That’s Ag Secretary Tommy Vilsack explaining the forced resignation of low-level department civil servant Shirley Sherrod, over “racially explosive” remarks she made recently about hating honkies and refusing to help them, especially honky farmers, especially one specific honky farmer whom she failed to recently help, when he desperately needed it.
Except, of course, none of that is true, except for the forced resignation part. What actually happened is that Ms. Sherrod had given a 40 minute speech 24 years ago, where she recounted her come-to-jesus moment, overcoming her resentment toward white folks, and reaching out to help a white farmer, with whom she has since become friends. So why the precipitous over-reaction by Vilsack? Well, because the NAACP fell prey to a cheap media stunt (“snookered” was their word) by Andrew Brietbard, the Wavy Gravy of right wing cyber-loons, who posted 2 1/2 out-of-context minutes of Sherrod’s quarter-century-old speech on his website in a cheap game of “Gotcha!”. The NAACP took the bait, Vilsack followed suit, and Sherrod was gone. Even Obama was “briefed” on the situation. (This all, by the way, a result of Brietbart being incensed by the NAACP request last month that the “Tea Party” denounce some of its more outrageously racist rhetoric.)
Make sense? Brietbart intentionally posts Sherrod’s edited remarks in an attempt to smear her, the NAACP accepts Brietbart’s hit-piece at face value, and Vilsack sacks Sherrod without even so much as having one of his low-level Ag Dept. cabana boys watch the speech in its entirety. Now, of course, Vilsack and the NAACP and even the administration is all apologetic over the shabby, sorry-ass treatment Sherrod recieved, even though as of this posting, she still hasn’t gotten her job back.
In a sane world, nobody except ‘baggers, war mongers, survivalists, and televangalists should even know who this Brietbart creep is. But he’s a master mixologist, and the kool-aid he cooks up in his cyber lab has just the right balance of hollywood-hating, war-loving, “small government”, anti-tax bullshit to reach a much wider audience of dunces. That includes the NAACP, the Secretary of Agriculture, and even the President of the United States. Who should know better. But they don’t. And that’s fucking disappointing and sad.
Finally got around this weekend to reading the “inflammatory” Rolling Stone articleon General Stanley McChrystal, the “hit piece” authored by embedded reporter Michael Hastings. Clearly, I should have read the article the moment R.S. arrived in my mail box, but I spent 3 days periodically staring at the air brushed cover photo of Lady Gaga’s rump, never realizing it was McChrystal’s ass that would end up grass. That is, until I turned on the tube and was avalanched by the coverage of the fall out from Hasting’s piece.
Needless to say, before the dust settled, President Obama had relieved McCrystal of his command duties in Afghanistan, to be replaced by the more user-friendly David Petraeus, a baffling move given the actual content of the article. If anything, McChrystal comes across as an affable, albeit arrogant, soldier, perhaps a tad entranced by his own press clippings, but otherwise an Ok Joe trying his best to do the job right in the unforgiving circumstances of trying to win an un-winnable war.
Actually the most damning thing in the R.S. piece was McChrystal’s role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death:
After Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former-NFL-star-turned-Ranger, was accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan in April 2004, McChrystal took an active role in creating the impression that Tillman had died at the hands of Taliban fighters. He signed off on a falsified recommendation for a Silver Star that suggested Tillman had been killed by enemy fire. (McChrystal would later claim he didn’t read the recommendation closely enough – a strange excuse for a commander known for his laserlike attention to minute details.) A week later, McChrystal sent a memo up the chain of command, specifically warning that President Bush should avoid mentioning the cause of Tillman’s death. “If the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death become public,” he wrote, it could cause “public embarrassment” for the president.
But the Tillman cover-up was old news, perhaps a reason to thwart his ascent to status of Allied Commander, but one would assume Obama was fully vetted on that issue before he made the promotion. (The other damning fact exposed by Hastings is that McChrystal prefers Bud Light Lime to French Bordeaux, but, what the hell, 10 years in the Middle East heat probably eats at the brain.) So what warranted the swift and provacative shit-canning from Obama? The now infamous Biden-”Bite me!” witicism? I hope not, since that dorky, un-funny comment was offered up by an aide to the General. McChrystal’s characterization of Obama as appearing “uncomfortable and intimidated” during their first meeting? Again, I hope not, given that the comment of hearsay from an un-named source:
According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn’t go much better. “It was a 10-minute photo op,” says an adviser to McChrystal. “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was. Here’s the guy who’s going to run his fucking war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.”
The Boss was pretty diappointed? Whoa! Gotcha!!!
Of course, the most interesting thing about Hasting’s profile is the fall-out from the scrubs in the mainstream media, including this exchange from future Dancing with the Stars contestant, the vacuous home-wrecker Lara Logan of CBS news, appearing on CNN’s “Reliable Sources”:
I mean, the question is, really, is what General McChrystal and his aides are doing so egregious, that they deserved to end a career like McChrystal’s? I mean, Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has.
Although I essentially agree with Logan’s conclusions, what does Hasting’s military service have to do with anything? It wasn’t his decision to can McChrystal’s ass, it was Obama’s.
I also researched Logan’s “service” to her country, but this photo was all I could come up with.
But Logan’s reaction pales in comparison to this laughable segment recorded last week on the “No Spin Zone”, between Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera, the only reporter that was actually expelled from a war zone (at least in recent memory) because of disclosures that truly compromised the the safety of our troops. Here, Rivera, the pathetic punchline to a million journalism jokes, accuses Hastings of compromising national security with his Biden-”Bite Me” revalations:
Word is that Arizona tourists are so pissed at our city council’s vote denouncing Arizona’s new immigration law that they’re boycotting San Diego as a tourist destination this summer, and the local Convention and Visitors Bureau is quaking in its collective sock-less loafers. San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Michael Stetz, in Sunday’s edition, fearlessly engaged and interviewed, doubtlessly at the downtown Hooter’s or Seaport Village, a small handful of ‘Zonies who have chosen to ignore the “boycott”, but were never-the less mighty peeved.
Stetz accepted his hazard duty pay for the assignment, took a deep breath, and concluded:
Well, I’ve got a plan then. I know emotions are running high, but let’s everybody dial it a down a bit …Until after Labor Day.
Yes, emotions are running high. Just listen to the anger in the words of Michelle Caulfield, of Glendale:
“We have options.”
And here’s a seething Kimberly Ray of Tucson:
“It didn’t stop me personally from coming.”
I don’t know what they’re paying Stetz, one of the few U.T. writers who doesn’t have his head permanently planted up his ass, but it’s clearly not enough, especially if he can capture that kind of raw emotion from everyday ‘Zonies. And it is true, as Michael states, that San Diego Con-Vis is sweating the loss of business. After all, they’ve received a whopping 35 emails from angered ‘Zonies, enough to fill the outside smoking area three times over at the TGI Fridays on 5th. And, as the picture above attests, there are plenty of locals casually strolling the streets of Phoenix on a hot, summer afternoon. Who needs to go anywhere?
Support for the new law, which allows for local cops to demand proof of citizenship during routine stops, is strong in Arizona, and locals there are quick to point out that la policia can’t just stop anyone without probable cause. But who are they kidding? I once did a ride-along with a local S.D. traffic cop who boasted to me that he could follow a car for less than a minute and find a half a dozens reasons to pull over the driver. Plus, don’t forget, Phoenix features that phony tough-guy sheriff and publicity whore , Joe Arpaio, who’s abuses-of-power are legendary.
So lament the loss of those Arizona tourists this summer, if you must. But also remember, the next time you’re part of a 1/2 mile long caravan of cars following some crummy Dodge Caravan with Arizona tags driving 62 in the fast lane, that there will be approximately 35 fewer of those assholes on our freeways this summer.
The good news is that Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning is joining the ranks of the many millions of unemployed blue grassers when he finally retires from the senate after this term. The bad news is that his replacement is likely to be fringe tea party kook Rand Paul who this week won the Kentucky Repug primary.
Of course, Bunning, one of a tiny number of major league baseball players to throw no-hitters in each league, is a millionaire many times over, so he will be spared the economic suffering facing his fellow Kentuckians. And perhaps that explains why he recently, single-handedly, tried to block the bill that would extend unemployment benefits to the 11% of Americans trying desperately to survive the current economic dust bowl. In Kentucky, specifically, the jobs crisis is so deep that it seems like half the state is growing “boo” just to keep afloat. So good riddance to Bunning, as cold-hearted a skin flint as has served in congress in a quarter century.
And say “hello” to Rand Paul, the alleged poster child for the tea party movement, who likely will join the google-eyed dork Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky senate delegation this fall. Paul’s zeal for segregated lunch counters and separate drinking fountains has endeared him to the ‘baggers, naturally, but in the past 24 hours he seems to be doing a little damage control over comments made on the Rachel Maddow Show, comments to the effect that privately owned businesses have an inherent right to discriminate based on race, religion, and sexual orientation.
Excuse me, but I’m suffering from a bout of deja vu, because 3 years ago I interviewed Paul’s father, Ron, on the “Randi Rhodes” show, and the old man, too, got a little creepy when I pressed him on social justice issues. Given that the interview was on national radio, it got quite of play on the internet. Here’s an excerpt at the time from the political blog, Down With Tyranny:
I recently heard Ron Paul being interviewed by Stacy Taylor on AirAmerica. Paul went on the show apparently just expecting to be asked about his stance on Iraq. He was caught off guard when Taylor started asking him about his positions on various social and economic issues. Taylor asked the very same questions that he would ask and has asked any other candidate. Paul, however, felt ambushed. He has said very loudly that he will never go on AirAmerica again. I guess he felt uncomfortable. So where on the radio does Ron Paul feel comfortable?
With Stacy Taylor, he had an aide call up a give Taylor a new one as soon as he left the air. Stacy Taylor, very professionally, looked behind the curtain into the forbidden closet. The aide ranted big time and then hung up. Is this a man who is honest about his positions and isn’t trying to hide anything? If you’re so damn principled and forthright, just answer the questions and move on. Some of Taylor’s listeners called up to defend Rep. Paul. How dare Taylor ask Ron Paul questions that might inform the listeners! Such actions point to a budding fanaticism. This is the cult of Ron. It’s: we love the guy. Try on the Purple Shroud! The hell with the truth.
Yes, old man Paul, a momentary darling of the left because he opposed the Iraq war, was quite unnerved when I began pressing him on his libertarian principals and how they would have played out in the Jim Crow South. Just as Paul Jr. now is chafing under the flack from the Maddow interview, and other disclosures about his beliefs, specifically as they apply to minority rights. But let’s not rejoice prematurely over Rand Paul’s current public relations snafu. Because it’s those very beliefs that many of you might find repugnant that have endeared him to Tea Party movement and which will nearly ensure his election in the fall.
After right wing dweeb and head of the California Republican party, Ron Nehring, proposed that the new Alpine High School be named after Ronald Reagan, a minor tempest arose in the East County bedroom community. Local hayseeds, many of whom disclosed their delusional love for the over-rated Gipper, spoke out against the move, preferring a name with a more regional flare. So the Grossmont School Board at least appeared to be bending to the public will when they announced they would appoint a blue ribbon panel to discuss the school naming, even though they tried mightily to keep secret the panel’s members. That is until Sunday, when the San Diego Union Tribune revealed the group to be largely comprised of fringe conservative kooks and Republican politicos.
Along with Nehring, the panel includes, among others, former Republican congressman and war monger Duncan Hunter, and, mysteriously, homophobic jesus freak, Sylvia Sullivan, former local head of the anti-abortion mob, Operation Rescue. Sullivan, pictured above protesting stem cell research, as far as I know has never even set foot in Alpine and has zero connection to public education. Nehring, of course, should have more important matters on his mind other than naming schools, given recent revelations about his love life, but he now finds himself in the position to strong arm the local Alpine bumpkins into bending to his will.
But why single out Sullivan and Nehring for ridicule, when the panel also includes Grossmont School Board prez Jim Kelly, another right wing looney toon who strenuously opposed the new Alpine school from the gitgo. For the un-initiated, here is a brief snapshot of the Grossmont board under Kelly’s leadership.
And the ironies don’t stop there. Reagan, as governor of California, practically eviscerated public education in the state, which, the last time I checked, ranked last among the 50 states in per-pupil education spending.
So the question is: after the Fishwrap’s recent revelations, will the fine citizen of Alpine stop sweeping their patios and skimming their pools to voice their dissent? Or will they, in the words of Reaganite oil tycoon Clayton Williams, just lie back and enjoy it?
This one is so easy it writes itself. Monica Crowley of Faux News laments the name calling eminating from the White House. The gripe? Obama refers to the tea party movement as “tea baggers“! Really. It’s not the childish Obama-as- Hitler posters, or the idiocy of the birther movement, it’s the term “tea bagger” that’s the felony here.
Crowley: He ought to really apologize for this vulgar and vile comment referencing the American people, and also try to give some sort of speech — I know a lot of us have heard enough from the president already — but he should try to put out some words that are going to make up for this kind of thing.
… But you know, Megyn, even if he were to go out and say this, I would encourage him to do it, but he’s got a credibility problem now because it seems that every time there is a movement or an individual or an institution or an organization that disagrees with his policies, he personalizes it. He singles them out, whether it’s Fox News, or Sergeant Crowley of the Cambridge police department, or the entire state of Arizona for supporting this new immigration law, whether it’s the Tea Party movement, he has this willingness that’s very unbecoming of the American president, to go out and single out the American people.
As the vast Gulf Coast oil slick oozes toward the beaches of Louisiana, President Obama, who approved of “Drill, Baby, Drill” last month, was a tad slow in pointing the accusatory finger at British Petroleum. Small wonder, given the compromised position the administration finds itself in right now: flip-flopping….er, compromising on off-shore drilling and being a huge recipient of B.P. campaign cash. But, you know, when a disaster of such magnitude threatens the same coastline that’s still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, the prez had to say something, anything. So he declared the spill as one of “national significance”, and declared B.P. ultimately “responsible”.
Really, huh? Actually 200,000 gallons of oil pumping into the ocean every day for over a week, especially that close to fishing grounds and beaches, is the closest thing in nature to actual shit actually hitting a fan. But compromise is what Obama apparently does best, and there’s no hint that he will reverse his drilling policy. And, doubtless, any energy “reform” bill cranked out of Washington this year will bear the taint of compromise, and, after some obligatory finger wagging, Big Oil will be the beneficiary. Gives new meaning to the word “slick”.
If you clicked play on the above youtube video, you saw ample demonstration on just to what extent the “tea party movement” is comprised of a bunch of humorless geezers. The original parody ad (which you’ll actually be able to view below) shows an actress portraying a Crayola crayon executive thanking tea partiers for a surge in sales, thanks to all of the stupid little handwritten signs they parade around at their rallies. A sketch comedy group called The Full Ginsberg was responsible for the satire.
But in a not-so-funny turn of events, a conservative blog, aptly named iOwnthe World.com threatened Crayola’s parent company, Hallmark, with a boycott if the ad was not immediately pulled from youtube. Hallmark, cowering from the realization that thousands of 60-year-old cranks would no longer be purchasing their crayons on the regular basis, issued the cease-and-desist order to youtube and the video disappeared.
Here is one of the letters recieved by iOwnthe World.com sent by Crayola:
“Thank you for your email.
We appreciate you expressing your concern that Crayola may have been involved in the making of a parody-type video clip about recent political activities. The video depicts a spokeswoman acting as the CEO of Crayola, the Crayola logo and products, as well as both verbal and visual messages that were not authorized by Crayola.
Crayola was not involved in the making of this video, nor did we in any way authorize the use of our brand name, the Crayola logo or the products shown. We are currently investigating the video, and will take the necessary steps to ensure our consumers are aware that we were not involved in the making of this video.
We appreciate your contact and hope we have restored your confidence in the Crayola brand. If additional assistance is needed, you may reach us by telephone at (800) 272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time or e-mail by visiting Crayola.com.
Sincerely,
Consumer Affairs Lead Representative
CRAYOLA”
But having the insulting parody was not quite enough for the humorless crybabies at iOwnthe World, who demanded a stiffer penalty, damn it!
“But as I said, having the video pulled from YouTube is not enough. These filmmakers tainted the Crayola name. I’m not so sure I feel the same about Crayola anymore. A have a Pavlovian response to Crayola; I hear Crayola and I feel as if I’m being hated and my beliefs besmirched and my way of life ridiculed. I don’t think I can bring myself to buy a Crayola product anymore, or a Hallmark card – unless of course I hear that they are suing these filmmakers. Only then will I be fully confident that they never had anything to do with this, and they are serious about restoring their good name.”
Well, if drawing Hitler mustaches on photos of Barack Obama really is your “way of life”, then, brother, yes, you are being ridiculed, and rightfully so.
Here, at least for the time being, is the parody ad in its full glory:
I held myself hostage for a couple hours yesterday as the Senate banking committee grilled a series of reptilian Goldman Sachs executives, both past and present, including current CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
The chief inquisitor was Michigan Dem, Carl Levin, long-time water carrier for the auto industry and fierce opponent of CAFE standards, and therefore fierce opponent of clean air. Levin single- handedly created an instant smash hit drinking game, as every time he quoted the word “shitty”, derived from internal G.S. emails, I downed a shot of Russian vodka, mainly to dull the reality of the charade that was unfolding before me.
In case you missed it, the main issue with Goldman Sachs is that, during the housing bubble, they were selling bundles of toxic mortgage securities to unwitting dupe clients, while their own investment wing was “shorting” the same securities, effectively unloading crap they didn’t want anymore, while raking in $billions in profits on the short side. An analogy would be if a car dealer unloaded a lemon on some sucker while at the same time taking bets on whether the clunker would make it to the next stoplight.
The problem with the senate’s grandstanding clusterfuck was, of course, that it was responsible for the the very deregulation, a shitbomb known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, that allowed predators like G.S. to engage legally in these activities in the first place. And who, among others, fully endorsed Gramm-Leach-Bliley? Of course, the good Senator Levin.
But can you blame the Obama administration and congressional democrats for flipping the populist card? After all, Obama’s single largest campaign contributor turns out to be Goldman Sachs, and dem pols have been raking in Wall Street moolah ever since they decided the trade unions and their campaign contributions were counter productive to their newly furbished image as Global Capitalists. And if the proposed banking “reform” that Democrats are proposing is anything like the recently-passed health care “reform”, expect so many loopholes and exemptions Goldman, et al, will merely have to create another “legal” form of corporate fraud.
It always seems neccesary to preface a “gun rights” issue, with the admission that, yes, you too own a gun, as if only gun owners are credible commentators on guns. So here goes: I own guns, two of ‘em to be exact, a Winchester 30-30 deer rifle and a S&W Chief’s Special 38. But I hasten to add, I own the guns, the guns don’t own me. I make this distinction, because it seems like a lot of gun owners are obsessive-compulsive about their purchasing choices, and you may never, ever learn what kind of a car they drive, their favorite restaurants, TV shows, movies, or books, or what kind of coffee maker gets their jack going in the morning, but by god, they want desperately for you to know that they own guns.
I find this look-at-me-I-own-a-gun attitude a little weird because, if there really is something to the notion that an armed society is a safer society, than you want the “bad guys” to not know who owns and doesn’t own a firearm. The element of surprise is important in that regard, if you catch my meaning.
Where I grew up in Pennsylvania, everybody owned a gun, and when buck, doe, or bear season opened up in the fall, it was a free fire zone. But after a few weeks of traipsing through the woods, high on Ballentyne Ale, blasting away at whatever moved, most everybody made sure the guns went safely back into their cabinets to rest up for the next round of animal slaughter (although skunk, porcupine, ‘coon, and timber rattler season went year ’round, if you really felt that ambitious). Point is, guns were no big deal, not much different than your chainsaw, a pipe wrench, or your wrist watch: a handy tool to have when no other tool would do.
What the hell happened? When did gun ownership become this chest-pounding source of pride and self-identity? At exactly what point in history did the the tribe splinter from guys-who-own-guns into GUYS-WHO-OWN-GUNS-GOD-DAMN-IT!!!
I don’t know the exact statistics, but I believe that most of the 10′s of millions of guns in America are in the hands of mere 10′s of thousands of people. In other words, only a tiny percentage of Americans actually own guns, but there about 5 guns for every man, woman, and child in the country sold annually. Thus the name “gun nut”.
The latest little show-and-tell by the gun nuts revolves around something called “open carry“. This means walking around town, going into restaurants and stores, I suppose even Toys-R-Us, toting un-loaded guns. The point, exactly, you ask? Beats me. According to John Pierce, the founder of the “open carry movement”: “I think the reason is that in many parts of the state, law abiding citizens are completely denied the right to protect themselves and the only option they have is unloaded open carry if they want to exercise the God given right of self-defense.” Make sense now? No? Ok, guess I’m not alone.
So what has been the net result of this “movement”? Well here in San Diego County, where the last buck, doe, and bear hightailed for the national forest several decades ago, a bunch of open-carriers strolled down the boardwalk at Mission Beach brandishing unloaded firearms on a sunny spring afternoon recently (I’m not kidding about that), ultimately provoking a local pol into re-thinking the law. One thing led to another and Whoops! That ol’ law of unintended consequences reared its ugly head again!
But all’s okee-dokey in Gun-nutville. Because if these guys had nothing to bitch about, well….they’d have nothing to bitch about. Then they would lose their reason for living.
But like all causes, sometimes the purists must be forced to deal with those for whom guns are a part of, but not the center of their universe. In Keene, NH, recently, an “open breast” fanatic decided to exercise her god-given rights as only she knew how.
