No free press

Adam McKay is right that we don't have a free press anymore - free in every meaning of the word. It is indeed bought and paid for. But he's not quite right about the ratings being the primary driver. If ratings had anything to do with it, MSNBC wouldn't be crapping on Olbermann, who is NBC's ratings cow right now. But he is absolutely right about it being because the major outlets are owned by massive corporations, and it is the shareholders and the executives - all mostly business-oriented Republicans - who hold the real power over who gets elected in this country, at least at the national level.

Adam is also right about the voter suppression tactics the Republiscums are rolling out. After that failed to get Von Spakovsky at the head of the FEC, they found another way to use his evil voter suppression powers. Right now he's working on ways to disenfranchise voters who vote by absentee ballot, and he was successful in helping Indiana get their voter identification law passed, which will disenfranchise thousands of voters, most of all who would be most likely to vote against the Republiscums.

Adam is right about another thing:

"...unless we wake up, we're gonna lose this frickin' thing."

It may seem to many that those of us on the "angry left" are just using the media as a whipping boy, even though not enough people where whipping it enough, but it is starting to seem as though many are waking up to just how dangerous - and useless - the press in our society is. Maybe it is because the Corporate-Run Media has shown its hand and the stacked deck with all things Palin.

Investigate Leaks on Palin

Things have reached the bottom when a political campaign violates OPSEC and endangers the lives of soldiers by politicizing deployments of troops. In this case, it involves leaked details about Track Palin's deployment.

Sign the Vote Vets petition to have the leaks investigated!

Not political Jiu Jitsu

I made a point recently (and a while back) about Obama practicing political jiu jitsu against McSame's clumsy boxing, but I am starting to think i was wrong about that metaphor. It now seems more like Obama is practicing aikido, which is more self-defense than anything, and I would argue strongly that it's a type of self defense that only works against people who don't know how to fight. Obama is looking more and more lately like he is the one who doesn't know how to fight.

Since the pugilist Republiscum advisor Steve Schmidt took over day to day communications for McSame, their campaign has been attacking Obama almost daily, and Obama's responses have been purely defensive, and not entirely effective. Obama has let McSame dictate the narrative every step of the way, and it does not appear that things will change anytime soon. Maybe Obama is worried about his brand, or is being too high-minded and determined to keep his word not to practice the same old politics. That's fine, and I'd agree with that. But as Josh Marshal aptly put it (many times), you don't have to be negative to make an attack successful. The problem is that Obama's famously creative campaign is showing a stunning lack of creativity in their recent marketing and advertising. They may be great on visuals, but they SUCK when it comes to message. Thankfully, the inimitable Nate Silver has some great ideas Obama can be inspired by.

Whatever Obama does next, he needs to do it in a way that shows he has a spine. Hell, Sarah Palin looks and sounds tougher than Obama right now, and that should scare the hell out of the Obama campaign. Because in the end, policy really doesn't matter all that much if the candidate looks weak. Even if the candidate might actually be tough in all the ways that matter in practice, looking and sounding tough is ultimately what matters to the voters.

Simply put, Americans don't vote for sissies. Period.

Main $tream Media

I was all set to start a thoroughly detailed rant about MSNBC's decision to [take a] dump on their biggest ratings assets, Keith Olbermann, and that ignorant blowhard, Tweety. (For personal reasons, I'd be happy to see Tweety go, but that is irrelevant to my rant.) Sadly, time does not permit me to go into the detail I want at this moment. However, you can read Glenn Greenwald's post on this very topic, and I highly recommend it. Glenn says a lot of what I wanted to say, and even more.

A key point I was going to make, which dovetails with Glenn's post, is that the reason the Main $tream Media panics whenever they are being called "liberal" is because they are dominated by a bunch of right-wingnuts who are terrified of appearing like anything but. It hasn't helped anyone by calling them the Mainstream Media, because doing to implies that their right-wingnut perspective is actually mainstream. I think it is more appropriate to refer to the dominant media outlets as Corporate-Run Media. That would pretty much sum it all up nicely, as most people rightly understand that corporations are inherently evil, and focused entirely on profit and shareholder interest.

That is what's truly behind MSNBC suckerpunching Olbermann. It should be painfully clear to anyone with common sense that a bunch of the GE shareholders - who are no doubt predominantly Republican - have taken their complaints to the top and demanded action against Olbermann. They added Tweety to the chopping block just to make it appear balanced (at least MSNBC recognizes that he's borderline expendable).

As for their decision to boost up David Gregory, that makes it even more clear that the puppetmasters are Republicans. This is the same David Gregory who sat in on countless White House press briefings asking pointless and useless questions, and was almost completely deferrential to the White House. The same David Gregory who was awarded Best White House Correspondent by the conservative Media Research Center. This is the same David Gregory who helped to make the Iraq invasion possible because of his deferrence to the Bush administration. He is the same David Gregory who is being considered to take over Meet the Press for the late Tim Russert, the same Tim Russert whose sole contribution to political discourse was coming up with "gotcha" questions, except when they would really have mattered (like all questions to any Bush loaylist).

It might have been helpful if Glenn - and others, including myself - work to make it clear by what it means when we say that the "Right controls the media". It is not that the right-wingnuts whine and complain and then the media caves. It is more accurate to point out that these complaints are coming from the shareholders of the parent corporation, and also likely from subsidiaries. This is where the power and influence truly lies.

It occurs to me that if there is going to be any hope of reclaiming this country from the right-wingnuts, it is not going to happen politically until it happens with the Corporate-Run Media. The revolution must begin by attacking the heads of the Corporate-Run Media first.


UPDATE:

When talking about the Corporate-Run Media being in the tank for the Right, one would be remiss to leave out discussion of Ron Fournier from the Associate Press. This is the guy who turned down a paid staff position as a senior advisory consultant for communications for the McCain campaign because he thought he would be a more effective foot soldier operating incognito as a so-called Impartial Journalist.

Sunday Not-So-Funny - McCain's real bio

I'm only posting this because finally someone else had the courage to talk about McCain's ineptitude, and penchant for crashing airplanes, and how his privileged circumstances have everything to do with how he got to where he is. Again, it takes a comedy show to do it.

Sunday Funny Too - McSame. Almost verbatim!

McSame/McBush/McFake/McCant, whatever you want to call him, was never original with anything, certainly not his acceptance speech. It's pretty pathetic that it takes a comedy show to point this out, but that's why Jon Stewart and The Daily Show are so frackin' awesome!

Sunday Funny - McCain gets Barack-roll'd

(Thanks to Shan for sharing this one!)

Inspired Design

Found lots of cool stuff at this site showcasing great industrial design. I'm sure I might have seen a lot of this stuff if I hadn't canceled my subscription to ID.

Some favorites:

The virtual traffic wall: (There's a concept for this very thing in the comic series Transmetropolitan)




The new Lamborghini Reventon:




This art installation made entirely from millions of zip ties:




These great concept speakers:



And..

This brilliant LED light bulb concept from FROG:

McFake

One of my favorite Kossacks - Hunter - points out all the fakery in the RNC's convention for John McFake. Using stock photos of "uppity" negroes smiling and being happy. From iStockphoto of all places, the Wal-Mart of stock images.

Not like we should be surprised. Republiscums are notorious for being fakes and phonies, the same types of shysters who steal your valuables and sell them back to you for a profit. They sell us bullshit like the Clear Skies Act that actually trample the beneficial Clean Air Act, and instead of attacking pollution, it attacks pollution controls. They do the same thing with just about every environmental law that has been proven to be a positive balance between the needs of business and the rights of Americans to a healthy environment.

Ever the masters of pulling the wool over the eyes of the sheeple, the Republiscums have typically gotten away with gutting civil liberties for the sake of promising security, and doing little to actually protect the people. Or by promising to shrink the government and curb wasteful spending while always increasing the size of the government, and always spending into record defecits. The sheeple are always blind to it, even when they see it happen, because as long as Republiscums promise the morons to keep their trucks filled with gas, assault weapons accessible, and a knee bended to Jesus, - oh, and keep the uppity Negroes in line - that's all that matters.

Fuck you, Fakes! Fuck you, Sheeple!

More from Moore

Michael Moore gets it, and it's something I'm quite worried about:

But before everyone gets all smug and self-righteous about the Palin
selection, remember where you live. You live in a nation of gun owners
and hunters. You live in a country where one out of three girls get
pregnant before they are 20. You live in a nation of C students.
Knocking Bush for being a C student only endeared him to the nation of
C students. Knock Palin for having kids, for having a kid who's having
a baby, for anything that is part of her normalness -- a normalness
that looks very familiar to so many millions of Americans -- well, you
do this at your own peril. Assuming she's still on the ticket two weeks
from now, she will be a much tougher opponent than anyone expects. You
live in a country that voted for Dan Quayle.

I have been feeling this way about McCain too. In every measure, Obama is the best man for the job compared to McCain. But as Moore has also said, you can put any generic Democrat on the ticket to run against War Hero, and War Hero will win. It's definitely identity politics, and identity politics all comes down to who the voters identify with. That's the sad, disgusting truth, and it's a self-perpetuating cycle. As the country continues to be dumbed down, voters will vote for the guy who doesn't make them feel dumb. They like panderers like McCain - and Palin, because most voters in this country are too stupid to know they're being pandered to.

I think Moore was gracious to think we live in a nation of C students. I might argue C- to D+. After all, this is a country who not only voted for Dan Quayle, they also voted to RE-ELECT George W. Bush. That's the stunner right there. If you don't think they're dumb enough to vote for McCain, then you're not so smart yourself.

Caught on tape: Palin is a liar!

Pass this around. Save it to your YouTube favorites. Add it to a playlist. Rate it five stars.

Got Milk?

:)

Great photo

Animal Farm Friday - Palin and the Polar Bears

Sarah Palin hates polar bears. She doesn't think they should be considered endangered species, so she must be fine with them going extinct. No doubt she'd be happy to hunt them into oblivion, or let global warming do the job for her. With her being such an avid hunter and being so hot for oil, she'll get 'em one way or the other.

Perspective

I love TPM because I know deep down we're on the same team, but they always maintain a solid - and most often sober - perspective on the political sceen. I think Josh Marshall's take on McSame's speech tonight is spot on. Granted, my take is extremely more critical, but I know Josh and TPM are a good buffer between me and the rest of the idiots in this country; the same idiots who easily buy into baseless and moronic platitudes from vacuous, lying politicians as easily as they empty their debt-ladened wallets for the latest cheap knock-offs that promise on the surface what ultimately ends up being an EPIC FAIL in the end!

Make no mistake, McCain is a cheap knock-off. Whatever piece of himself that was worth saving was sold off a long time ago. Anyone paying attention knows that we all sell a little piece of ourselves any time we make compromises that we oppose in principle. But when we sell out wholesale and make ourselves compliant and malleable to interest groups, and do it for cash - not cash to support our favored cause, but cash for personal benefit - we become prostitutes. (For the record, I have nothing against prostitutes, and neither do most politicians, except when they can be used for political advantage.) McCain has sold out wholesale.

The saddest part of all this is that McCain really does have a great life story, about 5 years worth. The pre-POW and post-POW periods are saddly not the best parts of his story, despite what he wants you to believe. If we take out his priviledged upbringing, and all the favoritism he got from his Admiral father (the kind of favortism that keeps you flying even though you have a proclivity for crashing planes), we end up with a bad pilot who got cocky, flew into some missiles, and ended up in a POW camp.

It is true McCain suffered as a POW, but what he did with that suffering is what matters. He could have turned into a force for helping others who suffer, but his first instinct was to corrupt his public office into becoming a facilitator for one of the worst public corruption scandals of the 20th century.

I could easily go on, and I will soon enough, but - for now - take the time to read Josh's post at TPM.

She MUST be a Republican

She certainly lies as good as - if not better than - they do.

Idiocy. Hypocrisy. Banality.

I can think of a few right-wingnut scumbags that I'd like to see fall into an industrial meat grinder feet first.

So, where's Hillary?

Just asking. One might think she'd be quite effective at taking on this amateur, Sarah Palin.

Palin: Putting the L in Pain

Yes, her speech was extremely painful to my lefty ears, so much so that I couldn't stand to watch it.

I don't know what got inside me, but I decided - nay - forced myself to get a sense of reaction from the general public by reading the comments on CNN.com. Let me just say that I am pleasantly SHOCKED! The vast majority are negative reactions, some extremely so. A die-hard right-wingnut might think there was a conspiracy, but I used to read the comments about Obama and Hillary, and plenty of those were negative too. But they were also offset by as many positive comments. I can only interpret at this time - based solely on these comments - that some folks out there seem to be awake, and tired of the wool being pulled over their eyes.

We'll see. Lets just hope Obama-Biden shows some cojones and shoves Palin's L up McCain's ass and shows them the true meaning of Pain! (Okay, that's a bit much. But I would appreciate a little "in your face" reaction from Obama-Biden. Democrats don't have to be pussies!)

Taking a stand

As I mentioned earlier about the M$M having the opportunity to take a stand for themselves, it appears as though a few of them are. Joe Klein from TIME takes a solid stand against that shit-sucking scumbag Steve Schmidt, the worst of the worst type of human being alive, right there next to Mark Penn. Plus, we hear Chuck Todd, Peggy Noonan, and Mike Murphy in a rare moment of frank honesty.

Lets see who else in the M$M has a sense of pride and self-worth.

McSame

Caught on tape

Normally I'd expect a "hot mic" catching politicos saying things they'd rather keep off the record from Fox News, but this was MSNBC, Chuck Todd nonetheless, speaking with former McCain adviser Mike Murphy and "Nooner" being quite honest about what they think of McCain's veep pick, Sarah Palin.

This is solid gold!

Sexploitation?

Putin Checks Bush

Putin is Kasparov to Bush's old man in the park in this geo-political chess match.

While none of the above would appreciate any such comparison, the truth that Bush really is incompetent in all things that matter to the security and safety of America cannot be denied.

M$M at the crossroads

Now that the McCain campaign is attacking the M$M - their very own self-described "base" - for doing the actual vetting of Sarah Palin that the McCain camp should have done, how will the M$M respond?

The M$M has a clear opportunity to finally take a stand against being the GOP's whipping boy. Starting way back with Nixon, the GOP has alternately used the M$M as much as it vilified them. It didn't take much to get the M$M to cave-in, and even as they have become stooges for the GOP, the GOP still kicks the M$M around like a mangy mutt, and the M$M gets more and more compliant.

Maybe it's time for that old dog to show it has teeth. They can stop being the mouthpiece for the GOP and start doing their damned jobs the way they were doing it since before this country was founded, instead of being partisan hacks like the AP's Ron Fournier.

Biden bringin' the law!

Know hope!

Backstage with Barack

Great photos!

Palin addressing the secessionist AIP

Hmmm... seems like someone has congenial relations with some not so patriotic folks.



More related videos on YouTube.

Well said!

I have heard some of the news on this and so let me be as clear as
possible. I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's
families are off limits, and people's children are especially off
limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics, it has no relevance to
governor Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance
as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off
these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18. And
how family deals with issues and teenage children that shouldn't be the
topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me
understands that is off limits. - Barack Obama, on a conference call.

Palin Meltdown

A timeline, drip by drip.

Taking on Big Brother

This service - Qik - looks like it could be a great tool for for Big Brother's little siblings fight back with their video phones. Live streaming video, right from your video phone. Think about it.

Web 3.0

Coming real soon! Check out Chrome, Google's browser they've been developing!

A call to arms

It's time to rise up and fight back against this corporate criminal police state. FTP!

The Opportunist

As McCain tries to turn Hurricane Gustav into a political opportunity, lets all remember how responded when Hurricane Katrina was slamming into New Orleans:





But more importantly, lets remember what he did after the storm had passed:

Palin pregnancy timeline

Back on the O-train

I've written and re-written these thoughts, or thoughts similar, in e-mail exchanges all day. I've talked them through in quite a few conversations as well, so I only just realized I didn't blog about it.

What? Shut yo' mouth! Stop the presses! Stop TIME! No blogging? WTF?

Sure, that sounded smug, but I haven't been 'blogging' much lately, so I can get away with it I think. I'm sure I can handle the disappointed [few], anyway.

I'm back on the O-train again!

Yes, I'm still super-pissed about Obama's FISA vote(s), and I will continue to support the ACLU in challenging the Constitutionality of the law. I'm very disappointed in Obama's seeming tack to the right on certain issues. But, just for the record, I want to address those numerous assholes who think Lefties like me expected too much from "Centrist Obama". My first comment is "FUCK YOU!" And if you show me your face, I'll say it then too. Bring a hanky for the spittle.

For clarity without spittle, let me just say that the disappointment with the FISA vote has more to do with Obama keeping his word. The tack to the right on other issues is the same. Lefties like me aren't disappointed when Obama expresses Centrist tendencies, we're disappointed when he whores himself out to us for our money, our votes, and our vocal and activist support, only to sell us out for political expediency. Make no mistake about it, he has done that more than once. Happily, I can say he hasn't done that anywhere near as many times as McCain has, and continues to do.

On the level of integrity, Obama is light years ahead of McCain, and be-damned his POW-POW-POW history. You can't be tortured for five years, only to come home and leave your disabled wife for a rich heiress, and hitch your wagon to financial thugs (see Keating 5) who bribe you to not only look the other way, but to actively get involved to use your political influence to make others look the other way.

As I had forgotten a few times in the primaries while Obama was being "pummeled" by his boxing opponents, it looked then - as it does now - to the world like he was taking a beating, and he was. Even now, just as then, the media and the pundits keep trying to frame the general election as they did in the Democratic primaries. The salient point that was true then and is true now is that yes, his opponents are landing blows, but they're throwing wild hay-makers like bar brawlers. What they don't get is that Obama is NOT brawling, he's MMA fighting. (For the record, John McCain considers MMA to be "human cockfighting", although he apparently has come around to a different perspective, as he has so often done on nearly every important issue this political season.)

I think that's the best way to frame the contests today. Obama's "old school" opponents, those who still want to fight the battles that started more than 50 years ago, those who want to fight the cultural and ideological wars of the mid to late 20th century are still using the tactics from those eras. Obama is fighting 21st century style. He's practicing political Jiu Jistsu, using verbal Muay Thai, and sociological Krav Maga. MMA fighters know that taking blows and getting bloody is all part of the fun. You treat your opponent with respect, you step in the cage without kid gloves on knowing that blood will be spilt, and you FIGHT! You fight to win, but you also fight fair, at least fair enough to be able to live with yourself at the end of the day. Obama is definitely treating McCain with more respect than he's getting from McCain, but probably more respect than McCain deserves.

In most of these fights, it gets rough, but it always comes down to three things, and ONLY THREE THINGS: 1) Stamina. 2) Skill. 3) Luck.

Just as a matter of physical reality, Obama definitely has more stamina than McCain. He's physically and politically in better shape than McCain by decades. Never mind basketball, we all know Mac can't raise his arms high enough to even masturbate effectively, but when was the last time anyone has seen McCain expend more energy than required to get red-faced and pissed off when someone questions his honor? (Insert "POW cry" here) George W. Bush took more vacations in his first year than some presidents took in their entire terms in office, especially while at war. McCain not only inevitably takes naps, but it's pretty much a doctor's prescription that he does, considering his age. Of course, McCain is a major supporter of the pharmaco industry, and apparently has a healthy relationship with Ambien (no doubt Viagra too), but drugs only get you so far.

I haven't seen anything in McCain's history to suggest that he has any real political skill. The obvious - and only - path after his scandalous involvement as part of the Keating Five was to do whatever he could to differentiate himself from the perception of corruption endemic to his party (my how times haven't changed). So Mac tried to become the Maverick, and he bribed the media to buy into that falsehood, and they went all-in! But despite what the M$M tries to shove down our throats, the truth is that McCain is the same scum-bag he's been since his bullying days in elementary school, when he knew he could always count on daddy to bail him out of whatever mess he got himself in to.

Children of privilege, it is assumed, are better prepared to serve and to lead. It is almost always the case that the officers are from privileged stock, and the IED-fodder - er- enlisted folks -  are from the peasant class. It's history folks. Lest ye be fooled by legends like William Wallace, the truth is that those from privileged stock are never the deliberate bullet-stoppers. I know this will piss off many by my saying it - and it is not something the Obama campaign should get behind - but the only reason McCain is a "war hero" is because he was a BAD PILOT! As for the many stories he's told about his time during confinement, they are all as contradictory as his policy positions are these days. (Note to those assholes who think McCain's record is off-limits because he was a POW, know your facts before you open your holes).

So when it comes to political skill, Mac played his weak hand with his incredibly weak VP pick. I get what he and his advisers were going for, but they already had all the PUMAs they were already going to get, and possibly lost a significant number of the GOP base in the process. Mac massively underestimated the body politic. By picking Palin, Mac demonstrated quite effectively how Republicans truly perceive women as nothing more than ornaments or accessories. At the same time, he portrayed his actual disdain and disrespect for the Executive office. (Again, I get that. How could anyone who lost the shot at the presidency because someone from his own team laid a hot steamer on his face, only to go on to owning the highest office in the world for eight years? I'd be pissed too!)

It is obvious that Obama is the clear leader in terms of stamina and skill, but luck is always just luck. It's a slippery matte, it's a ref with a bad vantage point, it's a little sweat in the eye. It's still entirely possible for McCain to "get lucky" by landing that sucker punch, or being opportunistic as always and getting lucky with a slip by Obama or one of his surrogates. But that is NOT a successful strategy, as Hillary Clinton learned the hard way. If your only plan to win is based on your opponent making a mistake - and it clearly seems this is McCain's only viable strategy - then you should just bet your campaign funds against yourself.

But then, that would be just as immoral, unethical, and illegal as being one of the Keating Five.


I'm feeling good right now. If McCain picked Huckabee, I would have been considerably worried. Hell, McCain could have been a REAL "maverick" and picked Ron Paul. Despite what has played out so far, a McCain-Paul ticket (aside from sounding way better than McCain-P--- how do you pronounce that?-PAY-lin) would have been the real Indie-swaying ticket.

Fuck's sake, I thought an Obama-Paul ticket would be unbeatable. I'm calling it now - and I think Obama is too, which explains the right-ish tack, Ron Paul supporters are the swing vote in this cycle. Ron Paul is everything Kucinich and Nader were hoping to be each time they ran. (For the record, I am way to the side of Kucinich, and give a tip of the hat to certain Nader policy ideas, and I am only aligned with Paul to the extent of his Libertarian attributes - which beyond that I think he is a nutter.)

But I know that most Americans think about politics as much as they think about cleaning their toilets. They do it only when they have to, and the "when" is always open to interpretation. So if this election is truly about anything, it is CHANGE vs. EXPERIENCE. But not Change for the sake of change, or Experience to bring about change, but REAL CHANGE in all the ways that matter. Experience doesn't actually enter into the discussion, and it never has, as Hillary learned and as McCain seems to be learning. It is not even Change vs Judgment, which it seems that McCain has learned, but a bit too late. You can't be "change on the fly" and Mac should know this by now. The media fails to report it, but McCain has done an exemplary job of defining who he really is. Without any help from the M$M, most Americans know that McCain cares about nothing more than McCain becoming president, and damn everything that happens until then and afterwards. So, at the end of the day, the election now truly is about nothing but Change, which makes the whole thing volatile. Change defined as WHAT (very) specifically.

Three years after Katrina

Happy birthday, John McCain. Condolences, people of New Orleans.

In the 2000 Presidential primaries, George W. Bush and Karl Rove humiliated John McCain by running the nastiest kind of attack campaigns they usually save for the opposition party. How did John McCain react? He reacted by embracing Bush.




McCain not only embraced George W. Bush, he voted to support his policies more than 90% of the time. He reacted by taking not just one for the team, but by taking more than nine out of ten for the team. Eventually Bush repaid the loyal foot soldier by celebrating McCain's birthday in person in Arizona...



...while people in New Orleans were drowning.



Now the current candidate McCain is using the same architects of the demise of his 2000 candidacy to advise his current campaign.



There's nothing honorable about McCain anymore.

Now, within days of exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, McCain will be having another birthday, and another party. But at this party, almost the entire GOP will be partying with John, as he'll be accepting his party's nomination to the presidency.

Meanwhile, in what could ultimately be horribly ironic, Hurricane Gustav is headed into the Gulf of Mexico, and is expected to make landfall during the GOP convention. It may even hit New Orleans again. While it would be something bordering on divine justice were such another potential major natural disaster - one possibly resultant from global warming - to befall this nation during the final days of the Bush presidency, just as his party celebrates the nomination of a fellow self-described oil junkie and "worst polluter in the world" who wants to "DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW!" for oil, and someone who voted against funding for Katrina victims, and the re-building of the levees. But as much as Bush and McCain and the Republicans are deserving of a cosmic bitch slap, those who may actually suffer from the damage of this storm don't deserve it. They don't need to take one for that team.

So three years after Katrina, three years after McCain, and Bush, and the Republicans partied while New Orleans drowned, three years later and New Orleans still struggles to rebuild, three years later as McCain, and Bush, and the Republicans party as another major hurricane approaches, let us all simply hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Animal Farm Friday - Feelin' Great!

I'm feeling great today, after Obama's incredible speech last night. But after McLame's "manna from the heavens" veep pick, likely the worst in American history. That includes Quayle. So I thought I'd share some of the "feel good". Enjoy.

VPILF.com

You knew it was coming.

Palin is ailin' - II

Wow. She IS worse than Quayle.

Palin is ailin'

Kite surfing and hurricanes

A bad mix!

Man on Fire

Where was this guy in 2004?

Tom Brokaw is a tool

And he's a debate moderator. I've just about had it with this sanctimonious jerk.

Banned Orangina Ad

I can see why...

Is there such a thing as a cool Volvo?

Hellz Yeah!!!

I've slagged on Volvos for a long time as being cars for ... well, I have some good friends who drive Volvos, so I won't go there.

But. This particular Volvo has radically changed my perception of Volvo as a brand.

Sure, it's a concept, but it's bad ass enough of a concept to fundamentally alter my perception of Volvo. So no more slagging on Volvo (except of course for those Volvo drivers who "drive on eggshells"). The name of the car is almost cook too. Just a vowel off, I'd say.

Why I'm a founding owner of Prather Ranch Meat Co.

Click To Play

Using the term Humane Treatment to describe proper treatment of animals is a sickening oxymoron when you see the "human" treatment these animals get. I have to imagine these are the same humans that think it's okay to torture other humans.

I love meat, but I also believe animals in our food supply can have a rather enjoyable life while they're here. The only issue at odds with that possibility is the bottom line of these huge Agri-Business corporations and farms. Fortunately for meat lovers, there's Prather Ranch Meat Company, and great ranches like Prather Ranch.

That said, sometimes I think I should just choose veg.

How Shit Happens

In the beginning there was a plan. Then came the assumptions. The plan

was without substance. The assumptions were without form. Darkness was

upon the face of the workers.



And they spoke amongst themselves saying: "It is a crock of shit and

it stinketh!"



And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said: "It is a pail

of dung and none may abide the odour thereof!"



And the Supervisors went unto their Managers saying: "It is a

container of excrement and it is very strong, Such that none may

abide by it!"



And the Managers went unto the Management Committee saying: "It is a

vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength!"



And the Management Committee spoke amongst itself saying unto one

another:



"It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong!"



And the Management Committee gave counsel unto the Vice Presidents

saying unto them: "It promotes growth and it is very powerful!"



And the Vice Presidents went unto the President saying unto him:

"This new plan will activily promote the growth and vigour of the

company with powerful effects!"



And the President looked upon the plan and saw that it was good. And

so the plan became policy.



And that's how shit happens.

Kossack nyceve: How Obama Wins Ohio

Diarist nyceve at Daily Kos has a super popular post on an eight month investigation by The Toldeo Blade and their damning indictment of the healthcare system in America. If enough Ohioans see this, there's no way McCain will win Ohio.

4th BASE

Click to Play

Me, AV, Sushi, and Carcass from back when I used to be cool.

McCain's "Get Out of Gaffe Free" Card

From Kossac tbctbc

What's Wrong with Obama

Animal Farm Friday - McCain's Houses Edition

I wonder if John and Cindy have houses like this for their pets, or if they can even remember if they do.



Bonus, since I missed last week:

Supercooled water fun

The water in these bottles is still liquid, even though it has been chilled below freezing. But once the bottle is disturbed, watch how fast it freezes over.

I've seen this happen with a beer I left in the freezer too long. When I took it out, it was still liquid. But when I opened the bottle, it immediately froze over.

Science is cool.

Vice President Hillary Rodham Clinton

That's my guess as of last night. Just putting it out there.

I also just read that Nate Silver's numbers support the possibility. I once said that I wouldn't vote for Obama if HRC was the veep pick, but I've been so disillusioned with Obama lately that I'm entirely ambivalent about who he picks for the slot. HRC disgusts me to the core, but not nearly as much as McCain does, so there is THAT.

I used to think that Obama would win by a landslide, but his campaign since the primaries ended has done nothing but piss me off. Apart from the FISA issue, I can't let myself put heart and soul into a losing campaign, and Obama hasn't been looking like a winner to me lately. While I thought McCain never really had a chance, because he is such a bumbling boob, I have to remember that W was a bumbling boob too, and there were enough idiots in this country to re-elect that twat. So I guess there are enough idiots in this country who coyuld do the same for McCain, especially while he's running such a weak-kneed campaign.

One thing Obama needs to remember. W won because he "doesn't do nuance." Most Americans are too stupid to know what nuance means, and are too lazy to look it up. But Americans do like "tough" - even if it's just tough talk. You don't have to be tough, you just have to have the appearance of being tough. Obama these days looks anything but.

But I digress.

UPDATE:
I totally got it wrong! But I've never been more happy about being wrong.

They even eat algae on BSG

Proud to be an American

If this sort of thing makes you proud to be an American, you need to be taken out and shot. Or hung.

(Imperial) Fleet Week in SF

If you really support the troops, you will watch this

I think anyone who does owes it to the troops - and to themselves - to watch the entire video of this interview. The inimitable Bill Moyers at his finest, interviewing a real American hero who not only talks the talk, but walks it too!

Grab a drink, get comfortable, and watch it all. It might just change your life.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/watch.html

If you feel so moved, share this with anyone else you know of that says they support the troops.

He's doing it all wrong...

Obama's judgment

Political posturing, or does Obama really think Georgia belongs in NATO?

"Going forward, the United States and Europe must support the people of
Georgia. Beyond immediate humanitarian assistance, we must provide
economic assistance, and help rebuild what has been destroyed. I have
consistently called for deepening relations between Georgia and
transatlantic institutions, including a Membership Action Plan for
NATO, and we must continue to press for that deeper relationship."

If Obama is trying to neutralize McCain's "better dead than Red" posturing, this isn't the way to do it. Statements like this make it look as though he's playing catch-up, and it smacks of that faux tough guy posturing Dems are usually laughed at for. Obama could still harshly criticize Russia without having to take Georgia's side. In fact, if we had to choose sides at all, it would be in our long-term strategic interest to re-solidify our relationship with Russia. As two former superpowers whose time in the limelight is rapidly drawing to a close, we're both going to need to work together to provide a counterbalance to China.

Georgia - A Peach of a Situation

I won't pretend to be an expert on what is going on in the Caucuses, apart from what I've been consuming and digesting in recent days. One thing I will gladly point out though is the warnings that I and others issued about the perils of starting a needless, nay pointless, war in Iraq. By risking, and consequently severely damaging the United States' credibility on the world stage, Bush has all but rendered this nation impotent on grave matters such as the Russo-Georgia conflict. And there's no blue pill anywhere in site as long as BushCo - or McCain - is in charge.

As best as I can surmise, Bush, his cronies, and McCain, all had the stones to think that the US could sidle up alongside Russia's borders without expecting Momma Bear to growl and show some teeth and claws. By pushing NATO to accept Georgia as a member, the Bushies were thinking we'd have a stronger foot in the door in Eastern Europe. It looks like Putin is slamming that door on our toes, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it, thanks to our massive blunder in Iraq. As a consequence of Iraq, the price of oil has skyrocketed*, swelling the Russian coffers, while we're in debt up to our eyeballs. Because we are broke, and our military is stretched thin, and because we've made asses of ourselves through supporting King George's misadventures around the world, no one gives a crap about anything we say. All the more comical to watch Bush and Cheney and McCain huff and puff until they're red in the face, because that is all they can do. They can huff, and they can puff, and they can even throw a tantrum. But it will only succeed in highlighting just how weak they've succeeded in making the US.

What kind of signal do you suppose our ineffectiveness in this situation is sending to Taiwan and China? At this point, it seems to me that Taiwan might be feeling a bit more sheepish about declaring it's independence from China. For that matter, China might be a tad more interested in asserting its sovereignty over Taiwan, now that they are seeing quite clearly that the US under neo-con leadership is a limp noodle.

Click on the links above to read some interesting and salient perspectives on the situation in Georgia.

(*Yes, I know, there are many other factors affecting the price of oil)

Our glorious leader

Here he is inaction, as Georgia burns.



(h/t to Gregory, via Andrew, via Matt)

Gore-Al

Does this mean Al's kid will grow up to be Superman on another planet?

If only...

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Getting a war on

An illuminating perspective on the Russo-Georgian conflict.

Hopefully, our glorious leader won't get too big of a hard on and try to stand up to Russia over a matter of little real significance to our national security, but if my hunch is correct, King George won't be able to resist a parting "shot".

Cheaters and Liars

The sudden media outrage over John Edwards' finally copping to be a lying cheat is understandable. It's personal drama with a smattering of sleaze, so it's apparently news. I wonder how many pots are calling out the kettle here. Of course, most of the pots aren't former presidential or vice-presidential candidates, but the sudden intense focus on Edwards, who is no longer a contender for the White House, smacks of being fairly disingenuous given the utter lack of attention paid to the past infidelity - and frequent outright dishonesty - by a current presidential contender. Another John, if you will.

A lot has been made of why Edwards thought he had a chance of getting away with this affair, especially as a potential presidential candidate. But who could blame him for his hubris? When the current president gets away with illegally spying on Americans, and torturing prisoners, and wrecking the economy thanks to a complicit press and a compliant Congress, why wouldn't Edwards think he could get away with it? When that same media pays little attention to a Republican senator - David Vitter - who got busted for having his phone number in the black book of a whore, someone like Edwards can be at least understood for thinking he had some wiggle room with the media.

I can't rail enough against the media for their almost sickening lack of honest reporting when it comes to anything about McCain. But it's wrong of them all to heap their collective self on Edwards while utterly ignoring the fact that McCain's entire political career exists solely because he had an affair with a rich heiress while his wife at the time was wheelchair-bound, recuperating from serious injuries.

Watch Cenk's takedown for more of what I mean.

Animal Farm Friday - Peaceful Co-existence

With Russia and Georgia on the brink of war, this is in the spirit of all of us just getting along...

Six degrees of separation?

Apparently it's true. But it's also creepy how Microsoft did the research. How hard would it be to extend that research a little to actually track conversations? Are they working with the NSA too?

What it means to be conservative

Conservatives. LOL. 

Peace Walls?

I recently wrote about the surge being a failure, and I stand by that assertion. In that same post I argued that it would probably take "peace walls" like in Northern Ireland to separate the warring groups, and it appears now that I was right.

(hat tip to Scamper for the video)

Glenn and Digby

Very interesting and illuminating chat between Glenn Greenwald and super-political-blogger Digby:

Listen to it here:

How bad is it?

Pretty fucking bad.

Lunatics and Liars

Heh heh. More here.

Animal Farm Friday - Cat Fight

Or rather, kitten fight. And how to stop it.

Lets say the two kittens represent our current lame-o Congress (I know, it's not fair to the kittens). Then we say the third kitten (on camera near the end) represents how I feel about all of this.

Rove to be held in contempt

Okay, so he's not being frog-marched to justice, but he might be sooner rather than later.

MoveOn not a movement?

Another TPM nugget seriously worth a look!

UPDATE:

Great rebuttal!

Republican's adopting my values? Sweet!

Maybe Petey thought that holding his fundraisers in Vegas wouldn't get out because, what happens in Vegas...

From TPM:

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
who once bashed Janet Jackson and that Justin guy for their "liberal
values" as displayed in the wardrobe malfunction is now holding fundraisers at Las Vegas strip clubs.

Here's one of the employees at the establishment crawling on all fours wearing a belt and a leather bra. Not that there's anything wrong with that ...

Nothing wrong in my book with a hot chick in leather gear crawling on all fours. What's IS wrong in my book is this shameless hypocrisy these fucking Republiscums exude as they wrap themselves in the flag, stand on the breaking backs of our soldiers, and lie right out of their putrid faces about their devotion to God and family, and that queers and perverts and people with "liberal" values are corrupting this country.

Pete must really be confusing San Francisco values with Vegas values. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Fournier the Fraud and the "Associated" Press

I've railed before about the partisan hack Ron Fournier who is now heading up editorial for the Associated Press, and from the looks of things, he gives new meaning to the word associated.

In October 2006, the McCain team approached Fournier about joining the fledgling operation, according to a source with knowledge of the talks. In the months that followed, said a source, Fournier spoke about the job possibility with members of McCain’s inner circle, including political aides Mark Salter, John Weaver and Rick Davis.

Salter, who remains a top McCain adviser, said in an e-mail to Politico that Fournier was considered for “a senior advisory role” in communications.

“He did us the courtesy of considering the offer before politely declining it,” Salter said.

Indeed. This would certainly explain why they've decided to more or less race Fox News to the bottom of the press gutter.

How little we've progressed

Interesting look back on ideas for harnessing natural, renewable energy.

Don't drown your phone

I could have used this stuff last week before I dropped my Crackberry into a glass of water.

What happened to 4:20?

Surely there must be some kind of respite for the infinite hour!

Karma can be a bitch, eh Bob?

Bob "Douchebag for Liberty" Novak has a brain tumor. Josh wishes him well, but I don't. I'm not one for believing in fate, but I do sort of believe in karma. Novak's is coming back in spades, it seems.

Gonzo is at the center of attention

Great interactive map from Slate:

Sunday Sketch - Maliki Kneecaps McCain

By now you must have heard that Maliki has endorsed Obama's 16 month plan for withdrawing US troops (*with caveats) from Iraq. That basically cuts McCain's campaign off at the knees. I don't see how he'll recover from this.

Salon Radio with Glenn Greenwald launches

And it launches big in an interview with Dan Ellsberg.

Listen to it here:

Animal Farm Friday - Rabbit Rules

This looks kind of brutal, but I'm sure this crow deserved it.

Why teaching Intelligent Design would be so bad

More fun stuff here.

Why I'm proud to be part of MoveOn

Got this in my inbox tonight. All I can say is WOW! Take that, racist FOX pigs!

.....................................................................................................................

Watch the video!

Dear MoveOn member,

Big news! Your petition signature telling FOX to stop their racist smears against the Obamas had a really exciting day on Wednesday. Here's what happened:

1:00 p.m. Your signature was printed off at a New York City Kinko's along with 620,126 others—filling 19 big boxes.

2:00 p.m. The signatures were piled in front of FOX's national headquarters at 6th Avenue and 48th Street.

3:15 p.m. Hip hop star Nas (whose new album had just risen to #1 on the Billboard charts hours earlier) joined over 100 activists and delivered the petitions to FOX on behalf of ColorOfChange, MoveOn, and Brave New Films.

3:30 p.m. FOX refused to accept the petitions. (Sometimes, the truth hurts.)

4:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. News of FOX's racism and the star-studded petition delivery made its way around the world—with stories in Rolling Stone, Billboard, USA Today, Associated Press, Reuters, India Express, Huffington Post, MTV, OpenLeft, and over 200 other places.

11:30 p.m. Stephen Colbert welcomed Nas as his guest on the Colbert Report and dedicated over half of his show to FOX's racism. The boxes containing our signatures were stacked prominently on Colbert's set in place of his normal interview table and chairs—and he conducted the entire interview surrounded by petitions! Then, Nas performed his new song "Sly Fox," which is all about FOX's racism.

12:00 a.m. Several MoveOn staffers, jaws dropped open, get on the phone and engage in several rounds of, "Wow!" :)

Since then, the news has kept spreading around the world. You sent a message to FOX, and that message was very much received!

And the fight's not over. We'll continue to push back together against FOX's racism and their smears against Obama. But for now, enjoy the video of Wednesday's petition delivery—led by our friends at ColorOfChange—and the video of Colbert. Both videos are at this link:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3980&id=13325-8603905-2fbj40x&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Adam G., Laura, Ilyse, Justin, and the rest of the team

P.S. You can listen to Nas's new single "Sly Fox" on the Colbert video at the link above. If you like it and want to buy the full album, it's available here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3979&id=13325-8603905-2fbj40x&t=6

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 3.2 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to James Barlow on July 24, 2008. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

This is what my life is like

McCain's Counter-inSURGEncy

If you watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight (segment posted below in case you missed it), you saw that very sloppy bit of CBS editing from the previous night's blathering interview of John McCain by Katie Couric, arguably the worst anchor outside of Fox News. This is the piece where CBS edited out McCain's major, major gaffe when answering her question about Obama's statement on the "surge" at the expense of inserting in a spiteful and insipid remark about Obama wanting to lose the Iraq war.

You also would have seen McCain trying to explain away his gaffe - which was exposed the night before by Olbermann - about the surge starting nearly a year before it actually started. Check it out:



In McCain's world, a "surge" is synonymous with a counter-insurgency, and that because a counter-insurgency had been underway in Iraq long before the technical "surge" start date, his "surge" had begun long before. Never mind that the term surge is actually a media-propagated euphemism for "escalation" that Bush preferred because it sounded less - invasive.

But I get it now. McCain can sees surge in counter-insurgency, so by his twisted logic, this all makes sense.

Satire aside, I want to make another point here, and this is critical. McCain keeps crediting General (then Col.) McFarland as the genius who thought up the surge, and the media seem to be fine with giving him a pass on this. But the truth is that McFarland adopted the strategy that had been put into successful play in Tal Afar back in 2005 by one Colonel H.R. McMasters, which was to clear, hold, and re-build. In order for this strategy to succeed, you need troops. It took some time, but the idea caught on and was implemented in other parts of Iraq (primarily Baghdad). In order for these types of operations to succeed, an escalation of troops was needed, which is what the rest of us know as "the surge". So it is true that a "clear/hold/rebuild" counter-insurgency strategy had been succeeding long before the Anbar Awakening, this can in no way be confused with a "surge". This strategy is not a surge, but a surge makes a strategy like this more successful.

If McCain had been throwing props to McMasters, then he might have some credibility his idea of a "surge" already happening, but he showed his true colors when he gaffed on CBS. There can be no doubt about it, McCain's old age was showing through. He might have actually been thinking about McMasters's successes in Tal Afar. Instead, he got his timeline confused and implied that the surge had been succeeding before it even started, and tried to support that with events that did actually happen, just not in the order that they actually happened (in this universe at least). By confusing the actual start of the surge (where most surge troops deployed to Baghdad) with the Anbar Awakening, McCain showed that he does not have a solid grasp on what has been going on in Iraq. Then, by trying to explain his screw-up by conflating a counter-insurgency strategy with operational logistics, he showed that he is a liar who will say anything and hope that no one catches him.

McCain says that we don't understand what a surge is. No, we understand. McCain is confused.

Old man driver

Josh is on point here:

Novak says he didn't realize he'd hit anyone. And if that's true it
removes a great deal of the moral and potential criminal liability. But
it puts in real question whether Novak should be driving a car. If you
can be driving through the relatively compact streets of downtown
Washington, hit a pedestrian so that he rolls up on to your windshield
and then trundles off onto the ground and you don't notice, should you
really be driving?

Think about that. For most of us I think having anything make
contact with your car while you're in motion is very jarring, as it
should be. That's certainly been my experience. And you don't notice
when you plow into a guy and he rolls up on your windshield? I don't
get that.

My guess is that Novak has been reading all the pro-velo posts about bicycles in D.C. at Andrew Sullivan's blog, got all pissed off and tried to make a point. Too bad his point was so potentially dangerous.

McCain is (not) a foreign policy expert.

hilzoy puts McCain's major faux pas under the microscope.

Money quote:

Note to self: if I ever run for President and decide to stake
everything on my understanding of one thing, I should familiarize
myself with the basic facts about it. I should be especially careful to
do this before I say something like this about someone who got it
right: "I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false
depiction of what actually happened."

Obama thwarts McCain's oil rig photo op with hurricane

Not really, but I'm sure old man McSame feels that way. Ol' Johnny tried to upstage Obama by flying out to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast, but he got upstaged by Hurricane Dolly.

Of course, maybe that was (his) God getting back at him for stepping on his toes.

Animal Farm Friday?

Obviously, I didn't post anything last Friday, but for good reason. I spent a couple hours in line for the opening night of The Dark Knight (and have been too busy ever since). So here's the post, a little late. In honor of Batman, I bring you bats.

Be warned. This even creeps me out.

My next new bike

Wasp Knife

Pretty sick mind what thought this up...

Santa Claus is EVIL!

Justice on hold

Yes, I am pissed off at Cass Sunstein's recent wussified remarks about an Obama administration not pursuing justice against "egregious" crimes committed by the Bush administrations. But after reading about Radovan Karadzic's capture, and knowing that Ratko Mladic is still on the loose, and factoring in that it will take many years before - if ever - these barbarians will face trial, adding to that the notorious impatience and short attention spans of Americans, I am certain there will never be any war crimes trials at the Hague for Bush and Dick (hell, Dick will be dead in a couple of years anyway). The best we can hope for would be that a President Obama declares Bush and Cheney enemy combatants and ships them off to Gitmo forever. Of course, along with the many pardons Georgie doles out - including his own and Dick's too - he'll close own Gitmo on the off chance that it might have even a slight possibility of becoming a permanent residence.

From out here, looking at the Hague's back-logged docket and lack of ideal locations to imprison war criminals, the world is a very small step away from looking like the American penal system. We're well on our way to becoming a prison planet. (Insert imaginative leap here.)

Don't even get me started on one of histories current living "war" criminals Mugabe.