Helicopter Barbie

Steaming Pile

2009-11-19T21:10:00.005-05:00

word...

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Grand Old Pity Party

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/256441/november-18-2009/the-word---grand-old-pity-party

Too Delicious, Ghoulin Rouge...

2009-10-23T01:39:00.005-04:00

GOING ROUGE

Sarah Palin – An American Nightmare

Edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed

The most honest, revealing account of the Palin story to appear this fall? You betcha!

With contributions by: Max Blumenthal, Joe Conason, Eve Ensler, Michelle Goldberg, Jane Hamsher, Christopher Hayes, Jim Hightower, Linda Hirshman, Naomi Klein, Dahlia Lithwick, Amanda Marcotte, Shannyn Moore, John Nichols, Tom Perrotta, Katha Pollitt, Hanna Rosin, Matt Taibbi, Michael Tomasky, Rebecca Traister, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski and Gary Younge.

Publication: November 17th, 2009
Price: $16 paperback; $10 e-book
240 pages with 20 b/w illustrations

Order your copy here for your favorite Repubs Christmas:
http://orbooks.com/

And Beck's just catching on to OnStar's tracking... no shit sherlock.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Betcha she pulls outta Oprah now.
Oprah Goin’ Gotcha?

.word

The SIMPLE Truth

2009-09-22T18:14:00.003-04:00

...behind the Public Option

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXFHXqrrJ6g

Simple enough? The Insurance industry doesn't want the competition. Funny though as that is, because competition is what the free market is all about. What Capitalist doesn't get it? What the fools who follow them don't get is that they will LIE to you to get your business. Getting YOUR business is all they are after. And they do it for profit and profits alone.

What the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party March Was Really About

2009-09-18T13:00:00.008-04:00

So they had a little march on Washington last week. Some folks had a little trouble with the Metro and are now demanding an explanation thru their Texas Rep. Kevin Brady (R) who voted against funding for it? WTF? Do these people have even a hint of common sense? You can’t make this stuff up.

Tea Party Protesters Protest D.C. Metro Service
The Wall Street Journal Blogs

Revealed: What the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party March Was Really About
By The Public Record

At 8:43 someone holds a Hannity/Palin 2012 sign. Wish he would have told that one about Alaska's own socialism with their fuel rebates. Where they share the people's resources.

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Picture of the Week

2009-09-10T23:12:00.004-04:00

The Dadfinger, like..."Don't make me pull this speech over, son."

Credit

For the Pro-Lifers

2009-09-10T19:26:00.004-04:00

Here's one worth repeating...

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Why are Winger Pro-Lifers So Against Saving Lives?

By Mark Karlin

It's one of the manifold hypocrisies of the right wing, psychotic movement of hysteria -- shifting from tea bagging, to birthers, to Town Hall mobs, to anti-the-President encouraging studying -- that as far as healthcare, the "pro-life" mob is anti-life when it comes to medical care for all Americans.

It's really quite simple: thousands of Americans die each year from not having health insurance. Period.

Part of being in a demagogic cabal in a parallel universe of emotional pathology is that you do not have to make sense.

In this case, the legacy of the Nixon Southern Strategy combined with corporate ownership of the media that manipulates displaced white workers into thinking immigrants and blacks are responsible for losing their jobs instead of the global Pac-Man corporations that have exported them overseas, has resulted in a selfish greed over some crumbs of pie left in the wake of big business abandonment of production in America.

As a nation, we produce very little anymore except gambling debts from "cannot fail" Wall Street financial firms that we bail out with more loans from China.

And speaking of China, unemployed and underpaid workers swarm Wal-Mart and buy cheap goods made in China while Wal-Mart pretends it's pro-American. It's a sort of enforced economic self-cannibalization, with the Waltons making billions of dollars off of this scam.

It's a twisted and perverse tale only made possible by the Goebbels fiction machine of Cable TV "News" with the exception of the -- for the moment -- MSNBC evening line up -- and the vast reaches of right wing "Devil in Your Ear' right wing radio.

The Corporations have used the media to divide America into two communities: one that claims that it only cares about whites and themselves and their churches (and to Hell with others, such as in Katrina); and 2) the progressives (almost exclusively Dems) who believe that we are a national community caring for each other as a nation.

Last night, Obama appealed to our better angels; the Republicans continue to appeal to Satan's greed and selfishness, plus a glob of racism. It's that simple; it really is.

It's a tale of two communities: one for white people slightly deranged who have been brainwashed by television and myths about the Confederacy; and one for those who believe America is a nation where we support each other for the public good and the health of the country.

We won the Civil War in 1865.

Why is it still going on?

And isn't it ironic that those who accuse President Obama of being communist, support the corporate hypocrisy of dealing with China. What next? Cuba too?

The First Time EVER?

2009-09-06T09:19:00.008-04:00

They (Faux News) report, YOU decide.
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002100/

Geez... How many brain dead people believe this crap? Oh yea, they're still checking out My Pet Goat.

Again, WHY do they not want children making goals for their own educational development. Because someone else (helicopter moms?) has to do it for them?

Or because the Texas Board of Education has other plans for them?

TPMMuckraker
Could Texas' Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National?

Educators, please read the comments on this TPM article.

.

I'm for a Public Option, and Reform to help us all.

2009-09-04T18:24:00.002-04:00

And Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL). Here's a woman that could give Sarah Palin a run for her money in 2012 or 2018. Joe Biden likes her and she's knows how to talk straight. I'll be voting for Debbie.

Now why would this nice Republican man want to deliberately mislead people as to how the proposed new system would work? They're always talking about people keeping more of their paychecks and isn't that what some good competition would do?

Where has the compassion gone?

So, So Humbled

2009-09-03T08:41:00.018-04:00

Read their story here. http://current.com/sl/laura_ling.htm:
LAURA LING AND EUNA LEE MAKE FIRST STATEMENT REGARDING EVENTS LEADING TO CAPTURE

...
We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but it is a minute we deeply regret. To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap. In retrospect, the guide behaved oddly, changing our starting point on the river at the last moment and donning a Chinese police overcoat for the crossing, measures we assumed were security precautions. But it was ultimately our decision to follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity.
...
Many people have asked about our strength to endure such hardships and uncertainty. But our experiences pale when compared to the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China.

The outcome of our three-day trial was never in doubt. In the end, we were convicted and sentenced to two years for trespassing and 10 years for "hostile acts." What did we do that was hostile? We tried to tell the story of repression and desperation in North Korea. It's not surprising, given the North Korean government's desire to silence any form of dissent, that the more extreme portion of the sentence was issued not for trespassing but for our work as journalists. Totalitarian regimes the world over are terrified of exposure.
http://current.com/sl/laura_ling.htm

Insurance Company Death Panels

2009-09-02T14:22:00.009-04:00

Insurance companies that deny policy holders care are the real death panels. What part of that doesn't Scarah Sarah get?

It's been a helluvan August, but it gave the Dems a chance to say they tried bipartisanship. That totally irrational arguments were raised now gives them the chance to just get it done. Millions of Americans NEED a public option because it's the only option they have. People can't even afford their mortgages (thanks banks), let alone $6 a day rip-off insurance they see advertised on tv.

We can't afford to wait. Premiums are rising and people without jobs have no hope. It's STILL time for a change. And that time is NOW.

Ask yourself why someone with a good health care plan wants someone else not to have one. There's your death panel right there. And don't fool yourself, either they have no social conscience whatsoever and are so greedy that they fear anyone having what they have, or they are stupid enough to be fooled by corporate interests that would rather see people dead than take their profits for the benefit of getting everyone help for what ails them.

So why is it again that this great nation can't have health care for all it's citizens? That's the saddest fact of all.

And btw, I've used the VA for health care for over ten years now. And all thru the Bush years they've offered me assistance on Advanced Directives and a Living Will. So where do you think Scarah got this idea of death panels from? Most insurance companies have nursing assistance guides who offer it too--contracted thru their HMO's.

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

2009-08-04T21:38:00.004-04:00

Getting on the plane!

"Isolationaism ratchets up tension, engagement gets things done."

~RufusW, Busan

And this is delicious... of course we know that he was just the emissary, but it's still delicious. Get that man a bj.

Aug 4 2009, 3:02 pm by Matthew Cooper

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

Through the placement of a special listening device in Pyonyang, The Atlantic was able to overhear President Clinton speaking with Korean Strongman Kim Jong Il at their meeting today.

"Hey, man, I hear you like movies. That is awesome. I am told that you are a huge fan of James Bond. I love that guy, man. Have you ever seen the In Like Flint movies with James Coburn or Austin Powers? You remind me of that Dr. Evil dude, but in a good way. That is some good stuff....Who is your favorite Bond girl? So torn between Ursula Andress and Halle Berry.

"But enough chit chat. You know I have enormous respect for the Korean people. Hot Springs and Seoul are actually sister cities. And your love of Bulgoki finds a place in the hearts of Arkansans who love barbecue. You ever see Margaret Cho? Very funny. So know, I come here out of respect and admiration.

"I know we've had some differences. Heck, you promised a whole bunch of times to stop your nuclear program. I thought we had a deal back when I was president and I know the little Bush who followed me thought he had a deal, too. But, hey, we can talk reactors and uranium and stuff later.

"I'm here to talk about the two journalists you have in captivity. First, let me say that Al Gore, for whom they work, can be a huge pain so I know where you're coming from. In 2000, I gave him the best economy the world had ever seen and he couldn't bring himself to mention it or me or all the great things we'd done together. He didn't even want to talk about the environment and now everyone is green. So if you're chapped about his people on your territory I know where you're coming from.

"But look, these kids didn't mean you any harm and they're really sorry for crossing the border. I would take it as a huge, personal favor to me if you could commute their sentence--you don't have to say they're innocent--but just letting them out early would be great. I promise that I will put in a good word for you with the Mrs. and President Obama. He's all hopped up about you aiming missiles towards Honolulu where he says he's from.

"Now, I think if you can help me out on this, we can start to build some trust. You know, we're two young fellas who want to leave a lasting legacy. For me it's economic growth, revival of the Democratic party and good works around the world. Okay for you it's labor camps and really big military parades. That's different. But we both have pride. And we both miss our dads. I never got to know mine. You were lucky to know Kim Il Sung. I'm sorry I never got to meet him. But I tell you this, if you let those young ladies walk out of here with me tonight, you are not gonna regret it. The world will know you were strong enough and big enough to do the right thing. Plus I will make sure they don't send Biden over here to annoy you."TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://politics.theatlantic.com/mt-42/mt-tb.cgi/12895

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Just Go Away Sarah

2009-07-04T08:31:00.002-04:00

Anywhere, just go away...

Tengo que obedecer mi corazon

Lyrics:

"Where's my pal where's my friend all good things must have an end
Sad things and nothing's on and on they go I guess he went to Mexico
They all went to Mexico buenas dias got to go
Tengo que obedecer mi corazon they all went to Mexico

Where's my mule and where's my dray straw hat's packed up and gone away
The mule don't go north and dray go slow they both went to Mexico
Where's my sweetie where's the face that lit dark corners every place
She put up with me long time you know and then she had to go to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...

Where's my brown dog where's my hound he liked my truck he hung around
But he's a canine Romeo and I guess he went to Mexico
Where's that woman so sweet so mean her heart was cautious her mind was keen
She was always looking for the peccadillo I hope she went to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...

Where's December's happy crew with German bikes and sidecars too
They take the truck south to St Louis MO motorcycle all the way to Mexico
Where's my luck and where's my grace has it all been just a foolish chase
Every time I hear that rainy chill wind blow I think it might be time to head to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...
They all went to Mexico...

Swan Song for SC Gov. Mark Stanford, El Creepo

2009-06-28T08:41:00.003-04:00

Something tells me that both of those women are done with him.

Now at last the night has fallen
We're all alone
The sky is dark, the stars are bright
And we're so far from home

You and I have been together
For so many years
If love is right, why do you fight
To hold back needless tears

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

Bring your pretty head closer
Get it close to mine
Your eyes are saying something
But the words are hard to find

Love don't know it lasts forever
Ours is here to stay
After all the love we've given
Please don't look at me that way

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

Feelings come and hearts fall broken
Slipping through our hands
The ways of life and love
I'll never never understand

If it's true what you've been saying
If there's still a chance
Why is it that the two of us
Can't rescue this romance

Faded love don't ever come back
So the story goes
There is a side of you and I
Where love no longer goes

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

-Los Lobos

esl teachers in quarantine in south korea

2009-05-28T10:06:00.002-04:00

While the worldwide media focuses on North Koreas nukes, missle tests, and latest threats, and an ex-president's suicide in South Korea, there's a story going on in S.Korea about 50+/- english language teachers (Americans included) being held in quarantine for Influenza A, H1N1, the swine flu. They're blogging from their confinement center, but no ones seems to be aware of it here in the states. The US Embassy in Seoul knows though.

Some Korean news stories from this week allude to it by saying they are being 'observed' or 'isolated'--but no mention about the actual quarantine:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2905314
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/117_45651.html

Teacher blogs from quarantine:
http://therubycanary.wordpress.com/
http://underquarantine.tumblr.com/
http://web.me.com/superacidjax/Sparkling_Chaos/Welcome/Welcome.html
Another teacher blogging from South Korea:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-on-those-english-teachers.html

The new hires are being confined in a govt training facility in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, a Human Resources Development Center just south of Gangnam and just east the Seoul Art Center (pictured on Google Earth). This is the link to the quarantine location:
http://hrd.seoul.go.kr/eng/H01SHRDCBriefAction.do?method=direct
With address, phone number, email addy, map, and directions

Big media has been contacted numerous times, but I guess they have their hands full with the nuke stories. Not even so much as the 'who, what, when, where, or why' has been brought to the public's attention. At least not here in the states.
Google for more blogs.

Olé

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Please pray for Nerine

2008-12-11T21:38:00.003-05:00

This is the Facebook page for Nerine Viljoen.

This is a heartbreaking tragedy that's taking place in Mokpo, South Korea, for a beautiful young woman critically burned in a fire while helping a friend.

Her friends there are collecting donations and will have a Paypal account set up soon making it easier for those not in Korea to help her family with their expenses of traveling and staying there from South Africa while dealing with this horrendous situation.

Please pray for her recovery, her condition is critical. And check the link for the paypal account if you can help too, it should be set up in the next day or so.

A Real Helicopter Mom

2008-11-25T08:02:00.005-05:00

Turns out there really IS such a thing as a helicopter mom. And all along I thought I was being joshed.

From a blog I found, Kenneth writes about how this one is so obsessed she actually used one:

Mommie Dearest Racist

On a later episode she's even seen threatening to "kill" her son after she observes him from a helicopter making out in a hot tub with one of the black women.

Here I was thinking Helicopter Mom* is a metaphor. And to top it all off, she gets to be on television about it, some new stupid reality show. ha!

*Blackhawk Mom is what they actually call me. I guess that means spying from afar because I stay in tune with the goings on by these interweb thingies.

Best of the blogs

2008-11-24T10:20:00.002-05:00

Shannyn Moore commenting on Palin's turkey pardon fiasco:

I like Shannyn because she gives us the 'real feel' from the frozen north. Sarah Palin really is a piece of work alright. But after working with Highway Safety and seeing some of the horrible accidents that happen, this other part of her post really got me. Any chance WEC was insured by AIG?

In his final hours, Governor Murkowski granted an executive pardon to a company convicted of criminally negligent homicide. Whitewater Engineering Corporation pleaded no contest in 2001 to the charge in connection with the 1999 death of one of its employees. They knowingly forced backhoe operator Gary Stone to traverse dangerous snow conditions. He was killed.
Whitewater’s pardon was granted on November 30, 2006. Mr. Stone’s family first learned of it from the Anchorage Daily News. No one from the Murkowski Administration notified the victim’s family of the request for clemency or that the pardon had been granted. It was a vulgar display of the corporate protectionism Frank Murkowski was known for.

I worked in highway construction for the state approving subcontractors, and fully 1/3 of the construction companies approved to work for the state were insured by AIG. The insurance company would have been making the death settlement.

Another curious fact: Elliot Spitzer was onto AIG when he was NY Attorney General. Now his downfall is being rehashed on some sleezy ‘entertainment’ show by glorifying the hooker who took him down.

We are all Democrats Now

2008-11-12T09:23:00.003-05:00

A little helo-ing on the GoP tells me there's someone there who realizes how Paulson's up to no good... and a good many liberals have known this too all along. Only we called it Corporate Welfare--reverse socialism, but socialism non-the-less. (are you used to it yet?) While the govt takes over housing, banks, and now GM? hmmm... you've definitely got an Ism going on...

http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/

This post about how to change the Republican party tells me they're not all dumbo's after all. It came from a site looking for ideas for change.

remove the plank from their own eye

Conservatives who accuse Obama and the Dems of being socialists need to first remove the plank from their own eye. Under the GoP the Federal Govt has increased in size, power, and scope more than any other recent president. That is socialism. 9/11 changed many things, but NOT the fact that limited government is a good idea. There are ways of fighting terrorism without drastically increasing the size of government or terrorizing ourselves, as Michael Sheehan explains in his 2008 book 'Crush the Cell'.

Further, Bush's bailout of Wall St. is example of reverse socialism for the rich. Govt-mandated wealth transfer in any direction is destructive to the national free market and our economy. There are ways to solve this problem that minimize the cost to taxpayers and put first losses on stock and bondholders of struggling financial companies, which is the way capitalism is *supposed* work. Google 'Genesis Plan', 'Zingales's Plan B', and 'Janet Tavakoli' for several good examples.

Of course, Bush's Treasury Secretary Hank Pauslon made over half a billion dollars as CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to becoming Secretary in 2006. GS was one of the firms instrumental in creating this crisis. Paulson made that money *while* GS was creating the problem, failed to see it coming or understand it, still can't figure out what to do about it, and is blocking any effort to force investors in GS and other Wall Street firms to take first losses, favoring spending likely over a trillion taxpayer $ to bail them all out instead. That is *not* capitalism. That is an extraordinary conflict of interest. That is how banana republics and communist countries are run. Where is the accountability that is supposedly an important part of Conservatism???

All but the most partisan Constitutional lawyers and observant citizens are critical of Bush's guardianship of the Constitution and civil liberties. He has sacrificed a lot for expedience in the war on terror, and as president during the 9/11 attack I can't say I blame him, as a second attack could have been ruinous to the country and his administration. However, it is possible, likely, that he overdid it. It is now time for the GoP to take the lead in reviewing and re-evaluating PATRIOT I & II, the MCA, and other laws passed, and modifying parts of them where necessary to restore curtailed Constitutional rights and civil liberties. Again, Michael Sheehan provides a guide for striking the right balance between security, rights, and openess in his book 'Crush the Cell'.

thread sugguestions

...likely that he committed some crimes along the way, and they can enjoy their time in Gtmo.

We are all Democrats Now

Obama's Entourage

2008-11-06T17:31:00.006-05:00

Back to the WH for Rahm Emanuel, Congressman from Chicago (Obama's hometown)
www.house.gov/emanuel/

This will be the guy who runs the show.

I've never watched The West Wing, but Rahm's character is in it, I understand. But if there's one HBO show I do know, it's Entourage. (the other is Big Love) T-Rev would make me watch it when he was home on college breaks. And come to find out, the character Ari Gold is based on Rahm Emanuel's (D-IL) real life little brother, Ariel. Someone who knows how to make a Midnight Run. ;)

His brother Ari is the model for Ari Gold of Entourage

his brother, Ari, is a talent agent in Los Angeles who inspired Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage.

Brothers: Rahm Emanuel and His Family

Rahm, Zeke, and Ari Emanuel have become very successful in different fields—politics, medicine, and Hollywood. But it’s hard not to notice the similarities among the brothers. They’re all intense, pugnacious, and in perpetual motion.
...
Ariel, or Ari, the youngest at 47, has held up his end. He broke off from International Creative Management to start the Endeavor Agency in Beverly Hills and has turned it into one of Hollywood’s most successful talent agencies. Ari’s clients include Larry David, Aaron Sorkin, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Martin Scorsese. He called on Hollywood to blacklist Mel Gibson after the actor’s drunken, anti-Semitic tirade in 2006. He denounced Disney chief Michael Eisner after the mogul tried to prevent distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11, made by Ari’s client Michael Moore.

“It’s not what you’re supposed to do as an agent,” says Rahm, suggesting that his brother has more soul than the TV character based on him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

3 brothers (from a 1997 NYTs article):

Today, Rahm Emanuel is, at 37, one of the most powerful people at the White House. He is also the middle brother of two similar tank commanders: Ariel Emanuel, 36, a relentless Hollwyood television agent who left International Creative Management under cover of darkness to create a rival firm, and Ezekiel Emanuel, 39, an oncologist (with a doctorate in political theory) who is a nationally known medical ethicist at Harvard and a leading opponent of assisted suicide.

''We were cloned, full grown,'' says Ezekiel.

Of the three brothers, Rahm is the most famous, Ari is the richest and Zeke, over time, will probably be the most important. Zeke is also, according to his brothers, the smartest. Rahm, naturally, gets the most press attention. Last term he managed the President's campaigns to pass the crime bill and the North American Free Trade Agreement, but this term he has taken over the job and close-to-the-Oval-Office cubbyhole of his friend Stephanopoulos. Now chief promoter of Clinton's small-bore issues like stopping teen-age smoking and requiring trigger locks on guns, Rahm has been singled out in recent profiles as the centrist, hyperactive counterreaction to the Stephanopoulos liberal cool. The articles are more colorful than is typical of the genre (the dead fish helps), but Rahm is more interesting, and reflective of his time, in the context of his brothers.

Together, Emanuel Freres are a triumvirate for the 90's. All are rising stars in three of America's most high-profile and combative professions. All understand and enjoy power, and know how using it behind the scenes can change the way people think, live and die. All have been called obnoxious, arrogant, aggressive, passionate and committed. All three get up before dawn. All are the sons of an Israeli father, now a 70-year-old Chicago pediatrician, who passed secret codes for Menachem Begin's underground. Iregun, and an American Jewish mother, who worked in the civil rights movement and owned, briefly, a Chicago rock-and-roll club. All three also worry about a less successful Emanuel: Shoshana, 23, their adoptive siser, who crash-landed into the family at the age of 8 days, when the brothers were in their teens.

Interesting, especially Zeke's Ph.D. in Political Theory. But Rahm is sharp and also studied ballet. Wanna dance?

Next: Kiko movie review will be The Year of Living Dangerously, Mel's breakthrough into serious roles after the Mad Max thrill-a-thons. This movie is set in Jakarta, during the same era when Barack Obama lived there as a child.

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Directed by Peter Weir. With Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt. A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617

Dean and Duncan, National Press Club talk

2008-11-05T22:08:00.006-05:00

This was good humored and informative. Nice to see Howard get his sweet revenge.

RNC, DNC Chairs Clash Over Whether Media Aided Obama in Election

WE DID IT!

2008-11-05T00:37:00.001-05:00

I have no words, only tears of joy and this... from my good friend in AZ:

Gotta Love Bob

2008-11-03T13:58:00.001-05:00

Even when he's poking fun at Democrats. From the 1951 movie, The Lemon Drop Kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4

Best of the blogs

2008-11-01T11:53:00.005-04:00

Yea, John. What is the deal with that Straight Talk Express?

FOX's Neil Cavuto tells John McCain why he is losing. WTF? Is this a trick?

The rats at Faux are jumping ship? The rest of us read Orwell and have seen this all along. Straight Talk = we'll tell you whatever we want, then do whatever we want because we're Maverick's and nothing will ever be as it seems, or what we said.

So You Think You Can Dance?

2008-10-31T23:23:00.002-04:00

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

Old Hippies Who Haven't Died

2008-10-25T19:18:00.003-04:00

...will know how true these words are.

Here is something you should read because (if I'm recollecting correctly) it's all true. We knew back then the time would come when the 60's generation would be in charge of things again.

Hope them old hippies come out to vote. :)

Raising the Specter of the '60s

by Gary Leupp | October 25, 2008 - 1:39pm

Like over 3000 other academics, I've signed the "Support Bill Ayers" statement defending Ayers from the desperate, opportunistic attacks of the McCain campaign. I think it important to combat the depiction of a distinguished scholar as a "terrorist" by the likes of Sarah Palin, whose ignorance and extremism terrify many. But I also think that the campaign might be doing us all a favor by drawing our attention to the 500 pound guerrilla in the room: the '60s.

Or more properly, the '60s and early '70s: that era shaped by an unpopular imperialist war and massive social movements demanding racial and gender equality. The antiwar and civil rights movements mobilized millions and influenced everybody. Without the gains of those years, arguably, a black man would not be leading in a presidential race today. The public would not reject the Iraq War as a wrong war based on lies but rather rally around the flag, trusting the leaders.

John McCain has built a political career on one episode in his life: his plane was shot down in October 1967 as he was bombing a power plant in a heavily populated area of Hanoi. (In 1995 the Vietnamese government estimated that two million North Vietnamese civilians died during the war, mainly due to such bombing.) His downed plane landed in Truc Bach Lake, and his life was saved by a Vietnamese civilian. The Vietnamese, realizing the McCain came from a distinguished military family, granted him special medical treatment although he had suffered no mortal injuries. He was held as a POW to 1973. During that time he publicly praised his captors for providing him "very good medical treatment." While he has claimed to be the victim of torture, and claimed his statements acknowledging war crimes were forced, he has also opposed the release of his government debriefing that might shed light on these subjects. He was reportedly bound by ropes, and subjected to beatings during his confinement. But no one has suggested he was terrorized by attack dogs, sexually humiliated, water boarded or subjected to the refined torture tactics used in Gitmo or Abu Ghraib. It is doubtful that his treatment would fit the Bush administration's current (very narrow) definition of torture.

Somehow McCain's been able to parlay this history into a reputation as a "war hero" whose faith in God and country kept him strong against his evil "gook" captors. This is the account the mainstream media accepts, as it accepts and promotes the idea that somehow McCain is "strong on national security." Up until recently polls showed the public generally buying this line, however logically inconsistent it may be with the general assessment of the Vietnam War as a "mistake" if not a crime. How can you be a "war hero" in a war that was so unheroic and so wrong?

Bill Ayers represents an era of widespread outrage at American imperialism, including in the U.S. itself—an era of deep division unparalleled since the Civil War. An era McCain and his right-wing fringe running-mate would like to forget or undo. They see nothing wrong in the Vietnam War except for a lack of will to win. The '60s "protesters" for them were a genus of traitors, whose very right to protest was somehow being defended by those bombing Hanoi. If the communists weren't stopped in Vietnam, they argued, they'd be invading the west Coast. Rational people see this argument as highly stupid now.

Three years after McCain was shot down over Hanoi while on that bombing mission, Ayers by his own admission participated in a bombing of a New York City police station, and went on to bomb the Capitol and Pentagon in the next two years. Each action came in response to a specific escalation of the Vietnam War. There were no casualties, and Ayers was never convicted of a crime. He denies that the bombings were acts of terrorism and points out instead that the war in Vietnam was a war of terror. (During this time, by the way, the 11 to 13 year old Obama was living in Indonesia and Hawai'i.)

Bill Ayers like many of his generation was a follower of Martin Luther King before joining the SDS then some of its spin-offs which (like many in the New Left) parted company with the doctrinaire non-violence they perceived as ineffectual. But consider his background. While studying at the University of Michigan in 1965, he joined a picket line protesting an Ann Arbor pizzeria's policy of refusing service to African-Americans. (18 years later, when I studied at UM, such racist exclusion was unimaginable. How the world had changed because of people like Ayers!) He participated in a draft board sit-in, punished by 10 days in jail. He worked in progressive childhood education. These are the kind of rebellious activities that enraged the white supremacists (then far more respectable and mainstream than now), the knee-jerk anticommunists, the reactionaries terrified by rock 'n roll and the youth counterculture. But what's there to damn here, for those who aren't misled by a washed-up generation of racist uptight bigots?

People over 50 remember that period very well, and many much younger people view it with envy and fascination. After all, today's youth listen to the Beatles, Stones, Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead, considering them their own. (We in the '60s rarely listened to the music of the '20s, '30s and '40s.) College students flock to courses on the '60s, viewing that decade as one of turmoil, excitement, and progressive change. The verdict's in: the war was wrong, segregation and all racism was wrong, sexism and homophobia were wrong—and the limited social progress as we've seen since the '60s is largely rooted in the tireless efforts of the activists of that decade. The '60s were good!

But McCain doesn't see it that way. Nor does Sarah Palin. She of course is 44 years old, but obviously atypical of her generation. There's no reason you can't be the popular governor of a state of 676,987 while expressing contempt for such '60s fixtures as "community organizers," sexual liberation and the questioning of wars of aggression. Palin, the lipstick-painted pit-bull, has chosen to attack Ayers as a "terrorist" decades after the demise of the Weather Underground, after he's become a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and received a Citizen of the Year award (1997) from the city of Chicago for his work on education reform. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of the infamous Mayor Daley who ordered the police attack on antiwar protesters at the Democratic Convention in 1968), who regularly consults Ayers on school issues, says: "He's done a lot of good in this city and nationally." But for Palin, he's a terrorist, present-tense.

Now, no honest person can actually suggest that Obama's association with Ayers, dating from 1995 when Ayers hosted a fund-raising event for Obama in his living room and including service on the board of the philanthropic Woods Fund of Chicago (along with several Republican business executives from 2001) constitutes "palling around with terrorists." Journalists from a variety of publications have concluded that Obama had at most a friendly casual acquaintance with a man he knew as a liberal activist. Even "palling around with former terrorists" would be a dubious charge, but that qualifier would weaken the McCain-Palin smear-job effort so Ayer and his wife Bernadine Dohrn become, for campaign purposes, lifetime terrorists

McCain and Palin say "we need to know the full extent" of the Obama-Ayers "relationship"–so we can know if Obama "is telling the truth to the American people or not." The fact is, of course, that the politically careful Obama has steered clear of Ayers since January 2005 when he took his Senate seat. So what do they want to know? How many times the two men met on the street in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, where both live? How many times Obama visited Ayers' house? Do we need to know the content of their conversations?

Obviously with her "palling around with terrorists" remark Palin wants to set voters' imaginations working. What does she want them to imagine? Obama patting Ayers on the back, saying "Good job on that Pentagon bombing, Bill"? Maybe. Recall the famous July 21, 2008 New Yorker cover, showing Obama in Muslim dress, fist-bumping Michelle sporting an Afro and AK-47, American flag burning in the fireplace, Osama bin Laden picture on the wall. It was "satire" supposedly, but in a country where 11% believe Obama is a Muslim (Newsweek poll, May 2008), and one-third believe U.S. Muslims are sympathetic to al-Qaeda (USA/Gallop August 2006) that sort of image, and Palin's kind of language, can be poisonous.

"This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America," Palin declared earlier this month to a select crowd of people who in her words "see America as the greatest force for good in this world… [a] beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy…" (Has she read the international polls about how this country is really perceived nowadays?)

Maybe, in fact, Obama doesn't see America precisely as she does; he seems, after all, more aware of the real world in general. Unfortunately, with his plans to escalate the hopeless counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, provoke further confrontation along the border with Pakistan, and support the strike on Iran favored by his top Middle East advisor and the Israel Lobby, he sees America all too much as do McCain and Palin: through the eyes of an imperialist.

His campaign ads make clear, lest anyone might doubt, that Bill Ayers will have no role in his administration. Colin Powell, on the other hand, might. This is the Colin Powell who, as an Army Major in 1968, six months after the My Lai Massacre charged with investigating charges of U.S. atrocities in Vietnam, dismissed them blithely declaring "relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." That was his '60s, as McCain's '60s were his glory days bombing those Vietnamese people.

For many of us, the antiwar movement of that time remains a cherished memory. So too the Freedom Rides, the marches on Washington. The counterculture. The Stonewall Riots of June 1969. That groundswell of necessary rebellion in this country that dovetailed with the near-revolutionary upsurge in Europe in 1968 and even the Cultural Revolution in China. Those '60s–emblematic of all the subsequent challenges to mandatory "patriotism," butt-headed religiosity, attacks upon science, criminalization of inner-city youth under the guise of the "War on Drugs," resurgent assaults on women's rights–is the real focus of the attack on Ayers, and through him on Obama.

What sort of political operative sits behind a desk, weighing options, decides, "Ok, let's go with this Ayers thing?" The sort of operative who imagines that the base can best be energized by a frontal attack on the '60s. The sort of Rovian manipulator who calculates that the ideal simple-minded voter seeing Atta in Ayers will see Osama in Obama. If one can exploit Islamophobia to conflate al-Qaeda with Iraq with Yassir Arafat with Hizbollah, one can exploit the lingering Republican bitterness at the '60s and revolutionary possibilities that era represents to confer an aura of radicalism around the Democratic presidential candidate.

He surely doesn't deserve it. But neither does he necessarily suffer from it. For many of us, the '60s were and remain a time of youthful exuberance and idealism, sincere questioning of received wisdom, righteous resistance to obvious lies, institutional racism and vicious immoral war. By all means, Ms. Palin, raise that specter, and see what good it does you!

source: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/18207

Love With the Proper Stranger

2008-10-24T22:04:00.003-04:00

This wasn't one of the Saturday matinees we were allowed to see as kids. Those were only ok'ed after being properly vetted by The Lakeshore Visitor, the diocese of Erie's paper with 'orders from Rome'.

Startling account of an unwed girl seeking an abortion in the early 60's.

* Love with the Proper Stranger

Opie, Andy, and the Fonz

2008-10-24T19:56:00.003-04:00

Endorsing Obama.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Source: Ron Howard's Call To Action

Sarah or Tina?

2008-10-22T12:15:00.004-04:00

You have to wonder who's wearing the donkey scarf...

Maybe she thought they were caribou, or antlerless moose? Or maybe it's been photoshopped? If so, very clever.

source: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/10/21/in-which-sarah-palin-displays-the-latest-in-donkey-fashion.aspx

.

Who's Defending Alaska, again?

2008-10-15T11:31:00.002-04:00

Thanks to TPM:

According to Bloomberg, more or less the entire senior management of the Russian oil and gas monopoly Gazprom just showed up in Alaska to meet with Palin's Department of Natural Resources and the CEO of ConocoPhillips to see if they can get in on that big pipeline projects she [Palin] keeps bragging about that she says is going to lead us to energy independence.

Down Home Common Sense

2008-10-14T14:51:00.004-04:00

Well Joe Sixpack, have you seen thru the stench yet?

Garrison Keillor in Salon on how folks are starting to see through her Caribou Barbie act:

It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for B.S. They can tell when someone’s mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged. When she said, “One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let’s commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars,” people smelled gas.

Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne’er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself — one stink bomb after another, and now Gov. Palin.

She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Mr. McCain’s first major decision as nominee. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career making personal appearances for 40 grand a pop, and she’ll become a trivia question, “What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?” And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.

Read the full story here... Sock it to 'em Mr. Keillor!
http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/10/08/palin/

Pallin/McCain Familiar With Hypocrisy

2008-10-10T09:46:00.006-04:00

Here's a post from Alaska that's almost too good to be true. Thanks again to Shannyn for seeing thru the hypocrisy and getting down to the dirty rotten core. I can believe that Palin is too stupid to know who G. Gordon Liddy is. But McCain is quite cool with it. so it seems.

I'm still wondering too which oil execs she had to hurry back to work to meet with after the birth of Trig, when she had rushed back to Alaska after another meeting with oil exs and Republican governors in Texas.

Please visit the link for the source links, very illuminating.

Palin: Pallin’ With Hypocrisy

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been locked away for years. Living in Alaska and being a steward of ANWR is like having a beautiful young daughter. She’s a virgin now, and you want her to stay pristine as long as possible. However, when the day comes, you want it to be with someone who knows about romance, safety, commitment and respect; not some frat guy at a party. The majority of Alaskans would go along with the opening of ANWR if it weren’t drilled by a proven environmental rapist like EXXON. Last spring, there was a buzz running through local talk radio shows. The renewed desire to drill ANWR had overtaken Alaska like an adolescent 13 year old boy with a new Victoria Secret Catalog. Arctic Power, a private lobbying company, hired by the State of Alaska to lobby congress to open ANWR for oil drilling, was ready to hire a spokesman.

I wondered how their initial meeting had gone. “Hey, Alaska, let’s have a party! Hannibal Lecter will be the chef, Jim Jones will pour drinks, and G. Gordon Liddy will promote the opening of ANWR!” Where do I RSVP? Arctic Power, who was awarded $120,000 in state funds, thought the ambassador to reach across the aisle was Watergate conspirator and talk radio host, G. Gordon Liddy. The hook would be a live G-Man broadcast from Alaska. With boots on the ground, he could testify how barren and ripe for drilling ANWR was.

Alaska is rich with political scandal: The infamous Bridges to Nowhere, Congressman Don Young’s Coconut Road, Senator Ted Stevens’ chalet upgrades, Senator Lisa Murkowski’s friends and family land deal and former legislators sitting in federal penitentiaries for selling their votes, give us a not-so-savory reputation. We have enough political convicts, no need to import a notorious felon to be spokesman for opening ANWR. According to Governor Sarah Palin’s former staff member Larry Persily, the Governor thought it was a good idea and planned to make an appearance on G.Gordon Liddy’s program. When suggested that a Watergate operative may not be a smart choice, Arctic Power co-chair, Mike Navarre, suggested most people didn’t know of Liddy’s background and his role in President Nixon’s administration and demise.

Letters to newspapers came pouring in, as did phone calls to the Governor’s office. “I think it’s terrible. If Alaska wants to put the best face on things it’s probably best to not hire felons,” Senator Kim Elton said.

Sarah Palin attacking Barack Obama’s relationship with William Ayers is ironic. She’s playing a pit bull, but it’s not the Palin we know. The Palin we know wouldn’t have known who William Ayers was.

“Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country,” Palin told a rally of about 10,000 gathered at a tennis stadium in Carson, California. “Our opponent…is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” she said on the same day in Englewood, Colorado. Palin is referring to William Ayers. There are obvious controversies around the activist career of Bill Ayers, but the connections to Obama are peripheral. Bill Ayers has never been arrested, he turned himself into authorities and he never went to jail. He is professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has fought hard for education reform in his community. According to Palin’s qualifications of “pallin’ around”, John McCain and G. Gordon Liddy are practically blood brothers. McCain and Liddy have been longtime friends and McCain has publicly stated “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family.” He went on to say, “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.” After the last eight years, I don’t hold the same regard for presidential operatives covering up crimes of the administration they work for. Liddy has contributed money to McCain’s campaign and held several fund raisers in his home.

Mike Navarre was right in his assumption Alaskans wouldn’t remember who G. Gordon Liddy was. Maybe Sarah Palin was one of those. She funded the lobbyist group who dreamed it up, and was willing to be on the G-Man’s radio show. Did Palin know Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, wiretapping, contempt of court and contempt of Congress? Did Palin know Liddy was willing to kill a janitor and a journalist as part of the Watergate cover-up? Did Palin know Liddy admitted plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution? What about the plan to kidnap protesters at the 1972 Republican National Convention? Did Palin not know Liddy served a more than four years in prison? Or did Sarah Palin, like John McCain, celebrate and consider Liddy’s terrorist activities to be “principles and philosophies that keep our nation great?” It is an interesting and relevant footnote; In the late 1960s when Bill Ayers was involved with the Weatherman protesting a bloody, never-ending war that killed 58,000 Americans, he was in his early 20s; In the early 1970s when G. Gordon Liddy was involved in his criminal activities, he was in his early 40s. Maybe Sarah Palin’s excuse is she was only eight years old when the G-Man was plotting his terrorist acts.

Does any of this sound familiar?

More from Shannyn on the Blog List to the right...

confidently scary stupid

2008-10-09T11:00:00.005-04:00

Another reason to cherish Buzzflash...

Sarah Palin is a Manchurian Candidate for One Extremist Splinter Group of the End-Times Crowd
Submitted by Mark on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 8:36am. Be-Elected
MARK KARLIN'S EDITOR'S BLOG
October 9
If a group of people conspires to seize control of the American Government in order to accomplish an agenda to force an extremist theology on U.S. citizens, a religious belief that views the presidency as a necessary step in advancing "end times," isn’t this treason?
We think so.
While the mainstream media has been preoccupied with regurgitating – for the third time this year – discredited assertions about a ‘60s radical turned esteemed educational professor and Barack Obama, it hasn’t given any notice to the extreme branch of Dominionism that Sarah Palin adheres to.
Perhaps the "you betcha’" and "pit bull with lipstick" folksiness veneer makes it hard to accept that Palin is part of a rebel cult aimed at taking control of the U.S. government in the name of advancing Armageddon. It is kind of hard to think of the VP candidate that Republicans touted at the GOP convention with buttons as "The Hottest VP from the Coolest State" as a Manchurian candidate, but who are you going to believe, Palin or the evidence?
If you think BuzzFlash is going off the deep end of conspiracy theories, then watch this smoking gun video. It was put together by the diligent people at talk2action.org who expose the extremist, anti-democracy, anti-Constitutional tyrannical theocracy of the religious far right.
In the video, you will hear about how Palin was recruited at the age of 24 to be a political "warrior" to gain governmental power to assert an authoritarian end-times theocratic state that would rid the land of "non-believers." The credibility of the tape comes from its narrator, Mary Glazier, who is a key sponsor and mentor to Palin, as the Governor has been groomed to seize power as part of a plan of "spiritual warfare." Glazier details the recruitment of Palin in chilling terms and makes pronouncements, such as "There is a tipping point, at which time, because of the sin of the land, the people then have to be displaced."
Again, don’t dismiss this as some sort of loony theory, listen and watch the tape. And you might also read some of the great research on Palin’s religious background and beliefs at Talk2Action.org.
We’ve also posted several alarming articles on BuzzFlash, including: "The Irony of Sarah Palin: Her ‘Third Wave’ Radical Christian Theology"; "By Any Measure, Sarah Palin is a Radical Political and Religious Extremist"; and a must-read interview with Bruce Wilson of Talk2Action.com, "Sarah Palin's Extremist Religious Beliefs: The Republic is At Risk."
It is important to recognize that the "spiritual warriors" know that they have to use deceptive tactics, including concealing their extremist religious agenda to seize the control of government at every level – and that Sarah Palin is their most charismatic "populist" vehicle for literally taking over the U.S. government and establishing an extremist theocratic, pre-Armageddon state. We are not exaggerating.
In fact, some extreme right-wing religious fanatics have been openly talking of John McCain’s death, should McCain and Palin win, which would then allow Palin to implement a "Third Wave" theocracy in the U.S. And, trust us, if you aren’t a "believer," things are going to get very ugly.
If you notice, Palin is very careful not to renounce any of the religious extremism that she adheres to. Instead, she gives vague answers that distract from the issue, while not really rejecting the assertions – but she doesn’t really have to worry because Sean Hannity is not going to pressure her on the subject.
Palin has mastered the art of appearing like an everyday person in order to appeal to the working class population. The "spiritual warriors" are well aware that they can’t attain power by being honest about their goals, so deception is glorified in the name of their "divine" objective of making the U.S. a nation adhering to their fanatical beliefs. (Although Palin did wage her first campaign for mayor on abortion and religious "values" issues, going so far as to demand that her opponent produce a marriage license to prove that he and his wife weren't living in sin because she chose to keep her own name. We're not making this up.)
It’s hard to look at Palin and believe that anyone who is so confidently scary stupid could be the chosen one for the practitioners of Biblical Apocalypse.
But the mounting evidence shows that is exactly what she is.
_____________
Now read this...
http://www.talk2action.org/

I'm Voting for That One!

2008-10-09T09:35:00.005-04:00

commercial moment:

"...because "that one" is going to be our next president -- and thank God for it!"

Shove It Down McCain's Throat!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
I'm Voting for That One: Barack Obama for President (2.25" Button)
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
Yes, it was an infamous, dimissive, racist moment in McCain's life of peevish, irascible, dismissive behavior.

Now, shove it back at him.

Wear this button until election day, because "that one" is going to be our next president -- and thank God for it!

Includes shipping and handling as always at the BuzzFlash Progessive Marketplace.
For BuzzFlash Obama gear, go to Everything Obama on BuzzFlash.com

"Mr. Credit is dead and buried" - M (1931)Directed by Fritz Lang

2008-10-05T08:44:00.007-04:00

Sunday morning and waiting for the talk shows (where Sarah is supposed to be a no-show). So I see this old movie and am intrigued by the cops and crooks after a murderer. When the crooks decide they need the Beggars' Association to be their best informants, this was funny, a sign on the wall at the Beggars' headquarters. From the 1931 movie "M" :

Mr. Credit is dead and buried
--The Management

M (1931)Directed by Fritz Lang. With Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut. When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, ...
www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/

A psychotic child murderer stalks a city, and despite an exhaustive investigation fueled by public hysteria and outcry, the police have been unable to find him. But the police crackdown does have one side-affect, it makes it nearly impossible for the organized criminal underground to operate. So they decide that the only way to get the police off their backs is to catch the murderer themselves. Besides, he is giving them a bad name.

This is good, when you put it in historical context. Guess I'll catch up on who said what later on the blogs... you know, the mainstream media filter.

Brad Sherman's Blue Paper

2008-10-02T20:05:00.003-04:00

From the Skeptic's Caucus, Rep. Brad Sherman's blue paper on why the bailout bill is rotten to the core:

Be Skeptical of Senate Bailout Bill
All the Old Problems Remain
A Single Comprehensive Updated Article by Congressman Brad Sherman
October 1, 2008

• Taxpayers highly unlikely to recoup any of the costs under revenue provision
added last Sunday (page 2)
• Treasury will not use the new insurance powers added to the Bill last Sunday
(page 3)
• Tens of billions will go to foreign investors (page 3)
• Million-Dollar a month salaries will continue (page 4)
• Oversight Board can critique, not halt, any action (page 4)
• Few if any homeowners will get mortgage relief (page 4)
• All $700 billion can be spent by January 20, 2009 (page 5)
• Taxpayers will get little or no equity upside (page 6)
• Meaningful regulatory reform proposals will be subject to filibuster, delay, and
dilution (page 6)
• We have time to write a good bill (page 6)

New Senate Provisions: No Reason to Switch to “Yes” Vote

The Senate will attach its tax extenders bill to the House-defeated Bailout Bill. The
Senate tax extenders bill is the very bill Hoyer refused to bring to the floor Monday,
September 29, because of its gross violation of pay-go. If the Bailout Bill is open to tax
provisions, why not attach the bills that prevent hedge fund managers from paying zero
tax by using Cayman Island tax havens? Why not add the Credit Card Holders Bill of
Rights, which recently passed the House?

The Senate Bill also increases the FDIC limit to $250,000. We don’t need to send $700
billion to Wall Street to make this change.

Experts Say: Congress Should Not Panic
“We ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider
the right course of action.”
-231 eminent Professors of Economics, including 3 Nobel Laureates.
See more from economists on page 7

http://bradsherman.house.gov/081001comprehensive_article.pdf

Wolf Hunting, Governor Palin Style

2008-09-25T19:54:00.006-04:00

Here's the reason this blog is named Helicopter Barbie. Mudflats posted it, because Shannyn said it best:

"...blogger Shannyn Moore was born in rural Alaska. If there’s anyone who can claim to be coming at this particular issue from a truly “Alaskan perspective”, she’s the one. She speaks about the wolf hunting issue as the daughter of a trapper, not a relocated environmentalist from the East Coast (not that there’s anything wrong with that). She agreed to write a post on her own blog about this topic and to let me cross-post here.

And as you read through the post, realize that I was one of the people who voted the wrong way on Ballot Measure 2, thanks to the confusing wording courtesy of our Lt. Governor, Sean Parnell."

Wolf in Governor’s Clothing

Shannyn Moore

The smell of fresh snow and the burning fuel of a Ski-Doo Olympic Snowmachine are part of my vivid childhood memories. I would hang on to my pop’s snowsuit, as we rode through Alaskan muskegs, down river banks, and up power line trails. Checking our trap line was dirty work. Bait consisted of freezer burnt salmon and road kill rabbit retrieval missions. I grew up with the smell of skinned mink, beaver, muskrats, coyotes, and wolves in my garage. We took the hides to the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage and sold them. Staying in a hotel with plumbing and television was our decadent reward. I learned more about nature from trapping and hunting than I did from any biology class. Habits, tracking, instincts; I was in awe of the Nature around me and then I helped kill it. It wasn’t easy. Mink are smart as white collar thieves. They could get bait out of a trap nine times out of ten, and defecate before departing, a not-so-subtle message to Pop and I.

I don’t write these things to brag, just as fact. You may be revolted by this lifestyle, and I won’t argue. I share this to provide you the reference of my horror of aerial wolf hunting. Shooting wolves from planes is to hunting, what hiring a prostitute is to dating.

Alaska has a long history of bounties and hunting-much of it controversial. Aerial wolf hunting began in 1948. In 1972, Congress passed a law that prohibited aerial wolf hunting. Problem solved? No, under the guise of “wolf control,” permits were issued to “pilot gunner” teams in 1979. In 1992, under Governor Walter Hickel’s Administration, the Alaska Board of Game initiated a wolf control program with the goal of reducing numbers by 80%. Under threat of a massive tourist boycott, the “land and shoot” policy was reintroduced. During Democrat Governor Tony Knowles Administration, only non-lethal measures were used against wolves. The Wolf Management Reform Coalition collected 33,000 signatures to put an aerial wolf hunting ban on the November 1996 ballot; 59% of Alaskans voted for it, with the exception being a biological emergency. A Republican Legislature introduced SB74. This bill eliminated the need for a biological emergency to justify aerial wolf control and usurped the will of the people. Governor Knowles vetoed the bill and the Republican majority overrode it. In March of 2000, SB267 was passed which allowed hunters other than the state biologists to aerially shoot wolves. That same year, Alaskans voted on another ballot initiative to ban aerial wolf hunting by a 53% majority. In 2004, then Governor Frank Murkowski reinstated aerial wolf hunting to private hunters. He opened up 60,000 square miles of Alaska for the flying cowboys. All you needed was a plane and a permit.

With all of this history, we should have been prepared to deal with a Palin Administration hell bent on killing wolves. She and I were “raised by the same wolves”, and she wants to shoot them out of planes. She stacked the Alaska Board of Game with pro-aerial wolf hunters. She was successful at merging faulty science, Safari Club International interests and state funded propaganda; spinning a web of lies to masquerade as conservation. I’m not sure where it started; maybe a spam email promising penis enlargement from shooting mammals out of planes went viral. Running our policy on “Faith Based Science” hasn’t worked; animals you believe are here for you to rule, and exist because Noah got two of them on a boat and they managed not to eat each other is one thing. But if you refuse to use the brain God gave you for observation and noticing patterns of science, well, how good of a steward of the Earth are you? Years of classic, scientific studies by Adolph Murie and Vic Van Vallenbergh have been mocked or ignored. Their studies were in the field, observing the balance between wolves and ungulate populations. They proved what common sense verifies; wolves take the weak and the sick thereby strengthening the herds. The Alaska Board of Game lacks common sense and ignores science. The Board is loaded with Viagra starved, trigger-happy Alaska Outdoor Council and Safari Club International agenda driven thugs.

Because of declining hunter success throughout the 1990s, residents of McGrath were vocal about the need for aerial wolf control. They complained loudly and constantly that there weren’t enough legal moose to hunt. The most comprehensive moose population survey to date was done in the fall of 2001. Alaska Department of Fish & Game Biologists documented moose numbers and the bull/cow ratios within a 520 square mile area around McGrath known as the Experimental Micro Management Area or EMMA, as well as the rest of Game Management Unit (GMU) 19D East. The target ratio for a sustainable hunted population is 30 bulls/100 cows. Within the EMMA, that ratio fell to an unhealthy 18 bulls/100 cows. Outside EMMA and basically outside the range of lazy 4-wheeler hunters, that ratio was 44 bulls/100 cows-well above the healthy target. Here’s the kicker direct from the Alaska Department of Fish & Games official report:

“The low bull:cow ratio in this area (EMMA) results from an imbalance between hunting and recruitment. The bull:cow ratio in the remainder of GMU 19D East remains relatively high.”

In other words, the science from ADF&G’s own biologists contradicted the need for any predator control. Studies conducted for the McGrath Adaptive Management Team proved that over-hunting was the reason for the lack of moose in the area, not wolves. That data was buried and wolf control was implemented.

Right before the 2006 Election, Alaskans for Wildlife submitted 57,000 signatures to get another aerial wolf hunting ban in place. Newly elected Governor Palin and the ADF&G issued even more wolf kill permits and put up a $150 bounty. A state judge ruled Palin exceeded her authority and the bounty was scrapped. At the end of the 2007 legislative session, Palin flooded the legislature with bills to ease up on wolf hunting restrictions, but the bills were held up in committee. In the spring of 2008, Palin tried to declare wildlife an “asset” of the State to make their management off limits to ballot initiatives. She covertly tried to tack a wolf hunting bill on to an animal cruelty bill, SB 273, introduced by Senator Bill Wielechowski. Pun intended: she got shot down.

Last month Alaskans voted once again on Aerial Predator Control. The intent of the ballot initiative was simple enough; to prohibit the shooting of wolves and grizzly bears from aircraft. Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, overseer of elections, did his part to insure the proposition language was confusing enough to guarantee failure:

Ballot Measure 2

Bill Amending Same Day Airborne Shooting

BALLOT LANGUAGE

This bill amends current law banning same-day

airborne shooting to include grizzly bears. The

bill permits the Board of Game to allow a predator

program for wolves and grizzly bears if the

Commissioner of Fish and Game finds an emergency,

where wolves or grizzly bears in an area

are causing a decline in prey. Only employees of

the Department of Fish and Game could take

part in the program. Only the minimum number

of wolves or grizzly bears needed to stop the

emergency could be removed.

Should this initiative become law?

Yes

No

Parnell was dragged into court several times for misrepresenting the intent of the initiative on the ballot. Many Alaskans were confused by the ballot language. My neighbor is a retired state engineer. He is a bright man and a conservationist. He voted no despite being an outspoken opponent of aerial wolf killing. Had I not known to vote yes, I would have voted no too. Now, aerial predator control proponents can disingenuously claim that Alaskans favor killing wolves and bears from planes as evidenced by the 2008 vote on Ballot Prop 2.

Governor Palin did her part to defeat the initiative as well. She approved the use of public money and ordered the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to publish a 26-page full color pamphlet called “Understanding Intensive Management and Predator Control in Alaska.” It circulated through newspapers statewide and was mailed to tens of thousands of Alaskans just days before the election. The pamphlet emphasized “how well the current system is working.” Jim Marcotte, Director of Support for the Board of Game, said the pamphlet was not meant to influence voters-Really? Spending public money to tell Alaskans that the Aerial Wolf Control Program is necessary to protect our moose and caribou populations just before a statewide election wasn’t an attempt to influence the outcome? The fear machine was in full force. The message was clear: wolves threaten hunters’ ability to put food on the table. But the truth was more about putting pelts on a wall. In addition to the pamphlet and mailers, the state paid for Board of Game members to fly all over Alaska to “educate” the public on the benefits of predator control-again just before the election. This entire predator control program is about turning Alaska into a wild game farm. In response to the allegation that she signed off on a “propaganda campaign to justify the state’s barbaric wolf slaughter from the skies,” Palin said, “My understanding is this program was funded by the Legislature to factually explain game management practices to Alaskans, and I don’t have a problem with that.” The total bill for the “education” was $400,000. Nearly the same amount of money she vetoed for high school drop out prevention. It’s shameful she spent almost half a million dollars on pamphlets to compensate for Alaska’s prohibition on Cialis. Hey, if you’ve been shooting wolves out of planes, and you have an erection lasting for more than four hours, check the Boone & Crocket stats, you may have a trophy!

In June of this year, the ADF&G broke their own predator control regulations with the slaughter of 14 wolf pups near Point Moeller. Under the ADF&G Wolf Control Regulations (5AAC 92.110(i)), “Denning, the killing of wolf young in the den, is prohibited.” On site at the scene of the crime were Deputy ADF&G Commissioner for Wildlife, Ken Taylor, and The Director of ADF&G’s Division of Wildlife Conservation, Doug Larsen. Why were suits from Juneau involved in a routine field operation? Why do we pay them salaries to enforce laws they are either unaware of, or choose to break? Perhaps they knew they were breaking their own law and were there to support the cover-up and clean up crew.

ADF&G Biologists want to “maintain” caribou herd numbers between 3,000-4,000 animals on the Alaska Peninsula near Port Moeller. According to former ADF&G Commissioner Ron Skoog, the caribou populations on the Alaska Peninsula have fluctuated many times over the last several decades. Indeed, the caribou population on the Alaska Peninsula has dropped to 500 or fewer at least 3 times over 132 years. ADF&G Biologists obtained emergency permission to kill wolves by misleading the Board of Game and Alaskans to think the current decline is unprecedented. This is clearly NOT the case.

Sarah Palin has been in a position to do the right thing for the wildlife of Alaska. Independent Alaskan Biologists have been begging for her ear. Faith based science is not science, yet it is what she has used in her policy making; mocking legitimate studies, and embracing big game hunters. The Rapture is not an environmental policy nor is it a game management policy.

It’s been a long time since I set or checked a trap. I’ve spent hours behind a camera, camping in bear refuges, in awe of the nature of Alaska. When I was a child, I had no idea how big the world was, or how tamed parts had become. Looking at the world, I know Alaska is precious in its wildness. Why can’t we just let Nature run wild?

Photos courtesy of Florian Shulz; Special thanks to Leo and Dorothy Keeler.

«

And the bottom line is... If humans were meant to hunt wolves, they could run faster than the pack.

Vets on National Archives Bldg

2008-09-24T12:56:00.002-04:00

Vets on National Archives Bldg
(full story at link)

Washington -- Five military veterans, all members of Veterans For Peace, are breaking camp from their perch on the National Archives building this morning, taking with them their 22x8-ft. banner demanding "DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION. ARREST BUSH AND CHENEY: WAR CRIMINALS!" that has overlooked their 24-hour action on a narrow ledge 35 feet above Constitution Ave.

Alaskan Wildlife for Obama

2008-09-20T15:07:00.001-04:00

The Caribou are Supporting Obama,
as Are the Rest of the Wildlife in Alaska!

Buzzflash is selling them if you like buttons. I sure as hell don't trust their future to republicans, would you?

Just had to share.

Economic Darwinism at its Zenith

2008-09-18T19:30:00.004-04:00

Rainman's satire nails it every time.

And adieu Stephen, best wishes for you. I already added magazine to my bloglist and am making a post for everyone to understand wth is going on.

The Political Junkies:

Roubini’s essential thesis:

Today . . . the US has performed the greatest nationalization in the history of humanity. By nationalizing Fannie and Freddie the US has increased its public assets by almost $6 trillion and has increased its public debt/liabilities by another $6 trillion. The US has also turned itself into the largest government-owned hedge fund in the world: by injecting a likely $200 billion of capital into Fannie and Freddie and taking on almost $6 trillion of liabilities of such GSEs the US has also undertaken the biggest and most levered LBO (“leveraged buy-out”) in human history that has a debt to equity ratio of 30 ($6,000 billion of debt against $200 billion of equity).

So now Comrades Bush, Paulson and Bernanke (as originally nicknamed by Willem Buiter) have now turned the USA into the USSRA (the United Socialist State Republic of America). Socialism is indeed alive and well in America; but this is socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street. A socialism where profits are privatized and losses are socialized with the US tax-payer being charged the bill of $300 billion.

This biggest bailout and nationalization in human history comes from the most fanatically and ideologically zealot free-market laissez-faire administration in US history. These are the folks who for years spewed the rhetoric of free markets and cutting down government intervention in economic affairs. But they were so fanatically ideological about free markets that they did not realize that financial and other markets without proper rules, supervision and regulation are like a jungle where greed – untempered by fear of loss or of punishment – leads to credit bubbles and asset bubbles and manias and eventual bust and panics.

In TPJ’s view, “socialism where profits are privatized and losses are socialized with the US tax-payer being charged the bill” is simply an extension of the new Republican doctrine of an “ownership society.” The new Republican doctrine simply values the “ownership” of the instruments of America’s capital over the value of the production of profits represented by those instruments.

If this sounds like the classic balance of power between ownership and labor – it is, but it extends far beyond those classic lines of political policy. In order to protect investments, Republicans are now willing to protect corporate profits at any cost as a mechanism of protecting the investor class. In its grand scope, Republicans have over the past eight years:

1. Relieved a growing number of employers from providing health insurance with the highest rates of uninsured employees in history;

2. Dismantled environmental regulations to protect corporate profits;

3. Distorted, manipulated and falsified scientific research to deny global warming as a political strategy to protect corporate profits;

4. Extended the biggest share of tax breaks to the investor class;

5. Devalued the US Dollar to lows not seen in history and threatening the US Dollar’s position as the reserve currency of the world while;

6. Driving up prices that Americans pay for all imported goods, particularly the price of energy;

7. Deregulated reasonable controls on the financial markets that permitted the creation of investment vehicles that led to the housing crisis and the credit crunch while;

8. Using tax dollars to protect investors from losses.

All these developments represent the Republican “ownership society.” The examples are just a few from among a plethora; globalization in the context of the “ownership society” could fill countless articles. It is economic Darwinism at its zenith.

It also squares with the Republican philosophy of shrinking government to the size of a bathtub and then drowning it. Using tax dollars to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the bail outs to come, make the cost of the war in Iraq pale in comparison. Ultimately, however, the Federal government will have to cut social programs to pay for the increasing debt. Republicans will then have dismantled the social safety nets constructed over generations while enriching corporate America.

Question for Americans: is this the policy you want guiding America for the next eight years?

About those lobbyists...

2008-09-16T14:02:00.000-04:00

Click here to watch the video

Will the real Sarah Palin please stand up.

2008-09-16T13:45:00.003-04:00

Tina Fey does Helicopter Barbie to perfection. Hillarious and dead-on...

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Hillary Open - Video - NBC.com

Gov. Palin and Senator Clinton address the nation.
www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Something tells me there's an Emmy for this in Fey's future.

Chevy Chase Wants Tina Fey to 'Decimate' Palin - 4 hours ago
AP Chevy Chase said Monday he wants Tina Fey to go "even harder" on Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin than she did in her "Saturday Night ...

Debunking the 'Bimbo Doctrine' - Financial Post

2008-09-14T20:57:00.002-04:00

I'm adding this link to the Stuff here. So we can see who's being pandered to and who's being pandered against.

http://mccainslobbyists.com/

AKA the Influence Trade. So will the man using lobbyists turn around and stab them in the back if he is elected? Or are his campaign promises as full of hot air as he is? What a joke. Of course it can be argued that these people are in it for whatever they can get. And know they'll be dumped the minute their job is done. Hmm... wonder who insured them and their families?

War Crimes Conference

2008-09-13T20:11:00.002-04:00

Can we as a nation abide by the rule of law? I missed the first day of this but the videos are archived and they come back in the morninging at 9am. Amazing information every true American should know, not just poli-sci wonks.

Untitled Video warcrimes 1, warcrimes Ustream.TV: 9/13/08 02:18PM PST. 8:09pm
Source: www.ustream.tv

Live video by Ustream

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/709880
Untitled Video warcrimes 1 @ Ustream.TV: 9/13/08 02:18PM PST.

"A two-day conference on obtaining prosecutions of high level American war criminals will open September 13th, in Andover, Mass. The conference will explore the legal grounds for, and plan for, obtaining prosecutions of President Bush and top officials of his Administration for war crimes.

"In the tradition of America’s Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials after World War II, Justice Robert Jackson, the Conference’s purpose is “to hold high U.S. officials accountable in courts of law and, if guilt is found, to obtain appropriate punishments.

"Otherwise,” said the Conference’s convener, Lawrence Velvel, “the future will be threatened by additional examples of Executive lawlessness by leaders who need fear no personal consequences” for their actions, leading to “the possibility of more Viet Nams, more Iraqs, and more repression.' "

It took how many years to get Pinochet?

I might stay up all night listening to this.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/709880

Andover_law_school_convenes_Bush_War_Crimes_Conference

The Truth Squad

2008-09-13T08:32:00.004-04:00

Mudflats posted this list a couple days ago. Is this Orwell or are we living in Pigs in Space? And no, I'm not calling these ladies 'pigs', it just feels like that reality more and more. I mean, with Russia being so close and all...

The Truth Squad... more hot milfers. I recognize Michelle Bachman and Marsha Blackburn from the RNC.

National Members Of The Palin Truth Squad:

· Former Governor Jane Swift (R-MA)
· Governor Linda Lingle (R-HI)
· Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, (R-AK)
· Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
· Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
· Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
· Congresswoman Thelma Drake (R-VA)
· Congresswoman Mary Fallin (R-OK)
· Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
· Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX)
· Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
· Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI)
· Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC)
· Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
· Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM)
· Jo Ann Davidson, RNC Co-Chair
· Rosario Marin, Former U.S. Treasurer
· Meg Stapleton, Former Aide To Governor Palin
· Kristan Cole, Lifelong Friend Of Governor Palin

State Members Of The Palin Truth Squad:

· Former Lt. Governor Jane Norton (CO)
· State Representative Amy Stephens (CO)
· State Board of Education Member Peggy Littleton (CO)
· State Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff (FL)
· County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez (FL)
· Former Iowa Senate President And Former U.S. Ambassador To The Eastern Caribbean, Mary Kramer (IA)
· State Representative Jackie Walorski (IN)
· State Representative Laura Brod (MN)
· Former GOP State Party Chairwoman And Former State Rep. Barb Sykora (MN)
· Jayne Millerick, Former NH GOP Chair (NH)
· State Senator Jennifer Beck, Honorary Co-Chair NJ Women For McCain-Palin (NJ)
· Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, Honorary Vice Chair NJ Women For McCain-Palin (NJ)
· Bergen County Clerk Kathe Donovan, Honorary Co-Chair NJ Women For McCain-Palin (NJ)
· DA Dona Ana County Susana Martinez (NM)
· Former Lt. Gov. Lorraine Bono-Hunt (NV)
· State Senator Barbara Cegavske (NV)
· State Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert (NV)
· Sue Lowden, Nevada GOP Chair (NV)
&# 183; Kay Ayres, OH GOP Vice Chair (OH)
· Betty Montgomery, Ohio Women For McCain-Palin Chair (OH)
· Mary Taylor, Ohio Auditor Of State (OH)
· Margie Hughes, Clackamas County Chair Of Women For McCain-Palin (OR)
· Linda Neace, West Linn Small Business Owner For McCain-Palin (OR)
· Deanna Smith, Women For McCain-Palin Chairwoman (OR)
· Renee Amoore, PA GOP Deputy Chair (PA)
· Joyce Haas, PA GOP Vice Chair (PA)
· State Senator Lisa Baker (PA)
· Diana Irey, Washington County Commissioner (PA)
· Christine Toretti, RNC National Committeewoman and McCain-Palin Pennsylvania Co-Chair (PA)
· Kim Ward, Westmoreland County Commissioner and McCain-Palin Pennsylvania Regional Chair (PA)
· Former First Lady Susan Allen (VA)
· Lori Ann Miller, Young Republican Federation Of VA Chairman (VA)
· Former Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow (WI)
· Peggy Oban Boze, McCain-Palin Chairwomen For King County (WA)
· Susan McCaw, Former Ambassador To Austria (WA)
· Della Newman, Former Ambassador To New Zealand (WA)

Buttons for Obama/Biden

2008-09-12T10:43:00.013-04:00

Kids, cats and polar bears...
dear to my heart.

Just so you'll know where to get them if you like...
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Kiko's Place: Light in the Piazza

2008-09-09T13:08:00.003-04:00

Kiko's Place: Light in the Piazza

1962 film about a mom dedicated to the welfare of her child. And the kid LOVES dogs. Cute, poignant, latin romance in a beautiful setting that appreciates love.

Yvette is the dimwitted daughter awakening to the delights of love with George (untanned!) Hamilton as the just-as dimwitted latin suitor. This movies is so cool and touches you on many levels, as light-hearted as it is. And the scenery ain't no slouch either--inside or out. Filmed on location in Firenze (Florence) in the time of Camelot.

Question

2008-09-06T15:29:00.003-04:00

Isn't Palin supposed to move to Cheney's undisclosed location after she gets elected, not before?
--Josh Marshall

Must be planning the nuptuals.
Palin Leaves Campaign Trail. Flees North. <-Mudflats

My Barracuda

2008-09-06T14:28:00.001-04:00

By Jimmy Buffett

Well I saw this couple
Just the other day
Livin' under a bridge
In a homeless way
Like a million others
All over this land
Livin' day to day
Without a master plan

In this unforgiving world
There ain't no doubt
It will chew you up
And it will spit you out
She calls him barracuda
My barracuda

She used to work in the circus
A real high wire act
He was a lion tamer
Up until the attack

He came without instructions
Then he came unglued
Now he's just a monster
in a human suit
She calls him barracuda
My barracuda

She still can't figure out
What she's doin' down here
And she don't know
If he loves her or not

He may be a barracuda
But he's the only lover she's got
Barracuda

#1 Reason Why I Love Joe

2008-09-06T14:11:00.000-04:00

He's very well aware of the need to pursue the LAW... to "restore the constitution to it's rightful place in our society."

"Collecting data" (collecting evidence)
"Building the file" (building a case)

"Out of the need to preserve the notion that no one..... is above the law."

Leahy, Waxman, and Conyers (my other 3 heroes) will do their job. Of that I have no doubt. And here's a group of movers and shakers that can facilitate it happening...

http://war-crimes.info/
PLANNING FOR THE PROSECUTION OF
HIGH LEVEL AMERICAN WAR CRIMINALS

"The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched." -Supreme Justice Robert H. Jackson, at Nuremberg.

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE

2008-09-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

Book Review by Motherbird:

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE by Sinclair Lewis
Book review by Jodey Bateman

Another little something that poor students of history should read, by your favorite Libertarian...

It Can't Happen Here by Ron Paul
Dec 21, 2004 ... Those who believe a police state can't happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. ...
www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul225.html - 12k

lobbyist in common

2008-09-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

This is something nagging at me from a couple days ago.

Palin and Abramoff had a lobbyist in common.

What about those forced abortions for the contract sweatshop workers in the Marianas? Are those in common also, in any respect? That's the kind of people the Gov. of Alaska is in bed with.

Barracuda

2008-09-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure Jimmy Buffett has a song named this too. About living under a bridge? I'll have to dig it up.

But Ann and Nancy didn't like their version being used.
Republicans Lack Heart!

.

North To Alaska

2008-09-06T11:03:00.000-04:00

So there's a real storm brewing and I didn't want to clutter up my nice homey blog with this politico hubbris.

Presenting, my new blog...

H E L I C O P T E R .. B A R B I E

The Girl Who Would Shoot A Wolf

Helicopter Barbie

Steaming Pile

Too Delicious, Ghoulin Rouge...

The SIMPLE Truth

What the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party March Was Really About

Picture of the Week

For the Pro-Lifers

The First Time EVER?

I'm for a Public Option, and Reform to help us all.

So, So Humbled

Insurance Company Death Panels

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

Just Go Away Sarah

Swan Song for SC Gov. Mark Stanford, El Creepo

esl teachers in quarantine in south korea

Please pray for Nerine

A Real Helicopter Mom

Best of the blogs

We are all Democrats Now

Obama's Entourage

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) Directed by Peter Weir. With Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt. A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617

Dean and Duncan, National Press Club talk

WE DID IT!

Gotta Love Bob

Best of the blogs

So You Think You Can Dance?

Old Hippies Who Haven't Died

Love With the Proper Stranger

Opie, Andy, and the Fonz

Sarah or Tina?

Who's Defending Alaska, again?

Down Home Common Sense

Pallin/McCain Familiar With Hypocrisy

confidently scary stupid

Sarah Palin is a Manchurian Candidate for One Extremist Splinter Group of the End-Times Crowd

I'm Voting for That One!

"Mr. Credit is dead and buried" - M (1931)Directed by Fritz Lang

Brad Sherman's Blue Paper

Wolf Hunting, Governor Palin Style

Vets on National Archives Bldg

Alaskan Wildlife for Obama

Economic Darwinism at its Zenith

About those lobbyists...

Will the real Sarah Palin please stand up.

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Hillary Open - Video - NBC.com

War Crimes Conference

The Truth Squad

Buttons for Obama/Biden

Kiko's Place: Light in the Piazza

Question

My Barracuda

#1 Reason Why I Love Joe

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE

lobbyist in common

Barracuda

North To Alaska

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Directed by Peter Weir. With Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt. A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617