It's a Stumblin' Bumblin John McCainPalooza!
And this is happening when he doesn't have any heat on him!
If Preston Sturges were alive, and working, today, he'd have to make a movie titled "Christmas In April".
Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain - The Gift That Refuses To Stop Itself From Giving!
Gift #1
First, it seems that SB John took, at least for today, The Garlic's advise, and spoke before a military audience, albiet, a Veterans of Foreign Wars crowd, in Kansas City, Missouri, spinning on the fabulous success, that apparently only he, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, as well as the Bush Grindhouse, can see.
From Think Progress;
A telling moment in his remarks came when he was arguing why President Bush’s surge “dramatically turned around the situation in Iraq.” Just as he reached this point in his speech, MSNBC cut away to report on escalating violence in Iraq:McCAIN: Faced with the prospect of defeat, we had two fundamental choices. We could retreat from Iraq and accept the horrible consequences of our defeat. Or we could change strategies and try to turn things around. It was, I believe, a critical moment in our nation’s history, and a time of testing for our nation’s political leadership.
In the year that has passed, our nation showed its strength –
MSNBC: And speaking of Iraq, we do have breaking news out of Iraq, where at least four mortars have been fired into the heavily-fortified Green Zone today. It’s unclear at this time if there are casualties or any major damage. Now the news comes just a day after five U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq. Two, again, inside that Green Zone.
There's video of it, so go over to Think Progress and check that out.
Crooks and Liars also has it, with the added bonus of this is a redux for SB John.
And Keith Olbermann, this evening, did a killer segment (#3 - McCainus Interruptus), playing Stumblin' Bumblin' John's speech, stopping in, and rebutting it with facts, and reality ... It was pretty devastating! (and, as of the time writing this, MSNBC hasn't posted the video, so you can go over to Countdown to see if it's there)
How ironic would it be, that every time Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain goes out to give one of his stump speeches, spinning the glory of war, he gets busted with live-action news, of, sadly, another disastrous event in Iraq?
Ohhh, but that was only his morning offering ...
Gift #2
To give you a tease, Wonkette titled their post "John McCain Called Wife Awful Word That Rhymes With 'Hunt' and 'Punt'!", while Emptywheel, over on Firedoglake added a little more - "A Trollop and a C$#T"
Yes, Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain has his infamous temper now documented, and coming out in a new book, 'The Real McCain' by Cliff Schecter.
The Raw Story broke with this today;
Book: McCain temper boiled over in '92 tirade, called wife a 'cunt'
John McCain's temper is well documented. He's called opponents and colleagues "shitheads," "assholes" and in at least one case "a fucking jerk."
But a new book on the presumptive Republican nominee will air perhaps the most shocking angry exchange to date.Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.
Oh my!
Forget about the Oval Office, sit this man down at the Bada Bing!
How ever is the loving, fawning MSM press going to deal with this one?
Boy, that girl, down on McCain's Biography Tour, dodged a bullet, no?
And, it's only April ... Can't wait for the gifts still being wrapped - tightly ...
The Stumblin' Bumblin John McCainPalooza!
Libby/The Newshoggers: Ed Shultz won't retract remarks
The Hill - McCain: U.S. strategy in Iraq ‘will succeed'
Blue Texan/Firedoglake - McCain: I Fought Hard Against Bush’s Failures In Iraq By Getting Him Re-elected
Pam/Pam's House Blend: McCain's loving comment to wife Cindy: 'you c*nt'
Nicole Bell/C&L: Temper, Temper
Jesus General: Sen. McCain responds to "The Real McCain"
Pale Rider/Red State-Blue Girl: Yeah, We've Heard of the "C" Word...
The Bob Dole For The New Millennium
Monday, April 07, 2008
The Gift That Refuses To Stop Itself From Giving
What If Spartacus Was Running Hillary's Campaign ...
It's another "Would'a, Could'a, Should'a" screed today, surfacing from Sean Wilnentz over on Salon.Hillary Clinton is a victim of a convoluted, eccentric, arcane, primary system, otherwise she'd be the breakaway, clear-cut winner in this thing.
His lead in this year's primary campaign is only due to that Obama gamed the system, that he is, in fact, running in a very un-Democratic manner.
Well, if money grew on trees, we wouldn't be in recession right now ...
Here's a couple of gems, from If the system made sense, Clinton would be far ahead; Under a winner-take-all primary system, Hillary Clinton would have a wide lead over Barack Obama -- and enough delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination by JuneThese arguments might be compelling if Obama's leads were not so reliant on certain eccentricities in the current Democratic nominating process, as well as on some blatantly anti-democratic maneuvers by the Obama campaign. Obama's advantage hinges on a system that, whatever the actual intentions behind it, seems custom-made to hobble Democratic chances in the fall. It depends on ignoring one of the central principles of American electoral politics, one that will be operative on a state-by-state basis this November, which is that the winner takes all. If the Democrats ran their nominating process the way we run our general elections, Sen. Hillary Clinton would have a commanding lead in the delegate count, one that will only grow more commanding after the next round of primaries, and all questions about which of the two Democratic contenders is more electable would be moot.
In the final analysis, though, the fights inside the Democratic Party aren't really about either an ideal American democracy or the American democracy that actually exists. According to the Obama campaign, democracy is defined as whatever helps Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with a candidate arguing this way. But everybody should see it for what it is -- not something new or transformative, but one of the oldest ploys in the playbook of American politics.
Oh Brother! ...
The Clintonistas must be relieved to know that Hillary doesn't have any responsibility for her abysmal failure.
Her arrogant posture of inevitability, her defending her vote on Iraq, her fabrications, her lies ...
None of that matters.
Hillary Clinton is losing because of an unfair system.
We'll be hearing a lot of that, no doubt ... Multiple variations of it will come hurtling down the pike, more-and-more, as the primary campaign wraps up, and Her Highness continues to falter.
Gee, what would have happened if Spartacus was running Hillary's campaign?
Bonus Links
James Joyner, from Outside The Beltway has a similar themed piece, Hillary Clinton a Victim of the SystemRegardless, these are the rules of the game. Quite frequently, the baseball team with more hits or the football team with more offensive yards nonetheless loses. Or, as we saw in 2000, the candidate with fewer popular votes gets elected president. Clinton chose to concentrate her efforts in the large states while Obama contested all the minor caucuses, picking up easy wins. It turns out that his strategy was better.
From the other side of the fence, Little Billy Kristol chimes in with "The Shape of the Race to Come"Apart from accumulating a few frequent flier miles, what do I have to show for my travels? I can report that lots of conservatives and Republicans expect Barack Obama to be our next president.
But a surprising number of Democrats with whom I’ve spoken expect a McCain victory. One told me he was struck by the current polls showing a dead-even race, suggesting both a surprising openness to McCain among Americans who disapprove of Bush and a striking hesitation among the same voters about Obama.
And an experienced Democratic operative e-mailed: “Finally, I think [McCain’s] going to win. Obama isn’t growing in stature. Once I thought he could be Jimmy Carter, but now he reminds me more of Michael Dukakis with the flag lapel thing and defending Wright. Plus he doesn’t have a clue how to talk to the middle class. He’s in the Stevenson reform mold out of Illinois, with a dash of Harvard disease thrown in.”
In a close race, that “dash of Harvard disease” could be the difference.
And, to offer Hillary a lifeline, her former campaign manger is launching "Hillary/Obama '08"
Marc Ambinder has it in Ex-Clinton Insider Launches Unity Ticket DriveHillary/Obama '08 becomes official today. In a way.
A Clinton insider who served as ex campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle's executive assistant for several years has set up a new website, http://www.voteboth.com/ and plans to register with the Federal Election Commission today.
Perrin On McCain, Clinton and Pornographic Ringtones
No quotes on this one.
It would spoil things.
Head on over to Dennis Perrin and read his post from Saturday (H/T to Barry Crimmins);
Crisp Bluejay Sutra
It's fall-on-the-floor, tears-in-the-eyes, funny!
This Date ... On The Garlic
Garlic History - On This Day
7 April 2007... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Having Rachel Ray Planning Your Prom
Ohhh, And We Had Such Nice Plans For Shock and Awe II -The Sequel ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll
The Laura Bush Bummer Bombing-of-the Day; Warning - Bypass this post if you don't want to be discouraged
Editor's Note - Getting Back On Track
7 April 2006... On The Garlic
Libby As Enemy Combatant Unlikely, But Treason Charges Could be Leveled; White House Quiet But Signs Indicate May Mount Offensive Against Libby; Sources Say ‘Everything Is On The Table”, Including Enemy Combatant Status; Rove Working On “Special Smears”
Top Ten Cloves: Things White House Will Say To Claim President Didn’t Leak Classified Information
7 April 2005... On The Garlic
Papal Shocker! Pope's Will Read; Leaves Vatican City To Trump
Bush Snubs Carter On Pope's Funeral
Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Tom DeLay and Family Were Paid For
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Heston Dead; Coroner Can't Pry Gun From Cold Dead Hands
NRA To Provide Special Custom Casket, If Needed
The Oscar-winning, legendary, superstar actor Charlton Heston died yesterday, at the age of 84, in his Beverly Hills home, in what a family spokesperson indicated was from a diagnosis of symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer's disease.
Heston won an Oscar for his role as Moses in 'The Ten Commandments' and also starred in other major works, including 'Ben Hur, El Cid, The Greatest Show On Earth, Orson Welles' 'Touch of Evil', and Sci-Fi classics 'Planet of the Apes' and Soylent Green
According to the Los Angeles Times, "He was the screen hero of the 1950s and 1960s, a proven stayer in epics, and a pleasing combination of piercing blue eyes and tanned beefcake," David Thomson wrote in his book "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film."
Heston's death, though has caused a problem, of sorts, for the Los Angeles County Coroners Office.
Sources have told The Garlic, when arriving to remove Mr. Heston's body from the home, they haven't been able to pry an antique musket from his hands.
"It's the darnedest thing ... We have had many unusual cases," a spokesperson for the Coroners Office stated, "and this one is right up there."
Heston, during his tenure as president of the National Rifle Association, had made a vow; In Mr. Heston, the N.R.A. found its embodiment of pioneer values — pride, independence and valor. In a speech at the N.R.A.’s annual convention in 2000, he brought the audience to its feet with a ringing attack on gun-control advocates. Paraphrasing an N.R.A. bumper sticker (“I’ll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands”) he waved a replica of a colonial musket above his head and shouted defiantly, “From my cold, dead hands!”
Heston, active in politics, was, in his earlier life, a democrat, activist and civil rights supporter.
But things changed.He became a Republican after Democrats in the Senate blocked the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork, a conservative, to the Supreme Court in 1987. Mr. Heston had supported the nomination and was critical of the Reagan White House for misreading the depth of the liberal opposition.
The Coroners Office, to avoid more extreme measures, indicated they would leave this matter to the family and word came in late from the NRA, that they would provide a special, custom-designed casket, with a turret, to intern Heston with his beloved gun.
Additionally, the NRA will drape the coffin with a specially knit flag, the full text of the 2nd Amendment.
"From cradle to grave," said a somber Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer.
Bonus Links
Statement by the Family of Charlton Heston
Lawyers, Guns and Money: Chuck Has Left the Stage...
Steve Clemons: Thou Shalt Not. . .Charlton Heston Dead at 84
YouTube: From my cold dead hands
Chopped Garlic ... Of Virginia Tech ... The Right To Bear Arms ... And Barry Crimmins
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Breaking News! MLK, Posthumously, Pardons McCain
It's absolutely astounding the the McCain Campaign was able to keep the lid on such breathtaking news.
I mean, with all the media digging (wink, wink), the 24/7 news cycles, the rocking-and-rolling biography tour, and no one, not one single McCain worker even hinted such a blockbuster was forthcoming.
Yesterday, ol' Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain spoke at the ceremonies commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, giving his mea culpa for, originally, dissing, and voting against, the MLK Holiday."We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans. But he knew as well that in the long term, confidence in the reasonability and good heart of America is always well placed. And always, that was his method in word and action—to remind us of who we are and what we believe. ...
Unbelievable!
King, and many, many others, were being beaten, some even murdered, in the fight for equality, the battle for civil rights, the call for the country to live up to it's pledge, its' Constitution and McCain does a paint-by-numbers Norman Rockwell tribute, as if everyone listening to it was going to cheer such a distortion.
I am not an MLK scholar, however, from readings and viewings of program on Dr. King, I harbor serious doubts that Dr. King was so rosily upbeat about the "confidence in the reasonability and good heart of America is always well placed".
It was, this "good heart of America" who was, with bullhorns and angry red-faces, attempting to put Dr. King down, looking to silence him, marginalize him.
And that was just our own government."The FBI's interest in King intensified after the March on Washington in August 1963, when King delivered his "I have a dream speech," which many historians consider the most important speech of the 20th century. After the speech, an FBI memo called King the "most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country.
The bureau convened a meeting of department heads to "explore how best to carry on our investigation [of King] to produce the desired results without embarrassment to the Bureau," which included "a complete analysis of the avenues of approach aimed at neutralizing King as an effective Negro leader."
No, I don't believe Dr. King understood, nor accepted, the lateness, for his fellow Americans.
If McCain bothered to look, or assigned someone in his staff to check, I think he would find that Dr. Kings' body of work was directly aimed at not accepting, or understanding such lateness from his fellow Americans.
All McCain would have had to look at was Dr. King's final day, in Memphis, to support the garbage men's strike, who protested and marched wearing signs that read "I Am A Man".
McCain was just toting the party line, engaging in the standard the "Santa Clausification of MLK" (H/T to Andrew Golis/TPMCafe).
Cornell West, speaking with Tavis Smiley;West: I mean, I think it's very important because you see a lot of chit-chat about Martin every year and Martin has been so domesticated and tamed and defamed, you know, what we call the Santa Clausification of the brother.
Tavis: Wait a minute. Hold the phone, hold the phone. The Santa Clausification of Dr. King, which means what, Dr. West?
West: He just becomes a nice little old man with a smile with toys in his bag, not a threat to anybody, as if his fundamental commitment to unconditional love and unarmed truth does not bring to bear certain kinds of pressure to a status quo. So the status quo feels so comfortable as though it's a convenient thing to do rather than acknowledge him as to what he was, what the FBI said, "The most dangerous man in America." Why? Because of his fundamental commitment to love and to justice and trying to keep track of the humanity of each and every one of us.
McCain is not a nice, little old man, and he often sneers and snorts, and it's not toys in his bag, but wars, and more wars, and he is threat to everybody.
Too bad he didn't have Lieberman with him for his Make-Up Mitt Speech, though I doubt Lieberman would have been able to whisper the correct answer in his ear on this day.
Then again, it's a bit surprising that McCain didn't tie things together, and say Kings' killer was trained by Iran.
You're slipping there, Fly Boy ...
No, Wait A Minute ... I Think It Was The Hospital That Was Under Sniper Fire ...
Oops, she did it again!
No, not Britney Spears, but the other diva, Queen of the campaign trail, the intrepid candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
If Hillary was inflicted with the same curse as Pinocchio, you could line her up to measure a couple of football fields, with her schnauz by now.
Geez, don't their people check anything?
Hillary's been bouncing around the campaign trail, attempting to put the Fear-of-God into people, over healthcare (as you know, only HRC has the de facto, guaranteed, absolutely successful healthcare plans), telling a tale (that has gotten taller-and-taller) about a woman - a pregnant woman - who was said to have no insurance, and was denied treatment (because she didn't have the $100), and both she and her baby died as a result.
Only, much like the Where's Waldo Snipers, it didn't quite happen that way.
And Hillary has been spinning this so much, the hospital has gone public, in an attempt to get her to stop.The woman, Trina Bachtel, did die last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. But hospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured.
I wonder if the Clinton spokesman shrugged their shoulders and muttered under their breath "Well, if that's what you want to believe, but we know what we know".
“We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story,” said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O’Bleness Health System.
Linda M. Weiss, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit hospital, said the Clinton campaign had never contacted the hospital to check the accuracy of the story, which Mrs. Clinton had first heard from a Meigs County, Ohio, sheriff’s deputy in late February.
A Clinton spokesman, Mo Elleithee, said candidates would frequently retell stories relayed to them, vetting them when possible. “In this case, we did try but were not able to fully vet it,” Mr. Elleithee said. “If the hospital claims it did not happen that way, we respect that.”
Karen Tumulty;What is astounding here is that for all the research that the Clinton campaign has done, scouring and scrubbing the opposition, they didn't put a bit more effort into looking at what their own candidate is saying.
John Cole, over on Balloon Juice;What this all boils down to is a question of competence. It has become increasingly clear that despite their claims about passing the CinC threshold and despite their claims of superior judgment, the Clinton crew cares little about actually getting things right. Loyalty, however, is a cherished value. Competence, not so much.
Where have I seen that poisonous combination over the past eight years? Does the country need four more years of rule from an arrogant and incompetent administration that places a priority on loyalty and secrecy?
And And Pam, from Pam's House Blend, is equally perplexed;"I simply do not understand this. With all the true health care nightmares out there to use to illustrate why the system is broken, why does the Hillary Clinton and her staff let her tell complete fables on the campaign trail?
The Clinton camp is throwing some local sheriff under-the-bus, saying he told Hillary the story.
When did that conversation take place?
At 3AM?
Yeah, tested, vetted and ready on Day One...
Right ...
The Hillary Death Watch is now down to 8.8% of a chance she'll win the nomination.
Pass The Word ... Mukasey Lies!
Ed.Note: This was intended to be posted yesterday, however, homefront difficulties surfaced and pulled me away, squashing my writing time)
There is something fun, almost liberating, about calling the Crony General of the United States a liar.
Mukasy's a liar! ... Mukasey's a liar! ... Mukasey's a liar!
Go ahead try it, it's fun, isn't it?
Mukasy's a liar! ... Mukasey's a liar! ... Mukasey's a liar!
Okay, not exactly earth-shaking news, but certainly, a most significant revelation.
And that is was water-carrying, for the Bush Grindhouse's egregious fearmongering, over Telcom Immunity, warrants multiple poxes to be placed on the new Crony General.
I mean, let loose ... Conjure up as many as you can! ... Empty out the cupboard! ... Just keep firing pox, after pox, after pox ... No pox will be too large, or too small ... We can take shifts, but keep the poxes coming!
Last week, at a speech given at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, the Crony General for the United States, Michael Mukasey, puckered up, and tearfully added his voice to the chorus of lies the Bush Regime has thrown against the wall, in their pursuit of absolute power.
Glenn Greenwald is all over this, big time, first noting the speech last Saturday, and on Thursday, calling for action
The Crony General, in his speech;"Officials "shouldn't need a warrant when somebody with a phone in Iraq picks up a phone and calls somebody in the United States because that's the call that we may really want to know about. And before 9/11, that's the call that we didn't know about. We knew that there has been a call from someplace that was known to be a safe house in Afghanistan and we knew that it came to the United States. We didn't know precisely where it went."
At that point in his answer, Mr. Mukasey grimaced, swallowed hard, and seemed to tear up as he reflected on the weaknesses in America's anti-terrorism strategy prior to the 2001 attacks. "We got three thousand. . . . We've got three thousand people who went to work that day and didn't come home to show for that," he said, struggling to maintain his composure.
Think Progress has a video of it here.
The Raw Story also covers it, and has a video of Keith Olbermann, in his "Bushed" segment (Olbermann, nightly, hightlights three of the Bush Grindhouse's numberable, and still climbing, scandals)
More from Greenwald;"This isn't just a matter of academic and historical interest about the 9/11 attacks, although it is that. One of two things almost certainly happened here, each of which is of great importance. Either Mukasey is lying about the 9/11 attacks in order to manipulate Americans into believing that FISA's warrant requirements are what prevented discovery of the 9/11 attacks and caused 3,000 American deaths -- a completely disgusting act by the Attorney General which obviously cannot be ignored. Or, Mukasey has just revealed the most damning fact yet about the Bush's administration's ability and failure to have prevented the attacks -- facts that, until now, were apparently concealed from the 9/11 Commission and the public.
Now, the Crony General is a former judge (Greenwald: "Mike Mukasey was a long-time federal judge and so I feel perfectly comfortable calling that what it is: a brazen lie.") so it's not like he's merely a Bush Grindhouse political hack ...
Wait a minute, what am I saying? ... He's the Crony General ...With the shit train that was on the tracks at the time he was offered the position, no way he didn't agree to play inside the alternate reality, and climb aboard the shit train that is the Bush Grindhouse.
Sooooo ....
He's either lying, playing politics (not to mention exploiting the horror of Sept. 11th) within the long-running Bush policy of lies and fearmongering.
Or, he let slip just how deep an REM snooze the Bush Grindhouse was in when they hijacked the office.
And this would have come before the infamous blow-off of the now infamous August 2001 PDB - "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US".
Oh man, either way, this sucks and we can't do enough, can't get them out fast enough, can't heap enough criminal and moral charges on these dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds!
So, let off the steam ....
Mukasey's a liar! ... Mukasey's a liar ... Mukasey's a liar!
Bonus Mukasey Mish-Mash
Digby/Hullabaloo: Clever Gaffes
EmptyWheel/Firedoglake: Snowball
Glenn Greenwald: The DOJ comments on the Mukasey controversy
This Date ... On The Garlic
Garlic History - On This Day
5 April 2006 .. On The Garlic
Look What They're Saying!
5 April 2005 .. On The Garlic
Google Ups Ante In Email Wars; Now 2-Gig, plus Cars, Chickens and Pots
Washington Monument Reopened After Trim; 500-Feet Chopped Off For Security Precautions
Bewitched Tune Writer Dies; Third of Show To Fall From Spell Cast in 1964
Top Ten Cloves: New Changes At CBS Evening News
Friday, April 04, 2008
In Your Land, There Was A King ...
In your land there was a King,
Who once said, "I have a dream",
Now there's a man who knew,
The Secret ...A verse, sung by the incredibly-voiced Esther Satterfield, on Chuck Mangione's "Land of Make Believe"
Big doings today, the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Should Barack Obama prevail, win the nomination and general election, than the 41st anniversary will be huge doings, with President Obama presiding over a memorial ceremony.
That's certainly a dream worth dreaming.
We tip our cap today, with a Good Post Alert, to Barry Crimmins, who bullseyes' the day with his "The Giant Triplets"And today as EVERYONE bemoans the assassination of Martin Luther King, we remain largely silent as a mob of defenders of a hateful status quo, that's imposed and enforced by the still greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - the US government, gang-character assassinates Rev Jeremiah Wright for daring to say "Goddamn America!" America, a country where the poor continue to grow more desperate and hopeless. America, a country with over two million people in jail, including 900,000 African-Americans and a vast number of Latinos. America, a country that spends more on militarism than the next 46 highest spending countries combined.
There's more, including YouTube and links to King's "Why I am opposed to the Vietnam War" and "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" so go check out Barry Crimmins' "The Giant Triplets"
And when you finished there, Truthout has a pair of good ones up;.
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III's, "It's Not the Dream; It's Our Nightmare"The best way to pay tribute to Dr. King and his total sacrifice is to understand what he stood for. Start by reading two speeches. First, read "I Have a Dream." Second, read "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." Don't allow others to selectively define Dr. King for you. Read these two speeches for yourself.
Dr. King the strict constructionist referred to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. He stated, "It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned ... Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check - a check which has come back marked insufficient funds." Again, a clear indictment of America!
It's Jeff Cohen's "Forty Years Later, (The Late) Martin Luther King Still Silenced"Last night, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams enthused over new color footage of King that adorned its coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination. The report focused on the last phase of King's life. But the same old blinders were in place.
NBC showed young working class whites in Chicago taunting King. But there was no mention of how elite media had taunted King in his last year. In 1967 and 1968, mainstream media saw Reverend King a bit like they now see Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Back then, they denounced King's critical comments; today they simply silence them.
Before you click over to read these great posts, click here, and let Bill Evans be your reading soundtrack, his haunting "Peace Piece"
This Date ... On The Garlic
Garlic History - On This Day
4 April 2006... On The Garlic
DeLay Resignation Clears Way For Medal of Freedom Award
Top Ten Cloves: Things To Look Forward To When Katie Couric Takes Over As CBS News Anchor
April 04 2005... On The Garlic - Special Pope Coverage
Who Gets Nod For Next Pope? Conclave Wide Open; Third World, Koppel, Buchanan, Schwarzenegger On Short List
Special Pope-Cam Gives Round-The-Clock Coverage
Frist Concurs With Vatican Diagnosis; Viewed Videotape of Papal Apartment For Hours
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At The Red Sox-Yankee Opener
Thursday, April 03, 2008
No Doubt, Lou Dobbs Will Go Absolut-ely Apocalyptic
If I were in the predictions game, I might go out, on a very short limb, and say Lou Dobbs will soon be calling for a boycott of Absolut Vodka.
The Right Wing Freakshow is all atwitter today, with an ad campaign that conjures up the image of the mythical land of Aztlan, apparently found on, or tipped off to, a blog of a Latin American Editor and Journalist.In a perfect world, our loved ones wouldn’t die leaving us terribly saddened and alone. But in an “Absolut World,” wonderful things can happen, including getting the U.S.-Mexico border straight once and for all. (This print ad was taken from the current issue of Quién magazine, in Mexico City.)
Hmmm ... Think I'll have to whip up a batch of Vodka-and-Tonics tonight, kick back and watch Lou Dobbs meltdown
Ahh, screw Lou Dobbs ...
Better to fire up some Ruben Blades
Pedro Navaja. Ruben Blades & Seis del Solar
Azucar!, Laura Martinez!
The Hillary Deathwatch
Oh, those scamps over at Slate Magazine.
A most amusing series they are running - The Hillary Deathwatch.
Here's today's offering;
The Hillary Deathwatch: Strong head winds put the Clinton camp back in ironsLastly: Less money, more problems. Early estimates put Obama's March fundraising total north of $30 million. Not as hot as his $55 million February haul, but enough to dwarf Clinton's estimated $20 million for March. This despite what many consider Obama's worst news month yet. Meanwhile, Clinton's debts are reportedly as high as $9 million, not including her $5 million self-loan. Obama is already outspending her 3-to-1 in Pennsylvania—and he can afford to continue. There's a saying that candidates never drop out; they just run out of cash.
You can go here, to Deathwatch 2008: Down and on the way out, to catch up from the beginning.
(And you can click on the 2007, to review the last throes and fall of former Crony General Alberto Gonzales)
They also offer you the opportunity to send in your own prognostications
I don't know ... We might see those striking Daily Kos diarists start picketing Slate ... 
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
A Little Yoo Wop
Something this big needs some music.
It's not every day, we finally get documents released, that detail the war criminality of the Bush Grindhouse, and one of their star players, John "Torture Sounds Good To Me" Yoo.
Just in case, you're still playing the video over-and-over, in slow-motion, trying to find the snipers that Hillary Clinton had to avoid in Bosnia, or, you're scouring through the IMBD site, looking for Hillary Clinton in the credits of any one of the hundreds of Rocky films, blockbuster news dropped yesterday;
The March 2003 Yoo Memo Emerges! (not an April Fool's Joke): The Torture Memo to Top All Torture MemosSubhead: The Big Kahuna: The Torture Memo that Makes the August 2002 Memo Look Like Objective and Thoughtful Legal Analysis
Yoo's memo was, The Green Light, as Phillippe Sands writes in Vanity Fair;
"On Friday, March 13, 2003, Jay Bybee resigned from his Office as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The very next day -- a Saturday, mind you -- John Yoo, merely a Deputy AAG in the Office, issued his notorious memo to the Pentagon, on behalf of OLC, which effectively gave the Pentagon the green light to disregard statutory limits on torture, cruelty and maltreatment in the treatment of detainees. This is the version of the 2002 Torture memo, which was addressed only to the CIA and the torture statute, as applied to the numerous statutes restricting the conduct of the armed forces. None of those statues, you see, limits the conduct of war if the President says so. It is, in effect, the blueprint that led to Abu Ghraib and the other abuses within the armed forces in 2003 and early 2004 ...""We talked about the methods of interrogation. “In terms of their effects,” she said, “I suspect that the individual techniques are less important than the fact that they were used over an extended period of time, and that several appear to be used together: in other words, the cumulative effect.” Detainee 063 was subjected to systematic sleep deprivation. He was shackled and cuffed; at times, head restraints were used. He was compelled to listen to threats to his family. The interrogation leveraged his sensitivities as a Muslim: he was shown pictures of scantily clad models, was touched by a female interrogator, was made to stand naked, and was forcibly shaved. He was denied the right to pray. A psychiatrist who witnessed the interrogation of Detainee 063 reported the use of dogs, intended to intimidate “by getting the dogs close to him and then having the dogs bark or act aggressively on command.” The temperature was changed, and 063 was subjected to extreme cold. Intravenous tubes were forced into his body, to provide nourishment when he would not eat or drink."
If you want to prime your scorecards, you can start adding the names of, well, The Commander Guy, and his distrustful sidekick, Vice President Darth Vader, and his home boy, David Addington.
There's lots more that the "War Criminal" placard should hang on, and there'll be a YooMemoPalooza of links below.
But we gotta get to the music, the fanfare for this occasion
And we turn to the legendary Sam Cooke, to provide us the tune.
You know it, so sing, or hum along ... Yoo Tortured Me
Dammit, Yoo tortured me
I know Yoo tortured me
Dammit You tortured me
Dishonest John Yoo, dishonest John Yoo
Dishonest John Yoo, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Yoo beat me
I know Yoo, Yoo, Yoo beat me
Dammit Yoo, Yoo, Yoo, beat me
Dishonest John Yoo
At first I thought it was interrogation
But Yoo, it's lasted so long
Now I find myself wanting
To query Yoo and break Yoo alone
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Yoo beat me
I know Yoo, Yoo, Yoo beat me
Dammit Yoo, Yoo, Yoo, beat me
Dishonest John Yoo
Whoa-oh-oh, whenever I'm with Yoo
I know, I know, I know when I'm near Yoo
Mmm hmm, mmm hmm, dishonest John Yoo, dishonest John Yoo
Whoa-oh-oh, I know-oh-oh-oh
At first I thought it was interrogation
But Yoo, it's lasted so long
Now I find myself wanting
To query Yoo and break Yoo alone
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
I know, I know, I know, Yoo tortured me
I know Yoo tortured me
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, Yoo Yoo Yoo Yoo tortured me
Dishonest John Yoo
Bonus YooMemoPalooza Links
Sam Cooke - You Send Me 1958
Glenn Greenwald: John Yoo's war crimes
emptywheel/Firedoglake: Acting Counsels and Torture
Jack Balkin/Balkinization : The Legality of Evil: The Torture Memos and the Living Constitution
Christy Hardin Smith: Yoo Torture Memo: I’ll Take Addington At Cheney’s Behest For $1,000, Alex…
Space Cowboy/Shakesville: Bush: Legacy of S&M
emptywheel/Firedoglake: The “John Yoo, Let’s Pretend We’re Lawyers” Game
Paul Kiel/TPM: The Timeline Behind Yoo's Memo
I Missed Home Ec For This!
Quick, somebody get Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain some GPS for his trip down Memory Lane!
No doubt, as the the Sometime Straight Talk Express pulled into his old High School yesterday, lounging back in one of its' seats, SB John must have had a smile on his face, dreamily recalling his youthful exploits.
While SB John may have been pleasantly ensconced in the somniferous sounds of a Victrola tune long gone, he stepped off the bus into an iPod-MySpace-YouTube-World Wide Web-24/7 kind-of-life and, it looks like he's gonna have a tough time with it.
Student calls McCain out for political motivations of school appearance
Today Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) stopped at his alma mater, Episcopal High School in Virginia, to lecture on the importance of teaching and the honor code. McCain’s toughest question came from student Katelyn Halldorson, who called the senator out for the political motivations of his appearance:“I think judging by the amount of press representatives here and also by the integration of your previous political endorsements in your earlier personal narrative, we can see that this isn’t completely absent – er political motivation isn’t completely absent,” she said. “Yet we were told that this isn’t a political event. So what exactly is your purpose in being here – not that I don’t appreciate the opportunity, but I’d just like some clarification.”
“I knew I should have cut this thing off. This meeting is over,” McCain joked, before launching into a long description of his biography tour…
McCain concluded the visit by saying, “I hope that attendance here was not compulsory…I apologize if you were unwillingly in attendance here.”
According to one EHS staff member, attendance was required.
Space Cowboy, over on Shakesville, offered that "I don't remember any classmates whatsoever that were as cool as the student quoted above, Katelyn Halldorson. Maybe there's hope after all."
Wonkette gave Halldorson their "High Schooler Who Harasses John McCain Of The Day", for calling out McCain's "bullshit".
Looks like SB John, if he's going to called out and dumped on by teenagers, is going to have to adopt something else from The Commander Guy
Invitation-Only, Military audiences.
