“PR experience” does not mean “Foreign policy experience!”

Just because you travel to a foreign country and schmooze with the big wigs in said country, their children, take photos of the schmoozing, and write a book about it, does NOT mean that you have foreign policy experience. It means you have ass-kissing experience. Talking with a foreign minister’s wife about where you got your dress, or where she shops with her kids is not outlining how the US Government will be interacting with said country.

What’s worse is that this photo is undoctored

It wouldn’t bother me so much except that Hillary is using that to say “look what I have that Obama and McCain don’t.” Then, to top it off, she lies about how it happened? How did she think her little embellishment of the truth wouldn’t get out?

By saying what she did: “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.” She would have us believe that the US Military put the first lady, and US citizens at risk of being killed just for a PR opportunity? Wouldn’t it make more sense to, oh, I don’t know, LAND SOMEWHERE ELSE? or if there was “sniper fire,” turn around and head back to the base you came from? It’s the first lady, not an Army unit, or a food chopper. They can cancel a PR trip. “No, no” says Hillary “We HAD to land and take photos. Many, many photos even at the risk of bullets zipping past.”

“Seriously Barak, the bullets were like PEEOOOOM!”

Do you realize that if she is citing that event as an example of her “foreign policy” experience, then Sinbad can also claim that he has foreign policy experience? (He was riding in the same chopper.) She’s saying that Sinbad risked getting killed to negotiate financial, social, and/or military interaction between Bosnia and the US?

Now she’s trying to backpedal from her little faux pa by saying: (this is EXACTLY what she said by the way) “I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things – millions of words a day – so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement.”

You know? You know?. . . Well, I know she has a lot of staff members looking over her speeches. You’re telling me she just blurted that out? You’re telling me that all her statements aren’t carefully choreographed for the media?

List of women who make better leaders than “Billary”

FUCK!

Will I sleep tonight? Can I sleep tonight? Morning is coming… If I set my alarm for 9am and fall asleep within the next 15 mins I can get at least 5 hours of sleep before I have to go to work tomorrow.  Ok lay down on pillow hold other pillow off to my side. Morning is coming… God why cant I fall asleep?  God please can you let me get alittle rest tonight? Just for a few hours I cant keep doing this. Morning is coming… Well if I set my alarm to 9:30 and fall asleep in the next 30 mins or so I can get at least 3 hours of sleep. I wont have time for a shower but I really need at least that many hours or I swear I will straight out murder the next truck stop ugly that walks into the store tomorrow. Morning is coming… Please God just let me get Just a few hours of sleep. Morning is coming… DAMNIT they need to make a pillow that I don’t have to flip over and over to keep to the side of my face from getting hot. Its like I spent 7 dollars on a nightly reminder that I can never keep the things that make me happiest. Morning is coming… It is hot I am hot it is fuckin 7am and why the fuck can I not fall asleep? Hey look, the sun… I have turned my pillow over 37 and one half times I have gotten up to drink a glass of water 7 times and due to that I have gotten up another 4 times to take a piss. I look in the mirror every time I go to the bathroom and it is like I can actually see myself falling apart. 3 hours until I have to be at work… I think I might have fallen asleep for a moment at around 5 am or so I cant be sure but one second I was lying there on the fresh cold side of the pillow and the next  moment my pillow was hot and my arm was asleep. 7:53am… UGH… 8:37am SHIT, I better get up If I somehow did manage to fall asleep right now I am absolutely positive that my alarm could not wake me. 1 hour until work… Where the hell is my other sock, this is freakin bullshit every last one of my socks is dirty minus one? Where the fuck is your other half sock? Don’t make me yell at you and scare the dog! I have to say the dog does look abit concerned about my actions at this very moment… Alright I gave up I am now wearing one clean sock one dirty sock jeans no t-shirt just a hooded sweater. I have decided that today will be a no t-shirt day. A decision I soon regret its kinda warm today. Mother Nature must be on the rag im thinking… Did I brush my teeth, no fuck that, I smile and greet new customers with horrid breath and a very unkempt appearance and just zone the fuck out. Excuse me sir can I try this on. I point at the dressing room and don’t even look up. I might not murder anyone today but the customers I assure you are on edge. They come into the store and they can tell it isn’t a good day to purchase their size 40DDD bras. That’s a lot of fabric and quite frankly I aint folding no boulder holders today… Please God can I just sleep.

We Are All Beggars Here

So, i feel kosher sharing a little bit of my personal math.  I did the math yesterday (which is rare that i would “do” math because numbers and i are not on civil terms) and figured out how much i was being taxed vs how much i am earning. I did seperate state and federal, and for federal i figured the numbers for IRS, Med, and SS. I tell you this so you know what all i included in my figures. It was pretty easy to manage because i make $26,000 a year. Exactly. It’s nice because getting paid every two weeks makes that precisely 26 pay checks for $1,000. Let me say this post is not me complaining or lauding my wages we can leave that for later.  :)~  The issue here is that my total tax is 28.036% of what i earn. Which means with every pay check i contribute $280.36 to the government in some form or another. Once again not too shocking until an annual total is brought up. The figure annually is $7,289.36, which takes my Annual income to $18,710.64.  Once again no complaining about what i earn. What i want to ask is am i getting my $7,289.36 worth from the government, because they are sure getting it from me. Further more, is the $7,289.36 they are taking from me going to something that i deem fair, or should it? Do i have a say in how my tax dollars are spent or do i just have a vote for who represents me? i still say i do not have taxation with fair representation because never, and i mean literally never, has anyone i have voted for been elected.  They take from me with someone’s approval whom i do not approve of, the solution can not be to move because this would happen in other countries as well. I have written the government (state and federal) letters asking for them to send me a breakdown of where my tax money has gone. What did i get you might ask? Well from the fed i didn’t get a thing, from the CO government i got a letter saying that i had forgotten to file my taxes for fiscal year 2004. I honestly don’t know if i did or not, i found my Fed tax info from that year but not state and i may not have done it. Here’s the kicker though, they say i owe them back taxes; i plainly asked them, because i always have, was i due a refund for that year? They said yes i would have received a refund if i would have filed but by not filing i incurred a penalty (which wasn’t enough to eat the entire refund i find out later) and that each year i did not make restitution on the interest and filing i would owe them more and more. I asked why they are telling me now instead of in 2005 when i should have filed, their answer, the statute of limiations is running out for them to notify me. So they took  too much money and didn’t notify me i didn’t file and i considered their debt to me as settled because they didn’t tell me. Then after i send them a letter asking them to detail how my tax dollars are spent i get notice that i didn’t pay taxes one year and that my abundence is now my deficit. And maybe the ultimate kicker, all my correspondence is with government employees that i help fund by paying state sales tax.  The swear words that come to mind are vile and profuse. I pay too much, then have someone i also pay tell me that because i didn’t collect a debt owed to me that now i owe a debt to them – and i still have not received my breakdown of where my money goes from the state or the feds. Something is seriously broken. Someone else sound off cause i need group anger on this one.

He Seriously Looks Like Sith Lord To Me

There is no way that Rommney isn’t the devil.  Feel the power of the Dark Side. 

Suck My Caucus

In a lot of ways I view presidential elections and the caucuses like a new season of American idol. I pay very close attention at first, just to see who makes a fool of themselves. Thank you Howard Dean, and Kucinich you are pushing it. After the initial “oh an African American is running, and a chick too;” i phase out and watch the sweeps. American Gladiator, thank you for allowing me to slip comfortably back into ignorance. Maybe if I could text my vote into the electoral college, I and many more people would participate. To tell you the truth i stopped giving a fuck a while ago. I am sure that many will shutter when they read my words, and may dub them as un-American. Refer to title for response. America, don’t vote with your pocket book, vote for the candidate with the hottest wife. Guess Hilary is out…or is she. I am more interested in getting the Wu-Tang Clan to come to Kalamazoo, than who wins whatever the fuck caucus that is next. If i was offered a choice between a chili pepper suppository or another hour of Ann Coulter, the choice is obvious. I would stick that Chilli pepper up my ass faster than you can say God Bless America.

A Broken Piece of Glass

So i got into an interesting discussion at work today with someone i would consider to be a sepratist. He very calmly informed me that essentially all republicans are thrid rate socialists and all democrats are second rate communists. He spouted rhetoric from his severly strict constructionist reading of the constitution and i suppose i didn’t mind this. It’s not that i agreed with everything he said but i tolerated the stump speech because i love hearing other people’s points of view. However, an interesting point was brought up in our discussion. He feels that the United States of America has gone through a dramatic digression since its inception as a nation. He feels that as uppposed to standing up for our principles as a nation, Americans have consistantly (and i mean consistantly, he gave me reasons for every decade since Andrew Jackson on until now) chosen the easy path instead of sticking to the vision of the founding fathers. Among other things he noted the end of foreign tarrifs on imported goods, the creation of the IRS and Federal Reserve, the creation of numerous government offices, the decision to no longer have a gold standard economy, the obvious over reaching of the united states military (i know, weird huh, a constitutionist that opposes the war!), the limitations of states rights, and the continued subjugation of our own rights as citizens.

When i brought up advances we have made as a nation, the end of slavery, women’s suffrage, and involved foreign aid he did not refute me at all but he was clear that he felt that on principles alone we have surrendered more ground then we have gained (metaphorically of course) over the past 230 years.

 So hear’s the question : What do you think? Have we progressed as a nation or have we digressed? To be honest, i feel we have done a little of both. All i have to do is read a few pages of the Patriot Act to know we have digressed in some areas. On the other hand, Many of our successes are easy to recognize, for example our involvement in world war 2 effectively kept Western Europe from being entirely third Reich land. I want to know what you think…so rock it out. Paz

Ok I Lied, another post about Politics

So honestly when I look at it how could all of the polls been so far off with Clinton and Obama, when everything else was so right on (especially on the Republican side) there are a few things going around, most of which center on the Dibold machines that were used in some of the precincts and the discrepancy between the margins on the hand counted verses machine counted balots.  It just gives me a sick feeling that something wrong is going on in this election.  Even though in the end Obama came out a head in New Hampshire, the media is ignoring it, and I just don’t think some asshole with an “Iron my Shirt” sign, and some crocodile tears could turn 14% (or more) of a state around.

Here is a good blog on some of the numbers, and how they just don’t seem right.

This is why I like charts and numbers.

I promise I will try and stop obsessing over this, after this post.  But if you look at the Delegate Scorecard on CNN, you will see something interesting.  I’ve talked before about the “superdelegates,” and the early lead that Clinton has on this score card has to do with superdelegates that have committed.  But here is the interesting thing.  In Iowa Obama came out on top with one more delegate than Clinton.  Then look down at New Hampshire, even though Clinton won the popular vote, because of the way the superdelegates are voting in the state, Obama is ahead by one delegate.  Because it was so close, Clinton didn’t come out ahead there either.

If the trend continues, and the swell of voters is either full on in favor of Obama, or even close to in favor of Obama he could very easly break this thing wide open.

I’ll try not to freak on politics anymore today.

That is some Bullshit.

Congrats to Hilary on the win in New Hampshire.  And with her “superdelegate” contingent, she does still have a decent lead on Obama, but what a lot of people are missing in this whole thing is that Obama is still a winner in New Hampshire.  “Why?” you ask.  Well, I’m glad you did ask.

In the New Hampshire primary Clinton may have won pure numbers, but where it counts, in the number of delegates received from the state.  They tied.  So while the media is pissing itself over Clinton’s “comback,” it isn’t a decisive victory, and it isn’t a huge blip on her radar either.  Sure she in 9 delegates closer to the magic number, but so is Obama, and with a huge ammount of the superdelegates still undecided.  It is a close race.

For Clinton to really have staged a “comeback” she would have had to OWN Obama, and she didn’t, she tied up with him.  I feel better now that I have said that.  So I say keep watching for the Elbow Drop!

The Obama Elbowdrop

I was talking with a friend about how hard it is going to rock when Obama wins New Hampshire (later today I might add), and I talked about it being like Obam Elbowdropping the state, and how he is going to go on and big elbow each subsiquent state. 

I think I have a shirt in the works now.

Look out for the big elbow.

And we have to do something to combat Chuck Norris too.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Watch this video.

Honestly, does anyone think this is a “real” moment. No one could be pandering more, or making herself to look more like an idiot. Sure, she is a human being with real emotions, but funny how that hasn’t come through until people say they are voting for Obama because he is a force for change, and is “real” person trying to unite a nation. In the words of the mighty Op Ivy, “Ain’t nothing wrong, with another unity song.”

Some more good news for Obama

Looks like Obama is pulling ahead in New Hampshire now.  I say that this is just more evedince of the US waking up and seeing what is going on.  Clinton went ballistic during the debates when Edwards said she was a force for the Status Quo, and the reson she went ballistic, he was right.

Clinton is just more of the same, and that is what the country is sick of at this point.  We aren’t loooking for more of the same, we aren’t looking for someone to come in and start a war with Iran, we aren’t looking for madated health insurance that we can’t afford (like our car insurance), we are looking for peace, and we are looking for afordable health care. 

When Clinton talked about “all” the changes she has made in the past, she had two things to cite.  Is that a force of change, not really.  We want real change, not just BS little things that don’t do much for the working class. 

Keep it up New Hampshire, lets get Obama another win.

The Audacity of FUCK YEAH!!

As I’ve been saying for the last couple of weeks Clinton is just more of the same bullshit as Bush.  And thank God the people of Iowa saw right through that.  I’m down with Obama, especially as the first viable African American presidential canidate ever, and because he is “endorsed” by Kusinich.  My hope is that when Obama gets the nod from the democratic party that he will tap Kusinich or Richardson for VP (not likely it would probably be Edwards, Clinton in my opinion is unelectable). 

Anyways back on track, the best part of this is that Clinton came in a solid third place, only one point behind Edwards, but a good 6 behind Obama.  That means that other people are ssing through her bullshit too.  Her blatant poll following is what makes her the most disengenuous presidential canadate that I have seen in my life time and that is saying a lot. 

So with the Barak Obama win in Iowa what is next.  Probably a hard race in New Hampshire.  Clinton has a decent lead in the New Hampshire polls, but she had that in Iowa too, until about a week ago.  Does Obama have the time to gain the lead and win NH too?  At this point who knows, but I’m hoping he does.  What sucks is it is one of those things that I feel totally powerless over, and wish I could help him with (hence this post).

 Wake up New Hampshire!  Look through the smile and see that Clinton is more of the same, and not the right answer for our country, it’s time for real change!

My man backs Obama

Word on the street is that Kucinich is lending his support to Obama if he doesn’t have the needed 15% for a second tally in the caucus.  If Kucinich bows out, I throw my support behind Obama too.  I was already thinking that I would support him in the general election if he won the nomination but this honestly seals the deal for me.

Iowa Coming Down

So the caucus is about to start, in just a few hours the real nitty gritty of the 2008 election season will be under way.  I have always been really into politics, but for some reason this election season has me really excited.  It isn’t just how I feel about the issues, or what I think about the canidates, it is the potential for this to really change my life.

My wife and I decided that if Hilary Clinton wins, we move to Canada.  Not because she is a woman, not because her husband was dumb, but because it will be more of the same.  Clinton will change nothing if she is elected, other than the face that we have to look at.  And I’m not living thorough another 8 years of that.

So Iowa is the first look at what my future holds, and that excites me.

Cherry Blossoms

All I can really say about this art project is Wow.  What an amazing concept, and an amazing way to bring to light the real tragedy of the war in Iraq.  This is the kind of thing that art should do.  It should wake you up to the world around you and really shake up how you think about things.

 Bravo.

Benazir Bhutto

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today.  A suicide bomber shot her then detonated himself.  Though it is sad for her friends, family and followers, I have very little pity for her.  As a leader of an opposition party in a country that is currently in a state of martial law she has done nothing but flaunt herself in a way that effectively begs people to try and kill her.

First example, on the eve of her return these preparations were made:

More than 20,000 police have been assigned to protect Bhutto and her entourage as she makes her way from the Karachi airport to the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder on Thursday. Snipers will occupy rooftops and flyovers, and bomb disposal units have already started sweeping the route. It’s a journey that usually takes less than an hour. Police and party organizers are expecting an ordeal that could last up to eighteen hours, as fans coming as far away as Kashmir, in the country’s northeast, block her passage in an attempt to get a glimpse of their rehabilitated leader. Bhutto, who was greeted by a million-strong crowd when she returned from exile in 1986 to take up her father’s position as party leader, will be riding in a specially designed bulletproof glass container mounted on a trailer. It’s kind of like the pope-mobile, says PPP information secretary Sherry Rehman, “only without a top.”

  –TIME

So when she gets to Pakistan she spends hours in a crawling motorcade until a bomb goes off.  Her response:

Bhutto also wanted the government to focus on identifying the “sponsors and financers” of the terrorists who carried out the strike on October 19 that left 140 persons dead.

“It is my responsibility to take risks for the country. To save Pakistan, we need to protect democracy,” she said while addressing her second press conference since the attack at her home–Bilawal House. Bhutto said nothing will prevent her from reaching out to the people.   – Access My Library

An admirable sentiment, but holy crap, it doesn’t get much dumber than that.  I understand wanting to be in touch with “your people,” but you can’t single out “your people” from the people that want to assassinate you.  And why give them the extra time to plan.  For example when she first arrived in Pakistan, she was in the motorcade moving through the city for so long (literally hours), moving at a snails pace, that someone could have taken the time to build, strap on and detonate the bomb.  The bomber didn’t need to have a plan, he could have made the plan as he went and not run out to time.  The only thing that stopped the procession was the bomb.

So with that in mind she takes even more risks.  I understand that she wants to be this figure of dissent and vocal opposition.  But there is a smart way and a dumb way to do that.  She takes the dumb way.  Standing on top of cars, walking into throngs of people.  And now, that has gotten her dead.  Honestly it was only a matter of time.  And in a lot of ways she is no different than the suicide bomber.  She is willing to die for her cause and in a lot of ways it almost seemed like she wanted to die for her cause.

So now what remains to be seen is what effect her Martyrdom will have on the political climate of Pakistan.  The place is already a hot bed of political and religious riots.  What I wonder now, is how the Bush administration, who has sunk billions into Pakistan, is going to respond.  My guess is another war.

The part that really gets me in this whole situation is all of the people surrounding these situation that have been killed, just for supporting Bhutto.  In the first bombing when she got to Pakistan, there were 140 other people that died, in the bombing that led to her death today they are reporting that at least another dozen people died.  Seems a little sad that people who just want to support a political cause, have to take the same risks Bhutto did, whether they wanted to or not.

 

 

Nice one Hilary

Comments were closed on this blog that I lifted this story from, but once again, some evedince that Hilary would be the same thing as Bush but with a bush, savvy.  Hilary sent out pledge cards that said, “I, [blank], pledge to support Hilary Clinton at my precinct caucus on January 14th, 2008.”  Sucks that the caucus is on the 3rd.  What a dope! 

Man of the Year.

So time magazin nominated Vladamir Putin “Man of the Year.”  And man are they catching a ton of shit for it.  Mitt Romney said that it “disgusted” him.  Here is the thing, “Person of the Year,” acording to Richard Stengel the managing editor of Time, isn’t a prize or an aweard, it is just a recognition of someone that has done something very significant in the world, that will effect the course of history.  Joseph Stalin has been person of the year, Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr shared it during the Monica Lewenski thing, so was the Ayatollah Khomeini, and a guy you may have heard of before, Adolph Hitler.  At the very least Putin has some redeming value, in that he has restructured Russia into a country that is actually functioning on a global scale again.

Terrorism Insurance

The Federal Terrorism Insurance plan has been extended for seven more years.  First of all, this is something that I totally didn’t even know existed.  But now it is being extended for 7 more years.  The jyst of the the insurance is that if your building gets blown up by terrorists, this insurance covers that loss.  Why is this necessary you ask?  Because in the wake of 9/11 insurance companies decided that they will no longer cover losses caused by terrorist attacks, it costs to much money.  So the government picked up the job of insuring for this (much like they do for flood insurance, just ask the people in New Orleans). 

Now originally the bill that was voted on would have extended the insurance for 15 more years and lowered the threshold for the amount of damage that a claim would be paid on, but Bush said he would veto the bill if it included those terms (big surprise there, what doesn’t he veto).  But the reasoning is my favorite, he thinks that terrorism insurance should be moved into the private market.

I think this, I think flood insurance should be given back to the private market.  Because a flood doesn’t target anyone, it is an indiscriminate act of God, just like the other things that insurance should cover, like a fire, or a tornado.  That kind of stuff.  But terrorism has a target, our country.

The target of the World Trade Center attacks, America.  Why?  Because the policies of our government have turned the world against us.  People don’t like America because we are meddling, pushy and rude when it comes to foreign polic.  We want things our way, and if you don’t like it, tough, we’ll wipe you off the face of the earth.  So we become a target for terror attacks.  Doesn’t it stand to reason that the government, the people that dictate foregin policy, should pick up the tab for the terror attacks that their foregin polcy causes.  I think so, what do you think?