Where’s the Outrage?

I’m not sure where to go with Bush’s appeasement statement. In the Israeli Knesset, President Bush talked about the dangers of appeasement.

I’m surprised that President Bush didn’t get Boo’ed. Wasn’t it the Bush Administration that pushed Israel into a fight with Hezbollah? Using the same logic that got us bogged down in Iraq, the Bush Administration pushed and prodded Israel into attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. In my opinion, it was the worst defeat of Israel in its history. So, why didn’t the Knesset give President Bush the Bronx cheer that he deserved? Maybe they were just too polite.

On the other hand, could President Bush be deflecting attention from John McCain and his lack of thoughtful foreign policy? John McCain has had about as many positions as you can on Iraq. Bush has had only one. One bad one but only one.

Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow tackle this issue.

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq, Israel // Add Comment »

The Houston Astros baseball team has introduced all you can eat Thursdays.

On Thursday home games you can pay $35 and, in addition to a seat, get unlimited hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, soda and water.

Maybe this is being done in response to concern by the team that the rise in gas prices will hurt attendance this year.

Another option my hometown Astros could consider, is allowing fans to bring their own food in the stadium. This would lower the cost of going to a game. Other teams allow outside food.

In any case, this new offer is disgusting.

Meanwhile, much of the world is being impacted by increases in the price of food.

I’m not suggesting we poison the world with stadium food. Or that a person eating a meal of four hot dogs and three trays of nachos is denying a hungry person in Cameroon a meal of hot dogs and nachos.    

But what if the Astros donated $1 from each ticket on All You Can Eat Day to world food relief efforts? 

[Read more →]

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The House defeated a $162 billion proposal to fund the War in Iraq thru 2009. A coalition of Democrats and insightful Republicans (is that an oxymoron?) who read the tea leaves in Mississippi and are trying to distance themselves from a President who is losing popularity by the second.

Tags: Budget, Iraq // Add Comment »

President George W. Bush was addressing the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) today. Bush said: “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Somebody please help me. Who said anything about appeasement? Pat Buchanan pointed out that the Bush administration negotiated with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. He gave up his nuclear ambitions. We tried the hard line with North Korea and they made more nuclear weapons during the Bush administration than in their history. We tried the hard line against Iran and they are clearly stronger now than since the late 1970’s.

Barack Obama had a thoughtful statement: “It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled and direct diplomacy — to pressure countries like Iran and Syria.”

It appears to me that Bush is trying to go out of his way to prove how bad his administration truly is. I’m not sure that he did John McCain any favors.

Tags: Iran, Israel // Add Comment »

Today’s round up. I guess the biggest news from yesterday was John Edwards’ endorsement of Barack Obama. Edwards gave a GREAT speech.

• Nothing be ugly news is coming out of China. More and more pictures show terrible destruction. I haven’t read any estimates of property damage but the death total continues to raise. There is significant damage to several dams which have put several cities in more danger.
• Cindy McCain sells off over $2 million in Sudan investments. I prefer not to beat up Ms. McCain for being rich or even inheriting huge sums of money.
• On the other hand, I don’t mind beating up John McCain for having the most incoherent Iraq policy. Just 3 months ago, John McCain accused those who wanted to pull out of Iraq as not understanding Military principles. I guess he doesn’t understand those same principles. Today, his campaign announced a plan to have most troops home by 2013. If I didn’t know better, I would say that this looks almost like a timetable.
• News from Myanmar is still awful. Farmers may miss harvest time.
• David Broder of WaPo has been the wise sage of journalism for a long time. Today, he waxes on West Virginia and Barack Obama. He compares Tuesday’s contest to John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey back in 1960. Although the comparison is interesting, it has nothing to what happened on Tuesday. Barack Obama made a decision not to spend $15 - $30 million to education the voters of West Virginia. Even with the expenditure, Obama would have probably still lost the primary, just by less. Wouldn’t the money be better spent on Oregon which will give Barack a led in elected delegates and the popular vote that can not be over come?
• Dan Froomkin had a great article yesterday on Bush’s Politico interview. Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment was on the interview.

Tags: Election 2008, Foreign Affairs, Iraq // Add Comment »

It has been a little while since Keith Olbermann has had a Special Comment. Keith Olbermann has 4 major points. George Bush gave an interview yesterday to Politico.com and the users of Yahoo.

• The Election of a Democratic President could emboldened the enemy - this of course is nonsense. It is fear-mongering. It is so 2004. The country has moved past this.
• I was told they had Weapons of Mass Destruction said Bush. This is the “It wasn’t my fault.” defense that Bush has used in the past. Keith is not letting him get away with that weak answer. Because the buck stops at the President’s desk. He was the one that appointed those knuckleheads. He was the one that didn’t ask for objective opinions.
• Finally, there was that great quote, “I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.” President Bush has said some painfully uninformed things over the last 7 years. This may be the worst. He gave up Golf not for lent but for the Iraq War? Keith really lets Bush have it on this one and he should because the idea is more than condescending.  Oh, but, is this just another spin job?  The Associated Press has photos of President Bush playing golf after the death of the UN envoy.

Keith’s Special Comment might of been a little over the top but he was correct.  George Bush isn’t sprinting to the finish line like he said.  He is limbing.  If he were a boat he would be listing to one side.  I guess the one thing that is clear is George W. Bush is the worst president in the last 50 years.  He maybe the worst president, ever.

 

 Countdown - Special Comment [12:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Al Qaeda, Countdown, Iraq // 4 Comments »

Senator John Edwards states in a passionate speak from Grand Rapids, Michigan, “The reason that I’m here tonight is because the Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I.”

“This election is about taking down those walls of the past so that we can see what’s possible.”

Obama. Nothing can really stop him now.

Tags: Election 2008, Healthcare, Poverty // Add Comment »

It is important for Barack Obama to shake off West Virginia and the best medicine would be a primary victory. The second best medicine would be a major endorsement like John Edwards.

———-

From MSNBC:

Democrat John Edwards is endorsing former rival Barack Obama, fresh signs of the party establishment embracing the likely nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy.

Edwards was to appear with Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., as Obama campaigns in a critical general election battleground state. (more…)

Tags: Election 2008 // Add Comment »

I’m going to try to do a daily report of the major items but I have this day job that might prevent me from doing this daily.

• In case you missed it, all of those high tech computer geeks who were laughing at those guys who programmed video games, aren’t laughing any more. Grand Theft Auto IV raked in $500 million in sales in its first week.
• Is China that different than Myanmar (where some aid has been reportedly stolen)? Is China letting in international aid workers? It appears that the weather is better and helicopters and soldiers have finally reached the epicenter of the worst earthquake to hit China in over 30 years. Tens of thousands are thought to be dead.
• I wrote about Hillary Clinton’s big mistakes in this primary season. Time magazine lists their top 5. It is nice to know that our lists are similar.
• I know what Michelle Obama meant when she said that she was finally proud of her country. There is a lot to be depressed about for those who open their eyes and see America. A new series of articles by Dana Priest, who I really admire, and Amy Goldstein, on the consequences of the economic refugee crackdown. This series is really heartbreaking.
• Polls show 7 in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living.
• The House is looking into phone jamming in New Hampshire. The House isn’t looking into anything that happened in 2008 or even 2006. They are looking into that incident that happened in 2002 where over 800 hang up calls clogged the N.H. Democratic Headquarters and killed their get out the vote effort.
• Roger Wicker leave the House when he was appointed to fill Trent Lott’s seat in the Senate. This left a seat open in the House. Travis Childers, Democrat, and Greg Davis, Republican fought over this Mississippi seat. Last night Childers won. The Republicans threw everything into this race. Dick Cheney came out of the bunker to campaign for Davis. Mike Huckabee, Governor Haley Barbour campaigned for Davis and President Bush even recorded a telephone message for robocalling. All for nothing.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Economy, Elections, Immigration // 1 Comment »

On the DailyKos Kubla000 had this take on Hillary Clinton’s victory:

When you’re down 179 Delegates total, there is NO TIME For Momentum or Symbolism. Despite what the media is telling you, Hillary Clinton tonight Failed in West Virginia. Why, you may ask, is kubla000 saying Hillary Clinton has lost West Virginia…

Simply:

Hillary tonight underperformed Obama’s best TEN Victories

What does tonight’s final tally look like? After reviewing the 2nd Exit Update, Tonight is going to be

65% Clinton
32% Obama

Per the Incredible Poblano

Tags: Election 2008, Race // Add Comment »

Just because you use big words and talk slowly doesn’t mean that you are right. William Buckley was one of those slow talkers but somehow I could tolerate him. I have little tolerance for George Will. His stature just shouts, “I’m smarter than you.” I don’t know. He may be smarter than I am. All that I can tell you is that I haven’t found his writing or his commentary to be that insightful. So, as I was rounding today, I found a copy of last week’s Newsweek. The copy was open to George Will’s article entitled, Questions for Obama.

I will take my time and go through this article very carefully because the Republicans are reading it now and trying to pair down the questions into short, little gotcha questions.

More later.

Tags: Election 2008 // Add Comment »

My mother always told me if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all. I don’t have a comment on West Virginia.

Tags: Election 2008, Race // Add Comment »

I have misspoken many times in the past and I promise that I’ll do it again in the future because I’m not perfect. I do try to chose my words carefully especially if I’m talking to someone who is recording me. It only makes sense. I have never called someone an idiot or pinhead or moron if I didn’t mean it. (I try to call anyone these names unless I’m joking. Name calling in a great way to get yourself in trouble.)

So, when Pastor John Hagee called the Catholic church the “great whore” it was clear what he meant. He lead to this conclusion after a huge build up. It isn’t like he just blurted out - Great Whore. No, instead, there was a build up of the past sins of the Catholic church, like today’s church should be responsible for the sins of the past. Hagee started with the Inquisition and then talked about the Crusades. He then tied the Crusades to antisemitism and the hatred of the Jews. I have no idea what the Crusades have to do with antisemitism but Hagee was on a roll. Hilter, according to Hagee, learned his hatred of the Jews through this Catholic teaching. Then he ended with the Catholic church is the Great Whore.

Well, it looks like Pastor Hagee didn’t mean it. He was just playin’. All I can say is yeah, right. Hagee may not have liked the media focus or the public criticism but he meant to say exactly what he said. In order to add insult to injury, in my opinion, Pastor Hagee met with several Catholic leaders earlier and wrote a letter to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, apologizing for his inflammatory rhetoric. Donohue has accepted his apology.

Hagee needs to go back and read that Bible that he is carrying around. He needs to open his heart and his mind when he is reading. The Catholic church has had much to answer for but so has all of mankind because we aren’t perfect. We all fail just has Pastor Hagee has failed, now.

Tags: Election 2008, Religion // 2 Comments »

The Bill Moyers Journal is one of the television shows that I tape every week. I love his take on different subjects including the media, Iraq, the US attorney scandal and earmarks. He had Keith Olbermann on a couple of months ago. Now, it is Olbermann’s turn to have Bill on. They discuss the McCain campaign’s spin on the Newsweek’s cover story on Barack Obama. They also cover Jeremiah Wright and our bumper sticker news coverage. There is no in depth coverage of almost anything.

Tags: Bill Moyers, Countdown, Domestic Issues, Media // Add Comment »

I just was robbed at the gas station. $63 was sucked out of my wallet. This is a crime. This isn’t market forces. It is oil company greed. Where’s the Outrage!!!!