mocking "hope"

Posters mocking Obama are popping up all over LA. I have yet to see one -but check it out here. This turn of events is being covered in the LA Times. The sickening "hope" posters made a Warholian product of both Obama and the concept of hope (Dish detergent? Bath soap? Diet pills? ). Who ever is doing these counter posters - I commend them.

(Even though they continue the bullshit that BHO is a "socialist". This is absurd on its face....and torso...and limbs...and digits...and groin...and...and...and...It is a very big lie to say Obama is a socialist. Any real socialists ought to take offense. A real socialist would NEVER hire Volker, Summers, and nominate Ms. Pro Business herself, Sotomayor, to name a few...I suspect the reason for this lie is that just screaming 'liberal' has lost its ability to inflame and confuse. )

Of course, we all have every right to mock the President. But what really needs mocking is that revolting "hope" poster.

green shoots, red ink and last gasps.

Kunstler posted his weekly piece last night. I almost always enjoy his weekly tablespoon on cod liver oil. This week he starts with: I'd like to know what Barack Obama thinks he's doing with the fiasco we call the US economy...

...Gulp. Followed by a big "Me too!"...

The silver medal in the Addled Brained Olympics goes to the Shallow Economists Cabal that litter the airwaves and the web. (The gold medal remaining firmly in the clutches of the Obama Kool Aid Team.)
All the blather about green shoots in the economy is already tiresome and should not be trusted. The "green shooters" come from the same frothy school that insisted housing prices would go up forever and who forgot to mention - or did not see - that we were already in a recession starting in December of 07. The majority of the economic chattering class kept insisting that we were not in a recession through most of 2008 - until the market went cliff diving last Fall. This was perfect timing for Barack Obama - and those of us who think major historical events don't always "just happen". My tinfoil hat is still beeping after last October's serendipitous collapse

Kunslter still holds out "hope" that BHO might grapple sincerely with the economic mess, though not much. I have no "hope" for the man at all. (A.D.D. interjection: Every time "hope" was used last year "control" was the intended meaning.)

How much clearer can it be? At what Disney dollar threshold will it finally be apparent to the Hope/Change holdouts that Obama is the problem. Or at least that he is working happily for those who caused it. 100 trillion in bailouts? The construction of a Tienanmen square replica next to St Louis's Gateway Arch? Putting New Mexico and Arizona up for sale on Ebay?

Current poll numbers aside, Barack Obama is on track to be the biggest disappointment since Jesus stiffed William Smith and neglected to end the world in 1844.

Is FEMA setting up trauma centers for the Obots? They'll need 'em.

Lunch Break - Big Gay Heart and Make Them Accountable Headlines,

Music: Big Gay Heart. The best gay country pop song - evah!

Watch more Come on Feel the Lemonheads videos on AOL Video

Politics and Media Headlines 4/22/09

MakeThemAccountable (thanks to diy.despair.com)

A Lexicon of Disappointment (by Naomi Klein, The Nation)
All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack. Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save the world if we all just hope really hard.

This is a good thing. If the superfan culture that brought Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and start demanding. The first stage, however, is to understand fully the awkward in-between space in which many US progressive movements find themselves. To do that, we need a new language, one specific to the Obama moment. Here is a start.
Click through for the definitions of Hopeover, Hoper coaster, Hopesick, Hope fiend, Hopebreak, Hopelash, and Hoperoots. "Sample sentence: 'It''s time to stop waiting for hope to be handed down, and start pushing it up, from the hoperoots.'' Need I say that The Nation was one of the hopium pushers during last year's primary? But at least they didn't trash Hillary the way some others did.-Caro

Wednesday: Foxhole Liberals (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I suspect that there are a lot more people out there who in the next couple of years are going to discover their inner liberal. After all, it's one thing to rail about deadbeats on unemployment when times are good. It's quite another thing to be ON the unemployment line, realizing you haven't done anything wrong but that the wealthy shareholders of your company preferred a juicier dividend to your wage slavery...That social safety net doesn't look so bad now that we're all sitting in the same foxhole, does it?... And really, are the proscriptions against gay marriage that important when we're all struggling to keep our heads above water?

Keep it in mind as you watch the tea party phenomenon develop. There is an opportunity out there to turn this country on its head for the persons who seize it. And it won't be long before Americans all over the country demand more of their government to do something. Liberalism may become the next new religion for Republicans too.
Right wingers are fond of saying that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged-presumably by a dark-skinned person on welfare. But can we now say that a liberal may be a conservative who was mugged-by Republican policies?

The opportunity that Riverdaughter points to is being squandered, however. The party poobahs still don't understand that you can't create and sustain a long-term movement based on a person or by strategizing to win just the next election. The right wing is successfully diverting the resentment shown in last week's tea parties from the people responsible for our current predicament and to each other. Democrats, so-called progressives, and so-called liberals are looking down their noses instead of trying to educate, trying to help people understand what damage the Republicans have done.- Caro

Report Gives New Detail on Approval of Brutal Techniques (New York Times)
A newly declassified Congressional report released Tuesday outlined the most detailed evidence yet that the military's use of harsh interrogation methods on terrorism suspects was approved at high levels of the Bush administration...The Senate report documented how some of the techniques used by the military at prisons in Afghanistan and at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as in Iraq - stripping detainees, placing them in "stress positions" or depriving them of sleep - originated in a military program known as Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape, or SERE, intended to train American troops to resist abusive enemy interrogations.

According to the Senate investigation, a military behavioral scientist and a colleague who had witnessed SERE training proposed its use at Guantánamo in October 2002, as pressure was rising 'to get 'tougher' with detainee interrogations." Officers there sought authorization, and Mr. Rumsfeld approved 15 interrogation techniques.. "The paper trail on abuse leads to top civilian leaders, and our report connects the dots," Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said on Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. "This report, in great detail, shows a paper trail going from that authorization" by Mr. Rumsfeld "to Guantanamo to Afghanistan and to Iraq," Mr. Levin said.

The Daily Show-We Don't Torture (video)

President Obama Discusses Possible Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
"For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it's appropriate for them to be prosecuted," President Obama said (Tuesday). "With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that. I think that there are a host of very complicated issues involved there." The White House also suggested, for the first time, that any public investigation of interrogation policy should be like the 9/11 Commission.
The 9/11 Commission. Great. It settled ALL the questions about 9/11.-Caro
Click here for more politics and media news headlines.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.

I'll give the man credit for "change", though I believe it is hopeless. People did not vote for "change" and "hope" they voted for "something moderately different" and "a new face". Which is what they did in 1976 and 1992. One worked , one did not. Obama is misreading this at his political peril.

Obama's poll numbers are interesting but his list of newly minted enemy's in more telling. No comment on the "enemy's" themselves except to say I wouldn't mess with some of them so early in a first term.

After "hitting the ground running" with last year's work - we now have a better idea of this change thing from the big O. He will, as the economy contracts, save Social Security and Medicare, reboot education, lessen farm subsidies, ensure that everyone gets health insurance, change our relationship to Russia, and the Middle East, change the culture of D.C., fix the auto industry, rewrite the tax code, stop global warming, save the banking system, fix the housing mess, close Gitmo, strengthen the dollar, ensure racial harmony, and cause money to rain from the skies while handing out DVDs to foreign dignitaries.

If he can do all this I will stand, sit, and squat corrected.

While overreaching has its benefits in times like these, doing one thing at a time and doing it well is usually a better idea in the long run. Of course, Presidents can't pick and choose everything that comes their way, but they can choose their priorities. Banking is a must do. Health care is a should do. Much of the rest of the domestic policy initiatives will simply pull focus. In the case of "cap and trade" the damage to Obama will be harsh. It has the potential to be his "gays in the military" issue: damaging his standing, giving his enemies a broad brush to paint with, and will almost certainly fail anyway. Even a compromise here paints him into a "radical" corner. The group he loses most with on this issue? Clinton Democrats - not the GOP.

If everything is a priority, by definition, nothing is a priority.

GOP now even with Dems in polling.

Wow. That was quick. Obama, who has no core or set of principles, was always going to set the Left back sharply. Though, he is by no means a liberal, before this train wreck of a President is through, he and Axelrod will have destroyed liberalism for at least 30 years. Like Carter, when Obama is "one and done" I expect "Democrat" to be a dirty word, synonymous with "idiot", "weakling" or short hand for: "Let's go down to the old quarry on Saturday night, throw a few back, and dress up test crash dummies as Arriana Huffington, Andrew Sullivan, Chis Mathews and Keith Olbermann, stuff them with Alpo and dance as a packs of hungry dogs rip them to shreds."

Man oh man, Obama has set the record for shortest honeymoon ever. The GOP has resurrected after - not years, not months - weeks, thanks to Obama's lazy ass performance on the stimulus.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that Democrats are currently ahead of Republicans by only 40 percent to 39 percent.

Wow. It is February 12th. Less than one month since Baby Jesus's Inaugural.

How did these numbers come to pass so quickly?

1. Obama has no vision of his own.
2. Obama has no core principles.
3. Obama's lazy and stupid decision to hand the stimulus bill over to Nancy Pelosi.

Obama classic - with update

Nothing has changed.

Not long ago many of us - including me - were committed to watching Countdown. It was the only "news" show that seemed willing to take on Bush and the deceits surrounding Iraq. For years CNN and Fox had repeated the standard Admin. pablum. Then a few books started trickling out indicating that the Iraq war was based in lies. Lies that W and Cheney knew about and perpetuated. Before Katrina, (B.K.) Countdown was usually the only American outlet that routinely counterpointed the Bush narrative.

I remember being happy and somewhat stunned when Olbermann called out W as a liar. He railed against the suspension of Habeus Corpus. Torture and the debasing of American values were rightfully grave concerns on the Left.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the Obama coronation. The Left got drunk and opted to leave their principles by the side of the road. Olbermann became a rabid high priest of the Obamanation. Though infuriating, at least they could argue that Obama seemed like an agent of change - provided they did not dig too deep. On the surface they had a case.

They made excuses about FISA - which had been - only a months before - a central issue to the Left. They dressed up Obama's reversal on public financing as an exercise in "democracy." So stunningly cocky it tased every thinking person into silence.

Then Obama won. Since he's shoved the Left aside on nearly every issue. The economic team is D.L.C. Wall Street holdovers. The foreign policy team is loaded with hawks. Iraq will "take time". Not exactly what Obama ran on. And of course, gay people need to "get over it."

With Obama's duplicitous, self serving statement on Sunday about Gitmo, (If you have not yet, please read Greenwald's piece at Salon.) the hypocrisy on the Left must now be near a breaking point. Between now and the 20th they will ignore this latest body blow. Their egos and the media propaganda machine will not allow anything else. But eventually many will come to and realize the emperor may be naked, but he's been handed the keys to the kingdom, the army, and the airwaves.

oops.

Obama will continue the suspension of Habeous Corpus. (I doubt Olbermann is ready to admit his recent idiocy and foam at the camera again.) Obama is moving toward allowing "evidence" obtained under torture to be used.

This type of stance reversal is quickly becoming "Obama Classic". That is: any issue in which a principled stance demands to be taken eventually gets lathered over by a direct appeal from the "mystical Obama persona" - in hopes that his minions will ratchet up their willing suspension of disbelief another notch. So far it has worked. This is a product of having opposition to the prize. There is no more opposition. I suspect that Obama's dullard personality will wear thin soon. His charms are nominal unless he has a warm up band and 50,000 nitwits in attendance. The delusional left can't hold out forever. They'll try, but will be unable. I expect a wag the dog event within 6 months to keep the Obama party going.

The other "Obama Classic" technique is simpler: chuck people overboard. Even by recent Nixon-Bush standards the Obama body count is breathtaking and he's not in office yet. Wright, Rezko, Blag, Richardson, Dean, Palmer, Edwards, Jesse Jackson Jr., Gays, his grandmother, Jim Johnson, Pflegher, Ayres, his church, Muslim women...

Think whatever you like about Gitmo. My beef here is the hypocrisy on the Left. My belief remains that the "left" willing participated in its own destruction by refusing to question Obama in 2008. Here's my guess: 2 years of "reaching across the aisle" followed by big GOP gains in 2010.

Finally: Yes, Virginia, I do believe in conspiracies. Some at any rate. Every day in every way it appears more and more like the entire Obama phenomenon was planned, executed and forced upon us. From the media adoration, to the caucus packing, to the date setting for the nomination, to...well...add your own...but somehow no one knew a thing about the recession until Hillary was disposed of...then in October the economic Hades boiled over...draw your own conclusions.

Obama is an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill. It is indeed change we can believe in if we choose to. We just have to ignore reality in the process.

Update: Indyyogini posted a comment that referred to ABC stating that BHO will sign a order that Gitmo is to be closed. Of course, we'll see. I suspect that the "order" is the point - and actually closing Gitmo will never quite occur.

It also confirms another suspicion I have: Obama knows this is a lethal topic and is attempting to shorten the news cycle on it. He knows he was treading on thin ice yesterday This is the kind of issue that goes to the core of his base's delusions. Obama must now backtrack on yesterday's backtrack and move on to another topic.

If Gitmo IS closed in short order I'll post a complimentary retraction of this post. Until then PEBO has earned our suspicion.

A reading from the Obama Scriptures: The Demon Story.

In those days in the land of the Machine
That is the Lord's home
it came to pass that a demon was loose.
And the demon was muchly on the talking rock.
For he was a merchant.

The Lord had left his seat in the land of Reid
And the seat was cold - nary warmethed by the Lord
For the Lord made no impression in the Seat.

As it was foretold by the oracle Soros:
Lord Obama now planned his journey down the road of Pennsylvania
To claim his rightful throne in the House of Whiteness.

So his former seat was empty.
And the demon set a price on the Lord's seat.

The Lord knowed the Demon Blag. (But there was no evidence that he KNEW the Blag.)
The Demon Blag now madeth the Lord to looketh bad.
And it is written that no one must maketh the Lord to looketh bad.

For in the valley of corruption whereth the Lord made his home
HE was the one and only true light.

The Lord maketh the broken whole.
And the whole Holy.
The lame to be less lame.
And the children to dance many jigs.
And the Lord also maketh the car payments of those that love him.
And all who love the Lord receive treats.
Such as mugs, such as.

The Lord came to the mountain of the Press and said:
"We are waiting for the ones
we've been waiting
for while we wait
for us to arrive."

And the masses marveled at the Lord's wisdom.

Then the Lord said "If you knock I will answer,
and if I do not answer come into my foyer
which I purchased while boneheaded."

So the Demon knocked.
For he knew the Lord would answer.
But there was a tapping on the wire of the talking rock.
It was foretold by the oracle Fitzgerald
that a tapping would come
to the Demon's talking rock.

And the Lord Obama was not to answer.
But others did.
And the Lord was madeth to look bad.
Now the wire became like cuffs.
For the Fitzgerald could turn taps into cuffs.

And the Lord's others
who answered the Blag
came into the land of deep doo doo.

(Forsooth. Anon.)

It was now left to the talking heads on the talking box
for to maketh the Lord not to looketh bad.
And they spinned and spunned.
Reminding the world of the great gift the Lord had brungeth by his presence.
They knew the ways of the masses.
So the talkers repeated the Lord's greatness many times.

Herein we enter the mystery of faith:

The Lord has risen (very quickly)
The Lord is in politics but is not OF politics.
The Lord arrived with the sullied, the corrupt, the mean, the bribe takers, and the Machine.
But the Lord is not like them.
The Lord is pure.
And so it is.

And the Lord taught his prayer:

Our Lord, who are from Chicago.
Hallowed be his names.
His machine doth come.
His will be done
In America as it is in Chicago.
Forgive us our doubts
As we forgive those PUMAs who doubt HIM.
Give us today our commemorative plates.
As we give commemorative plates to others.
For Obama is the kingdom
And the power
and the glory
forever and ever
Amen.

And then so the Lord went out back for to smoketh.


While the Lord smokethed he thought.
And a smile came across the Lord's face.
For the Demon Blag was now undereth the bus.

And all was well.

Review session

Given the arrest of Governor Blagojevich it is time to review. During the course of the media reach around of Obama all year they neglected to inform the rest of America about how Illinois politics works - and how Barack and Michelle Obama may have involved themselves with those machinations.
Evelyn Pringle's article The Wizard of Oz is the primer. Here is another of her articles called Curtain Time for Barack Obama. Both are months old - and becoming more and more prescient by the hour. Neither Hilary Clinton or John McCain used the most damning information available to them about Obama. This I will never understand.

Also very good for reviewing the situation is Cannonfire - which I am riffing on here. He has Jesse Jackson Jr. as a possible co-conspirator. And connects the dots to Hunter Biden, the Vice-President elect's son. Cesspool comes to mind.

With that, a note about race. This blog and many others discussed early on just why Obama was bad for race relations in America. I pushed two reasons: 1. Obama, with the compliant media, weaponized race. If you criticized Obama you became a racist. I resented this deeply and still do. Much more importantly, it debased all real victims of racism. 2 . He was not who he said he was - which is now becoming clear. Obama was elevated far beyond what was justified given his resume and experience. This is precisely what white resentment feeds on. A national revulsion against Obama would give the worst racists among us cause to erupt. The fault for this lands squarely on the media for willfully ignoring the level of corruption Obama involved himself with. The ache for Obama to save us is still strong. But Obama's electoral enemies have been vanquished - he needed them to shine. The shine is fading fast. The damage done by Fitzgerald is to some of Obama's closest associates not him - so far. We will see if the levee has been breached. IT HAS NOT BEEN YET. I AM SPECULATING. Stand down, Pods.

My impression of Fitzgerald is that he goes as far as he can go while still winning. Hence Dick Cheney is still V.P. (Hard to believe...I'd almost forgotten the guy.) and Libby needed a pardon. The Chicago machine is good at protecting its arena. The world Cheney moves in is of a different order. Whether or not Obama has constructed a sufficient firewall should he need one remains to be seen. He may not need one.
However:
If BHO is in trouble Blagojevich has little reason to protect him now.
"...the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this "motherf***er [the president-elect] his senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him."

"The governor is heard saying he will pick another candidate "before I just give f***ing [Senate Candidate l] a f***ing Senate seat and I don't get anything."

This would appear to exonerate Obama in the short term. But Blagojevich and Obama did not meet a week ago. The relationship is long and deep. What Blagojovich has to bargain with now is information. That's it. And he does not sound like an adoring Obama Pod in the quote above.

Either this affair is going on the Whitewater track, that is sound and fury amounting to nothing until a man is entrapped into lying about a blow job - or the Watergate track...replete with a cavalcade of grifters and a lot of "plausible deniability." After one day it looks much more like a state level Watergate...but tackier. From here Illinois politics looks like a hybrid of Scarface, a used car salesmen convention in Reno, and a 30 year reunion of the Saved By the Bell cast.

The good people of Illinois need to stop paying taxes.

Obama is so good with a speech and a teleprompter - but like Bush anything outside a tightly controlled environment and he looks edgy. Yesterday his discomfort was very apparent.

The Left has sprung a leak

The History Channel is on another Hitler bender so last night I rummaged around the DVR. I was rewarded for earlier compulsive recording with a show called "Engineering Disasters". One of the disasters featured was the St. Francis Dam break in 1928. The St. Francis Dam was a dam in northern LA County that was one of the final stops for water from central California. The entire system was created by William Mullholland, (who morphed into Mulwray in the film version - the brilliant Chinatown.) and it, in turn, created Los Angeles. The day before the dam broke killing over 400, Mr. Mullholland visited the dam which was clearly leaking badly. He said there was no problem and went home.
Go with me for a minute:
Today it occurred to me that one could argue that Obama's appointments so far are to the RIGHT of Bill Clinton's in 1992. The evil centrist that the Kos Kidz bashed mercilessly all year actually appointed Robert Reich - a bonefide liberal as part of his economic team. And it is easy to argue that Warren Christopher, Henry Cisnaros and Donna Shalala were to the Left of anyone Obama has picked thus far. In simplest terms: Obama has ignored the Left wing of his own party. Clinton did not. The vaunted "team of rivals" is actually just a list of Center-Right Washington and Wall Street insiders.

So far.

About that dam leak - it did not seem like much to the builder when he viewed it - then, within hours the dam broke. The Latte Liberal Obama Dam will leak but hold until about 3 weeks after he's sworn in. That's my bet.

I remember how roundly the Left trashed Bill Clinton early on. I supported Tom Harkin and Jerry Brown - both liberals - before coming to admire Clinton. The vocal Left was miserable about Clinton's nomination in 1992. So here, in 2008, we have a leaky dam of sorts holding back the cognitive dissonance of the committed Obamaton Latte Liberals. But the leaks are visible.
Criticisms of Obama's foreign policy team are if anything outstripped by indignation over his economic team.

His foreign policy team is populated by hawks and the economic team is Wall Street bred. This is not change. Many here and elsewhere have said for months that Obama will be Bush's real third term. This looks truer than ever. Obama's team will be more competent. Not hard. But the ideological differences are small. Certainly not what the most committed Pods expected. Forget about W's first term for an moment and the differences barely register with the second term. More war. More spending. A large "investment" package would be coming January 21st if McCain, W, or Mickey Mouse was President. Guantanamo would have been closed under McCain as well. (Those drunk on MSNBC continue to believe Obama will be magically ending the wars - denial on a grand scale. )

With the possible exception of Bill Richardson and Samantha Power, John McCain could have easily picked most of the same folks Obama has chosen. Even McCain picking his friend, Hillary Clinton, for something is not a big stretch of imagination. She garners grudging respect on the Right now.

Don't get me wrong, I like many of Obama's picks. General Shinseki at the V.A. is almost inspiring. And I've followed the Clintons long enough to know that Hillary will survive and thrive either by staying and serving ably at the State Department - or leaving if she needs to. Richardson goes from being useless to harmless and back in all his jobs - but he won't do any damage. Samantha Power won't win a battle with Hillary if one comes.

Obama's picks are not inspiring in the least. They are boilerplate. As for policy - expect change. It IS coming. But it won't be big change and is more the result of this historical moment than Obama. He will yank some policies back to the center - as well he should.

The only person the Obama Delusionists can pin their hopes on now - as it has always been - is Obama himself. The personality cult will plug the dam for a while. But a POTUS can only pretend to be the agent of change while administering the Washington status quo for so long.

Even the Latte Liberals are not that stupid.

A gutter lack of integrity

A reader sent my this tidbit from Down Under: Bill Clinton likes Palin's instincts. The President was referring to her political instincts noting that she was an effective politician and should not be underestimated. He spoke about the sitting, elected, Governor of Alaska with respect - which is ,not doubt, why he is so hated by PODS. Being adult is so difficult for them.

An odd dynamic is at play in my attitude toward Palin. The more I find out about her politics, the less I like her politics. The more I find out about her, the more I like her. I've said this a few times this week and one would have thought I said "I enjoy eating the livers of orphans." It seems unremarkable to me that one can appreciate or like someone that one does not agree with. But on the Obama Left this yet another impossible thought problem to solve. On most social issues I agree with Harry Reid - in action I find him to be a cowardly hack - and this leads me to dislike him. Both Pelosi and Reid were elevated in 2006 with a mandate to confront Bush and deal with the war. Both flinched. After running for Governor on a platform that included a repeal of same sex benefits - Palin, once elected, was told a ban was unconstitutional - whether she liked it or not. She governed from the middle and vetoed the bill. In other words, her overarching conservatism trumped whatever her personal belief may have been. That trait is admirable in an executive. For the record: It mirrors what Howard Dean did in Vermont with civil unions. The courts told him a ban would violate the law - and he went with legalizing civil unions.

I know it seems arcane at Brentwood cocktail parties and college drum circles to judge a person by their ACTIONS - not by their website - but I will persist in this little piece of nostalgia. I won't "hate" Palin until I see reason to "hate" her. As I've said, and now Clinton has said, Palin running for VP is a fascinating turn of events and she is a force to be reckoned with.

Obama is not trustworthy. The evidence is in and is overwhelming. What Obama says and what Obama does are at odds on nearly every major issue. From Iraq, to Nafta, to Public Financing, to FISA he has demonstrated an utter lack of integrity.

Maybe I should say a gutter lack of integrity.

Lunch Break - Bill kneecaps Barry

Georgia and oil and realpolitics and Obama

Work is slow and tonight I'll be at Dodger Stadium - whoo hoo! - So my night post is going up early.

Important pre- post note: There is a report the U.S. is now sending more weapons to the Georgians.
However, I am not sure this is a reliable news source.


The invasion of Georgia by Russia is a big deal. This blogger does not have the time or expertise to go deeply into the whys and wherefores. For some good insights go here- From what I can gleam: Russia has our ass in a sling. The entire Neo-Con project of the last 15 years is on the block. The Russian invasion is another in the string of oil wars that have broken out since 1990. The Caspian region, not under the control of the Russians since the Soviet Union collapsed, is oil rich. With U.S. controlled Afghanistan at it's back end, we have been building an oil pipeline from this region to the West. The pipe line goes directly through Georgia. This has been a burr in Russia's saddle for a while. Russia has passed peak in oil production - but it still has the 2nd (or 1st- if the Saudis are lying) largest oil reserves in the world. They want to control the oil that goes to the West from this area. This is why the Germans and Brits have rolled over and played dead. If Russia turns off the spigot - the lights go out in Western Europe.

Much money and effort has been put into this pipeline. Western money and effort. With one stroke Russia can - and probably is - destroying it. Russia intends to be a player with its former republics oil wealth. For 15 years they could do nothing as Western interests overran the region. They were too weak.

No more.

The tide has shifted. Caspian sea "heavy crude" oil is an essential part of the plan to keep Western Europe living in the manner in which they are accustomed. It is the final rationale for the Anglo/American military being in Afghanistan. It is one of the reasons why we have "enduring" bases in Iraq. It is why McCain's 100 year war remark is more reality connected than Barry Obama's lies about leaving in 16 months.

If we exit Iraq, we cede the region, if we cede the region, we cede our status as a Superpower. We CANNOT DO THIS and live the way we live. I am not against giving up on Middle East and Caspian Oil. We will in the long run, regardless. But I hold no illusions about the social dislocation, agony, confusion, famine and violent collapse that would follow if we had to suddenly live solely on our own oil.

There is something fundamentally stupid about the Obama Left. Holding an advanced degree does not overcome this stupidity. Many think wind and solar power can get 747s off the ground and keep Iowans warm and get capers to the Whole Foods Market. Further, they think there will be a painless transition that would take about 6 months if Obama wins. If only the evil Oil companies would stop profiteering and we would just inflate our tires.

I repeat: truly anti-war progressives have an alternative: Cut your energy usage by 50-70% RIGHT NOW. If you mean business about stopping energy wars you won't "conserve energy" (this is not even really possible) YOU WILL USE A LOT LESS. All the time.

A bumper sticker that says "War Is Not The Answer" and a Warhol portrait of Obama are painfully stupid and hilariously ironic delusional gestures.

If you want to keep your over sized Brentwood home cool in summer time, go on your trip to Aspen to ski and attend conferences during which you get to intellectually masturbate with your allegedly smart "citizen of the world" friends, enjoy your arugula on demand, and keep the anti depressant stream flowing- WAR IS THE ANSWER.

Oh - and yes, Obama is pretty much a soup can. So the Warhol portrait works....

This mentality is expressed perfectly in a TV commercial for "WE", some new energy group, in which a bunch of good Americans push a giant light switch from off to on - cuz, you know, getting off oil is going to be just like flipping a switch except instead of taking half a second you and your pals from the yoga studio might have to set aside a whole afternoon.

There are no alternatives to oil. None. Not one. Wind, nuclear, solar, and the rest are NOT alternatives to oil. They are "other" energy sources. Not "alternative". Oil, especially, light/sweet cannot be replaced. It is a nearly perfect form of energy and we've burned through most of it.

If would be lovely if American society over the past 70 years had structured itself in a sustainable way. But it did not. We will get across the divide between an oil society and whatever comes next. But in the 30 years between now and then we find ourselves in a real fix.

This goes to my ongoing rant that Clinton and McCain are both better equipped to lead the country than that manchild from Illinois and Kenya and Hawaii and Indonesia and and and... When Russia invaded Barry failed the 3AM test big time with his duct taped together blather about cease fire and the U.N. On the other hand, McCain immediately spoke in away that indicated he understood the big picture. As the oil noose tightens we need an adult in charge.

What can Bush do? Not much. But if you think he and daddy and Henry Kissinger are in Beijing for the synchronized swimming competition - you are nuts. China has its own oil war in Sudan - and they probably can't stomach Russia controlling the Caspian Sea oil anymore than we can. The U.S. may have some cards up its sleeve. China would be a part of any counter move.

Regardless, a lying, ego driven, no accomplishment half term Senator has no business taking the reigns in 6 months.

Watch the situation in Georgia closely. I'd keep tabs on Iranian developments as well.

Peak Oilers are again proving to be ahead of the curve. Read up on Peak Oil.


Go Dodgers!

Lunch Break! Democrats on McCain.

1st - featured anti-Obama blog of the day: Democrats Against Obama.

Thanks to L.R. regular Scott for this youtube.
Money Quote:
Hillary: John McCain has a lifetime of experience...Senator Obama has a speech he made in 2002.
With BHO's ascendancy the destruction of any remaining meritocracy in America is now complete. Screw merit and experience! WE want a SHOW! We want someone who will make us feel good!

The destruction of the Democratic Party is complete.

I am always pleased to find some sanity on the Left these days. We've said around here for a long time that Obama's campaign is run on treacle and tripe - with a healthy dose of nasty just under the surface. Eamon Martin hammers at the Obama nonsense from the Left flank.
I could not - as this blog proves - (HA!) have said it better:
I'm not drinking the Kool Aid. But for my own dignity and for the millions or people whose hearts will be broken when the "change they can believe in" never appears beyond the color of Obama's flesh, let it be said that "hope" as a political commodity reached it's apotheosis of co-optation... and what really transpired was the most audacious exploitation of despair.

The Obama phenomenon is the result of a country in despair. He is not bringing hope - he has capitalized on a deep fear and anger at the loss of an idea we had about what this country was supposed to be.

If Obama had a track record and ANY proven leadership skills beyond gaming the system, I might be able to get on board. He does not.

If Obama had not said almost the exact opposite of what his campaign has lead people to believe he believes - I might be able to get on board.

If Obama had not railed against lobbyists while taking boat loads of cash from the exact same GOP bundlers as Bush- I might get on board.

But he has done nothing that speaks to any kind of internal integrity. The writer of the article linked uses the word "fibs" - but why stand on ceremony - he's a liar. The most grievous lies being FISA and the Iraq nonsense he spews. Read what Obama has actually said about Iraq in the last 6 months then ask a POD what Obama plans to do about the war. THERE IS NO CONNECTION - to reality or anything else.

Martin says in the end he will vote for Obama because he fears McCain more. I cannot agree. I see no reason to believe McCain is worse. The reverse is true: I see evidence that McCain is the better choice.

He actually exists for starters.

A year later I have no idea who Obama is or what he truly cares about- beyond his own self promotion. One day he seems to be the product of his Communist mentors in ACORN and the next he's grabbing GOP talking points and begging Wall Street for cash. One day he just can't dump Wright and I am told "I just don't understand black churches" then....suddenly...Wright gets the boot. I guess I understand black churches now...or not...who the hell knows? In February he's going to take the brave progressive stance and filibuster FISA. In June he votes for FISA. He believes in public financing...until it won't work for him. He votes for a Cheney lead energy bill - then condemns it - and by proxy himself for voting for it.

Who the hell is this guy?

Imagine these kind of back flips occurring in the realm of a marriage. We all know these marriages. I love my husband...but he's a scoundrel...but I love him...but he cheats...but I love him....Same principle. The difference is, of course, flibbertigibbet friends are not usually in charge of the Executive Branch. Given what I know about McCain he gets a C minus in my book.
Given what we know about Obama - and what his willy nilly, gooey, flip flops demonstrate every day now - he gets an F.
No. I don't think Obama is, at least, better than McCain. He's not.

"Hope" is a canard, a sedative, a bromide for the beaten down and the foolish. Our great leaders of the past never gave us "hope" alone. They gave us faith -in ourselves and in our country. Obama inspires no faith.

JFK: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
BHO: If everyone would just inflate their tires we would not need to drill.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the four horsemen of the Democratic party's apocalypse: Barry, Nancy, Howard, and Donna. Give them a hand! Enjoy the buffet! They'll be here all week!

The destruction of the Democratic Party is complete.

A reading from the Obama Scriptures - wandering the money desert.

A reading from the Lost Gospel of Donna the Brazilian Chapter 66, Verse 6 -

Backstory:

This gospel which was rediscovered by a biker in a drug treatment center just south of Atlanta. It was wrapped tightly in a bong, that had been squirreled away beneath a sink in the basement. Sadly the Biker smoked most of this Gospel before long time counselor "Tiny" Gonzalez could taze and sit on him. The gospel, when smoked, is reported to have caused such incredible euphoria for the biker that he has never returned to sanity, and now sits bolt upright in his room all day - completly covered by a blanket he crocheted during an America's Next Top Model marathon. When anyone approaches he says in a spooky little person voice: "Do not go into the light Carol Anne." or, in the same spooky voice, "I'm not gay if I'm on top. booooooooo" and occasionally: "Mommy please don't make me play naked air hockey with your boyfriend again tonight."

Here is all that remains of the lost Obama gospel written by Donna the Brazillian:

In came to pass in those days that the Lord Obama's money lenders had accomplished their goal.

For they had given-eth all their cash-eth for to defeat-eth the "qualified one" named Hillary.

And now they no longer cared.

And The Lord Obama's Cash Cow was sent out to be slaughtered.

And the Lord went into the Lobby where the the People of the Money lingered and said:

Why? Why have you forsaken me, money people? It is my hour of need for I have just bought a new plane for myself. To bring-eth the message of Hopey changey to all the 57 states."


The People of the Money in the Lobby said to the Lord Obama:


Wow. Dude. You think we really cared about that hopey change schtick? That was crap for the potheads in Berkeley, stupid college kids, and the rich white liberal morons in Marin County. You did not think we actually LIKED you, did you? Come on. Take a look at yourself. You're pathetic. You're not even junior law partner material yet. And that shrew you married. Yikes! She makes the crazy cat lady on the Simpsons seem like Jackie Kennedy. Barry, dude, we just needed someone to defeat the Qualified One named Hillary. So thanks. Cheers!

And they raised their Scotches in salute. Which is a great honor from the Gaseous Money Men of the Lobby. And then went back to watching Tiger Woods on the Big Screen-eth at the Country Club-eth.

Then the money people laughed at the Lord, saying to him go ask David Geffen or Arianna Huffington for an advance on your allowance. The money people LOL-ed mightily at this. And then they hacked and coughed and turned away from the Lord.

But the Lord did not leave for he was confus-eth and said:

Money people, Money people, why have you forsaken me?

One Money Person said to the Lord Obama - Shush, freak.

For the money people were watching Tiger Woods Golf-eth and the Lord was being a Pest-eth.

Yet the Lord would not leave.

So one money person asked Barry for a light.

And another asked him if he would do one of those hopey changy speeches at his daughters sweet 16 party in the Hamptons, offering him 1,000 dollars cash and a car for to pick him up at the JFK. And possibly a free night at the La Quinta just over the line in Connecticut.

And another asked him to fix some drinks.

And Barry was upset. For Donna, the beast like Brazilian, had told him that he was actually beloved by the money people.

And the Lord went out back for a smoke-eth.

And while he smoked he decided to blame the "Qualified One" for his problems. Because she was a female. and White. and it was easy to blame her.

And the Lord decided to make-eth a speech about hope and change in a foreign land near a large gate.
And the Lord decided to have Rev. Jackson say something stupid to all the land to make the Lord Obama look less Black.
And the Lord decided to flip flop many times, for this will make them love me again, he thought.

And the Lord tooketh a deep drag on his Camel Wide.
And the lord was happy. So he went to Denny's for a late night waffle.

A reading from the Obama Scriptures

From the Book of Marx

Chapter 6
Verse 66

The birth of Obama, son of Obama.

From House of Marx the Lord did arriseth.

Marx beget Lenin
Lenin beget Stalin
Stalin beget Mao
Mao beget Che
Che beget Castro
Castro beget many in the land of America:
Dorhn, Ayres, and many of the Weather Undergroundeth
that did worship bombs.
And many others of the Imbecile Tribe who believed
the wearing of the Che tee-shirts did maketh them matter.
But the wearing of the tee shirts did maketh them sillier
than they already were-eth


And into the land of Daley many went for to worship in the Temple of the Combine.

The Combine did beget Axelrod, who knew Rezko.

And Rezko beget Blagojevich.
But Blagojevich was stillborn
So Rezko beget another.
And he was Lord Obama.

And down the road-eth did live Wright. For he liveth in the house his temple did buy for him.
And Wright beget Wrath.
And Wrath did overcome Wright.
And it was music to the Lord's ears.
For the Victims did jump up and give money.
And the Lord did see an opening.
For the Lord is wise.
Until the day the temple of Wright was of no use.
And it was stashed neatly under the bus.

These three things the Lord doth give us:

*Black Liberation Theology

*The discrete socialism of the Bourgeoisie

*Bald faced opportunism.

But the greatest of these is Opportunism.

And the Good News was proclaimed through out the land by the village idiot: Keith Olbermann.




The Word of the Lord.

Obama scripture lesson for June 9, 2008. The birth of the Hussein Creed.

From page 666 of A Short History of Obama

By Andrew Sullivan
Professor of Self Hatred Studies at the College of SouthEastern NorthWest Arlington Tech.


In the 1st month of the J.O. period (Just Obama) the emperor Axelrod gathered the Latte Tribe, the Arugula Tribe, The Champagne Socialists Tribe, the diaspora of Self Hating Gay Men for Obama, and various competing fag hag healers and leaders including Maria of the Shriver and Arianna of the Brentwood. They met in an upscale lounge in Chicago called "Sinclair's". Over a strenuous period of 4 minutes they pounded out a Universal Declaration of Beliefs for Obamites calling it The Hussein Creed - using Obama's given middle name because...well...the Apple Martinis had kicked in and it sort of rhymed with Nicene - so what the hell. Here is what it says:

The Hussein Creed

We believe in one Lord, Barry Obama,
the chosen Son of Daley,
eternally forgotten by his angry Father,
And hippie Mother.
Through Barry
all things were made.
For us and for our condescension.
He came down from Harvard,
was incarnate of the Spirit of Hyannis port and the Viper Michelle
and became truly human.
As was proven in the Pennsylvania Debate.

He will come in glory to demand the living and the dead,
get to the polls.
And trash who ever he feels is in his way,
while smiling and handing out cash and jobs.

And his kingdom will have no end.
Once we take over the military.

We believe in the Holy Media, the giver of lies,
who proceeds from the Lord,
We believe in one holy Democratic and Socialist Church.
Which we will only attend if the Pastor is
not videotaped.

We look for the Resurrection of the Dead
on voting rolls across swing states.

And demand tenure at mediocre universities
with full benefits and down time to
write for Mother Jones
and some tiny poetry journals
and get faded in our Jacuzzis
and complain about how unfair everything is.

Now and Forever
Amen.

Watch Obama Dance!

A reading from the Obama Scriptures for May 27, 2008.

A reading from the Obama Scriptures for May 27, 2008.

From The Book of Michelle
Chapter 66
Verse 6

The fish sticks of Change and the wonder loaves of Hope.

And so Obama went to the land of the Palmetto with Oprah the Baptist.

The large crowd gathered for to hear the free concert and eat the fish sticks of Change and the Wonder loaves of Hope.

Obama spoketh as they do in southern twangeth to help the gathered Southern speakers to understand.

The Lord sayeth:
"You can choose to love and obey me or choose to be called a racist across the land in divers places, such as MSNBC and the Whole Foods Produce Section! These are your choices! I am the Lord! Obey me or there will be no Latte!"

Then the Lord danceth badly for a moment in order that the People of the Cracker in the audience felt the Lord knew them, too. For Lord Obama loveth all his sheep.

Then the Lord left the stageth for a smoke.

This is the word of the Lord.

Amen.

The new "liberal" normal: Sexism is okay.

Keith Olbermann is a sick, morally depraved, imbecile. Friday he unleashed his bottomless pit of snot on Senator Clinton yet again. This time it was about Clinton's remarks regarding long campaigns and RFK. Not that it matters. If she had said "I shop at Safeway" K.O. would have unloaded - provided he'd gotten the cue from his Obama Overlords. Olbermann is a joke and hardly worth a remark - except to point out what has not merited a Special Comment from the Rancid One in the past 6 months:

Obama calling female reporters "sweetie"
Obama's 20 year stint in a church in which the pastor dry humps the pulpit.
David Schuter's "pimping out" Chelsea remark.
Chris "my legs are tingling" Matthews comment that Hillary Clinton is only a senator because her husband cheated. A remark both wildly sexist and utterly, indefensibly false.
An Obama aid calling the former First Lady a monster.
Obama's throwing the bird to a sitting U.S. Senator.

The list goes on. And on. Olbermann is a two bit errand boy. He doesn't care one bit about fairness. He, like Donna Brazzile on CNN, is a paid Obama shill. The FCC should strip MSNBC and CNN of their licenses.

The silence on the rampant sexism that has frothed forth from alleged liberals and the alleged media is both the single biggest intellectual crime of the decade (except maybe the censoring of anti-war voices in 2003)and an attack on civil society. From "Bros before Hoes" to the Hillary nutcracker, to the mocking of her welling up, to the glib manner in which male "reporters" have discussed her laugh, to...to...

Obama himself is very much at fault here and should be called out on it. As the sexism became louder and louder this year his campaign either encouraged it or did nothing to stop it. This is a failure of leadership from an alleged liberal. Conversely, every time anyone in Clinton's camp did anything that could be construed as racially insensitive Hillary Clinton put an end to it. (I do not include Ferarro here because what she said was not insensitive. It was a statement based in observable reality. Obama gets a lot of traction because he's black. As well he should. So what. Good for him. The idea of an African American President is appealing to fair minded people. However, BHO is not up to snuff -a Tom Cruise to Colin Powell's Cary Grant.)

What Obama, the DNC, and the compliant, brain dead media has done in trashing Clinton all year is reactionary. It is the opposite of progressive. 50% of the population has been degraded and insulted as a matter of course. As if it is normal. As if it is part and parcel of the Democratic Party's values. This year we HAD a chance in the Democratic Party to choose someone other than a white male and base that choice on merit. The DNC did not (though the people did ). The DNC has gamed the system to award the nomination to an unqualified minority candidate - thereby proving all the conservatives right. They gave Obama a hand out not a hand up.

Like her or not, support her or not, Hillary Clinton is qualified for the job of President. The "community organizer" from Chicago is not. (Now every time I see an Obamite defending his resume and using "community organizer" as a qualifier for President my eyes roll back in my head automatically. It's a Pavlovian response. I can't seem to help it. As far as I can tell - and I've looked - he organized some voter registration drives under the umbrella of a church. I help serve meals to the youth group at my church. Can I be President next?)

Clinton's qualifications never come up in the media. Why is this? I suspect that it would then force an airing of Obama's. His rump resume would then be seen for what it is: smoke, mirrors, and speeches. What does come up daily is her gender. Usually covertly. References to "tears" and "every man's first wife". This is terror on the part of "news" men. Pure terror. What Olbermann and the rest are reacting to is their own fear of castration. You see, it isn't that woman can't have some jobs once reserved for men - we have moved past that - it's that a woman can't have THAT job. If a woman gets THAT job then all the mediocre men who got promotions over more qualified women are on notice. The jig, as they say, will be up.

What Clinton represents by her presence is much more valuable to true progressives than what BHO represents. The reason is simple. She's more qualified than him. I could not write that sentence if Colin Powell was running against Clinton. Obama represents the worst failings of late 20th century liberalism: the invitation to view anyone who could show up and be a minority as "qualified." (Obama is the least qualified serious Presidential candidate in our history - yes, including Lincoln.) This is the opposite of what was intended by affirmative action which was an attempt to right the ship in the face of inbred anti-minority bias. It was not meant to elevate those with thin resumes to jobs that they would not have gotten otherwise.

There are thousands of reasons to vote for someone other than Obama in the fall. Electoral nullification is one. Juries do it. I won't vote for him for reasons that go to his character. But if women and men across the country vote for McCain to let the media elites know that what they've done will not stand - I will not be upset or surprised.

Do we control the body politic or does MSNBC?

Nullify Keith Olbermann.