spookypeople - politics category

Biden

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:36:00 GMT

I kind of like Joe Biden. I think Biden would make a perfectly good VP. I think he would be an amazing Secretary of State. His problem is that sometimes his mouth runs out of words so his ass has to finish his thought for him.

ranch undressing

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:01:00 GMT

Note to John McCain, W and everyone else. Unless your home is a place where you or people you employ raise cattle/sheep/goats/etc and/or a place where you have horses; then it isn't a real ranch. Please stop calling your home a ranch. It's a villa. Thank you.

Rice: Military power is not the way to deal in the 21st century

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:37:00 GMT

Just during the time Rice has served in the Bush administration, we bombed, invaded and occupied Afghanistan; did the same to Iraq; repeatedly bombed Somalia, killing all sorts of civilians; fed bombs to Israel as they invaded and bombed Lebanon; top political officials (led by John McCain and Joe Lieberman) have repeatedly threatened, and advocated, that the same be done to a whole host of other countries, including Iran and Syria.
...
The most enduring and predominant rule of American politics is that every national politician must demonstrate their willingness, even eagerness, to start wars.

Rice: Military power is "not the way to deal in the 21st century" - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

I fear that one of the lasting legacies of the Bush administration will be the grudging acceptance that what world leaders say is largely irrelevant in judging true intent for a foreign policy position or military action. Besides the obvious and regrettable degrading of public trust; it leads to a national dialog where in the absence of honesty, you end up with debate by conspiracy theory and nazi analogy. Polemics to the left of me, cries of nazi appeaser to my right.

So when Secretary Rice says something so naive and clearly contradictory of recent history, I can't help but wonder why she said it. She isn't a fool. Why would he make a statement that almost begs a reply of *cough*Iraq*cough*? Maybe that statement meant to be ironic? A way of saying the opposite to the Kremlin while still being on the public record as opposing Russia's military action?

McCain's McMansions

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:20:00 GMT

New evidence suggests Ron Suskind is right

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:22:00 GMT

That story begins during the final weeks of 2003, when everyone in the White House was suffering severe embarrassment over both the origins and the consequences of the invasion of Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. No evidence of significant connections between Saddam Hussein's regime and the al-Qaida terrorist organization had been discovered there either. Nothing in this costly misadventure was turning out as advertised by the Bush administration.
According to Suskind, the administration's highest officials -- presumably meaning President Bush and Vice President Cheney -- solved this problem by ordering the CIA to manufacture a document "proving" that Saddam had indeed been trying to build nuclear weapons and that he was also working with al-Qaida. The reported product of that order was a fake memorandum from Tahir Jalil Habbush, then chief of Saddam's intelligence service, to the dictator himself, dated July 1, 2001. The memo not only explicitly confirmed that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had received training in Baghdad for "attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy" but also carefully noted the arrival of a "shipment" from Niger via Libya, presumably of uranium yellowcake, the sole export of that impoverished African country

From Salon.com | New evidence suggests Ron Suskind is right

What strikes me as really odd is the lumping together of two right-wing talking points in one memo. This is so unlikely that I wonder who came up with the bone headed idea. Why didn't just lump in some anti-Clinton talking points and a call for a flat tax while they are at it.

New king of Tonga sworn in

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:21:00 GMT

The new king of Tonga has been sworn in today, 24 hours after the death of 88-year-old King Taufa-ahau Tupou IV in a New Zealand hospital after a long but unspecified illness.
His successor is noted for his fondness for wearing a monocle and military uniform, and driving around in a London taxi.

New king of Tonga sworn in - Times Online

As much as I might dislike W, at least he doesn't wear a monocle. Seriously, any leader wearing a f%&#ing monocle is just asking for a coop.

China Presses Hush Money on Grieving Parents

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:48:00 GMT

The official came for Yu Tingyun in his village one evening last week. He asked Mr. Yu to get into his car. He was clutching the contract and a pen.
...
The contract had been thrust in Mr. Yu’s face during a long police interrogation the day before. In exchange for his silence and for affirming that the ruling Communist Party “mobilized society to help us,” he would get a cash payment and a pension.
Mr. Yu had resisted then. This time, he took the pen.

From China Presses Hush Money on Grieving Parents - NYTimes.com

Sad story but a must read. And a warning on what happens when government bureaucracy is run for the interests of the bureaucrats and not the people they serve.

A Modest Proposal for Ending Socialized Capitalism

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Socialized capitalism of the sort the Fed and the Treasury are now practicing, consisting of private gains and public losses, is untenable. On the other hand, it's also true that giant Wall Street investments banks as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are too big to fail.

From Robert Reich's Blog: A Modest Proposal for Ending Socialized Capitalism

Great post from one of my favorite economists. Reich's description of bailouts as Socialized Capitalism is spot on.

Believe Me, It's Torture

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:38:00 GMT

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered.

From Believe Me, It's Torture: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

Christopher Hitchens on being water boarded. You can follow the link to see him tortured.

Tasteless

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:39:00 GMT

More on the story here. Talking Points Memo | Republican Outreach

I didn't think the Texas GOP could sink lower than those phony purple heart band-aids they handed out in 2004. Boy was I wrong. And there are still five months left.

pastor john hagee

Thu, 22 May 2008 14:09:00 GMT

Pastor John Hagee thinks God sent Katrina to punish the gays. He thinks God sent Hitler to force the Jews to move to Israel.

I think God sent Pastor John Hagee to make sure McCain doesn't become president.

Obama/Kennedy vs. McCain/Goldwater

Wed, 21 May 2008 04:02:00 GMT

If John McCain is running for George W. Bush's third presidential term, as Democrats have suggested, Barack Obama is campaigning for John F. Kennedy's second term.

Obama/Kennedy vs. McCain/Goldwater | Salon

Normally this is the type of political article I despise. Debate by analogy mixed with historic revisionism and a touch of baseless speculation. But sometimes, a really good writer can make it work. This is one of those cases. I see more Goldwater in McCain than JFK in Obama. The comparison seems to work pretty well. Well worth the read.

Flying Penis Disrupts Garry Kasparov Speech

Tue, 20 May 2008 02:49:00 GMT

As former chess champion Garry Kasparov was giving a speech to unite opposition political forces, a radio-controlled penis flew across the room to some applause and laughter. The fun was ended when a dour-faced man smashed the penis out of the air.

Flying Penis: Flying RC Penis Disrupts Garry Kasparov Speech

I have nothing to add.

China wants hotels to filter Internet

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:44:00 GMT

The Chinese government is demanding that US-owned hotels there filter Internet service during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, US Senator Sam Brownback has alleged.

From Computerworld - US senator: China wants hotels to filter Internet

Once again reality beats the Onion to the absurdist headline. Keep in mind that US companies like Yahoo, Google, Cisco, Time Warner and Microsoft have all worked with China to implement, maintain and extend Chinese censorship of the internet. Its not too much of a stretch to see Hotel companies cooperate.

propaganda pundits

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:12:00 GMT

Worth watching. This is clear evidence that this administration was running tax payer funded covert propaganda campaign on US soil in clear violation of US law. Screw impeachment, it's time for a war crimes tribunal.

Clinton, Obama and McCain on WWE

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:32:00 GMT

Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain will appear on World Wrestling Entertainment's live "Monday Night Raw" (8-11 p.m. EST on cable's USA network) but instead of smacking each other down, they separately will deliver some wrestling-themed stumping in taped messages before Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary.

The Associated Press: Clinton, Obama and McCain on WWE's `Monday Night Raw'

Just one of those days where the AP reads like the Onion.

Obama, get ready for the Clinton rules

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:50:00 GMT

And as Barack Obama should have learned during the debateâs first 45 minutes, if not before, the same fuzzy but obsessive focus on "character" that plagues Bill and Hillary Clinton will be turned on him with equal or greater ferocity by those who once claimed to admire him. He is now subject to the "Clinton rules," which have long permitted pundits, editorialists and reporters to indict the former president and first lady for sins that other politicians, mostly Republican, may commit with impunity (see Gingrich, Newt, first, second and especially third marriage).
Those slanted rules have guided coverage of Sen. Clinton during the past several weeks, notably in the controversy over her inaccurate version of her arrival in Bosnia a decade ago. How the game works can best be understood by comparing the firestorm over her remarks with the placid acceptance of blatantly self-aggrandizing falsehoods by certain venerated politicians of the other party.

From Salon.com | Obama, get ready for the "Clinton rules"

Conason hits the nail on the head with this one. The focus on trivial nonsense in the Democratic debates and the press giving McCain a free ride on lack of support for a Modern GI Bill. Or on his multitude of flip-flops.

Ben Stein's Expelled

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:25:00 GMT

In the new science-bashing movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Ben Stein and the rest of the filmmakers sincerely and seriously argue that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution paved the way for the Holocaust. By "seriously," I mean that Ben Stein acts grief-stricken and the director juxtaposes quotes from evolutionary biologists with archival newsreel clips from Hitler's Reich

Expelled frequently repeats that design-based explanations (not to mention religious ones) are "forbidden" by "big science." It never explains why, however. Evolution and the rest of "big science" are just described as having an atheistic preference.
Actually, science avoids design explanations for natural phenomena out of logical necessity. The scientific method involves rigorously observing and experimenting on the material world. It accepts as evidence only what can be measured or otherwise empirically validated (a requirement called methodological naturalism). That requirement prevents scientific theories from becoming untestable and overcomplicated.

From Six Things in Expelled that Ben Stein Doesn't Want You to Know...: Scientific American
And Ben Stein's Expelled: No Integrity Displayed: Scientific American

Haven't these people heard of Godwin's Law? While debate by Hitler comparison seems to be par for the course in conservative politics, its just annoying for those of us that view these tactics as an admission of the lack of an argument rather than proof of of the strength of an argument. If your argument is based on things that would get you laughed out of a high school debate club, then you shouldn't be taken seriously.

Worst. President. Ever.

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:05:00 GMT

Bush has established himself as the torture president, the basis for his invasion of Iraq has been exposed as a fraud, the Iraq War itself has gone disastrously, the nation's network of alliances has faded, and the economy has gone into a tailspin-not to mention the bungled handling of relief for victims of hurricane Katrina.

More here: "Worst. President. Ever." by Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine) with a nod to kottke

I Apologize to the Public

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:08:09 GMT

Following is a transcript of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's brief statement to the public, delivered at his Midtown Manhattan office on Monday afternoon:

Over the past nine years, eight as attorney general and one as governor, I've tried to uphold a vision of progressive politics that would rebuild New York and create opportunity for all. We vowed to bring real change to New York and that will continue. Today, I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violated the obligations to my family and that violates my â or any â sense of right and wrong. I apologize first, and most importantly, to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I promised better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the State of New York. But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard that I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will not be taking questions. Thank you very much. I will report back to you in short order. Thank you very much.

From I Apologize to the Public - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

Disappointed doesn't even begin to describe it. I was very hopeful that he would be a Democratic TR. And among the first in a new post-identity-politics progressive movement that seeks to balance personal freedom, responsible government and social conscience. But the past year and change, Spitzer has done his best to pick petty fights and misread the electorate while he staff has run afoul of his own professed ethical standards.