Friday, May 30, 2008

On Iraq, John McCain Doesn't Know What the Hell He's Talking About

In John McCain's arrogant, stupidly wrong opinion, he considers himself an "expert" on Iraq and offers to "educate" Barack Obama on the situation there. OK, so let's look at this "expert's" opinions and views on the Iraq War:

--He is dead flat WRONG on Al Qaeda's relationship with Iran.

--He is dead flat WRONG about the situation on the ground.

--He is dead flat WRONG about the number of troops currently in Iraq.

--He has REPEATEDLY confused the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam, an elementary-level mistake.


And remember, this is the same John McCain who claimed we would "greeted as liberators"; the same John McCain who predicted the struggle for Iraq would be short-lived; the same John McCain who has repeatedly said the "next six months" would be critical; the same John McCain who, absurdly, keeps claiming the war was the right thing to do while working to undermine the GI Bill to aid Iraq War veterans.
And this is supposed to be his area of "expertise"!! My God, what a dangerous fool this man is!

BTW, here is a REAL Middle East expert discussing McCain's shocking ignorance and deception. It's a must read.
P.S. Remember this post from your rampant friend J. Miller from 2 May.

McCain and W: Blood Brothers

John McCain has voted with Bush (when McCain has bothered to vote) ONE HUNDRED PER CENT this year. Last year McCain voted with Bush NINETY-FIVE PER CENT, and has an overall NINETY PER CENT pro-Bush voting record since 2001.


"Maverick" John McCain? What a joke.




REMEMBER: McCAIN WOULD BE NOTHING BUT A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Psychotic Cretin Michelle Malkin Strikes Again

The pathetic story is here.

The sad things about this?

1. That Dunkin' Donuts actually caved in to this right wing idiot.
2. That the right wing idiot probably thinks she struck a blow against the "Islamofascists".

Really, just when I think conservative pundits couldn't get any stupider or more irrational, they always surprise me. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Monday, May 26, 2008

On Memorial Day 2008

We today honor those who fell at Lexington and Concord, Saratoga and Yorktown. We honor those who fell in defending Ft. McHenry and those who marched with Winfield Scott. We recall those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" at Antietam and Gettysburg. We honor those who charged San Juan Hill, fought at Belleau Wood, and died at Guadalcanal, Anzio, Normandy, and Iwo Jima. We reverently remember those who sacrificed at Inchon, Khe Sanh, and in the Gulf War. And we honor those who have fallen in the current struggle. And we always, always remember: WE MAY CRITICIZE THE WAR, BUT NEVER THE WARRIORS.
May all rest in peace. And please, some day Lord, may there be no new ones.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

"Well, both if we could."



Unbelievable. Horrible. Typical Fox "News".

McCain Debates McCain!

Right here.

Heh heh.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

McCain Preacher Hagee: God Sent Hitler to "Hunt" the Jews

If this doesn't convince you Hagee is a ranting psychotic, nothing will. And remember, McCain sought Hagee's endorsement for an entire year.

This son of a bitch Hagee is one of the worst people in America. He's also damned dangerous, and he would be a MAJOR influence on McCain. For my money, that's absolutely damning.

OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I'll Be Away for a Week

Back atcha on Wednesday, 21 May.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Bush "Legacy"

Wow. Check this out.

Says it all, as far I'm concerned.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Ha ha ha! This is So DAMN Funny



He's always been an asshole, apparently.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Women, Are You Pregnant Because You Were Raped or Victimized by Your Father?

Then John McCain says "too bad." You can't get an abortion. Even if the preganancy might kill you, he will still not make an exception.
Look. I'm generally anti-abortion, too. But to force someone who has undergone a horrible sexual assault to bring the assailant's child to term is perverse. A first trimester abortion, prior to the onset of brain wave activity and sentience, is morally a gray area, and one in which we could say the sooner the better. McCain has simply caved in to far right fanatics on this issue.
By the way, McCain's right-wing buddies ARE TRYING TO OUTLAW BIRTH CONTROL AS WELL. They also think they have the right to dictate the private sexual behavior of adults. These people are Stalinists who seek to regulate the most intimate aspects of human life--and John McCain has thrown his lot in with them whole-heartedly.
You've been warned.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

This One Should Be Played on National TV

"We get off on warfare!"



Chilling. Absolutely chilling.

Want Four More Years of Neocon Lies and War? Go With McCain

The invaluable Glenn Greenwald again exposes the astonishingly dishonest Neocon liars that dominate Republican foreign policy. These gutter-level frauds are now desperately pushing for a war with Iran. The extent of their mendaciousness is almost beyond belief. They claim they are not agitating for a war, but their record of lies proves otherwise. Excerpts:
In late 2006, I wrote about virtually identical deceit from this same group, that time with regard to Iraq. On National Review in December of 2006, Ledeen -- just as the Beltway establishment was finally turning against the war in Iraq and in the wake of a lengthy Vanity Fair article identifying the neocons who were to blame -- claimed: "I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place."

In fact, Ledeen, throughout 2002 and 2003, had repeatedly and explicitly urged the invasion of Iraq in countless venues, including: The Wall St. Journal's Op-Ed Page ("If we come to Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran as liberators, we can expect overwhelming popular support"); in an interview with David Horowitz's Front Page ("Question #2: Okay, well if we are all so certain about the dire need to invade Iraq, then when do we do so? Ledeen: Yesterday."); on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews ("if President Bush is to be faulted for anything in this so far, it's that he's taken much too long to get on with it, much too long"); and in National Review (calling for "the desperately-needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein and the rest of the terror masters").
**********

The neoconservative war-lovers behind this effort have not changed, nor have their tactics. They realize, as many of them acknowledge, that they will have four more years in power if John McCain is elected. But they also realize that he may not be, and that their last hope for their long-desired attack on Iran lies in convincing the current administration to provoke one before its tenure ends. As much as one wishes it weren't true, as much as the fixation on petty election issues might obscure it, the truly depraved extremist group that brought us the invasion of Iraq still exerts substantial influence and is quite busy trying to exert it.
Want four more years of these rotten Neocan bastards dragging your country into one war after another? Then support John McCain.
I, on the other hand, being reasonably sane, will be voting for Barack Obama. I hope you will be, too.

The TRUE U.S. Inflation Rate: Between 6 and 9%

Kevin Phillips has the appalling story here. The government's chief measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, virtually ignores the costs of food and energy--two things everyone has to buy in quantity!! Foreign investors and bankers know the real story and are acting accordingly. Excerpt:
Critics, by contrast, smell a potential disaster. Oil is up over 80 percent in the last twelve months. The New York Times' consumer reporter, W.P. Dunleavy, wrote on May 3 that his own groceries now cost $587 a month, up from $400 a year earlier. That's a 40 percent increase. Reports in the financial press make frequent reference to foreign investors who distrust the U.S. dollar because they calculate true U.S. inflation at 6% to 9% including food and energy.

California economist John Williams, who runs an organization called Shadow Statistics, contends that if Washington still used the CPI measurements applied back in the 1970s, inflation would be in the 10 percent range. My own analysis, set out in much more detail in an article in the May issue of Harper's, comports with that of the cynical foreign investors.

Therein lies the danger. If the current inflation rate is really 6-9 percent instead of the 2-3 percent claimed by government and most U.S. money managers, then Washington's official estimates that the economy still grew at a rate of some 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008 become nonsense. Subtracting a 6-9 percent inflation rate from nominal GDP growth would identify an economy that was deteriorating and shrinking, not growing. Concerned foreign dollar-holders would become even more concerned.
Many writers love to prattle on endlessly about the supposedly growing prosperity of the Middle Class. Such specious arguments often rely on CPI data, which Phillips here exposes as fraudulent. In truth, the Middle Class of this country is squeezed and pressured on all fronts. (If we are honest, the mad frenzy to possess everything everyone else seems to have is part of what's wrong as well.) Most Middle Class families must contend with health care worries, multiple jobs, little time off for most people, and now the skyrocketing prices of food and energy. Consumer debt has reached phenomenal levels and housing costs have bitten deeply. All in all, it paints a grim picture--one which official Washington is loathe to recognize.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Next President of the United States, Barack Obama


After a big win in North Carolina and a razor-close finish in Indiana, Obama now has an effectively insurmountable lead for the Democratic nomination. He will be the nominee. I hope that all factions of the Democratic Party, all Independents, and all decent Republicans worried about the course our nation is on will unite to put him in the White House and vastly enlarge the Democratic majorities in Congress so that the business of helping this country recover from the catastrophic effects of eight years of Radical Right-wing government can begin.
OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

Monday, May 05, 2008

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Rampant Readers, I Need Your Help

Please, please, PLEASE spread this around.

McCain is getting a pass on outrageous associations. That's got to stop.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

McCain's Friend John Hagee: Dangerous Lunatic

This is a thousand times more alarming than the nonsense being thrown around about Jeremiah Wright. John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain sought FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, is quite frankly a mentally unbalanced lunatic. Some (extensive) excerpts, which I hope the author of the original will forgive:
Beyond Hagee's demonizing of Catholics and Catholicism, pastor Hagee appears radically anti-American to the extent that he hopes and expects, as evidenced by a 2006 Hagee appearance on WHYY's "Fresh Air" radio show and also in Hagee's 2006 best-seller "Jerusalem Countdown", that God will incinerate most Americans now living - with a nuclear strike on America's coastal regions. In 2006 Presidential hopeful John McCain appeared to hold a similar view on possible outcomes of a US war with Iran. In an April 2nd, 2006 appearance on Meet The Press, Senator John McCain, describing to Tim Russert McCain's view of the possible result of a US war with Iran, declared war with Iran "could be Armageddon".

Recently it has
come to light that John Hagee declared "America is under the curse of God" but Hagee has also stated that, in the war he predicts will ensue a US or Israeli attack on Iran, God will punish the majority of Americans living, immolating them in a Russian nuclear strike on America's east and west coasts. Given that Hagee has repeatedly advocated for a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran, and especially in light of enthusiastic adjectives ("thrilling", for example) with which Hagee describes the expected outcome of such an attack on Iran, it logically follows that John McCain endorser Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee hopes and advocates for a US foreign policy course that expects would kill the majority of Americans now alive.
**********

On the available evidence it is not clear if Hagee expects that the nuclear incineration of what Hagee himself notes would comprise most Americans now living would be "thrilling", whether Hagee feels the "Rapture" which he expects will vacuum him and other "Bible-believing" (fundamentalist) Christians up to Heaven, prior to that nuking, where they can safely look down on the ensuing global carnage, will be "thrilling" or whether Hagee feels that the "Rapture" and the nuking of America would both be "thrilling". [more on Hagee's 'thrilling' worldview]
**********

A close reading of Hagee's statements and writings shows Hagee's belief closely follow the mainstream view of Apocalyptic Premillennial Dispensationalism, that most Jews in Israel (and presumably along with them most non-Jews as well) will be killed in the train of events and conflicts following "Ezekiel's War". In that view, a "remnant" of Jews who have converted to Christianity, traditionally numbered at 144,000 (12,000 for each of the 12 Tribes of Israel), will survive and will be granted superhuman, divine powers to, acting as what some have termed "super Billy Grahams", will evangelize all humans who have survived the predicted global holocaust.

In his book "Jerusalem Countdown", pastor Hagee states that historical anti-Semitism, culminating in the Holocaust, resulted from God's curse upon Jews, as a people, because of the ancient Jewish worship of idols described in the Bible. In the book Hagee also writes that Hitler and the Nazis were acting as divine agents, to drive European Jews towards Palestine where, per Hagee's view, God appears to demand be their only residence on Earth and where, according to Hagee's apocalyptic theological views, those Jewish settlers will be most killed in the conflict Hagee militates for by advocating an attack on Iran.
The extermination of most of the world's Jews and the conversion of the surving remnant?? Hitler as a divine agent?? A "thrilling" nuclear war which will kill most Americans?? WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS??
McCain has said he rejects the "offensive parts" of Hagee's beliefs. My question is:
WHICH ONE OF HAGEE'S BELIEFS ISN'T OFFENSIVE TO McCAIN?!?

Jeremiah Wright would have NO influence in an Obama administration. John Hagee would have MAJOR influence in a McCain administration. Draw your own conclusions.

Take the Quiz! Bush or McCain?

It's loads-o-fun and it's right here.

And if you do well enough, you can guess the difference between McCain and a carrot!

(Thanks, Geneve!)

Friday, May 02, 2008

Something You HAVE to Pass Around

It's an amazing list of John McCain's contradictory, inaccurate, inconsistent, and just downright boneheaded remarks about the Iraq War. Some examples to whet your appetite:
On the Run-Up to War
"But the fact is, I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But any military man worth his salt is going to have to prepare for any contingency, but I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991."John McCain, September 15, 2002.

On Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction

"I remain confident that we will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."John McCain, June 11, 2003.

On Being Greeted as Liberators

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."John McCain,
March 24, 2003.

On a Rapid Victory and Mission Accomplished

"Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?"John McCain, responding to assertion by Fox News' Neil Cavuto that "many argue the conflict isn't over,"
June 11, 2003.

"We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months."John McCain,
November 12, 2006.

On the Safe Streets of Baghdad

"[There] there "are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."John McCain, after touring a Baghdad market wearing a bulletproof vest and guarded by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead, April 1, 2007.

On President Bush and His Team

"We are very fortunate that our president in these challenging days can rely on the counsel of a man who has demonstrated time and again the resolve, experience, and patriotism that will be required for success and the hard-headed clear thinking necessary to prevail in this global fight between good and evil."John McCain, on Dick Cheney, July 16, 2004.

On the Non-Existent Alliance Between Al Qaeda and Iran

"[It is] common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."John McCain, March 18, 2008.


On a Permanent American Military Presence in Iraq

"I asked McCain about his 'hundred years' comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned."David Corn, January 3, 2008.

This guy has to be stopped. The best quote I've heard on McCain?

"McCain will be like Bush on steroids."


Thursday, May 01, 2008

Miserable Failure Bush Now Most Rejected President in History

The details can be found here.

Oh, and just as a reminder:

On the 5th Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished": What Digby Said, Part 9,275

Digby rips into Commander Codpiece here and it's letter-perfect. Bush's disgusting dress-up game that day almost made me puke. (The disgrace of that gesture was only overshadowed by the craven, mewling, Bush-worshiping behavior of the press as noted by Eric Alterman here. The Bush Suck-Up Festival that day was surely one of the low points in the history of the media.)
Over 4,000 of our best young men and women dead. Over 30,000 others injured, many of them horribly. At least 100,000 dead Iraqis, 2,000,000 more Iraqis in exile, and potentially trillions of dollars down the drain. Just so little Georgie could prance around and pretend he's a real by-God man.
And you wonder why I hate him?