Tag: Barack Obama

Huffington Post Censors Itself

I don’t have the screen shot but for a little while yesterday afternoon, the Huffington Post lead story was “PEACE PRIZE?” and linked to a story at the Washington Post about how Obama already secretly sent 13,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. I went to look for the Huffpo story again and it’s gone.

The WaPo story talks about how the additional troops are not combat-oriented but no matter how you slice it, it’s military personnel above and beyond what was initially announced back in March. The story also goes into detail about troop increases since the U.S. first invaded. Mercenary troops and security hiring probably continue apace so I put it out there again: PEACE PRIZE? Really?

Dim Bullets in a Dark Tunnel

98th Street tunnel, Henry Hudson Parkway

  • The new quagmire: Seven questions for Barack Obama on Afghanistan. With hindsight of Mary McCarthy’s Vietnam memoirs and penned by retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
  • Greenwald calls Jane Harman a bunch of names although strangely, hypocrite isn’t one of them. Jeff Stein delves further into the mess.
  • Socialist Andre Damon pretty cynical about everything.
  • Reese Erlich seems to think loosening policy toward Cuba will bring more illicit drug trafficking.
  • Jessie’s bond-trader friend whacks at the Wells Fargo earnings piñata.
  • Tom Engelhardt ruminates on the constant stream of civilian casualties that largely go unreported on these shores.
  • Dems want to sweep torture hearings under the rug as much as Bush flunkies do.
  • Israelis hawking first-class propaganda junket??!?
  • Bank stress test: a) too big to fail b) too big to fail…
  • Tiny violin playing for pro-torture Judge Bybee.
  • Texas sheriff prosecution for waterboarding by Reagan’s DOJ ignored by current torture advocates.
  • New York food banks stressed.
  • Polish pianist stops the show with anti-U.S. tirade.
  • The new terror alert: Swine flu hype conveniently killing off the torture story. Includes a history of “flu oddities.”

Goodbye to a Huge Embarrassment

Last night, I was discussing with friends whether Barack Obama has ever been cheesy. Smile at the camera and say cheese! He is good at that. You could argue the train tour to Washington following Lincoln’s route is a bit cheesy. Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention featured some pretty bombastic and cheesy staging effects. You can talk about some gaffes that were exploited by the opposition and quoted out-of-context. Were they curdling or cringe-worthy? Presidential public relations spin is an old game and the winners are the ones who spend more time on spin than on counter-spin.

Pundits on the right and left are already exclaiming over the change in tone that is descending on Washington. To call it a breath of fresh air is understatement. Anyone can edit together a video of “uh…. uh…” and other stuttering from the podium, however, Obama is never going to rise to the level of red-faced, jaw-dropping, eye-rolling idiocy and embarrassment that George W. Bush has provided the world with for eight years. (h/t David Letterman)

Lighting the Greens (rant)

Oh, the difference a couple of years makes. I had friends and family members recoil in horror at some of the language I used to use to describe President Bush. “Why are you so angry?” they said. I don’t want to be an angry person and if I talk about politics, I’d like to keep it about things like healthcare, education, the environment, and infrastructure (Supertrains!). But I ticked off the 10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency as they happened, and it’s true I got mad. Only now, Mr. Bush has turned the volume up to 11. The most I could ever really muster was to call Bush a fascist.

Here’s me in January.

I don’t get that [some] conservatives call Obama a socialist because he’s going to make only the extremely wealthy pay more taxes. It’s just not trickling down enough. Your precious freedoms aren’t going to be taken away and he’s not going to dismantle the military and the CIA and let extreme Islamism take over. Get a grip.

Calling All Celebrities


Fall through the cracks

On billmon’s return to bloggity blogging, he sez McSame is doomed because the media is finally catching on to what an ultimately shallow codger he is for being the self-serving flip-flopper non-maverick he is and also incapable of thinking outside the Bush policy box. (A great read I might add.) At Sadly, No!, Brad sez Obama might be doomed for underestimating the shallowness of voters. I’d like to think it’s somewhere in between. A lot will shake out when the VPs are presented and there are a couple of debates.

Also consider the wisdom of a surge in Afghanistan. Remember how much fun the Russians had there.

I’m reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Things are getting loopy.