Veteran's Day Witnesses War on Freedom and the Constitution

This Veterans Day remember, on average, at least 22 Vets commit suicide daily. America doesn’t do enough for our returning Vets and it’s not getting better. That is wrong on every level. And it disgusts me. The VA report can color it however they want…it’s still wrong that more Vets die by their own hand than in Afghanistan. They are the invisible casualties of war.

Legal Schnauzer: Bleak Veteran's Day Witnesses War on Constitution in Legal Schnauzer First Amendment Case: There is a war being waged on the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights by the rich, powerful, well-connected and corrupt. And the travesty involved in the Legal Schnauzer first amendment case is on the front lines of that war. Police brutality, prior restraint, unlawful search and seizure, police harassment, denial of due process, false arrest and malicious prosecution, as well as, suppression of free speech and freedom of the press--our civil liberties are currently under assault.

 Justice for Renisha McBride! Justice for Trayvon Martin! Justice for Jonathan Ferrell! Justice for Jordan Davis! We must end all forms of racial profiling and racial violence. We must repeal Stand Your Ground laws. 

 Why MORE Black People Need to say F^*k THE POLICE We want the police to quit STOPPING and FRISKING us at every single turn just because of the melanin in our skin, and prosecuting us at rates unseen in other communities.

Seriously. This is not fair.

We want the police to stop using citizens to feed America’s prison industrial complex, and actually help us build and patrol our less advantaged communities without making us all culprits.
- See more at: http://www.thisisyourconscience.com/2013/11/why-more-black-people-need-to-say-fk-the-police/#sthash.cWEoxEB8.dpuf

We want the police to quit STOPPING and FRISKING us at every single turn just because of the melanin in our skin, and prosecuting us at rates unseen in other communities.
We want the police to stop using citizens to feed America’s prison industrial complex, and actually help us build and patrol our less advantaged communities without making us all culprits.
- See more at: http://www.thisisyourconscience.com/2013/11/why-more-black-people-need-to-say-fk-the-police/#sthash.cWEoxEB8.dpuf

This is one of those rare times I agree with Mo Brooks

A broke clock is right (no pun) twice a day. 

"Lessons learned from War: 1.) The rich will profit from it, 2.) The Middle Class will pay for it. 3.) The Poor will suffer from it 4.) The Innocent will die from it....."

I must admit I was feeling helpless watching  some of the same ones that marched us to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, beating the Deja Voodoo drums all over again for war with Syria, but then Mo Brooks saved the day  issuing the following statement via his mouthpiece.

Dale Jackson @TheDaleJackson

Just got off the phone with @RepMoBrooks, he wants @BarackObama to wait until Congress returns in 10 days to debate military action in Syria

1:11 PM - 30 Aug 2013

Hallelujah!  Here comes Congress to save the Day!  Everybody knows if President Barack Obama is for it, republicans are against it, and this is one of those rare times I agree with the TeaPublicans.  We shouldn't be spending money we don't have attacking Syria.  I bet even  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be against drones dropping bombs on innocent people.

 Maybe we should help the Syrian Refugees instead of killing Syrians

If, as Juan Cole recommends, Obama decides to pivot and move to diplomacy after losing British support, focusing on the plight of refugees and using our airlift to send them aid would be smart politics as well as good policy.

We have our own problems over here, I wish the Obama Administration would be as Hawkish about domestic issues as they are foreign affairs.

Shouldn't the problems in Detroit,  Chicago,  New Orleans,  health care and the economy come before killing more people in Syria?

Hell Yes, they should!

"Let's have an up or down vote and put these hypocrites on record. "

RedEye's National InSecurity Week in Review

 

Remember the color-coded terrorism advisory scale created by a Homeland Security Presidential directive in response to the 9/11 attacks?

Remember when Bush and Company said they were sending our sons and daughters to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight-them-there-so-we-don't-have-to-fight-them-here?

What color is the Terra Lert?

Does Terra Lert brown mean run, or run and hide?

Are your Ducks taped?

Is your watta bottled?  

 Will 1776 commence again if guns are taken away?

Are we safe yet?

The response to President Obama's special  task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden to create proposals to decrease gun violence proved to be an economic stimulus for gun dealers/manufactures.  The proposed recommendations produced calls for a Gun Appreciation Day to send a loud an clear message to Congress and President Obama to keep your "hands off my guns",.  Ironically, this event will be held on the same day we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr, who was shot and killed  by a single .30 bullet fired from a Remington 760 Gamemaster rifle while fighting for non violent social change.

Waive your rights while waving your guns!  YeeHaw!!

 Next month, the Supreme Court will take up a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most effective law of its kind in the history of the United States. A century after the Civil War, the act, in abolishing many forms of discrimination employed by the Southern states, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, finally turned the legal right for African-Americans in those states to vote into an actual right to vote. Bipartisan congressional majorities have reauthorized the law four times, most recently in 2006. (It passed the House overwhelmingly and the Senate unanimously, and was signed into law by George W. Bush.) The question now is whether the Supreme Court will strike down the Voting Rights Act as a violation of states’ rights.

Psst!  Mr. President Obama  sir, you know you are doing something wrong when Joe Scarborough,  and the mainstream media, of all people, accuses you having too many white men in the White House.   I don't know why anyone is surprised women and minorities need not apply for high level positions with the Romney, I mean Obama, administration.  I knew when the white, I mean right wing media made candidate Obama renounce, reject and repudiate Reverend Jeremiah Wright, poor black folks, not to be confused with rich black folks, were going to get left behind. 

And they want us to sing God Bless America?

No!  No!  No!  God Help America.

Gun violence saturates our children’s lives and relentlessly threatens them every day. It has romped through their playgrounds; invaded their birthday parties; terrorized their Head Start classrooms, child care centers, and schools; frolicked down the streets they walk to and from school; danced through their school buses; waited at the red light and bus stop; lurked behind trees; run them down on the corner; shot them through their bedroom windows, on their front porches, and in their neighborhoods.

Undecided My Donkey

President Obama and Mitt Romney answer questions from undecided voters at the second presidential debate, at Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y., last Tuesday.Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Without a doubt President Obama won the last two debates, and any one who claims to be an undecided voter after last nights slap down in the Mouth of the Rat  hasn't been paying attention.  I suspect the so called undecided/independent/moderate voters really are republicans who are ashamed to admit it, but that's just me.

After last night, who is going to vote for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan besides rich white males who have convinced poor white males to vote against their interest, and old, rich, white, females who don't have to work, no longer need birth control, and can afford to pay for a safe legal abortion if they choose to?  I mean, really?

The segment of the population who has actually been paying attention to what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have been saying on the campaign trail  knows Mitt flip/flopped all over the place on foreign policy.  I don't know about you, but I feel a lot safer with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in charge of our safety and security than those two.

It's a question of character.  Para quoting Newt Gingrich, anyone who will lie to you to become President will lie to you when they become President.  

Been there.

Done that.

I HOPE there are more voters who love our country more than they hate our President, and I am thankful the United Nations will monitor this election to ensure we have fair and free elections in America too.

Support our Troops this Veterans Day and Everyday

War Dead Remembered At Arlington West Memorial


While TeaPublicans waive their flags, slap yellow ribbon magnets made in China on their SUV's maybe they need reminding 2,2266 uninsured vets died in 2008 alone.

Maybe TeaPublians need a reminder Veterans need jobs and better health care as they filibuster the Jobs Bill just to spite Their Commander in Chief.

One behalf of women Veterans I have a suggestion for all the Congress Critters who voted in favor of the Let Women Die Act and Life at fertilization ballot props. Since you are anti choice stop having sex with women and getting them pregnant since you don't want them, or their children, to have access to affordable health care or a job. Then you can vote against ObamaCare and the Jobs Bill with a straight face.

Remember the Faces of the Fallen on Veterans Day and everyday. Our troops are somebody's babies.6,274 U.S. service members have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

Seriously. This is not fair.

Don't Pull the Plug on Hank Williams Jr.

Since when is expressing your point of view about the President of the United States of America a firing offense? I mean, I thought we had this little thingy called the First Amendment to the Constitution which allowed Americans to express their point of view without reprisal. And, didn't we have a Revolutionary War to fight for liberty and justice for all? Aren't our troops currently in Iraq and Afghanistan losing life and limb fighting for our freedoms? Okay, that last line was a snark, but you get my drift.

Before the Hank Williams Jr. has the right to say whatever he wants and ESPN has the right to fire him chorus kicks in full gear, think about it...if expressing your beliefs get you fired do you really have freedom of expression? No.

ESPN is sliding down the slippery slope of censorship.

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.

Do I agree with William's comparison of President Obama to Hitler? Hell no I don't.

Do I respect his right to compare President Obama to Hitler? Hell yes, I do.

"Freedom isn't Free", remember?

Are you ready for some football?

9/11 Changed Everything *Sigh*

Here we go again. Ten years after the media enabled Bush and Company to use our grief over 911 to take us to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the media is still using the "anniversary" of 911 as a weapon of mass distraction from the real issues facing the American people. It's Deja Voodoo all over again.

I can't pass by the TeeVee without a Talking TeeVee Pundit Head either reminiscing about "that fateful day" or parading then NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani , NY Governor George Patki, or some other republican who was in charge in front of the TeeVee praising them for their courage and leadership on 911 while hollering how they will never forget the victims of 911 blah, blah, blab, blab.

I will never forget that George W. Bush was the pResident on 911.

I will never forget that prior to 911 Bush was on a month long vacation.

I will never forget that while on his month long vacation NSA Condolezza Rice presented a PDB(President Daily Brief)that said Osama bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.

Question; If 9-11 Had Happened When a Democrat Was President, Would the Republicans Have Impeached Him or Her?

Think back to the weeks immediately following 9/11. Couldn't you just hear the likes of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter had this happened on Bill Clinton's or Barack Obama's watch? In the midst of the grieving, wouldn't you just have loved to listen to all the public threats of Congressional hearings about "what did the White House know" that would have been demanded by the Jim DeMint's and Michele Bachmann's of the world?

And I can just see the Muslim witch hunt that would have ensued under Congressman Peter King's direction (much like the one he's involved in now). Can't you just imagine the Fox News and talk radio roundtable discussions about how the President "failed to keep us safe" and how he was "weak on terror!"

Are survivors,friends and family of the victims going to have to relive 911 over and over again for eternity? How can we heal if we are forced by the media to relive that day over and over again for ratings?

Annette John-Hall, in her Philadelphia Inquirer column, writes that media coverage leading up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is beginning to take a toll on some family members of victims.

Hard to believe it's been a decade since terrorists hijacked jetliners on Sept. 11 and used them to kill thousands of innocent people, changing the world forever.

Feels like 10 years flew by. But at the same time, it feels like we've slogged our way through 20.

Media coverage begins as early as a month in advance and slowly churns to the actual day, observed by endless tributes, memorials, and ceremonies.

Blogger Rite Jack says the media should call it what it really is
911 - What Evangelical Fundamentalist Religion gets us

As we jack up the vengeance factor every year, should we question the "what lives are worth" rate? THEY got 3000 of us, we got about 300,000 of them which cost us another 3000. That's 50 to 1. Which I suppose is about right because we are all so friggin' exceptional.
Doing the math. Cost of both wars at $1.5 trillion, divided by 300,000 dead Muslims, I come up with $500 million each. I am overwhelmed with ZEROS, but time and again that's what I get. Can that be right? Math person help!
The problem with the old line, "Oh you never ask questions, when God's on your side," is it works for everyone.

Speaking of doing the math, has anyone but me noticed how the TeaPublicans and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads can recite the exact cost of the stimulus and other domestic spending, but nary a word about the human and monetary cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 911's continuing toll on the U.S? What's up with that?

Total direct U.S. government spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars so far: $2,000,000,000,000

Amount that represents per U.S. household: $17,000

Percent by which bills yet to be received are expected to increase this amount: more than 50

Amount the U.S. is expected to spend this year on the war in Iraq: $48 billion

On the war in Afghanistan: $122 billion

Number of children who could be provided with health care for two years with the money being spent on those two wars in 2011 alone: 43 million

Here are some gop campaign slogans I composed during my tenure at Left in Alabama which are even more appropriate today.

GOP Campaign Slogans. All Hat and No Cattle.

Compassionate Christian Conservative, translation, we do our dirt in the name of the Lord.

No Child Left Behind, translation, No Child's Behind Left after we send them to war, gut public education and cut college student loans. Not to mention the impact high fuel prices are having because it raises the cost of food and the cost of heating and cooling homes.

Faith Based Intuitive, translation, lots of tax money for the Right Reverend Doctor Greedy Guts, unless of course your name is Reverend Wright.

Mission Accomplished, translation, high gas prices, record mortgage foreclosures, massive deficits, and debt as far as the eye can see.

Freedom isn't Free, translation, waive your flag while waiving your rights because 911 changed everything.

Support our troops, translation, support Bush and shut up.

Let the victims of 911 rest in peace.

Let the survivors go on with their lives.

Stop using our grief over 911 as a weapon of mass distraction.

911 changed everything.

But not for the better.

Enough of the revisionist history!

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

Edit~"The thing to remember is that just because folks are mad and broke doesn’t mean they’re stupid"

Thank You Keith Owens!

In Pundit World, particularly TV Pundit World it seems, the common wisdom appears to be that if President Obama doesn’t somehow manage to accomplish the near impossible task of reducing the level of unemployment from its current level of 9.1 percent down to somewhere in the 7 percent range, then his chances for re-election are seriously at risk because no president since Depression-era President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has ever won a second term with unemployment higher than 7.2 percent.

As I watch and listen to Mike Huckabee lie about Obama Care being rammed down our throats blah, blah, blab, blab in a paid for commercial on TV, and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads, in their designer clothes, perfect hair, access to health care, 401k's, and bright smiles blabbing about Obama's poll numbers and what the republicans candidates are saying (WTF cares?), I'm thinking to myself, they (the media, tea party, republicans) must think we the people are stoopid. I mean really!

Contrary to popular and misinformed opinion democrats and the majority of the American people aren't mad at President Obama because democratic policies aren't working for them. We're mad because President Obama pandered to the right at the expense of his base. We're mad because President Obama surrounded himself with advisers who don't know their Donkey from a hole in the ground. We are mad at President Obama for letting Yes We Can get hijacked by HELL NO YOU CAN'T with the media driving the getaway car.

I for one am happy the TeaPubliKlans caused America to lose it's AAA credit rating because America will experience what the majority of Americans experience every day.

No, what makes America look unreliable isn't budget math, it's politics. And please, let's not have the usual declarations that both sides are at fault. Our problems are almost entirely one-sided - specifically, they're caused by the rise of an extremist right that is prepared to create repeated crises rather than give an inch on its demands.
The truth is that as far as the straight economics goes, America's long-run fiscal problems shouldn't be all that hard to fix. It's true that an aging population and rising health care costs will, under current policies, push spending up faster than tax receipts. But the United States has far higher health costs than any other advanced country, and very low taxes by international standards. If we could move even part way toward international norms on both these fronts, our budget problems would be solved.

So why can't we do that? Because we have a powerful political movement in this country that screamed "death panels" in the face of modest efforts to use Medicare funds more effectively, and preferred to risk financial catastrophe rather than agree to even a penny in additional revenues.

The real question facing America, even in purely fiscal terms, isn't whether we'll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized.

Psst President Obama! Do something! And I don't mean travel around the Midwest in a bus making speeches. Your people are losing HOPE. If you are one term President it will be your own damn fault. Bring the Professional Lefty's in.

Psst President Obama! Independents are really republicans who are ashamed to call themselves republicans. They are not, and will never be your friend. You stand for everything thing they oppose. You need to stop listening to the gaggle heads and listen to us Professional Leftys. You need to surround yourself with some real Political Scientist and kick the clueless consultants and their enablers to the curb.

Go back to your Community Organizing Roots. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians, enabled by the main stream media and their failed policies.

Bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan before more lose life and limb for nothing.

Restore honesty and integrity to the Justice department and end the political prosecutions.

The thing to remember is that just because folks are mad and broke doesn’t mean they’re stupid. Sure Obama has made his fair share of missteps, and he has for sure worn out his welcome with the adult in the room business, let alone his over willingness to negotiate with folks who hate his guts. But in the end he is still so far ahead of every last one of the Republican challengers in his potential ability to manage this crisis that it’s not even a fair fight.

We are mad and broke, but we are not stoopid. And neither are you.

RedEye's Week in Review

What a week this has been. It began with the intruption of Sunday's prime time line up and surprise announcement of the capture, killing and burial at sea of Osama bin Laden.

The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads were besides themselves, spinning gleefully the narrative of a a fierce fire fight between Osama and The Navy Seals complete with Osama using a woman as a shield. There was just one tiny problem...the narrative didn't fit the facts, so they changed the narrative to one of vindication and justice for for the victims of 911. Let us not forget this is the same media who enabled Bush and Company to send our troops to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE.

Speaking of our troops and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,what about the over 4000men and women who killed in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting the so called War on Terror? What about the thousands who were wounded and maimed for life? What about the countless innocent Iraqi and Afghan men, women, and children who were killed, wounded, or maimed for life? Where is their vengeance?

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The greatest threat to America is a misinformed public.

When it comes to creating "facts" out of fiction - through repetition in the corporate media and by the right-wing funded echo chamber - the greatest threat to our nation may come from a misinformed public.

While the mainstream media is focusing on Birthers, Deathers and reliving 911 the right wing is busy waging a war on voting rights,a war against unions and a war on justice.

For Alabama to be second in the nation on religiosity (?) we sure do have a lot of Tornado's. Do you think God is trying to tell them something? Do you think they will listen or will they continue their evil ways?

Time will tell the truth because the media sure won't.

Combined with attempts by Republicans to restrict unions from engaging in perfectly legal political activity, House Speaker Dean Cannon’s move to try and pack the Florida Supreme Court to thwart the will of Florida voters who approved the Fair Districts amendments and to try and game redistricting, and their rush to rake in corporate cash through “buy me, I’m for sale” leadership funds, expect Florida to be one of the nastiest hubs of what’s sure to be an ugly 2012 election.

Lord help us.

Presidential Tug of War... Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't

Guest editorial by MES

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 3:42am

We knew this would happen with the Libyan conflict. The neo cons are belly aching about President Obama's "dithering" instead of invading Libya guns blazing Rambo style, killing everyone not wearing an American flag lapel pin or swearing allegiance to American Jesus Ronald Reagan.

Joining the chorus of neo-cons are those who are upset the United States is even supporting joining the "no fly zone" with France and Great Britain and the Arab League, claiming the US "bowing down" to them and the United Nations.

Of course, there are natural born cynics who believe that we shouldn't be there under any circumstances. How many tin pot dictators do we need to take out? There are just too many, and trying to pay my car note is a higher priority than Libyan rebels.

Lastly, we have this new breed of constitutional law scholars who sprung up over night who KNOW the President has violated his enumerated powers granted by the constitution. Republicans and Democrats are now using the "i" word, impeachment because Obama went to the UN, talked to senate reps, and bombed Qaddafi. It's not like he lied to the UN and the entire world to link a terrorist attack to a country that had NOTHING to do with that attack. That's ok. The very people that were so gung ho for war is now so concerned about "collateral damage" and the civilians that could possibly be killed. People being blown up, guns, missiles needing to be replaced (defense contracts), regime change for brown people, what's not for a conservative to like?

I'm confused...When Bush's hillbilly holy war to spread "freedom and democracy" began in Iraq began in 2003, terrorist organizations were kidnapping contractors and posting the be headings online. Bush leaning on his podium with that cocky crooked smile defiantly said, "We don't negotiate with terrorists", "Bring 'em on" and I'm the Decider." No one said a word, no screeching histrionics about wanting their country back.

When Sadaam's sons were killed, their dead mutilated bodies were posted on every television and web page, but that was ok, because they were Saddam's sons and they allegedly killed his own people. How did Saddaam use chemical weapons against his own people? Where did he get it from? The United States. That's what happens when we intervene. I digress...

With all that has happened in Iraq, one of Bush's Middle Eastern policy makers stated, "The President traded the effectiveness of early action for political cover, the administration is itching to get out in days, not weeks and turn the operation over to France, Britain and other allies. It get's better:

" How does that look? , calling the U.S. role “intervention on the cheap” and accusing Obama of “rejecting leadership on principle” instead of continuing the traditional U.S. role as first among nations. While allowing European and Arab nations to take the lead may be fine militarily and from a cost standpoint, politically it projects “a sense of diminishing U.S. influence more broadly.”

Have I been dreaming for the last decade? Didn't Gates, McCrystal and Powell, all of the people that have stripes and have served in the military, say that the military was stretched to thin? Didn't grampa Munster McCain even say that? It's kind of hard to be the first and the best when you are owned by the Chinese and are engaged in two wars and have an electorate that think FEMA concentration camps are real. and Glenn Beck is a prophetic voice from God. What God, I'm not sure...

Dennis Kucinich has joined in "impeachment" cacophony, talk about party solidarity. That's always the democrats problem isn't it? They have superior intellect but for some reason they decide to wander off the reservation and detach their balls, drench them in kerosene, set them on fire, jump in the Prius for sushi and wonder why they lost the election.

It appears all of the "anti-American" if you criticize the president talk has been erased in two years maybe because we had our first functionally retarded president, and now we have our first communist, Marxist, Nazi black president. The logic is there, but only in the southern states.

Anything Obama does will be criticized. He acted to soon, to late, it's to expensive, it's a war on the cheap, it's political posturing, it's Bush's fault, it's Obama's fault, does bail outs, he added to the deficit, he's a ditherer, he lacks leadership, he rises above, no drama Obama, he's detached...The irony of him being criticized by likes of Lynn Cheney, Sister Sarah, and Bush's Middle Eastern Advisor and all of the new constitutional law experts that exist under the flag of tea party should make Obama and his staff very fearful about re-election. Whatever mileage he had after the Gabby Giffords shooting is slipping.

As usual, Obama has not articulated and effectively communicated what our long term goals are, what is the mission. Will this be another situation where we run in, play security, train the military and the police occupy the entire country and have no exit strategy? Will we have more Abu-Graib's? Why is this loophole to bomb Libya that Obama pulled suddenly "impeachable?" Bush should've been impeached first. I know, Obama said he would never use his Presidential authority in this way, but no President gives up Presidential authority, that's like eating one potato chip.

Again, no one said a word about the Patriot Act, Rendition, Spying on Americans for the sake of feeling safe, and Guantanamo. The lie that kept being parroted was, "Bush kept us safe", Not so, it takes time to effectively plan, fund and execute a major terrorist attack. 9/11 took years to pull off, it wasn't just a bunch of random dudes that woke up one morning and decided to hijack some planes.

This is the sort of psychological projection that conservatives have mastered in the media. Notice how now, the conservatives are spinning the Obama Administration lacks a "clear strategy" in Libya meme? Here's the thing - if the Obama Administration were to explicitly lay out a "clear strategy" to the liking of conservatives, they would howl and scream about how this president is "giving away military strategy".

Recall their complaints when Pres. Obama announced goals to end military operations in Iraq by a set date - they were livid, claiming that the enemy would just wait us out. Now they complain when the President doesn't tell all. As others have noted, all you have to do is listen to the statements from the Administration to ascertain their goals - establish a no fly zone and deter the Libyan Army from attacking civilians, all these per the UN resolution. It's THAT simple.

What's chaffing conservatives is Pres. Obama simply isn't in this to build chest-thumping kudos for America like his predecessor. That's why they were angry with his relatively subdued approach when the events unfolded in Egypt, allowing the people to take credit for what happened, not the USA. He's not going into Libya with the bravado that armchair generals desire or cowboy diplomacy that got shoes thrown at his predecessor. Are some actions politically motivated? Absolutely. He's a politician. However, I don't think he thinks or runs the WH like he is in campaign mode funneling misinformation through fox news or has a bunch of flunkies like Karl Rove slithering in his own ooze infiltrating civilized society telling lies with a pale forked tongue.

What the American people need to understand are the political realities the President faces which are a direct fallout of Bush's policies. It's because of those policies the US CANNOT take a lead role and MUST NOT appear to act unilaterally. America is paralyzed, having squandered the goodwill and trust of the world, especially the Arab world at least 40 years ago, through our mismanagement of Afghanistan, Iraq, interventionism in the West Bank, Israel and so on...

Thanks to our desire to spread the joy of McDonald's, "Jesus"/ Ronald Reagan and pop music to the Middle East, we can't be the GI Joe, we have to be the little green stationary men, with no names.

Hypocrisy never get's old.

O.I.L.

The Bush Doctrine reared it's ugly head again last week. You know, the doctirne that says we (The United States of America) must kill innocent men, women children in Libya to protect them from an evil dictator. The United States of America must spend millions of tax dollars for bombs but not a penny for books, health care, or heating for the elderly. It's all war all the time, Unfair and Unbalanced.

The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to authorize a “no-fly zone” over Libya – a surprise to the author, who had predicted in the this column on Tuesday that China and/or Russia would veto the move. The measure gives the OK to “all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's forces – wording the U.S. and its allies will undoubtedly treat as a mandate to apply as much force as they wish.

The righty's are already calling the US led enforcement of the UN sanctioned No Fly Zone Obama's War in a lame attempt to equate Bush using our grief over 911 to send our sons and daughters to Iraq and Afghanistan, and firing cruise missiles.

"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gadhafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.

I don't like it. I don't support it. I don't care who the evil Dictator or the President IS.

It's a simple point, but an important one, and one that gets overlooked. Whether or not you think a particular war is moral and good, the fact remains that war is illegal. Actual defense by a country when attacked is legal, but that only occurs once another country has actually attacked, and it must not be used as a loophole to excuse wider war that is not employed in actual defense.

There is Oil in Lybia. Black gold. Texas Tea.

Oil reserves in Libya are the largest in Africa and the ninth largest in the world with 41.5 billion barrels (6.60×10^9 m3) as of 2007. Oil production was 1.8 million barrels per day (290×10^3 m3/d) as of 2006, giving Libya 63 years of reserves at current production rates if no new reserves were to be found. Libya is considered a highly attractive oil area due to its low cost of oil production (as low as $1 per barrel at some fields), and proximity to European markets. Libya would like to increase production from 1.8 Mbbl/d (290×10^3 m3/d) in 2006 to 3 Mbbl/d (480×10^3 m3/d) by 2010–13 but with existing oil fields undergoing a 7–8% decline rate, Libya's challenge is maintaining production at mature fields, while finding and developing new oil fields. Most of Libya remains unexplored as a result of past sanctions and disagreements with foreign oil companies.[1]

Cumulative production through 2009 was 27 Gbbl.[2] Given the stated number, this would be 65% of reserves.

The drilling of oil wells in Libya was first authorised by the Petroleum Law of 1955.[3] The National Oil Corporation is the largest oil company of Libya

Speaking of O.I.L, a LARGE new OIL SLICK is under investigation in The Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating reports of a large oil sheen 20 miles north of the site where BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last April. Multiple reports indicate a sheen nearly 100 miles long and 12 miles wide originating near the site of the Matterhorn SeaStar oil rig, owned by W&T Offshore, Inc.

Country first?

Voice for the Voiceless Edition

Repeat after me...
Black voices aren't *ahem* allowed to be heard in the court of public opinion because they are well...black.
Black folks should be seen (used for props) and not heard because they are well...black.
Black folks couldn't possibly know anything about anything because they are well..black.
Black folks need to STFU and STFD because they are well...black.

This seems to be the mantra of the Lame Stream Media and the status quo because black voices are absent from the conversation. If you want to hear what black folks have to say about the issues of the day you have to subscribe to Sirrus/XM radio or subscribe to Direct TV. In other words you have to PAY to hear from black folks.

Maybe if black voices were heard we wouldn't be in this mess. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried to tell y'all the Obama Compromise was going to be paid for on the backs of the middle class and the poor.

Scott's biggest concern was how the president's plan is going to be paid for.

"Finally, we have a choice," Scott said. "If we are going to do a tax cut, somebody is going to eventually have to pay for it and you can't give everybody a tax cut like it's Oprah Winfrey or Santa Claus. You get a tax cut. You get a tax cut. And eventually somebody is going to have to pay for it."

Many in the CBC seem worried that when the Republicans take over the House next year, the way it will get paid for is by repealing health care or cutting back on education spending. Scott took it one step further, "We're on track to essentially extend them all. The idea that you're going to extend them into a presidential year and then cut them? We've already established the principle that failure to extend the tax cut constitutes a tax increase. And if we can't do that, if we can't cut them off now, what is the chance we're going to be able to do it… in the middle of a presidential, congressional election…The last presidential candidate running on a platform of increasing taxes was Walter Mondale. That was not a successful strategy."

Rep. Barbara Lee (D.CA) and Elijah Cummings (D. MD) tried to tell y'all Medicare and Social Security would be at risk if the Bush tax cuts were extended. This is the same Barbra Lee who tried to tell y'all going to war in Afghanistan was a very bad idea.

I wonder what part of the gop will never respect an African American democratic President don't they understand?

Nobody listened when Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders warned they wanted to take us back to before the Civil War.

The media didn't want us to listen to Reverend Jeremiah Wright and they darn sure didn't want President Obama hearing anything he had to say.

We need some Affirmative Action or Quotas in the media. For every white male conservative voice there should be a black male liberal voice. For every white female conservative voice, there should be a black female liberal voice. Let's have some fairness and diversity. All white is not right.

Until and unless we start having some real fairness and balance in the media, tea party groups will continue to thrive. Until and unless we have a free press that informs the public instead of distorting what we decide we will continue to send our sons and daughters to war based on dead wrong intelligence.

Let's address it, not suppress it.
Peace Out.

It's the stoopid WAR, Stoopid!

What part of the reason we are broke is because we are spending BILLIONS of dollars per month fighting W-ars in Iraq and Afghanistan don't our *cough cough* elected officials don't understand?

What part of the reason our counties, cities and states are broke is because we are spending BILLIONS of dollars per month fighting W-ars in Iraq and Afghanistan don't our *ahem* elected officials not understand?

What part of all war all the time and giving the rich a tax cut are the reason we are broke don't our elected officials understand?

What part of you can't fit a square peg into a round hole aka balance the budget *snark* by waging W-ar on the middle class (working poor), labor (working poor) and the disenfranchised (poor) don't they understand?

What part of we the people are sick and tired of being lied too don't they understand?

Wisconsin is Ground Zero. Despite the lame stream media spin, Wisconsin isn't about balancing the budget. It's about putting organized labor in it's place. Thank goodness Wisconsin democrats have a spine.

What GuyinMilwaukee said;

Yeah, I love how the Teabaggies are always screaming about how Obama and the Dems are shredding the constitution, but damned if they can come up with a coherent example of it. Someone else exercises their ACTUAL constitutional rights, like the right to peacable assembly and redress of grievances, and they get all pompous about "the people have spoken" etc. Somehow that didn't apply to them when they were disrupting (and sometimes, not peacefully) the townhall meetings. They were mum about the obstruction of the Senate process by the secret holds and requiring everything to get a super majority. Where was the tut-tutting of the corporate media? I don't remember any. But now we get the Villagers, the know-nothings that follow Beck, Limbaugh, Fox News and the Astroturfed mythology of the teabag cult weighing in with their fictional talking points, saying the unions don't even have a right to assemble. Assholes.
The hypcrisy of it all serves to underscore its real purpose: the corporate take over of government, aka fascism.

If President Obama, John Boehner and the TeaPublicans are serious about cutting spending, stop spending our tax dollars on stupid wars! They need to put up or STFU.

Tea-baggers, Republicans, and Blue-Dog Democrats in Congress use their convoluted “values” and the deficit as excuses to slash and burn social safety net programs ... witness Planned Parenthood. Social Security and Medicare appear to be next on the chopping bloc, never mind that “we the people” have actually paid for these “entitlements.” So, I suggest we actually test their resolve and commitment to reducing the deficit by demanding they implement a “Deficit Reduction Tax.” It goes something like this:

All elected and appointed officials of the US Government will have 10% of their gross monthly earnings deducted and paid towards the deficit reduction.

All retired elected and appointed officials of the US Government with federal retirement benefits exceeding the US median household income (approximately $50K) will have 10% of their federal retirement income in excess of the US median income deducted and paid towards deficit reduction.

The TeaPublicans don't have a problem spending tax dollars rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan, but they want to cut spending in America. Go figure.

The new tea party-backed freshman class came to Washington to cut spending. Period. And they’ve joined forces with old-line conservatives in the Republican Study Committee to form an immovable bloc on the issue.

As a whole, that dominant faction of the GOP doesn’t like government much. So if the choice is to keep the same government running at the same rate or to shut it down briefly, some are sure to pick shutdown.

Orange Boehner is finding it takes more than a big gavel to heard cats. Snickering

Cats are scurrying all over the damn place…and rumor has it they turned the GOP legislative plan into a litter box and told Speaker Boehner to put his fucking gavel to use and get to scoopin’!

Bring our troops and our tax dollars home. Cut spending on all war all the time.

We were lied too

The nimby pamby, tree hugging, latte drinking, Birkenstock wearing, hybrid car driving, long haired hippy, anti war protesters were right (no pun). Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war

The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.

No stuff Sherlock?

The admission comes just after the eighth anniversary of Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in which the then-US secretary of state relied heavily on lies that Janabi had told the German secret service, the BND. It also follows the release of former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld's memoirs, in which he admitted Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction programme.

So let me see if I've got this right (pun intended), our sons and daughters were sent to Iraq to look for WMD that was not there and they are still there. Billions of our tax dollars were spent looking for WMD that was not there and are still being spent there. Our sons and daughters lost life and limbs based on a big WMD L-I-E.

OK, let's flip the script as the young people say. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they had proof of tons and tons of WMD in Iraq and Saddam was about to use them on us.

Remember Cindy Sheehan?

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan (born July 10, 1957) is an American anti-war activist whose son, specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed during his service in the Iraq War by the Mahdi Army on April 4, 2004. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand which drew both passionate support and angry criticism. She ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008. She is a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policy, saying: "I don't think much has changed since the Bush administration."

Only in America would the mother of a dead United States soldier be subjected to treatment like this from her fellow Americans.

I received an email today that had this subject line: "Throw the Bitch in the Ditch." The writer accused me of "throwing dirt" on Casey, himself and his son who all have served the country. I have NEVER said anything to disparage the honorable service of Casey or the others who have signed up to be in the military, only to be abused by the leadership of this country. This writer didn't even blink an eye at calling the mother of a war hero "bitch." I wonder how the email writer feels about his own leadership "throwing dirt" on the service of actual military men like: John Kerry; Jack Murtha; Max Cleland, and yes, even John McCain? I have never questioned people who try to stay alive fighting in the dishonorable wars of the old men. Who I appreciate even more, though, are the people of courage who resist killing innocent people and become conscientious objectors. I wish Casey had. I am hoping that would have happened. He told everyone before he left for Iraq that he didn't think he could "kill anyone."

This is the human cost of the big Weapons of Mass Destruction L-I-E. Read it and weep. republicans need to be reminded daily they supported the big lie lock step when they start talking about big government spending and reducing the deficit on the backs of the poor and the middle class. The mainstream media needs to be reminded daily they enabled the big lie when they start talking about John Edwards lying to supporters about an extra martial affair. The birthers need to be reminded daily our sons and daughters are dying and being maimed for life on foreign soil when they argue President Obama is perhaps not eligible for the office he holds.

Where in the World is the real President Barack Obama?

We're broke? Who knew? Maybe if we bought our troops and our tax dollars home from Iraq and Afghanistan the country wouldn't be broke and President Obama wouldn't be trying to reduce the deficit on the backs of the elderly, college students, the middle class and low income citizens. Also known as the people who voted for him.

What the heck is wrong with President Obama? Has someone kidnapped the Barack Obama that ran for President and replaced him with a clone? Because it looks like to me he is more interesting in winning the approval of the wing nuts than he is the people who put him in office.

President Obama is pandering to people who think he is an African Interloper at the expense of the people who voted for him. People who think he perhaps not eligible for the office based on the right wing media enabled birth certificate conspiracy. When is President Obama going to realize there is nothing he can do to appease these people?

.... House Speaker John Boehner (R-Va.) doesn't want to talk about it. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) doesn't want to talk about it. But their Republican allies in state legislature don't mind talking about it at all.

The opening of 2011 state legislative sessions has been accompanied by a spate of birther-related bills, the clearest indication yet that the controversy surrounding President Barack Obama's place of birth will continue to simmer throughout his reelection campaign.
Lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to provide some form of proof that they are natural-born citizens, a ballot qualification rule designed to address widespread rumors on the right that Obama was not born in the United States.
This is more than just annoyance about idiotic jokes at CPAC, this is about 10 legislatures advancing actual legislation in response to insane conspiracy theories.

If I wanted to feel the pain of budget cuts I would have voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

I wonder when the TeaPublicans are going to wake up and smell the Tea?

Paul Krugman noted some of the cuts that jumped out at him, including deep reductions in aid for pregnant women and women with young children, NOAA, NASA, energy efficiency programs, scientific research, counter-proliferation, FEMA, environmental protections, community health centers, and Centers for Disease Control. Summarizing the Republican philosophy, Krugman concluded, "Don't start thinking about tomorrow."

This is the Batsh*t crazy the Batsh*t crazies voted for

Now we know what life will be like if the House Republicans get their way: Financial aid for college will decline, food-borne illness will spread more easily, Head Start programs will shrink, and Big Bird might be out of business.

After a difficult week of negotiations, the House Appropriations Committee on Friday evening released a detailed list of spending cuts that would reduce non-defense federal expenditures by about $60 billion* between now and September, when the fiscal year ends.

In so doing, House leadership addressed the concerns of Tea Party activists and newly elected Republicans, who were angry that previous spending plans didn't shrink the size of government sufficiently. But that is an awful lot of money to take out of the budget in such a short time, particularly if none of it can come from either the Pentagon or the large entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) that comprise the majority of federal spending.

President Obama needs to ask former Alabama CD7 Congress Critter now white collar criminal defense attorney Artur Davis how that pandering to the right at the expense of the base thingy worked out for him.

The American people are hurting. Strike that. The American people are suffering. We can't take anymore pain.

What I want to hear President Obama say in the State of the Union

I want President Obama to have one of those Harrison Ford/Air Force One Moments when he tells the republicans to get the hell out of the way.

I want President Obama to have one of those Michael Douglas/An American President Moments when he tells the country he was so busy trying to keep his job he forgot to do his job.

I want a Josh Bartlett/West Wing State of the Union address.

I want President Obama to have one of those defining moments. And not just on TeeVee or on the big screen, but in real life.


Will he say this? h/t Alan Grayson

“My fellow Americans. Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President. It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received. But I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name. Especially the middle one. No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.

“We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes. You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them. Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.

“But a President is more than a legislative program. Although my title is ‘President,’ you did not elect me to preside. You elected me to lead.

“We are at a fork in the road. The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick. We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years. Or I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.

“I choose the latter. As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.

“These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:

“First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.

“Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a ‘currency manipulator,’ and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don’t want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade. I will institute ‘anti-dumping’ actions to protect American jobs.

“Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank’s expense, before foreclosure. Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.

“Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered ‘too big to fail.’ Too big to fail should mean too big to exist. There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.

“Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest. I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets. In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that. If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again. We can’t take that chance.

“Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500. This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens. And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.

“Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do. If they can do it, then so can we.

“Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours. We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly. We have to keep sewer money out of politics.

“Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution’s ‘freedom of association,’ be defended – including the promulgation of ‘card check’ by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.

“Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner. After a decade of war, it’s time for peace.

“Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America. I still do. Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically. America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them. That’s the change we need, and the change we deserve. I won’t settle for less.”

It's not wise to blog about Terri Sewell

Strike that, it's not wise for ME to blog about 7th District Congressperson elect Terri Sewell, nor is it wise for me to link to my damn own stuff at Left in Alabama.

Is it a coincidence that once again, almost a year to the date, I'm banned from logging on and linking to Left if Alabama after posting several posts critical of Terri Sewell?

Is it a coincidence that after an exchange with an anonymous poster accusing me of obsessing over Terri Sewell, not having an original thought just a lot of links to LiA and told to find my own voice, I'm banned from logging on and linking to Left in Alabama?

This isn't the first time someone(s) have tried to silence me and It probably won't be the last. It's a shame our sons and daughters are fighting, dying, and being maimed for life-fighting for Freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, but some us are fighting for equal rights and civil rights right here in the U.S.A.

I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
"The Black Man Speaks," from Jim Crow's Last Stand (1943)

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again, from A New Song (1938)
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed —
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek —
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay —
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again —
The land that never has been yet —
And yet must be — the land where every man is free.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose —
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain —
All, all the stretch of these great green states —
And make America again!

Whining whiners, Poverty, Health, Back Stabbers, Cowards and Doggy Doo, Oh My!

The Artur Davis, sore loser, farewell, whine tour goes on and on like the Energizer Bunny;

Having had four months to process the collapse of a 30-point lead in the polls into a 24-point loss in his race for governor, he's reached some conclusions. For all the early talk about whether whites would vote for a black to be governor, Davis now says he ran into racism in a primary that is dominated by black voters. He said he lost black votes because black political leaders -- who disliked Davis' centrist record and go-it-alone style -- successfully convinced black voters that a black couldn't win, and this black in particular shouldn't win.

Psst Artur! Don't try and blame black leadership for your miserable failure. Black leaders didn't tell you to pander to the right at the expense of the traditional base and to take black voters for granted. You can thank your white campaign advisers for that. And just maybe your loss had more to do with the state of your district and the fact you didn't have plan than it did your race and black leaders.

Alabama is one of 31 states that saw one-year increases in both the number and the percentage of the population living in poverty.

"It's not good news," said Jim Carnes, spokesman for the anti-poverty advocacy group Alabama Arise in Montgomery. "We're seeing record numbers on food stamps and insurance programs, and there really is a direct correlation -- as the poverty rate increases, government services have a greater demand."

The data shows 26 percent more households received food stamps in 2009 than in 2008. The median household income in the state also dropped 4.5 percent, from $42,408 to $40,489. Nationally, the drop was 2.9 percent, from $51,726 to $50,221. Only one state saw an increase: North Dakota.

For those who believe our Government can do no wrong check out the U.S. Government sponsored human medical experimentation from Tuskegee to Guatemala.

“The poorly educated black farmers in Alabama and the prisoners and mental patients in Guatemala had one important thing in common. They were not white.”

Deja Voodoo all over again in Sweet Home Alabama. Fool me once....can't fool me again.

If the people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 were sending one central message, it probably went something like this: "Whatever you do, don't act like George W. Bush."

Those voters must feel like they've been stabbed in the back after recent events in Alabama. The Obama Department of Justice arrested 11 individuals on Monday in a gambling-related investigation that has been heavy handed, misguided, politically motivated, and strategically timed to affect an election--all of the attributes we came to expect from the Bush DOJ.

This is why the right fears Nancy Pelosi."We'll Tie The GOP with Corporate Cash Like Doggy Doo Stuck on your shoe" . This is what I'm talking about! Girl Power!

"Whenever you get hit with an overwhelming weight, you have to jujitsu it. So we want to turn it against them... I want to tattoo them right on to the Republican candidate," she said, smacking her hand for emphasis. "Big oil, big banks, big health insurance: We're going to tattoo you with that, so it's like doggy-doo stuck on your shoe. Wherever you go, people will know."

The democratic party doesn't stand for cowardice. One thing I will give the gop credit for is their unity and their courage. They stand behind their party right or wrong. You don't hear about them reaching across the aisle and voting with democrats. You don't hear of them bashing their leader. You don't hear of them helping democrats put their people in prison. Heck George W. Bush got them to send our troops to Iraq and Afghanistan without an exit plan. Hate to say it but maybe democrats need to borrow a spine from the gop.

What if Democrats hold on to their majorities? What if the same thing happens in 2010 that happened in 2006 and 2008? What would happen is that it would be game over for the Republican party. Anger is their only plan and if it fails then there is nothing else. Republicans are more vulnerable than they have ever been. If Democrats merely show up to vote this year then the Republicans are gone.

Get off your Donkey's and VOTE!