Jan 06 2008
Originally posted to ePluribus Media as “Rock Solid” is the new “Slam Dunk” — Israel, Bush and Iran.
Just a reminder:
About two weeks before deciding to invade Iraq, President Bush was told by CIA Director George Tenet there was a “slam dunk case” that dictator Saddam Hussein had unconventional weapons, according to a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward.
— From CNN
[Emphasis mine.]
Now back to the present, where we find this:
Jan 06 2008
I read some of my words today and notice that I spell Barack Obama’s name wrong and I wonder how that came about. He seems to be the front runner in the most important race in my personal lifetime right now. I realize that it is part of the disconnect I feel with him, I suppose it was my ego’s freudian slip of an insult to him that only my freudian ego knows about and sits in the corner giggling to self over.
Who am I, this fucking person who listens to an Obama speech and sinks into darkness and the more people who cheer the darker everything gets around me? I am an American soldier’s wife and the mother of his frequently fatherless children. I’m a caring human being who has witnessed and taken part in lies and deceit that killed thousands. I have felt very alone in all of this many many times and fearlessly allowed my mental melt downs to be witnessed by many……what the hell….I’m not going to live forever so all that won’t matter forever damn it!
Some Obama supporters say they are tired of fighting and I say that’s only because they are those of us who have a choice here. Some Democrats seeking unity seem to be completely blind to the fact some of America is in giant pain right now and doesn’t have a choice of whether or not to fight if they intend to continue to live. The abusers and the sociopaths that are in our midst and part of the what we WANT to be believe is OUR civil society……..I see them all too clearly and I don’t want to embrace them. Every voice in my being, my inner child if you want to call it that, screams out “NO!” when it comes to embracing the sociopaths and just letting the “bad stuff” slip away. A lot of that “bad stuff” has BEEN my life these past five years………so none of it really mattered and it was all just a bad dream or it was just bad unhappy ideas? Then how come people are missing arms and legs and minds and how come people are flat out missing around me? I hope this funk passes soon. I really have a hard time tolerating Obama speeches right now and I really have a hard time tolerating all that “Let’s Get Fired Up” chanting stuff. Remember, I used to be a cheerleader and I know how that shit works. A pep rally rocks too but during the football game I couldn’t help but notice that when things were getting really real the only person who came to care about all of my cheering was somebody’s ole Uncle Pervy in his front row seat………..just sayin.
Jan 06 2008
Cross posted from Dkos.
In the debate last night, John Edwards reiterated that the battle against the enrenched interests is personal to him. He also spoke about Nataline Sarkiysan:
What’s happening now is insurance companies are running all over people. I mean, the case of Nataline Sarkisyan, which a lot of the audience would be familiar with — 17 year old girl who lost her life a couple of weeks ago because her insurance company would not pay for a liver transplant operation. She had health insurance, but the insurance company wouldn’t pay for it. They finally caved in a few hours before she died.
snip
You know, we need a president who believes deeply in here, who believes deeply in this battle, and it is personal for me.
According to Ezra Klein, and Ben Smith the family of Nataline Sarkisyan will join Edwards today on the campaign trail. It’s personal for them also. Very personal. Come around after the fold and let’s talk about why it’s personal.
Jan 06 2008
I remember back in 1984 when rumors started flying that Walter Mondale might pick a woman to run with him on the democratic ticket. My reaction was to be completely dismissive; a sort of “what’s so new about a woman in the back-up role?” kind of thing.
And then I sat and watched as he nominated Geraldine Ferraro…and I cried.
What got released in me that day was something that for 30 years told me that I didn’t belong, didn’t have a place at the table. I saw myself in Geraldine Ferraro. And all of the sudden I felt included in the scheme of things in a way I never had before.
I saw that same feeling on the faces of African American delegates to the ’88 Democratic Convention when Jesse Jackson spoke. And since it had happened to me only 4 years previously, I recognized the look.
I don’t want to be alienating to anyone, but the reality is that white heterosexual men in this country don’t have a point of reference for this kind of experience. You have grown up seeing yourselves represented in every position of power that can be imagined. But perhaps with some empathy, you can understand a bit of what it feels like to have that sense of marginalization being communicated every day in ways that sometimes are overt, but most often covert, to the point that the feeling sinks deep into your bones and you don’t even notice all the time that its there.
And then one day POW!!! Someone like Ferraro or Jackson breaks through…and the world of possibilities opens up again.
For the past day or so I’ve been reading blogs written by African Americans to see what they are saying about the Obama victory in the Iowa caucuses this week. Some didn’t even mention it. Some don’t support or trust him. But for many, they shared that feeling of anticipation that perhaps the door is breaking open, the one that says you belong. Lets take a look.
Jan 06 2008
With George McGovern joining the growing chorus for impeachment, we know that the momentum is on impeachment’s side! On Tuesday, New Hampshirites have a chance to push this important movement forward!
Jan 06 2008
Why Obama is Winning. Every web site you visit folks are talking about Obama. Obama won big; and he won big by bringing out an immense number of voters, shattering all records. Team Obama blew HRC almost out of the race. Edwards is struggling to keep his place.
What Happened? Hillary was strong among Dem women, but lost to Obama among women over-all. Mark Penn is feeling the heat; he never saw the tsunami coming. In large part, because much of the hard work done to create that tsunami went on under the radar.
What if you discovered your candidate liked all the same books; visited the same kinds of websites; shopped at the same stores; and, most important, shared the same values and beliefs?
Odds are, if you’re even thinking about voting for Obama, the ‘unity’ candidate and those with access to his political intelligence know all about you and your family. Where you plan to spend your next vacation. How much you’ll pay in taxes. Whether you’ve recently consulted a doctor. And much, much more.
Why mention the 2008 revolution in data-mining now? Because the on-going investigation into our private lives isn’t going to end with the election of the transformational candidate. That’s not the kind of change Obama is talking about.
Jan 06 2008
This is an Open Thread: Throw Caution to the Wind
For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets
A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets.Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.
She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey.
U.S. Considers New Covert Push Within Pakistan
This article is by Steven Lee Myers, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt.
WASHINGTON – President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met Friday at the White House to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Jan 06 2008
Just a quick note,
Commonscribe pointed out FinishtheJobFund.org a while back as being a reputable place to send donations. They are directly assisting the rebuilding in Mississippi.
At the time I took the opportunity to email the program and give them some advice on their website. It looks like they took the advice to heart because their redesigned site is exactly what I had envisioned. Photos, testimonials, background information, all the things a donor wants to see in order to feel like they are a part of the effort.
So if anyone has a buck or two kicking around their wallets…consider putting it in a place that will have a real impact on people tomorrow. Thanks!
Jan 06 2008
Today’s Washington Post carries an Op-Ed piece by former Senator George McGovern, titled, “Why I Believe Bush Must Go”
Just a few quotes:
As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.
After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.
Today I have made a different choice.
—snip—
Jan 06 2008
“Helter Skelter. She’s coming down fast. Yes she is. Yes she is. Coming down fast.”
The RePug establishment is desperate. They’ve been destroying everything in sight with such reckless abandon that Americans are finally noticing that something’s not quite right with the Republican Party. RePug candidates are pathetic, their voters are disillusioned, and the massive Democratic turnout in Iowa is an ominous indication that the hunted are energized, inspired, and about to become the hunters.
RePugs are facing an electoral blowout of historic proportions at every level of government in November. The big money thugs who control the GOP are desperate to smear Mike Huckabee out of contention and anoint their former smear target McCain as the latest GOP Messiah, but if they do the evangelicals will grab their torches and burn that heretic at the stake. Another slight problem for the GOP and their Anointed One is the likelihood of a nationwide insurgent offensive across Iraq during this presidential election year. That’s assuming of course that the insurgents for some reason might realize that massive coordinated attacks would have a decisive political impact this year, just like the Viet Cong/NVA Tet Offensive had on the 1968 election.
Who’s toast if when that happens? John “Let’s Stay in Iraq 100 Years” McCain, that’s who.