Prometheus 6

Americans do not send their sons and daughters to war for other countries. That is why the Bush administration made up the Iraq-9/11 connection. Americans would not go to war for oil, or to remove "the dictator" or to strengthen Israel (all goals of the neoconservatives).

They will only go to war if they believe we are threatened. Israel knows that and has never asked the United States to fight its wars for it. So when Bush tells Israelis that he is ready for war on Israel's behalf, he is giving currency to an idea that harms Israel. And Jews.

We are a tiny minority in this country. Enough people believe the canard that America went to war in Iraq for Israel, a damnable lie. But that is precisely the rationale for war with Iran that Bush is giving by invoking the threat to Israel over and over again.

Is It Pandering to Jews or Scapegoating Them: Plus McCain's Sterling Endorsement of Talking to Hamas
By M.J. Rosenberg - May 16, 2008, 9:44AM

If I did not know better I would think that there is some conspiracy out there to produce an anti-Semitic backlash in a country, this country, that has been relatively free of that scourge since its founding.

Think about it. President Bush went to Israel to celebrate its 60th anniversary, a nice gesture and one in keeping with a President who personal proclivities are strongly pro-Israel even if his policies have not done Israel much good.

He used his visit there not just to salute our friend and ally but to promote confrontation with Iran, an idea that is utterly unpopular in the United States (to put it mildly) but is an applause producer in Israel. In fact, he went before the Israeli Knesset to denounce Americans who favor negotiations with Iran before resorting to war. He was clearly referring to Sen. Obama although Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Defense Gates hold the same views and they work for Bush!

That doesn't seem to be what's going on.

Here's the deal: At VoteVets, we hear anecdotal evidence all the time from returning veterans that the VA is trying to cut costs and to save resources by not diagnosing people with PTSD. We hear suspicious stories about the VA diagnosing vets with personality disorders or adjustment disorders. But we've never seen proof that there was an organized policy within the VA, or that there were directives coming from the top to actually do this. And that's why this email is so important. This email--sent by a VA Medical Center PTSD coordinator--directly ties the diagnosis to monetary concerns and not to the medical condition.

The Politics of Inequality: A Political History of the Idea of Economic Inequality in America by Michael J. Thompson is an American history. It reaches all the way back to the philosophers of Greece, all the way through Europe to explain the economic ideas current when the United States of America declared its independence. Then it follows the way these ideas were expressed as the economy (and hence the politics) of the nation changed beneath their feet. The overall result was the exchange of our intellectual forbears' sure knowledge that excessive inequality undermines the democracy itself, for the government supported libertarian market economy we now enjoy.

The "Cracker Ass Cracker" Vote

An arrest two years ago involving a man found with a kilo of cocaine in his backpack was subsequently thrown out by an Albany County judge, who ruled the cops had no legitimate reason to approach and question the man.

During the hearing that led to that dismissal, Terence L. Kindlon, the defendant's attorney, accused a sheriff's investigator of lying and embellishing his testimony by using precise language -- "I sensed 'criminality was afoot' " -- directly from the Court of Appeals ruling, according to a court transcript. 

Outcry over Sheriff's Department search methods
By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer
First published: Sunday, March 2, 2008

ALBANY -- Two years ago, Tunde Clement stepped off a bus at the city's main terminal downtown.

Clement, a black man, was carrying a backpack and coming from New York City. That may have been enough to pique the interest of undercover sheriff's investigators scanning the crowd with their eyes.

They cornered Clement and began peppering him with questions.

He was quickly handcuffed and falsely arrested. He was taken to a station to be strip-searched and then to a hospital, where doctors forcibly sedated him with a cocktail of powerful drugs, including one that clouded his memory of the incident.

The actions of police in the minutes that followed would end in controversy rather than with an arrest. They would also leave Shutter, a 28-year-old single mother from Ravena, shaken and angry after one of the officers allegedly inserted his finger into Shutter's vagina on a public street during an apparent search for drugs.

When it was over, "I pulled off down the road and I just cried for probably a half hour," Shutter said. "I called my dad. ... I felt like I had been basically raped."

That's because you were. Raped...

Shutter said she grew increasingly unnerved by her experience with internal affairs -- which is known as the Office of Professional Standards -- because male detectives twice requested she wear clothes from the night of the incident to re-enact the body search.

And serially disrespected.

Police: 'You fit the profile'
By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
First published: Sunday, March 2, 2008

ALBANY-- The cops in the marked patrol car had circled through West Hill a couple times keeping an eye on their female target.

They were part of the Street Drug Unit, an aggressive squad assigned to help rid Albany's neighborhoods of drug dealers and addicts blamed for much of the city's problems.

It was early evening and already dark when the patrol car's emergency lights flashed in the rearview mirror of Lisa Shutter's Mitsubishi sedan on Quail Street, just off Central Avenue.

At least she didn't attack him, or boost McCain above him this time. 

Clinton defends Obama from Bush

Hillary, today in Rapid City, South Dakota, defended Obama from President Bush's apparent comparison of him to Neville Chamberlain, Ken Vogel reports.

She told reporters:

President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced. Unfortunately, this is what we’ve come to expect from President Bush.

“There is a very clear difference between Democrats and Republicans on foreign policy and that difference will be evident once we take back the White House.

Party leaders speak of the need to refurbish the "Republican brand." The problem goes far beyond packaging, though. It's not that the box needs to be more colorful; it's that the ideas inside have long since gone stale.

The GOP's Ideas Deficit
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, May 16, 2008;

The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise.

In this respect, it doesn't matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall. I was going to try to write this column without using the word "paradigm," but already I've failed: Regardless of who takes the oath of office in January, the paradigm that reigned for nearly three decades -- the notion that government is useless, if not inherently evil -- is no longer operative.

It's painful to compare the United States today with what it was in 2000. On indicator after indicator, we have fallen backward. Under the last Democratic administration, we had huge budget surpluses; now we wallow in debt. Real income was growing; now it is shrinking. The price of energy was contained; now it is out of control. We were at peace; now we are in a two-front war that threatens to expand to Iran. Before, America was at the pinnacle of respect, power and influence around the world; now we are held in contempt, even by our closest historic allies. Above all, the sense of optimism that defined the American dream has been shattered. Eight out of 10 Americans are convinced that our nation is going in the wrong direction. If ever there was a time, indeed a demand, for change, it is now.

If the Democratic Party cannot win with this hand of cards, maybe we don't deserve to. We have to make fundamental decisions. No matter whom we supported in our nominating process, and with whatever intensity, we have to focus on how much we want to practice the policies that we preach and how much we want to change the direction of our country. The battle has lasted 15 months. Tens of millions have participated, including record numbers of new voters, and the amount of campaign contributions has been unprecedented. We all should be proud of what has been accomplished. But Democrats should also understand that prolonging our internal war seriously endangers our chance to recapture the presidency.

The Danger of Fighting On
By Robert S. Strauss
Friday, May 16, 2008; A19

McCain, meanwhile, is guilty of hypocrisy. I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton and believe that she was right to say, about McCain's statement on Hamas, "I don't think that anybody should take that seriously." Unfortunately, the Republicans know that some people will. That's why they say such things.

But given his own position on Hamas, McCain is the last politician who should be attacking Obama.

Not only is this correct, it is a smart thing to say in just this way.

I've seen a bunch of "now is not the time for Obama supporters to gloat." What I haven't seen is "now is not the time for Clinton supporters to issue excessive bitchitude. Not that you want them to vanish. What you want is what Mr. Rubin just brought...calm support for Obama using Hillary's words, from self-declared Hillary supporters.

Um, don't push that self declared part too long though, okay? Your politics are all conceptual anyway, so you can acknowledge that division so hard that it becomes a permanent feature. You don't want to do that. 

Anyway, let's look at what Mr. Rubin is talking about.

"We're starting again, and here's a negro who says it's okay, so it's okay...okay?" Please...

Let me tell you, I don't give a rat's ass about Dog...it's hard to boycott something you don't watch. No, it's seeing C.O.R.E. brought forth to discuss anything remotely connected to race. You might as well ask Steve Sailor.

The Congress of Racial Equality isn't even a shell of its former self. It doesn't deserve to be considered the descendant of the organization James Farmer founded.

You think I'm joking? Ask him yourself.

I'm talking about all the folk Matt Stoller links.

What did you expect to happen? Is the Presidential candidate not always the leader of the party?

Okay, let me put it this way.

Both these guys ran at a time their respective parties had no leader. You know what happened to them.

I admit I was surprised when I heard Obama's campaign was pointing folks away from MoveOn and such. But what you have to remember is that Obama is not the only point at which you can apply pressure. You got your crews that are looking at Congressional candidates, too. They will attend to you. If you can't influence an officeholder's reaction to events, you try to influence the events he must respond to.

Come to think of it, that might be better anyway.

After String of Losses, Republicans Face Crisis
By Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 15, 2008; A01

House Republicans turned on themselves yesterday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November.

In huddles, closed-door meetings and hastily arranged conference calls, some Republicans demanded the head of their political chief, while others decried their leadership as out of touch with the political catastrophe they face.

It cracks me up how clueless Republicans have become. 

Michael Medved says something dumb
Category:
Posted on: May 14, 2008 12:34 PM, by PZ Myers

Did someone declare this National Flaming Racist Idiot week, and I just didn't notice until now? You have got to read Michael Medved's latest foray into pseudoscience: he has declared American superiority to be genetic, encoded in our good old American DNA. Because our ancestors were immigrants, who were risk-takers, who were selected for their energy and aggressiveness. Oh, except for those who are descended from slaves.

I'd like to thank Oliver Willis for bringing this hilarious piece to my attention. I'd like to thank Dr. Zaius of Zaius Nation for creating it.

Triplicate Girl: Senator Clinton, there can be no doubt about it. This election is already over.

Senator Hillary Clinton: Shut up, all three of you! This race is not over until the fat lady sings!

Fat Lady: Kiwl da wabbit! Kiwl da wabbit!

It's the only reason I can think of for him to write this stupidity. 

For Obama, a Lost Moment
By David S. Broder
Thursday, May 15, 2008; A15

Barack Obama really didn't need a victory in West Virginia. He was already well on his way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination, and the 28 delegates at stake were not going to change that picture, no matter how that primary came out.

But he should have competed there, if only to signal his awareness of its special place in Democratic history. Forty-eight years ago, it was West Virginia more than any other state that propelled John Kennedy into the White House. And it did so in a way that Obama should have wanted to emulate.

Repeat after me, David...

"Heads bleed. Walls don't." 

Do us all a favor and take the pension, dude.

Edwards Throws Support to Obama
With Long-Coveted Endorsement, Former Rival Sends Signal to Clinton
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008; A01

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 14 -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave his long-sought endorsement to Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday night, calling on Democrats to unite behind him and turn their attention to the fall campaign.

"The reason I am here tonight," Edwards declared, "is the voters have made their choice, and so have I."

Edwards had been heavily courted by Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton since he quit the race three months ago. His decision to climb off the fence with just five contests remaining is likely to yield limited benefits, but it sends a strong signal that Edwards, at least, thinks the nomination battle is over.

See? Dubya DID sacrifice to support the troops

Bush Says He's Not A Golfer In Wartime
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 14, 2008; A02

President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was "just not worth it anymore" to play the sport in a time of war.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

And yes, that's all he was willing to do.

McCain's Wife Sells Funds With Holdings in Sudan

Cindy McCain, the wife of John McCain, sold $2 million in mutual funds yesterday after inquiries from a news organization about the funds' holdings in Sudan.

The presumptive Republican nominee has called for international sanctions against the Sudanese government for mass killings in the Darfur region. The Associated Press reported that his wife sold her interest in American Funds' EuroPacific Growth Fund and Capital World Growth and Income Fund. Both funds have holdings in companies that operate in Sudan.

Cindy McCain's decision to sell the investments comes after several other presidential candidates, including Democrat Barack Obama, last year chose to divest Sudan-related stocks and mutual funds. Her investments in the mutual funds are listed on disclosure forms McCain is required to file as a senator and candidate.

Remember: DRM isn't about fighting piracy. It's about the ability to strictly control how we consume content.

NBC-Vista copy-protection snafu reminds us why DRM stinks
By Jacqui Cheng | Published: May 14, 2008 - 11:54AM CT

Handfuls of Windows Vista Media Center users found themselves blocked from making recordings of their favorite TV shows this week when a broadcast flag triggered the software's built-in copy protection measures. The flag affected users trying to record prime-time NBC shows on Monday evening, using both over-the-air broadcasts and cable. Although the problem is being "looked into" by both NBC and Microsoft, the incident serves as another reminder that DRM gives content providers full control, even if by accident.

I'd get the lamb's blood...wait, this is Texas, better make it calf's blood...I'd get the calf's blood ready.

It's not enough just to kill the queen. Experts say each colony has multiple queens that have to be taken out.

At the same time, the ants aren't taking the bait usually left out in traps, according to exterminators, who want the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen restrictions on the use of more powerful pesticides.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide. 

Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics
By LINDA STEWART BALL, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 14, 3:16 PM ET

In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" — crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on.

"They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy."

Hillary supporters whining.

I think I do pretty well harshing misogynists. The closest I personally came to it was calling her Mrs. Bill Clinton to rhetorically erase the space between her and her husband.

Misogyny there was in this campaign, yes. But can we NOT conflate the competition with the enemy, please?

I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan "Bros before Hos." The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton (the Ho) and are widely sold on the Internet.

You (well, I) don't defend stuff like this...many better ways to put across its meaning (don't abandon your friends for your new girlfriend).

I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless-steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won't miss television and newspaper stories that make light of the novelty item.

This is what I mean by conflating the competition with the enemy. Those things have been for sale for over a year, and they were created by Republican operatives whose manhood isn't so secure.