Is This 1964 All Over Again?

Will America start investing in bomb shelters again? Will we all start accusing everyone of being a commie or socialist......oh wait.

In what was one of the most controversial campaign ads of all time, the "Daisy ad", the republican party has chosen to use it to scare Americans once more. The ad was used by Lyndon B. Johnson, a democrat in the 1964 presidential election.

I have truly found this type of campaigning insulting and irresponsible, and I am not just pointing fingers at republicans, they just happen to have the latest example of evoking fear to prove your point.

While it won't scare me, it will work on the minds of many Americans who are susceptible to the fear tactic. It's sad you have to push your point by scaring your people:

The original:

The new RNC ad:

After watching this I'm worried about our prisons. I'm worried the 200 plus domestic and international terrorists that are already there might escape. What about those serial killers? Did you forget about the sick child molesters?

EVERYBODY LOCK UP!!!!!!!

Here's one they came up with on their own:

Chicago's Mancow Gets Water-Boarded...Now Says It's Torture

I listened to Mancow Muller when I go to work (don't ask me why). When he first was on FM, he was just a loudmouth jackass who was trying to mirror Howard Stern. Since coming over to AM radio, he has let a lot of his conservative views come out. Listening to him in the past you knew he was a conservative, but not to the extent he rants now.

The torture debate as usual on talk radio has been the topic on Mancow's show of late. He, like most conservative have made the argument that water-boarding is not torture. Well that had a vote-in, and listeners got to vote to see who would get water-boarded, he or his sidekick.

Of course everyone overwhelmingly chose Mancow Muller:

If you want to here him you can at WLS 890 on the web in the morning. I warn you, it's like listening to Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern all in one.


UPDATE: 5/26 Mancow talks to Keith Olbermann about his experience and to thank him for donating 10,000 to the charity of his choice:

The Daily Show Looks at the Dueling Speeches "Obama vs. Cheney"

When it comes to political humor, there is no one better than Jon Stewart. He takes a look at the speeches by President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

In their dueling speeches on national security, Barack Obama opens with familiar rhetoric, while Dick Cheney does the one thing terrorists love most:

Lawrence O'Donnell Calls Cheney's Speech "An Absolute Abomination"

Nuff Said....

Are the NYC Synagogue Bombers Too Dangerous for U.S. Prisons Also?

With the arrest last night of four men who plotted to bomb a New York synagogue and shoot down military planes with stinger missiles a question arises. Are these men too dangerous to be held in U.S. prisons?

Do they pose any less of threat than the men that are held at Guantanamo Bay? Do they not have the same disdain for America as they do? If given the chance would they have taken hundreds of American lives?

Of course. But what will happen? These men will be tried and convicted and serve time right here on U.S. soil just like any other individual who takes or plots to take Americans lives. Yet we don't want the men at Gitmo to serve their time on the soil they sought to wreak havoc on. I am not scared of these pieces shit........are you?

Judgemental Catholic Church Needs to Put Out Their Own Fires First

The Catholic Church has a serious problem. A problem that is so evil that it invokes rage in the hearts of any decent minded human being. After a nine year investigation (report here) into Ireland’s Catholic reform schools has found that.......thousands of children were beaten and raped:

DUBLIN (AP) — A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland’s Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland’s Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.

More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families — a category that often included unmarried mothers — were sent to Ireland’s austere network of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s until the last church-run facilities shut in the 1990s.

The report found that molestation and rape were “endemic” in boys’ facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless.

“In some schools a high level of ritualized beating was routine. ... Girls were struck with implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body,” the report said. “Personal and family denigration was widespread.”

Victims of the system have long demanded that the truth of their experiences be documented and made public, so that children in Ireland never endure such suffering again. But most leaders of religious orders have rejected the allegations as exaggerations and lies, and testified to the commission that any abuses were the responsibility of often long-dead individuals.

Wednesday’s five-volume report sides almost completely with the former students’ accounts. It concludes that church officials always shielded their orders’ pedophiles from arrest amid a culture of self-serving secrecy.

Read more......

This is only the tip of the iceberg I am sure. How many other schools, churches etc.. have yet to be investigated? I have nothing but contempt for the Catholic Church as they continue to protect many of these sexual predators but yet continue to judge the rest of the world. They truly have a lot to answer for.

Republicans Don't Want Christ on the Supreme Court Either

From Andy Cobb:

Did you ever love something someone had written on a blog so much you wanted to rush out make a video out of it? No? Well, you probably have a "life." Me, I was so taken with this bit by one "Winsmith" that I felt compelled: http://tiny.cc/QN2uj

Of course, there's no guarantee that no matter who Obama nominates, Boehner will pitch a fit, Bachmann will say something cra-zee, and Steele will make an asshat of himself. But, cm'on. What are the odds?

Air Force Lt. Col. : Water-boarding Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley, a life-long republican and appointed military attorney for Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian national who was arrested by the Pakistani government in April 2002 on suspicion of being a member of al Qaeda.

Bradley told CNN that when she was first assigned to represent Mohamed, she did not question he was a hardened terrorist, because “my government was saying these were the worst of the worst.” However, she now says, “There’s no reliable evidence that Mr. Mohamed was going to do anything to the United States.”

Lt. Bradley said she never before questioned the "war on terror" because she believed in her government. Now after representing Mohamed, she now questions her country on what it has allegedly done.

When asked how she can question her country still being in a military uniform she responds, " I raised my hand to uphold the constitution of the United States, this has nothing to do about national security, it has to do with national embarrassment.”

Watch:

So either this woman who has proudly served her country is now somehow brainwashed and unpatriotic, or our government can and has lied to us.

Raw Story: Military attorney: Waterboarding is ‘tip of the iceberg’

WTF is Going on at the National Archives?

The National Archives is an independent agency charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents.

Well it's seems they took the access for the public part a little to literally......

The National Archives lost a computer hard drive containing massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White House operating procedures, congressional officials said Tuesday.

One of former Vice President Al Gore's three daughters is among those whose Social Security numbers were on the drive. Other information includes logs of events, social gatherings and political records.

The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation of the matter, according to Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and senior committee Republican Darrell Issa of California.

The lawmakers said they learned of the loss from the inspector general of the National Archives and Records Administration. The drive is missing from the Archives facility in College Park, Md., a Washington suburb. The drive was lost between October 2008 and March 2009 and contained 1 terabyte of data -- enough material to fill millions of books.

Towns said he would have the FBI and inspector general brief committee members so they can "begin to understand the magnitude of the security breach and all of the steps being taken to recover the lost information.

"The committee will do everything possible to prevent compromising the integrity of the FBI's criminal investigation while we fulfill our constitutional duty to investigate the compromised security protocols," he said.

Issa called for the Archives acting director, Adrienne Thomas, to appear before a committee panel Thursday to "explain how such an outrageous breach of security happened."

I'm sure that this agency has a secure facility where access to these files are not that easy to get to.......right?

"This egregious breach raises significant questions regarding the effectiveness of the security protocols that are in place at the National Archives and Records Administration," he said.

Issa said the hard drive was moved from a "secure" storage area to a workspace while it was in use. The inspector general explained that at least 100 badge-holders had access to the area where the hard drive was left unsecured.

Besides those with official access to sensitive material, the inspector general said janitors, visitors, interns and others passed through the area, according to Issa. Further, the workspace is in an area that Archives workers pass through on their way to the bathroom and the door often is left open for ventilation.

"The IG is investigating the situation as a crime with the assistance of the Department of Justice and the Secret Service but they have not yet determined if the loss was the result of theft or accidental loss," Issa said.

So basically anyone including janitors, visitors and Mickey Mouse, are you kidding me? Who knows what's on this hard drive. They've only given us a sample of what was on that hard drive. This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I sure hope Bill didn't have video of him and Monica on there.


Fox News: "National Archives Loses Sensitive Data"

Jesse Ventura Travels the TV Circuit to Debate Torture

I have watched Former wrestler and governor Jesse Ventura debate the torture issue on the View, Sean Hannity and now Fox & Friends, and I must say other than that crazy ass hairdo, he drives home the issue of torture for the left better than any pundit or anyone in congress has been able to do. Advice to Ventura, just keep your head shaved, please:

Michael Savage Attacks Rush Limbaugh

Michael Savage continues his assault on everybody including leading conservative voice Rush Limbaugh. He has accused many radio and TV hosts for stealing his words or material in the past, but this time goes after Rush for him not supporting his efforts to cease the ban on him in England. Rush Limbaugh is a fraud!! says Savage. Hey, Savage and I actually agree on something:

Barack Obama is Cliff Huxtable

In a very smart segment the Daily Show did a comparison between President Obama and Cliff Huxtable of the Cosby Show. Senior Obamaist, Wyatt Cenac explains how the two have closely related lives. Also the Cosby Show ran for eight seasons, that's two terms in office! Check it out:

Montana Town Wants Gitmo Detainees

Last Sunday, Dick Cheney remarked, “I don’t know a single congressional district in this country that is going to say, gee, great, they’re sending us 20 Al Qaida terrorists.” Well Mr. Vice President it seems a town in Montana is eager to take some of the detainees. In fact Hardin, Montana population 3,400 wants a total of 100 prisoners.

"Why not us?" Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development director asks. "They've got to go somewhere."

He dismisses security concerns over housing inmates former Bush administration officials famously described as "the worst of the worst".

"We have some very hardened criminals in our own country that have committed some heinous crimes, and they are in communities all across this country," Smith argues.

Read entire article.....

Hard times and the need for jobs brings people to things that normally they would pass on. I have never understood the fear that is invoked when people talking about Gitmo detainees coming to U.S. soil.

The individuals we currently have in custody in prisons here, are far more dangerous and detrimental to our society than a bunch of non-English speaking American haters. If bringing some Gitmo scumbags to the U.S. would give some Americans some 100 jobs I'm all for it. Put on trial give'em life or put'em on death row, whatever.

Secretary of War

60 Minutes had a very good interview into the mind of the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The more I see of him the more I like. He puts politics aside for his duty to his country. Whether George Bush or Barack Obama, Bob Gates sees no difference other than strategy and how he must go about executing his orders and making recommendations when appropriate.

I wish we had more people like him in Washington. Check it out:

What Empathy in the Supreme Court Gave Us

(Empathy) - is the capability to share your feelings and understand another one's emotion and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another one's shoes," or in some way experience what the other person is feeling. Empathy does not necessarily imply compassion, sympathy, or empathic concern because this capacity can be present in context of compassionate or cruel behavior.

I have empathy in my job, that however has not stopped me from following the rules and even terminating a single mother with three kids. It did not stop me when I chose to hire someone with more experience over a friend who did not.

Empathy did not or never has stopped me from doing my job to the fullest, and I would hope as a human being a Supreme Court Justice would also have empathy but would follow the law accordingly.

Did empathy play any part in Brown vs. the Board of Education? It had to. Separate but equal was never questioned before then. So what changed it in 1954? Empathy, and that's what Steele and the republican party don't understand. You can be empathetic and follow the law for the better of all it's citizens. Today is the 55th anniversary of that historic day:

Why Did Cheney Make the Country Less Safe By Stopping EIT?

If tactics like water-boarding kept this country safe for over seven years, then why did we stop doing it in the Bush administration's second term? That's the question that Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson (former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell)is asking. Here a snippet of the article he wrote over at the Washington Note:

First, more Americans were killed by terrorists on Cheney's watch than on any other leader's watch in US history. So his constant claim that no Americans were killed in the "seven and a half years" after 9/11 of his vice presidency takes on a new texture when one considers that fact. And it is a fact...

Second, the fact no attack has occurred on U.S. soil since 9/11--much touted by Cheney--is due almost entirely to the nation's having deployed over 200,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and not to "the Cheney method of interrogation." Those troops have kept al-Qa'ida at bay, killed many of them, and certainly "fixed" them, as we say in military jargon. Plus, sadly enough, those 200,000 troops present a far more lucrative and close proximity target for al-Qa'ida than the United States homeland...

Third--and here comes the blistering fact--when Cheney claims that if President Obama stops "the Cheney method of interrogation and torture", the nation will be in danger, he is perverting the facts once again. But in a very ironic way.

My investigations have revealed to me--vividly and clearly--that once the Abu Ghraib photographs were made public in the Spring of 2004, the CIA, its contractors, and everyone else involved in administering "the Cheney methods of interrogation", simply shut down. Nada. Nothing. No torture or harsh techniques were employed by any U.S. interrogator. Period. People were too frightened by what might happen to them if they continued.

What I am saying is that no torture or harsh interrogation techniques were employed by any U.S. interrogator for the entire second term of Cheney-Bush, 2005-2009. So, if we are to believe the protestations of Dick Cheney, that Obama's having shut down the "Cheney interrogation methods" will endanger the nation, what are we to say to Dick Cheney for having endangered the nation for the last four years of his vice presidency?

Why was the need to do enhanced interrogation no longer needed in Bush's second term, but Cheney feels that it is dangerous not to do them now? If Obama is making us less safe by not doing techniques like water-boarding, didn't Cheney and crew do the exact same thing the past four years?