Vox’s posts tagged republican

We Win!!! (for now) Court stops slaughter of Yellowstone and Glacier National Park Wolves.

nobody@vox.com(TruthTeller998) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:20:35 +0000

Judge Donald Molloy is a man of courage.

It's the best possible news. Seven weeks after we went to court, a federal judge has ordered the Bush Administration to restore endangered species protections for wolves in the northern Rockies until the full case can be heard.

This interim victory is nothing less than a life-saving reprieve for hundreds of wolves outside Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Since the Bush Administration stripped the region's wolves of federal protection, a total of 110 wolves have been brutally killed in as many days.

But Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "acted arbitrarily" in taking the wolf off the endangered species list and turning their management over to the states.

That means Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will be forced to abandon plans to allow the extermination of hundreds of wolves this fall as part of a massive public hunt -- the first in more than three decades.

Press Release from NRDC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Judge Reinstates Endangered Species Act Protections for Wolves
Ruling Will Protect Wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

LIVINGSTON, Mont. (July 18, 2008) – A federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana issued a preliminary injunction today reinstating Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies. Conservation groups had sued the government, arguing that delisting the wolves was premature and that allowing the indiscriminate killing of wolves risked putting wolves back on the brink of extinction.

The following is a statement by Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“The federal court just offered a badly needed lifeline to wolves in the Northern Rockies,” said Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Wolves have been getting killed at a rate of about one per day since the federal government stripped them of Endangered Species Act protections. Today’s ruling means the slaughter must stop.”

Simply put, the wolves of Yellowstone and the northern Rockies are much, much safer today than they were just last week.

This incredible, eleventh-hour victory never would have happened without your strong support. Your donations and online activism have fueled this campaign since day one.

Thanks to your backing, a tenacious coalition -- composed of NRDC, EarthJustice and 11 other conservation groups -- has worked tirelessly to save these magnificent creatures in one of America's best-loved places.

Make no mistake: the fight for Yellowstone's wolves is far from over. Judge Molloy's injunction is temporary. We must now wage the courtroom battle for a final ruling in favor of wolves.

Donate to the NRDC if you can. I will also post links for any future action alerts from NRDC

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Elaine Donnelly is not a lesbian.

nobody@vox.com(Q) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:53:02 +0000

Elaine Donnelly is not a lesbian.

Elaine Donnelly

Elaine Donnelly thanks you for your support.

Congress holds hearings on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva and Elaine

07/23/08: Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) questions Elaine Donnelly.

Elaine airs her dirty laundry.

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Words

nobody@vox.com(Toe-Knee) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:34:25 +0000

The War on Terror. Read those words; The. War. On. Terror. Each word has a blunt finality about it, this is not A War on Terror, it is not The Struggle Against Terror, and it is not The War on Extremists or weapon wielding maniacs, or the policy to protect people. It is simply The War on Terror and it is propaganda.

Muslim, Jihad, Taliban, Al-Queda, we say these words and we listen to them, but we do not know what they mean and those that do have no interest in telling us. They are words in another language that most of us don't speak, references to a culture not our own, and when we hear them, we think of what we've been carefully guided to think of for the past 7 years. They too are propaganda.

Before September, 7 years ago, there was a different war. Perhaps some of you remember it; The War on Drugs. We don't hear about the War on Drugs anymore, but not because it's been won. There are still plenty of drug users everywhere, their dealers are still making hoards of money, and Law Officials are still struggling to shut down massive narcotic operations. Still there is no more War on Drugs. Why is this? Because the War on Drugs is just words, and those words were once propaganda but are no longer.

The War in Iraq, we hear these words and they sound tired. Some of us remember that there was a War in Iraq once before, but it isn't considered. This is not another War in Iraq, because that other one was so short we hardly even managed to catch the exciting parts on the nightly news. This War, the War in Iraq is not just words, it is not propaganda, it stopped being so when thousands of soldiers didn't come home, or came home crippled. It stopped being just words when the last glimmers of the former prosperity of the 90's was submerged by market insecurity and rising fuel costs. They stopped being just words when the Weapons of Mass Destruction, were not there... their leader was dead... but still no one came home, soldiers were still fighting and dying, but all the propaganda associated with it was gone.

Osama Bin Laden, is a man. He is responsible for the deaths of many American citizens, and he is in hiding. He is not just words, but he is propaganda as well. America's people are united in their hatred of Osama Bin Laden, his continued existence justifies enormous public expenditure towards The War on Terror. His continued existence justifies the suspension of habeas corpus, it justifies torture, it justifies the annihilation of the Fourth Amendment Constitutional Rights, and it justifies a national suspicion and borderline hatred of the largest and fastest growing religion in the world. Now what would happen if he were caught?

In a Democratic nation, propaganda is necessary. It creates a unified cultural identity and gives the nation a cause. If there is no cause than a nation will tear it's self apart squabbling over taxes and the cost of pies. Propaganda creates the illusion of a mutual enemy which unites the people and keeps the nation functioning. Democracy empowers any individual with a strong enough passion to change the course of his nation, but that's the problem. A ship can only go one direction, and if there are multiple rudders all guiding it in different directions the ship won't go anywhere and something could break. So steps must be taken to ensure that those multiple rudders are at the very least not all working against each other.

Democracy is a form of government, it is an ideal fostered thousands of years ago by men with a dream. "[It] is the worst form of Government, except [for] all the others" - and it is widely considered to be the best reason to be an American, or Canadian, British, French, Australian, or a number of other great nationalities. America can be proud that it was the nation that inspired the rest of the world to begin adopting this beneficent form of government. America lead by example and the world is a much better place for it today.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Carl Rove, are people, and they may yet be propaganda in the future. They are responsible for the deaths of many American citizens, and they are not in hiding. They were the creators of The War on Terror, they ordered the War in Iraq, and they have not captured Osama Bin Laden. However, they have used these things to erode, undermine and shame America's greatest legacy. The people who have been killed because of their actions are numerous, but worse is the compromise of the integrity of the nation which they have lead. They have successfully attacked America's ideals and destroyed elements of what make America great, they have violated it's laws, and tarnished it's reputation. And still they continue to do so every day, they tell us it is for our own good and we choose to believe them even though we know they are liars.

People say that America is being attacked, they say that it's enemies are growing stronger and that each person needs to realize this and take steps to protect their homes and families.

I whole-heartedly agree with those words.

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You Listening McCain?

nobody@vox.com(dox^2) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:17:58 +0000

With speculation that McCain is going to make his pick this week... my vote still goes to Sarah Palin -- "could be a home run."

All of the others seem like the same old song and dance.

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Brent Rinehart (R), Oklahoma County Commissioner, District 2, is not a homosexual.

nobody@vox.com(Q) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:04:10 +0000

Brent Rinehart is not a homosexual .

Brent Rinehart (R)

Brent Rinehart's Comic Book

Full comic book here.

Brent Rinehart's CNN Interview

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The Republicans Have to Look at the Future

nobody@vox.com(Alethinos Paradoxos) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:32:09 +0000

The most frequently cited occupation by donors to the McCain campaign was "retired." This is an interesting statistic when one considers the future of American politics.

I am personally not a fan of either the Democratic or the Republican party as I think that the current party system as it stands is clearly broken and does not truly represent the American public (most Americans are far closer to the middle than either of the parties).

If are however stuck with these two parties as the primary makeup of our government, then it is imperative that both be almost equal in strength as a system of checks and balances.

Twenty of the last twenty eight years (when I started really paying attention to politics) have been under a Republican president. Now the statistics are showing that the financial base of the Republicans is out of the work force and aging.

What immediately comes to mind when I hear this is that the people who are supporting the Republican Party predominantly are nothing like me, (I am not retired any time soon and looking at my retirement plan I may never be) and are also going to find their numbers diminishing over time unless new, younger supporters can be found.

There seems to be an evolution happening as the younger generations seem to suddenly be taking an interest in politics. One of the biggest changes is a completely different worldview that more and more seems to differ from the Republican Party.

Compound that with the fact that African American voters and many Latino voters seem to vote Democratic consistently the Republican Party looks like a ship that is slowly sinking.

I am not sure where I first heard this saying, but it is a key to the future of both parties: “He (or she), who controls the youth, controls the future.” If the Republican Party cannot find a way to start attracting more of the youth, minorities, and those still in the workforce, there will be a huge price to pay for their party and for the American public.

I for one am not convinced that a government that is on the extreme left (or the extreme right) for that matter is good for anyone.

To compound the problem, there is what many perceive as the weakening of the Christian Right Wing over the last two years. In my opinion and observations that group is not weakened, that group just simply doesn’t have a horse in this race. Senator John McCain, who eight years ago was publically attacking that group is not their first vote to represent them, but their votes in the primaries were divided between other candidates and somehow this guy came out on top. Now there is this unsure attitude about Senator McCain and that group will probably still vote for him simply because they do not want a Left Wing president. However, they are not truly excited about him.

I said all of that to say that there is the beginning of an alienation of a large chunk of the base of the Republican Party which also threatens to shrink the support base.

As the Democrats work diligently on the internet and with the youth of our country, if the Republicans don’t start retooling their message and their base, it may not happen this election, but over the long term we are looking at a one party future that does not include the Republicans (although I am sure that something else would turn up to take it’s place and may even be better).

A Side Note

I for one consider myself a normal middleclass American with two children and a dog. My wife and I work and commute long distances to our jobs. We save struggle etc. I served my time in the Marine Corps and love my country. I am a Christian man and believe in God. I am also of mixed racial origin. (African American, Caucasian, and Latino)

All that being said, I have to be clear that the more I explore what the parties are doing and compare it to my views, needs, concerns, desires, and beliefs, neither is cutting it at all. Each party has a few good points and several things that just defy anything that could even call itself common sense.

The way I see it, it is like there is a bunch of people playing a giant board game and my family and I are the (expendable) pieces. This is why the idea of doing what is popular with your party or the supporters of your party as opposed to what is right is such a sticking point for me.

I have felt powerless for years and have felt like the two or three people who vote for the other weirdoes that run as independents every four years. This is why I am blogging and discussing this.

The problem is that we the public are swayed more by who has a better sales pitch this time or the party we consider ourselves affiliated with instead of realizing that we are dealing with the lives and futures of billions of people around the world.

This vote and our say are of grave importance and should be treated as such.

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Obama more “exciting” than McCain—and why this matters

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:44:41 +0000

This is no surprise given the promotions that Sen. Obama has been getting in the media: ‘Obama elicits more excitement than McCain’, according to USA Today.
   I want to be the voice of reason but 21 years in communications tell me that this is important. If your brand, personal or organizational, elicits excitement among its constituents, then you have a greater chance of mobilizing those people when you need them.
   Even when it comes to politics, to get messages across to voters, one has to resort to the tried and trusted techniques of branding and marketing.
   There are few in the present generations who will, as many bloggers do, investigate someone’s voting record or dig deeply into their histories. It would be nice to say that presidents are not elected based on how much excitement they can generate. Or that we should place greater emphasis on other qualities like honour and sincerity.
   While some might point to exceptions, such as the Tory victory in the UK of 1992, I beg to differ. That campaign was hard fought by the Conservatives and depended on party unity—which was sorely lacking in 1997 when Tony Blair was elected. The National victory in New Zealand of 1990 was a result of the cry for change and the belief that Labour was leaderless.
   And the cry for change is such a powerful message in politics, because politicians understand our nature: even the vaguest change is better than the strongest, best defined policies if a party has been in power for too long.
   Labour in the UK in 1997, National in New Zealand in 1990, Labour in New Zealand in 1999, Clinton in 1992—all these are examples of that message. And that, too, “excites”.
   Sen. McCain should not pursue an excitement route himself, but he should capitalize on mistakes that the Obama campaign is making with greater regularity. The New Yorker gaffe—where Sen. Obama felt the need to comment rather than appear presidential and above satire—was an opportunity missed. Meanwhile, I wonder if people appreciate the maverick, go-it-alone style of John McCain, which plays well in the Senate, but could be symptomatic of future Cabinet divisiveness under his administration.
   A winner is by no means clear, and a week remains a long time in politics. Months, as Sen. Clinton will attest as she went from dead cert to second-best, are an eternity.

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Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. (R-FL) is not a homosexual.

nobody@vox.com(Q) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:43:14 +0000

Charlie Crist is not a homosexual.

Charlie Crist (R-FL)

Gay Boy (Radio Edit)

Wire Daisies

Wire Daisies "Gay Boy"

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This is what the election has come down to?

nobody@vox.com(capicu) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:04:34 +0000

Republicans (especially R. Giuliani) don't waste time reminding everyone that will listen about 9-11, and that we are in a "war". This is their justification for spying on people, FISA, torturing innnocent people, and all the other things that have been happening since.
Now, the price of gas is $4.00 +, banks are failing , and will be failing in the days/months/years to come, the dollar keeps losing its value , food prices are skyrocketing.
Pretty much things aren't too good for "regular people" who punch a clock, and have to work for a living. Much less for those who are retired, or depend on volunteers to feed them (meals on wheels,etc.)
People are fed up.
That is common knowledge.
McCain knows it,
Republicans know it.
That is why McCain has been trying to distance himself from Bush ....
Even though his financial people/advisers are the same ones behind Enron, and actually are the ones behind the "Enron Loophole" (read the book, or watch the movie "the smartest guys in the room" to understand) which is partially to blame for the high price of gasoline (speculators/artificial manipulation of prices...much like what happened with Enron).
But that is another topic altogether.
The billboard below makes me think.
Do republicans really think this way?
I know McCain isn't behind this , but republicans are. Do they really believe this?
Has it come down to scaring people to vote republican?
The second billboard explains that history repeats itself.
IT is an OLD game by republicans ...To scare people into voting for them.
Don't be manipulated. Remember if you don't make 10 million dollars a year, then all you are to them is livestock Get back to work for them.

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ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:58:45 AM

nobody@vox.com(ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:58:50 +0000

Today we're rife with moronics.

Here is just a small sample that made it into print:

"The city of Savannah has become impoverished.”

The City of Savannah has always been impoverished. 30% live in poverty as of the last census and the one before that and the one before that.

This is not a Political Fairy Tale

“You will discover that many of the positions have been thought out over the years and where he seems to change, he is just adjusting these positions in response to new information and current realities.”

This writer is defending Obama’s slide to the center in his general election campaign.

Yeah, the first casualty of politics is what you actually believe in. He is “adjusting” to get elected nothing more. To try to make this some epiphany on the candidates part is just plain stupid.

“Two years in control of Congress … …We still have no oil bill, no Social Security solution, no immigration bill, no ethics bill, and no medical insurance bill.”

This writer is slamming the Democrats for their seeming inaction since taking back the house and senate.

Of course, he does not mention that the Republicans have successfully blocked every attempt at any kind of meaningful legislation.

The Democrats did it as well when they were the minority and it is perfectly legal under the filibuster and cloture rules. It now takes 60 votes to do anything in substantive in the Senate and neither side seems willing to let the other side score points.

Just 350 more payments...

“If I had simply been paying more attention to hard numbers, maybe I would have noticed back in January 2007 when residential sales in the area dipped nearly 20 percent from January 2006.”

And if you had a quarter of a brain you would stop using the figures from the height of an unrealistic economic bubble to compare economic trends.

I am so sick of this writer in particular lamenting the housing situation because he and all his neighbors housing values dropped or houses on his street fail to sell.

The bubble was ridiculous, housing stock was overvalued, by some estimates, as much as 80 percent in some markets.

People spent and invested based on what was obviously overinflated prices, they built new houses like they were going out of style and people borrowed sums they couldn’t possibly pay back in order to buy those overpriced houses.

Now the bubble has popped, you can wish things could go back to being overheated and overpriced if you are stupid but a much more sustainable level of home sales is what you should be pining for.

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Internal Conversation

nobody@vox.com(Pepper Blue) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:22:59 +0000

Through out any given day, I have many internal conversations with myself. Lots of these are debates about what I should do next, how I'm feeling, and what should be the plans for the future. I always toss about ideas, but rarely come to a conclusion. When I have worked down to a couple arguments, I open the conversation up to the outside world. Most often that's Atom.

Last night as we were driving out to pick up the kids at Craptastic farm, Atom and I were listening to WCCO. They were discussing the possibility that Jesse Ventura may run for Senate. Atom and I discussed how we felt about that and what we felt about the other candidates. Surprisingly, we agreed.

So, all afternoon, my internal conversation has been: am I less left than I'd like to be? I know that in theory I'd prefer to be very left. I'd like to believe that I am a good Democrat, like my momma raised me. But, when I start to agree with Atom, I feel like I've somehow let the my grip on the Democratic rope loosen. Could we loose this tug of war battle because of me!?! Internally, I shame myself for not holding tight to what I have always believed to be true. I can't help but feel like sleeping with this mild Republican every night is somehow wearing off on me. Worse yet, what if my kids *gasp* become Republicans.

I think I need to contribute to Franken and Obama STAT!

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More Buzz for Palin...

nobody@vox.com(dox^2) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:37:15 +0000

Sarah Palin for Vice President - 2008

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My 2 cents on Obama - Well not mine, but I agree with this one

nobody@vox.com(~/~ELIA~\~) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:03:18 +0000

My 2 cents on Obama - Well not mine, but I agree with this one

(This does not mean I endorse McCain. Frankly, I can not endorse any candidate. I just don't feel comfortable doing that - but facts are facts - and here are the facts.)

This article found online at:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20269.htm

Worse than McCain

By Mike Whitney

11/07/08 "ICH" --- - Every four years, liberals and progressives are expected to set aside their beliefs and stand foursquare behind the Democratic Party candidate. This ritual is invariably performed in the name of party unity. It doesn't matter if the candidate is a smooth-talking politician who's willing to toss his Pastor of 20 years overboard for a few awkward comments, or whether he refuses to defend basic civil liberties like the 4th amendment's right to privacy. All that matters is that there's a big "D" following his name and that he shows he's willing to engage in some meaningless verbal jousting with his Republican opponent.

For nearly a year now, the public has been treated to regular doses of Mr. Obama's grandiloquent oratory and his sweeping "Follow me to Shangri-la" promises. These flourishes are usually followed by "clarifications" on the central issues which identify Obama as a center-right conservative with no intention of disrupting the status quo. Political analyst Alexander Cockburn summed it up like this in a recent article on counterpunch:

"There have plenty of articles recently with headlines such “Obama’s Lunge to the Right”. I find these odd. Never for one moment has Obama ever struck me as someone anchored, or even loosely moored to the left, or even displaying the slightest appetite for radical notions, aside from a few taglines tossed from the campaign bus." (Alexander Cockburn, "Could Anyone be Worse than Bush?")

Cockburn is right and most people know it. They simply ignore the facts because the thought of the unstable John McCain in the Oval Office with his stubby fingers just inches from the Big Red Switch is too much to bear. So, they throw their support behind Obama and hope for the best. But Obama has done nothing to earn their vote and there's nothing to indicate that he has any interest in restoring the republic or putting and end to US adventurism. He's just a one-term senator with zero foreign policy experience who doesn't want to rock the boat. That's it. He'd rather keep his position on the issues blurry and rattle off lofty-sounding platitudes than state plainly how he feels. Unfortunately, when he's pinned down and has to give a straight answer, he quickly swerves to the right where he feels most at home.

This concerns the Obamaniacs who worry that behind the rhetorical fanfare, Barak is just an empty gourd; a well-spoken pitch man with no moral core. Could he be another Slick Willie, they wonder; another self-promoting politico as eager to sell out his working class supporters as chase a frisky intern around the Lincoln bedroom? No one knows, because no one has figured out exactly why Obama is running. Does he really want to lift the country from the muck of 8 years of Bush misrule or does he just want to gad about on Airforce 1 and make pretty speeches in the Rose Garden? What really drives Obama? It's a mystery.

But don't be fooled, Obama could turn out to be worse than McCain, much worse. No one doubts that he is brighter and more charismatic than the irritating senator from Arizona. And no one underestimates his Pied Piper ability to galvanize crowds and stir up national pride. But what good is that? Obama works for the same group of venal plutocrats as Bush; a fact that was made painfully clear just last week when he voted to approve the new FISA bill that allows the president to continue spying on American citizens with impunity. Obama is a constitutional scholar; he understood what he was voting for. He was sending a message to his supporters that they don't really matter; that what really counts is the small gaggle of powerful corporatists who run the country and believe the president is above the law. That's what his vote really meant.

So, why vote for him? We don't need a glamor boy to trash the Bill of Rights. Any old autocrat will do. Just pick a name from the "resident scholar" list at the American Enterprise Institute. That ought to do it.

And we don't need another paper-mache president who tries to conceal America's war crimes behind stuffy-sounding pronouncements about the "Islamofacism" and other terrorist mumbo-jumbo. What we need is someone with enough guts and moral fiber to shake up the political establishment, put an end to the wars and covert operations, and clean up Wall Street.

Obama has dazzled the media with his easy manner and his savoir faire, but he's not the right man for the job. He has surrounded himself with ex-Clintonistas who will continue the global onslaught with even greater ferocity than Bush, although much more discreetly.(After all, this is the empire's A Team) And just like Clinton, who bombed the bejesus out of Belgrade for 87 days without batting an eye; Obama will keep the war machine chugging along at full-throttle while he diverts the media with his colorful bloviating and his rock star persona. No thanks.

What the world really needs is a five or ten year break from the United States; a little breather so people can unwind and take it easy for a while without worrying that their wedding party will be vaporized in blast of napalm or that their brother-in-law will be dragged off to some CIA hellhole where his eyes are gouged out and his fingernails ripped off. That's what the world really needs, a temporary pause in the imperial violence. But there won't be any sabbatical under Field-Marshall Obama; no way. As journalist Bill Van Auken points out in his article on the World Socialist web site, Obama may turn out to be the point-man for reinstating the draft:

Obama has "lamented the failure of the Bush administration to issue “a call to service” and “a call for shared sacrifice....There is no challenge greater than the defense of our nation and our values,” said Obama. We “need to ease the burden on our troops, while meeting the challenges of the 21st century," which, according to Obama, will require an "increase US ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.'" ("Obama continues lurch to the right on Iraq war and militarism" Bill Van Auken)

Is that why the political establishment is so enthusiastic about Obama, because they need a better recruiting sergeant than the uninspiring McCain?

No one has followed Obama's rightward drift with greater interest and bemusement than the editors of the Wall Street Journal. They have faithfully chronicled all the vacillating, obfuscating and backpedaling and they've made up their minds; Obama is marching straight towards the welcoming arms of the Republican Party. That's right; he's gradually embracing the conservative platform and abandoning any pretense of liberalism. Two weeks ago the WSJ ran an editorial that summarized Obama's metamorphosis in an article titled "Bush's Third Term":

"We're beginning to understand why Barack Obama keeps protesting so vigorously against the prospect of 'George Bush's third term.' Maybe he's worried that someone will notice that he's the candidate who's running for it.

Most Presidential candidates adapt their message after they win their party nomination, but Mr. Obama isn't merely 'running to the center.' He's fleeing from many of his primary positions so markedly and so rapidly that he's embracing a sizable chunk of President Bush's policy. Who would have thought that a Democrat would rehabilitate the much-maligned Bush agenda?" (Wall Street Journal)

That's fair enough. Obama has changed his position on his "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies". He has wormed his way out of a definite commitment on withdrawaling the troops from Iraq. (which was a real lesson in Clintonian triangulation) He's backed off on his promise to rewrite the NAFTA free trade agreement. He's thrown his support behind Bush's "faith-based" social programs which provide state money for religious organizations. He's even sided with the far-right loonies on the Supreme Court on gun rights and whether to ban the death penalty for rape. (truly outrageous) How can anyone support a candidate who is on the same ideological side of legal issues as Antonin Scalia?

In the past few weeks, Senator Switcheroo has blasted Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while, at the same time, heaping praise on our "good friend" Israel. Obama even has a two paragraph commentary on his campaign web site lauding Israel's devastating attack on Lebanon a year ago which killed 1,500 civilians and reduced much of the country's vital infrastructure to rubble.

Still think the "peace candidate" does not have the warmongering bone fides to do the empire's dirty work?

Think again.

Many of us who have criticized Obama are being dismissed as cynics, but that's nonsense. The truth is that the Obama supporters have projected their own values onto their candidate and are trying to make him out to be something that he is not. They put words in his mouth so they can continue to hold on to the crazy notion that the system really isn't broken and that it can be fixed by simply pulling a lever on election day. This is just the lazy-man's way of ignoring the real work that needs to be done to restore American democracy; the organizing of groups and networks, the building of labor unions and working coalitions, the focussed determination to root-out corruption and entrenched corporate power. The system has to be rebuilt from the bottom-up not the top-down. It'll take a revolution in thinking and lots of hard work. There's no quick fix. Freedom isn't free anymore; deal with it. Voting for Obama and keeping one's fingers crossed, is not a sign of hope. It's a sign of self-delusion.

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Better Left Unsaid

nobody@vox.com(COA) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:25:45 +0000

McCain

Killing Iranians should not be funny though McCain sure thinks that it is. What would happen if the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made such a joke about killing Americans? The war drum against Iran would be beaten that much harder.

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Here Comes the Republicageddon!

nobody@vox.com(Alethinos Paradoxos) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:57:01 +0000

The Battle for Republican presidential hopeful is about to takeoff at full speed. The big problem Senator McCain is gong to have is that this battle is with the conservatives within his own party.

Senator John McCain, who has had more than his share of troubles with the more conservative of his party, has been trying to straddle the fence and keep both the moderates of his party and the ultraconservatives happy. Both ends (and the middle of his party) have been carefully watching him with one eyebrow raised.

While Senator McCain was using the gopher campaign technique (staying underground and poking his head out every once in while, here and there) and letting the democrats annihilate each other, this problem seemed to be dissipating.

Now that the campaign has moved into the phase where you start to see each of the candidates more and more, there is a push to have him clearly make a stand on some issues that are important within his party.

The few stands he has made have not been popular with the conservative end of his party and the conservatives are ready to confront this head-on beginning at the Republican Convention.

What this means is that the riding the fence days are over. He is going to have to make the clear stands and risk loosing the votes of those that do not approve.

The troubling part (if you are a Republican) is that your candidate has made it to July and is drifting away from having the party united instead of just going through the last needed changes to finish unifying the party. It is as if his campaign is in reverse.

Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama seem to having problems unifying their parties, but Senator McCain seems to be headed in the wrong direction.

The real question is; can the Moderate Republicans, the Ultra-conservative Republicans, and those somewhere in between come together and agree with Senator McCain.

If not there will be third, forth, and fifth party candidates this election season that will be looking to happily take those votes from him and absolutely destroy his chances of becoming president.

I for one am very curious where this is headed and wonder how those in his campaign will seek to unify the soon to be warring factions.

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Let's not kid ourselves...

nobody@vox.com(Michael Caputo) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:04:40 +0000

Skyways in St. Paul

Inside the Skyway

If you live in the Twin Cities – and those harsh winters – you feel some gratitude for the skyway system.

In St. Paul, they are vast and can get you around a fair chunk of the downtown area.

And there are plenty of places around these skyways to get a bite to eat, a haircut, a cup of coffee, a last-minute gift for a spouse (not that I’ve ever done that mind you… no).

But these skyways of St. Paul – as colleague Bob Collins of NewsCut put it a few months back – are not exactly screaming “vibrant.”

Not by a long shot in some sections.

Collins wondered then what the Republican convention-goers might think of the vast unused space. Apparently he’s not alone.

Another colleague, MPR reporter Laura Yuen reported last week, that city business leaders are coming up with a plan to give short-term leases (as little as a week) to house their business in an empty space. Matt Anfang, president of the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association, told Yuen that the plan will help make downtown look more alive during the convention.

But another Chamber of Commerce official bristled at the notion that the effort is an attempt to make it look like downtown is more bustling that it really is. Some in the story said maybe this would be the entrée some business owners need to stick in the skyway space long after the convention has left town.

No one doubts that the idea to have these unused spaces filled for the convention makes sense.

But do we really need to have any other justifications (it could get the skyways more business, for example)?

Should city business leaders really feel aghast that one might suggest the effort is simply away to dress up the very dormant skyways?

Where does that lead to?

At least those spaces can be worked on.

Other spots in the skyway leave you wondering.

How, for instance, could city leaders possibly explain the atrophied escalators in the Town Square area of the skyway complex.

They once led to an indoor park, a great idea for those winter months, but one that couldn’t be sustained by city.

How do you dress those up?

Maybe an answer is forthcoming.

But there should be no reason for anyone in St. Paul to runaway from the idea that we want to make the downtown look as presentable as possible for the Republican convention. And if five-day leases in the skyways helps, fine. No need to make them out to be anything more than a quick makeover.

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