The Next Revolution?

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Campaign Reform

I don't often agree with Chuck Asay, but this is a great idea.

Analogies and the GOP

Very good this one; (link)

Earlier today, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) put up this astonishing post on Twitter, likening the oppression of the Iranian people to the plight of House Republicans:

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

In the hours since, the Twitter community has responded -- with massive heckling. Here's just a small sample of some of the best ones:

ArjunJaikumar i spilled some lukewarm coffee on myself just now, which is somewhat analogous to being boiled in oil

chrisbaskind My neighbor stopped me to talk today. Now I know what it is like to be questioned by the Basij!

luckbfern I stand in solidarity with the oppressed rich white men of Repub Party in the House. #GOPfail Allah Akbar!

aciolino Today I poked my finger on a hanger. Now I know what all those aborted babies go through.

ceedub7 I got a splinter in my hand today. Felt just like Jesus getting nailed to the cross.

netw3rk Someone walked in on me while I was in the bathroom. Reminded me of Pearl Harbor.

MattOrtega Walked out onto Constitution Ave in D.C. and was almost hit by a taxi. Reminded me of Tienanmen Square.

tharodge maybe now is a good time to reconsider whether you are ready for national politics?

TahirDuckett ran through the sprinklers this morning, claimed solidarity with victims of Hurricane Katrina

paganmist Had to move all my stuff to a new office w/o a corner view. Now i know what the Trail of Tears was like. #GOPfail

Prisoners are not 'Persons'

how fucked up is this?

A Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are not "persons" according to it's interpretation of a statute involving religious freedom.

1984 is coming closer all the time;

link

Waterboarding

I can't believe they did this over 100 times to _anybody_...

Williaam Blum on real change

Fairly good summary on the "accepted" western view of the world;

Iran

Just leave them alone. There is no "Iranian problem". They are a threat to no one. Iran hasn't invaded any other country in centuries. No, President Ahmadinejad did not threaten Israel with any violence. Stop patrolling the waters surrounding Iran with American warships. Stop halting Iranian ships to check for arms shipments to Hamas. (That's generally regarded as an act of war.) Stop using Iranian dissident groups to carry out terrorist attacks inside Iran. Stop kidnaping Iranian diplomats. Stop the continual spying and recruiting within Iran. And yet, with all that, you can still bring yourself to say: "If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."²

Iran has as much right to arm Hamas as the US has to arm Israel. And there is no international law that says that the United States, the UK, Russia, China, Israel, France, Pakistan, and India are entitled to nuclear weapons, but Iran is not. Iran has every reason to feel threatened. Will you continue to provide nuclear technology to India, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while threatening Iran, an NPT signatory, with sanctions and warfare?

link

when you just can't so anything right!

Iran says it has launched its first domestically made satellite into orbit.

Good news you might think, but you'd be wrong!

A US state department official said the launch was of "great concern" and could lead to ballistic missile development. [snip]

France has also expressed concern, saying the technology used was "very similar" to that used in ballistic missiles.

Said the two nuclear powers who want to weaponise space!?
Said the country who spends more on the military than almost everyone else combined.
Said the country currently involved in two wars of aggression.
Said the warm mongers...

link

Fox News: fear & loathing

I really hate these guys;

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

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How great is Tony Benn?

As Keyes says, the mans a legend!



Is that fear I hear in the new reads voice as Mr Benn continues to read out the address?

(lifted from John's blog)

Israel V Gaza

Two things that made me laugh at the sorry mess.

First up was the always entertaining, Mark Steel whose comment in the London Independent cast a weary eye on the current 'conflict';

The worrying part about whether the ceasefire in Gaza can hold together will be whether the international community can stop the flow of arms to the terrorists. Because Israel's getting their planes and tanks and missiles from somewhere and until this supply is cut off there's every chance it could start up again.

However, as good as Steel is, he can't be outdone by the real master of Irony, The ADL;

The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday lambasted Venezuela and Bolivia over their decision to sever diplomatic relations with Israel, calling the move "inflammatory and offensive."

It's a funny world...

Vice Presidential Handlers Lure Cheney Into Traveling Crate

from The Onion

WASHINGTON—A team of nine specially trained handlers have successfully lured outgoing vice president Dick Cheney into a reinforced steel traveling crate in order to transport him back to his permanent enclosure in Casper, WY, official sources reported Monday. "He's a smart one. Once he sees the crate, he gets pretty nippy, but we've learned a few tricks over the years," chief VP wrangler Ted Irving breathlessly said while applying pressure to a deep gash on his forearm. "If we break a rabbit's legs and throw it in there, he will eventually go in to finish it off. Doesn't work with dead rabbits, though. Cheney only eats what he kills." Irving said that the latest vice presidential relocation went much more smoothly than September's diplomatic trip to Georgia, which was delayed for several hours after Cheney mauled three secret service agents and escaped inside the White House walls.

The bush Legacy

Too good not to repost;



thanks to SeeingTheForest for the link

Blinded by the hypocrisy

The visiting Czech president met with (anti Lisbon campaigner) Declan Ganley the other day and expressed some reservations overt the future direction of Europe and the EU's reaction to Ireland no vote.

THE PRESIDENT of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has warned of a shift towards "supranationalism" in Europe which he says is supressing freedom and democracy.

Predicable this has been met with howls of indignation and hysteria by 'Official' Ireland Too bad they kept their mouths shut when we where being threatened and mocked by our so called "friends in Europe".

The joys of living with such mediocre leaders and politicians just never seems to end ...

Gay Marraige in California

I was rather surprised when California banned gay marriage last week, I couldn't figure it out. Thankfully No More Mr Nice Guy provided the answers.

Yet another good reason to tax all religions.

Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

I found this one rather comforting;

• He has read every Harry Potter book

link

America the Illiterate

hard hitting article here, depressing, worrying, frightening.

We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities.

snip (an uncanny description of our previous leader Bertie this)

Political leaders in our post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They only need to appear to have these qualities. Most of all they need a story, a narrative. The reality of the narrative is irrelevant. It can be completely at odds with the facts. The consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount. The most essential skill in political theater and the consumer culture is artifice. Those who are best at artifice succeed.

[snip]

The Princeton Review analyzed the transcripts of the Gore-Bush debates, the Clinton-Bush-Perot debates of 1992, the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 and the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. It reviewed these transcripts using a standard vocabulary test that indicates the minimum educational standard needed for a reader to grasp the text. During the 2000 debates, George W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.7) and Al Gore at a seventh-grade level (7.6). In the 1992 debates, Bill Clinton spoke at a seventh-grade level (7.6), while George H.W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.8), as did H. Ross Perot (6.3). In the debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the candidates spoke in language used by 10th-graders. In the debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas the scores were respectively 11.2 and 12.0. In short, today’s political rhetoric is designed to be comprehensible to a 10-year-old child or an adult with a sixth-grade reading level. It is fitted to this level of comprehension because most Americans speak, think and are entertained at this level.

thanks to onegoodmove for the link

Palin Didn't Know Africa Is A Continent

amazing,

This for Fox (Faux?) news. Watch Billo squirm

Phew!

Obama won!

That's a relief.

Here's hoping he is not another Tony Blair.

Palins wardrobe

Catching out the right wing hypocrites is like shooting fish in a barrel, still it's always good to see them turn on a dime.