Item! Barack Obama: Radical liberal

So, I seriously thought about Jackie Harvey-ing this article by everyone's favorite 23-year-old columnist Ben Shapiro but, really, it wouldn't be as funny.

The Onion should seriously just use his OpEd columns. They're comedic gold.

WorldNetDaily - Barack Obama: Radical liberal
Sen. Barack Obama's platform is his politics of "understanding." Obama has been careful not to define the issues upon which he runs; rather, he explains that it is time to "move forward," to discard "ideology," to reach a new "common ground" built on an "understanding" of broad-based values. Of course, this is pure Grade A pap.

The whole "article" is a crock of "shit" (excuse me, pure grade A pap). Once again, I am "amazed" that this guy "graduated" from "Harvard".

Give it a read... More lols than you can count.

Apparently this web thing is all new news to Maria Cantwell's campaign- you know, our more technically savvy Senator? The Seattle Times's David Postman led me toward a brief comparison of Maria's site and Mike McGavick's penned by Jeff Maurone.

Apparently Jeff's critique had an effect, or at least was timely, because Maria has now updated her site. It seems she's now much more on track. Blog, a decent spattering of media, and a good supply of tools to use to get involved.

Democrats of Washington, let's not follow the BetterDonkey model, have consistent content at least.

Is this still a lesson to be learned? For shame. If you're a politician you should be seeding the netroots from the second you decide to run for office. Your website should be your best asset in terms of potential gains versus costs, not a liability. A ground-breaking website can be assembled for a fraction of the cost of ONE television spot. Why not kick some ass on the web? In today's climate there's no excuse not to.

The measure to permanently repeal the estate tax thankfully went down in the Senate today. But Washington voters haven't likely heard the end of the estate tax.

As I talked about last November, anti-infrastructure and anti-education zealots are poised to bring I-920 to Washington state voters this fall. If it passed, I-920 would eliminate a tax which only 210 of the richest estates in Washington pay.

I-920 is led by anti-Tax and anti-Gay zealot Dennis Falk who, in 1981, led an unsuccessful campaign to overturn the sexual orientation provisions of Seattle's fair employment and open housing ordinances.

Slimy folks like Falk (and the Seattle Times editorial board) will surely create "heart-string" ads like this gem from the Free Enterprise Fund which has been running in Washington state this week against Sen. Cantwell:


click for Windows Media Player link
Expect I-920 to bring these to the next level. Old women in wheelchairs explaining to Billy and Cindy that Gov. Christine Gregoire is the reason they'll have to go to Community College instead of Vassar and such. Black and white tilted photographs of Frank Chop and sad family-owned farmers exclaiming that they'll have to fold up shop after 10 generations of farming in Monroe (even though farms are exempt from the tax in Washington). Oh, modern American politics.

The sweetheart deal for Comcast working its way through city hall does little to benefit access to communications for Seattle residents.

In a Progressive city like Seattle while we’re being lauded for our leadership on issues like the Kyoto Treaty and global warming, we’ve done little to create access to cable television and the ability to create original programming for Seattle residents.

“Public Access “ programming is the missing link in the new sweetheart deal with Comcast. Demand has been strong for creating public access programs, and the limited space on one channel has not kept up with the demand. With each subsequent contract, funding from Comcast for equipment for the Public Access channel has been reduced, while funding for the Seattle Municipal channel has been increased. The programming for the municipal channel is controlled by the city, not by the public.

Very few people would disagree that the programming on Seattle’s Public Access channel often lacks quality. Yet the conundrum of bad programming and open access can be addressed by creating two Public Access channels, one with ongoing shows that are approved by the Public Access Board of Directors, the other channel open to the public on the existing lottery system. With an investment in equipment for show producers and with two Public Access channels, Seattle will be able to claim our Progressive label. We’ll be able to create real access for the public to producing quality community television for civic issues, the arts and for other points of view.

I've heard you all- murmuring in the shadows- how dare you talk about our commander in that way? What did you say? State-based impeachment eh?

This would end up a publicity stunt as much as anything but this thread on Kos is fascinating- definitely gives you that little groups of people can do big things type of feeling, and boy do we like that around here.

NOTE: Sec. 603. Inception of impeachment proceedings in the House. This refers to Jefferson's Manual-the House uses it as a supplement to its standing rules.>>
In the House there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion:

[...] by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State (III, 2469)

If this is all correct apparently any state's legislature can pas along the oh-so-subtle suggestion of impeachment. Vermont is for lovers...of checks and balances?

Ah, if only this man was on TV every day... oh wait, he used to be! D'oh!

Phil Donahue was on the O’Reilly Factor yesterday, and he did an amazing job of defending the anti-war stance, reframing the issues, and generally not letting O’Reilly walk all over him. Check out Alternet's post about it.

Don't Give In to the “This Land was Made for Me, Not You” Game

Red versus Blue. Those colors never used to matter, did they? That’s rhetorical, but I’ll answer it: they didn’t. They were shorthand, and they were temporary. Yes, they represented something, but it was understood that beyond this shorthand were whole ideologies, complexities, gray areas.

Enter the turmoil of 2000 and its stomach churning repetition in 2004. The Media—by which I primarily mean cable and network television--- latched onto the colors like they meant something. All of a sudden, you and I were playing for one team and the guy down the street was playing for the other. All of a sudden it was Homecoming and even the kids who ate lunch huddled alone in a corner were rooting for the football team, crying foul on every call against us, giving the old Ivy League cheer time after time when it was clear the home team was going to lose.

Now we are bombarded on a daily basis by the idea that who we voted is who we are; that right down to the particulars of our lifestyle we are entirely different from, and utterly superior to, that distant red-dyed "other."

EDIT 5:30pm PST: Crooks and Liars has taken the clip down. I've replaced it with a link from Skoopy.com in case you haven't seen it yet.

In case you're searching the web for this, look no further.

It's perhaps the funniest thing Mike Myers has ever done. Outside of So I Married and Axe Murderer.

Oh, and Kanye, I'm buying Late Registration today. Thanks for saying what most of us knew, but no one would say on national TV.


Click Here. Requires Windows Media Player

Thanks to Skoopy for hosting.

From the wire:

Bush Declares War on Natural Disasters

New Orleans (JK)- President George W Bush made a statement today declaring a global war on natural disasters. In a speech to the national convention of the American Legion, Bush said, "We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win.”

Invoking the words of Ronald Reagan, President Bush on Wednesday compared the war in the Gulf States and the fight against hurricanes to World War II and the battle against communism.

"We believe in Ronald Reagan's words that 'the future belongs to the umbrellas.' In some ways, this struggle we're in is unique," Bush told the graduates. "In other ways, it resembles the great clashes of the last century between those who put their trust in meteorologists and those who put their trust in liberty.”

“Our goal -- the goal of this generation -- is the same. We will secure our nation and defend the clouds through the forward march of silver nitrate."

So in case anyone doesn't watch the Daily Show every night, Senator Rick Santorum will be Jon Stewart's guest on Monday, July 25. I really, really hope Jon will ask him how he feels about Dan Savage's definition of "santorum" but somehow I think that will be overlooked. At any rate it should be an interesting conversation...

After the show, I would love to hear what people think about Tricky Ricky. Do you like him more? Do you hate him more? Is that possible? Will he be re-elected in Pennsylvania or will even the Amish say this dude is way to 16th Century?

Alright all you folks out there with only enough cash for broadband and only a tiny bit of cash for entertainment purposes, listen up.

There will be no more licking crumbs off the plate.

From now on those of us who want to try before we buy, just play with samples we rip from it, or straight up rip a whole cd-quality copy of a cd because we can't even pay for medical insurance let alone drop $20 on a fancy booklet to accompany the CD which costs mere pennies...from now on...we can't do it.

To those programmers, animators, musicians, and photo artists out there who downloaded a copy of Visual Studio, Maya, VST plugins, or Photoshop just so you could learn how the program works to see if you wanted to buy it or really don't intend on making a profit with so can't justify dropping 2 years of college worth of flow on a few CD's that will be outdated next year (see Maya)...sorry, even though you are what drives this industry the method that most of you used to get where you are today went bye-bye.

Karl Rove served his usual purpose as the the front line spewer of elephant shit during his acceptance speech for receiving the conservative Charles Edison Memorial Award (aka a Conservative Oscar).

With Democrats demanding an apology, the nations liberals relatively insulted, and the Republicans standing firm that whatever mother Rove says is golden - I thought we should take an opportunity to actually read, in context, exactly what the pasty face overlord of spin had to say about those of us against the war in Iraq (entire conservatives roxorz speech here):

But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to… submit a petition. I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what Moveon.org did. It was a petition imploring the powers that be" to "use moderation and restraint in responding to the… terrorist attacks against the United States."

If you have a chance, go to the seattle times web page. Under the Nation?world section, take a close look at the headlines. first:

U.S. poised to rank No. 1 for mental illness, study suggests

and then:

Politics, religion do mix, say many Americans

Am I seeing some sort of correlation there?

Just wondering.

Bill Moyers is so money.

So mistakes were made. Newsweek reported that the Koran was being abused as a tactic to get Guantanamo detainees to talk. The Muslim world became inflamed. Anti-US riots broke out in Afghanistan. Now the Muslim world hates that US, and according to Scott McClellan it’s all Newsweek’s fault. It seems that the government does not want any one encroaching on their monopoly of pissed off Muslims. Good job, Newsweek. Everyone in the Middle East loved us before you had to go and muck it up.

A quick followup: The White House is now demanding a retraction from Newsweek. In the spirit of the administration, all they need to do is break out the checkbook and it'll be done.

Hello all,

Now comes the time where we must discuss PFC Lynndie England. Of course, we all know who she is; it’s all over the news. I will talk further about the case at Abu Ghraib, but for right now I want to focus on her. In an effort to not be redundant, I will assume that all of you know about the case and her pleadings. Now, the judge threw out her guilty plea because he thinks she might not have known her actions were wrong at the time. Her lawyers stated that she had severe learning disabilities and mental health problems. What does all of this mean? What it points to is a flaw within our military’s recruiting process, that a person with mental problems and learning disabilities can not only become a soldier, but also have some type of authority over prisoners in a jail.

If it is found out that the defense is correct, that PFC England is all of the things that they claim, you have to assume how many people in the military are just like her. I remember my process of joining the military, you are tested again and again; first the ASVAB, which determines what kind of job you are suitable for in the military. Then, during your basic training you take practical application tests, written tests about first aid, the UCMJ, and other various nuggets of military knowledge. So how is it possible that a person with a severe learning disability slipped through the cracks? How is it possible that this person could not figure out that putting a leash around someone’s neck might not be a good thing if it’s not consensual? I’m sorry, but it doesn’t hold water with me. I think she knew full well what she was doing, and didn’t care about the consequences. Either way, it makes the army look incredibly stupid.

Hello all,

I was perusing the interweb when I came across a banner for the Discovery Channel's Greatest American blog. Personally, I think it's either Ben Franklin or FDR, but that's just me. They have some interesting profiles there; you might want to check it out. Actually, I really want you to check it out.

http://journals.aol.com/americanblog/GreatestAmerican/

You see, I was going through this site, they had a little section called 'You Answer - Who is the Greatest American?', something of a man on the street kind of thing. There were varied responses, some for MLK, Pat Tillman, Elvis, even our own Saint William of Clinton. The disturbing thing with these sections (there are two) are the comments attributed to our current (p)resident. Easily missed by the untrained eye, but since I spend hours training my skillful eyes to filter bullshit, I caught this little gem:

George W. Bush. He stands up for principles. He’s a man of conviction. He has a strong faith in our Creator, God and Christ his son!

(I totally stole this from Low Culture)

How President Bush spent his Wednesday:

How Sens. Barbara Boxer and Charles Schumer spent their Wednesday:

The new standard of quality media reporting, coined by Fox News and replicated far and wide, is “fair and balanced”. Granted, even mouth breathers see the humor in Fox News, but the extent to which the phrase is kicked around loose and free is nothing short of maddening once you’ve established a sensitivity to it.

My friends, balanced does not fair make. Worse, “balanced” reporting in the hands of an ethically flexible individual legitimizes absolute falsities by providing them equal time and weight as the truth. Take global warming, for instance. The majority of science (including U.S. Executive branch agencies such as NOAA, OSTP, EPA, USGCRP, etc.) agrees as to its occurrence. Why? The evidence is rather conclusive. Despite this, a small minority of dissenting "experts", presumably those who find it either dismissive of their religion or problematic for their business interests, somehow find equal time in the press.

The result: a mixed bag on what the public believes.

Quoting the earlier linked article, “In 1996, the Society of Professional Journalists removed the term "objectivity" from its ethics code. This reflects the fact that many contemporary journalists find the concept to be an unrealistic description of what journalists aspire to, preferring instead words like "fairness," "balance," "accuracy," "comprehensiveness" and "truth." In terms of viewpoints presented, journalists are taught to abide by the norm of balance: identifying the most dominant, widespread positions and then telling "both" sides of the story.”

The result: America increasingly doesn’t know its collective head from its collective ass.

Ugh. It could drive a man to drink. Fortunately for us, dear reader, there a few objective and unbias havens such as this fine, fine site. Porro ago verum.

My first introduction to the term “starve the beast" was in reference to tax-hatin’ Grover Norquist. If unfamiliar, the basic idea is simple: cut taxes and run budget deficits to purposefully increase debt and stretch programs, with the ultimate goal of forcing government to cut services and shrink overall. More diabolically, the macro philosophy amongst pro-privatization nuts is to so burden the government with debt that it has no course but to privatize services presently provided by Big Brother. I’m hoping this is starting to feel familiar to you.

But this blog isn’t about Grover Norquist.

I came across a not-wholly-convincing but nonetheless interesting article which references the Bush treatment of the press as an extension of the starve-the-beast philosophy. The article discusses how the Bush White House is effectively dismantling the effectiveness of the already conservative-leaning mainstream media through limited access, fact manipulation, planted info, rewards and punishments, and other means. The ultimate goal: create Red-state news and Blue-state news – dual realities which diminish the value of the truth, whatever that is.

What to take from this, you ask? Beats me. All I really know is it will be a dark and sad day when I can’t look to the Yakima Herald Republic as my source of objective reporting.