just a little thought from juan cole

and he's right of course. i never really thought about this until i JUST read it

Obama pwns Bush-Cheney on Iran;
First day of Talks Yields Significant Confidence-Building Steps

For 8 years, Bush-Cheney practiced what I call "belligerent Ostrichism" toward Iran. They refused to talk to Tehran. They wanted to ratchet up sanctions on it. Bush sent 2 aircraft carriers to the Gulf to menace Iran. Bush's spokesmen professed themselves afraid of Iran's unarmed little speedboats in the Gulf. Aside from issuing threats to attack and destroy Iran the way they did Iraq, Bush-Cheney had nothing else to say on the matter. During the 8 years, Iran went from being able to enrich to .2% to being able to enrich to 3.8%, and increased its stock of centrifuges significantly. Bush-Cheney gesticulated and grimaced and fainted away at the horror of it all, but they accomplished diddly-squat.

Barack Obama pwned Bush-Cheney in one day, and got more concessions from Iran in 7 1/2 hours than the former administration got in 8 years of saber-rattling.
............

stray sent this article link to me.

this is not shocking (well not shocking in that it shouldn't be a SURPRISE to us. it still is shocking that we allow this to happen. we allow big bid-nez to ply our politicians with goddess only knows what, so they'll vote in their favor. it's GOT to stop. lobbying all together).

our health care system MUST be changed and it MUST be changed now. there is no reason for it NOT to change EXCEPT a few good ol' whiteboyz will have less gold in their purses.

why do a great many americans except the lies that are out there now?

it's time for not only the democrats but barack obama to grow some stones.

Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation
Chris McGreal

America's healthcare industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block the introduction of public medical insurance and stall other reforms promised by Barack Obama. The campaign against the president has been waged in part through substantial donations to key politicians.

Supporters of radical reform of healthcare say legislation emerging from the US Senate reflects the financial power of vested interests ‑ principally insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and hospitals ‑ that have worked to stop far-reaching changes threatening their profits.

The industry and interest groups have spent $380m (£238m) in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totalling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law........

I SAY ENOUGH!!!!

Watchdogs: Health industry giving more to Congress than thought
By Daniel Tencer

A joint study by two political watchdog groups has found that Sen. Max Baucus -- the Montana Democrat who authored the principal health care reform bill being debated in the Senate -- was a major recipient of "contribution clusters" from lobbyists linked to health care groups.

The study, from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation, says members of Congress working on health care reform are receiving more money from the health industry than people realize.......

ann coulter

i try to not post too much about her (i could post every day on her, but i value my semi-sanity)

this was TOO GOOD to pass on though



from americablog

if you missed president obama on

letterman

here's a small clip:

Rachel Maddow: Why Do 1/3 of New Jersey Conservatives Think Obama Might Be the Anti-Christ?
Posted by Rachel Maddow

no doubt. it's a 'duhhhhhhhhhhhhh' moment

of COURSE if barack obama was someone like al gore, they wouldn't like him but they sure as shite wouldn't call him hitler or a muslim or a fascist or yell 'you lie' on the floor to him (when he was giving a speech. HEY IT WASN'T A DEBATE AND HE IS THE PRESIDENT. ONE DOES NOT YELL IN THAT CIRCUMSTANCE. i wouldn't have even done it to king george. the fucker)




Elephant in the room: Race also present in rebuke of Wilson

By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — In their effort to admonish Rep. Joe Wilson, both white and black lawmakers in the House of Representatives voiced deep concern over a string of what they think are racially motivated attacks on the nation's first black president.

"There's no question that if you look at some of the actions and comments being made, there's a fringe element that has staked out a racial position towards African-Americans that never has been open for public display" until now, said Rep. Henry Johnson, D-Ga., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Wilson "didn't help the cause of diversity and balance with his remarks."

The 240 to 179 vote Tuesday, largely along party lines, formally reprimanded Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, for shouting "You lie!" to President Barack Obama during his address last week to a joint session of Congress.

Wilson and the House GOP leadership protested, saying the measure was a diversionary tactic designed to deflect attention from the health care debate.............

wish i was, but i'm NOT making this up

i guess i have yet ANOTHER reason to forgo the rapture
If You Use Condoms, You Will Not Be Raptured

If You Use Condoms, You Will Not Be Raptured

09.06.2009
03:44 pm

Topics:
Belief

Tags:
Christians
William Tapley
End Times

Seventy year-old YouTube video maker William Tapley is a retired furniture engineer from Forestport, NY. Tapley is the self-styled “Third Eagle of the Apocalypse” and “Co-prophet of the Endtimes.” On his Revelation Unraveled series, he has described how Obama (“The King of the South”) will be the last President of America and how he will lead the US into war against Russia; what life in the US will be like after WWIII and how much God hates masturbation, the rhythm method and condoms (Just look what happened to Onan!)...........

hey barack, three words for you

LISTEN
TO
BILL

Bill Moyers: Mr. President, We Need a Fighter to Take on the Deranged Right-Wing
By Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal
The editors of The Economist magazine say America's health care debate has become a touch delirious, with people accusing each other of being evil-mongers, dealers in death, and un-American.

Well, that's charitable.

I would say it's more deranged than delirious, and definitely not un-American.

Those crackpots on the right praying for Obama to die and be sent to hell — they're the warp and woof of home-grown nuttiness. So is the creature from the Second Amendment who showed up at the President's rally armed to the teeth. He's certainly one of us. Red, white, and blue kooks are as American as apple pie and conspiracy theories.

Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should have said it's the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers -- we're the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today's talk radio.

Speaking of which: we've posted on our website an essay by the media scholar Henry Giroux. He describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a "culture of cruelty" increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes health care reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive............

does anyone remember ONE TIME this happening at a king george event?

ONCE? anyone?

oh i know the answer all right. i do. can you imagine ANYONE with a piece strapped on their thigh or wherever getting anywhere NEAR king george? really. can someone point out ONE time an armed citizen (not concealed mind you) went to hear king george speak? tell me.


More men with guns at Obama event

by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Barack Obama

From NBC's Scott Foster
In a situation similar to last week in Portsmouth, N.H., cameras caught a protester with a pistol holstered to his leg outside of today's event with the president.

Police on the scene were standing right next to the gentleman and were keeping a close eye on him. He's well behind a security barrier outside the convention center in a crowd of protesters.

A second man, who appeared to be interviewing some of the protesters, also had a pistol strapped to his leg. He was also being watched by police.

To reiterate, there appears to be NO CAUSE FOR SERIOUS CONCERN from local authorities on scene.

*** UPDATE *** After reading our post, the Brady Campaign's President Paul Helmke issued the following statement:

Bringing loaded firearms to any Presidential event endangers all in attendance...........

one has their wits about them

the other makes things up, attempts to incite violence and is a total and complete DICK

Dick Armey fact check: MoveOn did not run Bush-Hitler ad

-- Stephen C. Webster

MSNBC's liberal anchor Rachel Maddow took to Meet the Press on Sunday morning for a debate over health care reform, but ended up correcting a grievous misstatement by former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey.

In his opening remarks, Armey claimed that Democratic activist group MoveOn.org had "ran those ads" comparing President George W. Bush to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Armey's group FreedomWorks has stayed busy as of late by promoting Democratic lawmakers' town hall meetings and encouraging "forceful" displays against President Barack Obama's allegedly "socialist" health insurance reforms.

Maddow, who has been on a roll in the fight against health insurance reform misinformation, was quick to provide a counter-weight.

"They didn't," she said, shaking her head. "They never ran an ad that compared..."

"You're gonna get a chance to talk," he said with a smile. "I just looked at the MoveOn.org ad ... It ... It was a horrible thing."

(The ad he's speaking about was later linked by FreedomWorks, without qualification.)

Later in the discussion, Meet the Press host David Gregory asked Armey if he would repudiate Nazi imagery as applied to President Barack Obama............

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

because this is important

i didn't read about his racist rants in the msm. did you?

oh it's important all right. all of these town hall 'protesters' feel the SAME way sodini did. (well most of them do). all of the 'news' casters on cable that whip up the right wing ravers feel this way. it's the tip of the iceberg. i have a feeling we ain't seen NOTHING yet. i pray (literally) i am wrong

National Press Omits Racist, Anti-Obama Aspects of PA Fitness Center Shooter’s Diary

Two related news stories, one you couldn’t miss, and the other you almost couldn’t find: a gunman opened fire on a women’s exercise class last night at a fitness center in the Pittsburgh area, and this same gunman kept a diary filled with racist rants, some directed explicitly at President Obama. Again, coverage of the incident itself, including the fact of a diary, was all but universal; but only today did the folks at Editor & Publisher point out that the AP and others had ignored the clearly anti-Obama aspects of the diary..................

where are the wayons brothers (and sister)

when you need them? it's sort of like one of their spoofy blaxploitation movies. only this is real. this is the united states of america. this is a BUNCH (far too many) of closet bigots and racists. these aren't the klan here. these are our neighbors. the ones who say they aren't 'prejudiced'. the ones who say, 'why some of my best friends are..............'. yet, they are AFRAID OF OUR BLACK PRESIDENT. he certainly is better than king george. he certainly hasn't f**ked up as much as king george. yet, he's an evil socialistic communistic devil monster? f**k that. as i've been saying, it's NOT anything other than you WANT to call him the "n" word but you just haven't yet. DO IT. GET IT OVER WITH. WE'LL ALL BE A LOT MORE COMFORTABLE

so go get chuck norris and flush and glenn and colt-her and join hands. instead of kumbaya, just say the 'n' word

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face
'Political' Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism

By Philip Kennicott

Washington Post Staff Writer

Between Jack Nicholson's 1989 portrayal of the Joker in "Batman" and Heath Ledger's 2008 characterization in "The Dark Knight," something sinister happened to the villain's iconic makeup. What had been a mask, with the clearly delineated lines of a carnival character, became simply war paint, and not very well applied.

The visual change signaled a change in the Joker's inner mechanism. Nicholson's dandified virtuoso of violence was replaced by a darker, more unpredictable and psychotic figure. What had been a caricature became more real and threatening. An urbane mocker of civilized values became simply a deformed product of urban violence.

It is the latter makeup job that has been superimposed over the face of President Obama in an anonymous Los Angeles poster campaign that is now the talk of the blogosphere, the airwaves and the 24/7 hermeneutical speculations of cable television........

put down the crack pipe and back away slowly

via

this is great great great!!!

i wasn't going to comment on the trip the obamas took to nyc. it was fine by me. if they were dashing off to crawford every 10 minutes like you know who, i'd have plenty to say (and i will if it ever happens)

but i saw this and it made me smile.

Bush Made 77 Trips to Crawford TX at $226,072 a Pop

by stef

I am delighted that President Obama took Michelle to my town, New York City, for dinner and a show. What a great advertisement for a great city! It was our delight to have them here, as the cheering crowds in the streets attest. And what a boon to Broadway, and tribute to the great playwright August Wilson and the fabulous cast of Joe Turner's Come and Gone! And of course the excellent restaurant Blue Hill will be booked solid for months to come. Mayor Bloomberg was thrilled about the visit, and so was I.

But the TV dimbulbs are still nattering about the cost of this day trip. Never mind that President Obama has been working for five months without a vacation, unlike the most vacationing president ever, Junior W. Bush. Try to google the cost of those 77 trips to Crawford TX on Air Force One and the information is nowhere to be found. Because it was never reported. I had to calculate the costs myself.

At a bare minimum, for the flights alone, Bush's 77 vacation trips to Crawford cost us $226,072 per trip. That's $17,407,544 so he could ride his bicycle in the woods and clear brush for the cameras.............

wow, two dudes

in the good ol' boy network WITH STONES

Two Bush officials fire back at Cheney ‘fearmongering’

By Agence France-Presse

Two top Bush-era officials on Friday rejected ex-vice president Dick Cheney’s scathing criticism of US President Barack Obama, saying the country’s national security was not in jeopardy.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in the same post under former president George W. Bush, and Tom Ridge, the former head of homeland security, both voiced disagreement with Cheney a day after he attacked Obama’s performance as the new commander-in-chief.

Gates said in an interview that opponents of Obama’s decision to close the “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo were engaging in “fear-mongering,” a reference to Cheney’s stance on the issue.

Defending the president’s decision to shut the detention center at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Gates said the prison was damaging America’s image and served as a propaganda tool for Al-Qaeda..........

of COURSE (most of) the rnc doesn't think slavery

was 'a flaw'. hell, they they WANTED the south to win

RNC Hits Obama For Criticizing Slavery

On May 21, 2009, the RNC tweeted an out of context quote from Barack Obama regarding a flaw in the constitution. The "fundamental flaw" Barack Obama was referring to was slavery.

RNC: as he prepares to deliver remarks in hall that holds the constitution, flashback obama: "constitution flawed" http://bit.ly/tFL7O #RNC [Twitter, 5/21/09]

FACT: Obama Explains The Constitution's "Fundamental Flaw" Was Slavery. The out of context video the RNC links to contains audio from a September 6, 2001 program called "Slavery and the Constitution" on WBEZ Chicago. On the show, Obama explained that the "fundamental flaw" was "Africans at the time were not considered as part of the polity that was of concern to the framers." In addition, the framers did not "see...it as a moral problem involving persons of moral worth." [WBEZ Radio, accessed 5/21/09].........

these are wicked good

Time's first 100 days - Obama
(ht: americablog)



one of my favorites: Together
The President and First Lady are briefed by Valerie Jarrett before an event with the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME

kettle kettle kettle!!!

instead of worrying about marrying EX supermodels (or whatever the hell she was), ex supermodels who claimed they NEVER wanted to marry, but change their mind when they find out they can marry the leader of a country (famous for cheese and wine and rudeness) why the fuck don't you worry about your OWN damn bid-nez?

what a smug self-centered asshole
Sarkozy under fire over 'criticism' of world leaders

PARIS (AFP) — Despite staunch denials, French President Nicolas Sarkozy came under attack Friday for allegedly saying US leader Barack Obama was not "up to standard" and Spain's premier not very bright.

"Dim, callow, irrelevant -- Sarko's verdict on fellow leaders" said Britain's The Guardian, while The Times called him a "bitchy little princess" and Spain's ABC said he "confirmed his superiority complex has no limits."

The media buzz was sparked by a French press report that Sarkozy let rip at fellow world leaders during a lunch on Wednesday with parliament members to discuss the global financial crisis.

The right-wing president, who has a reputation for blunt talking, reportedly suggested that the new US president was seriously lacking in hands-on experience of government and not yet up to speed.

"Obama has a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic," Sarkozy was quoted as saying by a parliamentarian in the left-wing Liberation daily. "But he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry.

"And he is not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency," he reportedly said.

On Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, he was quoted as saying over dessert: "Perhaps he's not very clever but I know people who were very clever and who didn't make the second round of the presidential election."......

they must be

psychic. how else would they know what barack obama's agenda is? he's not even president yet (although he WILL BE in a few short hours). i guess i'll have to take my king george how many days in office backwards countdown clock off of my sidebar, huh?

(oh, i stopped by the grassfire site and it's absolutely frightening. it is something i would imagine hitler would have come up with had the internet been around back then. and no, i'm not exaggerating. that's exactly what this strikes me as)

350,000 conservatives pledge to block Obama's 'socialistic' agenda
Muriel Kane
A conservative group, Grassfire.org, announced on Monday that its online petition pledging "patriotic" opposition to President-elect Barack Obama has gathered 350,000 signatures. (By presstime, the groups website was claiming a total of 371,453.)

Grassfire's founder, Steve Elliot, stated, "This is not a personal attack on Barack Obama. On the contrary, this is a call to action for conservatives who profess love for our country and respect for our institutions. Our disagreements with the President are based in ideology and public policy only. From this firm foundation we are mounting a patriotic, resilient, conservative resistance to Obama's agenda."

However, the group's attempt to present itself as moderate and principled is undercut by its own website, which is much shriller in tone and appears designed to create a sense of alarm among conservatives...........

can you imagine

having HIS job? wicked cool!