Obama's Speech

Obama gave his historical acceptance speech on Thursday and it was really something. Not quite in the class of the best of JFK or MLK, but close. What I liked the most is he took a very tough attitude against McCain and Bush. There is one part where he does a litany of Bush debacles then, very forcefully says; "ENOUGH!" That seems to be most people's favorite part. My favorite is when he is talking about McCain's judgment, but you can read the whole speech if you want on Obama's site:

"But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time?"

To me that pretty much counters anything McCain has ever said in his life, let alone during this campaign. There can be no clearer statement of McCain's inability to lead than saying he thought the worst president in history was right 90% of the time.

And what a pleasure it was to see a Democrat fighting back for a change, instead of caving into the Republicans.

They are saying he got a big bounce from all this and went from a tie with McCain to having an 8 point lead, but all these polls have been all over the place so I don't think we can tell much about anything from them. The media just quotes whichever poll fits their particular point at the moment.

So I have to say I'm an Obama supporter again despite my early disappointments. If he can simply change direction that is enough reason to vote for him. Or if he can get significant health care reform done, that will be enough.

Martin Luther King

This seems like a good time for all of us to listen "I Have a Dream" again. As many times as I've heard this it still gives me chills when I hear it. How different this country would be if Jack, Bobby and mMrtin hadn't been cut down in their prime.

What the Media Doesn't Show You

Think we are seeing the real convention? No, we are seeing what the corporate media wants to show us, and this is true even of my favorites, MSNBC with Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. But let me remind everyone what a great source YouTube is for things like this. I was thinking last night how much I'd like to hear Dennis Kucinich speak but thought they wouldn't let him because those in charge of the Democrats are scared of him. I was also pissed that Keith and Matthews went on and on while I could see Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer speaking in the background with no sound. Well, here are both speeches.

Hillary at the Convention

Yesterday Hillary spoke. It was long awaited and many felt this was the speech that was needed to unite the party. Everyone seemed concerned about it but I wasn't, she's a pro.

And she absolutely blew the whole place away, her speech absolutely perfect in every detail, the best she's ever given, I think. She not only firmly supported Obama and said he must get into the White House for any of her issues to be addressed, but she managed to blast Bush and McCain, as well as make herself look good. It was as if she wanted to let everyone know what they were missing by not having her as the candidate.

But she was quite clear on her support of Obama, nearly putting it as a betrayal of her to allow McCain to become president. She didn't say it directly but it was a strong under current. Anyone who supported her and will now vote for McCain is an idiot who is beyond redemption.

I feel a little sad, though. The fact is she would have been a great candidate and if she had run at any other time, or if Obama had not been there, she would have been a lock for getting the Democratic presidential nomination. But Obama was there and ran a better campaign than Hillary did. Her's was dysfunctional, his was brilliant.

I'm not sure we ended up with the best candidate, but that's the way it worked out and we have to go forward with what we have.

Birthday Yesterday

Turned 55 yesterday. There is a certain unreality in the concept of me being that old, just doesn't seem right, but there it is. Darcy was feeling better than usual and we went out to dinner for the first time in many months, that was lots of fun. It's amazing how much we can miss the simple things. She also got me the next 2 books in the Dresden series, yum.

Then we went home and watched the Democratic Convention. How thoughtful of them to hold it on my birthday like that. That was a lot of fun too. It was great seeing Teddy Kennedy up there looking strong and coherent, that might be the the last such speech we ever see. I don't remember a thing he said but that really wasn't what was important, now was it?

Then Michelle Obama came on and made her speech. I thought it was bad theater to have her come on after Teddy, how does someone top that? He rocked the room just by showing up. But I didn't need to worry, she was fantastic. Every part of the speech was perfect, I thought. Strong and intelligent, while still being warm and embracing to all those listening. I hope this puts a more human face on the Obama family and even those still nurturing bitterness over Hillary, or nurturing a life long racism, will be able to embrace them, and allow them to vote for Obama for president.

Tomorrow Hillary takes the stage and I sure hope she knocks it out of the park too and brings all her PUMA's into the fold.

IDIOT PUMAS

A PUMA is a rabid Hillary supporter, it stands for Party Unity My Ass. These people are unbelievably stupid if they vote for John McCain Here is an article called When PUMAS Attack by by georgia10:

John McCain's new ad features PUMA extraordinaire, Debra Bartoshevich, proclaiming that she's a "Hillary Clinton Democrat" who will be voting for John McCain:

She claims in the ad that "lots of Democrats will vote McCain" and then tries to assure voters that "it's ok -- really." Bartoshevich, who was a delegate, was stripped of delegate status. This is the second McCain ad targeted to petulant Clinton voters.

Leaving aside the irony of calling yourself a "Hillary Clinton Democrat" and then voting for someone diametrically opposed to what Democrats--including Hillary Clinton--stand for, McCain's attempt to win this race by targeting Clinton voters is quite revealing.

It is simply amazing that anyone who could support Hillary and her positions on the issues could possibly vote for McCain, who doesn't hold ANY of the same positions, who is, in fact, against everything Hillary stands for. So any of these PUMAS who vote for McCain are betraying Hillary. I can't even begin to imagine what these people are thinking.

Here on the ground in Denver, you would be hard pressed to find someone who is willing to vote for John McCain in the fall. Sure, the place is teeming with people who voted for Hillary, but the general consenus here is that we need to get a Democrat into the White House. Period.

That won't stop television reporters from flocking to the rare PUMA in the streets wearing a Hillary or Bust t-shirt. But the force of these individuals here at the convention isn't as compelling as the media make it out to be. While PUMAs may think they're here to roar for Hillary only, in the midst of all of this energy for Obama and the Democratic Party, PUMA whining is nothing more than a barely audible meow.

I've long suspected this whole thing is being created more by the media than something real. Sure, there are nutcases in every situation but they are a small minority. No true Hillary supporter could possibly vote for McCain, no matter how upset they are by her losing.

Joe Biden

So Obama has made his choice for Vice President. Is it a good one? Yeah, I think so, better than anyone else available, that's for sure. While I like Hillary she brings too much baggage - especially Bill. Bayh and Kaine were just too weak and too unknown. Biden brings a lot of weight, more so than even Hillary. But I've heard some of his history that has really impressed me.

He was first elected to the Senate when he was 29 years old (he's now 65). A major achievement for a guy from a working class family. And even today he is the least wealthy Senator, which means he hasn't been in it for the money.

Before he even took the oath of office his family was in a car crash, his wife and daughter were both killed and his 2 sons were hurt. He was going to drop out of the Senate but the leadership talked him out of it. But the one thing he did was take the train home every night to Delaware so he would be there with his sons when everyone got up in the morning. Five years later he remarried and had another daughter and continued to take the train home every night to this day. And one of his sons is about to deploy to Iraq.

Now that is one hell of a story.

House . . .um - Houses?

Poor John, can’t remember how many houses he has. Everybody who has ever forgotten how many houses they own please raise their hands. And so the true elitist is discovered. No one except the Ultra Rich forgets how many houses they own. McCain was born into an Admiral’s family and so was a person of privilege from the beginning. Then in the 70’s he dumped his first wife and married the younger, and very rich, Cindy. So he has really been up in the clouds ever since. Really think he can understand the problems of you and me and everyone else living normal lives? Of course the economy seems fine to him, no way one of his 7 (maybe 8) houses will ever be repossessed. Gas prices? Do you really think this guy has ever pumped his own gas in many years?

Then there is Obama, father leaves when he is 2 so he is raised by a single mom, and later by his grandparents. Nothing elitist there. He worked his way through college and law school and he and Michelle managed to pay off their student loans not too long ago. That’s because he wrote a few books so some money was coming in and they are doing very well. Worth about $2 million last I heard. Pretty damn good for a kid with humble beginnings, but he’s talented. Sure, he’s special in the fact that he is very smart and worked his way up to a nice life, but if he wasn’t special he wouldn’t be a presidential candidate at the age of 47.

But he is not that far from his roots and is less of an Elitist than anyone who has ever run for president in my lifetime. He is as close to a “regular guy” as we are ever going to get for the job. The biggest elitist to run? George Bush. Born into a very rich and very politically powerful family, he never worked a day in his life. He was just good with his "Aw shucks" act.

Still Sick But Not Smoking

My ribs still hurt really bad and I'm coughing like crazy. By the time 5 pm rolls by I am so tired I can hardly move. I was awakened at 2 am last night by a violent coughing fit that lasted at least 10 minutes and disrupted my sleep.

But I haven't had a cigarette since last Friday. That's pretty damn good for me. Even better, I've actually lost weight while I've been cutting back on smoking, really unheard of. The Chantix has killed my appetite far more than curbing my desire to smoke. If I hadn't gotten the pneumonia I probably wouldn't have quite at all.

So I'm still limping forward, waiting for my lungs to clear and my ribs to stop hurting. Even just one of those would be good. At least I know how many houses I own, which is more than McCain can say. What a senile old fool he is.

And how great is it to be Michael Phelps right now? Talk about being on top of the world, 23 years old, feeling good because he is in fantastic shape, and the greatest Olympian of all time with the most Gold medals total and most gold medals at a single Olympics. I hear he will soon be worth $40 million.

A 3D Guernica

An intrepid young artist named Lena Gieseke decided to take Picasso's painting Guernica and turn it into a 3D image. One has to be amazed at the audacity of taking on such a project but she not only did it but succeeded brilliantly. She made a movie of it where the camera moves in and out of the 3D model, it's really quite spectacular. But rather than me bather on about it you should go to the web site and look for yourself, as well as read why Lena did it in her own words. But first, I wanted to present an image of the original.

A 3D Exploration of Picasso's Guernica

Pain at 10

On a scale from one to 10, that is. I now know what that feels like and it happened so oddly. I've had pneumonia for 4 weeks now and hurt my ribs by coughing too much. While that is annoying that isn't the ten. I was laying down and found that is the worst thing for the rib pain, so naturally I sat up - that's when it happened.

I felt a ripping jolt of pain right in the center of my right ribcage, just below my nipple. I had gotten out of bed and I fell to my knees, draped my torso over the bed, grabbed the bedsheets and screamed in agony. I simply couldn't do anything else. And not like a littl girl eaither, like a wounded bear. Darcy was looking at me with great concern and wanted to call 911 or drive me over to the hospital. I said absolutely not (when I could breath again), there is nothing they can do for rib injuries except give me pain killers and tell me to take it easy. And I wasn't going to sit in the ER for 6 hours just to hear that.

I put an ice pack on immediately but that made it much worse, so I put a heating pad on and that was better. This was Wednesday and I feel no better today, but I know these things take a long time to heal. The worst part is that my lungs are still trying to cough out the pneumonia, but a breath too deep really hurts and so does a cough of any kind. I have to get up and stand next to the bed, lean over with palms on the bed and cough that way. It's the only position that isn't too painful. If I'm at the computer I stand up and put my hands of the chair arms, that works too.

The pain relievers help some but not a lot. But the stuff that is supposed to loosen the mucus is great, especially in double doses. And I can't lay down flat on the bed, because the pain is horrendous. I have shoulders and head propped up quite a bit and have to lay on that but I have a hard time sleeping like that. Normally I sleep on my side or face down, hard to sleep face up. So last night in my sleep I tried to turn over at least half a dozen times then was awakened by the pain. Bad night.

And Darcy is in the hospital, took herself over to the ER Thursday night because she felt awful and has been there since. They did dialysis on her because she's been too sick to go over there by herself. She also fell and hurt her foot so she wants that looked at, and she needs the fluid sucked out of her belly. Anyone familiar with liver problems will know what I mean.

Maybe the universe really is out to get us.

Bullying and Intimidation

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."

Look at that sentence carefully, might it be Ted Kennedy talking to Bush about his foreign policy? Or the head of just about any other country on earth talking to Bush. No, the above was said by Bush to Putin about his invasion of Georgia. Yes, really, George Bush actually said the above and was able to keep a straight face.

And if Putin doesn't listen to Bush what is George going to do about it? We no longer have a military that can engage any where in the world no matter what the reason. You heard Barack Obama, it will take 16 months to pull our troops out of Iraq and that's only if everything goes perfectly. Then the troops would have to be re-equiped to be employed elsewhere, because all of our equipment - costing billions of dollars - is useless from all those years in the desert and we will just leave it there. And guess what? No one thought ahead in the Bush administration (hard to believe, eh?) and companies haven't been churning out replacements like crazy. They have for some but not enough to reoutfit our entire military.

I know! We can just send Blackwater over there, no need for any of Bush's people to do any planning or anything, they find that kind of thing really taxing. And so what if the cost of a mercenary army is 10 times what our actual army costs, heck, that's what the government is for; making a few very rich people very, VERY rich. At least, that's what the neocons think a government is all about. And paying billions of tax dollars to rebuild the infrastructure of countries we've bombed, too. After all if we used that money to actually rebuild the infrastructure here Americans would become soft socialists instead of hardened individuals. Those still left alive, that is. Evolution at work.

I was just astonished by Bush saying such a thing to anyone. Has he looked in a mirror lately? I constantly get the impression that Bush thinks rules don't apply to him, even his own rules. He can do whatever he wants and it's nothing like whatever anyone else does.

Heck of an August

I’ve always been fond of August because that’s when my birthday is. And this year the Democratic Party decided to celebrate it by having their presidential convention start on it on the 25th. That was really nice of them and I promise to watch (which I would have done anyway).

But this is a busy, busy month this year, a pure joy for news junkies like me. First, there is the Olympics starting 08-08-08. I’ve long been fond of the Olympics, which I’ve always thought was strange because I’ve never been a sports person, don’t like watching and never, even as a kid, liked doing them. I got hooked on football due to living in Seattle for 4 years, where on every Monday during the fall all anybody talked about was the Seahawks game on Sunday. So I started watching just so I could talk to people on Mondays and I’ve been hooked ever since. Have no real interest in sports other than that, except the Olympics. Weird, but there it is.

And this year is special because it’s in China! This truly momentous. I’m half expecting some kind of weird event or disaster to happen that captures world attention. And I mean something as huge as the Palestinians taking the Israeli athletes hostage in the ’76 Munich Olympics. In the meantime I’m going to root for Michael Phelps to win all 8 of his Olympic Gold’s to beat Mark Spitz’s record from 1972, cause after the Olympics Spitz proved to be an asshole. And for Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor in Beach Volleyball who have won 103 sets in a row, not to mention the Gold in the last Olympics.

This weekend was a tremendous news cycle, Olympic opening ceremonies starting on Friday. The Olympics simply being in China is a huge news story, but it doesn’t end there. On Saturday a crazed Chinese man knifes a couple of Americans and their guide, then throws himself off the tower they were on. The man dies, his wife and the guide are in the hospital listed as critical. And if that isn’t enough for news junkies Georgia invades South Ossetia, a territory that had broken away from them, then Russia invades Georgia! This is HUGE international incident that involves us because we support Georgia and have been prodding Russia quite dangerously lately. One of those prodding’s was helping Georgia.

So with all this crazy stuff going on what is on all the news and talk shows on TV for the entire weekend? That John Edwards admits to having an affair. Why is this so much bigger news than all of the above? TV news people (except for Keith Olbermann) just suck badly. But we chose a profit based media who only want to do the stories that will give them ratings.

Edwards is a major disappointment to me, though. I was supporting him before he dropped out and thought he was the best choice of them all by far, but now he has ended his political career, as well as Elizabeth’s budding career as a political analyst. Lots of people say why is McCain getting a free pass on his affair? Because it was over 30 years ago, he married the woman (this often seems to make adultery OK) and the press like him too much to keep bringing up that old story that will make him look bad.

But still, Edwards’ affair is a different animal. We all forgave Bill Clinton of his early affairs back in 1992 and voted for him anyway. That’s because he sort of confessed, said it was personal and Hillary forgave him, and a lot of people never liked Hillary so they didn’t care. In this case Elizabeth is so well liked she is probably better liked than John. And she had breast cancer and beat it, only to have it come back at the beginning of John’s presidential bid and they decided to go forward anyway. Edwards brought Elizabeth into his campaign, made her a part of it, along with his relationship with her. Then he had the nerve to lie directly to reporters several times when asked about the alleged affair as report by the National Enquirer. All of this is what will end his career, not the affair by itself.

I’m not surprised by Edwards’ affair, I knew something was wrong for a long time. He quit the race too soon, and then seemed to disappear, keeping a low profile until coming out and endorsing Obama. Then he disappeared again and was not discussed as a VP possibility by anyone. There could be all kinds of reason the pundits wouldn’t think he was the top contender, but they would still talk about him and his chances. But no, it was as if he didn’t exist. So he won’t be the VP, he won’t even be invited to the convention, and Obama will not appoint him to anything at all.

The part that amazes me is that Elizabeth apparently knew about this affair before they ever started the race for the presidential primary but still agreed he should go for it. I could see John doing this because his ego was way too large for his own good, but I would have thought Elizabeth had better sense.

If We Drill in the U.S., We Don't Get the Oil

I'm about to do a rare thing, paste an entire post from someone else here. It's fairly short but the reason I'm doing it is that the guy agrees with me on where the oil goes, that it's not American oil but goes on the world market. Just so everyone knows I don't make this stuff up:

One thing has been driving me crazy about this drilling debate -- everyone seems to assume that if we drill for oil in the US, that we will get the oil. And hence, we won't be dependent on foreign oil anymore. But we won't get anything, Exxon-Mobil will. The oil that comes from that drilling will not be United States property (Republicans aren't suggesting we nationalize the oil companies, are they?). It will be the property of whichever oil company got the rights to that contract. They can then sell it to whoever they like -- and they will. They will sell it on the world market, so the Chinese will have just as much access to the oil that comes out of the coast of Florida as we will. The Democrats have done a decent job of beating back the argument that this will effect prices in the short run, or even in the long run. But no one has addressed the point above. The Republicans make it seem like we won't be dependent on foreign oil -- and that prices will go down in the US -- if we have our own oil. But it won't be ours. And it will be sold on the world market, so its effect on global oil prices will be even smaller. When we ask the question of whether there should be drilling off the coast of Florida or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should ask the question this way -- would you be comfortable with the Chinese or the Germans or Russians or the Saudis drilling on American land? Because for all intents and purposes, they will be. Large multi-national firms like Exxon-Mobil are not US property. They sell to the world and their allegiance is to corporate profits. So, when they drill, they drill for the whole world, not just us. Some might find that heart-warming, but it certainly has nothing to do with the US having more oil or lower prices.

EXPLOITING BUSH

Which means Bush exploiting us, his entire run as president has ALL
been about exploitation. He is the reverse Robin Hood, stealing from
the poor (and middle class) and giving to the rich. The amazing part is
how obvious he has been and how few have called him on it. But now we have a caller who doesn't hold back - Hillary! In an article she says:

In the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes. To no one's surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the Bush administration has rewarded the company in April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq.

Too bad she doesn't mention Halliburton skipping off to Dubai. I think any company that leaves America should no longer get government contracts, but Halliburton still has one that is cost plus 10%. Are you clear on what that means? Halliburton merely has to submit an expense report, they then get all that money plus 10% profit. So their motivation is to spend as much money as they possibly can on every project in order to make more profit. It's the kind of deal every business would dream of.

There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same company.

KBR is responsible for the deaths of over a dozen military men fighting in Iraq by electrocuting them in poor built showers. I am not kidding even though I know that sounds unbelievable, but that is what America has become, the land where corporations rule and can get away with anything. Imagine this during WWII, people would be going to jail. She goes on to talk about how much money we can get back in government coffers simply by putting a stop to this abuse, no need for tax increases at all:

While touting fiscal responsibility, President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1 ratio.

If we're going to get serious about putting our nation's fiscal house in order, let's talk about putting an end to billions in no-bid contract awards to unaccountable contractors. Let's talk about the number of lucrative contracts and bonuses being paid for duties never performed, promises never fulfilled, and contracts falsely described as complete. And let's talk about reforming the federal contracting system so that we can take on the real waste, fraud and abuse in our federalgovernment.

I won't go into details but everyone should follow the link and read the whole article. As I was reading it I was thinking about how light weight all the VP candidates for Obama are that the press has been batting around. Only Hillary brings serious chops to the table. There has also been a rumor that she is suddenly high up on the short list again, so maybe Obama is starting to see that too. Each candidate might bring in his state, maybe, or white people, maybe. But Hillary is the only candidate who had 18 million people vote for her. This is not a maybe, this is hard fact.

And the traditional role of the VP candidate is as the attack dog that the presidential candidate can't be. We all know Hillary would be great at that. And Obama could give her special projects to take care of so he doesn't need to worry about them. He could hand over the whole health care mess, or set her up to deal with the corruption she talks about in the article. Hell, she can do both. Imagine her as Obama's Dick Cheney, the idea is positively scary.

The more I think about it the more I like it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT OFF-SHORE DRILLING

The truth is simple - the oil companies are lying and trying to scam the public, like they've always done. We can go all the way back to the beginning of Bush's presidency when they wanted to drill ANWR in Alaska. Did you know that there is already drilling going on by American oil companies (which are really international companies these days, no longer American) in Alaska? Where does that oil go? Directly to China and Japan because they pay better, none of it is coming down here to America. Nothing drilled in ANWR will come to us either.

Let's be very clear, there is no such thing as "domestic" oil, all oil now goes on the global market and is not kept in our country even if drilled here. So off-shore drilling or ANWR drilling will do little to ease US gas prices, it will only bring down oil prices the equivalent of pennies per gallon. But the oil companies will make some big bucks, which is why they want to do it. They care nothing for the country, only lining their own pockets. And apparently the same goes for John McCain, who is pushing off-shore drilling because the oil companies are donating big bucks to his campaign. After all, look what Bush has done for them, each quarter is a new record in company profits - for any company in the history of the world. Keep in mind those numbers are not what they brought in but PROFIT, what is left over after all expenses.

The story of Katrina causing no oil spills is just a flat out lie, there were millions of gallons spilled into the Gulf during the hurricane, so the idea that off-shore drilling is environmentally safe is a total fantasy.

And if they got the approval to drill tomorrow not a single drop of oil will reach any market for 10 years. Takes a lot of time to build those things, and isn't it odd the that oil companies have leases that allow drilling in thousands of sites in America right now, and have had them for years, yet leaves them untouched.

Get it straight, there is no cure for gas prices and never will be. Prices will keep going up forever. Sure, we will get some dips, it just dropped below $120 per barrel today, but those will be only temporary and short lived. The fact is that demand for oil is continuing to rise around the world, China alone has rising demands that would drive up prices in the long term even if no one else was demanding more oil.

The only way we can be independent from foreign oil is to come up with new energy sources, that is our ONLY course. And if we were doing it right we should have enough of that going on in ten years we wouldn’t need the oil from any of those off-shore sites the oil companies want so badly. Whatever money is spent on building the platforms would be much better spent funding new energy. And let’s not forget conservation. Right now the single most powerful and cost effective way of dealing with energy is for us to use it more efficiently. Simply lowering the speed limit to 55 mph on all highways would do a hell of a lot more than off-shore drilling ever will.

And let’s finish this off with a final number, 1%. What is that for? That is the percentage of their budget the oil companies are spending on research for alternative energy sources. They spend more money on TV ads to tell you how much they are doing than on actual research.

Arrogant or Uppity?

The horrible crime Obama has been accused of this week is of being arrogant. In case it's not clear to everyone, this is just downright stupid. Nobody runs for president who isn't arrogant and if you look back on the last 50 years of presidential elections you'll see that the more arrogant of the two was usually elected.

So why are people saying this? The most ridiculous charge this week is that Obama is too thin to be president. Anybody with a brain must be hitting their foreheads against their computer desk right now. Can it get any more stupid?

But there is a reason for this, it is subtle code, meant for those who don't even realize it is code. It's for those people just very slightly bigoted, so slight that they would tell you, with great anger, that they were NOT a bigot and how dare you if you asked them. But deep down all these messages about what Obama is says to the primitive part of our brains that he's different, he's not really like us, and the different is always feared in that reptile brain we all still have.

Most people won't fall for this, but some will, and they keep hammering and hammering so that people will get more and more concerned about Obama as the election gets closer. They won't really understand why he makes them uncomfortable, because most people are not in to self examination. And it won't take a lot, just enough to push the election towards McCain a bit and the Republican operatives will tweak the voting machines enough to steal the election.

Obama IS arrogant AND uppity, and that's just the way it should be. So is John McCain but that's OK because he's white.

MobileMe

Lots of people have been complaining about having problems with Apple's new MobileMe service. My biggest problem is that they took my .Mac account and made it a MobileMe account without giving me a choice. Fortunately, I can still use my @mac.com address, because @me.com is too dumb for words. Didn't Apple do any marketing research on this? I have yet to find anyone who thinks "me" is a good domain name.

Well, now I'm more than annoyed because my email stopped functioning completely today and is showing no signs of coming back to life. This is my main email address, now I can't trust it. When problems like this happen and are so wide spread, they are often never fully dealt with and email never functions well again.

I've used .Mac since it first started back in 2001. At one point I let my subscription lapse and went on a crusade to find decent replacements for all the things it does. Much disappointed I came back to .Mac, but was a bit happier when they increased the storage space to 10 GB. Now they had to mess with it again. Disk space has now doubled to 20 BG but what good is that if I can't get my email?

Still Sick

Friday I realized I was getting worse, not better. Must have been because Thursday night I had 103 fever and was hallucinating. So I went to see my doctor, he said I had pneumonia and gave me some antibiotics for it. I thought I'd had a viral bronchitis and there was nothing to do but ride it out. Feel a little bit better today, most importantly, I haven't had the 7 pm fever-fest that I'd been having for 2 weeks, after my first dose of antibiotics on Friday.

The Chantix is helping me cut down on the smoking. Bad lungs wouldn't do it, I've had lungs far worse than this and barely been able to cut back. But now I've only had 2 cigarettes over the weekend and have not been going crazy, which is pretty amazing. I still want to smoke even with the Chantix but the desire is reduced enough that I can fight it most of the time, something I can't do normally. So I have high hopes of Chantix eventually getting me completely off the cigarettes, even if it takes a while.

I don't mind taking the Chantix longer because all minor side effects disappeared after the first week except that it's really curbing my appetite, which makes it worth while just for that even if I don't quite smoking. My doc weighed me and I'd lost 5 lbs, while smoking half what I normally would. That is simply amazing.

More Than a Week Since My Last Post

I really hated to see that date when I looked it up. Unfortunately I've been sick that whole time, to the actual day. Friday the 11th, the day of my last post was also the day I came down with a very bad flu/bronchitis. I've been running fevers as high as 103.5 as well as shaking with the chills and here it is the 20th and I'm still very sick.

The timing, of course, was perfect. Jimmy of Nightmare Girl fame, had just given me 3 new pages to color. Very important because they were the first 3 completely redone, and he was having a book printed up of our first 20 pages so the first 3 had to be done by last Wednesday in order to have time to get it by the Comic-Con, coming up this Wednesday. So my weekend of the 12th and 13th was spent working until I felt too terrible then going to bed. After a short nap I've be back at the computer again and so on for the whole weekend. Then on Monday I had to get into work because STS had a ton of work to do and Bob at Graphitti has his own Comic-Con deadlines, like the Con's official shirts. Wouldn't be too cool if the Con didn't have their own T-Shirts to sell this year.

But I got all that done and I've had this whole weekend free to just relax and get better. Unfortunately, I don't feel any better. I've been sweating like crazy and last night had the shaking chills again and pretty much feel awful and can't stop coughing, feever seems to hover a little over 100, although I'm sure it was higher at times when I didn't take it.

So that's why I haven't been making any blog entries lately. Wish I could skip all the work and just do blogging but I can't do it. Don't know how much longer I'm going to be sick, either.

Obama Lies Some More!

It was a while ago I told the Obama people to take me off their mailing list and told them it was because of his support for the new FISA bill after promising to filibuster it. So they sent me an answer. Nothing new and still damn pitiful.

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting us and sharing your strong feelings about this important issue. Please find a statement from Senator Obama below.

We appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Obama for America,

---
Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.

There is the key phrase, they did it without the required court orders, they broke the law. And Obama let such law-breaking go without even a slap on the wrist. Instead they rewarded Bush and the telecoms for illegal spying on Americans. But, they will obey the law THIS time. SURE they will.

That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.

After months of negotiation, the House passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future.

"Cannot circumvent the law" - what complete bullshit. The Bushies ignore the law on a daily basis, why would they suddenly pay attention to this one, especially when they know if they break it they will get immunity for it? Because this time it's really, REALLY illegal?

It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I voted in the Senate three times to remove this provision so that we could seek full accountability for past offenses. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.

And the Inspector General works for who??? Remember Attorney General Mukasey refusing to enforce the subpoenas and contempt charges against those who refused to show up when summoned by Congress? Karl Rove just did that yesterday. The Inspector General will just look the other way and not even fill out any reports. The IG is supposed to keep track of the good and bad the various Federal Attorneys but they haven't bothered to file that report yet. Hell, they keep breaking the law and getting away with it, each time more outrageous than the last, why would they stop now? YOU, Mr. Obama, aren't going to hold any of them accountable, you are going to capitulate and call it compromise.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.

I shudder to think how casually you will treat the Constitution and the law when you ARE president, based on your current record. Oh, I get it!! You know it's too late to go after Bush so you want all these special powers in the executive branch for YOURSELF!! It's all so clear now! And we can "trust" you to NOT obey the law because you're a much better person than George Bush ever was, right? You don't need to obey any silly laws that ordinary mortals do. You can be trusted - right?

It should be noted that Hillary voted against this bill, but she had to know such a vote would not make any difference because the bill was going to pass no matter what she did, so I'm not sure she should get any credit for it. And if someone wants to give her credit, so what? What good does that do now? She isn't going to steal the nomination although I bet she's thinking about it. "I wonder if I can push him in front of a car," she thinks. "No, it won't work, too many people around all the time. Could I make it look like an accident? Better not to risk it, must keep thinking."

Jonathan Turley

Rachel Maddow was hosting Countdown yesterday, my second favorite after Keith himself. She had Jonathan Turley on, the Constitutional law professor. He had some very emotional things to say about the FISA bill that will be voted on today.

Super Obama

I've been dying to put this on my blog for weeks now. I may be disappointed in Obama but this is a great illustration, which I made in to a T-shirt, because that's what I do.

The artist is Alex Ross, one of the best in the comic book business if not THE best. The guy paints entire comics. Go to your local comic book store and ask for some books by Alex Ross, you won't be disappointed.

I've been putting Alex's art on T-shirts for Bob Chapman at Graphitti Designs for a long time now and it never gets any easier. His painterly style is the very worst kind of art to transfer into screen printing, too much detail, subtlety and texture for screen printing, so every one is a challenge but still fun because the art is so good.

Anyone who wants a T-shirt can go over to the Graphitti Designs web site, look over on the left for New This Month. Bob will also be at the Sand Diego Comic-Con in a few weeks with quite a few shirts since he sold out of the pretty fast at the Chicago Con last weekend.

Bush Got Punked

In case anyone hasn't been paying attention to the details, the UN mandate that makes it sort-of legal for the US to be in Iraq runs out in December and will not be renewed. So Bush has been in talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki for the US to stay there indefinitely. Even though he denies wanting to stay there indefinitely. I wonder if those 18 permanent military bases he wants seem a bit inappropriate? Bush, being the arrogant jerk he is also does not think this needs to go before Congress, even though the Constitution very specifically says Congress must affirm any and all treaties with foreign countries. What does Bush care about the Constitution anyway, it's not like he swore an oath to God to protect it against all enemies foreign and domestic, or anything serious like that.

Well, it so happens that Maliki announced today that he wants the US to pull out, or at least set a timetable for withdrawal, because he doesn't want the US to stay there. The Times Online has the story:

Iraq said for the first time yesterday that it wanted to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from its territory.

President Bush has long resisted a schedule for pulling his 145,000 soldiers out, arguing that it would play into the hands of insurgents. Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister, who boasted last week that he had crushed terrorism in the country, suggested that it was time to start setting time-lines.

This would be laugh-out-loud funny if there weren't so many dead Iraqis and Americans lying around. The article goes on to say:

The Iraqi parliament has bridled at pushing through such a binding deal with the outgoing and unpopular Bush Administration, saying that the negotiations have been secretive and could undermine Iraq’s sovereignty. “I don’t know anything about this agreement and neither does parliament,” said Ezzedine Dawla, a Sunni MP. “We’re going to pass something we don’t know anything about.”

Basically, the Iraqis don't like us, go figure. Kill a million of their people and they take it personally. Also, they think we are trying to steal their oil, probably because we are. Thing is, oil is the only thing they have and they don't want it stolen. Ungrateful bastards. Then there is the Pentagon's response:

US snubs Maliki pullout timetable

WASHINGTON: In a rebuff to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, the Pentagon said yesterday that any timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq would depend on conditions on the ground there.

After all this time of Bush saying how a timetable for withdrawal would only help the terrorists they couldn't very well agree with Maliki, now could they? Besides, who will protect the Western Oil Companies while they are stealing the Iraqi oil if US troops aren't there? But then, Bush has also been saying all along that we would leave whenever the Iraqis asked us to. Oooops, Maliki just stuck it to Bush. Poor guy, things just don't seem to be going his way these days.

But of course, we all knew Bush didn't really mean it when he said we would leave if they asked, any more than he meant that pesky oath about the Constitution.

Faith Based Programs

Obama seems to be slipping down my quality scale almost daily. And he's not doing it in little ways, every policy flip he now makes is a huge one. The latest bitter disappointment is that he wants to continue giving government money to religious charities. Here's the article from Huffington's Post:

CHICAGO — Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and _ in a move sure to cause controversy _ support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

"The challenges we face today ... are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

So let's recap, shall we? So far Obama has reversed himself on protecting the Bill of Rights, changing NAFTA (he thinks it's pretty good now), taxing the rich (says he might not do that right away), is for the death penalty and doesn't even need murder to be one of the requirements, and now he trashes the wall of separation between church and state. It's beginning to look like Obama will serve Bush's third term just as well as McCain. Obusha? I'd break out Photoshop and drop Bush's features on Obama's head but that would be way too scary.

It seems like the best we can hope for from Obama is that he will not be as bad as McCain, and that's looking pretty iffy right now, or that his first positions on these things were his real ones and THIS is the time he's lying.

Special thanks to vjack at Atheist Revolution for the link to the Huffington's post article.

Chantix

Took my first pill today on the road to quitting smoking. I've been reading all kinds of material on the web the last few days on the dangers of Chantix and they just have to make me laugh. Everyone talks about the grave dangers of the drug yet ignore the dangers of continuing to smoke. Whatever dangers might be involved with Chantix they have to pale by comparison to smoking.

I'm a 54 year old guy, overweight with high blood pressure and high cholesterol (the last 2 controlled by medication). That means smoking is just about the most dangerous thing in the world for me. But let's look at what they say:

Nausea occurs commonly in people taking varenicline. Other less common side effects include headache, difficulty sleeping, and abnormal dreams. Rare side effects reported by people taking varenicline compared to placebo include change in taste, vomiting, abdominal pain, flatulence, and constipation. In November 2007, the FDA announced it had received post-marketing reports that patients using Chantix for smoking cessation had experienced several serious symptoms, including suicidal ideation and occasional suicidal behavior, erratic behavior, and drowsiness. On February 1, 2008 the FDA issued an Alert to further clarify its findings, noting that "it appears increasingly likely that there is an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms."

I get ALL those symptoms and more when I quit cold turkey. They have no way of telling if these problems are reactions to Chantix or to quitting cigarettes. Should I just not stop? That's the MOST dangerous path. Frankly, I expect all my withdrawal syptoms will be less with Chantix than without it. The way it works seems ideal, it attaches to the nicotine receptors in the brain and releases a steady flow of dopamine. Each cigarette produces a burst of dopamine which is what is thought to make it so addictive. The burst does not last long and pretty soon we crave another cigarette. With Chantix attaching to the nicotene receptor and releasing a steady flow of dopamine it tricks the brain into thinking it already had a cigarette and the desire for one is gone. It's said that smoking a cigarette tastes like smoking a carrot. Sounds like just what I need!

Here is a blog By Suzanne Danforth:

I have mentioned here before that the pill has visited me with some strange effects. In detail, I can tell you that my Chantix odyssey has been a burst in creativity, sleeplessness and the kind of energy that is just shy of scary.

Sounds good to me! Hell, that's why I drink a lot of coffee! My main concern is nausea, I think that's what I'd be most susceptible to, but that kind of symptom usually goes away in a few days. From what I've read the real problem is getting off Chantix, that the withdrawal symptoms that you didn't feel before hit in spades when you go off the drug. But being forewarned I can gradually reduce my dosage. I'll blog occasionally on how it's going.

Carnival of the Liberals #67

I just discovered I'm on Carnival of the Liberals #67 at Situation Awareness. It's my post on why to vote for McCain or Obama, McBush. I'm thrilled and honored, especially since it's the first and only time I ever applied to a Carnival. Of course, I am way down at the very bottom, second to last, but that's just because "Politics" was the last category.

My only complaint is that no one told me, I found out by searching out the latest version and finding my name there. It's still pretty cool, though.

The FISA Bill-Really makes me mad.

The Senate voted to stop any filibuster against the bill but Harry Reid still postponed it until after the July 4th recess, they will be voting on it on July 8. They will first have an up or down vote on the Dodd-Feingold amendment to strip telecom immunity from the bill, but that doesn't seem likely to pass. Word is a lot of money changed hands from the corps to the congresscritters. That Steny Hoyer and the blue dogs really control the purse strings of congress.

Here is a list of how the cloture vote went:

http://tinyurl.com/3jonup

Only 15 senators voted against it, all Democrats.

As I expected, Boxer voted nay while Feinstein voted Yay.

I really hate Feinstein. Now I hate Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi too.

The 2 presidential candidates were not there and neither was Hillary. Kennedy and Byrd weren't there either but at least they have good excuses.

Right after that I got an email from the Obama Campaign, I immediately clicked on the link to take me off their list which also had a box for saying why I want off (which is why I did it). I said Obama's stance on the FISA bill shows he either doesn't understand the Constitution or he doesn't have any concern about protecting it, this is too serious an issue to ignore. I also said I was just about to donate money but will not be doing so now.

It would only have $25 but they don't know that.

Obama Lied Again

One of the key issues of this campaign has been the economic devastation that has happened to today's workers due to corporate friendly policies such as NAFTA that has sent jobs off to other countries. Obama was against it to get votes in the states hardest hit by this, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and others in the heartland, but now he's back-pedaling as this article on Alternet says:

In her interview with the candidate, Fortune's Nina Easton reminded Obama that earlier this year he had called NAFTA "devastating" and "a big mistake" and suggested that he would use an opt-out clause in the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico to demand changes that would be more favorable to workers and farmers in all three countries.

Obama replied, "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified" -- which would have been enough of an indication that he was backing off the stance that contributed significantly to his success in the Feb. 19 Wisconsin primary that proved to be a critical turning point for his campaign.

Now Obama is saying NAFTA is not such a bad thing after all. The sad part is that Hillary would not have done any better, her campaign had contacted the Canadians months ago to assure them that nothing she says about destroying NAFTA is true so don't worry. It was ironic that she later accused Obama of doing this very thing.

Referring to Obama's soft-pedaling of the fair-trade position he embraced in the primary campaign, Easton writes, "That tone stands in marked contrast to his primary campaign's anti-NAFTA fusillades. The pact creating a North American free-trade zone was President Bill Clinton's signature accomplishment, but NAFTA is also the bugaboo of union leaders, grassroots activists and Midwesterners who blame free trade for the factory closings they see in their hometowns.

NAFTA is one of the main low points of Bill Clinton's presidency. In many other ways he was damn good president but unfortunately someone put economic ideas in his head that made him follow right-wing economic policies, which meant deregulation and NAFTA and generally being corporate friendly instead of worker friendly. Now Obama seems to be following the same path.

As David Sirota, the author of a terrific new book on populist anger at Washington's trade and economic policies, The Uprising, correctly observes, "Here you have a policy -- NAFTA -- that is among the most unpopular policies of the last generation, according to polls. Here you have a candidate who campaigned against it in the primary. And within weeks of getting the general election, here you have that same candidate running to Corporate America's magazine of record to reassure Wall Street about that same policy. This is precisely what the populist uprising that I describe in my new book is all about -- a backlash to this kind of politics."

This is very disappointing but not unexpected. David Sirota has written before about the indicators that showed Obama was far more corporate friendly than I was comfortable with. Which is one of the big reasons I was for Edwards first, Kucinich second, and Obama was a distant third. I knew Edwards and Kucinich were against NAFTA and weanted to protect the American worker and American jobs. But once the race narrowed down to Hillary and Obama the choices were too limited to vote for a true progressive candidate and I had to settle for the least corporate of the two, though there isn't much difference between them.

If Obama does not change his tune, he's likely to get burned in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states where primary surveys showed that the vast majority of Democratic, Republican and independent voters felt that the radically pro-corporate free trade policies of the Clinton and Bush years had harmed rather than helped America.

Frankly, this doesn't make much sense since McCain would be even more for the corporation and against the workers than Obama could ever be. At the very least Obama will likely raise taxes on the wealthy which will bring our debt down and hopefully allow the dollar to gain back a little of the ground it's lost. McCain doesn't even want to do that.

The sad part is that rather than be an agent of change or someone who brings a new kind of politics to Washington he's quickly turning into just another politician.

George Carlin Dies at 71

This morning I fed the cats, brewed a cup of coffee, sat down at my computer and turned the TV on. Typical morning. On the news they were doing a story on George Carlin so I started paying attention. I soon realized there seemed to be no point to the story, that this is the kind of story they did when someone just died.

SHIT! I thought and immediate did a Google search and found out that he had. And I started crying, just a little sniffling but I've never cried before when hearing of a celebrity death, but this one hit me hard. Maybe it's because George was the Atheist's Comedian.

"In any decently run universe this guy would have been out on his omnipotent ass long ago."

Who else would, or could, say a line like that. In recent years he was looking pretty old but his comedy was as sharp as ever, maybe even more so as his wit seemed to bite harder into the fabric of society as he got older. I remember the very first time I saw him, it was on the Tonight Show way back in the early 70's. He very first routine cracked me up and I've remembered it ever since. He was doing the hippie dippie weather man: "Tonight's forecast - dark. Turning to widely scattered light in the morning."

Then there was his brilliant playing with language: "Why do we have flammable and inflammable? Either it flamms or it doesn't flamm."

He will be missed. There isn't anything that could speak better for George than his own comedy, this one is entitled "Religion is Bullshit!"