Odds and Ends

New Mexicos governor Bill Richardson has joined the Presidential hunt.
Richardson strikes me as a pol and a Washington insider through and through. He also has quite reasonable ideas and a logical view on the world. His skill as a diplomat could prove to be invaluable in the times we live in. I have others that I would prefer for President. I however see him as the first choice by far as VP. Nobody even comes close. For a number of reasons he would be a great asset to any of the potential Presidential candidates both electorally and in governance. What do you think?

Hillary also takes the plunge.

Not a chance. Ya, I know all the polls and pundits call her the front runner. How surprised will they be when they find her an also ran. Quite to the disappointment to the radical right whos mouths are watering for a piece her flesh. This is nearly the universal opinion of almost everyone I know and everything from the activists that I read. This being the point. It is the activists that go to the caucuses. It is the activists who vote in the primaries. This is why the corporate media and polls will be far off the mark. The age of triangulation and compromise is over and the radical right will rue the day that there scorched earth policy brought on the rebellion.

More of the goofy crap they try to pass off on those to stupid, incurious, easily frightened or too brainwashed to know the difference.

But if you are going to start a war, the best use of resources is disinformation, of course. Enter this piece of crap from UPI:

Report: Iran massing troops at Iraq border

"IRBIL, Iran, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Iranian troops are reportedly gathering along the border with northern Iraq. An Iraqi Kurdish source told the Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, that Iran is massing troops stationed at its main border crossing with Iraq, in Pashmakh.

The source also said Iran is beefing up its troops at the Kirban border position with Iraq, KUNA reported.

Iranian border authorities are also stepping up inspections at the border, KUNA said."

Why would one need an anonymous source when a build-up of troops could be seen from satellite images, for example? Are these people simply lazy, stupid, or just corrupt? Why would anyone run a piece like this , given the very heated and dangerous stand-off we are now in and do it based on a single source, who also happens to be part of the GCC states/ally of the US? If this were true, then the US would have the same information, would it not? And if the US had the same information, then would it not be leaking left and right given the amount of political gaming going on around Iran/Iraq? Furthermore, how does "stepping up inspections at the border" translate into "massing troops at Iraq border"? This is a prime example of what I call intelligence laundry: place a piece of propaganda with a foreign news service and have it come back into US media or media that US news agencies will pick up, and there you have it, news from foreign reporters, no longer propaganda.

The idiocy of tolerating greed masquerading as proper Capitalism.

The gap between the very rich and the rest of American society has become a chasm so mighty under the Bush Regime that it is nearly impossible to see from one side to the other. The disparity of incomes between the boss and his employees are bigger than ever-- much bigger. And it's worse in the U.S. than in any other developed country. In Japan a boss makes 11 times what his employees make. In Germany it's 12 times and in France it's 15 times, more. That grows to 20 times more in Italy and Canada and 22 times more in the U.K. Under George Bush, the disparity has risen to 475 times more! In other words, if a worker in Canada makes $40,000 a year, his boss makes $800,000. Not bad. In the U.S., the boss of that worker would make $19,000,000. This isn't a coincidence. It is the result of Bush Republican policies and initiatives. Raising the minimum wage a little might help but until the Democrats tackle Bush's policies of relentless class warfare head on, the disintegration of the American middle class and the brutalization of the American working class will continue. .....Today for example, one of the most corrupt and ethic less Republicans in the entire government, Minority Leader Boehner (best known for handing out bribes from Big Tobacco to Republican legislators on the floor of the House during a vote) has demanded that the House adjourn rather than pass the last of Speaker Pelosi's 100 Hour Agenda. Why now? Why are Boehner, Blunt and Howdy Doody having a fit over the last item when they impotently stood by and watched the first 4 items not just pass but pass with signficant support-- as many as 124 votes on one!!-- from Republicans? Well, the last item is about cutting off billions of dollars in subsidies to Big Oil and putting that money towards investment in renewable energy. That's a big deal for Boehner and for his cabal of uber-corrupt Republicrooks.

As the first commenter on this linked story says: You know, all this proves is that these people are fucking lunatics who need to be placed in rubber rooms.

And Glenn sees through them almost every time.

Orrin Hatch spent the first two minutes of his time "questioning" Gonzales by lauding Gonzales' extreme integrity and diligence during this Grave and Epic War on Terrorism that America faces, explaining that everything they've done is critical to protecting us ....Hatch then spent the rest of his time (all 6 minutes) demanding that Gonzales and the Justice Department devote much more of its resources and attention -- including FBI agents, other law-enforcement resources and a new task force -- to enforcing anti-obscenity laws against people in the U.S. who produce pornography, ....Or, to put it another way, the Terrorists pose such a grave danger to our Republic that it is the most threatening and important time Ever, justifying whole new expansions of government power and total government secrecy in order to protect us and to win this War because the Terrorists want to kill us all, and our law enforcement resources should therefore be poured into imprisoning people who make adult films and putting an end to pornography. That's what Orrin Hatch said today. .........Feingold began by pointing out that the administration, including Gonzales, has many times accused opponents of the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" -- meaning those who insisted that eavesdropping take place within the law, within the FISA framework -- of "opposing eavesdropping on terrorists" (I can find 20 examples in 5 minutes of that).

Feingold's first question - "do you know of any one in the country who opposed eavesdropping on terrorists?"

Gonzales: Sure - if you look at blogs today, there is a lot of concern about all types of eavesdropping, who don't want us eavesdropping at all.

Feingold: Do you know anyone in government who ever took that position?

Gonzales: No, but that is not what I said.

Feingold: It is a disgrace and disservice to your office and the President to have accused people on this Committee of opposing eavesdropping on terrorists.

Gonzales: I didn't have you in mind or anyone on the Committee when I referred to people who oppose eavesdropping on terrorists. Perish the thought.

Feingold: Oh, well it's nice that you didn't have us "in your mind" when making those accusations, but given that you and the President were running around the country accusing people of opposing eavesdropping on terrorists in the middle of an election, the fact that you didn't have Congressional Democrats in "mind" isn't significant. Your intent was to make people think that anyone who opposed the "TSP" did not want to eavesdrop on terrorists, even though that was false. No Democrats oppose eavesdropping on terrorists.

Gonzales: I wasn't referring to Democrats.

So, apparently, all those speeches Bush officials and their supporters have spent the last year giving accusing people of opposing eavesdropping on terrorists, and all the television commericals making the same accusations throughout the months leading up to the election, were not about Democrats at all, but were about random bloggers who are against all eavesdropping. Where? Maybe on Smirking Chimp and Democratic Underground. That is who they meant when they were talking about opposing eavesdropping on Osama bin Laden. They didn't mean Democrats in Congress. The entire campaign and all of those accusations were directed only to the bloggers who don't want them eavesdropping at all.

I confess to finding that exchange deeply revolting though satisfying at the same time. Can't they just all yield all of their time to Feingold?

Finally, a tribute to those on the wingnut welfare.

You know how the wingnuts obliterate moral logic by saying we have double-standards because we won’t tolerate their intolerance?

You know how when wingnuts do or say something absolutely execrable, they insist that our turning the other fist (instead of turning the other cheek, as they hope, because their idea of a fair fight is with a punching bag) to such depravity is ‘just as bad’?

Yeah? How fucking stupid is that, huh? So much whining of bullies, right?

Yeah.,.....(continued)

That is far from covering it all but catches us up on some of what is happening. I must admit I find it harder to do this. First maybe because I am not doing the talk show everyday and have a new set of priorities and secondly because the same ole same ole from the radical right has become so wildly inane and insipid as to hardly merit comment or the time it takes to respond. I will keep working for the inspiration and give it the good ole all American try though.