The New Cold War and Cluelessness Of McCain Palin

"There our next door neighbors" perky Sarah Palin told Charlie Gipson in her recent interview responding to a question about her understanding and qualifications to deal with Russia, should she become president. She'd "perhaps" go to war in defense of Georgia should they become a member of NATO, " I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help." The going to war part said in the tone of someone talking about baking a pie to take over to the neighbors.

On September 11th Russian bombers were welcomed to Venezuela by presidente Hugo Chavez. This is part of the tit for tat nature of the new American Russian global relationship. But one must ask oneself, aren't the Russians just responding in kind to American sword rattling and bullying?

Chavez and Venezuela really aren't the point here.

As much as I dislike Chavez for his anti American rants, one must admit that he often hits pretty close to home with an zinger or his nasty rhetoric about American foreign policies effect on OTHER people in the world. For some unknown reason, to Americans, it hits home with millions of people around the world who see the United States as the real global troublemaker here.

But were would they get that idea?

For some time now Russian Prime Minister and actual leader Alexander Putin has opposed Bush's plan to deploy the space based missile defense shield aimed at Russia and often referred to as Star Wars. That in addition to the long standing Russian objection to the scrapping of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty after Bush became our fearless leader in 2001 have stirred up the Russian leadership.

Fast forward to now where John McCain's and Sarah Palin's recent saber rattling "today we are all Georgians" remarks about the Russian response to the Georgian military invasion of disputed territory within it realm of influence. A remark made by McCain to score quick political points during our presidential election season with clueless low information and insecure American voters. America is propably not going to start a war with Russia over Georgia. Add Condoleeza Rice and Bush's incompetent bullshit to the mix and we're well on our way to the further breakdown of relations between two of the most powerful nations on earth. It also seems to me that Alexander Putin is about twice as smart as McCain, Palin, Bush and Rice put together.

But lets get back to the real cause and effect. It's not rocket science to imaging just how difficult it will be to actually deploy a missile defense system that's trying to destroy incoming warheads traveling a high speeds. Not to mention the astronomical cost of such a program that would further bankrupted this country. One would think a better course of action would be to use diplomacy to promote peace and understanding between nations instead of building more tension escalating boondoggle weapons systems.

Think of it like this: It's okay for the US to unilaterally invade a country halfway around the world but not okay for Russia to invade a country it has had centuries of share history and relations with that's next door. What would we do if Cuba suddenly invaded Puerto Rico or Cuba tried to join something like the old Warsaw Pact?

What most people didn't get, because it has not been widely or correctly reported in the American press, was that Georgia actually provoked the action by invading the disputed territory of South Ossetia. Here a excerpt from an editorial in the Guardian:"First, History seems to indicate that Russia certainly has some legitimate reasons to claim influence over these disputed areas like "the majority of the 75,000 Ossetians are pro-Russian, and have long been angling to join North Ossetia, which is part of the Russian Federation. Second, many Ossetians have now got Russian citizenship and passports. This is a dispute that predates both the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, and the Putin era. Fourth, rushing to the aid of separatists was a precedent set by the west in Kosovo. Russia gave us fair warning of the consequences."

Also there is evidence that Georgian pro American leader Mikhail Saakashvili would rather internationalize this crisis by fanning the old East West cold war flames. Apparently there is some evidence that a McCain operative been egging him on. It certainly gives McCain a stage to play the look I'm the experience military guy we need in a dangerous world role.

Alaska Women Rally Against Palin

Alaska Women Reject Palin with rally in downtown Anchorage via Mudflats blog.

Does Your Employer Think Providing Hand Sanitizer is Health Coverage

If so, then it maybe time for a union. Here's a video from the friendly folks who support the Employee Free Choice Act with some important information.

Republicans Begin Widespread Voter Caging Campaigns

You better wake up because now the fascist Republican Party is fucking with your right to vote! If there isn't a national outrage about this shit there certainly should be.

Republican party organizations and operatives have apparently commenced to engage in the wide ranging Carl Rove tactic of attempting to suppress Democratic Party voters nationwide. It’s a tactic known as voter caging.

In the battleground State of Ohio and several other battleground states reports are surfacing of the Republican tactic to cage Democratic Party voters. In case your not aware of what exactly it is, it’s the practice of contacting registered Democrats usually through the mail with such things as dummy pre-election request for absentee ballots or other election related information. The mailers also contain a DO NOT FORWARD request for the post office if they should be, for any reason, undeliverable. Another variation of the tactic is to ask the voter to verify they are eligible to vote or not by checking a obscure box on the mailer should it actually be returned to it's Republican operative source. If the check box is overlooked or mark as ineligible the information is then used later to challenge the voter’s eligibility with local election officials.

There are several variations of the tactic using a mailer that's returned to the Republican Party source and then used to claim that a voter it was sent to is not properly registered because of an invalid address change or other trumped up reason that may be required in the voter's home state or county in order for them to be considered eligible voters.

I would think that the average voter isn't that aware of all the intricacies of remaining eligible to vote in their particular location. But they better get informed about it now and verify that they are eligible before the election because the Republicans apparently plan on challenging your right to vote if you've moved and not corrected your address or otherwise given them a reason to do so based on your local election laws.

As unbelievable as it seems, there are also reports that Republicans are mailing to lists of foreclosure victims knowing that they are not at the address the mailer is sent to because they lost their freaking homes. Once again when the mailer is returned to sender the undeliverable ballot is used to claim the voter is not properly registered. This is a double insult because the Republican economy is responsible for most of these middle class folks losing there homes in the first place. Kick them while they’re down should be McCain’s new slogan not Country First.

This is a effective tactic for the Republicans in battleground states because it can be used to reduce Democratic votes enough to change the outcome of the election in a close race. The tactic is not just effective with the top of the ticket but also helps in down ticket races. In the last gubernatorial election in 2004 in Washington State the eventual Democrat winner Chris Gregiore won by less then 1000 votes after Republicans had some success suppressing votes by challenging eligibility.

The bottom line is Republicans are not really interested in making sure everyone right to vote is protected. They are more interested in suppressing your votes on technicalities, especially if you’re a registered Democrat. Winning is everything with these especially sleazy Republican scumbags evidently, even if it means disenfranchising voters who would normally be consider eligible to vote.

Is this type of shit what our forefather fought and died to protect? I think not!

Talking Hypocritical Pigs Let's Look At Sarah Palin's Abuse Of Pork

John McCain and Sarah Palin like to tell everyone they are against congressional earmarks because supposedly they're a waste of the taxpayer money. One would think that such lies would be a outright hypocrisy given the fact that under Palin's watch as mayor of the town of Wasilla and Governor of the State Alaska she help lead the nation in eating from the government trough. This video from TPM makes that point all to well. Wake up America!

Is America Ready For Sarah Palin Book Banning New Rich White Trash

Sorry no more mister nice guy from me with this woman.

If elected it's sure starting to sound like Sarah Palin will bring be her new rich white trash lifestyle to the White House apparently. Where she'll probably spend most of her time trying to pass laws that tell you what you can and cannot read.

All we'll need then is a double wide on the white house lawn and a couple of broken down big wheel trucks parked nearby. Maybe a snarling dog on a chain. That's if she got the time after making sure we're all ready for the end of the world. The end will be near if we finally elect this Jerry Springer show reject.

The ABC report below on her attempt to intimidate her hometown librarian into removing books from the library should be required viewing for all. Your next.

7 Years of Bullshit

I remembered this photo of a sign someone put up about two years into Bush's "get them dead or alive" bullshit talking bravado. What the fuck is wrong with the people in this country that they would want to replace such a loser like Bush with a carbon copy John McCain now joined by a religious fanatic whose closer to 1850 in her thinking then anything to do with the future.

But, where the hell is Osama Day 2534? Happy 9/11 America.

In Speech McCain Casts Himself As Rambo

Informed Comment has a interesting take on the McCain speech and mind set. That McCain is trying to have a do over of the VietNam war. In this version America's military wins and McCain is vindicated.

"McCain's convention speech positioned him as John Rambo. The popularity of the Rambo: First Blood 2, historian Melani McAlister argued in her Epic Encounters, derived from the way it allowed its hero, a betrayed veteran, to fight the Vietnam War all over again and to win this time. McAlister suggests that the popularity in the United States of Israeli macho operations such as Entebbe derived from this same Rambo complex, a desire to compensate for the humiliating defeat of the United States by the Vietnamese and their Chinese and Russian allies.

McCain dwelled at length on his years as a prisoner of the Vietnamese and even adverted briefly to having been broken by torture. The rage and abasement of that moment when he signed a confession of war crimes and denounced the United States."

McCain has spoken of his breaking before, as in an October 12, 1997 60 Minutes interview that his critics sometimes misquote:

"Sen. McCAIN: I m--made serious, serious mistakes and did things wrong when I was in prison, OK?

WALLACE: What did you do wrong in prison?

Sen. McCAIN: I wrote a confession. I was guilty of war crimes against the Vietnamese people. I intentionally bombed women and children.

WALLACE: And you did it because you were being tortured...

Sen. McCAIN: I...

WALLACE: ...and you'd reached the end of the line.

Sen. McCAIN: Yes. But I should have gone further. I should have--I--I never believed that I would--that I would break, and I did."

End Timing Holy Roller Hockey Mom With Her Finger On The Trigger

Turn around is fair play when it comes to scaring the shit out of voters. This ad about John McCain's risky decision to place a inexperienced holy roller end times hockey mom a heart beat away uses some Republican playbook fear tactics to put his choice of Sarah Palin in perspective. It asked the question. What other impulsive and gimmicky national security decisions could McCain have up his sleeve if he is actually elected?

Obama O'Reilly Show Interview Video

Can someone get Bill O'Reilly to stop interrupting the next President of the United States please. O'Reilly's big moment.

Fascist Tactics By Police At Republican National Convention

This is quite unbelievable. journalists had their cameras and computers confiscated after being stopped while walking on a city street in St Paul. The odd thing about it is that in the end no charges were filed and apparently their property was returned.

Has Palin's Stand On Sex Education Led To Alaska's High Rates Of Teen Pregnancy?

Cartoon: Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

The fact that Sarah Palin's daughter is having an out of wedlock baby is not the point. The point is that Palin whole-heatedly supports positions on teen pregnancy, abortion rights and sex education that may force your daughter into the same predicament of an unwanted pregnancy. Alaska is number 3 in the nation in teen pregnancy birth rates.

Studies have found that abstinence only educations is a not effective in stopping unwanted teen sexual activity and pregnancies. This could be your pregnant daughter if Palin is elected and allowed to influence future attempts to lower teen pregnancy rates through such things as sex education programs. The United States led the way amongst modern nations in it's lack of proper sex education for teens. No wonder we also lead most of the world in teen pregnancy and unhealthy approaches to human sexual activity.

Sarah Palin maybe Annie Oakley and a fine human being, even if she is obviously too inexperienced in foreign policy to be elected Vice President, but what Democrats and Independents need to focus on is that this woman is more dangerously to the right of even John McCain on many important family values issues that would effect how you and your children live in a so called modern society.

Palin Dropped From Ticket To Be Replaced By Corpse Of Mount St Helens Harry Truman

In the wake of mounting evidence that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was not properly vetted and that she is becoming a continuing distraction, the McCain campaign announced today that she will be dropped from the ticket and replaced with the just located corpse of Mount St. Helens Volcano mountain man and independent thinker Harry Truman.

"If this place is gonna go, I want to go with it, 'cause if I lost it, it would kill me in a week anyway", Harry said while killing a bottle of Oly the last time he was seen. Known as a survivalist, outdoorsy man and free thinker when he was alive he championed much of the same political ideology of the now deposed Palin. His well known refusal to move off the rumbling volcano demonstrated the same staunch closed minded-ness and determination that Palin has demonstrated on such things as not giving a woman control over her own reproduction rights and not allowing sex education in the schools. Plus he was known to own lots of guns.

Sarah Palin Quote Of The Day

Q: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

The phrase was added in 1954.

Lost Sarah Palin Video Surfaces

Actually it's comedian Sara Benincasa impression of the perky VP candidate Palin. Benincasa nails the voice mannerisms and makes you feel creepy at the thought that the real Palin is not so far from the fictional one she plays here who could become a heart beat away from filling in for Pops McCain should he not take his Geritol.

Seattle Once Upon A Time The Jewel Of The Labor Moment

The Northwest and Seattle once were a hotbed for the labor movement and the other radical organizations fighting for workers rights, better working conditions and power. Many middle and lower class workers were more then happy to join a union and as a member fight for better conditions. The general attitude about workers general struggle with business was looked at differently by most workers.

Union power began to diminish over the years and by the 1970's with the growth of corporate power and influence and control of the government weakening worker protections and labor laws to such an extent that organizing began to suffer extensively.

This together with the enormous shift from an industrial and manufacturing society to a service white collar based economy hurt labor membership. White collar workers were easily frighten about potential conflict with their employer and most employers would not hesitate to use tactics to intimidated employees who may consider starting a union. Especially with government refusing to enforce the law that was meant to protect their organizing.

Organized labor's own internal corruption problems and inability to modernize it's out of date message also added to the problem of attracting new generations of members.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Abraham Lincoln

Washington State has always been among the states with the highest number of workers per capita who were members of unions. It was more unusual for a worker not to be in a union then to be unrepresent not that many years ago.

Goldmark Cartoon Ad Pretty Unique

This Peter Goldmark ad for Public Lands Commissioner is the cat's pajamas. Animated characters inquire about who to vote for this November and why it's important. This type of stuff will get my vote everytime.

Are Hockey Moms Prepared to Deal With International Terror Threat

Oh I get it. This will come in handy when your dealing with Osama Bin Laden. Here's a description of what it means to be a hockey mom per HockeyMom.com.

• Saves you time with practical information on equipment, fundraising, and quick links to hockey related sites.
• Makes you laugh with stories, jokes, contests and more.
• Creates a community offering tips, photo contests, book clubs and online celebrity events.
• Keeps you real with helpful articles and support in your role as a mother, partner, and unique woman.
• Invites you to be part of “something bigger” through our HockeyMoms.com Charities.
• Asks you to contribute tips and ideas.

We are HockeyMoms ourselves. We serve the community of women whose children play hockey at any level. Your life is about Hockey, and also about being a Mom, partner, and woman. We’re here to help.

Phalin Symbol McCain First Decision As Commander-In-Chief Is A Huge Boner

History may show that this is the day Barack Obama won the white house.

Wikipedia is getting a workout today over hockey mom (what the hell is a hockey mom anyway sounds good but that's about it) hottie Alaska Governor Sarah Phalin?

A hockey mom a heartbeat away? What the PUCK was Johnny Boy thinking?

This person is simply not qualified to be the
Vice President to the temperamental 71 year old cancer survivor McCain. She has absolutely no foreign policy experience and has only been Governor of Alaska since 2006. The former beauty queen like all good Republicans is under investigation.

This is a play by the McCain camp to get the Hillary dead enders vote and the Catholic crowd. She's attractive and probably a exceptional woman and mom but Vice President in this dangerous world? I think not.

It also completely eliminates the McCain's Obama lack of experience argument, which is pretty much all they had in the first place. This is a sign of desperation and a realizaton by McCain that he had to roll the dice because he knows he can't beat Obama's message of change.

It also changes the news narrative from the spectacular Obama acceptance speech to gerbil-wheel talking head anchors bumbling on about what it means to have a "hockey mom" a heartbeat away.

Noteworthy Economic Pundit Rips McCain Economic Plan

Clive Crook the former deputy editor of The Economist and Washington columnist for the Financial Times has written a devastating piece about John McCain's economic plan. Here a taste.

"He promises to lower taxes, and to balance the budget in four years, but he will not say where he would cut spending. In area after area, McCain has failed to say exactly, or even approximately, what he wants to happen. He will reform this and improve that, he insists, but he rarely says how. Perhaps to make up for his silence, on the issues where he feels he has a political advantage -- gas prices and offshore drilling, for instance -- he has brazenly substituted simple-minded populism for honest economics."

Here's Your Personal Online Obama Tax Cut Calculator

It patently false that Obama will raise your taxes if he's elected although it's one of the favorite lies that the McCain campaign likes to spread. The truth is that 95% of Americans will experience a tax cut under the Obama plan even though more than half have swallowed the McCain BS whole.

So How much will you get back under Obama proposed tax cut? Here a handy calculator from some folks at the Brookings Institute. You can also see how much more you pay if McCain gets elected.

John McCain Working People Don't Listen to ABBA!

This is more our style.

ENOUGH!

WOW what a tour de force... what do you say

Some quotes via Burnt Orange Report about THE SPEECH.

Kos: I'm living in mortal fear this speech will end. I want it to go on and on and on...

Georgia10: Gay marriage, guns, abortion, social security, and more. When you touch the third, fourth, fifth and six rails of American politics in your acceptance speech, that's gutsy. And brilliant.

BarbinMD: Grand slam doesn't even describe this speech.

brownsox: I have never seen Barack Obama give a better speech. I have never seen anyone give a better political speech.

Andrew Sullivan: I've said it before - months and months ago. I should say it again tonight. This is a remarkable man at a vital moment. America would be crazy to throw this opportunity away. America must not throw this opportunity away.

The Kerry DNC Speech That Corporate Media Doesn't Want You To See

The gerbil-wheel corporate controlled media coverage at the DNC continues. More concerned about the style of the stage backdrop or a few Hillary deadenders then dying Americans or the REAL issues of the day they continue to carry the water of the assholes who are destroying this nation. Fuck them!

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer Entire DNC Speech

Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana gave a rousing speech last night at the DNC. Unfortunately it wasn't seen by the most of the nation. Montana is very much in play in the election. Here the speech in it's entirety.

DNC Cable Talking Heads Complain There's No Red Meat While They Ignore Covering It

At last nights Democratic convention Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill gave a fairly hard nosed speech that contained several direct slaps at the Republicans and John McCain's policies while at the same time pointing out how her and Obama personal stories are very much a reflection of the American Dream.

But do you think the talking heads at CNN and the other TV networks even noticed. They were too busy talking about how the Democrats were making a mistake by not using the TV time to attack McCain. These so call experts are mainly concerned with what is in their own infotainment echo chamber of influence, soap opera and feeding their egos. It's always soap opera and talking points over any facts with these nitwits.

Obama Often Fails to Personify Voter Anger And Frustration In Stump Speech And Advertising

If I were Barack Obama I would fire the people who write my ads and get some new people who are capable of writing ads that better reflect voter's anger and frustration with the current state of the nation.

Barack Obama’s stump speech is articulate and folksy. It’s filled with statistics about how middle class income has dropped significantly under Bush and what we need to do and why we need to finally become energy independent. It shows Obama’s significant grasp of the domestic and foreign policy issues of the day. His style is friendly and colloquial and mimics a conversation one would have with a neighbor over the backyard fence.

But what the stump speech contains in facts and figures and personal charm it lacks in real anger and frustration about the current state that we find our nation. Most people are mad as hell and want someone to take to task those in power responsible for the criminal negligence, warmongering, misuse of the military and massive government incompetence on all levels of the last eight years.

Barack Obama is a nice guy and has prided his campaign on taking the highroad. He seldom wheels a big stick approach when dealing with McCain or Republican attacks. He apparently believes that the American people will give him credit for this in he end and this will, along with the usual reasons, help elect him President. But I have my serious doubts about that.

As Democrats we have to ask ourselves if we had enough of this weak and ineffective crap already in the Congress from the likes of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Both of them should be replaced when the next Congress opens for their lack of courage, passion and anger in dealing with the Bush and Republican agenda since gaining a slim majority in 2006. But that's another story.

I don’t know about you, but I’m mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. This is the feeling in ones bones that Obama needs to possess and inject out on the campaign trial. No more playing Mister Nice Guy. I want Obama to be my champion and I want him to mirror my frustration and anger with what has happened to this country under Bush/Cheney and company for the last eight years. I believe that if Obama has a problem closing the deal with the American people it is because he comes across as a well-meaning overly polite egghead sometimes.

If you’ve noticed the use of anger, as a political tool, is something the Republicans have down pat. When attacked they always respond with indignation and anger to any attack. Yes, it is usually false indignation, but Democrats need to realize it works with Joe six pack voters out there. Playing the articulate intelligent wuss won’t work with independent working class voters, and Obama seems to be unable to relate to or translate into his speeches the real anger that we are all feeling.

There is a old labor movement story in the Northwest about a union lawyer named Vandeveer who had a working man come to him with a problem. Seems an unscrupulous sort had cheated the man of his money. Vandeveer ask the man what he like him to do. “Well frankly, if I had my way I like to punch the guy in the nose”, the man said. The story goes on to tell how Vandeveer immediately left his office when to the scoundrel's location and punch the man in the nose.

I think Obama needs to reflect our anger and comtempt with the current government as directly as Vandeveer did in his situation if he expects to win the presidency.

Daily Show Billboard Greets Republicans In Twin Cities

This daily show billboard greets Republicans....

McCain's Claim Of Early Opposition To Conduct Of War Is Total Bullshit

Here's the proof in McCain's own words. This extensive collection of McCain soundbites from prior to the begining of the Iraq War through this year prove he was a early fanatical promoter of the war and of Bush and neocon warmoungers.

Then after starting his run for the white house he suddenly changed his tune because it became politically impossible to defend. He then began to claim that he alone was the first one to criticize the president's policies and those of Donald Rumsfeld. He now claims that he questioned the strategy all along. This video appears to prove it's all just more of a phony McCain bullshit narrative.

Fellow Citizens Where Is Our Passion?

I'm a little frustrated....

Flash, 70 days to the election. Wake up out there folks! Your country, as you know it is slowly slipping away. Put down the bottle of Vicadin or Valium and get your ass up off the IKEA sofa bed and pull your Liberal head out of your ass. This is a full body contact death cage match election, or worse.

In November of 2007 I was sitting in my kitchen on Vashon Island here in Washington State contemplating the state of our nation. It wasn’t good then and it's probably worse now. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan raged, economic crisis, energy crisis, mortgage crisis, unprecedented and widespread federal government corruption and incompetence, Iran, the Supreme Court one vote from overturning Rowe v Wade, the slow and methodical destruction of constitutional protections, Gitmo, torture, the environment, the economic destruction of the middle class and where the fuck is Osama Bin Laden anyway?

Enough, like many I'd had enough already.

I don't think I'm overly jingoistic or a flag waiver but I simply had enough. I love my country. I decided to do something about it and set out to volunteer with the Obama campaign here in Washington State and later in Texas, Oregon, and Montana and many other states if you count phone banks. I traveled thousands of miles over several months and spend thousands of dollars touting Obama.

As we all trudged through the primary it was a mental battle to keep the faith that we would reach the ultimate prize of winning the nomination for Obama. That mission has been partially (except for the actual nomination process) accomplished and except for a few dead ended Hillary supporters still out there, who's explanation for not supporting Obama vs McCain are beyond question pure delusion or explained by accepting the fact that they were shills for the Republican Party from the get go. The future of this country is more important then any of their personal hurt feelings.

Now just a few days before the national convention and the polls are tightening. If you believe the CNN and MSNBC gibberish it's because McCain's BS based personal attacks on Obama have worked. He's inexperienced or he's and elitist. I believe it's plain old racism to blame for the lack of progress. How these tactics work or in fact if they have worked is certainly open to question. But one should surely not be over confident that an Obama win in November is a done deal. Given the state of news reporting by the MSM it's a wonder we have any country at all. Where have these people been for the last two decades? The fact is Americans get little in the way of truth about ANYTHING these days because of the corporate control of and political influence over the modern press.

Who knows? If John McCain and his ilk are allowed to continue on the path that has brought us to the brink of a national meltdown we may not be able to settle this question peacefully at the ballot box in the future. It maybe necessary to fight for our rights and what we believe in a more fundamental and basic way with our hands.

So there’s an easy way and there’s a hard way. We can’t continue on the same cynical path we are on and see a repeat of the election of 2004, or we get ready to man the barricades later.

Where is your passion for your country Dear Liberals? What are you willing to do to make sure Barack Obama gets elected in November? Instead of listening to the brain dead nasal whinny voice of CNN’s Campbell Brown regurgitated the William Ayers connection to Obama story every night we should be in full attack mode. Pull out all the stops on McCain. This is a bear knuckle fight for the soul and the future, even perhaps the very existence of this country as we have known it. Nothing should be left on table including:

• The Keating Five
• McCain's basic disconnect with anything working class or middle class
  
• The phony media echo chamber POW mass war hero worship circus of bullshit
• The phony Cindy McCain Barbie Doll resume mentality
• His ties to lobbyists and influence peddlers
• The 8 houses
• Five million per year is not rich comment
• I don’t torture but I torture.
• His Senate attendance record
• His vote against the New GI Bill and his record of NOT supporting the troops
• His cheating on his first wife
• I was born with a silver spoon in your mouth because my Grandfather and Father were Naval admirals
• The womanizing party boy
  
• His age
• His anger management problem
• His mental fitness to have his hand on the button
• Because he was born in the canal zone is he really eligible to run for President?
• The truth of what his role or his staff's role was in Georgia and his subsequent saber rattling
• McCain as a warmonger and mindset ultimately involves the use of military force
  
• Reinstating the draft
• Iraq
• Afghanistan
• Iran

General Clark was right. Getting shot down over Vietnam doesn't make you qualified to be President. I would think not getting shot down would probably be more desirable on one's resume. My bother and many other fine servicemen fought in Viet Nam, and were wounded or captured, but it doesn’t make them qualified to be the president of the United States. Not saying that my brother wouldn't make a good president because morally he's twice the man John McCain ever will be, but really now.

Liberals and the Obama Campaign need to learn to a certain degree to get down in the dirt with the low information voters and start to talk to them in the language of slash and burn politics that the Republican know they understand. If we’re not willing to do this we will probably lose the election. Liberals must stop the appearance or actual condesending behavior and morally superior attitude they often project on independant and low information voters. It's wrong and often separates their support for ideas that all of us share in common.

Don’t worry we’ll be able to live with ourselves in the morning. Because. if we win, we will have the power to transform the country instead of forever being on the outside looking in again with no power to change a thing.

Finally, we need to all vote the Democratic ticket and get at least 20 other people we know to vote who maybe won't otherwise. We need to remind ourselves that the mothers milk of politics is cash and make a contribution to the National and State Democratic Party and to the Obama and Gregoire in Washington campaigns. We need to become volunteers for our State and National candidates within our Legislative and Congressional districts.

Goofy Demographics Could Determine Election

Sadly this isn't too far from the truth if your familiar with the crap the cable channels shovel on a daily basis. This Onion spoof ironically points out that it's no wonder that we haven't elected a progressive president in this country lately. It amazes me that people are still actually willing to swallow the Viet Nam war hero bowl of warm bullshit that McCain is feeding them. God help us all if we miss the chance to make progress this election cycle.



Latest Poll Reveals 430 New Demographics That Will Decide Election

Dino Rossi Maybe AntiChrist Obama Off Hook?

Developing... WA gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi maybe the Antichrist after all? Based on Rossi promise to repeal ban on online gambling laws if elected, and this satanic Eastern WA Dino cult headquarters and devil worshiping hideout, many so called experts are saying that evidence is mounting that it's Rossi. Who do you think it is? Second place choice probably Booth Gardner for pushing "let's get rid of old people now plug pulling initiative". Catholic church and Pope take personal interest in defeating right to not live anymore law. Simply ask yourself would Jesus pull the plug? We think not! Tomorrow, anonymous sources claims that Joe Lieberman carries mark of the beast on his buttocks and/or maybe Jewish Republican.

Know Your Facts About McCain Ads False Claims

If character assassination doesn't work just lie. Here are the facts from the Obama campaign on the claims made in John McCain's misleading ads. Tell your friends.

Bush Promises Naval Aid to Georgia But Fails to Tell Pentagon Or Turkey

Another "hell of a job Brownie moment"? Bush's promise to send American naval ships to the aid of Georgia apparently were made before the Pentagon or Turkey, an American ally that controls access to the Black Sea, were consulted according to a McClathey newspapers report.

"WASHINGTON — President Bush Wednesday promised that U.S. naval forces would deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia before his administration had received approval from Turkey, which controls naval access to the Black Sea, or the Pentagon had planned a seaborne operation, U.S. officials said Thursday.

As of late Thursday, Ankara, a NATO ally, hadn't cleared any U.S. naval vessels to steam to Georgia through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that connect the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, the officials said. Under the 1936 Montreaux Convention, countries must notify Turkey before sending warships through the straits.

Pentagon officials told McClatchy that they were increasingly dubious that any U.S. Navy vessels would join the aid operation, in large part because the U.S.-based hospital ships likely to go, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, would take weeks to arrive.

"The president was writing checks to the Georgians without knowing what he had in the bank," said a senior administration official."

Are Clinton Deadenders Really Planted Republican Shills?

Two Clinton dead-enders appeared on Hardball yesterday. It's simply unbelievable to me that any progressive minded person, especially a woman, would vote for John McCain if given the choice of McCain and Obama, even if your feelings were somehow dashed by Clinton losing the primary.

Obama as of late, in the spirit of inclusion, is allowing Clinton and her supporters to conduct a sort of sideshow at the Denver convention to get in touch with that group's inner child. This includes placing Clinton's name in nomination and lots of other post modern feminist activities and events where wearing and article of pink clothing will be probably be mandatory.

"Obama also allowed Hillary supporters to insert an absurd statement into the platform suggesting that media sexism spurred her loss and that “demeaning portrayals of women ... dampen the dreams of our daughters.” This, even though postmortems, including the new raft of campaign memos leaked by Clintonistas to The Atlantic — another move that undercuts Obama — finger Hillary’s horrendous management skills.

Besides the crashing egos and screeching factions working at cross purposes, Joshua Green writes in the magazine, Hillary’s “hesitancy and habit of avoiding hard choices exacted a price that eventually sank her chances at the presidency.”

It would have been better to put this language in the platform: “A woman who wildly mismanages and bankrupts a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar campaign operation, and then blames sexism in society, will dampen the dreams of our daughters". Mareen Dowd NYT

Hardball host David Shuster did a credible job of putting the two hardcore brain dead Clinton axe grinders feet to the fire. One of the questions he raised with PUMA founder Dara Murphy (who acting like she's high on qualudes and/or Obama somehow didn't respond to her let's flirt message over at Match.com) was that she had contributed money to the Republican Party and John McCain in the past.

It maybe unproductive to actually give this story more attention then it deserves, but the video shows what boneheads these Clinton die-hard types really are. In a way I found their performance a cross between comical and desperately pathetic. It also would make a great SNL segment with Amy Poehler as Murphy and Will Farrell as the guy guest. I sincerely doubt that they were every really Democrats to begin with, something that if true, would explain their real motivation is to make trouble for the Democrats at the convention and this fall.

Christian Asshole's Video Ask You To Pray For Rain For Obama Speech

Simple minded Christians everywhere were being asked to pray for storms and rain in Denver the night of Barack Obama's acceptance speech. But then they figured out it wasn't very Christian to wish that bad things happen to other people.

The conservative Christian group Focus on the Family now apparently has had second thoughts after asking what would Jesus do in the same situation and has pulled this video from it's website. These dumb-shits ought to be ashamed of themselves. Focus on the family has not officially endorsed a candidate but the cult's leader James Dobson says he prefers John McCain.

By the way I'm praying that a bolt of lightning hits this dweeb directly in the balls.

Hey Gear Heads John McCain Really Doesn't Care About Roaring Harleys?

I'm a motorcycle rider who frankly wonders why any freethinking biker would have anything to do with John McCain or his rightwing politics. His pandering to my fellow bikers in Sturgis, SD last week apparently didn't involve any straight talk about how he has opposed efforts to get the government to buy American made motorcycles like those made by Harley Davidson. The Obama campaign's new radio ad points out that McCain's vehement oppositon to buy American programs has hurt companies like HD.

Bush’s Preemptive War Policy In Iraq Blocks US Moral Authority to Stop Russian Invasion Of Georgia

Should of thought of that before you fundamentally changed America’s longstanding policy not to preemptively start wars George, but now your screwed because of your self-centered war making policies. The Republican warmongers like Bush, Cheney and, yes John McCain, didn’t really comprehend or understand the eventual blowback that they could face when they preemptively invaded Iraq in 2003.

The gruesome photos above of the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the disputed territory controlled by Georgia and the rest of that nation speaks of the horror of war and civilians caught up in it. It's the type of photo you'd probably hardly ever see shown by American MSM. It too real for them and doesn't fit their all American fantasy based bullshit narrative.

How can Bush now demand that Russia not preemtively invade Georgia? The answer is he can’t. His moral authority meter is on zero. This plus the fact that Bush and company wouldn't know diplomacy if it hit them in the ass, paints a bleak picture for the people and democracy in Georgia and ending this war quickly.

Can't depend on the UN either because those folks are just a bunch of "for-ners" who are probably French or Commies and want to take American power away with their fancy international laws, courts and force Americans to make soccer the national sport.

Jesus!

Affordable Homes Made From Recycled Material

These Tiny Texas Houses are just that - small, portable houses that are made with 95% salvaged and recycled building materials.

These tiny houses are a project developed by Discovery Architectural Antiques who have a massive 130,000 square foot showroom filled with salvaged materials. Each house will be unique by virtue of the fact they are not mass produced, and created according to the reclaimed materials available at the time.

The new elements in the houses will, of course, be the electrics and plumbing to comply with modern building standards.

As if they were not eco-friendly enough, you can also opt for grey and black water recycling systems for water conservation and solar power systems for energy conversation.

You can go to their showroom and mix and match from the thousands of pieces they have available to create your own masterpiece, or send them a photo of a house you will like a miniature copy of.

Starting from just $32,000 for an 8’x16’ it has to be one of the best ways to recycle with style at an affordable price.

No two Tiny Texas Houses will ever be exactly alike but instead, each will be a unique piece of House Art.

Via: Trend Hunters Magazine

Ford Should Dump Singer And Racist Lynching Advocate Toby Keith

Ford Motor Company should take action to dump country singer Toby Keith as spokesman for their popular Ford Trucks.

First of all I love country music so it not that or that most of his macho tough guy persona, redneck and chauvinist music sucks. Or that he represents most of what's wrong with American men. It’s because Keith is a racist and apparent lynching advocate. It's funny that the red flags didn't go up at Ford earlier given the jingoistic white trailer trash crap that Keith is known to advocate.

Keith new hit record is entitled “Beer for My Horses”. Its lyrics are clearly racist and inflammatory to African Americans and others. Here a sample:

“Grand pappy told my pappy back in my day, son A man had to answer for the wicked that he'd done Take all the rope in Texas Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys Hang them high in the street For all the people to see”…..

Max Blumenthal of the Huffington Post has written extensively about Keith’s propensity to spew out his racism in his songs and in public, including recently on the Glen Beck show when he was asked about the success of Barack Obama.

"I think the black people would say he don't talk, act or carry himself as a black person. What does that even mean?" the audibly shocked Beck replied. "Well, I don't know what that means," Keith drawled, "but I think that that's what they would say. Even though the black society would pull for him I still think that they think in the back of their mind that the only reason he is in [the general election] is because he talks, acts and carries himself as a Caucasian."

So what the hell is the main sponsor of this bigot Ford Trucks doing to stop this? Apparently nothing. Ford has a deal to underwrite Keith's current “Biggest and Baddest” concert mega tour. If you been around rednecks especially in the south you quickly understand why. During my recent visit to rural Texas I found that it didn’t matter if you lived on a compost pile, because more often than not there's a late model Ford pickup parked in the yard.

When the popular country trio the Dixie Chicks were critical of George Bush in 2003 because of the Iraq war it prompted Keith to branded them “Saddams’s Angels”. Keith helped fire the redneck and right wing backlash against the Chicks that cumulated in such things as CD burning parties, Chicks concert cancellations and blacklisting by the music industry throughout the South and elsewhere.

The feud still continues till this day, in spite of attempts to mend fences, based on the recent cancellation of a joint engagement by the Chicks and Keith that was scheduled to bring attention to global warming. Something I sure Keith's fan base is not that captivated with. The Dixie Chicks wrote a hit song about the ordeal "not willing to make nice".

I think it's time we tell the Ford Motor Company what we think about their sponsorship of this xenophobic and pro lynching bigot. I suggest you contact Ford and demand they rethink their sponsorship of Keith. I composed a letter your welcome to cut and paste into their contact us email template and forward under your name.

Dear Ford Motor Company:

I would like to bring to your attention that I will not be buying any Ford Motor Company products, including any Ford Trucks until you end your relationship with country singer Toby Keith.

Keith has demonstrated that he is a racist and a bigot by writing and performing songs like “Beer For My Horses” that appear to support public lynching. He also stated during a nationally syndicated radio program that Barack Obama success was only because “he talks, acts and carries himself as a Caucasian.” Adding, “I think the black people would say he don't talk, act or carry himself as a black person”.

If the Ford Motor Company stands for equality and against racism, race bating and public lynching it needs to stop supporting people who do. I hope you will take action to
end your business relationship with Mr. Keith as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
artistdogboy

Inside The Koran National Geographic Special

Inside the Koran a National Geographic Special documentary Wednesday August 4th 6pm on NGC. Check your local listings for alternative viewing times.

Powerade Olympic Marketing Features Nude Atheletes

This advertising campaign appears to be a very tasteful and bold marketing ploy for Powerade, which is a Coca-cola owned company. Powerade is the official sports drink of the Beijing Olympics. But mature ads like this would never fly here in puritan conservative America so this campaign is British based.

MIT Breakthrough Discovery Of New Way To Store Solar Energy

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.

via:Informed Comment

Why Americans Know Little About The Rest Of The World

I saw this video from Alisa Miller of Public Radio International over at AmericaBlog and thought it was worth posting again just in case you missed it. It answers the question of why the United States is a nation of international retards.

Seattle Times Braindead Headline Of The Month

"Rich are not so different when economy is down"

Okay and pigs may fly out my ass! AP writer Mark Jewell in today's Seattle Times points out that the rich have to cut back on luxury items and other filthy rich pastimes. It's a freaking hilarious read. Ironically the rich and their Republican buddies are to blame for the last eight years of endless war and bad economic policy.

"Many are asking their personal shoppers and private-jet providers to seek the best deals rather than over-the-top extravagances." Meanwhile some retired grandma has to go hungry in order to pay her energy bill. This is such a total bullshit story. Come on Mr. Jewell there are people dying out here.

McCain's Negative Attacks Create Flood Of Obama Campaign Contributions And Volunteers

Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe's video message talks about how recent McCain negative, and I might add just plain stupid, attack ads have actually help increase campaign contributions to the Obama campaign. Over 200,000 contributions this week and 100,000 made yesterday alone, one-third were first time contributors and the negativity has apparently increased the number of volunteers showing up at Obama's field offices across the country.

Conservative Republican Banker Says Iraq War Reason For Economic Crisis

Instead of talking about race cards being played and Britney Spears John McCain should be force to talk about what a prominent Republican banker says is wrong with our economy. Mainly the Iraq War. But warmonger McCain will never do it, because he's all caught up in honor and victory and surrender and that type of rightwing jingoistic American political horseshit.

Richard Vague is a conservative businessman disgusted with the party he has belonged to for a very long time. He was the Founding CEO of the former First USA Bank which ran at the time the largest credit card operation in the United States. He later started a group called AmericanRespect.com, promoting American internationalism and trying to get the American government to demonstrate respect for other peoples and nations abroad.

Another Apparent Army Cover Up Of Rape and Murder In Iraq

If your not pissed after watching this piece your brain dead. This is a must watch video from the Young Turks. Comentator Cenk Uygur goes ballistic about the apparent cover up of a rape and murder of LeVena Johnson a US Army PFC station in Iraq. The Army has officially classified her death as a suicide.

This apparent cover-up is something every American should be furious about. Uygur also correctly points out that this type of government misconduct would of been at the top of the news cycle and on the front page of most newspapers at one time in America. Now all we get is the Vip stakes and whether Obama is just like Britney and Paris. Bullshit!

McCain's $500 Shoes

MCCain's $500 Ferragamo shoes, something that every working class guy can totally relate to...

Paul Allen's Broken Promise Comes Home To Roost No Real Grass For MLS Sounders

Next year the new Seattle Sounders will take the field as a new MLS franchise. The main problem the MLS has is that the Sounders and several other MLS teams still find themselves playing on artificial turf. This makes the MLS brand a form of phony American soccer.

We all know that REAL soccer is played on real grass not artificial turf.

Many don't remember that as part of the effort to get voters to approve the Seahawks Stadium Paul Allen made a promise that the field would be acceptable for soccer as well as NFL football. Meaning that it would be maintained as a real GRASS field. This promise later was forgotten when push came to shove and the NFL team's coaching staff and the powers to be apparently nixed the idea.

I supported the stadium myself with my vote in part because of this now broken promise made by Allen. As ususal there was little objection from Seattle fans who can't tell real grass from the phony stuff most of the time. Here we qoute from a CNN Sports Illustrated Grant Wahl article on the subject from August 2001, titled: Fasco in Seattle...

"The conventional wisdom has always been that if soccer ever gets big in the U.S., it will do so despite, not because of, the folks who run U.S. Soccer. Further evidence comes courtesy of former U.S. secretary general Hank Steinbrecher, who is almost single-handedly torpedoing efforts to bring world-class soccer to Seattle.

Quick background: In order to help secure public funds for the new Seahawks stadium under construction, the group building the stadium (led by team owner Paul Allen ) pitched it as a football/soccer facility that would have soccer dimensions and be able to house a possible MLS team and future U.S. national team games. "Wonderful!" said the Seattle community, which has its share of soccer fans and voted to help support the project, which was promised to have a grass field.

Now, however, Seahawks coach/GM Mike Holmgren wants to install FieldTurf, the new-age artificial turf that wouldn't get torn up by football games and the ever-present Seattle rain. One problem: Even though FIFA has approved FieldTurf for all soccer events except the World Cup finals, sources say there's no chance that U.S. Soccer will play World Cup qualifiers on the fake stuff.

Enter Steinbrecher, the first-class bloviator who recently sang the praises of FieldTurf for the Seattle stadium. "In my opinion," Steinbrecher told The Seattle Times, "FieldTurf is better than all but the top 10 percent of the grass fields in the world." Well, guess what? Steinbrecher is a paid consultant for the folks who bring you FieldTurf! So now, as Steinbrecher lines his pockets, the football people in Seattle can say, "Look, even the soccer people support FieldTurf!"

But what will Seattle soccer fans get in return for their financial support? No national team games (using a temporary grass field over the carpet would be expensive, impractical and possibly dangerous) and no MLS team (the last thing the league wants to do is pay exorbitant rent to play in another giant NFL stadium on fake turf).

The best solution for a possible MLS expansion team in Seattle would be to modify cozy Memorial Stadium near KeyArena: Install a grass field, expand the partially roofed digs to 20,000 seats and kick out the weekly high school football games -- to, say, the new Seahawks stadium, where the FieldTurf will undoubtedly be able to withstand the wear and tear.

And, oh, yes, it would help to find an MLS investor in the area willing to cough up $15 million or so (plus a few more million to modify Memorial Stadium, since the Seattle voters surely won't be hoodwinked again). Maybe Steinbrecher would be willing to contribute some of his hard-earned cash?"

To me and others nothing looks and feels more inauthentic then watching MLS soccer played on artificial turf fields with the NFL football lines still vaguely showing through. Also professional soccer players complain of injuries and other factors related to play on this phony grass that make it regrettable. Until the MLS eliminates artificial turf fields they are not going to be accepted as being legitimate by true soccer fans here and around the world. Ask any normal soccer fan from another country about the MLS and this often is one of the things their first to point out.

This Is Your Brain On Hope

New MoveOn.org ad takes comical look at hope in the future.

Yummy Yummy What Fast Food Really Looks LIke

This Flickr photo stream is frightening and hilarious at the same time. Makes you want to super size your eating habits. Thanks to Frightening Fast Food Flickr group. Ladies and gentlemen the Wendy's 3x classic triple (bypass).

God Please Spare Us From Another Unsophisticated Inarticulate Malaprop Of A Presidency

Shouldn't being able to speak properly be a basic requirement for being elected president?

I ‘m sick of US Presidents who can’t speak proper English or are so scattered, old, burnout or phony they can’t get their facts straight most of the time. I don’t mind the occasional mistake, but I can’t take it when it's a daily occurrence Ala Bush and McCain.

We need a president that can actually articulate his positions on the issues and affairs of the day in such a way that he is clearly understood. I’d venture a guess that Obama would be winning big if a the poll were taken of English professors.

You’d think that one of the top requirements of the presidency would be to be able to communicate your ideas, apparently not so much in low information voter America.

McCain so far has shown he’s in the same bush league as our un-scholarly current president when it comes to simply talking. Aren’t you sick of the American president looking like a total buffoon on the world stage? If not, you should cast your vote for McCain because one thing he will continue is the same Bush habit of making a complete ass of himself in public ever chance he gets, and at 72 years of age it’s probably going to get worse.

We put up with eight years of the bumbling of George W. Bush misspeak and now they offer us another halfwit speaker in the form of McCain. I want my president to be articulate and well read, not some one who acts like Charlie McCarthy being manipulated by a drunk Edgar Bergen.

Come on America! It time we had a elitist for our president not some nitwit who supposedly if fun to drink a beer with at the corner bar. This able to have a beer with nonsense is the height of stupidity as a barometer of anything meaningful. Most of the people I drank beer with at the corner bar were a bunch of low information slackers or drunks. Guess that says something about me too. It okay if you like low information slackers and drunks once in a while but not as the leader of the free world.

If I go to the circus or a show I want to see someone do something extraordinary that for a moment separates him or her, and me by observing it, from the mundane. I don’t want the same old mediocrity in that or in politics. This American propensity to settle for the banal is impeding our progress as a nation and people.

I think being able to speak properly would be a baseline qualification don’t you?

Hearings On Don't Ask Don't Tell Debunk Fears By Homophobic Nitwit

Freshman Representative Patrick Murphy, a former military officer himself, did an excellent job dealing with the disturbing views of homophobic witness and anti-military extremist Elaine Donnelly testifying before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Vote Vets points out that one's sexual orientation has nothing to do with performance on the battlefield or anyplace else in the military.

Obama Makes Clear That Real Front Against Terrorism Is In Afghanistan

Obama in Jordan yesterday made the point that the real war against terrorists is not in Iraq. Something that John McCain and many Americans have a hard time grasping. So let's roll the tape.

Mariners Insipid Play Reflects Candyass Front Office Failure

Do you dream of a winning Mariner team? If you do you should write a letter to your local newspaper or to principle Mariner owner Hiroshi Yamauchi via Nintendo calling for the heads of candy ass club CEO Howard Lincoln and president Chuck Armstrong. They've succeeded in turning Seattle back into a losing farm team for the better teams in baseball who more often then not seem to be able to take our rejects and cast offs and turn them into productive players.

These two men are personally responsible for the Mariners return to permanent mediocrity. In my mind the main reason is because of Armstrong and Lincoln’s phony dip shit family values centered Disney style feel good all over management style and personal statement that seems to permeate everything Mariner including their play on the field. It's a turn off to real baseball types who know how to win and may consider coming here except for the fact they have to answer to Lincoln and Armstrong if they did.

It may look good to Seattle’s uninformed, latte swilling, shiskaberry sucking, let's do the wave because we don't know the difference between football and baseball fans, but its main result is to produce recurring seasons of teams with losing records. These two have been behind the hiring of a line of weak yes men managers and the similar disposed and the recently fired GM Bill Bavasi. Bavasi is responsible for a number of on field personnel decisions over the last several seasons that have proved to be mistakes or simply inept. It wasn’t because money wasn’t available to woo winning players to come here, the club has one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball.

Yamauchi should replace these two anal retentives with someone who knows something about winning baseball games. In case you haven’t noticed Lincoln and Armstrong spend most of their time on their number one priority, trying to keep couples from kissing, or doing much else that fans like to do at baseball games like wearing tee shirts that indicate that the visiting team SUCKS or simply being at the ballpark to have a good time and blow off some steam. I’m sick of them hiring these ass licking field managers who feel warm all over even after a 100 lose seasons.

Last night for example I watched as Mariner Pitcher Jarrod Washburn once again demonstrated his yearly propensity for failing to get past the 6th inning and getting shelled in the process only to have the lap dog Fox Sports Northwest commentators during the post game wrap-up talk about what a fine outing he had by lasting 5 innings and losing the game. This, a demonstration of habit those dependent on the Mariners for their lively-hood have of trying to turn a sows ear of a baseball team into a silk purse. Washburn’s record slipped to 4 wins and 9 loses. He, like the highly paid and recently release slugger Richie Sexson, pitchers Migel Batista and Carlos Silva indicate the total lack of competence Mariner upper management had when it hired GM Bavasi who's mainly responsible for bringing these millstones around the franchise's neck unproductive players here in the first place.

I'm not even going to start on what I think about no hit strike out prone Willie Bloomquist being a everyday player except to say he'd be riding the pines or released if he were associated with any real major league baseball team. How many years of mediocrity does it take before you know?

Bavasi didn't begin to rebuild the team in the classic sense when he got here from within the organization by using the farm system's young players, but instead used these prospects as trade bait to go for so called established players who's worth was questionable. He also brought in several veteran players through free agency who turn out to be busts for the most part, 15.5 million dollar Sexson being the main example, or he'd cut loose productive players because they didn't meet the Lincoln Armstrong arbitrary code of personal moral cleanliness and godliness or they did things like chew tobacco in front of kids.

Then there’s Casper Milk Toast managers like the now deposed Bob Melvin, Mike Hargrove and John McLaren who couldn’t get the high paid prima donnas players to produce wins on the field. Bavasi modes operandi was to bring in washed up players just past their prime and expecting them to produce numbers they hadn’t achieved any time lately. Lincoln and Armstrong liked these weak minded managers because they were the opposite of Lou Piniella who'd rather punch someone in the nose then lose a baseball game. Something he may of done to them had he stayed any longer.

As far as the permanent replacement for Bavasi, one former American League executive, asking for anonymity, told me recently, "If Lincoln and Armstrong are there, whoever the GM is won't matter." Art Thiel Seattle PI

True baseball MEN like former Manager "sweet" Lou Piniella and GM Pat Gillick had enough of the interfering and goodie two shoes management style of Lincoln and Armstrong and bolted for greener pastures by the time the end of the 2003 season had rolled around. They took a record of several playoff appearances and a record breaking 116 win season with them plus any chance the Mariner had to be successful on the field in the immediate future because of the phony leadership by Lincoln and Armstrong. Both Piniella and Gillick have gone on to be the part of successful and competitive pennant contending operations with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies respectfully.

Piniella, besides being a brilliant baseball mind, more importantly reflected the true workingman blue collar honest no nonsense values and passion that successful baseball managers usually have as part of their overall makeup and was sort of the antithesis to the (excuse me) pussies that Lincoln and Armstrong represent. Lincoln and Armstrong saw Piniella as a threat and a risk to their squeaky clean ideas about life and baseball. Piniella’s entertaining volcanic on field outbursts and tell it like it is style scared the shit out of these two squares. Unfortunately for Seattle Piniella style also produced winning baseball teams. Piniella remains well loved and deeply missed by most knowledgeable baseball fans who give a shit and screw that dumb ass pansy ass Moose too.

If Seattle Had Approved The 1968 Rapid Transit Bond Issue It Be Paid Off This Year Cost Less And Been Better Then The One We Still Haven't Built Yet

Sorry you wannabe hipsters, but it's true. Nothing that even looks like a long term capital improvement to our infrastructure or a quality of life improvement can ever get passed in the lame backwater town of Seattle or the Puget Sound region.

Blame the process on the chicken heartened back-boneless gagle of PC bloggers and blowhards who rather posture and talk endlessly about the system's freaking carbon score than build anything. Most of these nitwits intercity pols are more concerned about making sure they look good or get re-elected. Even our supposedly backwater friends in Stinktown (Tacoma) and Portland are way ahead of us on this issue.

Name me one politician in this state who's got the political juice and where with all to get something done. Fuck the special Seattle propensity of involving everyone in god's green earth in the endless egocentric talk it through PROCESS process. I've prayed for a REAL big city politician to come on the scene for years who's not afraid to DO SOMETHING and get voted out of office if the people don't like it. The current price of gas crisis only puts more emphasis on how the region got caught with it collective people moving pants down. The only good thing about the pain at the pump is it may force the nitwit population of obstructionist's hand, so they'd actually HAVE to ACT.

"The Forward Thrust package in 1968 would have given the area a system of amazing scope. It would have been completed in 1985 and fully paid off in 2008. It would have been heavy rail, largely in subways, with two prongs north, two prongs south, and two prongs on the Eastside. Unlike Portland's system, which is largely on the street, this system would have been separated from traffic and much faster. It probably would have done a fair amount toward shaping dense neighborhoods and concentrating urban growth. All this at one quarter the local cost of a completed (much smaller and slower) Sound Transit system."

I remember voting for the rapid transit system in 1968 before most of the present day nitwitlalapalooza blogger bunch even had heard of the personal computer. For Christ sake these cheap penny wise and dollar short assholes around here would probably have a heart attack if they had to compare the proposed cost then to the inflated cost it be today for the same system. But let's go to the video so that I can suffer once again from rapid transit envy.

Number one in the world of rapid transit is apparently Singapore, and their mostly Buddhists. They beat you with a stick in the public square if you throw your gum on the ground. I'll take a Buddhist over a surrender monkey WASP any day of the week I guess. Buddhist never surrender because they hardly ever start useless wars that they have to later end up surrendering for like Pops McCain likes to point out all the time.

Carl Rove Should Be In Jail

I tell my friends that there will be no real justice in this country until Carl Rove, Bush, Cheney et al are prosecuted and put in jail. How can you put a man in jail for shoplifting and at the same time not prosecute these thugs for the heinous war crimes and abuses of power they have conducted. Are we not a nation of laws?