evaporate as quickly into the credit market sink hole as the $200 billion that was pumped into the credit market the week AIG was bailed out.



I don't think Congress knows the whole story yet and the result of this $700 billion infusion might be nothing but a rude awakening and more of the same.



Think in terms of this ... for nine years Credit Default Swaps have built, unregulated, to 68 trillion dollars. Every major financial institution is heavily leveraged in this CDS kited float cloud, if this is the root area of credit collapse, all bets are off any successful bailout implementation. I hope Credit Default Swaps are not the root cause if what we are seeing, but time will tell.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

S.E.C. Chairman: Oversight Failures Fueled Collapse

If Credit Default Swaps aren't addressed even $10 trillion dollars of Taxpayer money won't correct the underlying economic problem. CDS is a runaway freight train of liquified natural gas barreling down the tracks toward America's Minivan, stalled on the railroad crossing of history.
About Wall Street Crisis
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Ringside

I would argue that to a lot of America, McCain lost, and it had nothing to do with a word he said. The visual was devastating and that is not a superficial point. What you had on stage was an old man and a young man. Not the same as Reagan versus Mondale, where they were both seen as elders to start with.



Most Americans don't know a thing about the issues, except for they bore them. Ask yourself this, Nora, do we use old men to sell products in the US? Not even Viagra. Anyone on Madison Avenue will tell you that youth sells, we have millions of dollars of examples of that assumption crossing our visual path everyday.



I think we will see a pattern emerge where every time McCain appears on stage next to Obama he will lose support, regardless of the salient points of the debate. Humans think in terms of archetypes, and Americans see themselves as youthful, not old ... that will play a part in the outcome of this race.



Remember, there was a reason that Reagan inserted a joke about his age into the debate with Mondale, and McCain isn't likely to joke the issue off with the same finesse.
About Presidential Debates
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McCain Claimed "Privatization" Was Necessary For Social Security

"You kids! ... you damn kids and your filthy mutt! Dammit, I know I don't know what I'm saying, and you know I don't know what I'm saying, so why push me? You're pushing me! My FRIENDS, you need to vote for me and otherwise SHUTUP!!! Who do you think I think I am, anyway!?! Stop agitating me and remember to vote for me on November 4th! DAMMIT!!!!"
About John McCain
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Time to Take a Second Look at Our "Free Trade" Agreements

Free Trade only works if everyone is on the same page with labor and environmental rights and the current Global paradigm means little more than resource rape, worker exploitation, and environmental degradation.



WTO is floundering, as well it should, for it is being revealed to be the same type of poison pill as the IMF and the World Bank. It's a neocolonial trojan horse and many nations on earth would rather retain the subtle, remarkable qualities of their cultures rather than trashing it all to be an economic resource for an ill designed International Economic Philosophy that will overheat and collapse within 50 years anyway.



China and India are correct to have their protectionism and tariffs, it makes their societies thriving and robust, unlike the United States.



I have nothing against the people of the world, but my loyalty is to the American people. They deserve jobs, they deserve savings, they deserve to be living on sound wages not credit cards.



To bring health and jobs back to the United States economy we need to dump these foolish trade policies, reinstate tariffs against all goods and services provided from abroad, even by foreign operations of American companies, and worry less about keeping a small ultra wealthy subset of the American people happy at the expense of the rest of us.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Denial is Not An Economic Recovery Plan

Speaker Pelosi ... I feel the Democrats ( that would be, we, the Opposition) need to hammer two things home.



First, that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was a miserable piece of legislation that has critically undermined the US Economy and needs to be repealed and the Glass-Steagall Act reinstated until such time, as a responsible replacement is arrived at. In addition, all of the companies that have benefited from the GLBA and consolidated be broken up. Sanity before Profit; Stability before Market Fantasy.



Second, it must be declared that the Chicago School of Economics (Milton Friedman) has proven a failure and must be replaced with the Keynesian approach of balanced economy which has proven successful for the US in the past. It is the duty of the US Government to ensure a stable economy for all Americans, and not engage in farcical perpetual wealth schemes that are as self defeating for the United States as notions of Social Darwinism.



These are tough times that require spine, not hedging ... SPEAK OUT! The Dems and Obama need to declare Friedman a farce in order to get the economy back on track. Resurrect Keynes Speaker Pelosi!!!
About Economy
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Racism Hurts Obama In Michigan

"ST. PAUL " The "Bubba vote" and underlying racism will hurt Democrat Barack Obama in key battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, former House majority leader Dick Armey said Wednesday.

"The Bubba vote is there, and it's very real, and it is everywhere," Armey told USA TODAY and Gannett News Service. "There's an awful lot of people in America, bless their heart, who simply are not emotionally prepared to vote for a black man."



The headline I would like to see in foreign newspapers is this:



"Racist Vote Key to McCain Win"



I say foreign newspapers, because the American Press would never make such an honest statement and even though the American people at large care little about the US image abroad the corporate leaders and members of the ruling class would be highly disconcerted to have such domestic dirty linen aired abroad after all the time and energy they have put into cultivating America's "Good Guy' and yes "Progressive" image.



Some important people would find such a foreign headline devastating.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Greenspan: This Is The Worst Economy I've Ever Seen

Milton Friedman and his economic theories are a fraud, and his followers, who anointed him as their Jim Jones or David Koresh, have cost the United States the international economic leadership role it has enjoyed since the end of WWII.



We should have stuck with Keynes:



"Keynesian economics (pronounced /ˈkeɪnzi�"n/, also Keynesianism and Keynesian Theory, is an economic theory based on the ideas of twentieth-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. The state, according to Keynesian economics, can help maintain economic growth and stability in a mixed economy, in which both the public and private sectors play important roles. Keynesian economics seeks to provide solutions to what some consider failures of laissez-faire economic liberalism, which advocates that markets and the private sector operate best without state intervention. The theories forming the basis of Keynesian economics were first presented in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian
About Federal Reserve
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Olbermann Slams Republicans For Exploiting 9/11 In Special Comment

I wonder what MSNBC management is trying to prove by having Olbermann's show replaced in the 11pm PDT time slot tonight with Brokaw's blow by blow replay of the September 11th atrocities? Is this rubbing Keith's nose in it for his Special Comment last night?



Just a clue to MSNBC management ... there is nothing NEW to be learned from watching those poor people die in slow motion all over again ... it isn't respectful ... it is simply gratuitous.



Unless Brokaw and MSNBC management are trying to inspire the same feeling of horrified awe one experiences when seeing the Hindenburg Disaster ... in which case they are beneath contempt, like the Republicans, for what they pulled at their Convention.



Here's a hint, if you are actually running a news organization, why not point out that in the seven years since the 9/11 murders the victims have yet to receive justice instead of punishing us and Keith by giving Bin Laden's a victory lap.
About MSNBC
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Palin's Dangerous Saber Rattling on Russia

Mr Goldenberg, if you tilt your head in the direction of Washington DC you may hear a distant, muffled, moan. No, it isn't a moose mating call ... it is dozens of State Department officials dry heaving into their waste baskets.



You have to hand it to Governor Palin, her first time without training wheels she accomplished so much! The operative word in her comment about defending Georgia is key ... "IF" ... IF Georgia were to be a member of NATO we might have to go to war with Russia to defend them ... that could go for Ukraine too ... IF Ukraine were a member of NATO ... etc, etc,etc.



Maybe someone should have mentioned to Sarah that there are other members of NATO besides the US, and they live a whole lot closer to Russia than Alaska is. My guess is the reason that Georgia and Ukraine haven't been embraced by NATO relates to their concern of being drawn into a war with Russia over the former Soviet Satellites. But Sarah, reassured them ... "SURE NATO will go to war against Russia to defend Georgia! yup! yup! yup!"



My guess is now the other NATO members will table discussion of Georgia, and Ukraine joining pending the outcome of ther US elections ... I mean NATO has had so much fun in Afghanistan, war with Russia would just be the cherry on top!



Sarah you sure put the puck in the net this time! Yup! Yup! Yup!
About Sarah Palin
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Olbermann Slams Republicans For Exploiting 9/11 In Special Comment

An excellent Special Comment, but I never interpreted the 9/11 video as anything but the GOP paying homage to the single event that saved the Bush Presidency and provided all those wonderful opportunities for the NeoCons, Friedmanites, and New World Order fanatics for the past eight years.
About MSNBC
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I'm Officially Shutting Down This 'Lipstick On A Pig' Discussion

As idiotic as this "Lips on a Pig" nonsense is, I recall another incident that was equally absurd.



When Bob Dole was running for President there was a public event he was was due to appear at that was being covered by CNN. Candy Crowley was the reporter and she was having a back and forth lead in to Dole showing up with the CNN Anchor. Suddenly there is a roar of the crowd behind Candy when Candidate Dole arrived and she interrupted her discourse with the anchor to say ...



"Speak of the devil ... here he is!"



A bit of Dole's speech was aired and then Candy reappeared on the screen, looking rather dour, and at this point she APOLOGIZED for using "Speak of the devil" in reference to Senator Dole.



It was one of the stupidest acts of political correctness I have ever seen,
About Sarah Palin
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Mavericks?

If America puts this dynamic duo in the White House it deserves its misery.

Barack Obama is the Nominee -- Why are Black People Still So Mad?

Devastating. To say that this is an unacceptable trend is a grave understatement. I feel ashamed for the SFPD, and I also see a far greater problem because this is obviously not unique to San Francisco.



Anyone in the United States who thinks that we can successfully compete in the world while at civil war with ourselves is fooling themselves. If we are the UNITED States of America we have to be a UNITED people. We need to aggressively address racial profiling and the habit of divesting minority groups of their rights. In a World of mainly racially, culturally, and religiously homogeneous competitors America's diversity can either be its greatest strength or its Achilles Heel.



America HAS to evolve beyond this oppressive tendency for, beyond its criminal unfairness, it only undermines the Nation's future. Let's not kid ourselves.
About Civil Rights
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Campaigns Begin Dash To Election

The next 60 days will be possibly the ugliest campaign for the Presidency we have ever experienced as Americans. The Rove machine is going to throw everything it has at Obama/Biden. Every Poll and negative MSM story that comes out about Obama/Biden needs to be vetted thoroughly and viewed as propaganda until proved otherwise. We, supporters of Obama, have to give worse than we get in order to win this battle, and we CANNOT SHRINK from adversity ... we must Win!



Something to keep in the back of your minds as well, I have a sense that the viciousness we will be seeing from the McCain/Bush camp derives from the Bush Administration not getting assurances that an Obama Administration would forgo criminal investigations of them, as Clinton agreed to in the case of Bush 41. Biden has alluded to the possibility of Bush Administration investigations and that makes it all the more crucial for the Republicans for McCain to win, whether they like him or not.



Folks, this election will be brutal like the fight for Iwo Jima and only one side will prevail and hoist the flag on Mount Suribachi.



We can't afford to lose and neither can they ... so to Fight is to Win. WE MUST FIGHT!!!
About John McCain
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No Questions: Palin Won't Talk To Press

Of course no questions ... she is only model, not an actual candidate. Her requirement is to look good in ads, PERIOD.



I expect the McCain campaign to keep her under wraps for the next two months. And I will tell you exactly the argument to be used:



'As everyone understands Sarah has a special needs infant and a daughter whose wedding needs to be planned, certainly no reasonable person would begrudge her that.'



... and if the McCain campaign is pressed on her lack of availability the response will be:



'Clearly the liberal media is picking on Sarah, our fine VP candidate, because she is a responsible mother ... For SHAME!'



This Republican miscreants telegraph their political perversions.
About Sarah Palin
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Palin's Lawyer Works To Undermine Trooper Scandal

The problem for Palin is she was involved directly in this attempt to fire her estranged brother-in-law and the intimidation, and ultimate removal of the Alaska State Security Official who stood in her way. Also, Palin has evidently left a trail of emails documenting her actions and has made so many political enemies in Alaska through her governing methods, at both the local and state level, that there are political and personal adversaries that would love to expose her shortcomings and abuses to the courts or even the media.



There are good lawyers that can argue a blue sky is actually puce, to be sure, and with as sloppy as Palin has comported herself in this matter that is exactly what she will need.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Huckabee Slags Media In Off-Script Remarks

You know Jason, I was thinking, if things don't pan out for Palin and the VP spot and Fox News gets tired of Huckabee's HeeHaw routine ... I can see a fast food franchise in their future!



What with Palin's recipe for Moose and Huckabee's for Squirrel ... they could have an amazing restaurant ...



Rocky and Bullwinkle's
About John McCain
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Former POW says McCain is "not cut out to be President"

Life isn't a cartoon so we shouldn't allow the spin on John McCain to go unverified. Here is the first hand account of a fellow POW that shouldn't be ignored.

McCain More Likely to Drop Palin, Bookmakers Say

I doubt the Republicans intend on dumping Caribou Barbie (as Stephanie Miller calls her) ... the GOP is counting on the stupidity of the American public to win the day for them as it has for the last 28 years.
About Sarah Palin
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<i>TNR</i>: GOP Convention Will Get Racist

Racism, Ignorance and Hate is all this generation of Republicans has to offer. The Republican party isn't the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, or Eisenhower any longer.



The GOP has become a synthesis of Reagan's degenerative economic policies, Nixon's morality, and the Bush Klan's skullduggery.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tom Brokaw: Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann Have "Gone Too Far"

Mr Brokaw ... I have a question sir.



On September 5, 1983 you became the solo anchor of "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw"



The following is from Wiki:



"In 1986, Judges Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the Fairness Doctrine did apply to teletext but that the FCC was not required to apply it.[6] In a 1987 case, Meredith Corp. v. FCC, two other judges on the same court declared that Congress did not mandate the doctrine and the FCC did not have to continue to enforce it."



"In August 1987, the FCC abolished the doctrine by a 4-0 vote, in the Syracuse Peace Council decision, which was upheld by the Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit in February 1989."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine



Mr Brokaw, as the anchor of "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" during the time the fate of the Fairness Doctrine was being determined ... how much air time did you and NBC devote to the story?



You see ... Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann's brand of journalism is an offshoot of the Fairness Doctrine's demise ... if there is truly something wrong with their brand of journalism.



Obviously, I don't expect an answer.
About Keith Olbermann
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Union Officials: Obama Should Hit Harder On Economy, Not Worry About "Class War" Label

It's time the "let them eat cake crowd" learns that there are limits to their avarice. Obama shouldn't shy away from including discussion of class warfare in his message. It is a reality that the majority of Americans experience every day.



"Rise like lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number!

Shake your chains to the earth, like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you--

Ye are many; they are few!" - Shelly



Obama needs to tell it like it is ... everyone will recognize the truth from their own personal experience. The way forward is illuminated by truth.
About Barack Obama
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American Prayer - Dave Stewart (Barack Obama Music Video)

Saddle up ... time to get this done ... to the top of the mountain we go!!

Obama-Biden 08

Joe Biden Is Barack Obama's Vice Presidential Running Mate

I thought the people who signed up for the text were supposed to be the first to know?



Not good if you promise something and don't deliver. I like Biden, but this isn't good.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

New Bush Rule: Doctors Can Refuse To Give Women Abortions

Ah Abortion is the great moral issue of the day, but American Christians have yet to raise their voices in outrage or defense of the innocent Iraqi, men, women, children, infirm, and elders who died in the course of Bush's act of piracy in Iraq.



Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed, and not a peep out of the Nation's Righteous.



I wonder what Jesus would do?
About George Bush
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McCain Calls Lobbyists "Birds Of Prey"

Yeah sure, and he's their favorite prairie dog.
About John McCain
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<i>Obama Nation</i> Author Assailed By All Parties On <i>Larry King Live</i>

Isn't Mary Matalin married to James Carville? Isn't James Carville a Clinton Foot Soldier? Hasn't James Carville said that he now supports Obama? Didn't James Carville know what project his wife was working on with Corsi, or do they limit their pillow talk to the Sleep Number adjustment for their mattress?



In short, from where does this Corsi "book" come from? Who supports it? The GOP alone. or in concert with another well known group of "born again" Obama supporters?



I'm curious to know.
About Barack Obama
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Russia Expands Bombing Blitz Against Georgia

Be it in the United States, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Georgia, Russia, Sudan, El Salvador, Iraq, etc ... it is always the little people who suffer ... never the ones who deserve to.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The John Edwards Affair: Accountability for New & Old Media?

Steve, I feel bad for the Edwards Family and wish that this whole thing had only been a smear. I feel bad for the overlooked constituecy, that Edwards spoke to and for, who lost a credible advocate with media access. I wonder if a few illicit trysts with a person he didn't even love was worth Edwards' chance at VP, AG, Supreme Court, or even President, not to mention the impact to his family?



Selfishly, I breathe a sigh of relief that Edwards was exposed before he was embraced by the Obama Campaign as running mate or in some other high profile role that could have distracted from Obama's race for the White House.



I am reminded that lack of wisdom is never overcome by intelligence.



But most of all, I am astounded at how Fox News - in its rabid desire to get the National Enquirer's Edwards story out - undermined the benefit the story would have had to the McCain campaign by not waiting until Obama had given Edwards a more integral campaign role. The revelation would have tainted Obama, by questioning his judgement at including Edwards, so forth and so on . That Fox News engaged in a premature attack and diminished its benefit to their cause is the most important takeaway from this whole affair.
About John Edwards
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Bush & Habbush

Mr. Kusnetz, the following provision within Executive Order 12333 may create a wall that inhibits discovery of whether or not the forgery was initiated by the White House or the CIA.



"2.7 Contracting.



Agencies within the Intelligence Community are authorized to enter into contracts or arrangements for the provision of goods or services with private companies or institutions in the United States and need not reveal the sponsorship of such contracts or arrangements for authorized intelligence purposes. Contracts or arrangements with academic institutions may be undertaken only with the contract of appropriate officials of the institution."



If the CIA and White House decide to classify outsourced forgery being created for - authorized intelligence purposes - then good luck getting to the bottom of the story.



When in 1981, William Casey steered Reagan into privatizing the CIA through Executive Order 12333, a Pandora's Box of off the books Intel Operations were made possible, and plausible deniability for the activities of the CIA and President, assured.



Without an insider from the contractor providing evidence, the story ends ... and, my hunch is, at this point, a Quija Board is probably the best way to communicate with Habbush.



http://www.tscm.com/EO12333.html
About Iraq
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Sexual Assault and the Military: When Will the Pentagon Take Action?

Paul, the article below discusses this topic as well:



Why Male Military Veterans Are Committing Sexual Assault at Alarming Rates

By Lucinda Marshall, AlterNet. Posted May 25, 2007.



http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/52339/



Outside the Philippine Bases, pre 1992, you had an R&R industry available to US Military personnel that was a virtual emporium of deviance and misogyny. When you have a culture of anything goes, where men can engage and explore any perversion they like without oversight ... you have a problem.



A guy goes into some of these Hooker Towns that cater to Military Men (they exist outside every US foreign base to be sure) and they are going to come away with some pretty bad habits. Today, places like Korea, Thailand and Okinawa, have woman and children provided to the brothels through human trafficking, and they are slaves. It is a leap of faith to believe that men who develop tastes and and a mindset of degrading woman in a Military Sex Resort, are going to abandon them when stationed with females in isolated Iraq, or even when they return stateside.



Blowback occurs when the Military allows abuse of women in one context and prohibits it in another ... not all male soldiers, to be sure, are the problem. The US Military, however, has to re-evaluate acceptable behavior towards all women, not just American, and not just in uniform, in order to avoid misogynistic imprinting on some of our troops, that can lead to abuses.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Paris Hilton Responds To John McCain's Celebrity Ad (VIDEO)

The Old White Haired Dude that's offering his topless wife up to Bikers? That Old White Haired Dude?



The funny thing about this is that Paris so eloquently skewered McCain, both verbally and visually, that I wouldn't be surprised if the McCain Campaign comes up with a new spin every couple of hours in an effort to pull themselves out from under this viral vid. Grand Slam for Paris ... um, you know what I mean.



I also have to correct my previous assertion that Paris was, in fact, an Eloi ... with this biting response, she revealed a wee bit of Morlock, and that is commendable.
About John McCain
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<i>Washington Post</i> Fans Outrage After Misquoting Obama

About Barack Obama
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I would say this is a far more regrettable situation for Milbank than Obama ... parsing a subjects comment to change its meaning is a propagandist's game ... not a respectable journalists.

From Wikipedia:

"Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

It is hard to argue with the definition of what Mr. Milbank and his Editor at the Washington Post allowed in this case.

I would release a clarification at least if I were the Washington Post ... missteps like this reflect on the character and credibility of the paper as a whole ... and although Mr Milbank holds blogs in such low esteem, hopefully someone at the Washington Post is taking into account what is being discussed online regarding this issue. It's in their best interests.

How Much Sex Is Enough?

About Sex
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Attach a small shelf to your headboard and affix a goldfish bowl to it. When the goldfish looks freaked out and pale ... you know you have reached the limit for that session.

How Much Did McCain Pay for the Hillary Handbook?

About John McCain
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Trey, as disconcerting as this is, it was to be expected, What is truly despicable and requires attention from all Americans is the allegations that Greg Palast discusses in his latest e-mail: "In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color. In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters. In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor. In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure. My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was "concerned" about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular. He's concerned. I'm sweating." I'm sweating too! ... Let's make sure that the overt smear tactics displayed in McCain's left hand don't detract from the covert and anti-democratic actions performed by his right hand ... the GOP

Obama Pushes Back On David Brooks

About Barack Obama
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The most important thing Obama pointed out is the partisanship that exists in the MSM ... These high priced "journalists" are anything but Neutral ... why pretend otherwise?

Krauthammer and Brooks are conservatives with a horse in the race and their commentary and observations should be evaluated with that in mind.

Military Blocks Photos Of US Dead

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The US Government and Military are telling us that things are better in Iraq ... that violence is down ... that "The Surge" is working, but what independent proof do we have that any of their statements are true?

Would Andrea Mitchell, for instance, feel comfortable taking a driver into Baghdad without a heavily armed military escort? How about sending Hannity, Rush, Savage, O'Reilly out to Iraq and let them do a walkabout without bodyguards? Would they do it? Would they bet their lives on the fact that "The Surge" is as successful as they claim?

Come on, gentle friends on the Right ... prove to we Liberals how successful we have been at improving security ... send some of your highly paid pundit heroes "in country" ... not to hangout in the Officer's Mess, but maybe even meet some Iraqi civilians in their Baghdad hamlets ... Throw Michelle Malkin out there, she's tough.

Educate us on our success.

Mortgage Crisis Suicide: Wife and Mother on Verge of Losing Home Kills Herself

About Housing Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Mr Mitchell, I saw this story and it really made me heartsick. I'm not going to be flippant and say "Oh well, there is sure to be more .. tisk,tisk,tisk". I am going to say that I am extremely angry about this whole mortgage mess and the way it is being spun as the fault of the buyer for not knowing how much they could afford. That is the most dishonest rhetoric out there and I see the Business Channel pundits push this and it really disgusts me.

I don't know the particulars of Mrs. Balderrama's plight but I can say this ... the mortgage games that have been played in the US for the last decade and a half have been so crooked as to qualify as a Bunko Scam. Even before the subprime mess I heard stories of real estate agents, in cahoots with mortgage brokers, moving large sums of money into the potential buyer's bank accounts in order for them to qualify for the loan ... the money removed after the loan was approved. In so far as the sub prime and liar loan mess ... lets' be straight here, the goal was not to get people into homes, the goal was to get mortgages that could be securitized and then moved into the credit market. That was the purpose of the whole phenomena that led to the current mortgage collapse.

And in order to get these CMOs to market, the realtors, appraisers, mortgage brokers, banks, and Federal Government used the dreams of home ownership as a weapon against those who crave the American Dream.

So, Mrs Balderrama wasn't a victim of poor money management ... she was the victim of a coordinated crime against millions of American consumers.

Ford Aims To Save Itself By Bringing Small European Cars To U.S.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

This is a pathetic, losing game for Ford ... I have an idea, why doesn't Ford try innovation?

Let's be straight here, Japanese engineers are already working in China. It is only a matter of time before the Chinese will be mass producing cheap, well designed, internal combustion engine automobiles at a price and rate of speed that the US, Japan and Europe will simply not be able to compete with ... I'm sure during the Olympic Games some of these little automotive darlings will be introduced to the World.

What Ford, GM, the American Auto Industry has to do is break with tradition and explore far-out alternatives to the Internal Combustion Engine. NOT more Hybrid crap ... a complete break with the Oil Industry ... something completely new.

If Detroit wants to stay stubbornly locked into their symbiotic relationship with Big Oil ... IT IS DOOMED!!

Americans are innovators ... so let's get our engineering talent working overtime to reinvent the wheel, for if Americans don't come up with the next break through technology, the Indians, Russians, Europeans, or Chinese most surely will and Detroit will be the odd man out again.

Lieberman: Hagee Like Moses, Bloggers Would Have Bashed Him Too

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

So Lieberman is now comparing a twisted, pseudo-christian hack to Moses? I'd start watching for locusts, frogs and incurable boils if I were the good Senator.

McCain Gets History Of The Surge Wrong, CBS Doesn't Air Footage

About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

"PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN! ... THE GREAT .. er ... OZ ... HAS SPOKEN!!!"

CBS News has just been pantsed ...

Is Senator McCain REALLY to be the GOP nominee for President? I have my doubts.

McCain Camp "Frustrated" With Obama's Trip: Reports

About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Come on ... McCain steal Obama's fire by announcing his VP choice? That is going to be McCain's big scene stealer?


Some generic talking head pops on the Television screen:

..."Today, John McCain has chosen Elmer Fudd as his Vice Presidential running mate .... Fudd has been among the top five Vice Presidentables for quite some time, and now that he has come to terms with his "Wascally Wabbit" dependency it was thought that Mr Fudd would be a perfect compliment to John McCain ... no surprises here ..."

"The world now awaits, with baited breath, the VP choice of Senator Obama ... his choice, in wake of his triumphant trip abroad, will likely cause even more enthusiasm for his campaign ... oh, did I mention that McCain picked his VP? I lost track there for a minute."

Night Before Obama Goes Abroad, Rice Bars Embassies From Aiding Candidates

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost


Well, we have at least found something Condi is good at ... playing partisan ... she's certainly been a joke as a National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.

McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip (VIDEO)

About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost


Can someone please ... PLEASE ... set up a PC for McCain and install a copy of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" for him?

Maliki Endorses Obama Timeline in Huge Blow for McCain, Bush

About Iraq
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Mr Hayden, often times US Government Officials have tried to use foreign policy success, as it relates to the Philippine/US experience, as something that is exportable to other Foreign Relations challenges. Case in point, Edward Lansdale's successful counter-insurgency against the HUKs in the Philippines was the template that was exported and failed in Vietnam. The "Philippine Option" approach as it relates to Iraq is likely a failure as well.

The Philippines, an isolated archipelago, was a Colony of Western Nations, first Spain then the United States (With Manila briefly held by the British in 1762) for over 350 years, This time as a Colony made the Philippines a cultural outlier when compared to the rest of Asia. In short, the Philippines didn't have many natural regional allies due to their Colonial status ... this has always played to the benefit of either the Spaniards or the Americans in their dealings with Filipinos, who are neither fish nor fowl, from the asian perspective, due to western influence.

The Huks of the Philippines, as has been the case for all communist movements in the islands, never enjoyed international support ... the Huks collapsed because they were isolated ... Likewise, the US withdrawal agreement reached with Manila was an offer the Filipinos felt they couldn't refuse, having no other allies to fall back on ... Iraq isn't in the same position.

Like the Vietnamese, the Iraqis have regional allies that give them a far stronger hand in negotiating with the US than the Filipinos ever had ... and Iraqi allies have oil with which to apply pressure to the US,

So as likely as the US engaging in some behind the scenes "Philippine Option" ... it could also be the case that an emboldened Maliki is simply telling the United States, "Get out"

Professor Benny Morris: Nuclear War to Avoid Nuclear War

About Iran
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

If Israel were to use nuclear weapons on her regional neighbors, I would be for the United States abandoning all support of the Jewish State and leaving it to its fate. Israel was created in the wake of the German atrocities of WWII against the Jewish people ... my great-grandfather was the only member of his family to come to the US when he was 16 prior to WWII, his entire family, parents, 14 siblings and an unknowable number of cousins, nieces and nephews were lost to the Holocaust ... but I feel the opportunism displayed by Israeli hawks desecrates the memories of those lost ...

I understand there are some Israelis who view the muslims of their region in the same way American Colonists viewed the Native Americans ... but professor Morris had better remember there is nothing moral in extirpation ... the Final Solution proved that.

Time for Some Campaignin'

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Hopper explains the world (A Bug's Life)

In case anyone wonders why it is important to take the United States in a different direction ... Hopper, here, kindly explains the mindset of those currently in power. Listen.

Rest in Peace Mr. Heston ...

Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968)

I'm Fucking Obama - Hillary Clinton feat. Sarah Silverman

Well ... I guess it was only a matter of time.

It's on Hillary's Supporters Now

Okay ... now everyone with half a brain recognizes that Hillary lies as a strategy. We have enough examples of Hillary remaking History to benefit her self serving goal of being President. Not only are the examples available but they are documented in logs, in video, in her own books ... the jury has all the information they need to know that Hillary is an unabashed, unscrupulous, self-motivated, lier ... the debate is over on this fact.


It is time now for Hillary's rabid supports to step back from the fray of political competition ... take a deep breath ... look at Hillary for what she is ... ask themselves is this really the type of candidate they thought they were supporting way back at the beginning of the race? Is this a candidate that can actually win in November with everything that has been exposed?


"But what about Reverend Wright?", I hear as a defense of Hillary. The words of Reverend Wright's are Reverend Wright's, not Obama's words. Obama didn't offer up the political concepts, or speak about them in support ... he sat in the pew of Trinity United Church of Christ, a church of 10,000 members, the largest United Church of Christ congregation ... United Church of Christ being 5,518 local congregations and 1.2 million members strong ... and listened to his preacher tell sermons. I don't see the United Church of Christ rushing to disenfranchise Trinity United Church of Christ because of the revealed words of Reverend Wright. I don't think the 9,999 other members of Trinity United Church of Christ bear responsibility for a handful of controversial comments of their Reverend ... nor do I believe the 1.2 million members of United Church of Christ fellowship feel responsible for the Reverend's words ... so why is Obama the sin eater?


On the other hand ... Hillary spoke of the Bosnia snipers, then made a joke of it on Leno when she was caught in a lie ... Hillary spoke of being the voice within the White House that was against NAFTA, when her own schedules showed her working for passage of NAFTA ... it was Hillary who remanufactured an already tragic story of an Ohio woman and her baby's death related to childbirth to emphasize her Universal Health Care plan, a lie ... None of these comments came from her pastor that she is being blamed for, they came from Hillary herself. I'm certain the GOP is as well aware of Hillary's lying problem as they are of Obama's Reverend problem ... which will ultimately have more traction against a Democratic Candidate running against McCain's "Straight Talk Express"?


I would also mention that the change of heart Hillary has made in terms of wanting the Delegates of the Michigan and Florida unsanctioned votes seated after agreeing to the DNC terms to punish the states for moving up their primaries against DNC rules should be seen as problematic to anyone who expects Hillary Clinton to keep the pledges and promises she has made throughout the campaign. This particular issue of her flip flopping on the status of the Michigan and Florida election votes legitimacy is a concrete example of her going back on her word when it suits her.


I think Hillary supporters need to make the determination of their candidates viability in November ... it should be Hillary's supports who tell her ... enough. Otherwise the message to her will be fight until the Convention, fight in the Courts, and destroy the Democratic Party's short term goals for November, and the Democratic Party's long term unity as well.


Hillary Supporters ... you've been loyal to her ... you have fought hard for her ... but you have to think rationally about this now ... you are the ones who have to end this ... it's all on you.

Helter Skelter X

You can't keep a good man down ... Right on Mike!

Right on!

Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

The Time is Now ... Yes We Can

Danny Glover - Rescue the Constitution!

Bottom line ... Don't Mess with a Mighty Eagle of George Washington High School!!

You get them Danny!!

To Sum Up the Current Situation in the United States ...

Dems to confirm a Torturista as Attorney General ... The Fed Reponds to Inflation with a Rate Cut ... Diplomats Impressed into Service in Iraq ... Iran is on the table but Impeachment isn't ...

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

War is Peace

Zira, fire the afterburners babe, let's get the Hell outta here!

Rep. Pete Stark - American Hero

A very important speech for not only its heroic content, but for the miraculous Revelation it presents that there ARE actually Democrats in Congress who possess a backbone.

Genocidal Defeat: How Fear of Acknowledging the Obvious Reveals the Folly of the World's Lone Super Power.

~ My Comment on Bob Franken's piece "Turkey Turkeys" on Huffington Post ~

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-franken/turkey-turkeys_b_68985.html

Bob, I think the rude awakening for Americans of all political persuasions is that, thanks to the Bush Administration and an enfeebled Democratic Party ... the United States has moved from Lone Super Power to nearly irrelevant in the eyes of the World.

The Putin visit to Iran is telling. There is no way Putin would have allowed himself to be seen as standing with the Iranians against American intentions, if he hadn't read the tea leaves of World opinion and seen America has lost her standing and the World is looking for new leaders.

The current pathetic state of the American Democracy and the seeming inability of the American people to direct their country's leaders sends a strong message to the peoples of the world yearning to be free ... American Democracy is a Failure.

What messages have we sent to the World?

America's Military supremacy is a myth. The image of the United States' overwhelming Military capacity was re-established by BUSH41 during the Gulf War ... now we are seen as overhyped, overextended, and incapable of handling a mission without hiring Contractors, and raiding our National Guard to the point of destroying their capacity to meet their domestic mission ... Pathetic

Abuse, Fraud and Ponzi Schemes masquerading as Capitalism have metastasized through the economy like a cancer turning America's Prosperity Model into a sham.

We have a Health Care System that is a failure for Americans and a National Security risk.

We have an Educational System that doesn't produce citizens that can compete in the World Economy.

New Orleans destroyed by Katrina and allowed to rot.

As a Nation the US has abandoned the notion of Human Rights, Constitutional Rights, and Common Sense.

It would probably have been best if a vote on this Bill could have been postponed, but here it is and we lose anyway we go with it at this point.

Bottomline, Mr. Franken, if the United States weren't in such a dramatically pathetic state we wouldn't be arguing whether or not this is the correct time to define the Armenian Genocide as a Genocide.

A Republican Party Analogy

Question: How is the collapse of a 9 story building in Manila analogous to the current state of the Republican Party?

Answer: Watch the video and listen closely to the narrative.

Whether Democrat or Republican ... It's the Ideology Behind the Bunting That Counts.

... Below is my comment for Jeff Cohen's "Who Needs Republicans?" on Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/who-needs-republicans_b_67790.html

Mr Cohen, the issue isn't political parties, it's political ideology that can exist happily in either party.

If the rank and file base of the Republican Party were to review the benefits of their party being in power the last decade or so, could they honestly say their lives have improved? Did the social agenda they signed on for come to pass? The Democrats didn't have the ability to influence anything in Washington for at least 4 election cycles, so did the virtues the Republican base held dear as the foundation of their Party win out?

No ...

But why? ... Because it wasn't a Republican Social Ideology that reigned in Washington. It was a Corporate Ideology. Simply put, the Republican foot soldiers were betrayed.

The desires of the rank and file Republicans were chucked in the dust bin shortly after each election (not to say that displeases me). What replaced their social agenda? No holds barred Corporatism that harmed most of the rank and file Republicans way of life, by eliminating their jobs, and crushing their economic dreams ... while making a small sliver of Americans (Republican, Democrat, and Non Partisian) and Corporations filthy rich at their expense.

This Republican base was deceived by a Corporate Ideology that had no intention of meeting any of their goals ... In short, this Republican base was USED.

Now since this same Corporate Ideology exists in the Democratic Party in the DLC Wing, we should anticipate the same treatment on the left as the Republicans on the right received. We will hear all the right things, the candidates will kiss our bottoms until they shine like a bright red apple ...

... but once these Corporate Dems get in office, we loyal supporters will become little more than chum for the sharks.

So, voters of both parties have to get beyond this Democrat/Republican parlor game and see the Ideology behind the bunting ...

The Ideology is what we are truly voting for.

Joe Scarborough Schooled on Blackwater USA by Senator Webb (D-VA)

Thanks to Talking Points Memo we have a perfect example of an old dog learning a new trick.

Oh Michelle ... Such a Tragic Fate for an Aspiring Concert Pianist

Michelle Malkin attacks Senator Reid While Humiliating herself in the process ... I know it's old, but it's still fun.

A Little Corporate Truth

--- Below is my comment on Margaret Heffernan's Huffington Post Blog Entry "WSJ: An Old Guy's Plaything" ---

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-heffernan-/wsj-an-old-guy_b_54829.html

Ms. Heffernan, I think you have a bit of a perception problem in terms of the human condition. I think you maybe mistaking well heeled, well bred, well placed, well connected and well dressed as indicators of humans evolving to a higher level.

If the old guard of a corporation were rapacious, alcoholic, whore-mongers in their Fraternity Days at "Grand Old Ivy", what makes you think a corner office and a multi-million dollar compensation package would change their basic nature?

The new breed of men, you think may change the way things are done, haven't made it to the catbird seat yet. Once they approach the higher corporate echelons and get a taste of the treasures that await them, they will vanquish their egalitarian pretensions, in terms of sex and race, and will get with the established program. You really think the suits that currently inhabit the hallowed, oaken halls of corporate leadership haven't found a way to accommodate both strippers and a daughter in Grad School in their lives? Come on.

Business, at its heart, like so many other human endeavors, is a game. In recent decades woman and minorities have been granted access to the gaming table, but were presented with a carefully abridged version of the rule-book. The old guard, like wise cardsharps, aren't going to change things to undermine their hand ... they are there to win.

As others have already commented, you have to either accept the rules of the house, or build your own casino.

Murdoch's "Precious"

--- Below is my comment on Bill Moyer's Huffington Post Blog Entry "On Murdoch" ---

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/on-murdoch_b_54361.html

Mr. Moyers, I think you are quite accurate in saying that Murdoch is "all appetite and no taste" in pursuit of his fresh corporate prey. Murdoch's pursuit of the Wall Street Journal has more to do with his ego than his need. That the Bancroft family has been reticent to give him what he wants has only stoked his passions to make the Wall Street Journal his possession. It's not what the Wall Street Journal "is" that makes Murdoch want it , it's that somebody has had the audacity to say he can't have it.

As far as a Murdoch ownership of the Wall Street Journal is concerned, I've never been a fan of the paper's editorial line and therefore get a certain amount of glee that the Wall Street Journal may become the possession of the tabloid king. I know there are discussions on "fire-walling" the editorial page from Murdoch misuse, but once this Media Don owns the paper he will do with it what he wants, to be sure. Maybe Murdoch does have a practical purpose in acquiring WSJ, in having a sense that ownership of the Wall Street Journal will bring credibility to some of the other media garbage he owns, but in reality the Wall Street Journal, with the change of ownership, will in an instant lose the credibility it has built up over the last 118 years. But Murdoch is probably blind to that fact, and only cares that he will have his "precious" and the Wall Street Journal will join the News Corp playpen.

As an aside, I'm thinking that the sale of the paper will be announced on July 8th, the anniversary of the Wall Street Journal's founding, or maybe July 7th if Murdoch is still on Australian time.

The grave state of American Journalism won't be corrected by the blocking of this sale, but maybe it will expand, by the number of subscribers of the Wall Street Journal, the individuals who believe that there is a problem in the current state of American media ownership that needs to be addressed.

Paris Hilton - Eloi on the Menu

Paris Hilton is an Eloi.

"The Eloi are one of the two post-human races in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine. In the year AD 802,701 humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are the spoiled, attractive upper class, living in luxury on the surface of the earth while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi."

As you can guess, if Paris is an Eloi then the rest of us must be Morlocks.

" ...while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems which required strength, intelligence or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute, frail animals. While one initially has the impression that the Eloi live a life of play and toil less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are tending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends to cattle - because the Eloi compose most (if not all) of the Morlocks diet and the Eloi are no longer capable of acting in any other role than to be eaten by the morlocks"

While certainly I don't think anyone would want to substitute Paris for some other protein in their current diet, there is definitely consumption of Paris Hilton taking place amongst we Morlocks. On a day when the Senate issued long overdue subpoenas to the White House, the Vice President's office and the Justice Department regarding the domestic wiretapping transgressions, CNN gifted us with hours of coverage of our sweet little Eloi.

We also learned how we Morlocks consume our little Eloi through tabloids, and porn sites, and appearance payments, and crappy music, and her half wit reality show ... We Morlocks feast so, on this little Eloi, that she can afford to be marginally educated and talentless, eye candy.

I'd continue but I am so full of Paris at this point I need some Mylanta.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloi

Time to Link America's Defense and Responsibility

The following is my comment in response to Hal Donahue's Huffington Post piece :

Honor, Tradition, Courage: Broken Tiles, Broken Healthcare System

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hal-donahue/honor-tradition-courage_b_49565.html

It is long past the time for the funding of the VA to be included as a part of the overall Defense Spending Bill. Having separate VA appropriations bills from the Defense Spending Bills allows for stalling and delays in getting the funds where they are needed to aid our ailing troops.

An allocation of 25% of the total amount of every Defense Spending Bill should be earmarked for the VA as a mandate.

We have millions of Vets, some back to WWII, who rely on the VA for health care, and for their service and sacrifices for the United States it has to be the best money can buy, not merely some half-assed pill dispensary with a revolving door.

In addition to the Veterans who need quality health care, we need funding for intervention, counciling and housing for the estimated 80,000 homeless Vets across America, whose reward for service to their country is a stained piece of cardboard under a freeway overpass ... These individuals gave their all for America and they deserve better than to shiver in darkness alone.

There also needs to be a revitalization of the GI Bill which gives returning troops every opportunity to get education, employment and housing as befits a returning hero ... not a smile, trinkets and a cold shoulder.

This VA funding MUST be factored into every Defense Spending Bill that Congress sends to the President, not only because it is the right thing to do for those who put so much on the line for us, but to remind the Congress and the President, every funding cycle, of the human cost of War and to reinforce that funding Defense is more than just funding for well lobbied, substandard, weapons platforms.

The Iraq War .. Whose Legacy, Really?

H. CON. RES. 63

---

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That--

(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and

(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Passed the House of Representatives February 16, 2007.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:2:./temp/~c110ZLuX7a::

Today the Senate Republicans, in a rare Saturday session, exhibited cowardice as a Political Art by not allowing a vote on a resolution opposing President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq. The same resolution that on Friday, passed 246 -182 in the House with 17 Republicans defecting to the side of reason. Today's resolution was an opportunity to get on the record where the individual Senators stood on the very clear issue of escalation of American Military presence in the ongoing sectarian Iraq Civil War.

Numerous red herrings have been offered by the minority Republican members linking the resolution above with cutting funding to our troops in the field. I'm sorry, but reading and re-reading the resolution, I found, does not indicate anything about funding or not funding our troops. I hear remarks how this resolution is some insidious first step to abandoning US Military personal to starvation and murder at the hands of the Iraqi Insurgents . I'm afraid that just doesn't hold water.

The Republicans are the first to wield "Support of Our Troops" as a righteous light saber in the face of opponents to the war. Of course, with all of the injured coming back from the Middle East Campaign the Veterans Administration has reached a point where it has to ration medical care to them because of lack of funding. The Republicans could have passed legislation, while they were in the majority, to fully fund the VA and, thereby, tangibly demonstrate their support of our troops, they didn't. Maybe my problem is I don't understand the Republican definition of "support".

There is also much banter about how the Republicans are, at their heart, engaging in this obstructionism to support their "War Time President", George W. Bush. I sense there is something far more germane to the Republican position than protecting the historical legacy of one of the worst Presidents in Republican Party History ... hear me out.

In Vietnam, Truman sent the first advisers into the French debacle in 1950; in 1954, Eisenhower up the ante and the US was shouldering 80% of the cost; JFK inherited the policy and continued it; LBJ and Nixon escalated and mismanaged the effort, Ford oversaw the ultimate defeat and retreat of American forces. In Vietnam, there was enough political damage to be shared by both the Democrats and the Republicans. Iraq is different ... the Republicans own Iraq.

True there was a nearly bipartisan vote to grant President Bush the right to use force against Saddam, but when questions began to arise the control of Congress, the Constitutional Body of Oversight, by the Republicans came into play. Tom "The Hammer" Delay, flush with testosterone, kept the Republican flock in line. With smug assurance that the Democrats were politically irrelevant after the seemingly permanent shift to the Right the Nation displayed in elections since the birth of the Republican Congressional Majority, the Republican's sat on their hands and let the Dems twist in the wind. The election of 2006 took the wind out of their sails. and presented the Republicans with a HUGE problem. A failing war effort and no one but themselves to blame, or worse yet, take responsibility. The Republican's own the Iraq debacle, and it is the legacy of the Republican Party, not President Bush, they are concerned about.

The brutal sectarian violence unleashed by the invasion of Iraq is unlikely to end soon, in a land where seeking vengeance is the Muslim equivalent of Christianity's, "Turn the other Cheek". If the US troops are withdrawn from Iraq the implications for the Republican Party will be dire. In 100 years if a Republican President (probably a Yale Grad) decides to embark on some military adventure, the opposition Party leader, whether Democrat or what have you, can point an accusatory finger from the Well of the Senate and boldly state:

"Remember Iraq! The Republicans are at it again!"

For the war to collapse during the Bush presidency would cause an emasculation of the Republican Party that would endure. The Senate Republicans understand this, all too well. American's don't cater to losers, a retreat from Iraq is an undeniable Republican defeat.

The Republicans can't go on record in support of President Bush, whose poll ratings are in free fall, with an election coming in 08 that could really pull the rug out from under them, and they certainly can't align themselves with the Democrats, in many areas of the Country that would be political suicide. All that their cowardice allows them is hollow, non binding platitudes in support of American Military Personnel in the Iraq, and the kind of obstructionism the Senate Republicans displayed today. The only hope for the Republican Party is to stall America's imminent withdrawal from Iraq until they can either taint the Democrats, or can see a Democratic President in office they can blame for Iraq and save their skins.

The obstructionism and stalling, of course, is the Republican way of supporting our troops, by keeping them employed in Iraq, at least until the next National Election.

FogBelter out ....

Pop-up Porn Bouffant

I was taken aback by I story I came across on CNN’s website about a substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut who potentially faced 40 years in prison for exposing 7^th graders to pornography on a school PC

(See story => http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/02/13/teacher.porn.ap/index.html )

Mrs. Amero, the substitute teacher, innocently used a classroom PC to send an to email her husband before a class, after receiving permission from a co-teacher. After using the computer, Mrs. Amero left the classroom to use the restroom, leaving the permanent teacher, who granted her access to the PC and some of her students alone in the class. When she returned to the classroom she found her colleague had left and the students were surfing the web. The students had gone to a hairdressing website, when suddenly the PC exploded with hardcore porn pop-ups, which the students saw. For this the teacher went to trial and was convicted.

Okay, several problems here. First, as is the case in most American schools, the PC that was being used in the Middle School was antiquated and not being properly administered by the responsible parties at the school. The school had no firewall software, nor Antivirus or Anti-Spyware applications installed on their Internet connected PC to protect it from the malware that plagues the Internet. Any computer savvy person could tell you virus protection is a must. Furthermore, in a rush to convict Mrs. Amero, the prosecutors didn’t even bother to check the PC in question for viruses … sloppy and unprofessional. I mean, you swab a rape victim for evidence, you check for fingerprints at a crime scene, in the 21^st Century, you check a computer for virus infection in a case like this. Second, based on the article, it seems that the substitute teacher was also cursed by have a jury of ignorant people, who after years of mass media exposure relating to perverts in positions of authority, couldn’t tell a victim of circumstance from Richard Allen Davis.

A story I know of parallels the case above. A friend of mine worked in a Computer Data Center as a Supervisor. His crew consisted of 9 men a 1 woman. One day, the only woman in the environment reported that she was having a problem with her PC. My friend went to investigate and discovered that when he booted the PC he was getting a flurry of gambling pop-ups. Someone had been surfing the Net and picked up a virus on the PC. Not good, but manageable he thought. He ran various anti-virus software on the PC and had some success, but was still getting some very stubborn, but benign, pop-ups. After he ran a third virus-scan on the PC, he managed to kill the gambling pop-ups, but then, with the female employee watching over his shoulder, all hell broke loose … The gambling pop-ups had been acting as a cork, holding back what was really infecting the PC … PORN. Not the run of the mill porn mind you, pop-ups of some of the raunchiest, most violent, perverse stuff he had ever seen. Oral, anal, animals, kids … you name it, it popped up. He furiously clicked away at the pop-ups, attempting to close them, with the employee, eyes bugged out and mouth agape, taking in the pornographic deluge. “Oh my GOD!” the employee shrieked and ran to the other side of office, face bright red, trembling. My friend frantically clicked away, in a hopeless attempt to stop the pop-ups. “Fix my machine! I can’t work like this!!! You need to fix my machine!!!!” In total frustration at not being able to take control of the PC, he yanked the power cord from the wall … a mosaic of woman with dogs, and men with … god knows what … faded as the power was cut.

My friend apologized profusely to his employee, and immediately contacted the Desktop Support of his company. He turned over the PC to them and requested that they reformat the hard drive and rebuild the image on the PC. The Tech told my friend he had some amazing software that would “scour the drive” of any virus or spyware. My friend had his doubts, but went with the Tech’s plan because this was his expertise. A day later the tech returned the PC to the office stating … “My God that was a bitch to clean!”

The PC was setup on the employee’s desk with a clean bill of health. The employee came in, sat at her desk, and booted up her PC. Then from his office, my friend heard a shriek. He ran out to the Operations area and found his female employee, bright red, apoplectic, with an accusatory finger pointed at him, while on her PC monitor he observed a veritable pop-up “fireworks display” of gay porn, animal porn, kiddy porn, exploding across the screen.

“You did this on purpose!!!!!” she shrieked at him as his BP went through the ceiling and thoughts of termination for breaching the company’s sexual harassment policy swirled in his brain. As a reactive response, he yanked the power cord from the wall, tore the CPU, with the peripherals attached, from the lady’s desk, dragged them across the Operations area and threw them on the floor in his office. To make a long story short, my friend ordered a new PC for the employee and watched as the Desktop Tech reformatted, then degaussed the old hard drive and sent it out for destruction.

The moral is, what happened to Mrs.Amero could happen to anyone. PC’s in a public environment are susceptible to misuse and in Public Schools, are often poorly managed. It would be a travesty if she were to spend 40 years in jail for this. She was merely an unwitting victim of technology.

And, as for how the PC became contaminated in the first place, ask the janitor. My friend did.

FogBelter out…….

McCain Fears "Tet Offensive" in Iraq - I fear McCain Presidency

You know ... John McCain might be a little out of it and that's why he regurgitates Vietnam analogies all the time. I reviewed his history and it makes me a little nervous about him being President ... I mean, here's a guy who's Father and Grandfather were 4 Star Admirals and he still saw combat in Vietnam? How does THAT work? He's not a lucky man! I mean, he should have been able to spend the Vietnam War checking Japanese hookers for gonorrhea with that pedigree ... not stuck in an actual war zone! Not a lucky guy ... then there was that Forrestal thing ... 134 dead naval personnel because someone accidentally shot McCain's A-4E Skyhawk with a Zuni rocket while it was parked on the deck of his aircraft carrier! Not a lucky guy! Then ... after he recovered from the conflagration on the Forrestal, he gets himself assigned to the Saints squadron of the 16th Air Wing, known for having the highest loss rate of the Vietnam War. Not a big surprise for "Mr Lucky" McCain! Neither was it surprising that McCain's winning streak would have him shot down down over Vietnam ... adding to the 16th Air Wing's glorious string of combat losses. And even though Lucky Johnny broke both arms and a leg in his crash into Truc Bach Lake, he was lucky enough to be found by a mob of Vietnamese who rewarded his attempts at providing them liberty, by spitting on him, kicking him and providing that most friendly of Viet Cong greetings ... a bayonet through the groin. Again ... a bayonet ... through ... the groin. It's no wonder "Lucky" McCain falls back on happy thoughts like the Tet Offensive, which he enjoyed from Hanoi Hilton, which supposedly sells some pretty cool t-shirts today :-) ... The point ... you may ask? I'm not sure if there is a Tet Offensive in our future in Iraq, but after George W Bush, I sure hope there is a Lucky President in our future ... period. And John ... careful with that razor, huh ... we love you ya big paluka!