Baracky II

Politics should be fun.

5 Years Too Late

I'm not saying I'm into death photos, but I do think it's disrespectful to bar images of soldiers coming home. Not the cute ones with husbands meeting wives and kids on the tarmac. I'm talking the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice. Seems Bush and Rumsfeld had a bias against dead soldiers. "Make them go away" so we can sell our fake war without the moral and human destruction creeping into their fairy tale.

A new bill has been introduced to change that:

The Secretary of Defense shall grant access to accredited members of the media at military commemoration ceremonies and memorial services conducted by the Armed Forces for members of the Armed Forces who have died on active duty and when the remains of members of the Armed Forces arrive at military installations in the United States.

The current Defense policy, which was updated in 2003, states that there shall be no “media coverage of” the returning war dead. In the five years of the Iraq war, during which more than 4,100 U.S. troops have died, photos of military caskets have leaked out on at least three occasions. Military officials have defended the rule by saying it is in place out of respect to service members and their loved ones.

Who made that decision? The families?

Photographs of returning military dead were permitted during Vietnam. Those images reminded us how horrible war is. Bush's 40 year coke/booze bender helped him escape that fact. Too bad for the 4000+ dead.

Abstinence Is Making Better Engineers

I don't think having sex is a problem for most engineering types. Masturbation counts, right?



To the abstinence advocates out there, you nailed it with this one. You've done nothing to stop people from having sex and you've just decreased engineering majors' enrollment across the country. Well played.

Cranky McCain Hates Social Security But Loves The Money

In honor of the 73rd anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing of the Social Security Act, the New Mexico Democratic Party attempted to sing “Happy 73rd Birthday to Social Security” outside of a McCain campaign office, “only to have the birthday cake thrown in the trash by the campaign”

A perfect metaphor for Grampy McSames’s approach to Social Security policy.

So if McSame has a strict constructionist philosophy, to faithfully apply the law as written, not impose his opinions, why does he want to destroy Social Security? For 73 years Social Security has been the way of life for Americans, the accepted norm. Is it McSame's opinion, who, by the way is the only Presidential candidate ever over 70, that Social Security does not work?

I have never heard a single social security recipient say they hated their checks. Oh! Maybe one:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who received $24,000 in benefits last year, believes this system is an “absolute disgrace.”

It's so disgraceful he takes the money.

Team Obama Smacks Down Exxon John

The Geriatric Maverick gets pwned. The old dog doing his old tricks. Not that this stuff matters, but it shows that Barack knows how to strike back.

McCain Is An Idiot

McCain is running his "I'm The White Guy" campaign in his usual way, into the ground. Obama comes out with and ad showing McSame voted the same as Bush 95% of the time. A logical assessment, likening a vote for McCain as a vote for Bush, and thus, bad government. The Maverick forgets that they keep records of his votes. Another Grandpa moment I guess.

So in response, quick-draw McSame fires back at Obama saying “In the Senate, Barack Obama has voted in lockstep with President George W. Bush nearly half the time.” What does "nearly" mean? So over half the time Barack voted against Bush. The majority of the time.

Now remember the McCain campaign also argues that Obama is the Senate’s biggest liberal. [That is the conservative catch-all phrase that frightens dim people. It's like saying someone is the biggest philosopher or humanitarian, the Right have demonized a good quality much like Ivy league schools which Bush is a graduate of x2, Yale and Harvard]

The McCain campaign argues that Obama has “voted in lockstep” with Bush and is the biggest liberal. Oddly enough, they’re making both arguments at the same time.

h/t to http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/

Invading Sovereign Countries: Middle East OK, Europe No

John Stewart points out how Bush has the balls to call out Russia and the virtuous Putin, who's eyes he looked into and saw a good man, for invading Georgia. Consistency is not W's strong suit, although he consistently has disregard for international standards which is is nice. Our US Ambassador to Iraq objectively showcases our weakness brought on by the Bush Doctrine.

Stewart: “It’ll be very interesting to see what the United States does here. Our invasion of Iraq somewhat hamstrings our options in Georgia, not just militarily, but also dimplomaticly, and I guess you would say, morally? Let’s watch our UN Ambsassador Zalmay Khalilzad dance the delicate dance…

Khalilzad: We want to make sure our Russian colleagues understand that the days of overthrowing leaders by military means…

Stewart: Careful, Khalilzad. Steady…steady…

Khalilzad: The days of overthrowing leaders by military means in Europe, those days are gone…

Stewart: Yes! He did it! Those days are gone…in Europe. In the Middle East, it’s morning in America.

The Bush Doctrine has streamlined the invasion of countries without out all the need for lies and deception like WMD. George W's legacy in in place. Putin gets bonus points for efficiency.

Conservative Double Standard

FoxNoise fake newsman Sean Hannity is a clown. He goes after John Edwards and his affair, and rightfully so. It's big news for him to slam a Democrat. Plus, Edwards is a public figure, his marriage is open to discussion.

Hannity: “If you can’t keep a promise to your family, can’t keep a promise to your wife, you’re having an affair, you’re lying about the affair repeatedly. Why should the American people trust you when you say you’re not gonna lie to them? Why should we trust you?”

The only thing is, as Alan Colmes pointed out, John McCain did the same thing to his first wife.

Colmes: Excuse me Sean. You’ve had your chance to speak, I’m up. John McCain cheated on his wife, right. Amanda? So how do we trust John McCain? He cheated on his wife, why do you have a double standard and John McCain’s running for President? John Edwards is not. John McCain’s wife was in a car accident. John McCain’s running for President, what about his affair?

See it for what it is. Two men had affairs. Why is one OK and the other one a deep insight into the flawed character of a man who can't be trusted?

Mukasey: Law-breaking Is Not A Crime

Via: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/

Michael Mukasey explains that just because his predecessors in the Justice Department were breaking the law with their hiring processes doesn’t mean anyone should be held accountable: “not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” It’s an excellent slogan for the Bush administration.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said Mukasey "seems intent on insulating this administration from accountability."

Aren't their oaths to uphold the Constitution, fulfill the obligations of their office, etc. Keep in mind, Alberto The Worst AG" Gonzales denied any wrong doing. Now that there is wrong doing, it's considered OK. Where is the logic?

This is the best our top law enforcement can do? Not enforce laws?

“Obamacans” or “Obamacons”

You are starting to see more and more Republicans and Conservatives coming out in favor of Obama. The trend continues with another top Republican:

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, a leading Republican moderate with a foreign policy background, is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president. The former Iowa congressman’s backing was announced Tuesday as part of a group of GOP activists crossing party lines this year.

Leach told reporters: “I’m convinced that the national interest demands a new approach to our interaction with the world.” Leach added that Obama offers the leadership to do that. […]

Leach predicted that a lot of Republicans and independents are going to be attracted by Obama’s campaign.

While McLame had a video out last week using pre-2006 soundbytes of Democrats giving him random praise, this highlights how Obama is in the present, with the Conservatives actively praising and supporting his Presidential campaign.

Vacations

Here's a question: Are the same Right Wing echo chamber people who try to get on Obama for taking a vacation in Hawaii, where he grew up and has family, because it sends the wrong message, are these same people getting on Condi Rice for sending the wrong message by staying on her vacation as the Russia/Georgia conflict explodes?

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also been noticeably absent on the diplomatic scene, having failed to interrupt her holidays to fly to Tbilisi in support of the Georgian government.

So for all that BS about 3am phone calls, the answer is your President will go to the Olympics and play the pawn in China's propaganda-fest and your Secretary of State will stay on her vacation. Don't fool yourself.

Bob Barr Takes On McCain

The Libertarian candidate Bob Barr is John McLame's new bugbear. In the video he takes on McSame's "Maverick" moniker. Seems he's not a fan. Barr's supporters are pushing to have him included in the upcoming Presidential debates. Not the greatest video, but, it does has Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Kind Of Man" as its music bed.



Some Bob Barr factoids:
Married 3 times. He failed to pay child support to his first two wives, (To his credit, Barr did pay for his second wife's abortion, though she still suspects he was cheating on her.)

In 1998, Barr gave the keynote speech at the national convention of the Council of Conservative Citizens; a hate group that routinely denigrated blacks as "genetically inferior," complained about "Jewish power brokers," called homosexuals "perverted sodomites," and accused immigrants of turning America into a "slimy brown mass of glop." He claims he was not aware of the group's history.

While trying to impeach Bill Clinton on moral grounds when there were photos floating around of him licking whipped cream off of strippers chests at his inaugural ball. I'm sure McCain has those ready to roll out.