We'll never claim to be fair and balanced, just honest and trustworthy
January 7, 2008

OBAMA BOUNCE CONTINUES!

From Newsday.com:

Four new polls released today show Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief rival surging to a double digit lead in New Hampshire, two days before voters there cast ballots in the state’s presidential primaries.

The new polling data comes one day after Clinton’s campaign sent e-mails to reporters claiming that rival Barack Obama gained no momentum from his stunning win in last week’s Iowa caucuses.

A CNN/WMUR poll out Sunday afternoon showed the freshman Illinois senator at 39 percent, Clinton at 29 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards slumping to 16 percent, according to the CNN website. The poll sampled 341 Democratic likely voters and 268 likely Republican voters.

The new data represents a dramatic surge from polling released a day earlier, which showed the two Democratic leaders tied at 33 percent. In September, Clinton led Obama by a more than two to one margin.

A USA Today/Gallup poll out today had worse news for Clinton, showing her trailing Obama by a 41-28 margin. Polls by Rasmussen Reports and by American Research Group also showed Obama with double-digit leads.

Hours before the poll results were released, Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator and Knicks legend announced his endorsement of Obama. Bradley lost in the 2000 New Hampshire primary to then-Vice President Al Gore, the eventual Democratic nominee.

Also today, the Clinton campaign announced it had picked up the endorsement of New Hampshire state Rep. Jim Webber. Webber had been a supporter of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who abandoned his presidential bid two days ago after getting less than one percent in the Iowa caucuses.

You Tell Me
From John Good for Left in Aboite

What with oil hitting $100 per barrel recently, desperate measures must now be taken to ensure that our daily commute is uninterrupted! Either that, or this guy is ab-so-eff-ing-lute-ly NUTS. . .since it's Monday morning, YOU tell ME:
Could be worse. . .at least you're not THIS guy:

Hope YOUR Monday is WAY better! ;)

Clinton Machine Points Fingers at Each Other
From NY Texan for BlueBloggin

You know I don’t feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. No I’m not popping the Champaign cork, it’s too soon and that would be mean. I’ll wait until Super Tuesday. Clinton, her advisers, the MSM, pundits and the elite on both coasts called Clinton the nominee before all the candidates announced that they were running. How stupid do they think we are? Obviously, the Clinton machine thinks they are dealing with the same sleeping, go along to get along, voters that greeted Bush.

Did Clinton actually believe that bringing Mark Penn, the guru of Blackwater, on as her adviser would be a feather in her cap? Did Hillary actually believe that dragging Bill around to talk about Hillary in the Bill White House, is an example of change? Did Hillary actually think that after loosing Iowa, and flanking herself with Bill and Madeline Albright was a statement for change? Hillary, like the elite crowd she runs with, are out of touch with the rest of America.

And now, the Clinton machine is panicking and pointing fingers. That sounds so Bush. They have finally come to the realization that Hillary Clinton is not the inevitable nominee, something that Americans, living between both coasts, have known for months. America wants change and Hillary is not the change agent. I find it insulting to all voters that Clinton says she’s for change.

Change, is a word she learned on the plane ride from Iowa to New Hampshire. Change, is a word that Clinton will use over and over again to pander for future votes. A word that her campaign believes will win primaries, as they blame each other and retool. What change really means for the Clinton machine, is something we all have known for months; Hillary Clinton is not the inevitable democratic nominee.

The excerpts from a Time.com article sum up what the Clinton campaign is now facing as they prepare for New Hampshire and the primaries that follow. Not to mention the distrust between Bill’s team, Hillary’s team and yes Hillary herself.

  • The scope of Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa has shaken the Clinton machine down to its bolts. Donors are panicking. The campaign has been making a round of calls to reassure notoriously fickle “superdelegates”
  • And internally, a round of recriminations is being aimed at her chief strategist, Mark Penn, as the representative of everything about her pseudo-incumbent campaign that has been too cautious, too arrogant, too conventional and too clueless as to how much the political landscape has shifted since the last Clinton reign. One adviser summed up the biggest challenge that faces the campaign in two words: “Fresh thinking.”
  • Bill and Hillary Clinton have put enormous faith in Penn, and given him veto power, aides say, over every word that goes into her television ads and every line in her mailers. “He had her and the President’s trust very deeply,” says one adviser who is close to the campaign.
  • Specifically, those inside the campaign and outside advisers fault Penn for failing to see the Iowa defeat coming. They say he was assuring Clinton and her allies right up until the caucuses that they would win it. Says one: “He did not predict in any way, shape or form the tidal wave we saw.” In particular, he had assured them that Clinton’s support among women would carry her through. Yet she managed to win only 30% of the women’s vote, while 35% of them went for Obama.
  • How can she retool her message — and her identity as a virtual incumbent — to resonate with an electorate that seems to yearn more for change than any other quality? Says one longtime Democratic strategist, who is close to the Clintons: “Fundamentally, she is who she is; she can’t change who she is, and maybe this is not her time.”
  • Hillary’s advisers and Bill’s have never gotten along — and she has been particularly suspicious of his team. “Who they both trust — that’s a very small group,” says one former Clinton aide. “She is going to be very, very resistant to all of the white boys coming back.”

Full article

Love Letters
From By Ken Levine

LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney is an enormously successful play. Ingenious in its design, an actor and actress sit at tables or stand at podiums and just read love letters. So no blocking or rehearsal or memorization is ever really needed. Actors can easily rotate in and out of the piece and frequently do. This can result in prestigious A-level actor pairings but there have also been productions by Charlton and Lydia Heston and Shirley Jones & Marty Ingells. Since I couldn’t attend either of those I shall wait to see LOVE LETTERS until one of the following pairings is announced:

Nick Counter & Lorena Bobbitt

Lars & the Real Girl

Amy Winehouse & Kenneth from 30 ROCK

James Wood & Sean Young

Paul McCartney & Heather Mills

Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama

Ann Coulter & Al Franken

Woody Allen & Mia Farrow

Sherri Shepherd & Gore Vidal

Kellie Pickler & Randy Jackson

Michael Jackson & Elizabeth Taylor

Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie

Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman

Whitney Houston & Bobby Brown

Mary Tyler Moore & Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

Regis Philbin & Kelly Rippa

Dr. Laura & Dr. Phil

Liza Minelli & David Gest

Jack Klugman & Lauren Becall

Donnie & Marie

Bill Clinton & (the voice of) Monica Lewinsky

Paula Abdul & Simon Cowell

Lou Ferrigno & Marlie Matlin

Andrew Dice Clay & Amy Grant

Bjork & Bob Dylan

Katie Couric & Walter Cronkite

Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt

Richard Hatch & Tonya Harding

The President of Iran & Rene Taylor

Robin Williams

 

Know a blog that deserves to be featured on the Blog World Report?  Contact Robert.

Sorry, but you need flash to view this video

None of the Above
From Distributorcap NY

Remember on the SATs you got a minus for the wrong choice – so it was better to just leave it blank – well the die hard looney bins in the Republican party must be feeling a bit like that now, picking any one of these guys is a big fat minus --- and too fracking bad!

I am not predicting anything yet – but it is SO apparent that the never-right pundits are correct on one thing --- GOOPers really want to choose “None of the above” from the laundry list of ‘candidates’ in the race. Each one of the GOP candidates has so much dog shit on their shoes, it really does stink out there. We should feel sorry for those poor Republicans – yeah right – the roosters are finally come home to roost. And after Iowa, the choices look so much worse.

Let’s take a look at the baggage:

Grandpa Fred – old, boring and completely uninspiring – even to his own base. The great savior from Law & Order is more like the Creature from the Back Lot. Old bag Kate O’Beirne said Fred had “good conservative credentials” but what she failed to say was that Thompson just phones in his performances and really is just another tired and lazy actor. Heck, Reagan at least had his legs blown off in Kings Row, all Fred does is lecture ADAs. Is also probably not all that bright, but among these morons he looks somewhat smart. Bad communicator, tends to put people to sleep. Good chance he drops out after South Carolina if he doesn’t do well. Will leave evil witch Mary Matalin unemployed and searching for another place to spew her bile. The GOP would have been better off digging up Reagan and putting Fred in the casket. Has multiple chins and liver spots.

Rudy – nasty, arrogant and condescending. The longer the campaigning went on, the more the Judi and Bernie shit would hit the fan. Final straws seem to be the police escorts of Judi (whether paid for him or not, he paid a big political price), the ‘mysterious’ hospital visit in St. Louis and the fact he thinks Cheney could make a good choice for the vice-presidency. Whole campaign is like an episode of Fear Factor – and watching him is like the bug eating part. Married/divorced cousin. Own kids hate him. Announced divorce from Donna Hanover (who has been on Law & Order – like Fred!) at press conference. The wind is out of his sail – and is obviously resorting to farting a lot to get it going again. Betting the whole wad on Feb 5th – where he thinks the big ‘libural’ states like New York, New Jersey and California will come to his rescue. Risky and probably bad strategy. MSM still hasn’t figured out that New Yorkers only remember 9/10 Rudy and hate him. Would actually make Bush seem like a diplomat if he was in office, and most people are beginning to see that.

Mittens – empty suit, Ken doll and brings out acrimony like no person can. NO one likes this guy – not even his fellow candidates. McCain loathes him (based on the waterboarding answer he gave a few weeks back), as does Rudy. They completely ganged up on him at the final ABC debate. His final nail in the coffin will be if he finishes a weak second in New Hampshire, but could stay on due to his deep pockets (deep due to having no genitalia, like all Ken dolls). His flip-flopping all over the place has Moveon.org drooling thinking about the ads they can run. Wears way too much Alberto VO5 (see post on Rula Lenska). The CorporateTM wing of the GOP wants him since he is one of them, but the Evangelicals, Inc. wing (those two wings are starting to realize they have virtually nothing in common) hates the fact he is a Mormon. Represents everything that is wrong with America today – corporatism, entitlement, elitism, fear-mongering. Has five sons serving the country – by driving a van around the states with primaries handing out Mitt bumper stickers. Not much respect for the Constitution as he would ask his lawyers about going to war before Congress. Gives good Powerpoint, not much else. Pundits loved his religion speech (which mentioned the world Mormon once), but the country yawned or downright hated it. So much for his Kennedy moment. So much for pundits getting it.

Huckapoo – affable, charming, upbeat and batshit insane. Says God is guiding him. Practically says God is endorsing him. Takes the high road every time he opens his mouth so he comes across as the ‘nice guy’ – something that is sorely lacking in any wing or member of the Republican party. And it works. Uses his preacher skills quite effectively, but is really Elmer Gantry. Hunts like Elmer Fudd and kills birds that won’t vote for him. Son is animal abuser. Has ties to some nasty people on the religious extreme front. Is actually really stupid – keeps flubbing international facts and events and like Reagan, laughs about it. Calls a press conference to announce he won’t air a negative ad and then airs it (even puts it on YouTube). Claims floating cross in Christmas message was not intentional – fooling absolutely no one. Drives Republican hatchet people like Grover Norquist, Adam’s Apple Ann Coulter and viagra-filled Rush Limbaugh crazy – they HATE (or rather fear) him. The CorporateTM wing fears him because he talks the ‘populist’ talk – and would raise taxes, but Evangelicals, Inc. love him – as one of their own. His nomination can potentially tear the GOP to shreds – he truly is Damien with the 666 on his pate – as bad things will happen to people who cross him. The rich Republicans will attempt to stop him dead in the tracks. Good odds he would lose all 50 states plus DC -- even the Southern theocracies.

John McInsane – the maverick who ain’t, the straight-talker who ain’t, the uniter who ain’t. Biggest strength is that he looks normal, smart, mature and worldly against the other four. Problem is, take him away from those four and he looks regressive, hawkish and insane. Probably pissed off Brian Wilson as he changed the words of Barbara Ann to Bomb Iran – on tape!. Thinks Baghdad is safe to walk around (when you have 80 guards and a vest -- sure), and keeps insisting the surge is working. (Violence is down, but we are no closer to any sort of solution now than we were a year ago). Thinks Americans wouldn't mind staying in Iraq for 1,000 years. (Somewhere we have heard about those 1,000 year Reichs before). Making nice to the Evangelicals, Inc., a group he once loathed – flip-flop ads getting readied. Die hard Republicans hate him – for a lot of reasons – immigration, his vote against tax cuts, campaign finance reform to name a few. Looks really old -- really, really old. If he is up against the youthful image of Obama or Edwards he has a really really big problem. (Think Kennedy-Nixon 1960). Despite all the dog shit on his soles, many would vote for him holding their nose. Could pick Lieberman as VP – the kiss of death. Did I say he looks old? -- has multiple chins and liver spots.

So there you have it – NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Hillary Clinton is Getting Desperate. Slams Iowa Voters
From James for Genius of Insanity

In the wake of Hillary Clinton's shellacking in Iowa, she is about to get desperate with a predictable onslaught of mudslinging attacks at a surging Barack Obama. The floor was ripped out from under Hillary as her, taken for granted base, women, ripped in half breaking mostly for Obama. She is a calculating, bean counting, opportunistic politician who plays the numbers and clearly over-looked the youth vote as well and payed dearly for it in Iowa.

But being her true self she blamed others for her lose in Iowa namely, the entire state of Iowa.

"Iowa does not have the best track record in determining who the parties nominate. Everybody knows that."

She just can't stop playing the role of super bitch. This is her true nature, this is yet more evidence that she doesn't really care about voters. She only cares about winning and will do and say anything to get where she wants to go. Of course, before the Iowa primary she was talking up Iowa as if it was Shangri-la. She was saying how smart they are but they saw right through her smoke screen and voted instead for the more sincere, Obama. Now that she lost, she sees Iowans as worthless idiots who don't know shit. I would like to see what she would say later to Iowans in the general campaign if she were to somehow get the Democratic nomination.

She may think saying such things won't hurt her anymore because the Iowa vote is over but once again is under-estimating people by over playing her hand. Does she not think that the rest of the country won't notice her bashing Iowa? If she has such disdain for them, what does that say about her concern for the rest of us? Not much. Is she going to blame New Hampshire voters too if she should lose again there? Probably. So this is her typical attitude, it's everyone's fault but hers.

New Hampshire might be a new state and a new opportunity for her to win but she's still her same old arrogant self and you can't polish a turd.

She's still trying to sell this, "I'm so experienced" crap. Experienced at what? I'll tell you what, manipulation. Dissing Iowans just shows us how divisive she would be as president and more sharply contrasts with Obama's inclusive message of hope and change. If she is so quick to divide her own party, how does anyone expect her to heal the wounds of this country and be even somewhat successful at bringing the two sides together? She's a charlatan and chameleon. Her campaign slogan changes with the polls. She does represent change but negative change in that she changes her opinions and message whenever it seems politically expedient. I know most politicians do this to one degree or another but its her only card because she doesn't know how to be real and sincere. She's not "ready to lead on day one" but rather "ready to divide on day one."

McGovern Calls for IMPEACHMENT
From Mary for Get Your Own

"A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law -- and repeatedly violates the law -- thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors."
Elizabeth Holtzman

In case you didn't catch THIS article in WaPo today (Why I Believe Bush Must Go)

"As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president." - By George McGovern

All I can say is what the hell took you so long?

George Will on Obama
From Ron Chusid for Liberal Values

The amazing thing about Barack Obama is the manner in which he is receiving praise from conservatives as well as liberals. George Will compared Obama to the two populist candidates, John Edwards and Mike Huckabee:

Barack Obama, who might be mercifully closing the Clinton parenthesis in presidential history, is refreshingly cerebral amid this recrudescence of the paranoid style in American politics. He is the un-Edwards and un-Huckabee — an adult aiming to reform the real world rather than an adolescent fantasizing mock-heroic “fights” against fictitious villains in a left-wing cartoon version of this country.

Hillary Clinton
From Jen Clark for Little Country Lost

I've been trolling The Huffington Post today and reading the blogs that are breaking down why Hillary Clinton didn't dominate in Iowa. There's lots of theories floating around out there. The women did show up for her. The men didn't show up for her. She's inauthentic. She didn't get the youth vote. She has a bad staff. My favorite stupid theory: Bill Clinton has held her back.

But that's all crap. It all boils down to this:

I bet you are, Mussolini.

The honest truth is that Hillary's problems as a Presidential candidate have next to nothing to do with her gender or her marital problems, as the corporate media would have us obsess on. Sure, there are some dumbasses like Dana Kennedy who really care about that stuff, but most of us are looking elsewhere because we're on to her game. Her whole campaign has been a carefully staged reality-TV show starring Hillary Clinton as a woman who cares. But even people that don't pay close attention know that she's just putting on a show. A little play. No matter what her writers have her say though, we all know that when it comes down to it, she's not going to represent our side in the battle of Big Business vs. the rest of us.

The term I think best describes her is 'Elitist Corporatist'.

'Elitist' because the owners of society are the people whose interests she is really representing. People in the now government-sponsored Super Wealthy Club, consisting of self-important Washington beltway tools and the CEO's that bribe them for expanded power over their workers and the world.

'Corporatist' because she's working for "a system that erases the boundaries between Big Government and Big Business, [which] is not liberal, conservative or capitalist but corporatist." Over the past few years, she has proved time and time again that she is all for merging our government as quickly and slyly as possible with Big Business. She votes consistently for the expansion of the military industrial complex (our new economy) into the Middle East (ie: Iraq Occupation Authorization, Kyl-Leiberman amendment). And want the short story on her health care plan? Everyone will be required to buy health insurance. This means that you must either work for a corporation that gives you the luxury of health in their "benefit" package or it becomes like rent you will be required to pay every month in order for your government to ensure that when you show up at the hospital, they won't just let you die.

Healthcare for everyone!
*As long as you work long, hard hours, get two jobs for 80 hours if you have to, and pay your bills on time to your corporate masters.

And then there is the matter of her husband. Bill Clinton was the President of the United States, making Hillary Clinton our First Lady, for 8 years. Almost a decade. Unlike porcelain doll Laura Bush, who smiles and waves and keeps her opinions to herself while her husband drives us off a cliff, Hillary Clinton as First Lady "tried to remake the nation's health care system". There's no way to argue that Mrs. Clinton wasn't heavily involved in the policies of the Bill Clinton White House. I mean, think way, way back to the 1990's. The big joke, that we all half-believed, was that Hillary was actually the person who was running the country while Bill was partying with chicks and playing his sax. The actions of her husband while he was President, in matters of policy (not pussy), absolutely must be taken into consideration while we decide whether or not she should be elected to be the post-Bush Administration President, and thereby inherit the most powerful Executive Branch in American history.

Hillary Clinton's husband, and fellow member of The Club, brought us disgraces like NAFTA, waged secret CIA wars to fulfill the dreams of Milton Friedman, and allowed the IMF to hold various countries hostage so that our corporations could pillage their resources and populations. If we want to stop that shit, and make amends with the rest of the world, his wife and partner-in-politics is not our girl.

The only people who might not be corporatists and have a chance to win this reality-competition/Presidential election are John Edwards, Barack Obama, and possibly Ron Paul (I haven't figured this guy out yet, but I know he gives a damn about us. That's a start). That's the reason others are doing better than Hillary Clinton.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Funny That Way
From Nancy Nall

How interesting. The mayoral primary in Fort Wayne last year was basically the Republican half of the Iowa caucuses in miniature — the religious right wing rallying behind their guy, and the country-club types having a hissy fit. This Sadlynaught post about the bitchiness of the Huckabee payback had a familiar ring to it. Who knew the Fort would be the GOP’s coal-mine canary?

Firewall?
From Oliver Willis

I have a feeling that the Clinton campaign will be asking Mark Penn to shut up real soon. First he pooh-poohed the Des Moines Register poll, but that poll more than any other closely forecasted the Iowa results. Now he's written another memo, this one asks "Where Is The Bounce?".

I don't think this is in the bag. Sen. Clinton is down but not out and the Obama campaign would do well to know that and not experience premature celebration.

But somebody shut Mark Penn up.

McCain Lied About Pork Spending
From TomCat for Politics Plus

mccain In tonight’s Fox News GOP presidential forum, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attempted to argue that if elected president, he will eliminate “wasteful spending.” As evidence, he claimed that he has never asked for an earmark for his state of Arizona:

And I’m proud to tell you, Chris, in 24 years as a member of Congress, I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state and I guarantee you I’ll veto those bills. I’ll ask for the line item veto and I’ll veto them and I’ll make the authors of them famous.

Watch it:

McCain’s claim is false. In 2006, the senator teamed up with fellow Arizona senator Jon Kyl (R) to funnel $10 million toward the University of Arizona for an academic center named after the late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Even Arizona lawmaker, Rep. Jeff Flake (R), said he was planning to “lean against the measure.” The National Taxpayers Union, another traditional McCain ally, questioned why the senator was making federal taxpayers foot the bill for the center.

In 2003, McCain also slipped $14.3 million into a defense appropriations bill tocreate a buffer zone around Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. As Roll Call reported in 2003, this project violated McCain’s own anti-pork rhetoric:

The only problem is the project to acquire more land near the base was not requested by President Bush or fully authorized by the Senate Armed Services Committee - two of McCain’s criteria for identifying so-called ‘pork.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), a notorious porker, was overjoyed that McCain had joined his side. “One man’s pork is another man’s alternate white meat,” said Stevens. “If he asked for it, we put it in.”... [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Without doubt, the Democratic Party's record for pork-barrel spending is atrocious, but it becomes quite mild when compared with that of the GOP.  As for the statement, it was just another McCon job.

THIS Guy’s Running #1 in New Hampshire?
From Jolly Roger for Reconstitution 2.0

Stupidity  Are New Hampshire voters actually paying attention to what McCavein is saying, or are they just that disgusted with the rest of the pack?

I will say this-if the intent was to make Huck, Romney, or even Rudy look like reasonable alternatives, then McCavein is succeeding. It’s hard to imagine why a guy who spent 5 years in a prison because of a war for nothing would think that another war for nothing is a good thing, but Johnny says that’s his position.

I used to think he was just a shameless panderer, but I confess now that I’m not sure I have him pegged right. Perhaps he’s clinincally insane, or exhibiting the signs of dementia. Not being schooled in the medical or psychiatric professions, I cannot say for sure what McCavein’s deal is.

Being a human being with reasonable deductive abilities, I think it is OK for me to say with a great deal of confidence that “John the Baptist” McCavein is bat-shit crazy. But don’t take my word for it. He’ll tell you himself.

 According to presidential candidate John McCain, only the handling of the Iraq war was a mistake — not the war itself.

“It’s not American presence that bothers the American people, it’s American causalities,” said McCain in an interview with Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday.

The validity of this conjecture is questionable, as fifty-nine percent of Americans say the U.S. should “stick to a withdrawal timetable.” But McCain said in a recent New Hampshire debate — and reasserted as much on Sunday — that as long as Americans aren’t dying, he sees nothing wrong with US troops staying as many as 100 years in Iraq.

“What I believe we can achieve is a reduction in casualties to the point where the Iraqis are doing the fighting and dying [and] we’re supporting them,” McCain said.

He said it would be “hard to say” how many U.S. troops would need to stay in Iraq, but assured that they would be “out of harm’s way.”

When Russert asked him if, like Bush, McCain would have supported the Iraq war even if no weapons of mass destruction were believed present in Iraq, McCain seemed to dismiss the question as irrelevant.

“If frogs had wings … we can talk about lots of hypotheticals,” he said. “The point is if we had done it right, you and I wouldn’t even be discussing it now.”

newfascism.jpg   Frogs may not have wings, but bats do.

Sad News to Report

Soldier and fellow blogger Andrew Olmstead was killed in Iraq.  Anyone who reads the blog Obsidian Wings has read posts by G'Kar.  This was Andrew.  He also blogged under his real name for Rocky Mountain News.  You can read his final post for RMN HERE.  He also left a post at Obsidian Wings to be published in the event of his death.  You can read that post HERE.

Introducing The 'Skeeter Bites Awards for Damaging Behavior by Authority Figures
From Skeeter Sanders for The 'Skeeter Bites Report

The New Year Always Brings Out the Awards Season -- So Here Are This Blogger's First Annual 'Dishonors' for the People Who Have Had the Worst Impact on American Politics, Society and Culture in 2007

Who has the dubious honor of winning the first annual "'Skeeter Bites Awards" for having inflicted maximum damage to the American political, social and cultural landscape in the year just completed? In other words, who among America's worst bloodsuckers (both figuratively and literally) are going to get bitten by this blogger's dive-bombing winged vampires? (Image courtesy Images.google.com)

By Skeeter Sanders

 With the year 2007 now history, attention turns inevitably at the start of the new year toward looking back at what's transpired over the past 12 months, making New Year's resolutions -- and, of course, predicting who'll win what in the upcoming awards season.

From time immemorial, it seems, we mark the early months of each new year by bestowing awards to honor the best among us (The Golden Globes, the Grammys, the Oscars, the Tonys and the Emmys) -- and sometimes to dishonor the worst among us as well (Mr. Blackwell's annual "Worst Dressed" list and the Razzie Awards for the worst movies of the year).

This blogger has chosen to join in the awards-giving parade, but unlike the "Big 5" entertainment awards, I've chosen to join in the bestowment of dishonors to the most richly deserving crooks, liars, power-mad despots and just plain weirdos who've made life a lot more complicated for Americans in the past 12 months.

So without further ado, The 'Skeeter Bites Report presents its inaugural 'Skeeter Bites Awards for 2007:

 PINK FLOYD BRICK WALL AWARD: George W. Bush

That the first Pink Floyd Brick Wall Award is bestowed upon President Bush is a no-brainer. Long before The 'Skeeter Bites Report was launched two years ago, the president has demonstrated time and again throughout his tenure that he is ideologically rigid on a number of policy issues and that trying to convince him to change course is like talking to the proverbial brick wall.

Nowhere is that more evident than on the issue of the Iraq War and on the environment. His strategy in Iraq was flawed from the very beginning -- and I dare say is an absolute disgrace compared to that employed by his father, former President George H.W. Bush, in the Gulf War of 1991.

Not since Vietnam has a president so thoroughly hoodwinked Congress and the American people into authorizing and supporting a disastrous military adventure -- one that was not only poorly planned and executed, but was a major diversion from the real war on terror following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

More than six years later, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, is still at large -- and that's assuming that he's still alive. This blogger is not at all convinced that bin Laden survived the 7.6-magnitude earthquake in 2005 that killed nearly 75,000 people in the mountainous region of northwestern Pakistan where he's believed to have been hiding.

No one has seen bin Laden in person since the quake. The new video purportedly of the fugitive al-Qaida leader that was released last September -- there have been only easy-to-fake audiotapes since -- is not convincing.

Indeed, I'm sure the video is a forgery, based on stark differences in bin Laden's physical appearance from that in previous videos; the fact that the visual image remains frozen while the audio refers to recent events; and -- most starkly of all -- the fact that there are no references whatsoever to the Qu'ran, whereas in all previous videos, bin Laden liberally quoted verses from the Muslim holy book.

Of course, the Iraq War isn't the only thing that Bush has proven himself to be stubborn to the point of being an obstinate obstructionist. There's also his stubborn, bullheaded refusal to accept firm targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as called for in the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the United States as the only industrialized nation on the planet that refuses to take strong measures to combat the threat of climate change.

The world already has written Bush off, pinning its hopes on U.S. action against climate change on Bush's successor.

 MACHIAVELLI AWARD: Vladimir Putin

In the only prize by this blogger to go to a foreigner this year, the Machiavelli Award for best greasing the wheels to stay in power even after stepping down as head of state goes, hands-down, to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president -- who was named Time magazine's 2007 "Person of the Year" -- hand-picked his successor, a little-known fortysomething named Dimitry Medvedev and accepted Medvedev's offer to appoint Putin Russia's next prime minister after Medvedev wins Russia's almost Soviet-style rubber-stamp presidential election next March.

Putin, barred by Russia's 1993 post-Soviet Constitution from seeking a third term as president, would nonetheless be a "heartbeat away" from the top job -- thanks to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who imposed the Constitution, with its provisions for strong presidential powers, after Yeltsin sent tanks to smash the last remaining relic of the Soviet era: the Communist-dominated Congress of People's Deputies, which stymied Yeltsin at every turn.

Yeltsin's constitution, which did away with the post of vice president and put the prime minister first in the line of presidential succession, was subsequently approved by the Russian people in a referendum later that year.

Even though Putin's powers as prime minister would be much weaker than those of Medvedev's as president, Medvedev -- who, at 42, would be modern Russia's youngest-ever head of state -- is so beholden to Putin that it's difficult to imagine Putin not becoming the real power behind the throne.

Why add Putin to this rogues' gallery? Simply put, what Putin has pulled off might give Bush some very unpleasant ideas since, like Putin, Bush is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term as president and must step down a year from now.

And lest we forget, Putin also has, at least figuratively, his "finger on the button" of the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal -- and relations between Moscow and Washington are at their worst since the collapse of the Soviet Union 16 years ago.

 DARTH VADER AWARD: Dick Cheney

The vice president wins the Darth Vader Award for being the undisputed power behind George W. Bush's throne. As any fan of the "Star Wars" movies knows, Darth Vader is the cunning, brutal enforcer of the Galactic Empire's rule across the galaxy -- the right-hand man of the evil Emperor Palpatine.

Much like Vader, Cheney has served as Emperor Dubyah's chief enforcer of his policies -- at least in the propaganda wars. Unlike Vader, however, Cheney was the instigator of many of the Emperor's policies. Cheney has long asserted that a link existed between Al-Qaida and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein -- a link that served as one of the primary justifications of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Despite reports from the Pentagon and the CIA that found that no such link existed, Cheney to this day continues to assert a connection between Al-Qaida and Iraq prior to 9/11 in several public speeches, drawing criticism from members of the intelligence community and congressional leaders, even from within his own party.

Critics say that Cheney, by continuing to press for U.S. military action against Iran to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons -- despite a national intelligence estimate released in November that found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 -- is "the most dangerous man in Washington." and express relief that he's not running to succeed Bush in next year's presidential election.

Effectively barred by his less-than-perfect health (he's suffered four heart attacks and has had multiple heart surgeries) from seeking the Emperor's chair himself, the 69-year-old Cheney has instead engaged in a decades-long fight behind the scenes to restore the "imperial presidency" that was destroyed in 1974, when Richard Nixon, disgraced by the Watergate scandal, resigned.

 KING GEORGE III AWARD: Alberto Gonzales

The inaugural King George III Award goes to Alberto Gonzales, who, as attorney general for most of Bush's second term, demonstrated the most callous disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law of any attorney general in U.S. history -- worse than even Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell, who was one of the Watergate plotters.

Gonzales had the audacity to declare torture is OK to be used on so-called "enemy combatants," despite its condemnation as a war crime by both the Geneva Conventions and this country's own Uniform Code of Military Justice. He's also threatened to prosecute The New York Times and other news media outlets for exposing the Bush administration's warrantless electronic eavesdropping program -- a threat that, had he made good on it, would have clearly violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press.

The warrantless eavesdropping program, which Gonzales helped create, was exposed by the media precisely because it is unconstitutional. It violates the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures by authorizing electronic eavesdropping on Americans' telephone and Internet communications with parties abroad without a court order.

This blogger has railed again and again and again for the past two years that the program flagrantly defies a unanimous 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the government is mandated by the Fourth Amendment to obtain court warrants for such surveillance.

The high court's ruling was bolstered by an equally-unanimous 1975 decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia -- the nation's second-highest court -- that closed a foreign policy loophole in the Supreme Court's ruling, forcing the government to obtain court warrants for all national security wiretaps and other electronic surveillance (The White House, under then-President Gerald Ford, decided not to appeal the 1975 ruling to the Supreme Court and thus it still stands to this day).

Then there is Gonzales' firing of eight U.S. attorneys for partisan political reasons -- which this blogger and others believe violates the Hatch Act, which bars the government from making personnel decisions purely on the basis of partisan politics.

In the process, Gonzales brought unparalleled disgrace to the Justice Department and created a climate of extremely low moral that his successor, Michael Mukasey, will take all of 2008 to fix.

 WILLIAM CALLEY AWARD: Blackwater USA

The William Calley Award goes to the private security company Blackwater USA and its founder and CEO, Erik Prince, for its defiant public insistence that its armed guards were shot at by Iraqi insurgents before opening fire and killing 17 civilians, despite an FBI finding that that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon.

 Calley was the U.S. Army lieutenant who was tried and convicted on six counts of murder in ordering the 1968 massacre of at least 100 and perhaps as many as 500 Vietnamese civilians mistaken for communist Viet Cong guerrillas in the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War, the worst wartime atrocity committed by U.S. troops since the Civil War. Vietnam will mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre next March.

 Blackwater is the largest of the State Department's three private security contractors, providing a total of 987 armed guards. Of these, only 744 are U.S. citizens. At least 90 percent of its revenue comes from government contracts -- two-thirds of which were no-bid contracts.

On September 16, Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad. The shootings occurred while Blackwater guards were escorting a convoy of State Department vehicles to a meeting in western Baghdad with officials of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The next day, the Iraqi government revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. The State Department said that "innocent life was lost" while U.S. military reports -- later backed up by FBI investigators -- indicated that Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force

If there's an unindicted co-conspirator in this mess, its Paul Bremer, the head of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that ran Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Bremer pushed through a law exempting American contractors operating in Iraq from prosecution for wrongdoing. And because Blackwater guards committed this atrocity outside the U.S., neither they nor the company can be prosecuted under U.S. law, either. Thanks, Paul.

 PINOCCHIO AWARD: Larry Craig

Every time Pinocchio told a lie, his nose grew longer and longer. So it's only fitting that the Pinocchio Award for being the worst liars and hypocrites in the land is bestowed upon a group of conservative Republicans, most prominent among them Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who made their careers bashing gay people and condemning homosexuality, yet got themselves caught in scandals in which they had sex or attempted to solicit sex with members of their own gender.

Craig, who was arrested in June -- Gay Pride Month -- by an undercover police officer in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport who said the senator made a sexual advance toward him, insisted to reporters at an emotional press conference after the arrest was made public in September that "I am not gay! I never have been gay!"

But since then, at least eight openly gay men have come forward and told the media that they had sex with the senator. And at least five other conservative Republicans in Congress and in the state legislatures -- all of them male -- who made names for themselves by being staunchly anti-gay, voting for bans on same-gender marriage and/or pushing to repeal state laws protecting gays against discrimination were also caught with their pants down with other men.

Can you say "hypocrite?"

 UNCLE DON FOOT-IN-MOUTH AWARD: Don Imus

"Uncle Don" Carney was a radio personality who hosted a popular children's show back in the pre-television "golden age" of radio from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. Carney's day of infamy came in 1930, when, while closing out his show on New York's WOR Radio, he mistakenly thought that his microphone was turned off after giving his trademark sign-off: "...And this is Uncle Don saying good night."

But immediately after Carney's sign-off, listeners heard the following: "There, I hope that pleases the little bastards!" There was no recording of the outburst, but a member of the Federal Radio Commission (The predecessor of today's Federal Communications Commission) happened to be listening and raised a stink. Carney ended up getting fired.

Fast-forward to 2007 and another "Uncle Don" -- in this case, nationally syndicated "shock jock" Don Imus. On April 4, during a discussion about the NCAA women's basketball championship, Imus characterized the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "rough girls" commenting on their tattoos.

His executive producer Bernard McGuirk, responded in his familiar "urban-speak" vernacular by referring to them as "hardcore hos" -- a "ho" being urban slang for a whore or a prostitute. The "urban-speak" banter continued with Imus describing the girls as "nappy-headed ho's."

"Nappy-headed" has long been considered an insult to African Americans -- even when used by African Americans themselves against each other. And Imus has long been notorious for using racially and ethnically insensitive language in his 35-year radio career.

But it was Imus calling the Rutgers players "hos" that got him in trouble more than "nappy-headed.' Prostitution is a criminal offense in 49 of the 50 states, and even in the one state where it's legal -- Nevada -- it's still outlawed in Las Vegas.

To accuse someone on radio or TV of engaging in criminal activity without providing any evidence to back up the charges can get you -- and the broadcasting company you work for -- sued for slander and/or defamation of character. And Imus got caught red-handed, thanks to to the popular Internet site, YouTube.

Faced with the threat of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit -- and a flood of advertiser defections -- CBS Radio and MSNBC, which simulcasted Imus' show -- dropped him like yesterday's garbage. McGuirk was also fired.

 Imus filed a $40 million lawsuit against CBS in May for wrongful termination and breach of contract. He reached a settlement with CBS in August for an undisclosed sum -- only to be sued by Rutgers player Kia Vaughn for slander and defamation. Vaughn dropped her lawsuit a month later, citing her desire to concentrate on her studies and basketball training.

That freed Imus to negotiate for and reach a deal with ABC Radio in November to return to the air, making his comeback on December 3.

 HUNTER S. THOMPSON AWARD: Bill O'Reilly

Actually, the Hunter S. Thompson Award for overreactive fear and loathing was first issued by this blogger in 2005. And for the third year in a row, it's awarded to Fox News Channel and radio talk-show host Bill O'Reilly, for continuing his now-three-year-old crusade against when he considers the "de-Christianization" of Christmas by "secular humanists." This blogger says O'Reilly is full of humbug for claiming a "War on Christmas" that really doesn't exist.

I've already written about O'Reilly in my holiday article last week, which you can read here.

 JERRY SPRINGER AWARD: Astronaut Lisa Nowak

And finally, the Jerry Springer Award for the weirdest love triangle of the year goes to disgraced former astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was arrested at Orlando International Airport in February on charges of of stalking and assaulting a romantic rival at Orlando International Airport.

Nowak is accused of stalking and and attacking an Air Force colonel, Colleen Shipman, in an apparent "love triangle" dispute with Shipman over the affections of a fellow astronaut, Bill Oefelein, with whom Shipman was in a relationship.

In a handwritten request for a protective order against Nowak after her arrest, Shipman referred to Nowak as an acquaintance of Oefelein -- although she didn't mention him by name -- and also claimed Nowak had been stalking her for two months.

For her part, Nowak told investigators she was involved in a relationship with Oefelein which she described as being "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship."

Nowak is scheduled to go on trial in April.
And for 2008 -- Who Knows?

Of course, there a lot of other notorious names that I left out; if I included them all, this article would run far too long for anyone to read. Suffice it to say that 2007 was a weird year. And 2008 promises to be just as weird, if not weirder.

Happy New Year!

Family Provides Foundations for Peace - Except for Those Who Are Victims
From Charlotte Weybright for Berry Street Beacon

Hat Tip to Pete at Landfill Pointe for this topic.

Pope Benedict XVI, celebrating a “World Day of Peace”, greeted the New Year by criticizing policies that undermine the traditional family, saying they eroded one of the most important foundations for peace in the world. He said the traditional family led by a husband and wife instilled values that promote peace, and added it was an “irreplaceable” institution.

The Pontiff, delivering the traditional New Year prayer for peace, appeared to take a swipe at efforts in several countries to grant legal recognition to gay and unwed couples - although he did not single out any policies by name.

“Those who are hostile, even unknowingly, to the institution of the family … make peace fragile for the entire national and international community,” the Pope told crowds gathered in a sunny St Peter’s Square.

Well, okay, let’s see, the Pope must be talking about those families where spousal abuse, child abuse, and elder abuse do not occur. And, lest we forget, physical abuse is many times accompanied by psychological and emotional abuse. What’s the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me?” Psychological and emotional abuse also takes a toll on families.

If the family is such a safe haven as a foundation for peace, why on earth do we have so many domestic violence task forces, domestic violence commissions, centers for non-violence and on and on?

According to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence, approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice gathered the following statistics between 1998 and 2002:

  • Of the almost 3.5 million violent crimes committed against family members, 49% of these were crimes against spouses.
  • 84% of spouse abuse victims were females, and 86% of victims of dating partner abuse were female.
  • Males were 83% of spouse murderers and 75% of dating partner murderers
  • 50% of offenders in state prison for spousal abuse had killed their victims. Wives were more likely than husbands to be killed by their spouses: wives were about half of all spouses in the population in 2002, but 81% of all persons killed by their spouse.

Moving on to elder abuse, 90% of elder abuse and neglect incidents are by known perpetrators, usually family members, 2/3rds are adult children or spouses. 42% of murder victims over 60 were killed by their own offspring. Spouses were the perpetrators in 24% of family murders of persons over 60.

And finally, the following are some statistics on child abuse:

  • Each week, child protective services (CPS) agencies throughout the United States receive more than 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect.
  • In 2002, 2.6 million reports concerning the welfare of approximately 4.5 million children were made.
  • In approximately two-thirds (67 percent) of these cases, the information provided in the report was sufficient to prompt an assessment or investigation. As a result of these investigations, approximately 896,000 children were found to have been victims of abuse or neglect—an average of more than 2,450 children per day.
  • More than half (60 percent) of victims experienced neglect, meaning a caretaker failed to provide for the child’s basic needs. Fewer victims experienced physical abuse (nearly 20 percent) or sexual abuse (10 percent), though these cases are typically more likely to be publicized. The smallest number (7 percent) were found to be victims of emotional abuse, which includes criticizing, rejecting, or refusing to nurture a child.
  • An average of nearly four children die every day as a result of child abuse or neglect (1,400 in 2002).

In the mid-1800s, some state courts legally allowed husbands to beat their wives. See Joyner v. Joyner, 59 N.C. 322 (1862); State v. Black, 60 N.C. 262 (1864); State v. Rhodes, 61 N.C. 453 (1868). The cases provide explicit reasons upon which the courts absolved the husbands of wrongdoing in hitting or beating their wives. The underlying philosophy? The husband is the head of the family, the wife is to submit to the husband, and, if she gets out of line, she is to be punished because she is just like a child. That punishment usually took the form of hitting, striking, or beating.

Perhaps when the Pope is pontificating, he might read up on the statistics of abuse and violence surrounding the family unit. The Pope talks about an ideal which may exist for some families; statistics gives us reality in black and white.

Presidential Politics: Find Out Who Your Friends and Family are Contributing To
From The Boomer Chronicles

You’re going to have fun with this. Fundrace 2008 is one of those online sites that lets you easily find out which presidential candidates your friends, relatives and neighbors are contributing to. You can search Fundrace by name, address, zip code, occupation or employer. For example, by using the zip code function, I found out that a friend/neighbor of mine gave money to Chris Dodd, which turned out to be a bad bet. Oh, well. Fundrace 2008 is on the Huffington Post website. It’s extremely powerful! And addictive.

Conditions of Political prisoners in Insein Jail, Burma (Myanmar)
 From Ka Daung Nyin Thar for Burmese Bloggers Without Borders

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Dear Bloggers around the world! Your Help is much Needed ! Please spread the news of political prisoners inside Insein Jail, the most notorious jail in Burma!

Source copied