Quote of the day

"It's probably hopeless by now to try to excite the GOP's conservative base about Romney, not only because of ideology, but even more because of sociology. Romney's life, career, and manner all combine to remind the white working class why their parents and grandparents voted Democratic." --David Frum, Republican and former speechwriter for George W. Bush

Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/18/romney-campaign.html

How did I miss this?

This is clearly from about 3 years ago, given the topics he covers but how funny is this? And true, of course, as usual, from him.

Such a shame Americans aren't interested in facts

Bruce Bartlett on Where the Right Went Wrong from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

Links: http://billmoyers.com/segment/bruce-bartlett-on-where-the-right-went-wrong/#.Tzj3mC4dx8M.facebook; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/krugman-severe-conservative-syndrome.html?_r=1

Brief primer on Iraq and Iran

If someone showed you these pictures singularly, would you think any of them from Iraq or Iran? We so love to demonize our "enemies" and not think of them as humans or their countries, for that matter, as habitable. We humans still have a long way to go, don't we?

Things our soldiers are doing in our name

We send them over there. The least we could do is know what they're having to do for us.

What the Iraq War was

In a soldier's own words:

The official end of the Iraq War

On this, the official end of the Iraq War, it's so vitally important to remember a few things, at least: 1.5 million American soldiers served, 4,487 American Soldiers lost their lives, 32.226 American Soldiers were wounded, $806 billion were spent on it, it was a longer war than WWII or Vietnam, no weapones of mass destruction were ever found--just as the United Nations inspectors were verifying--and it was all based on lies. (Tragically, this doesn't even take into consideration the destruction of the Iraqi country and so many Iraqi lives). Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/world/middleeast/panetta-in-baghdad-for-iraq-military-handover-ceremony.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Quote of the day--on our national debt

‎"The current debt under discussion is Republican debt, authorized by Congress and signed into law by former President George W. Bush. The debt in question covers bills that have come due from two unfunded wars, from unfunded tax cuts and tax loopholes that have benefited the wealthy and ravaged the middle-class, from gross mismanagement of the nation’s economy under Republican supply-side b*llsh*t." --Fay Esther

Old speech, still applicable now, with the debt ceiling negotiations

We need Alan Grayson back. How on Earth did we become this sick, imbalanced, grossly unfair country we've become?

Explaining 8 years

Unless we remember we cannot understand.
--E. M. Forster 

Keeping in mind, of course, that if you never "knew", you can't remember.

To any and all of those who voted, even once, for this man, we thank you.

Actually, scratch that, we blame you.

A wonderful, true, perplexing and ultimately frustrating, possibly to the point of maddening "Quote of the day"

Americans are wondrous optimists, looking to the upper class and expecting to join it someday. In 1860, many subsistence farmers aspired to become large slave-owners. So poor white Southerners supported slavery then, just as many low-income people support the extension of George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy now.    --James W. Loewen, The Washington Post


Links:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths-about-why-the-south-seceded/2011/01/03/ABHr6jD_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121606200.html

"This Was Never About the Little Guy" (guest post)

There were approximtely $1.4 trillion worth of subprime loans outstanding in the United States by the end of 2007. By the first quarter of 2009, there were forclosure filings against approximately 4.4 million properties. If it was only the subprime market's fault, $1.4 trillion would have covered the entire problem, right?

Yet the Federal Reserve, the treasury, and the FDIC forked out $13 trillion to fix the housing “correction”… With all that money, the government could have bought up every residential mortgage in the country – there were about $11.9 trillion  worth at the end of December 2008 – and still have had about a trillion left over to buy homes for every American who couldn’t afford them.

--Nomi Prin, former VP at Goldman Sachs from her book It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street  (with thanks for the reference to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine).  Ms. Prin "frequently makes the point that the bailouts were more about paying off bets than they were about stabilizing the economy."

We've been had as chumps.

Try to have a great weekend, y'all.

Links:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/mailbag-friedman-naked-swaps-and-madoff-20110228

http://www.nomiprins.com/it-takes-a-pillage/

People being held accountable

An advertisement RootsAction, an American Human Rights group, placed in a Spanish newspaper:


A Spanish judge, acting under international law, will soon decide whether to investigate US officials' roles in authorizing torture. We hope you agree that such cases must go forward, despite pressure from the Obama administration to drop them.  The organizations sponsoring this advertisement represent hundreds of thousands in the American public who believe the US government must be held to the same rule of law as other countries. We thank the people of Spain for your courage, and ask for your support as your courts consider bringing American officials to justice for the crime of torture.


From their website:


Despite earlier assertions by President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that waterboarding is torture, former President George W. Bush publicly stated three times last year that he authorized waterboarding and added proudly that he would do it again. In a TV interview aired on November 8, Bush said he considered waterboarding legal "because the lawyer said it was legal." Waterboarding and other forms of torture were banned by the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by the United States in 1994. 


Maybe people will be held accountable one day after all.  


I doubt it seriously but it would be nice.


Links:  http://warisacrime.org/content/american-human-rights-groups-place-ad-spanish-newspaper-encouraging-prosecution-us-war-crimi
http://rootsaction.org/

The really important thing to remember about 9/11

Let's keep in mind today that 9/11 wouldn't have happened if now Former Pres. Geo. W. Bush would have read--and reacted to--his Daily Presidential Briefing, which stated that Osama Bin Laden was planning an airplane attack on New York. But then, hey, we didn't have a responsible president for 8 years, did we? He just sucked up to corporations, the wealthy and "Big Oil" all that time, short-changing us, the American people, instead. THAT'S the important thing to remember this day, just after the sacrifices of the 9/11 families and the people who rescued--and tried to--the victims of these attacks. Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Ladin_Determined_To_Strike_in_US http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2006/06/20/911pdb

More brilliance from the Iraq War

I was just given more reasons to bang my head against a wall when I saw this: After destroying Iraq's army, US retrains former foe by Jacques Clement; Ten years ago the military machinations of Saddam Hussein were a security obsession for the United States, but American forces in Iraq now aim to make the army of their former foe stronger than ever. The US army has the right to self-defence and has already used it, despite Washington's declaration that "combat operations" are officially over, but the bulk of America's military might is now focused on a training mission. US money has paid for hundreds of workshops at Iraqi military bases, in the wake of the American-led invasion that ousted Saddam from power in 2003, part of the estimated trillion dollars that has been spent on operations here. Just one example of the stupidity of the George W. Bush's administration, in handling this war they chose and created: US training of local forces started in 2004, just months after the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the post-invasion governing body headed by American diplomat Paul Bremer and charged with running the country, disbanded the Iraqi army. Although the army was suspected as a refuge for Saddam's allies, its break-up is seen as one of the CPA's biggest mistakes as it made tens of thousands of armed men unemployed and left Iraq's borders unguarded, allowing insurgents to pour in and wreak havoc in subsequent years. Then, Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, the deputy commander for Operation New Dawn said this: "In December 2011, I am convinced the ISF will be fully capable of internal security," Barbero said, noting that the Iraqi navy will protect coastlines and oil platforms. "But they will not have the capability to provide air sovereignty, to fully protect the skies over Iraq, because they will lack a multi-role fighter," he added. Now, it also sounds like we've set ourselves up to be the supplier (read: salesperson) of the Iraqis for the fighter jets our corporations can supply. Hopefully they'll never use them on us, right? Once again, I'd like to take a moment to thank Former President George W. Bush and Former Vice President Dick Cheney and that administration for the ignorance, tragedy and waste that is and was this Iraq War. It can't be said enough. I will never forget. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusmilitarytraining/print

George W. Bush on Muslims, Islam

Since no one's going to listen to President Obama on the issue of Islam because, after all, he's not really "one of us", right? And his middle name is "Hussein". Following is what "Conservative" (except when it came to spending money), Right-wing, Republican Former President George W. Bush had to say about Muslims and Islam: .."The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war. When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world...America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect."... ..."Women who cover their heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes. Moms who wear cover must be not intimidated in America. That's not the America I know. That's not the America I value...That should not and that will not stand in America. Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior." So could we please not burn their holy book and incite the emotional insanity around the world? Could we be "accepting" and "tolerant" like we always told ourselves we were? Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/what-i-miss-about-george-_b_707063.html

Quote of the day--on the Iraq War

Those who brought this disaster down on us must be called to account for the fabrications, the embarrassment to our honor, and the waste of so many lives and resources. Until then, the conclusion to this sad chapter in Iraq will not have been written. --James Zogby, From "Lies and the War That Has Not Ended", President of the Arab American Institute, Author of Arab Voices (Palgrave Macmillan 10/10) Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/lies-and-the-war-that-has_b_705742.html

Remember the "shoe-throwing guy"?

Of course you do. We all do. His name was Muntadhar al-Zeidi and he threw his shoes at then-President George W. Bush as protest over his--W's--attack on Iraq. It seems there's a report out right now that shoe-throwing has become more common, since he first came up with the incident and it's been repeated by others, as their own protest. Since that infamous Baghdad press conference on Dec. 14, 2008, shoes have flown at the prime ministers of China and Turkey, the chief justice of Israel's Supreme Court, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, a Ukrainian politician who favored joining NATO, and a string of Indian politicians. Just this month, shoes flew at Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the top elected official in Indian-controlled Kashmir. And you know what? Much as I'm against anarchy and I am about respect and respect for authority, this got me thinking. I have to say, I'm a big fan of Mr. al-Zeidi's. Here's why: First, he had an original thought. Honestly, not that many people do, I don't think; Second, he acted on it and that took courage; Third, he was prosecuted (persecuted?) for it as surely he knew he would be. He was willing to pay for what he thought was right--and it was right, given that W's unprovoked attack on Iraq was and is, still today, against both internal, national law, here in the US, as well as international law. Finally, Mr. al-Zeidi left Iraq afterward and went to Switzerland (clearly a smart man) and began a charity. Admittedly, I don't know what the charity is for or what they do but it's a charity so I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's somehow helping humankind. So, all in all, I think I give the guy kudos, all 'round. As I said, I'm not for either anarchy or disrespecting leaders but in this case, I have felt strongly and for some time--since the Iraq invasion in 2003--that "W" deserved what he got (and a whole lot more, too, of course) when he had those 2 shoes dis-respectively thrown at him. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/throwing_shoes

Iraq after George W. Bush and his extremely expensive--and illegal--escapade

A lot of us protested the Iraq War George W. Bush brought it on us and them, before it even took place. We knew it was stupid. We knew it was wrong. Heck, at the time, I didn't know it was against our own internal, national laws, let alone international ones as well. Out today comes a story telling U.S. Leaves Iraq Much Worse Off. Not that we've visited the country but we knew this, too, didn't we? We went in, blew 'em up real good and now we're leaving but not without first having gotten nearly 4,500 American soldiers killed and spending billions of dollars. This from Truthdig: Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq. For the past few decades, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the percentage of the urban population living in slums in Iraq hovered just below 20 percent. Today, that percentage has risen to 53 percent: 11 million of the 19 million total urban dwellers. I see where the former President also went to Haiti to talk up helping that country and while that's good, I'd love to ask him when he's going to visit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast since his administration virtually completely, totally and utterly ignored that entire area of the country during and after Hurricane Katrina. If you haven't seen the Brian Williams interview discussing this on the Charlie Rose show on PBS, you should. It's extremely enlightening. What a great idea this turned out to be, right, George--invading Iraq? Your idea destablized the entire country and so, likely, further destabilized the Middle East. Thanks, loads, George! Link to original post: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/us_leaves_iraq_much_worse_off_20100823/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Truthdig+Truthdig:+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines

Chill, people

A great deal of people, I think it can be shown, didn't pay much, if any, attention from 2000 to 2008, as our president and leaders at the time took us from budget surpluses to huge budget deficits. And now, now that there is a person in the White House who isn't the same color as a lot of them is trying to save our collective butts, doing all he can, they suddenly, as of last inauguration day, wake up and want to scream and complain and whine and cry about where we are and what's going on. Suddenly they're upset because they think he's spending too much. But were they saying much when the last guy in the White House was blowing through money like we'd all have it forever? How about when he arbitrarily and against both national and international law took us into an unprovoked war in the Middle East? Were they (you?) complaining then? I know I got out and protested the war before it happened so, hopefully, it would make a difference. Well, you know what? You can't not pay attention 8 or more years and then all of a sudden pretend you either a) care or b) are informed. You're clearly, especially not informed. So please, everyone who's screaming--calm down, sit down, close your mouths and start listening and reading. You have some old ground to cover. I absolutely recommend a lot of NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS on television, for starters. You have a lot of learning to do for a while and we don't need your irrationality, emotionalism and/or your reactionary rants. It's not even good for you, let alone the country.