'Scott Walker,' 'Wisconsin,' 'Madison,' 'Maddow,' Oh My!

Union busters have always relied on scare tactics to boost anti-worker legislation -- fear, threats, lies and intimidation are standard fare for politicians trying to weaken labor laws, and they're generally effective. In a recent example of this, right-wing think tanks are going after universities and professors for emails that might mention anything regarding the mass protests across the Midwest. Yesterday, the case of William Cronon, a historian at the University of Wisconsin, who was targeted by the GOP for his emails in an effort to smear his reputation was reported. You see, Cronin had the audacity to weigh in on Wisconsin's turmoil by creating a blog called scholarcitizen. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which is funded by the union-busting Koch Brothers, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for any emails sent during state time, on state computers which contained, 'Scott Walker,' 'Wisconsin,' 'Madison,' 'Maddow.' Maddow? Huh, the right wing is always saying how she's irrelevant and no one watches her while touting Faux' big, big ratings on their propaganda channel. So why is the lefty truthteller on little ol' MSNBC so scary to them?

In abusing Open Records to attack academic freedom and intimidate critics, the Cronon situation is an indicator of just how vindictive, how un-American, one of our two political parties has become. I watched Fair Game earlier tonight. Ever since Bush-Cheney fired the shot over the bow to expose CIA Agent Valerie Plame due to husband Joe Wilson's damning article about their Iraq lies, and got away with it, Republicans have established a war on any type of criticism headed in their direction. By the way, I highly recommend the movie although I regret they didn't go even more in depth. They just told the story.

Rachel Maddow followed up this evening being that she was named and all, inviting Mackinac backers -- including Charles Koch and The Walton [Wal-Mart] Family Foundation -- to appear on last night's show and discuss the FOIC request. Neither responded, I know - shocking. Also interesting was the response of another Mackinac backer, The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation (the parents of Blackwater founder Erik Prince) -- who claimed not to know what they were talking about, before abruptly hanging up. Watch the clip below, Rachel doing it as only she can!

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March 19, 2003 - I Want a 'Do Over'

Right now, if you've been watching the news at all, you're probably knee deep in health care and whip counts and wondering if Speaker Pelosi will have 216 votes by Sunday. However, do you remember what happened seven years ago today? The Bush-Cheney regime launched the war in Iraq! For some reason,the majority of the media doesn't seem to care about it anymore. Quick fyi;one broadcaster hasn't forgotten and asked Nancy Pelosi about it last Thursday. The clip is below. Getting back to my point; Remember how the Bushies acted as though the 'mission' would be a cakewalk? They implied marching into Iraq to do as we please would be as easy as it was to free Kuwait twelve years earlier. A funny thing happened on the way to relabeling the oil fields for BP, Chevron, Exxon, Shell and Texaco -- the Iraqi's fought back! To this day, I find the fact that many U.S. leaders were dumbfounded that insurgency developed amazing. What do they think would happen here if another country invaded us?

Think about all our different missions or at least the one's easily remembered. First we were going there to rid Iraq of WMD (oops),  then it was to end a regime, then to develop a free Iraq, on to training the Iraqi's so they can do the fighting, and after stealing a second election, Bush decided he'd advance the ideal of democracy. Since everything was going so splendidly, we moved on to helping secure the population. I still find it ironic that many of them had 20th century services until we bombed them, now they don't even have running water in many places. Remember how another rationale was that we were going to "fight the terrorists in Iraq so that we wouldn't have to fight them here," in America. Nobody has ever explained why we couldn't keep fighting those terrorists in Afghanistan, where they were! This was arguably the worst decision any American leader has ever made. Historians will sort it out, in textbooks being cooked up by McCarthy-loving dipshits in Texas! Bush, Cheney and Rove will be smiling in approval.

Remember this famous Dubya quote while standing on an aircraft carrier: “On Thursday, I visited the USS Abraham Lincoln, now headed home after the longest carrier deployment in recent history. I delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: Their mission is complete, and major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” [5/3/03] All these years later, this administration still has supporters even though every reason they used to invade and occupy Iraq has been debunked. Nothing will be learned from these grievous mistakes. The fact that the current administration refuses to investigate these crimes gives me every reason to believe it will happen again.

None of us will forget the tragedy of 9/11/01 when 3000 people died on U.S. soil. As of right now, 4385 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq and over 30,000 wounded. And then there's the fact that an estimated 30-40,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the fighting. Can anyone explain to me that attacking a country with no ties to that fateful day and the loss of even more lives than occured that day has justified this invasion?

An interesting article I read today: Full El Al flight took off on 9/11 from JFK to Tel Aviv

Thursday Thoughts - 3/11/10

Some headlines from today that I thought I'd Quick Comment on:

Dumb and Dumber: Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann team up for fundraiser. One will be talking about 're-education camps' and the other needs to enroll in one.

House Votes For Ethics Committee To Re-Open Eric Massa Investigation: Yes by all means investigate this nutball, but don't worry about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney's illegalities. What a country! One clown groped a bunch of men and resigned. The other two groped our country leading to 4300 dead Americans and 30,000 wounded. Where the hell has our common sense gone?!

House Dems Will Forge Ahead Without Stupak Language: It's about time! This anti-choice amendment should've never gotten this far. The Hyde Amendment of 1977 is in place restricting federal money for abortion excepting rape, incest or a woman's life.  Stupak's language actually goes further than current law which is why there's such an uprising amongst pro-choicers. This is about stopping women from being able to pay for insurance that covers abortion at all...even when women have paid for their own insurance with their own money. If "Insurer A" gets federal dollars and "Woman A" has a policy with them, she will not get covered because of that! This is another backhanded restriction on women's reproductive rights. I don't want my tax dollars going to Viagra either Bart, what do you think about that?!

If Obama Supports Public Option, It Could Pass Senate:  I'm very sure this is true.  This is the thing that bothers me.  Why has Obama taken every chance he's gotten to say that the public option is not essential to health care reform yet he backs the mandate? I'm very worried about whatever kind of backroom deal may have been worked out with insurance companies. Keeping my fingers crossed that the bill we get helps the uninsured, not the insurers.  Not feeling great at this time although Wendell Scott says this is a start.

God Helps With Personal Decisions, Most Americans Say: Say what? The confusion for me in such statements is that most religious people claim to believe in personal responsibility. So why wouldn't they want to take personal responsibility for their own decisions? Oh that's right, when they do something wrong, they use the "devil made me do it!" Idiots.

Finally, let's hope for full recoveries for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter. They were hospitalized today – after their minivan was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia. Reid's wife, Landra, 69 has a broken back and neck and their daughter, Lana Barringer, 49 has a neck injury and facial lacerations.

I really hope some fright-wingnut doesn't say something stupid about this being some kind of karma for Reid's support of HCR. How bad is it, that I feel confidant that one of those losers, whether it's Limbaugh or Beck will go there?

Wingnuts Prefer a Raygun Over a Grant

From dictionary.com
ray gun: a gun that can fire bursts of usually destructive or lethal rays
grant: to bestow or confer, esp. by a formal act
That explains it!

Just when you think you've heard it all. Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) wants Congress to tell the U.S Treasury to replace former President Ulysses S. Grant with Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill. McHenry announced his bill Tuesday. Surprise -- he has 13 Republican co-sponsors! Does anyone besides me think there's a little political gamesmanship when a southern Republican wants to remove Grant from the $50? For anyone who was out of class while the Civil War was being taught, Grant was a Union general during the War who led the North to victory and later became the nation's 18th president. McHenry said Reagan transformed the nation's political and economic thinking and argued that "every generation needs its own heroes." The transformation?! Oh, he did that all right! Let's see, he sold arms to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua (which had been specifically outlawed by an act of Congress) in a little thing called Iran-Contra that history wants to forget. He kept American hostages in Iran from being released until he was sworn in. He gave everyone a tax cut in year one, but raised them every single year after that on the middle class. He cut the income tax rates of the top personal tax bracket from 70% to 28% in 7 years while social security and medicare taxes increased. He began taxing unemployment benefits retroactively. Then he deregulated everything he could and pissed on the middle class with his "trickle down" economics experiment that continues to haunt us. He once said,"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem"...while tripling the size of government! He was against healthcare for veterans provided by the same government that asked to sacrifice their life. He gave us the largest spending increases from any previous administration. He was the originator of "death panels' wanting to eliminate Medicare for our seniors and asking them to go buy private insurance instead (sound familiar?). He gave us a large household tax increase by adding a huge surcharge on gasoline. He increased Cold War related defense spending that caused large budget deficits, the U.S. trade deficit expansion, and contributed to the Savings and Loan crisis. Oh, did I mention he funded and helped Saddam during his chemical warfare against Iran? ...

Given all the neoconservative “outrage” over the financial misdeeds arising from the UN’s socialist oil-for-food program during the 1990s, when the UN embargo was killing untold numbers of Iraqi kids, a non-partisan thinker would believe that there would be an equal amount of outrage over a much more disgraceful scandal — the U.S. delivery of weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. As everyone should know, it was those WMDs that Bush, Cheney and the rest of the war profiteers ultimately used to terrify the American people into supporting the invasion and war of aggression against Iraq, a war that has killed or maimed thousands of innocent people — people who had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks in the United States. As we know, WMD's in Iraq were never found.

Yes, every generation does need heroes, but I'd like to think we can do better than a "B" movie actor turned imperial ruler who charmed his way into America's heart only because of the failed presidency of not-ready-for-primetime Jimmy Carter. I for one believe Jimmy Carter was the last truly honorable man who was our president, although I'm still hopeful that Barack Obama will wake up and live up to the man I believe he really is.

One last thing about Jimmy Carter, he was actually right, but nobody listened. If you've got a couple minutes, watch this youtube video. He called it (our current plight) 33 years ago!

Pres. Jimmy Carter Declares End on Foreign Oil Dependence


For more facts about Reagan's true legacy, I highly recommend, Tear Down This Myth: How The Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Policies and Haunts Our Future by Will Bunch. Looks like the newest edition has a slight name change.

General Petraeus and Former General Powell Take On Draft Dodger Cheney

Gen. David Petraeus, the current leader of U.S. Central Command, completely denunciated the Dick Cheney school of "torture is awesome" thought on Sunday. On Meet the Press, Petraeus made the case against torturing terrorist detainees, saying he found it far more pragmatic and beneficial to stick to methods authorized by the army field manual. He also reiterated his support for closing Gitmo, albeit without a date-specific time frame.

"I have always been on the record, in fact, since 2003, with the concept of living our values. And I think that whenever we've perhaps taken expedient measures, they've turned around and bitten us in the backside. We decided early on, in the 101st airborne division, we just said, we decided to obey the Geneva Conventions. In the cases where that is not true we end up paying a price for it, ultimately. Abu Ghraib and other situations like that are non biodegradable. They don't go away. The enemy continues to beat you with them like a stick.... Beyond that, frankly, we have found that the use of interrogation methods in the army field manual that was given the force of law by Congress, that that works."

Then there's former Gen. Colin Powell's disagreement with Cheney's "be afraid, be very afraid of the socialist black man in office" rhetoric. On CBS's Face the Nation, Powell pointed out that Obama has kept in place most of the programs enacted by the Bush administration.

"To suggest that somehow we have become much less safer because of the actions of the administration, I don't think that's borne out by the facts. [] The Transportation Security Administration created by George Bush is still in action working in our airports. They take care of me every day that I go to an airport [] Our counterterrorism authorities and forces are hard at work. Our law enforcement officials are hard at work. We have gone after the enemy in Afghanistan with 50,000 more troops, more predators are striking al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan. We have continued the policies that President Bush put in place with respect to Iraq. And so I don't know where the claim comes that we are less safe."

I don't know about you, but all this Cheney cheap talk has to be extremely frustrating for the men and women actually serving or have served with honor in our military. This sociopath received five draft deferments during Vietnam. How can anyone think this criminal has what it takes or the knowledge about military policies, especially during wartime? At least President Obama admits it's not his strong suit and listens to those who have the experience. I know it's not politically correct to say, but Cheney wants to see us get hit again, on our soil, on Obama's watch. His rhetoric is making us less safe. He is inviting another terrorist attack by implying we're not ready to respond. He is salivating over the thought of more American casualties. He believes that's the winning combo to give him the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and force us live under his Marshal Law. This man is pure evil, there's no other word to describe him.

Republican Solution To Deficit - Keep Shafting The Middle Class

All of this deficit talk is starting to get on my nerves. Of course it’s an issue, but this didn’t start last January. Why is the military/defense budget exempt from spending cuts? It’s our biggest source of wasteful spending, it always has been. Of course Cheney's Halliburton would suffer greatly and we can’t have that. Those mercenaries employed by Blackwater and KBR are real American heroes. Next, make the rich pay the same share as they did before Reagan gave them the keys to the Kingdom. Their pre-1980 tax wasn’t denting their lifestyle. Tax the hell out of U.S. corporations manufacturing outside of our borders. Oh wait, that would make sense. Our politicians are more concerned with who’s funding their next election, which brings me to my desire for term limits. We will need a national referendum or ballot proposition or whatever it’s officially called to ever have any hopes of that happening.

Last night I watched Texas Representative Jeb Hansarling (R) go on Chris Matthews Hardball. He blamed the Democrats for everything naturally, but that's not the thing he said that set me off. He basically called for a cut to Social Security benefits for anyone who is currently under age 55. Since this affects me…and many others, I’m concerned. I’ve been paying into that system for more years than I care to remember and this fool is basically saying “tough luck, sucker!” Yes, I’m well aware of the fact that I can’t live off S.S. alone, but since I paid into this agreement, not getting anything back basically means the country downright stole from me and everyone else who falls into our category. We need to start taking care of our own citizens and stop policing the world. How about we try that?!

We spend at least $607 billion annually for military expenditures. The next closest country in spending is China…at $85 billion. Do we actually have to spend seven times more than another country to be safe? Those big bad Russians spend a whopping $58.6 billion. We are 41.5% of the whole world’s share of military expenditures! Just cut the spending in half and we’ll still have the biggest d***s in the world. Isn’t that what this is really about? Seems like a simple enough solution. The deficit would be under control in about 5 years. Furthermore, Bush lied when he said, “They hate us for our freedoms.” That’s not why they hate us. They hate us because we meddle in other country’s policies without being asked. The U.S. really needs to take a look in the mirror and think about what our reaction would be if another country, say China, comes here and starts telling us how to live. I'm guessing we wouldn't take kindly to it.

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Brownie, You're Doing a Heck of a Job!

President Elect Scott Brown…What? He’s not President Elect? Ok, Senate Majority Leader Elect Sco…wha…he’s not that either? He’s not even sworn into office?! Then why the hell is the whole country watching his every move? Brown appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with Barbara Walters Sunday. She actually asked him if he was considering running for President in 2012 and although his first response was, “I don’t even have a business card yet”, he didn’t reject the idea either. When asked about Sarah Palin, he said he did believe she had the capacity to hold the office of the president. "I mean she's been a mayor and a governor and has a national following." And everything! Is he out of his freakin mind?! Why didn’t you talk about that when you were running for Senator instead of the GD truck?! He continued by saying, “I know she's very popular and has a new book out. I haven't read it and hope to someday." Oh my God Massachusetts, what have 52% of you done?

Brown claims he wants to hear from the generals before weighing in on repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Yeah right. I’m sure he’ll be an independent, thoughtful voice in regards to gay military personel. He has spoken out forcefully against same-sex marriage, supporting a Constitutional amendment to ban such unions. He continued by saying “it's settled here in Massachusetts, but I believe that states should have the ability to determine their own destiny and the government should not be interfering with individual states' rights on issues that they deal with on a daily basis." That’s right, keep allowing majorities to restrict rights of minorities because you don’t “get it.” As a white playboy, he's never been discriminated against. In fact, he's probably been applauded for his "scores." There is no way he’s going to support the repeal of DADT. One of the things that does make me chuckle though, is one fact that these guys don’t seem to grasp; there are gay soldiers already serving and have since the start of time. This isn't a new millenium thing! It’s not like they’re all of a sudden going to start painting their rifles hot pink. Would they really rather not know? In fact, I would think that they’d prefer to know. On top of all that, he is also opposed the repeal of another Clinton gem, the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Did anybody who voted for this guy actually check his voting record and stances? Who is continuing to fall for his lines?

On abortion, he said he still was a supporter of Roe v. Wade, though he wanted to make it more difficult for abortions to take place. In other words, keep it legal, but make sure only women who have the money to pay for the procedure out of pocket have access. That way, when the unwanted child is born to a poor teenager, it'll be one more kid without a chance, two actually, but a Bible thumper somewhere will sleep better. Their job is done. That's my biggest problem with the "pro-life" movement. Why are they only concerned with the unborn? Once these kids are out of the womb, the next thing that happens is these "good" Christians start bitching that their tax money shouldn't go to support that teenage slut and her bastard child. Here’s what the smartest tactic would be. Make birth control easily accessible, teach people, especially teenagers the dangers of unprotected sex, but for Christ sakes, give up on this abstinence only nonsense. For the first time in ten years, teen pregnancy is up. Can’t these idiots see the correlation of time when sex education was forbidden in favor of abstinence only?

Here’s my fear people. First, the fact that Brown's arrogant enough to be considering running for President when he's only actually been to D.C. once in an official capacity. Secondly, thinking Sarah Palin has the capacity to hold the office of the president shows his lack of depth is equal to hers. Are the Republicans considering running two pretty faces for the highest office in the land while Rove, Gingrich and Cheney secretly run things in the background? We have such an easily impressed electorate, I really fear that’s where they’re heading. Many men (no offense to evolved males) would still probably have an issue with a woman running the show, but a pretty boy and a beauty queen, no problem!
For the record, beauty is subjective so these two have no appeal to this writer.

Let's close with these nuggets. He's against fees on the big banks that received bailout money. He wants no new regulation of the financial markets. And he wants to maintain Bush tax cuts after 2010. In essence, he wants to follow the failed policies that got us here. Once again I ask, did anybody who voted for this guy actually check his voting record and stances? Well, at least he said he was for term limits! So I agree with him on something.
Click on  Scott Brown to see what we really got and please notice all the activity that seemed to begin with his race to the Senate. Where was he between July 2004 and September 2009? Just as important, why couldn't Martha Coakley and her team do this simple research?

Say It Ain't So, Massachusetts!

On Tuesday, the 19th of January, our little ol' state of Massachusetts will be holding a special election to replace the seat once held by Senator Ted Kennedy. Democrat Martha Coakley is in a tight battle with Republican Scott Brown. The thing is, this should've been an easy win for Coakley, but I honestly think someone was whispering in her ear that "it's in the bag" so she hadn't been doing much campaigning until the polls started tightening. Brown on the other hand has been pretty aggressive and has had money pumped into the state from outside sources. I will be shocked and dismayed if our state elects a Bush-clone to the seat once held by Kennedy.

To me, this is about so much more than the health care debate. Brown’s positions are actually lock-step with what Bush and Cheney did…tax cuts for the wealthy, protections for business, he’s against the fees Obama has proposed on big banks to get bailout money returned in entirety, health care for all as long as it’s done through private insurers, doesn’t care about the environment, etc… On gay marriage: "Marriage issues should be left up to the states, so long as they reflect the people’s will as expressed through them directly, or as expressed through their elected representatives.” In other words, keep letting the majority decide on the rights of a minority. He’s been endorsed by the hate group, MassResistance. I wonder what would’ve happened in 1967 if inter-racial marriage was put up for vote as a popularity contest? I’m a bit confused about his stance on abortion since it seems to change depending on his audience. At one point he stated: “While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America. I believe government has the responsibility to regulate in this area and I support parental consent and notification requirements and I oppose partial birth abortion.” First, let me just say that I hate the term partial birth abortion, just as much as I resent being called pro-abortion. The anti-abortion crowd just keeps on coming out with terms to place fear in women. As a very pro-choice individual, I also recognize that late term abortions are no longer a clear cut decision between a woman and her doctor. At a certain point, you’ve taken on some responsibility whether you realize it or not. I’m not a believer that life starts at conception, rather at individual viability. That is when the decision becomes tricky since the woman has had several months to decide, life/health of the mother obviously excluded. However, Brown also sponsored an amendment to a 2005 bill on emergency contraception that would have let emergency room doctors or nurses turn away rape victims if they had religious objections to providing emergency contraception. Rape victims! They’ve already been violently victimized once and now they’re going to get victimized by the very people who are supposed to help them? My feeling has always been you need to leave your personal feelings at the door in any profession. If you can’t do your job every single day in every single way, you need to find another line of work. It’s as simple as that.

Here’s what I find somewhat interesting. In June of 1982, Scott Brown won Cosmopolitan’s “America’s Sexiest Man” contest and posed nude for the centerfold. Isn’t this the family values party? Didn’t fellow Tea-bagger Sarah Palin say her former, future son-in-law Levi Johnson was doing porn by posing in Playgirl? What’s the difference? Enquiring minds want to know. I’d also love to hear the roar if it was the Democrat who had done the nude layout. It would’ve been scandalous! What I think is mind-boggling is in their ongoing hypocrisy. Their defense is that it’s ok because he’s good looking! So what, Obama is too. The right wing went nuts over a photo just as old as this one, of Obama smoking a cigarette because of the message that it sends to the youth of America. Conservatives really are one dimensional cretins.

Today President Obama will arrive in Boston to help gin up the base to turn out on Tuesday. I’ve been getting robo-calls from Obama, Bill Clinton, Martha Coakley and sadly Scott Brown (I’d love a live call) who’s been endorsed and heavily funded by the Tea Party Express. I hope it’s not a question of too little, too late. Martha Coakley is not an exciting candidate by any stretch, but the alternative is not acceptable. What a sick twist in irony it will be when Houston, TX just elected a lesbian Mayor and liberal Massachusetts ends up with a Tea Bagger in the senate if this doesn’t go well. If that happens, I hope the Democrats find a strong candidate to run for the full term in 2012.

Isn’t It A Bit Soon To Rewrite History?

Ok, back to business as I was a bit under the weather recently. Ever since the Christmas Day attempt at bringing down an airliner, Republicans have been salivating that there was a terrorist attempt under Obama’s watch. They figure this was just what they needed to begin a new string of attacks on Obama and Democrats and how they’re weak on “the war on terror”. Never mind that the policies in place were left over from the Bush-Cheney Regime; they count on the fact that most Americans don’t pay attention to politics so they can say virtually anything and get away with it. Like Obama, Bush was on vaction at the time of the shoe bomber attack. He didn't speak publicly for 6 days compared to Obama's 3. The perception that Republicans are asserting is that Obama wasn't doing anything after he learned of the attack. It would be laughable, but when I view other blogs, the conservative base actually believes that he just shrugged and continued to play golf. Conservatives are now attempting to rewrite history in the mindset of America. They are counting on the fact that most Americans are too lazy to fact check. Eventually this may work for them, as America gets dumber collectively with every passing year, but I think it's still a bit too soon!

First we watched Dana Perino in November claim on Sean Hannity’s show that there were no terrorist attacks during Bush’s administration. Ok, it’s Fox and Hannity, it would’ve been way too much to expect some journalistic integrity or credibility. Then there was Mary Matalin on CNN with conservative John King in December claiming the Bush administration “inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history.” Obviously soul mate King gave her a pass too. However, what former Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos let Rudy Giuliani get away with Friday on Good Morning America was unforgivable. Giuliani claimed “We had no domestic attacks under Bush."  First it just appeared that he didn’t seem to remember he was the mayor of New York City on 9/11/01. Then he told yet another blatant lie which again went unchallenged, saying that it took Obama “10 days to respond.” In fact, anyone who has been paying attention knows that is untrue. After a firestorm mostly from the left was created by these lies going unchallenged, Rudy claimed he meant "post 9/11." Well, not so fast dude. GWB was in office from 1/20/01-1/20/09. What else happened on Bush’s watch you might ask? The Anthrax Attacks were from October-November 2001, the Shoe Bomber on 12/22/01, LA Airport shootings by Hesham Mohamed Hadayet on July 4, 2002, D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad in the fall of 2002, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar of Iran who claimed he was following in the footsteps of his idol, 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta when he ran down 9 North Carolina college students in March of 2006. Later in the day after being heavily criticized, even from some of ABC’s own correspondents for his failure to correct Giulini, Stephanopoulos posted an expression of regret on a blog post. A blog post?! Really? How about making your apology on GMA on Monday morning in the same time segment that the interview aired so the likelihood that you’ll be apologizing to the same mislead viewers is heightened.  When writing about Giuliani's misspoken words, the Washington Independent's Spencer Ackerman wrote: "You actually need to give President George W. Bush credit for this. The Bush people did a wonderfully effective job of making it verboten in mainstream political discourse to consider the deaths of 3000 Americans on 9/11 in any sense Bush’s failing."
Vice President Biden was right in 2007 when he said of Giuliani; “…I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else! There's nothing else!...”

As far as the attempted attack on Christmas Day, it’s sickening that Republicans are happy that an attempt was made, but appear somewhat saddened that it failed. When you have Faux Newz resident talibangelical Brit Hume along with Bill Kristol claiming that the attack was a success even though the only thing Abdulmuttalab managed to set on fire was his own junk, you’re showing your hand. You’ve got Dick Cheney running to every single microphone or camera he can find to say that Obama’s too low key, doesn’t want to admit we’re at war and promises more attacks because of this alleged weakness and all the ditto heads (elected officials as well as the conservative electorate) follow his lead. Do they actually think if he says the word “terror” more often, that’s some sort of tool against terror? It's been one of their claims. How do they think they don't sound ridiculous? Maybe if the Bush-Cheney Regime hadn’t actually taken their eye off the real terrorists instead of trying to steal the “black gold” in Iraq, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. The sad truth about this fool who got 5 seperate deferments to keep him from serving in Vietnam is that the very people we're trying to defeat are listening to this idiot tell them that the current administration in inept.  He is inviting them to attack. Are the Republicans so hungry for power that they have total disregard for the safety of Americans not just here, but abroad?  Why can't the majority of Americans see this game being played?  Why isn't the majority of the media calling him or other conservatives out?  MSNBC is the exception.  They get called a liberal channel (3 hours with Olbermann, Maddow, Schultz) which is balony (3 hours of Scarborough and daily guest nazi Buchanan) because they seem to be the only one's that haven't yet fallen victim to the "conservative media bias" that now inhabits our airwaves.  It's crystal clear for anyone paying attention,that the current administration has stepped up the search and destroy missions of terrorist pockets. Isn't it likely that the current administration, by using the "speak softly and carry a big stick" approach is probably leading to more success because we're not tipping our hand to the enemy?  By the way, I think Obama's address on Thursday when he said, "The buck stops with me." was one of the most honest presentations any modern President has given.  If Obama and the Democrats do this right, the Republicans will never again be able to paint them as weak and defenseless. Maybe that's what neocons like Cheney are really afraid of, that it's working.

Liz Cheney’s neoconservative political attack organization, Keep America Safe, is out with a new ad titled “100 hours.” It is complete with images of the President golfing on his Hawaiian vacation. Stephanopoulos actually did his job today on ABC’s “This Week”, confronting Cheney about her hypocritical attack. “As many Democrats and others have pointed out, President Bush waited six days before doing much about Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.” Cheney evaded the question entirely, pretending not to hear it. “The point of that ad,” she said, “was this notion that you cannot win a war if you’re treating it as sort of an inconvenient sidelight.” My question is why anyone gives a rat’s behind what this neocon nobody has to say. Her father's crooked administration didn't give a damn about defeating terrorists, they lied to get into a war with a country who's oil they wanted to control. They never even attempted to capture bin Laden. If they had, they wouldn't have been able to occupy Iraq.  Her father is an evil bastard and it’s clear the apple didn’t roll far from the tree.

It’s really disheartening what we’ve become as a nation. All those right wingers claiming that Obama is the most polarizing President ever (they still can’t believe the black guy won) don’t seem to remember that George W. Bush who was never rightfully elected to his position actually said in November of 2001, “You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror”, when anyone dared question his policies on his new found purpose. You can’t really get any more polarizing than that. I believe that was a crucial turning point that pitted conservatives against liberals in a very hardened way and I don’t see it getting better any time soon, especially since the right wing religious zealots are having success in determining public policy. I have a genuine fear that this country at some point is going to become a theocracy, not a democracy.

Quick Thoughts: Not all Republicans are clueless political gamers afterall. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” about the criticism of Obama's handling of the terrorist situation: “It’s unfair, I think the president is focused…To the contrary, Obama has demonstrated firmness” and “decisiveness… That’s been the antidote to the criticism.” Good for him to have the guts to say so! I'm sure he's not the only one who feels this way, but the larger portion prefer to play partisan politics or are afraid of getting in Cheney's crosshairs...or crossbow! ...

On Thursday, Tea Party Nation claimed that "liberal troll" Rachel Maddow tried to join the group and "we banned her 7 minutes after she joined. I have little doubt she will mention this on her show." The teabaggers must've been disappointed that Rachel did not mention it, although Keith Olbermann and Richard Wolfe discussed the falsehood on Countdown. Did a bunch of 8th grade level racists actually think they were going to outsmart her? The funny thing is, as soon as I received the forwarded "tweet" from TPM, my first thought was "riiight, she joined using her own name." My next thought was, "typical conservatives not looking at the big picture." I guess it never occured to the teabaggers that by publicizing this lie, liberals and Maddow fans in general would actually join the site to "disrupt the flow of constructive dialogue against liberalism." Check it out. Did I mention the site ended up going down? The always polite Ms. Maddow responded with: "Of course, this idea of me trying to join their listserv is completely made up, but still -- I'm flattered the Tea Party folks think I'm well known enough to help their cause, I wish them all best luck with their conference."

Finally, Brit Hume who seems jealous of the attention all the other crackpots on Faux get decided to jump on board. The born again evangelical now believes he has the credentials to lecture others' religious choices. He said Tiger Woods should convert to Christianity for forgiveness and redemption.[].make a total recovery and be a great example to the world. Yeah, you know how wild and crazy those Buddhists are. I guess that in Brit's world, Vitter's penchant for prostitutes and diapers, Sanford and Ensign's mistresses are all ok now because they're Republicans and they've allegedly asked for forgiveness from the Lord. Never mind the path of destruction they created for those around them. As far as Buddhists, since I knew nothing I looked it up, unlike Hume. Their basic belief is that suffering ceases when desire ceases, that enlightenment obtained through right conduct, wisdom, and meditation releases one from desire, suffering, and rebirth. Seems like those will apply to Tiger's "transgressions" just fine.

Why Doesn't This Dick Just Go Away To An Undisclosed Location?

I just want to say that while I’m disgusted, I’m not surprised that Republicans are trying to use this terrorist bombing attempt for political gain. Good ol’ Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) has even used this event to try and raise money for his bid to become Michigan Governor. He Sent out an email to supporters Tuesday repeatedly asking for contributions. However, one man that totally makes my skin crawl is Dick Cheney. I loathe that man. He represents everything bad about politics and he’s got supporters. He was named “Conservative of the Year" at some right wing publication called Human Events. In his latest anti-Obama attack, he’s telling the Fox Newz loyalists that Obama “is trying to pretend we are not at war.” He’s upset at the administrations low-key approach, which I actually applauded recently. How smart is it to telegraph your response to the world? Does this fool not understand that it’s not only U.S. citizens who will be seeing it? Just because Obama’s not standing on an aircraft carrier beating his chest, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have counter-measures in action.  Oh, by the way, how did that work out?  What scares the hell out of me is I think this lunatic is actually running for President 2012 right now! Seriously. We didn’t see him for eight years, now you can’t turn on your tv without seeing that evil bastard. I’m worried that he’s getting traction. He went on to say that, “It doesn't fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency: social transformation, the restructuring of American society.” Really? What has changed? There's no evidence to support that claim.  However, repeat it enough and the sheep will follow. I'm not sure exactly why he felt the need to slip that in there, except...2012.

As for terror attempts, why the double standard? Bush was not subjected to criticisms from either Democrats or the media when he waited six days to respond to Richard Reid's attempted shoe-bombing of an airplane on December 22, 2001. Like Obama now, Bush was also on vacation when that botched terrorist attack occurred. Here’s my worry. While I applaud the Democrats for trying to take the high road, it always bites them in the ass in the end. The Republicans have no shame and will continuously drive their propaganda across no matter how ludicrous it is.  It has been a winning formula for them.  Democrats need to get tough with their political rivals.  Nobody’s talking about the fact that the Bush White House set the guys free who master-minded this attempt, because Dems aren’t pushing it. Also, very few news sources are reporting the similarities to the ‘Shoe Bomber’ and Bush's response – which was nearly identical to Obama's. Karl Rove also chimed in complaining that it took Obama 72 to address the public, yet never mentioned it took Bush twice as long. By the way, did you hear Mr. Sanctity of Marriage is getting divorced for the second time. Another hypocritical piece of trash.

For all the hopes and dreams of Republicans who think this is going to destroy Obama, I think they’re underestimating him. For some reason, something within me is telling me that Obama has a plan. He has proven that he thinks things out. Conservatives are still of the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality.  If Obama finds “it”, and "it's" successful, the Republicans will be done for a long time since the only thing they've got left to run on is the notion they're tougher on national security.  He knows that.  I hope he successfully takes that silly notion away as well.  Many of us like low-key.  Give ‘em hell, Prez!

Update: I just want to add this clip from tonight's MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews that I just viewed.  On a quick glance, I noticed that Salon.com's Joan Walsh was on so I stopped to watch.  I always appreciate her take on things.  Tonight, I especially enjoyed the part where she blasts former Cheney aide Ron Christie for continuous Republican attempts to delegitimize this President at every opportunity.  I even thought Matthews was correct! 

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Wheel of Fortune - GOP Spin In Action

You've got to give credit where credit is due.  Ever since the Christmas day attempt to bomb Detroit bound Northwest Flight 253, the GOP has been relentless on it's attacks of the Obama Administration for not taking terrorism seriously.  The daily grandstanding of how the system didn't work has been deafening.  Apparently they think that everyone get's their news from Fox so no one would ever find out that the reason there's no TSA chief is because Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has been holding up Erroll Southers nomination.  DeMint's afraid Southers would allow TSA workers to join a labor union!  DeMint has said the Christmas day attempt was a "perfect example of why the Obama administration should not unionize the TSA." Really?  That's a perfect example?  I'd love to hear him explain why.  My experience has always been that well paid employees with job security will be more vigilant in their jobs.  Southers has passed through two Senate committees, but the hold prevents his nomination from being subjected to a full Senate vote. DeMint's demands for testimony about unionization would mean at least three days of debate and test votes. Typical GOP, complain that the house is on fire, but make sure the water's turned off.

I thought this also might be of interest.  ABC News reports that two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up the jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.  American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.  Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called the would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab a "hero" and a "martyr" and lauded him for beating U.S. intelligence. Riiight, he beat U.S. intelligence, but got his ass whooped by a flight crew and some pissed off passengers.  Definitely not a hero.  Considering he started his underwear on fire, those promised virgins for martyrhood probably aren't going to be much good to him!  One more thing:  With all the fanfare and hand-wringing Republicans (and some conservative Democrats) have done about Obama allowing terror suspects to be tried in NYC, someone remind me; who was President in November 2007 when these guys were released?  How are Dick and Liz Cheney going to spin this one?  I'm sure they'll be making the Fox rounds all week!

Update: President Obama just spoke moments ago so I'll post a few key points he made:  "It's essential that we diagnose the problems quickly."  He noted that information about the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a plane on Christmas was available in some databases, but was not shared properly across agencies. "Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled," and a fuller "picture of the subject would’ve emerged," "When our government has information on a known extremist, and that information is not acted on and shared, as it should have been … a systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable."
I just want to say wow.  While I still do not view this bombing attempt as a failure on the part of the Obama Administration since the system and its flaws were in place before his presidency, it's clear that he is in front of the situation and will not allow the status quo to be acceptable.  Could his team have looked into this and improved it?  Yes, hindsight is always 20/20.  I was impressed with his no nonsense approach of accepting responsibility for errors while not inciting fear.  Can you imagine Bush ever admitting mistakes on his watch or missing an opportunity to scare people about terrorists?  I'm very happy Obama didn't do any chest thumping or flag waving to make his points.  While I don't agree with some of the rumored remedies (full body scans), I've got to give him credit for being tough enough to admit there were oversights and they will be addressed immediately.  A cool head and calmness will prevail for this guy.  It's a nice change having a cerebral leader instead of a reactionary fanatic.