Bagging Wind For the Church of Prattle - A Sermon

Well Bubba - it has begun. Discord in the Church of Progressive Prattle.

Yep, discord I tell ye. The "progressive" sites, which hath ranted in unison against 8 years of Bushites, are now turning on one another. Their Moses did not return with commandments everyone can agree on; no hero hath parted the Potomac; they hath wandered in the political wilderness for 40 years.

For the last 8 years they sayeth all manner of radical talk to dismantle the system! bring down the imperialists! stone and crucify the Bushites! And chastisement to all those who do not accept the word of progressive politics into their heart! Banishment to ye who would question progressive prattlers in this nation of spinners and spiels.

Leap with faith onto the bandwagon of change, verily change. The Church of Prattle has preached for an end to this reign of terror - with almighty camera angles and docudramas - to deliver unto us a world of peace, and other free stuff.

Verily Bubba - I sayeth these Progressive Congregationalists hath blogged long and loud against the status quo! Loooooong and loud! shaking fingers and posterboards at the profit makers of unrepentant criminals in the White House. Woe be unto neocons and Zionists.

The Congregation of Good Progressives raised their voices and spoke! They spoke of smote and smite and no mercy to the sinners of profit and war - and after the rallies and candlelight vigils they drank wine and planned the next paper petition rebellion and mall meet-up.

Yea, verily Bubba - they held their nose and fought swiftboaters and voted for Kerry - then they too stoned Kerry with epithets; he, a skull and bony harlot, had thrown 4 more years to the crooks and liars called Bushites. Then came 4 more years of gnashing of teeth and wailing. Deliver us they cried, deliver us from these evildoers.

And after John the Botox was politically beheaded in '04, the Church of Prattle congregation spoke another 4 years of smote and smite to those who would steal elections. They held more rallies and vigils and railed righteously against the immoral war of the father, the son, and the Dick Cheney.

Yea, Progressives sayeth they would make new wine in old skins and speak truth to power when they took back the congress in '06 - but then the sky opened sorely and they wailed anew - against the Pelosi. With gnashing of teeth and railing they draped themselves in tee-shirt cloth and red paint and held more vigils and signed more petitions.

Oh Bubba! Behold! I have seen the anger of Progressives - raging against the evil sinners of the war machine; cheering at the altars of Moore, Penn, Sarandon, or Feingold, Murtha, Kucinich, Joe Wilson, Gore, Ron Paul, Nader - anyone who thumped the Progressive Bible even once, and what's that Tim guy's last name, you know the new one who made a speech about young folk not believing Bush on bringing back the draft because Bush was untruthful - but then he got put on the, Ryan, that's his name, Tim Ryan-D Ohio, he got put on the House Armed Services Committee and kept Youngstown airbase alive and not on BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) list.

Ahem ... hmmm ... yes ... at any rate, I saw the Progressive Congregation clutch at any and every famous voice that spoke against the wickedness of the Bushites - politicians, pundits, comedians, celebrities, preachers, professors, anyone who was a former something, and grieving mothers, and medal tossing ex-warriors - angels to help, blowing their self-promo horns from on high. The Progressives congregated and heaped praise on them - for hours, weeks, months, even years. And the flock of the progressive knew temporary pleasure and kept the faith that a savior would arise from the ranks.

The flock heaped praise and called those men and women wise shepherds - who would walk through the valley of shadow with them - and hold more candlelight vigils - well, that is until the shepherds got kind of busy with traveling, fund raising, book writing, etc. but they keep in touch on-line with parables and OpEd pieces.

And now cometh another evil upon the Congregation - Election Race '08. Oh Lord, will the travails never end they cry. Why hath the lord forsaken the Progressivites they wailed.

But wait! lo - behold! then came Obama. He comes to separate the chaff from the wheat. He comes issuing forth words of eloquence from his mouth opposing the harlot of Rodham who cackles at world pain whilst her man mate is a secret member of the Bushites and other dens of iniquity.

Oh the faithful began this election cycle skeptical enough - damning the Hillary and not taking Obama too seriously, but all that changed in a few short weeks, with excellent Obama public relations propaganda.

The Obama floated from the clouds into their presence - revelations Bubba, revelations.

In the midst of the seven cable channels one like unto the son of a Kenyan man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girdled in fine cloth but without a flag pinned lapel. His head and his hair like wool, and his eyes as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they were burnished in a furnace. Oh Obama, oh Obama they cry - ye hath come to deliver us from these warmongers and deficit spenders.

Some Progressives in the Congregation, now that it seems Obama might win the nomination, hath wrought the calf of the golden chant - that chant I tell you today Bubba - "hold thy nose and support the lesser of 3 evils for would not an Obama be better than a Hitlery or a McCain?"

They preach for followers to have faith in the system and vote for Barack "What Have We To Lose" Obama. Oh radicals, where fort art thou now.

They believe Obama is the savior of change (in increments). Yea, I tell you verily Bubba, Progressives now believe Barack is the rectifying messiah, the new god of hope who will usher in the days of all things good.

But woe be unto the duopoly - a few backsliding Progressives this time cannot be fooled again - Obama is not their Lord of Deliverance. And when they say as much on the church of blogs where they were once welcomed to prattle - they are now chastised, they are heretics! But these unfooled Progressives will not cast their pearls before swine - lest they be trampled again in the sty of politicians.

These few blasphemy - reject the idea of voting for Obama - they refuse to acknowledge Obama as the one who will save the world (in increments), oh Lord from the corporate imperialists. Smite all those who do not support Obama cry the true thumpers; throw those cynics into eternal hellfire - lest they lead us all toward revolution and certain sacrifice. Begone with these folks who hath the audacity to not believe Obama is the author of hope. Begone.

Obamamite bloggers lift your heads! Lift your eyes and hands to the heavens and hope, hope this election, this time, something different will happen. For Ye are true believers! Truly ye believe in the American system. Vote, vote, vote ... and donate ... and someday the nation will not be ruled by rich white men - but by rich men of all hues from all continents.

Vote Obama fans, vote. For ye are the stalwart political correctors, ye are the blessed faithful of the American political system - and ye shall be called the children of Obama. Verily, verily.

Praise the lord and pass the bumperstickers.

Amen.

You're In Real Trouble Now

March 2008 Hersh: Don't trust Washington on Iraq.

Prominent journalist Seymour Hersh says the US is 'in real trouble' because news coverage on Iraq is anything but balanced and unbiased.

Hersh said media outlets spread 'fake' news and suggested his audience resort to translations of local media sources when learning about issues concerning the Middle East.

---- March 2007 Doing his part to scare America shitless, this time with what Sy calls The Redirection.

April 2006 Hersh wrote The Iran Plans: A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”

January 2005 Hersh wrote "The Bush Administration is looking at this as a huge war zone,” the former high-level intelligence official told me. “Next, we’re going to have the Iranian campaign. We’ve declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy. This is the last hurrah — we’ve got four years, and want to come out of this saying we won the war on terrorism."

Note to Seymour : Please inform your source, the "former high-level" intel official that the "war on terror" like the war on drugs, poverty, crime, the war on AIDS, cancer, etc. is never meant to be "won."

Note to audience: Hersh knows all about spreading "fake" news. Hersh insinuates mainstream media, other than on Iraq, is fair and balanced - Sy fakery.

Seymour "Me Lie" Hersh - "broke" the My Lai story to fuel the '60s anti-war movement - because one faction of the ruling class was ready to take the profit and run. No member of the ruling class wants peace - they just use the rhetoric to move their game piece to another location.

"Brokers" like Hersh, or Woodward and Bernstein, more recently Novak/Wilson etc., are fed the story to "broker" publicly - given to them by a faction of the ruling class; maneuvering a game piece, strategy. After a career is made - Hersh, Woodward, Bernstein - they can be used until they die, and sometimes longer; all "news" brokers figure out their useful idiotness fairly quickly but none will give up the money and glory, nor do they respect the unwashed Joe Schmucks enough to tell Joe he's a schmuck.

Their "stories" never make life better for Joe but he will believe his news is trustworthy; he will shout we has freedom of the press; real news. Joe thinks he has smartened up - he never realizes half of what the "brokers" write is talking down to him and the other half has no significant meaning in it - and he can strut around claiming he's informed because he has bumper stickers and tee shirts; because he knows the soap opera lives of opposing talking heads and politicians. He can't find his own home state on a map but he can find 2 girls and a cup on Youtube.

(Honest news brokers usually die young, and/or never find an audience.)

Hersh says to "resort to translations of local media sources when learning about issues concerning the Middle East." He means turn to local sources of spin, which is the rehash and reprint of the official left/right spin. Seymour Hersh - lifetime mouthpiece for the powers that be.

Bubba, pols and pundits are not members of the ruling class - they are pawns like the rest of us, albeit better dressed, better paid, awarded and knighted and honoraried and such.

Honorable David Manning

Honor


Racism is Not the Problem


MacDaddy Trash


Obamas Don't Pay Child Support


Typical White Grandmama - (Preached 03/22/08)

Emboldened

Public dissent in the United States has caused increased attacks against civilians and American soldiers in Iraq, according to a recent study by two Harvard economists.

Following months of data collection, Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School of Government and Radha K. Iyengar of the Center for Government and International Studies determined that there was a 5-10 percent increase in insurgent attacks following a spike in anti-war rhetoric.

---- I know progressives don't want to hear information such as this study but it makes logistical sense for Iraqi insurgents; anti-war rhetoric encourages their recruitment, their patience. The authors above aptly named it the "emboldened effect."

The "effect" is also one of the reasons MSM does not widely cover events with WinterSoldiers, Cindy Sheehan, Kucinich, Code Pink, etc. But don't worry - the Qatar emirate owned Aljazeera and Allied Media in Alexandria, VA are spreading democracy and keeping the insurgency informed of Joe Blow poll opinions and sentiment.



(Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani (Arabic: الشيخ حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني‎) became the Emir of the State of Qatar on June 26, 1995 after deposing his father, who was vacationing in Switzerland at the time.)

Calling All 10th Graders

John W. Dean, former Nixon attorney, once described by the FBI as the "master manipulator" behind the Watergate cover-up, asks of Obama's "More Perfect Union" speech Did It Reveal Him To Be Too Intellectual To Be President?

DEAN: Obama Speech Was Frank, Direct, and Intelligent - But Was It Pitched to Too Advanced an Audience? With his speech addressing race in America, Obama has done something that few politicians are willing to do: speak with compelling intellectual honesty. Rather than fuzzy-up difficult and troubling questions about race, he confronted them directly. Rather than avoiding issues that are typically ignored, he brought them forward for public discussion. Most strikingly, he did this with nuance, great tact, and conspicuous intelligence.

DEAN: Republicans Have Dumbed Down the Presidency.

DEAN: Enterprising linguists and others have applied the test to a wide variety of material. For instance, the folks at youDictionary have tested the inaugural addresses of presidents. They discovered that no president since Woodrow Wilson has come close to delivering speeches pitched at a 12th grade level. Bush II's first inaugural address was at a 7.5 grade level, which ranked him near Eisenhower's second address (7.5), Nixon's first (7.6), LBJ's only (7.0), and FDR's fourth (8.1). Clinton's two addresses, by contrast, scored at the 9th grade level (9.4 and 8.8 respectively). I tested Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech and it scores at a 10.5 grade level, which by current standards is in the stratosphere. But maybe he was being too smart to win the presidency.

DEAN: Using complex statistical and analytical tools, Professor Simonton has estimated the IQs of all our presidents. For example, for the last sixteen presidents he estimated (and I have rounded his figures) the following IQs: Wilson (155), Harding (140), Coolidge (142), Hoover (142), F. Roosevelt (151), Truman (140), Eisenhower (145), Kennedy (160), L. Johnson (141), Nixon (143), Ford (140), Carter (157), Reagan (142), G. H. W. Bush (143), Clinton (159), and G. W. Bush (139). With the exception of LBJ, the Democrats have provided the country with much higher wattage than the Republicans. But clearly, none of these men are stupid.

---- What does Dean mean? Well Bubba, Dean is saying you are a blockhead if you just don't understand Obama's brilliant speeches.

Dean is saying if you have the intellectual level of a 14-year-old 10th grader - then you grasp Obama's nuance and conspicuous intellect.

Dean is saying some professor's guesstimated IQ spread from Truman's 140 to Kennedy's 160 is testimony to the Republicans dumbing down the presidency although he also claims "none of these men are stupid." They just play dumb on TV.

But one must really be dumb to believe that George W. Bush hits the quotient at 139. Lol lol ... wait a second, my side hurts.

Ahem .... where was I.

Dean even gives Reagan a stroke, Ron's "letters demonstrate more thoughtfulness and policy savvy" than previously known. Lol lol ...

I apologize Bubba, I didn't know Dean had such a droll sense of jest.

Not everyone is so enamored with Obama. Barack reads inspirational speeches well from a teleprompter before television cameras or with ample practice time but critics say "many of his speeches on the campaign trail have failed to electrify." I agree, some of the clips I have felt embarrassed empathy for him.

Has anyone noticed when Obama adlibs he stutters and searches for words almost as painfully desperate as the boy Bush? Obama simply retrieves information more quickly and with more artfulness, whereas Bush grabs the last comment he heard someone say about the topic. If brains were p.c.'s Obama is an XP and George W is still using DOS; a gigabyte versus a kilobyte; a CD versus the 5" floppy.

As every one of these presidential men, including Obama, employ a pool of speech writers and ghost writers it's the delivery of the script where talent shows - Obama gets an Oscar - Bush a Golden Raspberry Award.

Out of curiosity I ran JuicyStudio readability for websites on the Dean article quoted above from SmirkingChimp and my post below Obama Speech to Allay White Folks Fear of Angry Black Folks.

I was surprised as the Flesch-Kincaid results for my piece was a Grade 12 level and Dean's piece a 6.48. Gunning Fog index for KAB post was 17 which puts it in the "academic" category; Dean's Fog number was 9.85, falling in the "most popular novels" range - probably romance novels. Now that is funny - 6th grade level John "Jethro" Bodean - a political expert for the people.

Has anyone read Dreams of My Father? It is awfully mediocre. Florid bordering on trite, with a hint of virgin white gardenia buds in the garden standing taut against the black ominous sky of a stark and dormy night with "wind whipping across the lake" .... where was I ...

... oh yes, Dreams ... of long-winded descriptions of nothing important; 400 pages of "stuff" happening to a passive narrator named Barack, more akin to a high school memoir than an autobiography written by an adult man. A book to peruse, if you must, on a day at the beach.

So, Mr. Dean, to answer your original question, is Obama too intellectual to be president - of course not - he pitches his speech to voters at the emotional and intellectual age of 10th grade and he's going to ride the public's hope as far as it takes him; then unload his lanky ass off the get-on-board change train just before it derails into Politics As Usual.

Business As Usual

March 31st, 2004 - The former chief financial officer of San Francisco health care giant McKesson Corp. was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury for his role in a huge criminal securities fraud that wiped out $9 billion of shareholder value five years ago.

A few of those charged : Jay Gilbertson, Dominick DeRosa, Timothy Heyerdahl, Charles McCall, Jay Lapine, Richard Hawkins, Albert Bergonzi. None in jail of course, some have moved on to the next executive position in another company.

Those who use the shredder the quickest must be acquitted.

FEBRUARY 16, 2006 - McKesson Corporation to Pay United States $3 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations. Today’s civil settlement resolves allegations that the San Francisco-based corporation, between October 1997 and December 2001, knowingly defrauded the Defense Department’s medical treatment facilities more for pharmaceutical products than was allowable under its prime vendor contracts with the government.

Nice "resolution" if you can get it.

Fiscal year 2008 1Q federal contracts to McKesson: $466,932,122. The bulk of this years contracts coming from Department of Veterans Affairs (war is very good for the medical business), and the Bureau of Prisons.

McKesson misconduct. McKesson has been fined 982.5 million in misconduct cases with $4332.4 million in federal contracts awarded in the last 8 years; not included are contracts to McKesson subsidiaries.

Also not included in the stats are cases pending. A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts against McKesson Corporation alleges McKesson and pharmaceutical data publishing company First DataBank entered into a secret agreement to artificially inflate the average wholesale price (AWP) of hundreds of brand-name drugs. The government uses average wholesale prices as reported by drug companies to set reimbursements from federal health programs. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of healthcare consumers and third-party payors who allegedly overpaid for drugs by billions of dollars.

As usual - expect only the lawyers to profit off lawsuits "filed on behalf of ... consumers."

Bubba, business is gonna love it when the US implements that "free" healthcare.

The Hereafter TV

Hereafter TV movie review of American Gangster
(James X and Michael X)



No comment.

The Mother's Act

GovTrack.us. S. 1375--110th Congress (2007): Mom's Opportunity to Access Health, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression Act.

Bill S.1375 is currently in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on March 11, 2008.

The “Mothers Act” would screen pregnant women for potential depression -- and treat them with antidepressants during and/or after pregnancy to avoid postpartum depression.

Co-sponsored by Barack Obama, and senators Bernard Sanders (VT), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Christopher Dodd (CT).

--- The bill is promoted under the pretext of protecting new mothers from depression and/or giving new mothers the tools to manage depression. Of course, many new mothers will be diagnosed in need of medication.

Another boost for BigPharma, and the drug pushers we sometimes refer to as "doctors." More payment to pimps, sometimes referred to as contributions to politicians. More dumbed down legal junkies, sometimes referred to as sheople.

Gosh Bubba, I can hardly wait for free healthcare so we can all be diagnosed and treated for something. (Spoonful of Sugar)

The 15 Minutes of Camilo Mejia

Sgt. Camilo Mejia was one of the first US soldiers to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq. As an Army staff sergeant, he fought in Iraq for five months but refused to go back after returning home. He spent five months in hiding before surrendering to the military. He served 8 months in prison and was released.

He is also the author of Road From ar Ramadi.

Mejía has joint Costa Rican/Nicaraguan citizenship but has lived in the USA since 1994. He decided to join the armed forces one year later, aged 19, serving as an infantryman from 1995 to 1998. He then continued his contract as a reservist in the Florida National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and deserted while home on leave in September 2003.

Contrary to progressive blog beliefs Camilo did not join the military to get US citizenship. He was given permanent residency status in 1994 when his grandmother in Florida, who had become a naturalized US citizen, obtained permanent residency status for Camilo and his mom who were living in Costa Rica (his parents had separated years before). Permanent residency status gave him the right to live and work permanently in the United States - he didn't have to join anything.

Oh wait, some progressive blogs believe he joined for college benefits, although in 1994 grants and funds for minority students were at their highest, plus Pell grants and students loans. I've known too many young people from the '90s who obtained degrees by working their way through college. The "I joined for college benefits" is a small minority. It's the promise of travel and adventure that captures most young people. Camilo had dropped out of college and enlisted, then after his active duty in the '90s he signed up for the Florida National Guard. Again, he didn't have to join anything.

Mejía's parents were both Nicaraguan Sandinistas; Camilo's father, Carlos Mejía Godoy, was the singer associated with the Sandinista movement and his songs were the music of the Nicaraguan workers and revolutionaries. Mejía Godoy was a vice-presidential candidate in the last Nicaraguan election.

According to 32-year-old Camilo's myspace these days he's busy with "Activism (mostly antiwar), writing, reading, walking, talking, watching movies, spending time with friends and family, and spending time with my daughter, Samantha ... "

... when he's not traveling to speak in New England and California, etc. about how "this war was based on lies" although when he deserted in September 2003, 80-90 percent of the sheople were still supporting the war and expecting WMD to be found any day.

In the 1960s the men and women I knew who refused the draft or deserted - sacrificed something. They left the country, left friends, family. They went underground, gave up normal lives. Some spent long stretches in military prison. Today's soldiers who refuse spend a few months in jail sifting through book deals, lining up a lecture schedule, raising funds for defense and creating foundations to their own "cause."

I sometimes wrestle with what I feel toward guys like Mejía. Guys who enjoyed the benefits of the US military until they had to get their hands dirty. Men whose own accounts of atrocities grow with every story they read in the news; when they're not "reading, walking, talking, watching movies." Guys who become the heroes of the "left" until the next 15 minutes hero comes along, while soldiers like Alan Lewis are forgotten.

I know you'll think I've gone stark-raving rightwing mad - but I don't see honor in guys like Mejía - I see another type of sociopath - not the kind that throws a puppy off a cliff, or rapes and murders a 14 y/o girl in Iraq - but an antisocial dickhead who deep down really doesn't give a shit about anything other than his own ego and finding the easiest way out, upon which he will capitalize for as long as he can.

Alan Jermaine Lewis - Milwaukee

JP Eats Bear Stearns

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- As more than 14,000 Bear Stearns Cos. employees watch the value of their stock sink and brace for firings, some of the company's 550 brokers who handle individual investors' accounts are receiving job offers from competitors promising windfalls of $2 million or more.

"The brokers aren't going to get hurt,'' said Mitch Vigeveno, chief executive officer of Turning Point Inc., an executive-search firm in Safety Harbor, Florida. "They have a book of business they can move. The ones who are going to get hurt are other employees, like people in operations and marketing.''

Bear Stearns employees own about one-third of the common stock, according to the company's Web site. High and mid-level executives participate in a compensation plan tied to income per share, a program that until recently had "worked very well for a long time,'' said Alan Johnson, a New York-based compensation consultant. The company spent $1.5 billion on stock compensation from 2005 to 2007, last year's annual report said.

"It's publicly known that a lot of individuals in the company own a good part of the company so we clearly believe there was value in the organization,'' Kanwardeep Ahluwalia, Bear Stearns head of risk management for Europe and Asia, told Bloomberg Television March 17. "But when there is a run on the bank there's nothing you can do. I guess we have to grin and bear it and move on to a strong partnership with JPMorgan."

---- JPMorgan is part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., a "leading global financial services firm with assets of $1.5 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries."

Under the impetus of Ronnie Reagan the game was megamergers, hostile takeovers, corporate raiding, and bailouts of course. The game is played by CEOs (front men for the power behind the scenes) who move companies around as if pieces on a board game - buying, selling, and dumping businesses.

As KAB said last summer, the big boys have been there done this before. When the bubbles burst, never fear. The Wall Street boys, always in search of big money, will find a way to turn bubbles into a lot of loot, or loot a lot of bubbles. And party harder when the feds step in with your tax dollars.

The big boys created the Great Depression to their benefit. Their spawn and protégé have created subsequent economic downturns, recessions, inflation, stagnation, fake runs on a bank, boom, bust, bubbles.

The name of the game is Corporate Cannibalism.

KAB advice, based on my dad's phrase of "paper rich, dollar poor" - buy tangibles: gold, land, gems, canned goods, ammo, shotguns ....

Mr. Poller Mr. Poller

Poll: Most Americans Say War Not Worth It. One the eve of the five-year anniversary of the start of the war with Iraq, Americans continue to think the results of the war have not been worth the loss of American lives and the other costs of attacking Iraq, according to a new CBS News poll.

----- Mr. Poller Mr. Poller, ask Americuns how they feel about the billions we're still pumping into Clinton's effort in Kosovo/Serbia to protect oil interests, as in the trans-Balkan pipeline - known as AMBO pipeline, reportedly being built at a cost of 1.1 billion dollar by US builder and operator company, the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation will pass through it in due course. The pipeline would pump Caspian oil from the Bulgarian port of Burgas via Macedonia to the Albanian port of Vlora, for transport to European countries and the United States.

Yesterday, Nato put the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica under de facto military law after rioting by Serbs hostile to the newly independent state left one UN policeman dead and forced the withdrawal of UN staff.

I have a nephew who returned from Kosovo a couple of years ago, after a 12 month stint, only to deploy to Iraq. Yessiree Bubba, we're still contributing boots to the colony of Kosovo.

Serb vigilantes pledge to fight over Kosovo.

Obama Speech to Allay White Folks Fear of Angry Black Folks

Oh dammit, do I have to write about it? Whine ... groan.... I don't want to write about it - it was the typical pol giving a typical "trust me, I'm with the government and here to unite you" speech.

Good lord Bubba, he is just another uniter not a divider politician.

Besides, are you not tired yet of hearing Obama praise his white momma from Kansas? Who later went on to marry a future economist, divorce, marry a Shell oil executive, and herself become involved in "microlending" and work as a consultant to such good guys as the World Bank and USAID, while she dabbled in beads and fabric and wore long hippie dresses?

Obama spoke about the racial slurs (he called them stereotypes) which his white grandmother used that made him cringe, and her fear of black men, but he lauded her for the love she bestowed upon him. Must have been some mixed messaging going on in that household, poor kid. Grandma should write a book about how to raise a black man to be a black man when you're afraid of black men.

In today's speech Obama says: "I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible."

The Only in America meme.

Hey, what about Hugo Chavez, mixed heritage of Amerindian, African and Spaniards (3 continents) son of humble schoolteachers from a farming village? (The hues and continents also describes my own family.)

Have you noticed Obama and his camp never mention his father except to say he was the son of a Kenyan goat herder who came to America for education, where he met Obama's white mother from middle class Kansas.

The story is that Obama's father abandoned ... er, I mean ... left Barack and his mother in Hawaii to go to Harvard, and then returned to Kenya; divorced Barack's mother according to Islamic law and remarried. As a Kenyan government official Daddy Obama traveled around the world, but only managed one visit with his son, when Barack was 10. He had remarried and began a large family in Kenya.

Although Obama likes to claim his interracial parents "epitomize the possibilities of this nation" his daddy apparently thought Kenyan possibilities were better after all.

Rumors from the rightwing are that Obama's father was not the son of a goat herder attending Harvard or Hawaii U on a poor boy scholarship - but a member of a large family of Kenya's privileged upper class who aided and abetted the British oppression in Kenya.

Obama's father returned to Kenya in the 1960s around the same time Kenya obtained its independence from Britain - and of course violence has prevailed ever since with tribal factions fighting for leadership roles while the West arms everyone and backs their favorite puppet.

The current mayhem in Kenya is the factional fighting between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kibaki's opponent in the December elections. Odinga is described in the US media as Obama's "distant cousin" but actually they are 1st cousins.

Obama and supporters never seem to say much about his stepfather Lolo Soetoro, with whom he lived until he was sent to his grandparents in Hawaii for the prestigious prep school there. All I know about Soetoro is he worked for Shell oil company in Indonesia, and the Indonesian Army, during the Sukarno/Suharto era.

So for me Bubba, it's not a question of Obama's faith and membership in the Church of The Angry Black Folks, or his race (halfrican according to gasbag Limbaugh), or his hyped up heritage of a Kansas mom and Kenya goatherder - but what are his ties to Iraqi billionaires and Rezkos, his ties to oppressive African and Indonesian governments, to big oil, and global wolves like World Bank and USAID - are those the ties who made him the rock star of the new millennium?

Or was Obama really made by his Kansas flower child momma and Black fearing midwest maw-maw and a good edumacashun?

Note grandma's holding purse away from Obama. ;)

Woman Without a Wing

Yesterday I was reading a post on a dissident voice website regarding the rules of engagement in Iraq having been "thrown out the window." The author quoted veterans of Iraq turned anti-war activists at the WinterSoldier event.

QUOTE: "John Michael Turner served two tours in the Marines as a machine gunner in Iraq. Visibly upset, he told the audience, “I was taught as a Marine to eat the apple to the core.” Turner then pulled his military metals off his shirt and threw them on the ground."

Alternet reports Turner quote as : " John Michael Turner began his testimony by telling the audience that as far as he was concerned, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine" was history. For him it is now "Eat the apple and fuck the corps." Then he tossed his dog tags into the audience saying, "Fuck you, I don't work for you no more."

That made me hold my nose and the article lost credibility with me. It's so John Kerry-ish medal toss. Apparently the winter soldier event was not well-attended; Youtube has clips. And did Turner toss his "medals" or "dog tags"?

Another high-profile Iraq vet turned activist is Evan M. Knappenberger.

Knappenberger was fired from his job as an analyst while in Iraq but he served in the Army for almost four years. He was given a general discharge under honorable conditions in April 2007.

General under honorable discharge means the soldier's conduct was sufficient but not meriting an honorable discharge, usually a pattern of bad behavior; general discharge usually interferes with the Montgomery G.I. Bill and education assistance benefits but the vet can appeal for upgrade of his discharge.

When did Knappenberger have his anti-war epiphany? How do I know guys like Turner and Knappenberger are not just wannabee Kerrys in the making?

Having 3 sons (ages 24, 33, 37), nephews, and a DIL, in the military doing multiple tours, I have not heard first hand of any troop atrocities - not that such hasn't occurred in Iraq perpetrated by US troops. And believe me, my relationship with my sons is such they would tell me if they witnessed war crimes.

My oldest son told me recently that many of the Iraqi males he has come to know believe wholeheartedly that Saddam Hussein won the Gulf War. That in 1990-91 Saddam's army and the Republican Guard were victorious and ran the US out of Iraq. My son said he couldn't convince them otherwise. Certainly the educated informed Iraqi under Saddam knew better but the Iraqi masses, much like America's own, believed what their government (Saddam) told them.

Some Iraqi believe today they can repeat their Gulf War victory and drive the "infidels" out. But I think they are a small minority, although talk of US withdrawal probably fuels the "insurgent" hopes and their numbers with the idea that the US can be beaten again.

I want the war to end, protested before it began, but I'm not hearing definite ideas from the anti-war groups regarding after the war ends - I'm from the '60s Civil Rights and Peace Movements and I remember when Vietnam ended - and I could sit in the front of the bus and pee in the white bathroom - the US culture began a long ride in a hand basket, along with passengers by the name of recession, inflation, gas lines, kung fu movies, disco, and cocaine at every office party.

What happened to those radicals/peace activists of the '60s after Vietnam ended? Gee Bubba, the ones not assassinated just faded away overnight - or put on suits and got richer, e.g. Ellsberg, Kerry, Jesse, Tom Hayden, or former Black Panthers who went on to become crooked politicians like Chicago Bobby Rush (D), or the more radical of the radicals like Eldridge Cleaver and Abby Hoffman who ran away with their drug addictions and arrest warrants to be eulogized later as "prominent" social and political activists.

Meanwhile, the capitalist/corporate system that historically stages all wars was not altered at all. In fact, worsened, and continued to overtly and covertly fund dirty little wars and death squads in Africa, Central America, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, etc. Some leaders prefer to call their foreign meddling "humanitarian aid" and/or "peacekeeping" but it is always death to the natives.

So my distrust of today's participants in the anti-war or "peace movement" arises from the question - if you end the War on the Middle East - what then?

Do we get peace and prosperity? Do we get a more sane economic and political system? or do we just shuffle home and demand more "free" stuff from BigDaddy government until Daddy withholds it from our paychecks and we think it's "free", while the US political "monster" meanders off stage to plan the next generation's war? and today's "activists" run for office while siphoning funds off their newly founded foundations that promise a new dawn for all the little sheople.

Recently, using another name on a "dissident" forum, I posted similar sentiment as above. Did so politely as I believe I'm a guest when on another's forum and will behave as a guest should, even if I adamantly disagree. But as I was not swallowing and regurgitating the party line the other guests called me a petty liar, a troll, and even that I was likely so ugly my husband wouldn't sleep with me.

Oh the pain of it all - the "right" wing doesn't like me and the "left" wing won't have me ..... boo hoo hoo.

Between Chicken & Bull

The Man Between War and Peace aka Admiral William "Fox" Fallon.

To hear the "left" tell it, Fallon is the man who stood between Iran and Boy George.

That Fallon has been "brazenly challenging his commander in chief."

That Fallon has been the lone resistance to BushCo's military strike on Iran.

That Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough," forcing Fallon to resign.

Good grief people. The man has 41 years in the military - time to retire? You think?

For months the opposition stories have been of "this administration's" dangerous push to war on Iran and only the patient, calm resolve of Fallon's reasoned voice has prevented the war with Iran.

Well, who do you think appointed Fallon to his commands these past 7 years? That's right, "this administration." And Fallon was a HUGE improvement over Tommy Franks and John P. Abizaid.

As KAB has posted for the past 3 years: We are not going to war with Iran. And, if by some slimmest of a slim chance Bush or the next president declares Iran war, it will be as Fallon himself says regarding the Middle East - "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."

But turning the ME into a glass parking lot would sure interfere with oil profits. Not to mention the angry mob at home that might get off its ass and blame politicians when the economy really goes to a wartime economy, and they lose their cable TV.

Last fall, it was reported in the press that Fallon had called General Petraeus an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" for being so willing to serve as the administration's political frontman on the Iraq surge. Fallon says the press has an overactive imagination and the story was "absolute bullshit." He said his own children called laughing and saying they knew the story was false because "chickenshit" is not a word he would use.

Beginning March 31st with Fallon's retirement the command will be taken over, at least temporarily, by Lt. Col. Martin Dempsey, his promotion to 4-star General awaits senate approval. Whether Dempsey is another "brazen challenger of this administration" or an "asskissing little chickenshit" we must wait for the media to tell us.

Fallon's own statement on his retirement:
Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the President’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the CENTCOM region. And although I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command Area of Responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America’s interests there.

You could read the statement as a polite way of leaving without saying anything nasty about "this administration." But come on folks, Fallon has 4 decades of dealing with men like BushCo, at home and abroad - males like "Fox" Fallon, who walk softly and carry a big stick, are not forced out of anything.

Or you could read the statement as saying the media, often "absolute bullshit," has made it difficult, as Fallon says, to do his job - which would make you wonder why the seeming "anti-war" crowd would create an atmosphere Fallon doesn't want to work under.

Or the statement may simply mean he's old, he's tired, and ready to retire.

And you could say the same crowd, which has shilled for 5 years of the rush to war with Iran, is full of shit - be it chicken or bull.

Crazy Uncle in the Attic

Reading the usual progressive sites (DailyKos, Huffingtonpost, PI, DU, etc.) on the topic of Obama/Wright, supporters are doing the defensive stand by my man tap dance around this week's reverend "revelations."

The usual meme for the defendant is "Obama has denounced and rejected Wright’s comments ... So, people, let’s move on already."

Heehee. Everyone wants to move on when it's their sucking tick under the microscope.

But some of the progressive intelligentsia/vanguard (said with tongue in cheek) are miffed.

Typical responses from DK on Obama's uncle excuse:

"... Obama has insulted the intelligence of every American with that line. I don't believe there is any chance he can be President."

" ... Obama's answer that he only valued Wright for his theology is no comfort for me, since Christian thoeology for me is mythical. It frightens me that a President, weather Bush or Obama really believes this stuff."

" ... as he negates the politics of his church, he is only left with the Theology, which to this atheist, is even less palatable. His problem becomes the problem of all who see a need for something to replace the conservative mentality of the last seven years."

" ... Wright performed his marriage, and, by his own statements, Obama went to Wright's church weekly. He may have missed the individual speech, but he must have heard about it. The "crazy uncle" analogy sounds weak and Obama needs to at some point stop the empty denials."

As I said 10 days ago Bubba , in The Obama Fling - "Obama is the forbidden fruit, the love taboo, call it "change" if you want and you don't have to sneak around - but most white voters aren't going to marry him, or even take him home."

Obama, an intelligent man had to know Rev. Damn America Wright would be an issue. Surely he knew the difficulties of interracial voting. Didn't he see Jungle Fever?

Did you know the government created AIDs for Black American genocide? I thought it was for Gay white men. Damn, learn something new every day Bubba.

Some are incensed over accusations that the "liberal" media bias has not covered the story until now - ranting "... the "media has ignored" Obama's relationship with Wright? What planet is this guy living on? It's been droned about endlessly on Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and all the other far-right media sites..."

Well yea, it has kind of been ignored by MSM as over a year ago RollingStone wrote about Obama and Reverend Wright.

RS: The Trinity United Church of Christ ... is a leftover vision from the Sixties of what a black nationalist future might look like. There's the testifying fervor of the black church, the Afrocentric Bible readings, even the odd dashiki. And there is the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a sprawling, profane bear of a preacher, a kind of black ministerial institution, with his own radio shows and guest preaching gigs across the country. The senator "affirmed" his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a "sounding board" to "make sure I'm not losing myself in the hype and hoopla." Both the title of Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright's sermons. "If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright."

Shame on Obama for now denouncing the crazy uncle who made such an impact on his faith and influence on his life and career. Shame, shame, shame.

And then there's the Farakhan and Wright/Obama "connection." Who, on cue, Obama has also "denounced."

(I won't tell you about Obama's fellow Chicago southside democrat and supporter Bobby Rush, the Barton-Rush telecom bill and the SBC/ATT $1 million to Englewood charity founded by Rush and his wife, cha-ching, or the Bobby Rush fight to save Cabrini-Green from the wrecking balls - until Obama and gentrification began to take hold of Chicago in the early 1990's, and the land on which Cabrini-Green sat became extremely valuable, cha-ching, cha-ching.)

But at least this episode of the political sideshow, Handing McCain the White House, is more entertaining than the 2004 bored to death John I-found-out-I'm-a-Cohen Kerry just standing there with his horse face giving BushCo the White House.

Remembering 1994

Eros Ramazzotti, one of Italy's most successful singers/songwriters of all time.

Otra Como Tu

Reverend Wrong

Rev. Jeremiah Wright


Mr. Wright is no Mr. King


If Obama becomes "the man" who do we blame then?

Gimmicks

Obviously neither the cloned Democratic candidates or MSM is going to discuss anything of any relevance, so let us dissect the latest racist charge.

In 1984 I voted for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket (in Central America holding my nose and an absentee ballot wishfully thinking that Mondale might succumb to a heart attack and Geraldine would be the first woman president) - it was the anyone but Reagan/Bush syndrome. (Besides, as hubby is Sicilian we gravitate to names ending in a vowel.)

Geraldine, as a Hillary backer - has lost more luster than a cheap mohair sweater. On the other hand, there isn't one candidate worth backing and I cannot decide who is the bigger threat, Shillery Clinton or Reverend Barry Obama. As they will both do as they're told once in office it's a moot point anyway. (McCain may be sufficiently insane to think he can buck TPTB.)

Geraldine: "I said in large measure, because he is black. I said, Let me also say in 1984 -- and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times -- in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president," she said.

Ferraro said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Why is this being labeled racist? Because some pundit in the Obama camp said so?

Geraldine is from the generation which remembers the '60s and '70s - back when the country was caught up in concepts, when being black was trendy, when white folks wore perm-fried afros and dashikis and loved Motown. Back when it was also trendy to be native American - every white person I met in that era professed to have found a long-lost Indian somewhere in their ancestral file - usually Cherokee, although tough white guys claimed Apache.

In 1984 women in power, in business, and possibly a female as VP was trendy. Ferraro is correct - she was selected for the Democratic ticket solely because she was female. It was the Dem thing to do at the time.

But trends move fast and the Reagan/Bush era made young upwardly mobile professional people (yuppies) trendier. By 1984 being black and native American or first female was passé. Please step back Geraldine, greed and go-getting puppies in pinstripes driving Beemers are in this decade.

Ferraro is right about "the concept." Be they business, music, big screen or politics - stars are marketed - not because of ability - but what's trendy, with what TPTB believe will achieve their agenda against the sheeple. The "concept" is the scheme, the angle, the gimmick.

Obama is Our Raisin in the Sun who will not be intimidated or bought out. Just kidding. Barak is no Sidney Poitier and he sold when the Chicago outfit groomed him for a senatorship.

Note this nomination process has been predominantly about the "first" history making something, nitpicking race and gender cards and very little about the platform of the candidates (their platforms are identical lies anyway).

Americans, faddish lemmings that they are - are caught up in the Obama "concept". Look at us world - US seriously supporting a black man for president - aren't we cool.

By November, fickle fans of Obama and Clinton will not want either one of them. Gimmicks have a short shelf life. Ask Bill, the "first Black president" playing a sax.

Chicago John

Spitzer prostitution case has Chicago connection.

Identified only as "Client-10" in court documents, the man requested that the prostitution ring, Emperors Club VIP, send a prostitute known as "Chrissy" from Los Angeles to Chicago on March 4, according to the indictment dated March 5.

The FBI intercepted a phone call Feb. 22 between Client-10 and Temeka Rachelle Lewis, one of the defendants named in the indictment, asking about the possibility of "Chrissy" being flown to Chicago for a date on March 4. Lewis told the man that he would be responsible for the cost of airfare and other travel expenses, the indictment says.

Intercepted text messages show that a flight was booked for "Chrissy" from Los Angeles International Airport to O'Hare International Airport for March 4, returning to Los Angeles from O'Hare the following morning. It is not clear from the documents whether she arrived in Chicago.

Class Reunion

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, 'surely I can't look that old!'

Yesterday I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered a tall, dark, handsome boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 40 years ago. Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then?

Upon meeting him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face and jowls was way too old to have been my classmate.

After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School. "Yes. Yes, I did. I'm a mustang," he gleamed with pride.

"When did you graduate?" I asked.. he answered , "In 1959. Why do you ask?"

"You were in my class!", I exclaimed. He leaned in and looked at me closely.

Then, that ugly, old, wrinkled, fat-ass, gray-haired, decrepit son-of-a-bitch asked, "What did you teach?"

Yawn, Support the Brown Folks

Greg Palast, poser extraordinaire, rambles incoherently at DV about the Chavez 300 and the "hemisphere on the verge of flames," Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador. The recent to-do with the border incursion of Ecuador by Columbia to kill FARC's second-in-command Raul Reyes, while the actors on the verge of flaming have kissed and made nice already.

With all Greg's experience and contacts he doesn't see the recent incident was nothing more than a pissing contest by proxy, or he sees it but as he earns his living on hype for a left leaning readership, he has to use such hyperbole as the "hemisphere on the verge of flames" to pump up his low forehead readership.

And by the way, the pissing is instigated by white folks at home and abroad who are directing the actors involved on the stage in Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia, etc. You think Uribe is the only puppet?

Not sure what Greg thinks of the "rebels" FARC - his editorial reads as little more than a paw swipe at Bush, Clinton, and Obama, once you read through his usual impressed-with-himself soppery and the evil "right-wing" at home and their foreign flunkies. Whoop tee doo.

Yessirree Bubba, to read the left you would think the left-wing doesn't meddle at all in foreign intrigue.

Palast is guilty of not linking to information he interprets for the reader, e.g. regarding the $300 million Chavez/FARC payola on the dead rebel's laptop: "What the US press did not do is look at the evidence, the email in the magic laptop ... I read them. While you can read it all in español, here is, in translation, the one and only mention of the alleged $300 million from Chavez..."

(I did find the documents in español on Palast's home page... guess he thinks everyone has gregpalast.com in their favorite links.)

Thirty years ago I would have defended FARC as a group of freedom fighters - but over the last 3 decades Farc has morphed into just what the mainstream press calls them - terrorists. Farc was a people's movement in the '60s and '70s but failed to obtain support of the impoverished masses, and today's generation of Farc-sters are thugs, thieves, social outcasts. They run drugs, guns, kidnap, murder. The elders are no longer freedom fighting heroes - but aging criminals, raising their young to maintain a lifestyle of jungle hegemony - by any means necessary. And very aware that the "left" in the USA is sympathetic to their "cause".

Did Chavez pay Farc $300 million? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. It's believable that it is US rightwing propaganda to erode Chavez image - but also believable that Hugo would use some of his oil profits to pay ransom for hundreds of hostages which would have the worldwide "left" press singing Spanish ballads to Chavez for obtaining their release. In the emails referenced above the rebel does mention ignoring Columbia's Uribe proposal and going with Chavez offer as it would "give the greatest worldwide resonance..." although Palast doesn't mention it in the DV piece.

Palast interviewed Ecuadorian president Raphael Correa, and the interview is worth a read. Correa's father did time in a US prison for drug running, a mule, in the 1960s. Palast applies lipstick on this little piggy with the excuse of hard times, poverty, etc.

I'm curious - would the progressive "left" be as forgiving if say Obama's daddy had been an inner city drug running ex-con? Also curious as to how an impoverished non-white drug mule managed to send his son to Belgium to obtain a Masters in economics, and then to University of Illinois for his Phd.

Correa is fluent in English, Spanish, French and much more handsome than, dare I remind you, the metizo Chavez? These days the "left" seems tickled pink when mixed race folks are in charge; do they want you to believe such folks are not connected to any white oligarchy? Why doesn't the "left" refer to Obama as a mulatto more often?

Ahh, Correa has Belgium and France connections. Need I remind you who funded, armed, trained, and supported the Hutus in Rwanda?

When Correa married his white Belgium wife Anne was he sayin' "Where da white women at?"

Got Attention?

*Updated.

I was ignoring the Samantha Power, Hillary is a monster story, but since it's been in my face in the headlines for 2 or 3 days I decided to give it a brief read.

Why was so much made of this drivel. We know Hillary is a monster, so what. I would bet everything I own the Obama campsters are calling Clinton worse names in the back room.

Does this mean Obama is morally superior - not tolerating this sort of language and attitude from a campster? Or does it mean he doesn't know when he 's being played by a white woman for a little publicity? Or did he say "Samantha who?"

And how does a bright, educated, Pulitzer winning author blow a simple interview and have to resign from Obama's entourage?

Samantha Power resigned as a foreign-policy adviser to Barack Obama yesterday, hours after the Scotsman newspaper quoted her as making a disparaging remark about Hillary Clinton -- although, immediately after uttering the comment, she asked the reporter not to use it.

"Eric Deggans, media critic for the St. Petersburg Times, agrees that Power should have known better than to use such language. "This is an astonishing lack of judgment for someone who has as much experience as she does," he said. "She's been profiled a zillion times, has been on 'The Daily Show' and had interactions with lots of reporters."

Aha! It's not how does she blow it - the question is why? The Scotsman interview took place in London, where Power was promoting her new book, "Chasing the Flame," about a U.N. envoy who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. (Power has published a book almost yearly since 2000.)

Power is just another hack for the other faction of the ruling class - that group which condemns American policy of genocide in foreign lands - after the fact of course, and then writes, lectures, advises, teaches, analyzes, and serves on boards and committees of foundations, etc.

And, like the "right" cheek on the corporate ass, the "left" cheek also believes only the US can save the world. Heaven forbid the US leave the world alone and take care of business at home - someone might call you that dirty word - isolationist.

Samantha is of the faction which condemns US policy for failure to act in time to save people; that faction which claims there's a moral difference in a bomber who "inadvertently" kills innocents and a bomber who intentionally kills innocent civilians. Huh? This faction believes inadvertently dead is preferable to intentionally dead. It's the "progressive" version of having to destroy the village in order to save it - but they love you while doing it to you.

Watch out Africa. When this US faction (self-described humanitarians) comes to power - they're gonna arrive with UN Guns & Blue Hat Specials, Inc. to protect you and your resources - any death wrought is inadvertent.

Her book sales must be down.

* "Power, a leading expert on genocide had advised Obama as senator for two years and her work on the topic is widely admired in the Jewish community, particularly for how she exposes non-intervention during the Holocaust. However, she also angered some in the pro-Israel community for her withering criticism of how Israel handled the Lebanon war and its occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, going so far as to accuse Israel of war crimes."

Another Brick in the Wall

I have heard this song for months as my granddaughter (guitar/vocals) and her band in our basement prepare for their high school talent show. I'm not sure the judges - Billy Ray, Vince, Dolly, and Earl - are gonna like this tune. :)

Melted Air

Justin Raimondo, alternative icon of Antiwar.com, confesses to being an Obama cultist.

RAIMONDO: "Okay, I'm coming out of the closet, and admitting I'm one of you. There, I can say it, at last, out loud and proud: I'm a conservative-paleo-libertarian with a man-crush on Obama. Whew! What a relief! Now that I've got that off my chest, I can speak freely, and openly, about my condition – and, what's more, address my fellows in the spirit of mutual solidarity and support. Because it looks like we're going to need all the support we can get. First, my story: Like many of you, I tried to deny it. I lived deeply, and tragically, closeted, afraid to face my inner desires and tortured by the possibility that someone might find out. Trying not to look at him when he came on television – which, as you know, is often. I looked, of course, but only out of the corner of my eye, and tried not to swoon as those golden words melted the very air."

---- What did I tell you below in The Obama Fling? "Obama love knows no gender bias. The majority of male Obamamites are just less vocal; internalizing their swoon."

Raimondo has a new headshot of himself sans the lip dangling bad boy cigarette. Lol. The new Justin pic reminds me of Scoobey, our bull mastiff, who tilts his head and says "rhuh?"

Well Bubba, today I have completed the 5 stages of political grief.

Denial - tried that briefly before witnessing US policy in Central America.
Anger - at a nation which blew an immense opportunity for humankind.
Bargaining - work within the "system" with a conscience (not possible).
Depression - frustration in the fight against a system so corrupted it can never be undone peacefully.

And finally, acceptance. I accept the fact that the vast majority of my fellow citizens will masturbate over fools gold watching television in their closets and gush with hot air.

Outfitters

Rumors are Obama met my favorite Iraqi billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago in 2004. Neither Auchi or Obama recall the meeting, and their mutual influence peddler Tony Rezko doesn't clearly recall either.

Robert Novak: "Obama bought a mock Georgian mansion on Chicago's south side on June 15, 2005, the same day Rezko's wife bought a plot next door from the same seller. Federal prosecutors recently revealed that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi billionaire who lives in London, wired $3.5 million to the financially strapped Rezko in Chicago less than a month before the Obama-Rezko purchases. James Bone, investigative reporter for the Times of London, wrote last Tuesday that "the money transfer raises the question of whether funds" from Auchi "helped" Obama buy his house."

Robert, Robert, Robert ... is that the best you can do? The above insinuation hardly shakes the ground - Michelle Obama was bringing home mega-bacon during this time period with the couple's combined income approaching $1 million a year, sufficient income for a down payment on the $1.5 million Chicago mansion, although it's nice if someone makes the down payment for you.

Through all his travails in Chicago politics Nadhmi Auchi is still bullish on America. February 12, 2008: "One of Britain’s most successful businessmen says he remains bullish on investing in the American economy and wants to complete a proposed $2-billion real estate development near downtown Chicago. Nadhmi Auchi ... looks forward to developing a 62-acre parcel just west of Chicago's "Loop" near downtown as part of a signature project, Riverside Park, that would include residential, retail, and commercial space."

Anyone know how much of those proposed billions are from federal and state coffers?

What congressional district is Auchi's Riverside development project in? Is that Danny Davis' 7th congressional district? I searched and searched but did not find the answer to that question.

Novak quotes Clinton as stating: "I was fighting" against "bad" Republican ideas, she told Obama, "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slumlord business in inner-city Chicago." In fact, Clinton messed it up. Rezko was not a client of Obama's firm and was not a slumlord. Accused of racial insensitivity, Clinton dropped the issue."

Right, Rezko was not a client of Obama's firm - he was just partnered with Allison Davis, who was Obama's boss at the firm. Rezko and Davis made at least $855,000 in "development fees." Would you like a wet wipe for those greased palms?

I don't think Hillary backed off because of "racial insensitivity." Or is that what we're calling "an offer you can't refuse" these days?

Robert Novak - why do you deny Rezko was a slumlord? What do you call someone who buys and rehabs, on the cheap, those inner city dumps designated as housing for low income? Eleven of Rezko's not-a-slumlord properties were in Obama's district. The properties were cited by the city for lack of heat and in need of major repairs, many now boarded up and/or in foreclosure - and you know who is stuck with repaying the federal, state, and city loans/grants used to rehab the buildings.

Obama's good buddy and law firm boss, Allison Davis, business partner of Tony Rezko, is not a slumlord either - although sewage bubbles up to the electrical outlets in units he owns and/or manages. Obama is not a slumlord - he just profits from the political donations bubbling up from slumlords. Would you like another wet wipe?

Gary Poter, Obama donor, politically connected owner of the construction company that rehabbed all Tony Rezko's buildings, was stabbed to death in 2006 in his Northwest Side office, allegedly by employee Tom Tuduj, disgruntled over a poor performance review.

Tuduj was CEO of TT Ventures Unlimited, LLC, a catch-all start-up company with a defunct phone number in southern California, and has listed Kristy Tappan as CFO, formerly of Tamalpais Bank, subsidiary of Epic Bancorp where William "Jeff" Tappan sits on the board of both banks. Any connection to anything there?

All I can say Bubba is it's a good thing Patrick Fitzmas is back on the job rooting out organized crime and terrorism, keeping Chicago safe for bullish investors. Yessirree - wouldn't want any mobsters running the Windy City.

For Your Precious Love

Same song, Jerry Butler 2007.

Pots Attack Kettles

Lol. A controversial new Hillary Clinton attack ad caused an Internet stir Tuesday among critics who claim it deliberately darkens Barack Obama’s skin color.

The buzz began earlier the day, when the liberal Web site DailyKos.com showed side-by-side screen grabs of Barack Obama taken during a debate with Clinton in Cleveland last week. The screen grab used in the ad showed a clearly darker-skinned Obama, prompting some to wonder if it was done to highlight his race.

----- For years I've watched Condi and Colin fotos go darker, and now progressives complain about the practice? And damn nice and white of them to notice Obama looked a little too black.

The Obama Fling

Charlotte Allen writes a sexist piece for WaPo We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?, apparently she thinks only women scream and swoon for Obama, but Obama love knows no gender bias. The majority of male Obamamites are just less vocal; internalizing their swoon.

Why has Barack Obama won the hearts and minds of so many? Ask no more, KAB explains.

It's social neoteny. The retention of immature characteristics into adulthood, usually referring to larvae - although the US masses are sexually developed, they are wingless worm-like feeders who die before reaching the adult stage. Similar to flies in that they eat, shit, and bother people. Neoteny affects all races and economic classes.

That's right Bubba, neoteny. It's the ADHD of 20-somethings. It's the neotenic mid-lifer still seeking novelty and sensation. It's the old farts trying to be trendy and calling it young at heart. It's a culture of shallowness dealing through the sensual senses as opposed to thought. It's the US neo-culture where adults are unpredictable, their priorities out of balance, who overreact to any and all stimuli - and they firmly believe such juvenile traits are desirable, attractive, and downright mature Bubba.

Many Republican neotenists, who like to think themselves the grownups on the playground, voted for the biggest child among them, twice - GW Bush, who at 40 was still a drunk brawling in bars and driving the family car through the garage. Even after Poppy scruffed him by the neck and dried him out for the presidency, GW remained a self-absorbed undisciplined cowardly bully teenager from a dysfunctional home life.

Many Democrat neotenists, who like to consider themselves progressive, voted for the biggest children among them, twice. Bill and Hill, the prom queen and her king. And like the popular kids in high school, no matter how much whoring and destruction they do, they remain popular because they are the "in" crowd.

Although it is extremely unlikely Obama will make it to the White House - the neotenic public is having fun with it. It's novelty, it's sensational, it's attention getting - it's a sweet 16 birthday key to a sports car.

It's a phenomenon I see locally - the teen white daughters of the lawyers and physicians here in town wouldn't dare date a Black peer openly but do tippy-toe to this side of town to bang the Black football team.

Obama is the forbidden fruit, the love taboo, call it "change" if you want and you don't have to sneak around - but most white voters aren't going to marry him, or even take him home.

While You Were Out

While you were out protesting USMC recruitment, or freeway blogging with momma's old bed sheets and spray paint, and cheering on your favorite antiwar poser on a forum using your real name because you like to see your name in print - the US government awarded EADS-Northrop Grumman (EADS, Netherlands, manufacturing in France & Germany) a $100 billion 30 year contract to make your tankers.

"We should have an American tanker built by an American company with American workers," said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., who represents the district in Wichita where Boeing would have done much of the tanker work. Tiahrt said he will try to reverse the decision.

EADS stock up today. Boeing stock slid. (Coincidentally, Europe voted in support of further Iran sanctions today.)

That's the same politically mature Europeans (according to America's "left"), who have learned the hard WWI&II way to promote peace, those grown-up Europeans who detest US warmongering, some say even "hate us" - yet they do love US military contracts.

Rippling Giant

Liam Halligan writes: Russia is emerging as a global economic giant.

----- And why shouldn't they. Russia spent a dozen years in bankruptcy and default, the last sovereign debt default in 1998-99. The population declined as folks fled the mother country along with banks and businesses. (Russia now offers women incentive to reproduce).

Since Russia's last economic meltdown and with a clean slate the nation is today almost debt free "with a budget surplus of 6 per cent of GDP, and a trade surplus almost twice as much again."

In the last half-dozen years Russia opened its doors to international bankers and business, and although current inflation is 12%, it's only a "blot" according to Halligan.

(US current inflation rate is 2.85% but if you add unemployment, the miseryindex is 9.18%. The miseryindex in 1980 was 21.98% and a low of 2.79% in 1953. With this method and Russia's 6.6% unemployment their current misery index is an 18.6% "blot.")

Halligan refers to Russia as having a 13% basic rate of income tax, but according to this writer the real burden on the salary of a Russian worker would be not 13% but about 40% because of "social costs", medical, pension, etc.

Halligan states "Foreign banks can set up at will. Moscow, St. Petersburg and, increasingly, Russia's regions are rippling with stores bearing Western names and products."

A Burberry hoodie and a Starbucks caffé latte - ain't rippling liberalization capitalism great?

This glowing, optimistic report of Russia's bursting-at-the-seams growth (and a dig at Hillary) has nothing to do with Halligan being chief economist at Prosperity Capital Management, which "currently manages approximately $5 billion in Russian and CIS equities, and is thus one of Russia's largest and best-known international investors. Our clients include European and US private banks, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, and endowments."

Like Venezuela, Russia profits from the US war for oil, while publicly pretending reluctance or anti-war. Halligan claims "... had Russia chosen to join OPEC ... oil would now be way above $150 a barrel, rather than close to $100. Imagine how much that would now be hurting oil importers like America and the UK."

(Imagine how rippling BigOil/Putin/Chavez would be @ way above $150.)

Halligan gives no explanation for his conclusion, that had Russia joined OPEC, oil would now be way above $150 a barrel. Normally when OPEC wants to drive up barrel price they cut production - although of late the price seems driven by anxiety - or whenever Hugo shakes his weenie at the US.

Lock & Load

Woodrow Wilson
Twenty-Eighth President
1913-1921
Democrat. WWI.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Thirty-Second President
1933-1945
Democrat. WW II.

Harry S Truman
Thirty-Third President
1945-1953
Democrat. WWII, Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Korea.

Lyndon B. Johnson
Thirty-Sixth President
1963-1969
Democrat. Vietnam.

And you thought Democrats were wussies?