Category: Political

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

CNN has an article on the efforts made by President Bush’s keepers of the image. Considering the current state of the economy, I was given pause when I read the following:

The White House efforts have been ambitious and costly. For the prime-time television address that Mr. Bush delivered to the nation on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House rented three barges of giant Musco lights, the kind used to illuminate sports stadiums and rock concerts, sent them across New York Harbor, tethered them in the water around the base of the Statue of Liberty and then blasted them upward to illuminate all 305 feet of America’s symbol of freedom. It was the ultimate patriotic backdrop for Mr. Bush, who spoke from Ellis Island.

The story mentions that during one of the many trips Bush made to St. Louis to speak at a manufacturing plant, his staff covered the “Made in China” words on the genuine boxes in the background and then brought in some fake boxes with “Made in the USA” printed on them. Hard to give a speech on the glowing economy when you’re literally surrounded by the evidence of the increasing, and alarming, offshoring that’s keeping our economy down while companies post record profits.

Of course, this isn’t anything compared to the debacle of Bush’s manufactured photo opportunity aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including the much shown photo of him in flight suit, strutting across the stage like some form of bantam rooster.

Cockadoodle doo, and here’s my cock, too.

Some may have found Bill Clinton’s escapade with Monica to be an embarrassment to the country, but in my opinion the President playing to soldier in a flight suit beat this hands down. I’m still ashamed every time they show that photo.

Now the focus is on the sign on the ship that read ‘Mission Accomplished”, appearing behind Bush during his speech. Of course, with the increasing number of deaths in Iraq, and the continuing problems in that country, we all knew that the mission was not ‘accomplished’ when the words were first televised. To counter this faux pax, he President and his staff are trying to disavow the sign, with Bush saying I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff – they weren’t that ingenious, by the way. No, this wasn’t the White House’s doing we hear, but even that’s not the truth: supposedly the crew of the ship asked for the sign and the White House was kind enough to provide it.

I keep saying to myself and others, Bush is not America. Bush is not America. We are not like that man and his playing with the media and his deals with his corporate buddies and his My God only religion and his selling America and the World short because he didn’t get to play soldier when he was younger (too busy being AWOL). We are better than that, though it may not seem like this at times. We are more honest than that, though perhaps we’re not as honest with ourselves as we should be.

We are not that gullible I tell people. But then I become afraid that we are.

Originally I wasn’t going to give the name of the person I would vote for in the Democratic Primary. To be honest, I didn’t care that much as long as they were a candidate that could beat Bush. Still, with Clark entering the race I decided that I do have strong opinions about who I want to be the Democratic candidate…and Clark isn’t it. I’m putting my support behind Howard Dean.

Why Dean? Why not Clark? For starters, I’ve read Clark’s previously written essays and articles and I’ve formed the picture of a man who is extremely intelligent, savvy, and a brilliant strategist. However, I’ve also seen the picture of a man who is arrogant and indifferent to the concerns of this country but just itching to go in and solve the crises abroad. His economic plan is vague and caters to the noisy Democratic party members because it seems like the thing to do, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. His protests against Bush’s handling of Iraq seems contrary to previously written viewpoints, and leaves one confused about where he really stands in regards to the so-called ‘War on Terror’. Most importantly, what this country does not need right now, is another man in office who believes he’s right no matter what. Give me a president who’s willing to admit a mistake if it will help find a solution. We don’t need no more ego in the White House.

I still have some concerns about Howard Dean, foremost among them is his inability to handle criticism well. Every time his buttons get pushed by the other candidates during a debate, he comes off as “Did not! Did not!” What he needs to do is spin the negative attacks into positive statements.

Dean is for rolling back all the tax cuts, including those for the middle income families. This isn’t a negative; this is a man acknowledging that our country is in serious financial trouble, and that the few hundred dollars the middle class will get in their refunds won’t matter a bit to the economy – but added up could make a major dent in that atrocious deficit.

Dean made a statement years ago that Medicare is badly administered. Well, this is true – it is badly administered. It needs to be overhauled, as there is too many abuses of the system and not enough people getting the treatment they need. And who else is better able to deal with the growing health crises in this country than a man who is a physician, and who has seen the problems with the system up front, close, and personal?

However, I’ve noticed that Dean is getting better about using humor in his campaign. I liked the following quote in Boston.com, regarding the Balanced Budget Amendment:

Acknowledging his have-it-both-ways approach with a smile, Dean said: “So you can put me down as waffling on the balanced budget amendment.

“I’m already down as waffling on that one. I’ve waffled before. I’ll waffle again,” he joked.

I lived in Vermont while Dean was governor there. Vermont is the most individualistic, stubborn state in the union. It’s one of the few states that is just as likely to vote an independent into office as a Democrat or Republican. Vermonters are a people who make do with little, take care of their own, and have little use for Big Government; a state full of what could be seen as Libertarians, but they think Libertarians are full of shit for the most part. I loved Vermont for its independence, but I also disliked it for being one of the most unfriendly states I’ve ever lived in. All in all – not an easy state of which to be governor.

What Dean brings from his tenure in Vermont is a no nonsense approach to government, and a frugal attitude about spending. That’s going to help. What he also brings is a strong bias against American Corporations and their public image of rah rah Americanism – including an absolutely unbelievable red, white, and blue cereal – while behind closed doors and in the murkiness of Republican tolerance, they ship jobs to sweatshops in other countries. Dean is not a man who is going to be blackmailed by these same Corporations threatening that they’ll move their operations overseas if the government doesn’t take care of them – because he knows they’ll do it anyway.

The biggest challenge to Dean is reflected in this quote from a Democrat, covered in this the Washington Post article:

“I think Clark can win,” Taylor said. “I don’t think Dean can win. I think Dean’s going to be pegged as too liberal. He doesn’t have the kind of military background and some of the strength that Clark seems to have.”

A poll in CNN today shows that Bush would still win over any of the Democratic candidates. In spite of the worst deficit in history, an appalling and unworkable economic plan, the worst job losses since the depression, damaging the foundations of freedom on which this country is based, and pulling us into a unilateral invasion of Iraq – he would still win over Dean, Clark, Kerry, and all the other candidates.

Fear. This is all because of fear. We are slowly killing this country from within if we don’t get over our fear. Because of it, we allowed our President and his paranoid cabinet to invade Iraq without UN support, and look at the results. Please don’t quote me polls about how the Baghdad residents are so happy we’ve come in, and how things are really so much more positive over in that country. All I see in Iraq is the potential for failure, regardless of the sudden surge of those waving flags of joy joy news. (“No, it’s really great in Iraq. No problems. Everyone’s happy. Only a few trouble spots. No seriously. It’s all the media’s fault.”)

There’s another reason why I like Dean, and it’s that he knows we can’t just pull out of Iraq, though I know this is going to be horribly unpopular with the liberals. There was a demonstration yesterday throughout the world – US get out of Iraq now. Now, exactly what do you all think will happen if we were to suddenly pull out? Aside from bloody civil war, possible invasion from Turkey in the North and Iran from the East, and eventually the formation of another religously oppressive country?

Sorry, but my sympathies are with the women in Iraq. I think about them being forced back into their head gear, and no longer being able to hold the same jobs as men, or get the same education, or able to even walk the streets without being accompanied by male members of their family. What the hell do you think will happen to these women if we ‘just pull out now”?

Do we need to be reminded of Amina Lawa about now?

I did not want us to enter Iraq. I wrote a long time ago and more than once that if we were going to invade Iraq to ‘help the people’, then we couldn’t keep bringing up terrorism and WMD. The two types of war are different. I also wrote that if we were going to end oppression then we, as a world, need to commit to this across all countries. Even my own. But the act’s been done. We’re there. We can’t just pull out.

I think I’m just as tired of the liberal element in this country as I am the conservative one. So much bombast and rhetoric and banner waving and mouthed words about ‘freedom’, but how does the song go? “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Yeah, tell that to Lawa.

I read over at Norm Jenson’s (make sure to read the comments) about a weblogger whose brother reacted to a neighbor’s display of American and Christian flags by printing out an article and banner about religous freedom and attached them to the neighor’s door. The weblogger was aghast when they came home and found the whole family out putting little flags all over the yard. “This man needs psychiatric help”, the weblogger cries out.

Who exactly needs help? The person who plastered red, white, and blue all over his yard? Or the person who couldn’t stand seeing someone else not share their own appalled sense of what’s happening, to the point of going on to the neighbor’s property and posting material on their door?

I wouldn’t agree with that neighbor, but if I believe in freedom, I have to support his flying American and Christian flags and wrapping yellow ribbons about his property, or everything we say about freedom is a joke, and a mockery.

If I were to stand in front of both houses and be asked who I’d want as neighbor, I think I’d take the folks in Iraq.

I believe in ‘freedom’, too, but I also believe in taking responsibility for our mistakes, and we made a big ass one in Iraq. We are there, a fact I bitterly regret but at least accept as fact. We can’t just pull out because it’s expedient, or costs too much, or is costing American soldier’s lives. But we need to get help from the world, from the UN, from the Iraqi people, and their neighbors and if we have to ask for it hat in hand, then let’s ask – not let the Toy Airman in the White House pugnaciously tell the world, “We don’t need your stinking help.”

Dean. This was about Dean, wasn’t it? And that’s why I support Dean – seems to me he put both his toys and his ego away years ago. I have a feeling he won’t be hesitant to tell the world, “We screwed up. Can you help us?”

PS As for Dean’s use of the Internet and weblogging – the day I vote for a President just because he’s a ‘blogger’, is the day I check myself into the nearest home for the mentally incompetent.

Ye be a sorry lot and not a True Pyrate amongst ye! Me thinks it’s because ye can’t talk like a pyrate. How can ye be a True Pyrate if ye can’t talk like one, I says to meself.

A few lessons in how to Talk like a Pyrate for the Pyrate Impaired:

From Maritime Pirates

Cackle Fruit – hen’s eggs

Hempen Halter – hangman’s noose

Nelson’s Folly – rum

Run a rig – play a trick

Dick Cheney:

“There has been significant success in putting Iraq back together again. … Most of Iraq is stable and quiet.”

From Pyrate Talk:

To Go on Account – a pleasant term used by pyrates to describe the act of turning pyrate. The basic idea was that a pyrate was more “free lance” and thus was, more or less, going into business for himself.

Take a Caulk – on deck of a ship, between planks, was a thick caulk of black tar and rope to keep water from between decks. This term came to mean to “take a nap” either because sailors who slept on deck ended up with black lines across their backs or simply because sailors laying down on deck were as horizontal as the caulk of the deck itself.

Quarter – deriving from the idea of “shelter”, quarter was given when mercy was offered by the pyrates. To give no quarter was to indicate that none would be spared. Quarter was often the prize given to an honourable loser in a pyrate fight. If enraged, however, a pyrate would deprive the loser any such luxury.

Rumsfeld:

“In that instance, we had been in the country for about 15 seconds; sometimes I overstate for emphasis …. I should have said, ‘I believe they’re in that area’” around Tikrit and Baghdad.’”

From The Olympian:

Aye, aye: “I’ll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over.”

Arr: “Yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.”

Beauty: The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,” as in “C’mere, me beauty” or even “me buxom beauty.”

Lubber: This is short for landlubber and is the seaman’s version of land lover, mangled by typical pirate disregard for elocution.

Ashcroft:

“(The government)…should be looking for ways to improve the safety and security of American liberty.”

From The Pirate’s Realm:

Avast – “Avast Ye!” from the Dutch term for ‘hold fast’ and means “Stop and pay attention.”, like, “Get a load of this.”

Black Spot – a death threat among pirates made of a black spot or mark on a scrap of paper with more specific detail sometimes written on the other side, referred to in the story, Treasure Island.

Black Jack – large drinking cups made of leather that were made stiffer with an application of tar

Bumboo – A drink of the West Indies made with watered rum and flavored with sugar and nutmeg

President Bush:

Two years ago, I told the Congress and the country that the war on terror would be a lengthy war, a different kind of war, fought on many fronts in many places. Iraq is now the central front. Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there – and there they must be defeated. This will take time and require sacrifice. Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom and to make our own nation more secure.

Arrr.