The Commentariat -- June 18, 2013
Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald: "The Obama administration Monday lifted a veil of secrecy surrounding the status of the detainees at Guantánamo, for the first time publicly naming the four dozen captives it defined as indefinite detainees -- men too dangerous to transfer but who cannot be tried in a court of law. The names had been a closely held secret since a multi-agency task force sifted through the files of the Guantánamo detainees in 2009 trying to achieve President Barack Obama's executive order to close the detention center. In January 2010, the task force revealed that it classified 48 Guantánamo captives as dangerous but ineligible for trial because of a lack of evidence, or because the evidence was too tainted. They became so-called 'indefinite detainees,' a form of war prisoner held under Congress' 2001 'Authorization for Use of Military Force.' The Defense Department released the list to The Miami Herald, which ... had sued for it in federal court in Washington, D.C. The Pentagon also sent the list to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Monday, a Defense Department official said. According to the list, the men designated for indefinite detention are 26 Yemenis, 12 Afghans, 3 Saudis, 2 Kuwaitis, 2 Libyans, a Kenyan, a Moroccan and a Somali."
Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Tensions over how to deal with the widening conflict and growing humanitarian crisis in Syria have dominated the two-day [G-8] meeting in Northern Ireland that ends Tuesday." ...
... Former NATO commander Wes Clark, in a New York Times op-ed, likens Obama's tentative arming of Syrian rebels to the West's use of force as a leverage to diplomatic solution for Kosovo in 1999. ...
... Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "President Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, failed to resolve on Monday their significant differences over how to bring about an end to Syria's civil war, as each leader steps up military support for opposite sides in the worsening conflict. Meeting for two hours on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit, Obama and Putin discussed shared economic interests, the recent Iranian elections and global security issues that have put the leaders at odds in the past."...
... CW: Of greater interest to most Americans, President Obama failed in an aborted attempt to wrest from Mr. Putin's finger the Super Bowl ring which the Russian president stole from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Pollsters predicted an immediate dip in Mr. Obama's favorability numbers. Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas) interrupted his floor speech deploring immigration reform to remark, "It is now obvious to the American people that Barack Obama is not a Patriot. A Fox "News" panel concluded the incident proved Obama was a communist sympathizer. Several panel members identified Putin as president of the Soviet Union.
... Actually, the President's poll numbers are diving. Gloria Borger of CNN looks at why that is: "... the public's view of the Obama administration's handling of civil liberties is beginning to eerily resemble what the public thought about Bush: Forty-three percent in a new CNN/ORC poll say the administration has gone too far in restricting some civil liberties in order to fight terrorism. In 2006, 39% thought Bush had gone too far.... The president ... seems, at least right now, to be losing the benefit-of-the-doubt factor he has enjoyed because people think he's an honest guy who tries to do the right thing. The latest CNN/ORC polling shows that while 49% of Americans consider the president to be 'honest and trustworthy,' that's down 9 points -- in one month. And his approval rating has fallen 8 points to just 45%. The unkindest drop ... comes from Obama's stalwarts, younger voters. A huge 17-point decline among the under-30 set has got to be some sort of wake-up call." ...
... Update. OR, Maybe Not. Mark Blumenthal & Ariel Edwards-Levy of the Huffington Post say the CNN poll exaggerates the sudden drop in Obama's approval ratings. His poll numbers have been dropping steadily since January 2013; they didn't just plummet.
The Ed Snowden Story
Starring Ed Snowden
Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian: "The NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has warned that the 'truth' about the extent of surveillance carried out by US authorities would emerge, even if he is jailed or murdered. In a live Q&A with Guardian readers from a secret location in Hong Kong, Snowden did not directly answer a question about whether he had more unpublished material. But he said: 'All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.'" ...
With Glenn Greenwald, Who Plays Himself
Here's the livechat. Greenwald: "Snowden ... with the help of Glenn Greenwald -- take[s] your questions today on why he revealed the NSA's top-secret surveillance of US citizens, the international storm that has ensued, and the uncertain future he now faces. Ask him anything." ...
... David Firestone of the New York Times: "In the last few days..., Mr. Snowden's leaks have taken a questionable turn.... Revealing that [the NSA] was monitoring the computer traffic of foreign countries, and listening to their leaders, sheds no particularly useful light on the N.S.A.'s mission, or what most people believed its activities to be.... Apparently he believes that the United States shouldn't engage in spying except for countries with which it is at war.... What exactly was it he believed the intelligence world did when he first started making money by working for it?" ...
... Zeke Miller of Time: "Snowden's answers to 18 questions from readers demonstrated that he is not simply concerned about potential government monitoring of American citizens; he is an extreme skeptic of government surveillance of all sorts. In that sense, Snowden is emerging as an heir to Julian Assange.... Snowden's comments today make clear his agenda goes beyond protecting Americans from snooping by their own government.... Snowden also clarified one of his most explosive claims -- that even a single low-level intelligence analyst could pull up records on any American at a whim, a claim top current and former intelligence officials have strongly denied. Snowden said there was no technical impediment to such an action, merely a policy one. 'It's important to understand that policy protection is no protection -- policy is a one-way ratchet that only loosens,' he said, voicing another tenet of the free-information movement for which he has become an avatar." ...
... BuzzFeed: in an interview with Charlie Rose, President Obama defends the NSA surveillance, claiming it is "transparent." (CW: Because, um, a secret court hold a secret hearing & secretly approves all the secret spying.) Link is to a partial transcript of the interview. ...
... Update. Here's a clip, via Aaron Blake of the Washington Post, who highlights "the 9 most important quotes" from the interview:
... The full video is here, on Rose's site. ...
... Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, in the Washington Post: "We cannot accept a paternal pat on the head, with Americans and the Congress told to leave this to the professionals. At stake is the very heart of the Constitution and the democracy." ...
... Bill Moyers interviews Larry Lessig, who is terrified by Snowden's revelation that NSA analysts have the authority to surveil anybody (the government, BTW, has specifically denied this claim). Via Digby:
... Tim Shorrock, author of Spies for Hire, in a New York Times op-ed: "Seventy percent of America's intelligence budget now flows to private contractors.... In 2000, thanks in part to an advisory committee led by James R. Clapper Jr., now the director of national intelligence, the N.S.A. decided to shift away from its in-house development strategy and outsource on a huge scale.... First, it is dangerous to have half a million people -- the number of private contractors holding top-secret security clearances -- peering into the lives of their fellow citizens.... Second, with billions of dollars of government money sloshing around, and with contractors providing advice on how to spend it, conflicts of interest and corruption are inevitable.... Third, we've allowed contractors to conduct our most secret and sensitive operations with virtually no oversight.... Finally, there's the revolving door -- or what President Dwight D. Eisenhower called 'undue influence.'" ...
... Anna North of Salon on what makes whistleblowers blow. Thanks to contributor Barbarossa for the link.
David Rogers of Politico: "The White House warned Monday that it would veto the House farm bill as it now stands and signaled strongly that the fastest path to some compromise this summer would be by taking savings from crop insurance to offset Republican-backed cuts from food stamps."
Drip, Drip, Drip. Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has continued to release only select portions of committee interviews with key Internal Revenue Service staffers despite calls to make the full transcripts public." He has been giving some reporters sneak peeks at portions of the interviews. CW: I can't think of a better way to prove that your "investigation" is a sham.
Lolita Baldor of the AP: "Military leaders are ready to begin tearing down the remaining walls that have prevented women from holding thousands of combat and special operations jobs near the front lines. Under details of the plans obtained by The Associated Press, women could start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later."
The "New" GOP. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "... many Republicans in Washington and in state capitals across the country seem eager to reopen the emotional fight over a woman's right to end a pregnancy. Their efforts will move to the forefront on Tuesday when House Republicans plan to bring to the floor a measure that would prohibit the procedure after 22 weeks of pregnancy -- the most restrictive abortion bill to come to a vote in either chamber in a decade.... Republican leaders acknowledge that its purpose is to satisfy vocal elements of their base.... Beyond Washington, advocates on both sides of the issue say the chance to limit abortion in the near future is very real." ...
... CW Worth Noting: compare Baldor's story to Peters' stories & look what you get: the military -- a conservative, male-dominated hierarchical fiefdom -- is less sexist & misogynistic than the democratically-elected Congressional GOP. ...
... Office of the President: "The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1797, which would unacceptably restrict women's health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman's right to choose. Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and Government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.... If the President were presented with this legislation, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill." (pdf "pretty damned fine")
... The "New" GOP. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ted Cruz didn't wait long to mount a legislative response to the Supreme Court's ruling against Arizona's voter registration rule. An amendment submitted by the Texas senator on Monday afternoon to the Senate's immigration bill would 'permit states to require proof of citizenship for registration to vote in elections for federal office.' Cruz's measure would amend the National Voter Registration Act." ...
... The "New" GOP. Erica Werner of the AP: "A key committee in the Republican-led House is preparing to cast its first votes on immigration this year, on a tough enforcement-focused measure that Democrats and immigrant groups are protesting loudly.... The House enforcement bill, by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., would empower state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws, make passport and visa fraud into aggravated felonies subject to deportation, funnel money into building more detention centers, and crack down on immigrants suspected of posing dangers." ...
... The "New" GOP. Alexander Bolton of the Hill reports that as prep for his presidential bid, Li'l Randy has offered several amendments to gut Senate immigration reform legislation. No specific mention of alligators, moats or deadly electric fences. ...
... Wait, Wait, Leave That to John Thune. Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner: "The Senate Tuesday will vote on four amendments to the comprehensive immigration reform bill, including one that would require a double-layer, 700-mile fence along the southern border before any of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants could apply for green cards. The amendment by John Thune, R-S.D., would require construction of at least 350 miles of the fence before any illegal immigrants would be awarded legal status. The remaining 350 miles would have to be built for legalized immigrants to be able to apply for a green card." ...
... CW: How's that vow to "expand your base" going, guys?
Gubernatorial Race
Joann Kenen of Politico: "A former top Obama administration health official, Don Berwick, formally announced Monday that he is running for governor of Massachusetts. Berwick, a Democrat, is a physician and health policy expert who ran the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for President Barack Obama. But amid the heated politics of health reform, Republicans refused to confirm him to the position atop CMS. They said his comments praising Britain's health care system suggested he favored rationing, an interpretation he disputed."
News Ledes
Rolling Stone: "Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33."
AP: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a ceremony on Tuesday that his country's armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition. The handover of responsibility is a significant milestone in the nearly 12-year war and marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months." ...
... Reuters: "Afghanistan will send a team to Qatar for peace talks with the Taliban, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition launched the final phase of the 12-year war with the last round of security transfers to Afghan forces."
... Related New York Times story here.
... New York Times Update: "The Taliban signaled a breakthrough in efforts to start Afghan peace negotiations on Tuesday, announcing the opening of a political office in Qatar and new readiness to talk with American and Afghan officials, who said in turn that they would travel to meet insurgent negotiators there within days. If the talks begin, they would be a significant step in peace efforts that have been locked in an impasse for nearly 18 months...."
AP: "In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across this continent-sized country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden. More than 100,000 people were in the streets Monday for largely peaceful protests in at least eight big cities."
Washington Post: "Several U.S. Naval Academy football players will soon face charges in connection with the alleged rape of a female midshipman at an off-campus party more than a year ago, officials at the elite service academy in Annapolis said Monday. The rape allegations, along with accusations that Navy investigators and academy brass had dragged their feet, exploded into public view just as Congress was debating changes to the way the military handles sexual assault cases."
Desperately Seeking Jimmy. AP: "The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain's tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago. Tony Zerilli told his lawyer that Hoffa was buried beneath a concrete slab in a barn in a field in suburban Detroit in 1975. The barn no longer exists, and a full day of digging Monday turned up no sign of Hoffa. Federal agents were to resume the search Tuesday."
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Reader Comments (22)
What a show! The Scary, Horror Movie, produced by Greenwald, staring Snowden who will say or do anything to keep the spotlight on himself. When will we see Donald Trump on stage again? Or, maybe, even the Palin!!
@dan; my thoughts exactly. Snowden is a narcissist who realizes that as long he has more stuff to peddle, the media will pay attention. When that's run out, they'll (including Greenwald) move on to the next hot scoop, leaving him to "slowly twist in the wind."
On another note, this is a great article about living with ALS.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130617/steve-gleason-monday-morning-quarterback/?sct=hp_t11_a5&eref=sihp
My ALS hasn't progressed as fast as his, but progress it does, Why post it? Because, like Steve, I want to raise awareness of ALS.
Bob Hicks
Umm.
Some awfully harsh and surprisingly judgmental comments on an ordinarily thoughtful website. We even get psychological diagnoses from the word of the week from the DSM - from the information found, not in the Guardian, but from the swarm of security experts. I'm a little disappointed.
Holy cats. Another war of supernumaries in Syria with campaign style propaganda by the two "leaders." Assad, I'm convinced, is not a monster, he's just a stand-in for all the other puppets who have gone before in the testing-of-wills the US and Russia have engaged in since the end of WW2.
I absolutely despise Darrell Issa--and see him as a dangerous sociopathic crook! He could be one of the Republican crazies to bring down the House of Representatives unless his power is checked! Here are a few pieces of his early history from Wikipedia. You decide:
...."On his 17th birthday, Issa dropped out of high school and enlisted for three years in the Army. He became an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician, trained to defuse bombs. He said his unit provided security for President Richard Nixon, sweeping stadiums for bombs prior to games in the 1971 World Series. A May 1998 investigation by Lance Williams of the San Francisco Examiner said Nixon had not attended any of that year's World Series games. The investigation said that after the World Series Issa was transferred to a supply depot after receiving poor ratings. According to Issa, the Examiner reporter misunderstood an anecdote he had related. A fellow soldier, Jay Bergey, said that Issa stole his Dodge Charger in 1971, and that "I confronted Issa...I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike." No charges were ever filed. Issa has denied any theft. (HUH?--my comment)
After receiving a hardship discharge in 1972, because his father had a heart attack, Issa earned a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Twice that year, he was arrested. In the first incident he was indicted by a grand jury for an alleged theft of a Maserati, but prosecutors dropped the charge. In the second incident, he was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and a police officer noticed a firearm in his glove compartment. Issa was charged with carrying a concealed weapon. He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of an unregistered firearm, and was sentenced to six months' probation and a small fine. Issa has said he believes the record has since been expunged.
Issa attended Siena Heights University, a small Catholic college in Adrian, Michigan, followed by Kent State University at Stark, where he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Issa served in the Army Reserve from 1976 to 1980 and was promoted to the rank of captain. While serving on active duty for training with the 1/77th Armor Battalion as an Assistant S-1 from September 9 to September 26, 1980, he received an evaluation report by then-Lt. Col. Wesley Clark, who wrote "This officer's performance far exceeded that of any other reserve officer who has worked in the battalion" and "Promote ahead of contemporaries. Unlimited potential." (I.E., unapologetic sociopath who is willing to kill without conscience! Thanks Wesley!--my comment) Shortly before his discharge, Issa was again indicted for grand theft auto, but Issa insisted he was innocent and by August, 1980, the prosecution dropped the case.
Quantum/Steal Stopper
After leaving the military, Issa and his second wife, Kathy Stanton, moved back to the Cleveland area. They pooled their savings, sold their cars, and borrowed $50,000 from his family to invest in Quantum Enterprises, an electronics manufacturer run by a friend from Cleveland Heights that assembled bug zappers, CB radio parts and other consumer products for other companies. One of those clients, car alarm manufacturer Steal Stopper, would become the path to Issa's fortune. It was struggling badly, and he took control of it by foreclosing a $60,000 loan he had made to it when its founder, Joey Adkins, missed a payment. Adkins remained as an employee.
Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota. But early in the morning of September 7, 1982, the offices and factory of Quantum and Steal Stopper in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights caught fire. The fire took three hours to put out. The buildings and almost all inventory within were destroyed. An investigation of the cause of the fire noted "suspicious burn patterns" with fires starting in two places aided by an accelerant such as gasoline. Adkins said that Issa appeared to prepare for a fire by increasing the fire insurance policy 462% three weeks previously, and by removing computer equipment holding accounting and customer information. Adkins said that he thinks Issa set the fire on purpose. The insurance company was suspicious of arson and paid only about one-tenth the insured amount. (Gag me with a spoon!--my comment)
Welcome to one of the most powerful congressman in the Republican party, friends. And the bully boy clearly loves HOT cars! To hell with women's rights! I think he is the worst, but I am not really sure.
Dearest Republicans,
We're approaching an impasse.
As our overlords have convinced us, let's keep on keepin' on with our War on Everything Unholy to Old White Folks.
Scream against the invasion of colored body snatchers from the top of Capitol Hill!
Condemn heartless women in all their forms!
Crusade against Obama in all his evil arts!
Accelerate our Demographic Death Spiral with all our might!
If our fellow Patriots don't follow our message because they've been brainwashed by Obama's communist underlings financed by the Soviet Union, then we'll take pack our Freedom bags, hit McDonalds, and Big Gulp our way to self-exile in Canada. Since it's largely empty, we'll impose our will against the savages with our well-armed militias and establish The Citadel, thus constructing the Freedomest utopia on Earth. God Speed.
@ Kate: Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker did a terrific profile of Issa a year or so ago. I saved this bit (see below) because it is a perfect example of the kind of lies Issa keeps spewing forth. Elijah Cummings has put the egg on Issa's puss and Issa is now trying like hell to weasel his way out of it.
"The transformation is a work in progress. In an interview with Rush Limbaugh
last year, Issa described Obama as “one of the most corrupt Presidents in
modern times.” In December, he told me that what he really meant is that
Congress was “corrupting part of government” by passing major spending bills
without specifying how the executive branch should use the money. “The
stimulus that the Democrats passed, and the tarp that Republicans and
Democrats passed, is corrupting to the process,” he said. “This
Administration enjoys that corruption. It’s not personal corruption of the
President.” More recently, in an interview with CNN, he claimed that he
meant “corrupt” in the sense that a computer hard drive can become corrupt:
it just stops working well."
@P.D. Pepe: Here's the link to Lizza's piece on the carjack king.
Marie
Lions,&Tigers & Bears–-oh my! It's enough I have to worry about Syria, Spying, Putin's ring cycle, etc. Now I have to be concerned and fearful about a big black bear that has been seen on our property which extends onto a wooded area. We have deer, possum, wild turkeys, fox, a lone bobcat, rabbits, skunks, and raccoons, but now a bear? Jeezuz! To think that all this fear mongering shows up in your own back yard. What does this bear know and when will he reveal it?
@P.D. Pepe: we also have bears in Upstate New York where I have a lake cottage. I bought a big ole Christmas jingle bell which I wear when I go for walks there (always in the daytime now). I don't think the bell will be of help with the bobcat.
Marie
Kate,
Thanks for the additional information on Darell Issa, car thief, arsonist, GOP congressional leader, and all around asshole. Did he really call in a loan after a single payment was missed? Even the worst vultures in the mortgage and banking industries during the peak of the housing crash weren't that bad. That makes Issa worse than the worst snakes in the shithole.
This seems to be a case of someone who needs forgiveness and lots of breaks from everyone he fucks over but who gives none in return.
As for the arson business, I'm surprised he got anything. Insurance companies are loathe to pay out anything at any time. Typically the slightest whiff of arson and they don't pay out a dime. At least not for years and after numerous investigations and stalls. Especially considering his astronomical increase in fire coverage just weeks before the event AND removing computers and documents days before playing with matches. These are the sorts of things that would be a big tip-off even on poorly written cop shows. How did Issa escape prison time for that one?
Many people make mistakes in their younger years. Some make very big mistakes. And many of those people are able to turn things around to become good citizens and decent human beings. Issa, sadly, is not one of them. I could overlook the car thefts and other criminal activities but by the time he's in his thirties and he's stealing a man's business and several years later torching the place for insurance money, then a few years beyond that spreading lies and general ill will through his position in congress, it's pretty clear that he is still a cheap crook, a liar, and a cheat.
That makes him a candidate for the fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth circles of hell. At least.
But a respected leader of your Modern GOP, dammit!
PD,
Send an encrypted message to Ed Snowden. He probably bugged the bear's den. Then again, I doubt the NSA has anyone who speaks fluent Ursine so you'll have to translate those files yourself.
Some years ago while backpacking in West Virginia, my brother and I were confined to our tent during an ice storm. We tied our food up in a tree, as usual, and later that night a bear wandered into our campsite. We could hear him rustling around and a couple of times he nudged the tent. My brother said "Do you think he knows we're in here?" I said "He knows. And he doesn't care."
Luckily we weren't as annoying as the ice and the out of reach food so he left. But I was prepared to roll over and play dead in any case.
Mr. Snowden might want to try that for a few days.
Poor little Eddie... and now he's pissed at the press. That'll do him a world of good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/edward-snowden-media-coverage_n_3454892.html
I've got a good one worthy of true Right Wing World.
The title tells it all:
Texas Congressman: Masturbating Fetuses Prove Need for Abortion Ban
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/06/17/texas-congressman-masturbating-fetuses-prove-need-for-abortion-ban/
For those who believe the conservative press characterization of Snowden here is an account of 3 who did it the 'correct' way.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/3-former-nsa-employees-praise-edward-snowden-corroborate-key-claims/276964/
PD,
we also have a black bear in our neighborhood (and bobcat). The first time I saw our bear it was foraging in the compost. I grabbed my camera and ran out the door barefoot and in p.j's. The bear had seemingly disappeared into thin air. I looked up and all around. Nothing. All I got for my effort was bloody feet. I do a lot of survey work in the "wilds" of Massachusetts, and am often asked if I'm afraid of bears, coyote and such. I tell people my only fear is that someday I will run into a nutty human or be mistaken for a deer and shot.
However, I am absolutely terrified by the likes of Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa, Koch brothers.....
I just watched 2 turkeys strut through the yard. They are such lovely creatures, and I don't know why they are often used to describe negative traits in people. The same with snakes.
The G8 Summit seems to have given KGB thug Putin the forum to be...well KGB thug Putin. Obama should be used to ignorant, bellicose, thugs - he has lots of them in Congress, including today's subject Darrell Issa.
Sincerely regret Medvedev's exit and Putin's return. Mr. M seemed so much more like a global leader. I think we're looking at another "President for Life" in Putin. Ring stealin' asswipe.
Issa is indeed a problem, but Elijah Cummings seems to have had enough of his jerking around with the IRS testimony, thankfully.
But on the subject of jerking around, what to make of the Republican from Texas who fantasizes about male fetuses beating off? Damn, that weird party just keeps getting weirder.
Diane,
I've mentioned before the bullshit e-mails I receive from ignorant right-wing imbeciles.
Recently I had a back and forth with one someone who decided that Putin had balls because he liked to hunt, shirtless, with automatic weapons, and that Obama was ball-less because, well, he didn't.
This sort of thing is beyond stupid but here was my response:
Looking tough is very much not the same as being tough. You think Putin has balls because he struts around carrying weapons with his shirt off? He wouldn't last a week in the White House. Congress, special interests, the press, the public, would eat him up and spit him out. He rules almost as king. He has a problem? He makes a phone call and the problem disappears. I'm not always that big on things Obama has done but he he has a much tougher row to hoe than Putin.
Putin might have been elected anyway without all the ballot box stuffing and electoral fraud because Russians favor tough talking hyper nationalists. They've always looked at themselves as a superpower but the only thing super about Russia these days is the corruption and the control of oligarchs and plutocrats.
Russia is a third world nation. I know. I've been there. Outside of Moscow and the big cities you'd think you had just dropped into the 19th century. I am not kidding. And few people (comparatively) complain in Russia. Not like here. Here everyone has the right to ask questions and demand answers. Not there. Do you think if some low level politician yelled out in an open session of the Russian parliament that "Putin lies", he would be home for dinner that night? He'd be in an unmarked grave by sundown. But that doesn't make Putin tough. It makes him what he is. An ex-KGB gangster. A fucking thug. Putin puts on a show of being tough because it suits his ego but as world leaders go, he's way, way down the list.
So murdering your opponents and having the Kremlin crack down on them whenever it suits you is not balls. It's power, but that's not real power either. When the British Empire tried to extend its control over the sub continent of India, a little old man in a bathrobe said "Sorry, boys". It didn't matter how much Putin-style faux power the British could bring to bear. Gandhi showed them what real power was. Power or the appearance or exercise of it is not balls.
In 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, German troops had the 101st Airborne in Bastogne completely surrounded. They had little food, no winter clothing, very little ammunition, bad weather, and little hope of escape or victory. The German powers demanded that the US commanding general, Anthony McAuliffe, surrender. He said "Nuts". And he had no way of knowing whether he'd be able to get his guys out alive or not. But he was not going to knuckle under.
That's balls. Now maybe Putin is that kind of guy and maybe he isn't, but he has never, ever, ever, been tested. Not ever. It's not a test when you can control the outcome. Going into a fight not knowing whether or not you'll win or even survive (politically or actually) takes balls. Obama is tested everyday. We might not all agree with the outcomes or like them, but he wades into it every day. Most American presidents do. Putin never has to. And never will.
So he walked off with Bob Kraft's Super Bowl ring. He believes that anything he does is right. Just like Nixon. Just like Bush and Cheney.
He's a thug. Just like them.
Looking tough is very much not the same as being tough. You think Putin has balls because he struts around carrying weapons with his shirt off? He wouldn't last a week in the White House. Congress, special interests, the press, the public, would eat him up and spit him out. He rules almost as king. He has a problem? He makes a phone call and the problem disappears. I'm not always that big on things Obama has done but he he has a much tougher row to hoe than Putin. Putin might have been elected anyway without all the ballot box stuffing and electoral fraud because Russian's favor tough talking hyper nationalists. They've always looked at themselves as a superpower but the only thing super about Russia these days is the corruption and the control of oligarchs and plutocrats.
Russia is a third world nation. I know. I've been there. Outside of Moscow and the big cities you'd think you had just dropped into the 19th century. I am not kidding. And few people (comparatively) complain in Russia. Not like here. Here everyone has the right to ask questions and demand answers. Not there. Do you think if some low level politician yelled out in an open session of the Russian parliament that "Putin lies", he would be home for dinner that night? He's be in an unmarked grave by sundown. But that doesn't make Putin tough. It makes him what he is. An ex-KGB gangster. Putin puts on a show of being tough because it suits his ego but as world leaders go, he's way, way down the list.
So murdering your opponents and having the Kremlin crack down on them whenever it suits you is not balls. It's power, but that's not balls either. When the British Empire tried to extend its control over the sub continent of India, a little old man in a bathrobe said "Sorry, boys". It didn't matter how much Putin-style power the British could bring to bear. Gandhi showed them what real power was. Power or the appearance or exercise of it is not balls. I'm sure you can attest to that in many matches, in a ring or in a combat setting.
In 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, German troops had the 101st Airborne in Bastogne completely surrounded. They had little food, no winter clothing, very little ammunition, bad weather, and little hope of escape or victory. The German powers demanded he surrender. I know that you know what he said.
That's balls. Now maybe Putin is that kind of guy and maybe he isn't, but he has never, ever been tested. Not really. It's not a test when you can control the outcome. Going into a fight not knowing whether or not you'll win or even survive (politically or actually) takes balls. Obama is tested everyday. We might not all agree with the outcomes or like them, but he wades into it every day. All American presidents do. Putin never has to. And probably never will.
Just my opinion.
@Akhilleus
I'm curious as to why you spar with right-wing imbeciles. Do you ever change minds? Don't you get frustrated and angry reading their dribble? I would and do. Then, I wonder how could anyone (imbecile or not) not be swayed by such a logical and eloquent response?
In 1944 my aunt lost her fiancé in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. I first heard the story from my mother, but when my aunt was much older she shared photos and stories of him with me. She did eventually marry my uncle who she thought the world of, but I think the pain of losing her fiancé lives with her. To this day, she arranges to have flowers placed on his grave in Belgium.
Anyway, I truly appreciate your comments, and your patience with imbeciles or maybe you just enjoy taunting them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIJGb8mLyOE&feature=player_embedded
Don't mess with those bears! (but do watch until the end.)