Thursday Tyrannical Truthiness

Of course the best news last night happened, John Edwards officially endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic Nomination. This of course officially moves LSWTF.com into the Obama camp since we were all Edwards supporters. To quote CityCat last night when I told her the news, "THANK GOD! It's about time!"

Ah the old addage of writing checks your body can't cash. Ah, the body of a 31 year old gang banger and the mentality of a five year old.

Wexler, for my money, is the best damn Rep in Congress today. What we need to determine is how to get the Justice Department to actually, you know...DO THEIR JOB!

The Clinton Campaign continues to push the idea of Hillary being the nominee whose job equates to a warm bucket of piss. Personally I think the nomination should be the picture above.

We apparently know what it will take for Congress to go after Impeachment, and that's invading Iran. I guess they're going with the fool us once shame on you...wait, that doesn't even work, I don't know what they're thinking.

Chicago Dyke has a great post up about how we all need to LISTEN rather then just hearing the bits and pieces you want to hear. A truly phe-nominal post of someoen, who like many of us, are so tired of the blind sheep following whoever the media tells you to follow.

Twenty-Nine reasons to pull your head from the sand or why people need to get over their "Political Apathy Disorder" and fast.

Be prepared to see your first amendment rights go the way of the Californian Condor. What do you need to understand about homegrown terrorism? They're either a) Militia b) Religious Wackos c) PETA or d) Religious Wackos who blow up abortion clinics.

No wonder McPOW can't keep track of who his lobbyists have worked for, he can't even keep track of who his wife has had business dealings with. Now that this story is out, I wonder if the clamor for her taxes to be released gets even louder.

Finally KO has a few choice words to Dubya about his retirement from the sport of Golf to "show solidarity with the families of the soldiers in Iraq". He stopped playing in 2003, so this is just for the IRAQ War, once again proving that he really never cared about getting Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Five for Friday

I have been scouring the interwebs for literally minutes, and I've come up with five blog-worthy things to share with you. In no particular order:

First, my boy Krugman at the NYT writes about the effect John Edwards had on this campaign. Without Edwards, and I think everyone who writes for the blog hit on this in one way or another, the Democrats would not be talking about actual ideas and concrete policy initiatives. Instead, the nominee would John Kerry version 2.0. So, if you see him, thank John Edwards.

Second, Gene Upshaw is prepared for an NFL players strike if the owners decide to opt out of the current contract after the Super Bowl. Owners say they're broke, but Upshaw isn't buying what they're selling.

Third, we've all heard by now that Microsoft has made a bid to buy Yahoo!. The bid, however, is likely to go hostile. Here's some more on the could-be takeover. If there's a request, I'll post a blog soon explaining the mechanics of a hostile takeover. Question is, can Microsoft make my Yahoo! mail suck more? I'm betting on yes.

Fourth, in news from my hometown of Barre, Vermont, it looks like a property management company has taken a bunch of its tenants for a ride. Why is this news? Well, it's looking like I'm one of them (maybe, I must throw in the allegedly cause I don't know all the facts).

Fifth, and finally, in a sign that Hillary cannot, and should not, under any circumstances, be allowed to win the Democratic nomination, there's news that she's earned Ann Coulter's endorsement (and probably the endorsement of the Horsefaced Women's Alliance - HWA for those of you not in the know).

That's it. Have fun in Vegas, WTFers.

SCOTUS and Hillary: The Movie

Just in time to coincide with what's turn into our weeklong critique on the theatre of the absurd known as the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, there's news out of the Supreme Court that Citizen's United, a conservative advocacy group, is seeking an expidited review of a recent D.C. Court of Appeals decision in the Supreme Court. The group has put together a film called Hillary: The Movie, which tries to explain all the reasons why Hillary Clinton is not fit for President. Rumor is that if Obama wins the nomination, another film is in production.

The legal question here is whether campaign finance laws apply to promotional ads for this kind of film. Clearly, if the race comes down to Hillary versus the Republican nominee, that nominee will benefit from the film. Of course, there have been a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle political movies in the last few years, from SiCKO (never sure how to spell that), to Bowling for Columbine, and even an Inconvenient Truth, so how the Supreme Court decides this case could have broad ramifications. But, aside from that, this kind of film raise some pretty serious questions about our electoral process. As others have said on this blog in more artful ways, we've reached a point where ideas and policy don't matter.

What seems to matter is which candidate is willing cut deepest in Slanderfest '08, both now during the primaries and later in the general election. You've got Clinton and Obama slugging it out over who has the most experience while our boy John Edwards is actually putting some ideas forward. On the other side, there's a race to see who would kick out the most illegals, kill the most terrorists, and cut the most taxes. And all of it boils down to a growing cabal of personality cults. It's no longer what we believe in so much as who's side we're on.

And that's the deal with this movie. It's about hatred of a person, not the person's ideas. All legal questions aside, it represents an approach to politics that we must reject. The best possible outcome with Hillary: The Movie? Total box office flop, with terrible critical reviews.

Working for Change in America with Ideas Not Rhetoric

The time has come to take the bull by the horns. Only one candidate has discussed how to work toward ending homelessness. Only one candidate has discussed the way to ensure that prescription drugs are affordable to everyone. Only one candidate has spoken about those who are forced to choose between lights and heat in the winter months because they can't pay both bills and feed their children before sending them off to school.

Americans deserve better and we have reached a point where we deserve a President who will ensure that no child goes hungry, no senior citizen freeze in a home with no heat because they are too proud to ask for help and their social security doesn't cover their medications and bills.

I'm tired of an America where adults act like children in a political game of gotcha and as Senator Edwards so aptly put it and Shane mentioned earlier "How is this helping get children insured?" We need a President who wakes up ever morning worrying about the Biblical "least of these brothers of mine" and not how to sully their political opponent.

Senator Edwards is a man of integrity and strength, some one who can make every American proud to be an American and hopefully can work to fix this rift that we have with the world and within America that has been caused by the Presidency of George Bush. I could list those initiatives that Senator Edwards has proposed but it is really best if you get it from the source. http://www.johnedwards.com/

And throw him a couple of bucks while you are there to show you are not buying the media's game that this race is over.

Dews Tuesday Rundown...

Hard to settle back into the long work week after a three-day weekend and all, but there have been quite a few things going on in the world to report on.

Leading off today is the big 35th Anniversary of the landmark legal decision in "Roe vs Wade", which was decided January 22nd, 1973. I'm sure there will be pictures to follow this (as yours truly happens to be kinda close to the corporate headquarters in downtown DC), because they're usually kind of entertaining unless they get too graphic. I would normally be a little worried about one of these nuts doing something, but having survived 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, I'm pretty much invincible now I think.

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Continuing with more domestic issues, the economy continues to make its slide into the toilet. Recession appears inevitable if not already the current economic situation:

It was the first time the Fed altered the target federal funds rate between
scheduled meetings since the markets reopened after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. The cut was the biggest one-day rate move by the Fed since it lowered
rates by a full percentage point in December 1991, when the country was trying
to emerge from recession.

Seems like it was a good idea to elect a president that was a business major afterall huh? That damn Clinton Lawyer guy did such a crappy job with the economy for so long and all, I'm not at all surprised the damn sheep in the midwest elected these thugs.

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Finally Google is doing something that creeps me the hell out...

Normally Google can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned, but with the launch of a new service called "23andme", I'm starting to get a little worried how they plan to integrate this new info into the likes of Google Docs and Gmail...

The Web site, which takes its name from the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up each person's genome, says it will display more than half a million data points
in users' genomes in a form they can visualize and understand
The site does not currently make interpretations about a user's risk for developing such diseases as cancers, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, though users could in
some cases get help from experts to make some basic assessments..

This just opens up a world of issues to me. Mostly with insurance companies having access to any information that may expose a condition that your DNA is betraying that you may be more likely to have... Truly some scary stuff for the future of healthcare.

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Finally, having watched the Democratic debates last night and realizing (quoting my good friend "Speculation Amok" on this) that the only adult running for President on the Democratic side is former Senator John Edwards, I have decided to throw my support behind his candidacy (for whatever that is worth :) ).

Seriously, watching Hillary and Obama bicker and bitch the entire time just disgusted me to no end. That and I have yet to hear a real idea from Obama other then some "hope and change" jingoistic nonesense in lieu of any real policy.

Its not too late America! Stop backing those two jackasses and jump on board the "Adult" bandwagon! Support a candidate that has some real ideas about what to do to solve our problems and isn't totally in the pockets of the same old groups...

The Only Respectable Candidate

As many have noticed over the holiday weekend, Obama and Shrillary got into a catfight during the South Carolina Democratic debate. I won't bring up the fact that Stephen Colbert was held out of those debates and that Dennis Kucinich is suing over that fact, no the fact I want to bring up is the differences between the two major candidates of the Democratic Party, and the only acceptable choice right now for the party, John Edwards.

While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spar each other over their past, who has the charisma, who has the experience (allegedly) and who did or did not lawyer for a sleazy slum lord who was an executive at WalMart, John Edwards has been out there giving his message to those who will listen. His message is one we all can get behind, and with yesterday being MLK day, one that is supported by someone very close to the fallen Reverend.

…I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don’t have lobbyists in Washington and they don’t get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America...

I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

The mainstream media would have you believe that John Edwards isn't in this race, but he sure as hell is. I hope to wake up tomorrow morning and have the world rocked that John Edwards has won South Carolina. To have a world who must now actually talk about him in the same sentence. Then I want the young people of America, every single beer pong playing, Oprah watching, crazy game of poker listening, football swearing, cocaine snorting, co-ed sexual escapade having, D&D nut and rainbow warrior alike out there who gives a shit about their country to go out during this primary season and put your vote down for John Edwards.

The time for the media has to end. We have to stop being the lemmings who are so easily led to water by these pundits, who have the vested interest of their corporate slave master, and have them once again decide the election. Other then the folks on Air America (for the most part), bloggers, and Keith Olbermann, no one in the media will give John Edwards the time of day. The time has come for another revolution, much like there was in the sixties. This time though we cannot go quietly into the night, we cannot just accept the way things are. We are more informed now as a s society then ever before, and we mainly have the internet to thank for that.

We cannot have John Edwards win the Presidency if he does not win the Primary. It is time to take out The Family and the man who would be Reagan and insert the South Carolina Gentleman into the conversation. We must insert him into the delegate race. If we truly want this country to change, if we truly want this country to finally shift for the first time in forty years and go back in the direction that great men like JFK, MLK and RFK laid down for us we must elect John Edwards. John Edwards, I feel, is the only candidate out there (save for Ron Paul but that's a frightening change) who will toss aside all those corporations, lobbyists and other type of special interests and get back to saving this great nation from itself. We are getting closer to the edge, that land of oblivion where big brother is constantly watching and you have no more rights, we need John Edwards to steer us away from the abyss.

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

Monday Blog O Dome

It's been a long since I've done a Blog O Dome, so I figured I'd do one today, especially with everything that has happened this past weekend.

Mike Huckabee, not only pardons a serial rapist he gets his son off for doing his best Michael Vick impersonation. Sorry, if you can't even raise your children to know this is wrong you have no business leading a nation scooter.

Today is the day that Senator Chris Dodd is filibustering the FISA bill on the Senate floor and he needs your ideas for what to read. At least there is one Presidential candidate doing the right thing instead of campaigning.

John Edwards continues to be the only major candidate for President who wants to fight, well, everyone. I look forward to when he goes all Tyler Durden on us.

More on what Obama and Clinton said they would be doing today, and yet they are no where to be seen. They are "politicians", Dodd and Edwards appear to be people who genuinely want to help this country.

Glenn Greenwald is back again with news that the Jewish folks in the media don't actually speak for the majority of Jews in this country.

Wikileaks continues to pimp slap the government this time in proving their online image repair attempt. I'm shocked that the government and or the Republican Party hasn't started paying large buildings of people to control the message online, they're already doing it on TV with Fox News.

Rep Steve King (Asshat-Iowa) attacked one of the nine Democrats who did not vote on the resolution to give Christians and Christmas a hummer. Nice rebuttal by Rep Jim McDermott (D-WA) on what the true mission of Congress should be.

The man who would be a better Speaker of the House Rep. Wexler asked for people to sign his petition to begin impeachment proceedings against Darth Cheney. He was hoping for 50,000 and he got it, in less then 24 hours.

Though no longer Press Secretary, Tony Snow continues the message of the President and Fox News informing us how the second war in America is the War on God. Really, then consider me Lord Asreil if it is you and your people's interpretation of who and what "God" is.

Finally we are going to end today with CREW's Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2007. Honestly I don't know which one pisses me off more, though most immediate damaging one has to be FEMA and their trailers.

Its coming down to the wire!

Other then Huckabee's now double-digit lead in Iowa and Cyborg Romney's 6-8% point lead in New Hampshire, it is still anyones game in the GOP Primary its looking.

On the Republican side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee appears to have a
double-digit edge in Iowa, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney an 8-point
margin in New Hampshire – but South Carolina remains up for grabs, with five
candidates registering in double digits.

In the Hawkeye State – where a Newsweek poll released Friday appeared to show Huckabee with a stunning 22 point lead – the Republican contest seems to be a three-person race, with Huckabee at 32 percent, Romney at 20 percent, former Tennesse Sen. Fred Thompson at 11 percent and no other candidate registering higher than single digits.

Really enjoying the fact that this is still all up in the air. I kind of feel like this makes the process that much more interesting to have candidates really beat the crap out of each other before the general election. Air out the dirty laundry, let us all know just how many skeletons you have in your closet THEN let us decide how we want to go.

The same seems to hold true in the Dem side of things as well:

In the Democratic race, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton appears to lead Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama by a statistically insignificant 2-point margin, 25 to 27
percent, John Edwards at 21 percent, and no other candidate registering higher
than single digit support.

Really seems like this is going to boil down to two things (in my humble opinion of course)...

First off, is Huckabee going to continue to maintain this type of momentum moving forward solidifying the evangelical and more right leaning portions of the party while (and this is the key here) learning how to raise money like the cyborg or the cross dresser?

Secondly, is Edwards populism ever going to click in a way that Huckabee's has for his own pockets of power within the more right leaning parts of his party? Edwards can obviously count on plenty of resources if he needs to in order to carry on any momentum he may create before the primary, but something really needs to happen for his candidacy to really start showing he can out-muscle Hillary and Obama.

Any thoughts out there LSWTF, or bloggers in general?

Monday Blog O Dome

For once Dubya didn't try to buck congress and settled for a Reagan Republican and not a right wing ideologue. All I care about is him looking into the illegal activities his predecessors were doing when it comes to voting rights and politicizing the Justice Department.

Fox censored an anti-war critic during the Emmys. My hat goes off to Sally, way to speak your mind.

The Emperor and some propaganda spewing jackass were on CNN recently talking about, well you know what they were talking about. Apparently Rep. Pence believes that if we hadn't invaded that Iraq and Iran would now be in a nuclear missile race....wow.

Greenspan, one of the true geniuses of our time has a new book coming which details the difference between Dubya and Clinton and his interactions with them. The shocking news, he declares that Iraq was about the oil.

When Rudy has aides like this asshat he begins to remind me of Dark Helmet. How many assholes we got on this ship anyway?! YO!

Support the troops indeed. How dare you say that about a fallen soldier, I wonder if this guy goes to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Senator Chuck Hagel was on Real Time Friday Night and had a tremendous interview with Bill Maher. I have to wonder if he is lining himself to run as a Vice President candidate, maybe even with the Democratic nominee.

I don't know if I've been this excited for non blockbuster movie since the director's last movie. Looks to be a great cast, fantastic writing, and definitely something worth seeing.

If this is Hill's plan, then it is clear that she has become the lap dog of an industry that is clearly broken and milking many Americans dry. Once again I move closer and closer to John Edwards.

This is the first real good news I've heard from Iraq in a very long time.

Friday Blog The Horn

Sorry everyone, it's been a busy morning at work so it took awhile to go through everything, but enjoy.

An in depth look at the Clinton Conundrum over at Burnt Orange Report. I think it is how a lot of us who pay attention to politics feel about the Senator from New York.

Hypocrisy is defined as the act of condemning or calling for the condemnation of another person when the critic is guilty of the act for which he demands that the accused be condemned. Oh Modern World, how you make me laugh so.

See, it's shit like this that makes me not eat green food. I have sharp teeth for meat, that's how mother nature designed me.

I didn't watch it, but apparently last night's speech was the worse of Dubya's tenure as President. Delusional, dementia, has he suffered multiple concussions perhaps?

I think it is official, John Edwards has earned my vote. This was a fantastic little bit, and summed everything up many of us have been saying.

Though apparently everyone and their mothers issued a statement after Dubya's speech last night. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing what those in power in Washington have to say, they're doing too little too late.

A great argument that I know many don't support but one that I do support. We cannot just wait it out till next year, this man is holding 160,000 of our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins, second cousins, former college roommates hostage.

If you cannot agree with this commentary then you are truly lost. They took a golden opportunity and flushed it to forward their own agenda.

YO JOE!

I swear to god that was the first thing in my head when I read this story about John Edwards' plan for an international organization to stop terrorism.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is proposing an international organization to fight terrorism through shared intelligence — cooperation that he says will combat the dangers facing the United States where President Bush has failed.

"We need a counterterrorism policy that will actually counter terrorism," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery at Pace University. "We've got to throw away the failed George Bush policies of the past, and move in a bold new direction."
...
"Today, terrorism is worse in Iraq, and it's worse around the world," Edwards said in excerpts provided by his campaign. "It means the results are in on George Bush's so-called global war on terror and it's not just a failure, it's a double-edged failure."

No word as of yet if Sgt Slaughter has accepted the position of Drill Instructor for the organization. Efforts to find Lady Jane we under way, but there is too many strip clubs to look at in the LA area. Some worry about Duke's ability to lead after his well publicized bathroom...let us say altercation...with Shipwreck at the dockside bar The Blue Oyster. Jet Li's agent could not confirm not deny if the actor would allow Snake Eyes out from his coaching contract to support the new organization.

Faith always contains an element of risk, of venture

I know I've talked about this in the past, mainly about how much respect I have for Elizabeth Edwards, but John Edwards right now is without a doubt running the best campaign out of any candidates. Maybe I am being suckered, but he is talking about the issues that I think are most important to this country. It isn't Iraq, it's the wealth divide and the lack of insurance. It's the fact that two years ago today a great portion of the Gulf was destroyed and to this day most of it still has yet to recover from it.

He doesn't believe in gay marriage, but I don't believe he would stop legislation allowing it. He's young (well younger then the rest save for Obama) and has vision of great things for this country and that is what we need right now. We don't need who is most popular, we need who is most competent for the job. We've gone the popularity route the last two elections, beer or no beer that did not work out too well.

I have all the respect in the world for Barack Obama and I do believe one day he very well may be President of the united states, but this is not his election to be the primary candidate. To truly defeat the Republican Menace we need someone like John Edwards. Hate to say it, but what we need is this Southern white male to draw in the votes from Republicans who have lost faith in their party.

I don't believe people like Romney or Rudy can win in the south, they're too Northern. Yeah, some may get fooled by Fred Thompson, but I doubt he'll get the ticket. John Edwards may not be my favorite candidate but he is the person I feel has the best shot of winning this race. Poverty covers all races, not just minorities. Katrina hurt all races, including the majority.

Right now I am not too concerned about who the ideal candidate to push for the legislation I want accomplished. Right now I want a candidate who can win against the Right Wing Smear Machine. We need to take this country away from those who would change it, who would alter it into a police theocracy. This country was built on the premise that ALL men should be free, even if all men weren't free at the time. It does not matter race, religion, sex, or sexuality, all should be treated as equals. All should have say in their own lives and not me lorded over a group of aristocrats who believe their power is divine. We overthrew that kind of superiority once before and we most do so again before it is too late, when our enemy has been Eastasia and has always been Eastasia.