Yukio Asano, John Ashcroft, and Water Torture

Seriously...make sure you read her diary. It's awesome to see people holding Ashcroft accountable even if a few still buy his rotten bologna.

This was a great exchange. I wish there were a videotaped version. If either Clinton or Obama had any guts, they would be talking about McCain's flip-flop on torture votes, and why what Bush has done is so fundamentally abhorrent. Instead we get the f**** flag pin.

I have just posted a new blog entry which asks you to think about how you personally tell how bad things are, and also offers an interesting little word problem for the mathematically inclined out there.

The problem is...

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA are the barbarians who voted W into power TWICE, approved of all his barbaric torture techniques, and continue to believe in, say, widespread use of death penalty.

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA deserve to pay dearly.

And if the Dems can't get their act together and get someone in the White House in November, even after their once-crushing advantage, then they have NO business existing at all (and sucking up contributions from the working class, who need the money for better purposes).

Hell yeah, she tore ashcroft a new one.

YOU GO GIRL!

Oh, and Ally, smoke 2 strawberry Philly blunts, and you will be ok.

Richard,

There's suppose to be a video coming up soon. I will post it if I see it. (Or others can watch for it too.)

Ooops. Someone already posted the video clip.

Thanks for posting the video. I'm disappointed that the people who edited the video used such a heavy hand on the exchange with Elsinora. The editors cut out a lot of good stuff, so we don't see anything like the real exchange. I'm going to send an email and see if they would be willing to cut a new version with the complete Elsinora exchange in it.

I was disappointed as well.

I hope more will be placed at Youtube.

MrDrinkwater.com
at
SilencedMajorityPortal

Oh wow! Keith Olbermann used Elsinora's diary for his worst person in the world segment!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

Speaking to supporters in Evansville, Indiana, on Tuesday night, Obama dismissed questions about his ability to cross racial, gender and generational boundaries.

"We can continue to slice and dice this country ... or this time, we can build on the movement we started in this campaign, a movement that's united Democrats, independents, Republicans, young, old, rich, poor, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight," he said. "Because one thing I know, from traveling 46 states this campaign season, is that we are not as divided as our politics suggest."

"Now, it's up to you, Indiana. ... You can decide whether we're going to travel the same worn path or whether we will chart a new course that offers real hope for the future," the Illinois Democrat said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/23/democrats.race/index.html

As if the little fishes weren't enough, the same state that INFLICTED Dubya on you now brings you....

Florida considers Christian license plate

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.

The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/24/license.plate.ap/index.html

I swear, I could make millions simply by openin a national chain of restaurants called somethin like "The Jesus Cafe" and mass marketing His name on everything from tshirts to hats to beer coolers to keychains, etc etc etc etc.

We Serve Last Supper All Day

Busted!

Talk of firing Chicago's US attorney cited at Rezko trial
By MIKE ROBINSON – 6 hours ago

CHICAGO (AP) — As one of the nation's toughest prosecutors on corruption, Patrick J. Fitzgerald is viewed with icy suspicion at best among Chicago's cigar-chomping, patronage-loving, backroom politicians.

But prosecutors dropped a bombshell Wednesday at political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko's corruption trial, suggesting some of Fitzgerald's foes may have gone beyond mere grumbling about his hard-nosed approach.

They say a government witness claims Rezko discussed efforts among top Republicans, including former White House political director Karl Rove and GOP national committeeman Robert Kjellander, to have Fitzgerald fired to derail a corruption probe.

That witness is Ali Ata, whom prosecutors want to be allowed to testify about his alleged 2004 conversations with Rezko. Ata, a former executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, pleaded guilty Tuesday to tax fraud and lying to an FBI agent about Rezko's role in getting Ata his state job.

"He had conversations with Mr. Rezko about the fact that Mr. Kjellander was working with Karl Rove to have Mr. Fitzgerald removed," Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton told U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve on Wednesday.

Hamilton didn't say much more, but she did make it clear that the idea was allegedly to derail, or at least slow, the federal government's probe of influence peddling involving Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration.

At the time of the purported talks, Fitzgerald already had been appointed a special prosecutor for Washington's CIA leak investigation, in which I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was later convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQRxkYTsoPZU4eCBGiXoTgkGtScAD90840980

MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level since late 1991

(... and who was president in late 1991???)

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

George W. Bush
Nashville, Tenn., (September 17, 2002)

On a WAAAAAY friggin birghter note...

HAPPY JAZZFEST EVERYONE!
http://www.nojazzfest.com/

best music and cultural festival on the planet, hands down...

Listen in live @ http://www.wwoz.org

LONG LIVE NAWLINS!

I meant listen in live starting tomorrow!

But you can listen in now anyway if you choose, it's still a somewhat free country.

monkey

Florida considers Christian license plate

I am not surprised, as you can already get a CHOOSE LIFE license plate in Florida (and Colorado, Oklahoma, and a few other states).

Choose Life isn't necessarily an anti-choice anthem, it could have other meanings, so it's off-limits to court challenge. But the Jesus fish would DEFINITELY be in gray waters.

I'm actually surprised that California isn't doing the same, between its rich Pentecostal tradition and millions of Christian immigrants. I better thank the liberal ideologues of Berkeley and San Francisco for keeping a lid on this.

Ummm, not sure I see the problem with religious license plates.

As long as they are not REQUIRED, they are no more an issue than a personalized name plate.

I was always taught true christians do not identify their faith publicly, with trinkets, but to each his own I guess.

Endless optimistic that I am, I switched on MSNBC for 60 seconds today. I saw Nora O'Donnell asking "pertinent" questions of Tucker Carlson, who had a Ceshire cat grin. Off it went.

I'm cryin' in my beer (okay pepsi) today.

Wow. I really didn't expect this to be as deep as it was.

Check it out, and the gawdawful video with it.

"But Obama speaks movingly of gay equality, and not just before gay audiences. He has raised the issue among white farmers and in black churches, where the message is both unwelcome and needed.

Clinton, by contrast, rarely raises the issue on her own, never does so before unfriendly audiences, and seems reluctant even to say the word “gay.”

http://www.americablog.com/2008/04/hillarys-gay-problem.html

Snip..

"But notice how repeatedly in the interview Hillary hesitates and stumbles at places where you would naturally expect her to say the word "gay" - she doesn't say it - she kind of stops, doesn't say gay, then moves on."

That is really very sad.

Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With U.S.
Americans Insist No Deal Made on Settlement Growth
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 24, 2008; A14
A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president'sefforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.
Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.
U.S. officials say no such agreement exists, and in recent months Rice has publicly criticized even settlement expansion on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Israel does not officially count as settlements. But as peace negotiations have stepped up in recent months, so has the pace of settlement construction, infuriating Palestinian officials, and Washington has taken no punitive action against Israel for its settlement efforts.
Israeli officials say they have clear guidance from Bush administration officials to continue building settlements, as long as it meets carefully negotiated criteria, even though those understandings appear to contradict U.S. policy.
Many experts say new settlement construction undermines the political standing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas -- who is to meet with Bush today at the White House -- and adds to Palestinian cynicism about the peace process. Palestinians view the settlements as an Israeli effort to claim Palestinian lands, and in a meeting yesterday with Rice, Abbas said settlement construction was "one of the greatest obstacles" to a peace deal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303128_pf.html

Good Morning Aussi!

Clinton's PA win is only 9.2% with 99% fully counted.

Michigan won't count January (then) and now?

Clinton amassing extra Michigan delegates

"If you punched your ballot for "uncommitted" in Michigan's Jan. 15 Democratic presidential primary to back Barack Obama, your vote might have essentially gone to Hillary Clinton anyway.

While all eyes were locked on Pennsylvania for the last six weeks, Clinton was quietly amassing delegates in the Wolverine State. And she was rewarded this past weekend with a significant victory at the district conventions.

This development naturally has been overshadowed by her big win Tuesday night in Pennsylvania. But the race for the Democratic nomination wasn't decided then and won't be by the remaining contests -- not North Carolina, Indiana or even Guam -- because the real fight is over delegates. And Michigan remains a key battleground.

On Aug. 25, Clinton will march into the national convention in Denver stronger than most people realize, thanks to her aggressive ground game in Michigan."

Rush Limbaugh Calling For Riots In Denver

DENVER -- Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.

"Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country.

Limbaugh cited Al Sharpton, saying the Barack Obama supporter threatened to superdelegates that "there's going to be trouble" if the presidency is taken from Obama.

Several callers called in to the radio show to denounce Limbaugh's comments, when he later stated, "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver."

Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called "Operation Chaos," the people on the far left would look bad.

"There won't be riots at our convention," Limbaugh said of the Republican National Convention. "We don't riot. We don't burn our cars. We don't burn down our houses. We don't kill our children. We don't do half the things the American left does."

He believes electing Democrats will hurt America's security and economy and appeared to call on his listeners to make sure that doesn't happen.

"We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We're the only one in charge of our affairs. We don't farm out our defense if we elect Democrats ... and riots in Denver, at the Democratic Convention will see to it we don't elect Democrats. And that's the best damn thing that can happen to this country, as far as I can think," Limbaugh said.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15980105/detail.html

There's a commercial needed for THIS LIE from MCBeth...McBush..McCain.

~~

In New Orleans, McCain raps Bush on flying over Katrina

ust in case the point was missed, he said it twice today in NOLA:

Without mentioning Bush directly, McCain said that when Katrina struck, "If I had been president, I would have ordered the plane landed at the nearest base and I'd of been over here." He repeated that later, saying, "I would've landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally."

He also repeatedly promised that a Katrina-like fiasco would never happen again.

And, in what is clearly become more trouble than it was ever worth, McCain was asked at a town hall meeting about his endorsement from John Hagee, the controversial evangelical pastor.

Besides his anti-Catholic rhetoric, Hagee has also said (and recently reiterated) that Katrina was part of God's wrath on New Orleans for its sin and decadent ways. McCain repeated what he has said in the past, that he doesn't endorse the views of everybody who endorses him.
~~

Go check the thread and comments... and pictures.

AND here's a diary at kos on it.

McBush throws Bush under a levy

Rush calling for riots?

Isn't that against the law?

If someone dies, is that premeditated and aggravated murder?

On the riots issue...I WITNESSED the righties who picked fights at the rallies in DC. I heard about what those 'eagles' did to a gold star dad...Carlos Arrendados.

He is ACTIVELY encouraging his listeners to GO CREATE RIOTS.

Lost in all this...

Court Sets Deadline on Missing White House E-mail

oday, responding to the National Security Archive's motion in the pending White House e-mail lawsuit, Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola of the U.S. District Court ordered the White House to provide "precise information" about the users of the e-mail system from 2003 to 2005 and how many of their hard drives still survive today.

Citing the "lack of precision" in White House statements and its changing story about which backup tapes have been preserved, Magistrate Judge Facciola also ordered the White House to "resolve any ambiguities ... once and for all" and identify the specific dates between March 2003 and October 2003 for which no backup tape exists.

* tarheelian51's diary :: ::
*

The magistrate judge also recommended that District Judge Henry H. Kennedy issue a series of orders that would compel the White House to search the individual workstations of White House staff, preserve the personal folders where e-mail may have been stored, and secure any portable or external media that may contain e-mail from March 2003 to October 2005. Referring to the White House position that it has no formal program for distributing "hard or external drives, CDs, DVDs, jump, zip, hard, or floppy disks," Magistrate Judge Facciola commented, "[o]ne would hope that the components have filled the void left by [Office of Chief Information Officer] by implementing policies and procedures to "track and manage" the removal and/or transfer of [Executive Office of the President] data..."

"It is remarkable that the EOP, absent this Court's order, has not taken the most elementary steps to preserve very basic sources of the missing e-mail -- steps that, even as the Court notes, should in this day and age be conducted as a matter of course in any litigation," commented Sheila Shadmand of Jones Day, counsel for the Archive.

"The Court is reacting to the inconsistencies in the White House statements: e-mail are lost one day, the next they are not; e-mails are recoverable, then they are not; backup media is saved, then it is not," added Meredith Fuchs, the Archive's General Counsel.

~~

More at link...

The list of TRUE 'conspiracy theories' gets bigger.

CIA Acknowledges it has 7000+ Documents Related to Torture and Rendition

I never understood the aversion to 'conspiracy theories' when 'conspiracy' is the only thing that can explain what happened.

It is far easier to commit a conspiracy than it is to explain it or to get anyone to believe they are caught in the middle of one. More people will admit to belief in Bigfoot and UFOs than there are people who will believe those in control of them would conspire against them.

In some ways it is the damndest incident of mass denial ever.

Don't yall find it odd that we live in times where almost every 'conspiracy theory' is dismissed outright, no matter how obvious the conspiracy nor how much evidence there is of that exact thing? Instead it is all treated like one big never ending series of coincidences.

Like 911. I am so sick of people shutting down the conversation about 911 by outright sneering at anything that resembles a 'conspiracy'. Like it was just one big long coincident and none of the coincidences have anything to do with each other, and if they do it must just be a coincidence.

They could not have done what they have done WITHOUT a conspiracy.

NEW YORK — Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day

....
Other than Bonnie and Clyde, has anyone ever heard of a white person in this country being gunned down with FIFTY BULLETS?

And yet every time it happens to a black person, the shooters are always aquitted.

Sometimes this country really makes me sick.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!

D.C. Dems Back Off Health Care Promises

In a stunning - if predictable - story, the Hill newspaper reports that congressional Democrats are now saying that they will effectively thwart any effort to create a national health care program. Here is the key excerpt:

"Congressional Democrats are backing away from healthcare reform promises made by their two presidential candidates, saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult...Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a member of Senate Democratic leadership and a key Hillary Clinton ally who also sits on the Finance Committee, said he is 'not sure we have the big plan on healthcare.'...'Healthcare I feel strongly about, but I am not sure that we're ready for a major national healthcare plan,' Schumer said...Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), a Clinton supporter who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, said "the money is not necessarily there right now" to enact the plans."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hill-dc-dems-back-off-hea_b_98386.html

OMFG!

Do they not realize we have all seen the movie Sicko and are no longer accepting f*cking excuses? We all know that is what lobbiests PAID YOU to say.

A brave new world is coming, those left behind in the old world will not be missed.

Christy

The money is not there because those brainless gutless Democrats keep voting for the imperialistic WAR.

My DCCC pledge forms are all going into trash.

I am shocked that I can still be shocked. Stunned, even.

Christy,

You are shocked that you can still be shocked...

sounds sort of Rumfeldian.

six years ago today I survived a suicide attempt

(no further comment needed...)

probably no money left for national healthcare .. with the war and all & promises for no new taxes

& lots of new uninsured with the foreclosures & rice rationing & all

there are quite a few things NONE of the candidates are talking about

"sounds sort of Rumfeldian."

Not at all darlin. In order to sound like him I would have to be lying.

These are the conditions at Fort Bragg. Just absolutely disgraceful. The following video, shot by the father of a sergeant who just returned from Afghanistan — via Brandon Friedman of VetVoice — shows a barracks that “should be condemned. … There are times when sewage water backs up into the sinks of the lower floors of these barracks.”

Brandon: “America has three-quarters of a billion dollars to spend on the embassy in Baghdad, but our troops have to live like this.”

http://thinkprogress.org/attackerman/2008/04/25/canwedonobetterthanthis/

When I was a little kid, the Soviet Union fell. Thanks to tv, I remember it more in images than in words.

Funny how, as a kid, you see and hear all these things, but you just file it away until one day it becomes relevent.

I remember how the Soviets would inspire these fearful conversations among the adults. They would talk and talk about the 'threat'. It is amazing to me now that a little kids could even understand a term like 'cold war.

And then after listening to them, I would go watch the news (yes I was a news junkie even then) and they would play video from Russia. Infrastructure crumbling, troops in deplorable conditions, one loaf of bread in a store.

I clearly remember one guy in a government tv factory, he said 'We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us'. The videos showed this place that everyone was so scared of, yet they were living in almost animal conditions. That is what I remember most, they all feared this place that was crumbling.

And now when I see video like the Ft Bragg video, or Walter Reed, that is exactly what it reminds me of, watching the Soviets fall. The video itself is almost identical to what I remember as a kid.

I keep hoping that I remember it all wrong.

Boa Dia from Brazil,

Just had an opportunity to get online long enough to check in here and see how it's going...

hmmmmm. Same shit, different day, I see.

I have to say that, from far far away, the US looks ridiculous, mean-spirited, and dysfunctional. And that is looking from a country with lots of problems, but without blind stupidity. People here are aware of their problems; they do not blame the Black people, or the liberals, or each other.

The people here are just beautiful, full of warmth and smiles, they come in all colors, but with a sense of community. It is really quite remarkable. There are people in the favelas who are desperately poor, and there is crime, but there is also awareness, concern, and an incredible work ethic. The problems are big, but the will is strong.

I feel like we in the US are so willing to overlook, ignore, shoot our mouths off without information, and deny the problems exist.

From here, we look pretty ugly.

And to those who would say I hate America, I would respond:

I love America but I hate her behavior.

Hillary's demanding an unmoderated debate with Obama?! Wonder why?

Seems sort of "Rambo'ish" to me.

Christy

the Soviet analogy works well. Unchecked capitalism is just as strong as unchecked communism - not very strong at all.

Karen

I love America but I hate her behavior.

Well said. I would phrase this sentiment as follows though - I love the US Constitution and concept but hate the reality.

And speaking of Christian license plates in Florida...

Here in Indiana, they already have "In God We Trust" plates. I just took a spin around downtown, and 1/4 of all privately owned vehicles I saw had these new plates.

Just like "Choose Life," it withstands legal scrutiny, but we all know it's the work of Christian theocrats.

My first impression of Indianapolis is that if California were taken over by Orange County Republican Christian theocrats, it would look just like Indianapolis. There are quite a few pro-W bumper stickers around.

I'm leaving this insanity for tomorrow - will hang out in Chicago, a 3-hour drive away. I won't be meeting madame defarge, however, as she's got fundraisers for her congressional candidate and other important stuff.

Not too happy with my rental car, Ford Fusion V6, but the alternative was a Hyundai Sonata (die fascists die).

Somewhere (can't remember) I came across a Puerto Rican video of a tv show on which a caller was saying Obama is bisexual and that he had sex with him. It was a guy who has already been discredited.

Remember that Puerto Rico still has a primary coming up - it's the last one, but it could add those last few delegates. & remember that there is alot of homophobia in Latino culture.

So I sent it to my friend in Oregon and she emailed me back and said she was going to research who this "Corsi" was who it said lined up a lie detector test (that was on the show) for the guy on the Puerto Rican video.

A bell started to go off in my head. JEROME CORSI is the "Swift Boats for Truth" guy and author of the "Unfit" book about John Kerry. I'm sure he plans to use this ridiculous line of attack.

Rovians even tried to say that John McCain was gay back in 2000. Rove has always used that tactic against opponents, since back when he was a college Republican, even though lots of people in Austin claim to have seen Rove himself frequenting leather bars.

I have been reading through comments on newspaper articles and it looks like the US is in a big political war. Hillary and Obama fans are going at each other on the internet and wingers are joining in and going after both. The person getting hit the least is John McCain.

The latest is the debate thing. Hillary wants debates without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglass style, in Indiana. (Obama is in Lincoln's old Senate seat, by the way) Bill wants two of them in Oregon, one on rural issues. Bill wants back in badly for his third term and is asking to do up to 6 events per day and keeps using the pronoun "we."

He wants it so bad he can taste it.

By the way, Obama proposed a debate in North Carolina awhile back and Hillary refused, saying it would be improper to debate on Passover. Then she went out campaigning anyway.

Guess Obama went on to Fox news.
This whole thing is getting ridiculous.

How wierd

I went over to DailyKos and the first thing I noticed (my roving eye - I think it's the left one) was this article on the Hillary gay scandal:

http://www.globemagazine.com/

I guess it's a tabloid

That gay stuff will backfire bigtime on Obama.

For 1, his base is huge but the core is youth, record youth, who do not have a problem with 'the gay issue', like the voters we are used too. Using 'gay' on them will only cause a backlash.

And for 2, there is not a red blooded human female alive that could possibly beleve it without being brain damaged AND bitter.

Damn, I wish I were in Brazil right now, pulling a Dennis Hopper and chasing monkeys through the jungle naked while on a 19 day coke binge. While eating a good tomato.

But, no...

Instead I am stuck here trying to figure out how to stop little georgie bush from bombing the crap out of Iran and thus ensuring 10,000 years of war, all the while ever wondering just how much of our nations money he has stolen.

Trillions. Maybe TENS of trillions. Who would you kill for a trillion dollars? Or 2.3 trillion? Or 10 billion, CASH...?

Holy crap we are SO F*CKED!

Do you realize we could have given ever man woman and child in the USA 1 million EACH and still never have spent more than 400 million...?

Ridiculous, like the Soviets... I bet we do seem ridiculous from there. But from here it is the most scary and unbelievable thing I could ever have imagined and every day it just gets worse. I wish I were in Brazil too. This place is getting creepier by the hour.

They will NOT let Obama have it. They will NOT just give it all back. They will NOT let themselves be written into official history as war criminals.

The danger is not lessening, it is escalating.

He is more dangerous now than he ever was.

John McCain was on a conference call with right-wing bloggers yesterday and boasted:

I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare.
What possible reason would a U.S. President have for turning himself and our country into a "nightmare" for Hamas, let alone its "worst nightmare"? Hamas is a single-issue Palestinian group, focused exclusively on its "territorial dispute" with Israel (and, in light of its victory in the U.S.-demanded election, is also now preoccupied with governing the Palestinian Authority). Is there anyone who thinks that Hamas has tried to, will try to, or ever could attack the U.S.? Hamas is an enemy of Israel, not the U.S. Is that a distinction we even recognize any more?

What exactly is the point of feeding Israel billions of dollars every year in military aid if we're going to deem every one of its fights to be our fight, and every one of its enemies to be our Enemy? Is that actually what Americans want to do: insinuate ourselves even more into other endless, intractable religious and ethnic conflicts in the Middle East?

More disturbingly still, this chest-beating threat from McCain is merely the latest in a long line of adolescent, mindlessly belligerent war cries emanating from the Serious foreign policy candidate.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

Christy:

I was actually in the USSR the day it ceased to exist, working for a US oil company. In Siberia no less. To be honest, I can't even remember the day. I suppose it had little impact because no one thought it was different than any other day. But from my day-runner etc. I know I was there then. In other words, nothing changed at all there at that moment. Strange, but true nonetheless. My guess is that all over the world, and across time, people are generally just people, and few things under the sun are new. No better and no worse. But maybe that is just me being a cynical old fart.

Chuck in Houston

PS: The above is true, though I do not remember all the details. When I say that everyone lies, I mean that in the sense that no person in my experience has ever told the whole truth always and all the time. And I am fairly certain I would not want to hear anyone say all of that (certainly not all in one sitting, anyway). I think anyone that did that would be in trouble (cf: Jesus Christ).... If you were to dig even deeper into my prior posts (bad idea in general), you might find that in that respect (people telling the truth about all things always) I sometimes reference Simone de Beauvoir in the sense that all autobiographies are works of fiction (or something to that effect).

Those Brits sure can sing American music OK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRobZs8V3KY&feature=related

Going to Carolina in my mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNjLUPqckWY

I know I've posted it before but it's still a good song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64_303eHaTM&feature=related

Which ditto goes for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnDrbagYm24

Good message. Positive vibrations...

God Bless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB1-1zuDGJ0&feature=related

Not all autobiographies are works of 'fiction'.

Some people actually do live amazing lives without making things up. As a matter of a fact, the most amazing life stories I have heard and known, are so fantastic, it would be hard to believe they are even real and not fiction. Yet, it is the ones who lie that actually get the book deals.

You assume I did not understand your vein of thought when you said we 'all lie'. I understood it, but it still does not mitigate the fact you are implying an awful lot of people are liars. And, you said it to discount her obvious and DELIBERATE lies. Even though I understand your point, the resentment at being implied a liar to cover her lies trumps it. Since the beginning of time, calling another person a 'liar' is the fastest way to ensure a fight.

Most people are honest people. Do you know why? Because most people have no motive for specific lies. People only lie when they are personally invested in distorting the truth. Most people have no such motive at any given time.

I think you are in a very bad position Chuck. I think you understand perfectly well why she is unacceptable to most of us. I truly believe you know in your heart why such a liar can never be trusted by people like us here. She did not make a mistake, a mistatement, or simply misremembered. She did not even take responsibility for it.

Yet, I also think you are personally invested in her, therefore, her lies harm you as much as they do her, and since you can not stop her vain lies, all you can do is excuse or deny them, because you will personally lose more than you wanted to if she loses.

No matter how much you have invested, it was lost as soon as you had to defend something that was inexcusable. I don't think you are a liar Chuck, but you are in a terrible position for an honest man.

There is still time Chuck, to turn away from it. There is still time for you to change your heart and your mind, before you have to do something more than just defend a liar.

The day the Berlin Wall fell, my grandmother gave me the most profound history lesson ever.

I went running into her house, I was crying in joy, breathless with excitement.

My grandma looks at me and says 'What is wrong with you?'

So I start babbling 'Berlin Wall fell.. People are dancing on it, chopping it up!.... Isn't that great granny?!!"

I will never forget the way she looked at me. Real calm, with this smirk on her face. She said " That damn wall has not always been there, you know?" Then she just turned around and walked away with me sitting there just dumbfounded. It had never occurred to me she had known a time without it.

My mom, feeling sorry for me I guess, told her mother, 'In her lifetime it has always existed.'

Granny told her ' Yes, but I have shoes older than her.'

I knew she was making fun of me, but I was so amazed thinking, 'Wow, granny is so old she is older than the Berlin Wall!'

It was a profound excersize in historical perspective and living memory. Now, every time I judge something from a historical perspective, I can hear her in my head somewhere telling me that damn wall wasn't always there.

Christy, Chuck...

I think that people lie, even children lie, but what makes a person different is the sense of shame one feels when one is lying or lying frequently. Usually that sense of shame will try to make you go back to the straight and narrow again.

This is what makes Bush and the Republicans and neocons different. They have been lying shamelessly for decades! And they've been manipulating us with their lies. And they fund think tanks to think of better ways to lie to us and get away with it. aND they buy the infrastructure (media, radio, entertainment, commericals and ads) to make sure they can continue to lie to us via "catapulting the propaganda."

It's why it's not just a difference of opinion that we should 'respect' each other for having. It's their endless, shameless LIES.

BTW...I have 10 more days of intensive work before I join the world of the 'living' again. In the meantime, I'm seriously considering going to this protest in S.F. Anyone else willing to go?

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/

A couple of great diaries to read:

ClamcyC--$100 + Billion giveaway to oil, credit card, and retail industries...

nyce--Wallstreet concedes Murder by Spreadsheet healthcare is unsustainable

In a way Sparrow, I agree, but it is more complicated than a sense of shame. To me the problem is not that she 'lied', it was the way and type of lie it was.

I admit I lied not too long ago. A friend of mine who is dying, I told her she 'looked great'. I fully admit I lied. I am not sure what else I should have said, but it is a lie I can not only live with but be comfortable with. Do I feel it makes me less honest? No, not really.

That is the thing about honest people, they can be honest about lying. Liars will never be honest about their motives, because their motives are always self serving, greedy.

Hillary did not lie because she was trying to be polite. She did not lie because she was mistaken, or misinformed, or sleep deprived. Her lie was one of vanity, and she repeated it many times until she got caught.

To me, the worst moment of our last debate was when snufflupagus said so breezily about the sniper fire, '... but I know you don't want to talk about that.'

Hell no, she don't want to talk about it. Because it does reveal her for the shallow, vain, desperate manipulative liar she is comfortable being. She did not lie to comfort the dying, she lied for political reasons. That makes her lies far more dangerous than the lies of someone with nothing to gain. She is not lying about inconsequencial things, she is lying to manipulate us politically.

If I caught Chuck lying to a dying lady, telling her she looked 'better' today.. or even 'pretty', just to make her smile... I would say nothing, in fact, I would probably help reinforce it by agreeing with him.

But the lies clinton tells are not the lies of an honest person. Trying to compare her lies to those we are morally obligated to leave unchallenged is a very serious mistake, and she is not even worthy of the benefit of the doubt.

She has no shame. Shame will never stop her from lying, no matter how big the lie. If she will lie repeatedly about sniper fire, she will lie about ANYTHING, and at any time, no matter what is on the line. She can not be trusted to not serve her own self interests.

We all know this about her, it is the main reason she is unacceptale to most of us.

I think Chuck understands this too, but something tells me he has too much money or time invested in her. Otherwise, why would an honest man defend such tactics and lies?

Christy,

Apparently, my comments about lying was not following yours and Chuck's train of thought.

Sorry.

Hard to read the whole threads for the last 7 weeks.

Anyways, on Hillary... I have wondered if Hillary was honest but her handlers were not. I like the upfront-truthful-strong WOMAN she was in 1992 when she worked on her healthcare. That woman doesn't seem to exist anymore and I think that's a shame! I would have voted for the Hillary of 92. Somewhere between then and now, she has become the 'them' who beat up on her. I am not comfortable with who she is now and who she has morphed into.

Regarding McCain: He's a f******* liar. He's corrupt. He's soulless. He's evil. He has a temper. And he built a reputation of 'Mr. Straighttalk" and has discovered a way to KEEP that reputation even though it's a LIE. Thank you dear lying corrupt MEDIA.

Regarding Hillary and Obama: either one is 1,000,000 times better than McCain.

I didn't see Obama on Fox or Dean on Face the Nation but did alphabetize all my R&B singles from the late '80s and make a mix sampler and also managed to get over to see the Robert Crumb exhibit at the Frye on its last day.

Axelrod says: No Aholes
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/27/114545/575/104/504338

No Sparrow, you were on the right train of thought. But when it comes to clinton, the normal 'shame response' of lying just does not apply to her. To them, the only real shame is getting caught.

As for hillary being better than mccrazy, I am not sure I believe that. Bill sat right up there and told us what her first act as president would be, to send out him and daddy george to clean up and cover up jrs crimes. She has become nothing more than a republican tool and I believe her entire presidency will be used to whitewash the crimes of bush. As will a mccain presidency.

Both are about maintainng the status quo.

To me, they are both the same, they are both invested in covering up the crimes of the people they surrounded themselves with. Everyone talks of how similar Obama and her are, but I think the main similarity is between clinton and mccrazy. They would both serve the all mighty dollar, not Us. Hillary and mccrazy may have different voting records, but they still serve the same master none the less. Power.

I think you are exactly right when you say she has become the 'they' that always beat up on her. She is so surrounded by liars, at some point she just joined them instead of beating them. Even if she can not feel shame, I am ashamed for her.

NMP, where can I get a pair of those shoes?

One Sunday about three months ago — on the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in fact — I got out of bed very late and lazily switched on CNN. On the TV screen, Sen. Hillary Clinton was smiling broadly and wearing a black jacket over some strange Oriental get-up. She was standing next to influential black pastor Calvin Butts, in front of the latter's famous Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Camera bulbs were flashing. An important announcement was about to be made.

Butts, it turns out, was endorsing Hillary over Barack Obama in the upcoming New York primary. I raised an eyebrow. It's not that I expected Butts — perhaps the most prominent black minister in New York — to automatically endorse Obama simply because he is black. But I certainly didn't expect to see Butts go on national television and make swipe after thinly veiled swipe at Obama, sounding like he was reading a script prepared for him by Hillary's campaign team.

"This is no time for waiting or hoping for solutions," quipped Butts, making an obvious reference to The Audacity of Hope author Obama and echoing the hope-ain't-shit theme that had been pounded on the campaign trail by the Clinton camp over and over again.

The predominantly black crowd barely had time to scratch its collective head and ask what the hell was going on before the endorsement party abruptly ended, leaving the stunned audience to break out in scattered boos and dueling chants of "Harlem for Obama!" and "Hillary! Hillary!" The strange scene left some in the audience wondering what exactly they'd just seen. "What's frustrating about ministers endorsing candidates," an Obama supporter named Rafael Mason wondered to a reporter, "is it makes you question if their decision is representative of the church or if there's a backroom discussion going on."

Months later, while researching pork-barrel spending by the presidential candidates, I came across three federal budgetary awards requested by Hillary Clinton in this fiscal year:

•$446,500 Abyssinian Development Corporation, New York, to support and expand youth and young-adult after-school and summer programs (Discretionary Grants — Juvenile Justice Programs) COM 08 D Rangel Schumer Clinton
•$893,000 Abyssinian Development Corporation programs for at-risk youth, New York (Discretionary Grants — Juvenile Justice Programs) COM 08 D Rangel Clinton Schumer
•$146,000 Abyssinian Development Corporation, to support and expand youth- and family-displacement prevention programs (Social Services — Department of Health and Human Services) LABHHS 08 D Clinton Schumer

If you haven't already guessed, Calvin Butts is the chairman of the Abyssinian Development Corporation. The above-mentioned $1.5 million in federal funds that Hillary requested on behalf of Butts' organization had been approved by Congress a month before she received the minister's timely endorsement.

Maybe the minister was following his conscience in endorsing Hillary — but then, it never hurts to have a little financial incentive when it comes to difficult decisions like these, does it?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20306341/the_queen_of_pork

Christy
I tracked down the shoes:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=36642418

It's always better when your pocketbook is aligned with your conscience. Duyba had his coalition of the bribed and, evidently, so does Hillary.

I saw the face of the enemy today, when speaking with a family member who stated that he would never vote for Obama because: he's a Muslim; and he looks like a terrorist.

On the Republican side, the only colorful component of the Republican party, the Ron Paul delegates, became raucous and forced the party leaders to abruptly shut down their state convention. Paul supporters outnumbered McCain supports and demanded a rule change in order to grab more delegate spots. The rule change was totally not anticipated. In response, the rest of the party walked out. Paul got louder applause than Romney did when he came to urge support for McCain. The convention will have to be reconvened at a later time.
SMP

neat shoes nmp. I want a pair!

Elizabeth Edwards was so very on-point yesterday in the NY Times:

Op-Ed Contributor
Bowling 1, Health Care 0
By ELIZABETH EDWARDS
Chapel Hill, N.C.

"FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?"

"Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut. After having spent more than a year on the campaign trail with my husband, John Edwards, I’m not surprised."

"Why? Here’s my guess: The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country’s inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments."

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27edwards.html?scp=1&sq=Edwards&st=nyt#

"...who stated that he would never vote for Obama because: he's a Muslim; and he looks like a terrorist."

Good luck with that.

If I hear the words 'I would never vote for a woman or a ni**er.' again, I swear I may just start hitting people.

Even my niece bought in to it. Almost 20 years old, she told me SHE would 'never vote for a woman'. I was so stunned I was just like 'Why?'

She then proceeds to use every argument a man would use, basically that a woman is too 'emotionally unstable' to have her finger on the button. It was one of those conversations you really never expect to get into.

In all, this whole situation is as f*cked up as anything I have ever seen.

Wow. This is an amazing story! I hope everyone gets a chance to read it.

Scholars run down more clues to a Holocaust mystery

A possible threader idea -

I am split between two worlds - the liberal world of academia and creative writing, and the reactionary world of construction. I feel it very acutely, between my line of work both back in California and here in Indiana, where environmentalism is simply dismissed as "nuts," and in my online world, where I take a social justice writing class where everyone agrees that W is evil.

What's sorely lacking, as pointed out by my classmates and instructor, is a free exchange of ideas between the two camps. If the two camps can talk their ideas out and have a constructive debate about their beliefs, and respond to each other's ideas intelligently, even if there is no agreement. This is one thing that has sorely been lacking since the 1980s, when words like liberal, treehugger, and do-gooder became derogatory labels.

What the liberal camp especially needs to do is KISS - keep it simple, stupid. Conservative ideas are simple enough for braindead morons to understand - basing everything on the familiar Bible, tax cuts are always good, kick the terrorist ass, marriage should stay the way it is, and so forth. Liberal ideas make sense, but are much harder to explain to simple-minded people, and that's why conservatives, despite being more elite than liberals, can get away with calling liberals elitist. And liberals are horrible at keeping things simple - so far.

This is something I need to explore a bit. Actually, we all need to explore this, if we are ever to get the nation back in shape. Otherwise, the Bush-Moon machine will win.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd closed the Coachella festival with a giant pig with Obama and a check mark - see the video by clicking on my name

mccrazy just got dealt with.

The January 2005 comments, which have not surfaced previously during the presidential campaign, represent a stunning contrast to McCain's current rhetoric. They also run squarely against his image as having a steadfast, unwavering interpretation about what to do in the Iraq war. And they undercut much of the criticism the senator has launched at his Democratic and even Republican opponents.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/28/mccain-strongly-rejected_n_99082.html

Christy,

Huffpo is not the msm-corporate media. Right now at Yahoo and MSN they are saying that GOP-McCain is gaining ground while the Democratic side fights.

OBAMA on the Pink Floyd pig can be seen at 1:45

About McCain - if there is a Dem candidate McCain himself admits that that Dem candidate will get a "bounce" and he will go down some. There is also a poll Hillary is touting today which looks as though even the young go more for her than for any other candidate. It took seven events for Bill to get 10,000 people in OR. They really play things up but it will still either take her winning 75% or more of the remaining contest (in percentage points) OR a massive shift in superdelegates. This would be so unfair that I think from that point I would just have to sit back and watch, dazed.

Christy:

(1) Thanks for imputing non-judgemental and even generous motives to me. I think that is very admirable and important. The free exchange of ideas is premised, as some politicians might say, on the concept of mutual respect. I also happen to believe that my motives are OK, and it is nice to have someone else testify to that.

(2) And in the same vein, God Bless you and yours. I have never once thought that you might have posted anything other than in a spirit of generosity. I might from time to time impute a certain impetuosity of youth to you or others, and it is quite fair if you think that is condescending, but I hope you recognize that those of us that have gone through a couple three grinders in life often feel we have some license to preach a bit. We might disagree, and even heatedly, but I believe that you post as your heart and mind tells you to post and that is great.

(3) (2) above was poorly stated. I am better at drafting contracts.

(4) On the lies and the Clintons, and thousands of others if not millions, I will try again to put my case. I am a Democrat, so off the bat I am partial to the only Democrat to win POTUS x2 since FDR. Moreover, I know the Clintons, if only second hand (and I mean second -- not third or fourth or fifth). I understand their roots. I understand where they are coming from, and I like and respect that place. In my whole life (I am 47), as I can barely remember LBJ as a grainy face on a B&W TV ("My fellow Americans...."), Bill Clinton is the one US President I can say really spoke for and to me. And that, of course, is not Hillary. But people trying to get to her by trashing him, frankly, offend me, and they offend me not because I am invested in them, but because I am invested in me, which means invested in where I have been and what I have seen. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night, as the saying goes. I think I see the Clintons for who they are and I am more than just OK with that -- I like that.

(5) So, to close, I don't have anything against McCain except that he is GOP and supports all the budget and foreign policy initiatives that go with that, and I don't have anything against Obama except that I am not sure where he is coming from and I dislike all attacks (passive-aggresive and otherwise) on the Clintons. I am not really so much invested in her lies as in the people she represents. And, going back to Simone, her opponents aren't, to my mind anyway, any sort of paragons of truth either.

(6) All of which, by the way, underlines one of my main points since I have ever posted on this blog, which is that we need to figure out how to de-personalize politics if we ever really want to achieve anything. Otherwise, it's just American Idol. Plus the finance and media issues of course.

Chuck in Houston

How my grandma used to dance though she never would admit it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMicxlB_7fg

Byrds and Earl Scruggs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHYQr8meeog&feature=related

Must See Dylan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRbeUnn-AUA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pum6MtyC3NA&feature=related

Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pALSKcWcVEk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYCy8pHsVnI&feature=related

Elvis Costello and Amylou Harris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojsVB7idTLw&feature=related

Everyday I Write the Book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8aN0zB8Qf8&feature=related

Bill Clinton on Sax:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqhSkwrU_M&feature=related

Hard to imagine no countries when you are the leader of the free world, but you can try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0F_6plYyTM&feature=related

OK, so the guy couldn't sing. But he tried! He got up there and took the mike and looked like a fool, and 2/3's of the way through started to sing. And any of you that think that doesn't take gumption, well just try it some time. And I don't mean some karaoke on a disk. No. I mean live musicians, live singers and a live audience.