Raging Bachmann

From Michele Bachmann's statement on Iraq:

We have been ejected from a country by the people that we liberated and that the United States paid for with precious blood and treasure...  The United States needed a working democratic partnership in Iraq and we should have demanded that Iraq repay the full cost of liberating them given their rich oil revenues...

We "liberated" the country by sending it into chaos, setting the stage for ethnic violence, the deaths of thousands upon thousands, and over 4 million refugees.  Now the liberated people don't want to be our "democratic partners" if we insist our soldiers have immunity for any future actions.  

The CIA Factbook reports that last year Iraq had a GDP of $113 billion. We've already spent $800 billion on Iraq, and the costs are still mounting.  Maybe next time we should liberate the Cayman Islands or Switzerland so we can get our money back.

Mitt wants Everybody to be Rich

Mitt Romney's latest one liner makes even less sense than his "Corporations are people, my friend" zinger from this summer. Most of the economy would come to a grinding halt if everyone suddenly inherited millions of dollars from their parents. Awarding every citizen a million dollars would be a good way to pass immigration reform, however. Mitt used illegal immigrants to take care of one of his houses a few years ago-just imagine if the poor and working class started hiring undocumented workers as well.

It's Only Socialism When Obama Is for It

Today's headline:

Senate Republicans vote to kill Obama's jobs bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans have voted to kill the $447 billion White House jobs bill despite weeks of barnstorming by President Barack Obama across the country.

2005 Headline:

Bush says $286 bln highway bill creates U.S. jobs
Yahoo News via Reuters ^ | 8/10/05 | Reuters News Service 

President Bush signed a $286.5 billion highway bill on Wednesday that he said would create new jobs but which critics contend is stuffed with billions of dollars worth of lawmakers' pet projects.

From Desert News archives:

BUSH SAYS HIGHWAY BILL MEANS `JOBS, JOBS, JOBS'

Published: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1991 

All of the Above

President Bush was wrong about going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, arrogantly abused executive power through the Patriot Act and other secret programs, and disastrously enabled Wall Street and Corporations too Big To Fail to rig the American economy in their favor. 

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President Obama is continuing the same Bush policies. True, Obama has accomplished some good things and has faces ridiculous accusations from birthers and the tin foil hat brigade, but liberals, progressives, and left of center Democrats should not simply acquiesce only because our incumbent candidate is somewhat less disastrous than his predecessor. Rather than stay at home (which may or may not have caused the 2010 electoral "shellacking") I hope registered Democrats will vote for someone...anyone else in the primaries. The time to protest is now, while President Obama is still in office and could actually end the war on "terror" and seriously try to fight the war on poverty. Write in Cornell West or Russ Feingold. Write in the name of your favorite social studies teacher or one of your parents. In the New Hampshire primary, you could even vote for me, if all goes according to plan. 

More Right Wing Falsehoods

I was almost hooked by a forwarded Facebook message expressing outrage at hypocritical politicians:

Derek Batchelor's Photos

Unexplainable, Inexcusable 


No one has been able to explain to me why young men... and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense. 

The message continued, praising FOX News, condemning the media, and urging everyone to paste the messge on their wall and work for a constitutional amendement to end the federal government from burdening the states. It concluded:

Now, what are you going to do about it? Read and delete, or work for reform? Share on the wall of EVERY congressman, representative, governor, the white house!!!!! Pass it around!!! Make calls, send fax's and email's...............

— with Veterans Freedom, Desertstorm Veterans, Steven Sonich, Bob Veteran and Veterans.See More
By: Tim Shuler
.

By: Derek Batchelor

It's an effective message and will get the authors lots of attention and outrage many people further. Too bad it was debunked several months ago. Check here or here.

You Betcha

Sarah Palin once indulged in sex and drugs according to a new biography. Some of the accusations in the book are obviously false, for example:

-That 'refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' and 'wee-wee'd up' aren't in the dictionary.

-Palin "palled around" with terrorists in collge.
-Palin wanted to form a death panel to kill her baby with Down Syndrome. 
-Spent $2 million to keep her non-native birth secret quiet.

"I love that smell of the emissions!" --Sarah Palin,  May 29, 2011 

Definitely Not Separated at Birth

Andea Dworkin and Jerry Clower were both born on September 26.  If I remember correctly, the "She Coon" in Jerry's anecdote was in fact Andrea Dworkin.

Score: Scientists 0 Religion 0

Neither scientists nor televangelists predicted the earthquakes in Italy a few years ago, but the scientists urged everyone to go back to bed and remain calm. And so...

Scientists in the dock over L'Aquila earthquake

By Susan Watts BBC Newsnight Science editor

Next week six scientists and an official go on trial in Italy for manslaughter over the earthquake in L'Aquila that killed 309 people two years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9593123.stm

Have You Forgotten?

I heard the Darryl Worley fight song, "Have You Forgotten" while scanning radio stations this afternoon. I had forgotten this song, which came out in 2003 shortly after the US and the Coalition of the Willing had invaded Iraq. It's powerful in a jingoistic way, but it immediately caused a knee jerk reaction when I heard it once again after 7 or 8 years. It begins:

I hear people sayin'. We Don't need this war.

I say there's some things worth fightin' for.

What about our freedom, and this piece of ground?

We didn't get to keep 'em by backin' down.

They say we don't realize the mess we're gettin' in

Before you start preachin' let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten, when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside goin through a livin hell

And you say we shouldn't worry bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

I remember how a national tragedy was turned into an excuse to conduct Operation Iraqi Liberation. I remember how Iraq became the most dangerous place on Earth due to the Bush administration's arrogance and incompetence. Soon tens of thousands would be dead, millions made homeless due to bombs, ethnic cleansing and civil war. I remember the missing WMDs, the missing millions of dollars, the lies and corruption, the propaganda about Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch, and how we were continually turning the corner in Iraq.

And I remember who it was that said we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden:

"And, again, I don’t know where he is. I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him."- George W. Bush. March 13 2002

August 21, 2006:

Q What did Iraq have to do with that?

PRESIDENT BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Q The attack on the World Trade Center.

THE PRESIDENT: Nothing!! ... Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

Electoral Sexexcess

Every few years, Republicans bring out there appeals to the right wing religious base. Familiar attacks on birth control, sex education, equal rights, and homosexuality will be made as part of a rigid conservative theology fueled by fear and loathing. Republican presidential candidates will compete to see whose version of America the Promised Land will prevail-and once over, it will be a race to see if Romney or Obama can occupy the center first. Unfortunately, the center now seems to be protecting military spending while cutting services for the poor.