Sooner Be Blue

Mostly politics, a few current events, a squirt of seltzer down yer pants .. a little blog for my rambles and rants.

2008/4/29

Yes, but what does it have to do with Rev. Wright?

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@ 07:43 AM (2 months, 10 days ago)

4 Americans were killed in Iraq yesterday, 44 injured ...but watching TV you wouldn't know it. Just in case all those cable news talking heads are interested -- IF they can break away from their faux outrage over Rev. Wright's latest comments -- there is a war raging in Iraq. And it IS raging:
 
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 29, 2008; Page A10
 
"BAGHDAD, April 28 -- Four U.S. soldiers were killed in two rocket attacks in Baghdad on Monday as clashes between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen intensified, the military said.
 
Three soldiers were killed about 1 p.m. in eastern Baghdad, where fighters loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have battled U.S. and Iraqi troops. The fourth American soldier was killed at 4:15 p.m. in the western part of the capital, a U.S. military spokesman said. The military provided few other details about the attacks.
 
The deaths marked one of the deadliest days for U.S. troops in Iraq since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra in late March, prompting retaliation there and in the vast Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad. Forty-four U.S. troops have died in Iraq in April, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities, more than any month since September. [..] "
 
http://tinyurl.com/634uqb
 
Our troops are not safe in that quagmire called Iraq even in the Green Zone. In fact, the Green Zone will prolly soon become the most dangerous area of the entire city of Baghdad. What an ironic -- yet totally expected -- turn in this sad ugly saga.
 
Obviously the insurgents have changed tactics. I read that they are flush with money from the poppy harvest and they can buy rockets with longer ranges. (Remember Hezbollah's bombardment of Israel?)
 
Where does this put John McCain...given that he has no problem with keeping our military in Iraq for 100 years, as long as our troops aren't shot or harmed while stationed there?
 
Who will be the last to die for a mistake?
Whose blood will spill?
Whose heart will break?
Who will be the last to die for a mistake?
-Bruce Springsteen
 

2008/4/28

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a gallon of gas

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@ 07:09 AM (2 months, 12 days ago)
 
"Choir director brings prayers for lower gas prices to SF"
 
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A choir director who hopes prayer can bring down high gas prices is trying out his approach at some of the costliest pumps in the country.
 
Rocky Twyman of Washington, D.C., came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station. He is also calling on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he says politicians have failed.
 
Gas costing $4 a gallon or more has become common around the San Francisco Bay area.[..]"
 
http://tinyurl.com/3zofqq
 
Yeah, that's what we need, a National Day of Prayer for Gas Prices...close the schools, put TV cameras at all the gas pumps to watch as our high priest Preznit leads us to greater glory...Exxon-Mobil Hallowed be thy name...
 
Why don't they just pray for more efficient cars...or a cheaper, cleaner alternative fuel source?
 
And, if I were the Omnipotent Creator of the Infinite Universe, I'd be a little pissed that this choir director guy was wasting my time with gas prices. Why isn't he more concerned with war, disease, famine, poverty, global warming, etc.?
 
I hear that the Iraqis pray for higher prices. Looks like their god is more powerful.
 
Pray: to ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
-Ambrose Pierce
 

2008/4/27

"Heil, Heil, the gang's all here"

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@ 06:45 AM (2 months, 13 days ago)

And now from the David Duke school of Jewish voter outreach....
 
"A congressional candidate appeared last Sunday at a birthday party for Adolf Hitler.
 
Yes, that Adolf Hitler. The one who brought us World War II and the Holocaust.
 
"I told (WNDU-TV in South Bend, Ind.) in the beginning that I'd speak to any group that wanted me to speak," Tony Zirkle, a candidate for the Republican nomination in Indiana's 2nd district, tells The News-Dispatch, adding: "I'm keeping my promise. I'll speak to any group. (The National Socialist Workers Party) was interested in the targeting of white people for prostitution."
 
The lawyer addressed 56 "white activists" at a meeting in Chicago, according to the paper, which published a photo that shows him standing in front of a large portrait of Hitler. [..]"
 
http://tinyurl.com/3nhu7w
 
I don't know what kind of a congressional district this guy hopes to represent, but that photo of him standing in front of Hitler's portrait mit swastikas is priceless:
 
http://thenewsdispatch.com/SiteImages/Article/12532a.jpg
 
"Chris Riley, St. Joseph County GOP chairman, tells WSBT-TV. "The Republican Party stands for two basic principles: individual freedom and government accountability."
 
<falls off chair laughing>
 
Zirkle compared his decision to address the American National Socialist Workers Party to George Bush's decision to speak at Bob Jones University during the 2000 presidential election.
 
Can't argue with that.
 
The thing that knocks me out is not his nonchalant attitude toward attending a birthday party for a deranged mass murderer and his groupies, but his utter stupidity of doing it while running for congress.
 

2008/4/26

Atheist Soldier Sues: 'I Believe in Plexiglas'

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@ 11:36 AM (2 months, 13 days ago)

If he wishes to serve his country, his belief or non-belief is irrelevant. The USA, last time I looked, had no religious requirement for citizenship or military service.
 
From AP, Apr 26, JUNCTION CITY, Kan. - Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.
 
But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he's been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn't believe in God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
 
"I'm not in it for cash," Hall said. "I want no one else to go what I went through."
 
Known as "the atheist guy," Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true.[..]"
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080426/ap_on_re_us/army_atheist_speaks
 
He drove theists to church and paused in silence while they prayed. Seems respectful to me.
 
And no one has counter sued saying he was a bad soldier.
 
So why is it wrong for him to talk about the way he believes? The religious do it all the time.
 
MOST religions have fundamentalists in their ranks. This soldier's harassers act like members of a cult.
 
Think about it. A cult created by superstitious tribes in the Middle Eastern desert centuries ago, before science could prove them to be wrong.
 
We might have been better off if ALL Middle Eastern religion had stayed in the desert where it belongs. In the dust.
 

2008/4/25

Please, Sir, can I have some more?

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@ 11:32 AM (2 months, 14 days ago)

 

"Allegations Of No Food Prompt Request For Army Investigation"

What the hell? First, not enough armor, not enough weaponry, not enough healthcare...and now not enough food?

April 24, 2008 OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma congresswoman placed a formal request Thursday for the Army to investigate allegations that members of the National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade have not been regularly fed.

Howard Fleshman contacted Eyewitness News 5 after receiving an e-mail from his daughter, Kristy Fleshman, 26, who said she and her fellow soldiers were working up to 10-hour shifts in desert heat without any food.

Specifically, the e-mail read:
"Hey Dad, I have an issue I think I need the family's help on. Someone decided to quit serving all the soldiers at the compounds lunch."

.....U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin contacted the National Guard before requesting that the Army look into the matter. Because Guardsmen from the 45th are in Iraq, the Army would lead any investigation.

"It is extremely disturbing to hear any stories involving our men and women in harm's way being inadequately provided for," Fallin said.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tom Cole said his office has called the Army about the issue and is awaiting a response.

More than 3,000 Oklahomans are overseas fighting the war in Iraq. The 45th Infantry Brigade has been in Iraq for nearly four months.

Fleshman said he hopes his daughter's e-mail will help to serve those who serve Americans every day.

"I have the ultimate respect for our military and for the job they do and for the sacrifices they make for the well-being of all of us. And, so it's only out of this concern and the concern for the well-being of Oklahoma soldiers that I'm raising this issue in the first place," he said.

The family of another soldier e-mailed KOCO to say it has been sending food to two soldiers who hadn't been getting meals.

http://www.koco.com/news/15981916/detail.html?rss=okl&psp=news

VIDEOS: Families Speak Out On 45th Food Situation

http://www.koco.com/video/15985398/index.html

Okla. Soldier Says 45th Not Getting Fed:

http://www.koco.com/video/15978730/index.html

 

2008/4/9

A beautiful song

@ 06:58 AM (3 months, 1 day ago)

....about the life and death of a tree that was made into a violin/fiddle.

Read the rest of this entry ... (146 words left)

2008/4/8

I need a little break

@ 06:05 AM (3 months, 2 days ago)

....from blogging. I've finally reached a saturation point where I'm reading so many newspapers and reviewing so much commentary and commenting enough myself that I've forgotten what I've commented on.
 
Politics is/are driving me mad!
 
So, blogging is going to be light for a little while....and no, it doesn't have anything to do with this NYT piece:
 
http://tinyurl.com/3uy2sx
 
If I have a heart attack, it's probably going to stem from dang dueling Democrats...
 
 

2008/4/4

Randi in trouble for calling Hill a Ho

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@ 10:21 AM (3 months, 5 days ago)

Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for using nasty language NOT on the air, not on her show, but in a comedy performance at a private event weeks ago.   "NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) -- Air America has suspended radio talk show host Randi Rhodes for making "abusive" remarks about Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, the U.S. network said.

Read the rest of this entry ... (422 words left)

2008/4/3

From Reverend Wright to Hanoi Jane

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@ 07:46 AM (3 months, 6 days ago)

The Internet is all a-buzz about the news that Jane Fonda has endorsed Obama for president.
 
Jane was out having dinner and as she exited the restaurant a video camera was rolling. Someone shouted out "Who are you going to vote for?" After a moment of silence, the activist actress turned to the cameras, smiled and said, "Obama."
 
http://www.tmz.com/2008/04/02/whos-hanoi-jane-backin-for-08/
 
There goes Obama's crossover vote with the Republicans of a certain generation who detest "Hanoi Jane"...and will never forget that she was singing anti-war songs with the North Vietnamese while John McCain was being tortured nearby.
 
And now, if Obama is the Democratic nominee, he'd be facing off with that very POW’ who was so enraged by Fonda’s famous anti-aircraft photo-op. You think McCain ain't gonna use that?
 
Fonda, who's been an antiwar activist for decades, certainly supports Obama's antiwar credentials. But she's raw meat for the Righties...see the swiftboaters sharpen their knives. They'll be running around today frothing at the mouth with delight.
 
You can relax now Hillary...this is one celebrity endorsement that may actually cost a candidate votes.
 
No wait, maybe Jane is actually trying to help Hillary! I mean, after all, here Hillary is up there in "Deer Hunter" country, trying to hold off Obama with the help of pro-military working-class Democrats.....
 
Me? I think Jane Fonda went a step too far when she went to North Vietnam, but everything else she did to try to stop that war was alright by me.
 
Jane is an American that the Founding Fathers would be proud of...she stood up to the Washington DC power structure who had gotten it all wrong on Vietnam.
 
Over 58,200 American troops died there. Many people think that a lot more would have died had it not been for war protesters like Jane (and me), who gathered the parents and grandparents of those dead kids, and kids that would soon go to war, and took it to the streets. Made America stare it in the face.
 
Today America has full trade and diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Looks like we could have done that without the war.
 
Most Vietnam vets still hate Jane Fonda though...they will never pardon her, no matter how many times she has apologized.
 

2008/4/1

I'm the kind of Liberal...

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@ 07:11 AM (3 months, 9 days ago)

As friends and I were discussing Liberals, it struck me that we are a mixed and motley crew.
 
I'm the kind of Liberal/Democrat who wants affordable education for all, lower taxes for working families and affordable health care.
 
I want women to have the right to control their own bodies. The government has no business interfering in decisions made between a woman and her doctor. I want the 'morning after' pill to be widely available.
 
The role of government should be to protect the liberties of its citizens, not restrict them.
 
I don't care if you have guns for protection or hunting, just keep them locked up. There should be rules to keep guns away from crazy people or criminals, they shouldn't be able to order them on the Internet.
 
I don't care what you do in your bedroom, or with whom, as long as it's between consenting adults, just keep it in your bedroom...and don't try to do it to a child or an animal.
 
I don't care if you want to grow cannabis for your own use, just keep it in your house and away from children.
 
I don't care about your religion, just keep it out of our government. I don't want important government laws being made based on someone's mythology. I agree with Thomas Jefferson -- that it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket if you worship one god or twenty (paraphrasing).
 
It also wouldn't break my leg if every town's public square had Christmas displays, as long as all the other religions could participate too. And those Christmas songs in the malls and shops--I love them, they're a part of my childhood. You can say "Merry Christmas!" to me all you like..."Happy Hanukah" and "Happy Kwanza" too. It's just people wishing good cheer.
 
I think the Politically Correct police have gotten too puffed up with power and silliness. Let's get rid of banning school kid hugs and kisses, and stick to banning hurtful racial slurs, which is what PC was meant to abolish in the first place.
 
I believe our nation should be judged by the way it treats the weak and helpless among us--children and the elderly.
 
I want my government to maintain order and protect us from attacks from other countries, to protect us from tainted food and drugs, have safety regulations to keep airplanes from falling out of the sky and bridges from crumbling beneath our cars....and to keep Big Business from poisoning our environment.
 
I think that just about covers everything. Oh, I don't believe in capital punishment...and I'm still up in the air about Mexican workers since I saw that documentary, "A Day Without a Mexican."