Day: September 11, 2008

What Happened Since 9/11

RobotPirateNinja 3_RobotPirateNinja Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Umm..yea…that’s me…and what I was thinking about today.   If you want to know what I was thinking or where I was 7 years ago today, I remember exactly, and can share. 

Just like the rest of you.

Certain events in history have that effect. 

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Also, and this is only something that makes sense if you watch the video and wonder why I didn’t return to the same theme I started with…

There’s a reason the country isn’t together now as it was after 9/11/08.  There’s a reason we don’t feel the unity we did then.  A HUGE FUCKING part of that reason is the war we were lied into.  If you don’t think we were lied into that war, please say so, and I’ll convince you otherwise.  Hindsight is 20/20.  

The other main reason for our disunity is that…well…a lot of things have gone wrong since Bush led us into the desert.  A whole lot.  And we all know it.  What we don’t agree on is what to do about it.  We don’t agree on that at all. 

This is a problem.  A real problem.   We all agree on one thing (shit is fucked up) but we don’t agree on the other (who’s best to fix it).  For whomever is selected to try and fix the problems that we have brought upon ourselves, at least half the country is going to throw up their arms in disapproval and immediately discount the solutions offered.

I’m going to go ahead and go out on a limb here in my virtual abode and offer all my rhetorical, roytorical, logical, factual, emotional, historical, histronical, and whatever-adjective-you-chose reasons why Obama is the better choice in this particular situation.

I’ve been doing so for a little while now, half-assedly.  I just want to let you folks know what you are in store for.  Until those polls start moving back in the right correct direction, my full argumentative arsenal is officially on patrol.

“You can actually see Russia from Alaska” – Sarah Palin on her “international experience”

RobotPirateNinja 3_RobotPirateNinja, media, Poli-Fi, President 08, us Tags: , , , , , 5 Comments

Can we all laugh at the joke now?

Please?

Note: I’m planning on tearing her interview to pieces. From the excerpts I’ve seen so far…this is someone who is repeating things she just learned, a week ago. No question about it.

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UPDATE: You can see part of the filleting here.

Hopefully I’ll have a chance to point out some of the larger…contradictions…that Palin brought up in the interview (like how her ex-brother-in-law wanted to kill her dad….but she didn’t pressure anyone to fire him….and how that list of banned books was like, so totally bogus [strawman covered here]…but she didn’t address the fact that she asked how to ban books and then fired the woman who told her that there wasn’t a process to ban books……and how the “change” she wants to bring to Washington is mostly about other women’s wombs and going against people like her who made massive earmarks requests.   It’d be funnier if more people were in on the joke.  Hopefully a few more people will get it, this week.

Like this guy did…

Jimmy Kimmel put together a frinkin’ hilarious trailer for that movie Damon mentioned.  It doesn’t seem to be online yet…maybe tomorrow…

UPDATE: Just an FYI, this is her EXACT quote from the interview…

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

Note how he wasn’t asking if you could see Russia, but what kind of “insight” such an ability provides to a national leader.  Perhaps she misheard and thought he asked if Russia was “in sight”.  Which, as the first couple comments point out, it is.

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UPDATE: I found the Kimmel movie…Alaska Hockey Mom

What Talking About Issue Looks Like (Joe Biden)

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I know a lot of you don’t know what it looks like, as it happens quite rarely during “silly season” (at least on major cable channels), but this is how it looks when you go out and talk to people about actual things that matter.

This is what real politicians do.  Go out and explain the reasons why our healthcare system needs to be fixed (international competition) and a bit about a governing philosophy (we can’t fix all your problems, but we should at least be aware of them).  Explain how you balanced a budget, and what happened when an “experienced” executive took over.  Explain what needs changing and how it could be better.  Pretty basic stuff.

“Image-based” politicians try to limit their exposure to the public.  For a great example of this, see: Bush, George W.

For a current example…watch the news…

Campaigning keeps Palin from media

Palin will spend much of the next few weeks campaigning with Sen. John McCain, a move that not only capitalizes on the Republican enthusiasm for the vice presidential nominee but also limits her exposure to the news media.She left Washington for Alaska on Wednesday, her first trip back home since being named to the ticket.

McCain and Palin traveling together limits her exposure to reporters and gives McCain’s top aides more control of her.

Palin has not done interviews after one she gave to People magazine on the day she was introduced as McCain’s vice presidential choice.

[full article…which includes this bit]

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project.

Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent.

Palin has asserted the pipeline will help lead America toward energy independence.

An examination of the project has found that she has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success.

The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away, and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade.

In fact, the pipeline might never be built.

Biden’s money quote from his speech: “Name me one single thing that John McCain and Sarah Palin are talking about, on the major issues,  the issues that affect our lives and our security.  Name me one, one, where they disagree with George W. Bush.”

Now this is kinda the point of the media here.  This is a pretty basic question that should be addressed.  It should be fairly easy to address.  Where are you different from Bush?   We keep hearing about “executive experience” and “mavrickness” but where is the meal?  The appetizer was fascinating, but is there a meal coming?

Or are we going to be told to go straight to dessert, and go eat some cake?

Wall Street Journal Joins News Censorship Game

RobotPirateNinja Doh, media, ninja, Poli-Fi, President 08, us Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

At a rally today, Sen. McCain again asserted that Sen. Obama has requested nearly a billion in earmarks. In fact, the Illinois senator requested $311 million last year, according to the Associated Press, and none this year. In comparison, Gov. Palin has requested $750 million in her two years as governor — which the AP says is the largest per-capita request in the nation.

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[vs]

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“The only people ‘lying’ about spending are the Obama campaign. The only explanation for their hysterical attacks is that they’re afraid that when John McCain and Sarah Palin are in the White House, Barack Obama’s nearly $1 billion in earmark spending will stop dead in its tracks,” Mr. Rogers said.

Daily Kos: Wall Street Journal scrubs their article on Palin.

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These are two different endings to the same article. The first one was published in the Wall Street Journal, a press institution with near impeccable news reporting credentials. The second one was published by the Wall Street Journal, the print arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. You might have heard of News Corp. They manufacture news damn near continuously on the Fox News Channel.

Most of News Corp’s manufactured news comes from designs created by the Republican Party in the United States. Despite Murdoch’s Aussie roots, his income and citizenship are now American (which he did to buy TV stations).

This relationship is evident in their replacing a factual, historical analysis of the topic at hand with a talking point from a McCain spokesman….which includes an accusation of lying…

That’s pretty cut and dried folks.

[BTW, here’s me catching CNN doing something similar.]

McCain Makes New Pledge to American People

RobotPirateNinja 3_RobotPirateNinja, media, Poli-Fi, President 08, stupid, terror, us Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — John McCain pledged a “respectful campaign” Tuesday against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, but said he is less confident about the influence of outside political groups.

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McCain said he hopes so, adding that he respects both Obama and Clinton, and believes they respect him. “Americans want more respectful campaigns,” he added.

McCain pledges ‘respectful campaign’ – USATODAY.com.

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Aaah, finally. McCaing is going to go all “Mavrick” on the Rove-style politics his campaign is making their calling card.

Huh? I’m sorry. My editor (i.e. my conscience) is telling me the above article is from April 1st, 2008. Aaaah, April Fool’s day.

Nice one, McCain.

..

From July 2, 2008.

Political tremors were felt coming out of Arlington, Va. today where Sen. John McCain keeps his campaign headquarters.

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McCain, who’s in Latin America, gave increased authority over his campaign’s daily workings to operative Steve Schmidt, a veteran of the Bush 2004 campaign who likely learned a thing or two from Karl Rove back then.

It meant that Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, would be ceding some of his authority.

UPDATE: From this week…

Posted: 09/08/08 06:49 PM [ET]
Eight years after helping George Bush defeat John McCain in a bitter primary, Karl Rove appears to be playing a significant role in helping the Arizona Republican win the presidency.

Rove has downplayed his contact with the McCain campaign, but the former adviser to President Bush met with GOP delegates from Colorado last Wednesday. Rove, who is now a Fox News analyst, told reporters after the meeting that he has friends in the McCain organization who occasionally seek his advice.

[full story\]

So there you have it. John McCain went from trying to run a respectful, issue-based campaign to Rovian-style bullshit, in only three months.

Umm, “Mavrick”? The pattern is full.

[….hehe…”Top” Gun…lolz]

Lipstick on an Economy

RobotPirateNinja business, Doh, government, history, ninja, Poli-Fi, President 08, us Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

2008 deficit forecast soars to $407B – Sep. 9, 2008

NEW YORK CNNMoney.com — The budget deficit will jump by $246 billion to $407 billion this year, the Congressional Budget Office estimates in a report released Tuesday.

“Over the long run, growing budget deficits and the resulting increases in federal debt would lead to slower economic growth,” the agency said.

Last year, the budget deficit was $161 billion. The governments fiscal year ends Sept. 30. The agency attributes the jump to “a substantial increase in spending and a halt in the growth of tax revenues.”

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And jobs…

Not only are home foreclosures at a record high in the US, but national unemployment also climbed above the psychologically important 6 percent level last month for the first time in five years – and it’s likely to go even higher in the months ahead, possibly throwing the economy into a tailspin as Americans pick a new president. The rate has steadily climbed this year from a cycle low of 4.4 per cent and now sits just below the peak of 6.3 per cent seen during the last recession. (See: Home foreclosures at record high in the US)

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And our failed bank de-regulation experiment…

One part of the cure for the nation’s credit crisis is transparency. We cannot work our way out of our debts until we know how much we owe. That is a simple fact. We need an absolute ban on accounting shenanigans that range from off-budget operations to fictional asset values. No more Enron-style books. Now, could someone tell those who run the country?

The Bush administration still hasn’t resolved how to account for the takeover — they say, conservatorship — of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said at a news conference, “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be directly incorporated into the federal budget.”

Absolutely. Only this won’t be popular because its implementation would add big numbers to an already huge deficit. The most recent CBO budget and economic forecast is for a deficit of about $407 billion this year, growing to a record-breaking $438 billion in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Those numbers don’t include what it will cost to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[full article]

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The simple fact of the matter is that Republican leadership and economic policy and international policy has led us directly to the place where we currently find ourselves.

Read on for the full story and understanding where the money went….

Continue reading →