"Freedom" in America is like living in a really nice zoo, where the walls are spread far enough apart to allow you to lie to yourself, but close enough to quell the desire to maul your inattentive captors, knowing a bullet with your name on it waits on the other side. As much as I wish we could leave the country when if Bush wins the election in November, I know it's an unrealistic fantasy. For us, at least. Especially with two kids. A drunk kid accosted Matt and I last Friday after the Jets game, asking us if we…
Commentary (and rants) on national and local politics.
Cannibalism is nutritious
“War is good for the economy…like cannibalism is nutritious.”
In related news:
U.S. stocks rally as oil drops to two-week lows
Wednesday August 25, 1:35 pm ET
By Mark Cotton
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) — U.S. stocks gained ground in afternoon trading Wednesday, buoyed by fresh drop in oil prices to two-week lows.
Crude for October delivery fell as low as $44.08 per barrel intraday on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the latest industry data showed motor-fuel stocks either unchanged or higher on the previous week, confounding analyst estimates of a decline.
A two-week low is cause for investor enthusiasm? Cannibalism, indeed.
Kerry Weak; Kucinich Dissed
"I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty." That's the best intro they could come up with for this clown? The biggest speech of his life and he goes with not just a bad pun, but one that is basically a slap in the face to every anti-war Democrat that's being asked to hold their nose and pull the lever for him in November, as an icebreaker? I really, really, REALLY despise this guy. So much so, he's even tainted my opinion of John Edwards. If he keeps doing that dorky little thumbs-up thing he does I'm going to reach…
Democratic Party’s Identity Crisis
My issues with the Democratic Party Platform: Strong at Home, Respected in the World, aka Identity Crisis.
from the PREAMBLE
That is the America we believe in. That is the America we are fighting for. That is the America we will build together – one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Boilerplate, I know, but still annoying for it’s pandering to the south.
from A STRONG, RESPECTED AMERICA
Time and again, this Administration confuses leadership with going it alone and engagement with compromise of principle. They do not understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you.
“Standing by your principles??!” How did that get in there when Prince Flip-Flop is at the top of the ticket?
Today, we face three great challenges above all others – first, to win the global war against terror; second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; and third, to promote democracy and freedom around the world, starting with a peaceful and stable Iraq.
Did anybody proofread this thing? How did George Bush’s platform sneak in here?!?!
To meet these challenges, we need a new national security policy guided by four new imperatives:… Second, we must modernize the world’s most powerful military to meet the new threats.
That’s not a new imperative. That’s business as usual!
from DEFEATING TERRORISM
With John Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, we will never wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake, but we must enlist those whose support we need for ultimate victory… Democracy will not blossom overnight, but America should speed its growth by sustaining the forces of democracy against repressive regimes and by rewarding governments that work toward this end.
And this is different from Bush’s stance how?
We will attack the exploding opium trade ignored by the Bush Administration by doubling our counter-narcotics assistance to the Karzai Government and reinvigorating the regional drug control program.
Ah, the return of the war on drugs! What next? “Just say no!”
So Dubya and company are now looking into a way to postpone the Presidential election in case there's a terrorist attack the day before or day of that might sway those on the fence against him like he believes happened in Spain create the need for an unprecedented delay. And the comparison to the 9/11 delay of NYC's mayoral Democratic primary is way off base. Most reports I've read on this don't bother to fully identify the guy putting forth the proposal, DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, or even point out the origin of his Commission:…
Jesse Helms is back! And this time he’s black.
You can’t make this stuff up.
“Jesse Helms is back! And this time he’s black.” That’s Winston-Salem city councilman Vernon Robinson’s campaign slogan as one of eight GOP candidates in the July 20 primary for North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.
Pretty inoffensive, though, compared to the radio ad he’s running:
ANNOUNCER NO. 1: Vernon Robinson, conservative. The aliens are here, but they didn’t come in a spaceship. They came across our unguarded Mexican border by the millions — illegally.
They’ve filled our criminal courtrooms and invaded our school. They sponge off the American taxpayer by clogging our welfare lines and our hospital emergency rooms. They’ve even taken over the DMV. These aliens commit heinous crimes against us, like Maximiliano Esparza, who raped a nun and strangled her with her own rosary — illegally.
They commit crimes but won’t commit to learn our language. You walk into a McDonald’s restaurant to order a Big Mac and find to your horror that the employees don’t speak English — illegals. You may be in the heart of America, but you feel as though you are in the Twilight Zone.
Vernon Robinson will secure our borders, cut off the welfare payments and once and for all make English our official language. Press one for English? No. Vote Vernon Robinson for English.
VERNON ROBINSON: I’m Vernon Robinson, and I approve this message.
ANNOUNCER NO. 2: Yo Gringo! Este episodio de Twilight Zone era pagado para Robinson por congreso.
The ad’s come under fire, not for it’s extreme offensiveness but for the fact that the required disclosure at the end – “This ad was paid for by Robinson for Congress.” – is in Spanish.
…?
Ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Trent Lott!
Lott Defends Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners By Helen Dewar, Washington Post, Thursday, June 3, 2004 Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) proved he has not lost his knack for inflammatory rhetoric when he defended "really rough" treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, including the use of dogs against a prisoner "unless the dog ate him." ... "Hey, nothing wrong with holding a dog up there, unless the dog ate him, scared him with a dog," Lott said. When WAPT news anchorman Brad McMullan noted that a prisoner died at Abu Ghraib, apparently after a beating, Lott responded, "This is not Sunday…