Archives: August 2007
Petraeus: Troop buildup working in Iraq, as evident by drop in "sectarian" deaths
The next logical question is...are we counting sectarian deaths differently than other kinds of deaths in Iraq? That's crucial, isn't it? Are overall deaths in Iraq up or down since the surge began? From what I've read elsewhere, overall killings in Iraq have been significantly higher since the surge started. Is that not correct? I think most people consider dead to mean dead. Regular people don't usually make a distinction between different kinds of dead people when it comes to war casualties.
The BBC World Service is monitoring the surge's effects, week by week, by looking at casualty figures, the pressure on hospitals and quality of life for ordinary civilians. Looking at the following BBC chart, it sure doesn't look like casualties are trending down to me.
UPDATE 9/1/2007: Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose 7% in August
Headline reads: Bush moves to ease lending crisis, details to follow at an undisclosed date
How many and which homeowners will it help? How will it help them? The president also said we were heading to Mars and "Mission accomplished!" I need a few actions to go with my words.
I'm sure there is a plan -- although my Bush skepticism leads to me to doubt its effectiveness -- I just can't find it anywhere.
I'd appreciate a little help here. If you happen to find the details of the president's secret plan to aid homeowners, please leave it in the comments. Thank you.
White House goes on attack to undermine GAO report flunking president's surge strategy
benchmark
-noun1. a standard of excellence, achievement, etc., against which similar things must be measured or judged: The war in Iraq sets a benchmark in poor leadership.
2. any standard or reference by which others can be measured or judged: The president's surge in Iraq may become the benchmark for wartime propaganda.
We've been hearing it for more than a month now: "The surge is working." Despite the administration's assertions, a new Government Accountability Office report to be released sometime around Sept. 1 will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a September 15 deadline -- this, according to the Washington Post, which has seen a draft of the report. That's when Bush is to give a detailed accounting of the situation eight months after he announced the policy.
The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress, charged with examining matters relating to the receipt and payment of public funds.
Anticipating the failing marks, the Bush Administration is preparing to attack the 69-page report.
An internal White House memorandum, prepared to respond to the GAO findings, says the report will claim the Iraqis have failed on at least 13 benchmarks. It also says the criteria lawmakers set for the report allow no room to report progress, only absolute success or failure.Congress, which controls spending, told the GAO to "assess whether or not such benchmarks have been met," and the administration plans to assert that is too tough a standard to be met at this point in the surge (Note: In January of this year, September was given as the time the surge would last until), administration officials said.
The memo argues that the GAO will not present a "true picture" of the situation in Iraq because the standards were "designed to lock in failure," according to portions of the document read to the AP by an official who has seen it.
Back in January, when the president announced his plan to temporarily surge an additional 30,000 troops in and around Baghdad, he described how he would use benchmarks to measure its success. The administration accepted the notion of benchmarks to measure the plan's progress until only recently, after it had become clear that those benchmarks would not be met.
The GAO questions some of the White House's conclusions, and says that, in the future, the administration should take more views into consideration and back up its findings more extensively. The GAO found there really hasn't been a decrease in violence against Iraqis and says there has been a marked decrease in the number of Iraqi army units that can operate without assistance. Even though the GAO's mandate was to provide a yes or no judgment on the benchmarks, it does say two have been "partially met." A government official apparently gave the report to the [Washington] Post fearing the "pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version."
Expect...
...the administration and conservative media outlets to aggressively undermine the findings in the GAO report, the GAO itself, Congress for requesting the report in the first place, and anyone who dares accept the GAO's conclusions.The 18 Iraq Surge Benchmarks...
Benchmark No. 1: The Constitutional ReviewForming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.
Benchmark No. 2: De-Ba’athification and reconciliation
Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba’athification reform.
Benchmark No. 3: Hydrocarbon law
Two parts:
a. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources to the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and
b. enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shi’a Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.
Benchmark No. 4: Semi-autonomous regions
Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions. (Primarily Kurdistan, but could eventually extend to some other minority groups in concentrated locations such as Assyrian Christians).
Benchmark No. 5: Regimes for Free and fair elections
This is actually four different benchmarks: Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an
a. Independent High Electoral Commission,
b. provincial elections law, c. provincial council authorities, and
d. a date for provincial elections.
Benchmark No. 6: Amnesty & reconciliation
Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
Benchmark No. 7: Militia disarmament
Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.
Benchmark No. 8: Non-military support of security goals
Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.
Benchmark No. 9: Developing national military
Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.
Benchmark No. 10: Enabling Iraqi military
Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions in consultation with U.S. Commanders without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists including Sunni insurgents and Sh’iite militias.
Benchmark No. 11: Rule of law
Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law.
Benchmark No. 12: Arresting security failure/ save havens/terrorism
Benchmark No. 13: Reducing sectarian violence
Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.
Benchmark No. 14: Neighborhood watch
Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.
Benchmark No. 15: Security independence
Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.
Benchmark No. 16: Minorities as important as majorities
Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the legislature are protected.
Benchmark No. 17: Reconstruction efforts
Allocating and spending USD 10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.
Benchmark No. 18: National unity, part one of one million
Ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).
UPDATE 9/1/2007: Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose 7% in August
National poverty rate declines
It made front page news on FOX News: U.S. Poverty Rate Drops 1st Time Since 2000. Not bad, right? Fewer people living under the poverty level is great news, and any damn Bush hater who'd try to spin it into something bad is just doing what dirty terrorist-loving cowards always do!
That said, let's dig a little deeper into that census report to see what else it revealed....
For starters, it's important to note, in light of the president's remark about his tax policies fueling the economy, that this was only the first year of his presidency so far in which the poverty level dropped, and even with the drop from 12.6 to 12.3 percent, more of us in percentage terms are living in poverty today than were in the Year 2000, when that percentage was 11.3 percent.
To put it it in different terms, that's at least 2.6 million more Americans today living under the poverty level. That's three times as many people as live in San Francisco, twice as many as the State of Hawaii, and five times as many as lived in New Orleans before Katrina.
The poverty rate increased every year after 2000 for the next four years, peaking at 12.7 percent in 2004. It was 12.6 percent in 2005, but Census officials said that change was statistically insignificant.
Tuesday's census figures also showed an increase in the median incomes of Americans. Further great news, right? Median household income increased slightly to $48,200, but not because individuals were earning more money. Household incomes rose because more members of each household went to work, according to David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division.
Most conservatives will be quick to point out how great it is to see lazy people getting off their arsses to help their families pay the bills, but the truth is probably somewhere in between "mothers leaving young children home unsupervised to enter the job market" and "high school age children head to work to help the family." Either way, it's not as good for America as simply having seen a rise in individual incomes.
The president, in his comments on how wonderful his tax policies have been for America, failed to address the single most heartbreaking statistic released by the Census Bureau yesterday: The share of Americans without health insurance hit 15.8 percent last year, the highest percentage since 1998. In 2005, 15.3 percent were without insurance.
So before accepting the president's words as gospel -- "When we keep taxes low, spending in check, and our economy open -- conditions that empower businesses to create new jobs -- all Americans benefit." -- it's probably best to consider the broader picture.
Yes, we're still fighting two wars, there was Hurricane Katrina, 9-11, the dot com crash, etc., etc., but America has faced many other challenges throughout history. And the truth remains that each of our challenges could have been handled differently. The outcomes of each of them could have been different, had different decisions been made along the way.
My question today is not whether or not our economy is growing, because by some measures it most certainly is, but whether or not the economic policies in place today are the right policies for America. Just because a soon-to-be former president says they are, does not necessarily make it so.
FOX News' Neil Cavuto on Blaming Others For Getting In Over Our Heads
I think most people understand the concept of personal responsibility, and, most definitely, some folks would do better to give it more thought than they do, but we live in a changed world now. When was the last time you read a contract that made any sense to you at all? I bet it's been a while. And why do you suppose that is? You know why. Because all too often, corporations throw millions upon millions of dollars at attorneys to figure out just what has to be done to screw you 1) out of your money and 2) make sure you can't get your money back. They have entire legal departments with corner offices, filing clerks, mail rooms and legal secretaries, while you've just got your cousin Joe the paralegal.
If we're going to talk about personal responsibility, let's talk about the personal responsibility of company officials and executives behind predatory lending, too.
Conservatives would have us believe that 90 percent of the problem lies with the guy making $40,000/year, who can't afford an accountant or an attorney on retainer, and that accusations of manipulation and fraud by corporations are greatly exaggerated.... Are they? Is that what you believe?
If you joined us earlier this week (Government bails out big banks, but homeowners sink or swim) when we discussed how the federal government has been pumping billions of dollars into US banks and mortgage lending companies but won't help the 2.5 million homeowners expected to lose a home in 2007 then you may have a few questions for Mr. Cavuto. I know I do. If so, please send your comments to Neil at cavuto@foxnews.com. Neil loves it when people poke holes in his faulty logic.
A brief profile in awesomeness: CNN's Christiane Amanpour
One of the most renowned broadcasters of our time, Amanpour, the daughter of Iranian and British parents, worked for NBC affiliate WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island as an electronic graphics designer after her graduation from the University of Rhode Island in 1983. Six years later, she was hired by CNN and posted to Frankfurt, Germany, where she reported on the democratic revolutions sweeping Eastern Europe at the time.
She proved herself early as someone not only willing but eager to report from dangerous locales. It was her coverage of the Persian Gulf War that made her famous. Often covered in filth, no time for makeup, wearing her trademark flak jacket, she later reported from the Bosnian war, where her reports from Sarajevo during the Siege of Sarajevo led some viewers and critics to question her professional objectivity. Her reply: "There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing."
Memorable Quotes
"Remember the movie 'Field of Dreams' when the voice said, 'Build it and they will come'? Well somehow that dumb statement has always stuck in my mind, and I always say, 'If you tell a compelling story, they will watch.'"
"I think that as a country that is so powerful, so good in its values, so determined to spread values such as democracy, morality around the world...it's absolutely vital...that the people of the United States get a look at what's going on outside. It's our role and it's our job to be able to go to these places and bring back stories, just as a window on the world."
"I remember once doing a live shot from a so-called famine camp in Ethiopia---and actually in Somalia as well. I was showing a man and telling his story and explaining how ill he was, and it was a live camera. All of a sudden, I realized that he was dying. And I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to break that moment, how to get the camera away, what to do that would not sully what was happening in real life. And then there's always the crying and the weeping that we hear.....children, women, even men. And these images and these sounds are always with me...."
"...a strange thing has happened, something I never expected. Sadly, (my) marriage and motherhood have coincided with the demise of journalism as I knew it and I dreamt that it would always be. I am no longer sure that when I go out there and do my job, it'll even see the light of air, if the experience of my colleagues is anything to go by.
"More times than I care to remember, I have sympathized with too many of them assigned like myself, to some of the world's royal bad places. They would go through hell to do their pieces, only to frequently find them killed back in New York, because of some fascinating new twist on 'killer Twinkies' or Fergie getting fatter or something. I have always thought it morally unacceptable to kill stories...that people have risked their lives to get."
Read more here... or view an interview here...
DAILY SHOW: George's Magical History Tour
This is why I love the Daily Show. They can dig up video clips from a month ago that prove someone is full of crap today. You know it's all gone to hell when a satirical/fake news show is the best fact checker out there.
And what's fascinating to me is that Bush thinks Vietnam was too short. He thinks we left too soon. Right, I'm sure that during the war, Bush was praying nightly that the war would last long enough for his National Guard unit to get deployed.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns
-Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to FOX News.
Rumor has it President Bush may consider appointing a Democrat to replace Gonzales, easing the candidate's confirmation and extending the ol' olive branch across the aisle. If I had to bet, I'd certainly not bet we'll see that happen. With so many skeletons in their closet, the last thing this administration needs is a political opponent leading Justice. That would only accelerate the investigations currently underway.
No, I suspect Bush will nominate Solicitor General Paul Clement, who will serve as acting attorney general until the role is permanently filled. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review, so he's no slouch. The assumption would be that he understands the law and the illegality of lying to Congress, something Gonzales had trouble with.
UDPATE 8-28-07: Bush Pardons Newly-Resigned Gonzales
Bush says offensive in Iraq just beginning
Now, he and supporters of the war would have us believe that the surge has changed everything. They're taking every opportunity to repeat it in public, to say that we're finally beginning to see progress.
What I want to know is how they define progress, how they define victory, and why, after years of miserable failure, they should rightly be trusted with any of this now?
Beyond the White House, though, what goal do Bush war supporters feel we are making progress toward?
I'm not going to pretend to know what this White House wants in Iraq. They absolutely cannot be trusted anymore. They're either incompetent or lying - take your pick - so however they define progress and victory is meaningless to me at this point.
But I will go out on a limb and say that I think some of the war's supporters outside of the president's inner circle are trustworthy and do speak from the heart on Iraq. One of the challenges surrounding this and every issue are all the different voices and special interests with different agendas.
Of those who still have some credibility, how do they define victory and progress in Iraq? -- A stable Iraq? A US ally? A free Iraq? What about progress? They're saying the surge is working. How do they define, "working"? How is it working? Are we now closer to a stable Iraq? A US ally? A free Iraq?
I'll tell you what I want for Iraq at this point -- I want them to forgive us, I don't want the United States to continue being justification for the factions in Iraq to use to kill each other, and I want to help Iraq the way the majority in Iraq would like us to help them. Whatever they want that to be. What do they want from us now? Not their fake-ass government, but the people themselves. What do they want?
From what I've read, Iraqis are dying at twice the rate they were a year ago (Violence down in Baghdad; deaths up in Iraq).
"...one of the major themes expected in next month's Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken. In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable."Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year -- an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.
According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million July 31.
However, Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence in Iraq "has continued to decline and is at the lowest level since June 2006." (Bloodshed falls in Baghdad, but casualties up in Iraq). He offered no statistics to back his claim.
A little perspective
When the president says, "This [Iraq] is hard work," I don't get the feeling he truly grasps the magnitude. I just don't get the feeling he comprehends the history in Iraq or the complexity of the task.THE DAILY SHOW: Barack Obama | Entire Show
This clip isn't likely to stay up for long, so get it while it's hot!
Government bails out big banks, but homeowners sink or swim
Over the past couple weeks the nation's central bank has pumped more than $100 billion in liquidity to big mortgage companies and banks. When the president was asked last week if he would consider bailing out the American homeowner, the 2.5 million of them expected to lose their homes in 2007 alone, he, in so many words, reiterated the Republican line about personal responsibility.
Fox News' Neil Cavuto, of Cavuto's Your World put it like this: "It just amazes me that for those who didn't read the fine print, the rest of us have to pay the big bill?"
Neil, (who also puts it like this) what if I said I felt the same way about Bank of America and Citigroup, who yesterday received $500 million in loans from the Fed at the discount rate, one of the absolute lowest interest rates available on that amount of money in our country? Those are loans granted by the American taxpayer to two huge corporations that, if you believe in personal responsibility, should have planned for the future, correct?
First of all, a corporation is not a person and in my book doesn't deserve to be treated like one. A corporation is not a species of animal. The Bible doesn't refer to the corporate soul. People, on the other hand, do sometimes deserve help, and if you just compare apples to apples here and take that same $100 billion the Fed has so far injected into the banking system this month and spread it out among the 2.5 million homeowners expected to foreclose on a home this year, that's $40,000 per household. How many of those homes could be saved if each household were given emergency loans with deferred interest or no interest at all?
The point is not whether or not it's right to bail out people who "should have known better" because the federal government already answered that question. They did. They have bailed out corporate America, so all I'm asking is why not extend the same or similar kindness to real human beings?
Sen. Warner wants a pullout and Obama makes headlines on Cuba
Warner opposed the "surge" policy, and so his credibility among those who were preordained to support the surge is minimal, but he is a Republican, and one who's been fairly consistent in his position on the war for a while now.
Warner said Thursday that the start of a pullout was needed to spur Iraqi leaders to action.
Elsewhere in the news...
Sen. Obama is creating headlines again. Scratch that -- the media and his opponents are creating headlines again. Obama's part in it was to write an op-ed in the Miami Herald. In it, he called for the lifting of two Bush administration restrictions on Cuban-Americans. Obama wrote that he would grant Cuban-Americans "unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island."
Why do I care? Remind me again why I'm supposed to be so utterly terrified of Cuba and Fidel Castro? Drop the rhetoric and the sanctions already, Uncle Sam! You have bigger fish to fry. Sheesh!
Of course, the rest of the wanna-be presidential crowd had more to say about it...
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was quick to pounce, saying in a statement "unilateral concessions to a dictatorial regime are counterproductive" and that Obama's position proves the Illinois senator "does not have the strength to confront America's enemies or defend our values." Hey, Mitt, why don't we add Cuba to the Axis of Evil? Come on, man, let's do it!
Current restrictions allow Cuban-Americans to send family members $300 a quarter and limit visits to up to 14 days once every three years. Yeah... that'll show those filthy communists!
Among the other Democratic candidates, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson already was on record in favor of changes along the lines outlined by Obama.
Former Sen. John Edwards split the difference; he favors unlimited travel by family members but opposes "raising the limits on sending American dollars back to Cuba at this time." Typical Edwards non-position.
Sen. Chris Dodd would do more; he favors allowing all Americans unrestricted travel to Cuba. Chris who?
Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton favors no changes to U.S. policy and said through a spokesman "we cannot talk about changes to U.S. policy" unless and until Castro passes from the scene and a new government demonstrates its intentions. Hillary, again showing us how experience to her means maintaining the status quo.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour challenges Fox's Bill O'Reilly for the title
“God’s Warriors is an investigation of religion, at a time when religious activism is a signature cultural phenomenon of our times,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer for CNN Productions. “This project’s global scope is ideally suited for the skills of someone with as impressive of a journalistic pedigree as our own Christiane Amanpour.”
For this documentary, Amanpour reports that during the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, comprised of followers – “God’s warriors” – who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, and a fierce determination to place God and religion back into daily life and to the seats of power. Their political and cultural struggles to save the world from what they view as secular materialism, greed and sexual corruption have caused anger, division and fear.
“There are millions of people around the world who feel that their faith is being ignored – pushed aside – and they are certain they know how to make the world right,” Amanpour says. “We cannot and should not ignore them. And, with this report, we’ve tried to explain them.”
CNN Q&A with Amanpour [link]
Bush Declares That Free Iraq Is Within Reach
Don't forget that this is the man who declared "Mission accomplished" a few years ago. He's also the guy who made Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defense and picked Alberto Gonzalez to be Attorney General. He's the guy who fell asleep through Hurricane Katrina, froze up reading My Pet Goat on September 11, declared we would send people to Mars, refers to something called "The Internets", and claims his favorite movie of all time is Black Hawk Down.
With all due respect to the Office of the President, if a free Iraq is, in fact, within reach, and I doubt that it is, I'm gonna need to hear it from someone with a lot more credibility than President George W. Bush.
But you gotta hand it to him for those huge balls he must have, pulling the Vietnam card. Here's a guy who most people deep down inside believe did whatever he could to dodge the Vietnam War. I'll tell you what, the president is a lot of things, but he's also a man with huge balls. Nice guy, dumb as a stump, huge balls.
He said “a free Iraq” is within reach and warned that if Americans succumbed to “the allure of retreat,” they would witness death and suffering of the sort not seen since the Vietnam War.
OK, fair enough. Why did we go to war in Iraq, Mr. President? Remember those WMDs? Why should we listen to or trust the judgment of this man?
I don't think we can. I don't think it's prudent to turn to President George W. Bush for insight into or leadership on the Iraq War anymore. I think we should completely skip him and look toward other people for leadership on the war. Seriously, I think we have to face facts. The future of Iraq is too important to trust to someone as incompetent as this president, and I'm not just playing around here. I'm being completely serious.
Forget the political grandstanding, the hyperbole, the playing off of people's emotions over Vietnam and bullsh*t terms like cutting and running and look at the facts. We don't have a real president right now. What we have is a doofus in the White House, and each day we entrust this country's security to this guy is yet another day we're tempting fate.
He can't even make up his mind either. He's the least decisive person I've ever seen. It took him four years to build up the courage to fire Donald Rumsfeld, and how many generals has he gone through already? How many different people have been in charge in Iraq? Why would any intelligent human being trust a word that comes out of George Bush's mouth? Wait -- I should rephrase that. Why should any intelligent human being believe that George Bush has any clue what he's talking about? I don't know if he lies or if it's just stupidity or arrogance, but does it matter which one it is?
But oh well, right? This Congress obviously isn't going to do anything about it. Yup... gotta love it!
Coalition aircraft losses in Iraq
At least 241 service members have been killed in helicopter crashes, and 19 have died in fixed-wing crashes, from a combined loss of 107 helicopters and 18 fixed-wing aircraft since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At least 42 of those crashes were attributed to hostile fire.[link]
Even though I know it might upset some people to hear, because of how it could make someone who's lost a loved one in one of these crashes feel, I think it's also right to acknowledge the innocent Iraqis killed by these aircraft while in service. Explosives can't discern between women, children, and insurgents, despite the best efforts of military personnel to avoid civilian casualties. The day the military unveils an explosive missile incapable of killing innocent life will be a truly great day.
To anyone who has lost loved ones in Iraq I send my thoughts and prayers.
Bush acts decisively to help flooded white neighborhoods
I seem to vaguely recall a great deal of flooding a couple years ago. What was it? Like a big storm or something? I remember something about a lot of black people and the Superdome, something about thousands of people stranded for days without help while the president was on vacation in Crawford?
Blast, my imperfect memory!
News shorts: reaping what we sow
Or how about...
British search for brown dwarfs
Star Wars to Snow White: The life of a dwarf actor
Dwarf throwing
What war? Campaign 2008 is top story of April, May, June
In April, May and June, coverage of the war and related issues made up just under 15 percent of news reports, compared to 22 percent for the first quarter.
And which of the candidates received most of the attention? None other than my favorite: Sen. Barack Obama, Mr. Change Agent himself. Barack Obama drew the most coverage among Democratic presidential contenders, taking the last-quarter lead from Hillary Rodham Clinton and with John Edwards a distant third. But mentions of Edwards rose while coverage of Obama and Clinton dropped. Coverage of leading Republican contenders John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney was more evenly split, the study said. Let's see... perhaps that's due to the fact that all three suck.
The Democratic candidates are doing their best to rub the sheen off Barack Obama, who I'd call the People's Favorite. The big push now is to say that Obama lacks experience. True. Compared to most of the others he does. Obama's spin on that is to say to them, show me what your years of experience has brought us.
Obama isn't blind. He sees that the race has become as much about him as anything else.
"The thing that I wished had happened was that all the people on this stage had asked these questions before they authorized us getting in," Obama said, referring to the war in Iraq.
"I make that point because earlier we were talking about the issue of experience," he added. "Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney."
Where does the great Fox News stand in all this? Obviously, their coverage is both fair and balanced.... LOL! I almost said that with a straight face. The political section of Foxnews.com leads with this: Rove: GOP in Position to Beat Dems in '08. Right, from the mastermind who brought us the midterm Democratic landslide of Nov. 2007.
All is not lost, folks. Stay tuned....
Mr. Rogers Prank Calls a Business Woman
DISCLAIMER: Nothing against Mr. Rogers or business women in general.
POLL: Stock market volatility
It's hard to say what sparked this morning's drop on the Dow. Down a little more than 1.25% after the first hour of trading. In less than three months the Dow Jones Industrials has fallen from a high of around 14,000 to just under 12,800 today. It seems like each new day lately brings a new reason for investors to sell.In historical percentage terms, the falling so far has been relatively minor but obviously unwelcome for people currently invested in the stock market. If, however, you've been sleeping with your savings under the mattress or holding on to your cash, waiting for just such an occassion as this, you may be looking at these falling stock prices as a buying opportunity, ala buy low, sell high.
Or, if you're like most Americans, you either aren't in a position to invest, or, if you are, most of your investments are through your retirement plan at work.
Regardless, I've found it comforting to look at it this way: whether or not the recent stock market volatility has hurt the fortunes of the poor and Middle Class, a lot of morbidly wealthy fat cats out there on Wall Street are seeing their fortunes hurt a lot worse than ours.
Heck, and we're already used to being Middle Class or poor. Let's see how they deal with it.
Aw, Karl, don't go!
Well, there's a season for everything. Nothing lasts forever, not even absolute power. Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove announced his intention to resign at the end of August.I know you're heartbroken right now, but just remember, this too shall pass. The pain will subside. Just focus on the fact that there will be another evil mastermind to loathe and despise soon enough. Rove is leaving big, smoking, evil shoes to fill, of course, but rest assured, there's another diabolical half-demonoid hellish cherub out there with huge clawed feet ready for the job. Don't fret!
In all seriousness (as if that ever happens here), I don't buy the Rove-is-evil nonsense. These people are not evil -- not even Cheney. Well... No, not even Cheney. We could say they're wrong, foolish, selfish, arrogant, ruthless, or use any number of other weak adjectives, but not evil. Remember, liberals went after Bush for his use of the term "axis of evil" because it was an oversimplification of a complex world. What's evil anyway? Good people commit evil acts, and the other way around. It's a uselessly inadequate word.
Neutrality for all!
Just kidding... about everything except the evil stuff.
See ya later, Mr. Rove. Well played, sir. WELL PLAYED, YOU EVIL BASTARD!
Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire
WOW! I'm not sure who this "Dick Cheney" character is, but he's right on about this whole Iraq mess. Too bad we weren't able to get this guy to explain the situation to the Bush administration before they invaded Iraq because that might have helped.
It's so disappointing to think that there were really smart people out there like this Cheney cat who anticipated all the horrible things that have come to pass in Iraq since the invasion began. It's unfortunate that this Cheney feller wasn't in charge when it mattered most. Oh, well.... I guess hindsight's 20/20.
Straw man Mitt Romney describes his love of varmint hunting
Have you ever met a pathological liar before? I in this video Mitt Romney sounds just like one to me. What they'll do is speak what begins as a small fib, but then they can't stop talking, as if they can make you forget their lie if they follow it up immediately with 10 minutes of talking.
If asked if they'd ever been to outer space before, a liar would answer, "Yeah... sure, I've been to space before. I mean, ya know, the nature of space is that it's all around us. It's everywhere! There's outer space, and then there are all the spaces in between everything else. I don't believe in the Big Bang theory. No, sir, I do not. I think life's too complicated and beautiful for that. But yeah, science and religion are at odds on that one. There's no question about it...."
Once, where I work, the organization hired a consultant to interview everyone on the staff to attempt to figure out what we as a group -- you know, that teambuilding nonsense -- could do to believe we're happier about our jobs and to get more work done in less time. The consultant was a police detective in a past career but worked as a business consultant now.
His approach was to let people hang themselves. He'd ask a question like, "How do you feel about working here?" and then he'd just sit there staring at you quietly for an uncomfortably long time. After 20-30 seconds of staring at this man, to fill the awkward silence, or perhaps just because people are stupid that way, everyone would start to talk about their jobs, their coworkers, how they're all underpaid and underappreciated -- we said things that none of us could believe we'd ever dare say under the circumstances. But we did.
Either Mitt Romney is being interviewed by that same former police detective, or he's a pathological liar.
POLL: How's it going in Iraq?
Bush's poll numbers are up -- slightly -- but on the issue of the war in Iraq he's up almost 10 points since June. Across conservative media outlets, the message is that things are improving in Baghdad. But how much of that is truth?Here's what I see, and I'm not going to back any of it up with statistics so don't expect any: American and coalition forces have finally found a military strategy that works -- somewhat -- on an isolated, temporary basis in Baghdad, but as far as the broader picture in Iraq, the situation has not conclusively improved at all.
If Baghdad could somehow be made secure over the long term, that obviously would dramatically help the entire country of Iraq, so we have to take a close look at exactly what has been happening in Baghdad, look at it objectively, and try to determine what and how much progress is really being made. That, and what would any results we may or may not be seeing in Baghdad mean for the United States? It's wise to ask the questions, "How much longer would it take to finish the job?" -- even if the answer is unknowable, because it's necessary to plan intelligently for the future. "Do we have the resources necessary to continue?" and "What are the consequences of each of our decisions?"
These are not questions to ask of this administration, either. Of course not. These are questions I'd hope Congress would try to find the answers to, but in no uncertain terms should the Bush Administration be trusted or relied upon to provide the answers. There is no doubt left. This administration cannot be trusted to provide anything resembling the truth, so it's going to be up to Congress to figure out what to do next. As to the broader question of "Should we stay in Iraq?" that's not a question for the military or the "commanders on the ground," no matter what the president loves to say. It's a question for Congress, now, because only they have the power to force a change.
Five reasons why I believe America needs a Democratic president
- 1. Spend public funds for the public good. There've been too many corporate giveaways under Republican so-called leadership.
- 2. Make Americans have to sacrifice in order to wage war. Wars should be required to be paid for using tax money. If people believe a war is just, then they ought to be prepared to PAY FOR IT. No more American wars on Chinese debt.
- 3. Make needed repairs and upgrades to the nation's infrastructure -- highways, major bridges, railways, schools, electrical grids, dams, etc. These things won't and haven't been done under Republican leadership.
- 4. Get the economic focus back on the shrinking Middle Class where it belongs. Republicans have been telling Americans for 7 years how much better they are than Democrats at managing the economy. Ask 100 Americans at random if they believe that to be true.
- 5. Because the rich got richer under Bush; another Republican, even a well-intentioned one, would have his hands tied. How's any Republican going to make major changes with their base insisting they maintain the status quo?
THE DAILY SHOW: Joe Biden
Where have ya GONE to, Joe BIDen...
Joltin' Joe Biden... what a loon. If he could just stop sucking on his own feet (putting a foot in his mouth) for 10 minutes he'd be alright.
Wallstrip - Gen-Probe Inc. (GPRO)
STOCK TIP!!!
Warning: This is not a stock tip. Anyone who invests in a company based on something they've read on Pollyticks.com has serious, life-threatening psychological problems.The stock market has been going berzerk for the past few weeks. It's more volatile than I've seen it in years. Good stocks are down; bad stocks are up, but one thing of which we can all be absolutely certain: the rich are getting richer.
For more Wallstrip stock tip videos, click here...
THE DAILY SHOW: Yearly Kos
I think Bill O'Reilly's war against Daily Kos is totally ridiculous. Dailykos.com is a user forum with hundreds of thousands of members. The content is mostly provided by unpaid citizens, people writing what amounts to millions of letters to the editor.
To prove his point that Dailykos.com spews hate and preaches violence, O'Reilly publishes excerpts on his show from a handful of posted comments, and, yes, some of them are horrible, filled with anti-Republican hate.
But if anyone thinks the comments sections of articles of big grassroots conservatives sites like Free Republic aren't filled with the exact same kind of anti-Democrat hate then they are deceiving themself. Take this lovely quote, for example:
To: hardback
Obama does not have any cleavage is the reason. The only cleavage Hitlary really has is on her backside.
11 posted on 08/09/2007 7:13:18 AM PDT by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1878667/posts
Five convenient oversights Republicans make with regard to taxation
- 1. Yes, it is your money, but you drive on our highways, breathe our air, drink our water and go to our schools. We live in a community of shared resources; get over it.
- 2. The top income tax bracket has fallen dramatically since the mid-1960s, about the same time we stopped taking care of our interstate highway system and developing our infrastructure.
- 3. The amount of fraud in Iraq over a single month outweighs the amount of welfare fraud over a year.
- 4. If we're going to spend $8 billion a month in Iraq, the money has to come from somewhere. You want sacrifice? Well, put your money where your mouth is. A yellow ribbon on your car doesn't pay the bills.
- 5. The U.S. economy grew faster in the 1950s when the top tax rate was 90% than it is today with a top rate half as high.
Five questions for the Republican presidential candidates
- 1. Are you going to do something drastic to address the healthcare crisis in America (P.S. yes, there is a healthcare crisis in America)?
- 2. Is there anything -- world peace, universal healthcare, a cure for cancer, a national rail system -- that you would raise taxes to accomplish, if it were proven that higher taxes were the ONLY way it could be done?
- 3. Assuming you believe that trickle down economics is sound economic theory, could you describe the philosophy for those of us who think it's a crock of shit?
- 4. Do you feel partly responsible for, or regret supporting and allowing George W. Bush to make the mistakes that the Republican Party now acknowledges he's made as president?
- 5. If you had to blame the Mississippi bridge collapse on former President Bill Clinton, how would you do it?
Geeksquad ain't got nothing on our Lord and savior
Finally God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job."
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They sent faxes. They sent e-mail. They sent out e-mail with attachments. They downloaded. They did some genealogy reports. They made cards. They did every known job. But ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, the rain poured and, of course, the electricity went off.
Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld. Jesus just sighed. The electricity finally flickered back on and each of them restarted their computers.
Satan started searching frantically, screaming "It's gone! It's all gone! I lost everything when the power went out!"
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours. Satan observed this and became irate.
"Wait! He cheated, how did he do it?"
God shrugged and said, "Jesus saves."
-Joke credit unknown, some guy named Greg
Five things that bug me about the Democratic presidential candidates
- 1. that Barack Obama can say what amounts to the right thing about going after al Qaeda in Pakistan if Pakistan won't do it but get his words twisted around by desperate bottom-tier candidates like Joe Biden and Bill Richardson
- 2. every time Bill Richardson refers to his vast experience
- 3. how Hillary Clinton's voice reminds me of those little aliens from Mars Attacks "ack! ack!"
- 4. why Dennis Kucinich couldn't have been just a little taller and handsome (because then he'd be taken seriously by more Americans)
- 5. how Hillary Clinton can still be so far ahead in the polls
OLBERMANN: A War We Might Win
Keith's really on top of things this time. This Michael O'Hanlon of the prestigious Brookings Institute is going around telling folks after his recent trip to Baghdad that "The war is going brilliantly at this point." The right wing, obviously, has adopted Mr. O'Hanlon for his fair and balanced analysis, but they're identifying him as a staunch critic of the Bush Administration's past actions in Iraq, see, because that makes what he's saying now about the war more of a zinger. Get it?
Riiiiight... so Olbermann does a wee bit of digging into Mr. O'Hanlon and uncovers the truth.
Seriously, drop by Fox News sometime today and take note of the new political theme taking hold over there. It's all about saying the Iraq war is beginning to improve, you know, like victory is almost at hand, and how the Democrats intend to stop the war no matter how close we get to victory. Like, "Aw, man! We were so close to winning! And then the Democrats made us lose the war just before we were about to win the whole darned thing! SHOOT!"
Sorry, but I am far from convinced that Iraq is safer now than it was six months ago. Saying that it's safer does not make it so. Understandably, after being told the insurgency was in its last throes a couple years ago, Americans like me are skeptical of so-called progress. Calling a handful of neighborhoods in the city of Baghdad "safer" is a far cry from a stable Iraq. Personally, as yet another regular joe who's no expert on foreign affairs but who HAS been paying attention to the news for the past 4 years, I think the US must focus its planning on how best to achieve a withdrawal that doesn't leave Iraq in shambles, but that the withdrawal component be essential to our long-term national interests. The longer we're there, the worse it is for both Iraqis and Americans in the long-term. That's my layman's opinion.
Drunk Astronauts
Oh, my God! This is the first time I've ever seen a home made video rant like this one on YouTube. What a great idea! I think I'll make one too.
So says everyone who's ever seen one of the millions of home made video rants on YouTube.... I could do that! I'm funny! I have something to say!
But unlike something I would make, this character, "megalis," is actually funny.