Yes, THE Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin
Pattern
2009

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews1-15-09-1.asp

Obama Inauguration Speech Ruined By Incessant Jackhammering

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's Inauguration Day address—a speech that many believed would jumpstart the healing process of an ailing nation, foster hope and goodwill across the world, and serve as the ultimate stamp on the Democrat's historic win—was ruined Tuesday by nearly two hours of nonstop jackhammering.

Obama paid tribute to those brave Americans who paved the something for something something faith something history.

According to D.C. officials, the jackhammering interrupted the landmark address on 30 separate occasions and came from the nearby U.S. Botanic Garden, where it was being used to break up pavement for a new Heroes of Horticulture exhibit.

"My fellow—," began Obama, who then stopped when he and the 2.5 million citizens present, some of whom had traveled thousands of miles to experience the once-in-a-lifetime event, were startled by loud, metal-on-concrete banging. "My fell…my fell…my—."

"Is that a jackhammer?" Obama added.

Though Obama first acknowledged the incessant jackhammering with an impromptu joke, saying, "Well, I know one guy who doesn't need a job," the typically poised orator grew gradually more annoyed as it became clear that the shrill thumping was not going to stop.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/obama_inauguration_speech_ruined

Helicopter of Happiness

Homophobic “Nike” Ad Causes Stir

A Nike print ad making the rounds on the Web is causing a stir for its homophobic copy -- except it's not a Nike-commissioned ad. It's part of a student project for CMYK Magazine.

 

By Ross von Metzke

 

A Nike print ad making the rounds on the Web this week is causing a stir for its homophobic copy, which reads, "The only thing worse than going to the ballet is going to the ballet to see your son."

But unlike previous ads that raised eyebrows among gays for their homophobic content -- à la that Snickers Super Bowl ad that featured two men appalled when they accidentally kiss after eating through the candy bar from opposite ends -- this ad wasn't commissioned by Nike.

In fact, Nike says the company didn't even know about the ad until it popped up on the Web.

The Nike ad in question ran in CMYK Magazine , a publication distributed quarterly to advertising and design professionals, as part of a quarterly student ad design competition.

Students Nicolas Schmidt-Fitzner and Tara Lawall created the mock-up under instructors Niklas Fing-Rupp and Jan Rexhausen. They attend one of the Miami Ad School's satellite locations in Hamburg, Germany.

The ad was selected by a "leading professional" in the advertising industry as one of the best ads submitted for the quarter. Student projects in areas of art direction,copywriting, design, illustration, and photography appear in each issue of the magazine.

http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid70780.asp

The Bush Years: All Circus, No Bread

 

by Patrick Sean Farley

Trying to explain what was wrong with the Bush Era feels like trying to vomit up a cannonball. I don't think my jaw can stretch that wide.

Seriously, where does one even begin? Abu Ghraib? Ahmed Chalabi? Mission Accomplished? The "Battle of Iraq?" Valerie Plame? No-bid contracts? The billions of dollars the Pentagon can't account for, and apparently never will? The Department of Justice firings? The blue Iraqi flag? The staged press conference? The fake Thanksgiving turkey? Terry Schiavo? Freedom Fries?

I can at least say this for Bush: he *didn't* plant any WMDs in Iraq.

But really, Bush himself wasn't the problem. Bush was a cipher, the perfect vacuum at the center of a perfect storm -- an ideological superstorm which rotated, like some slow, sick, wobbling hurricane of raw sewage over America for 8 years, like some brown, shitty version of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. This Neo-Conservative Superstorm, as I'll call it, had three major sources of energy feeding it:

a) a panicked population in need of a Protective Patriarch,

b) a Republican party crowded with brazen and reckless ideologues,

and most significantly:

c) A network of Conservative Think Tanks with deep pockets and a fearsomely coordinated army of media pundits.

As for the first two factors: I'll leave the question open as to how so many Americans could be so gullible, or how so many elected officials got it into their heads that they were entitled to do WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANTED simply because they belonged to God's Own Party. Stampede voters and the thieving fuckwits who prey on them have always been with us. Nothing new there.

What is new and unique about these past 8 years was the rise of the Conservative Think Tanks. To explain who they are, how they operate, and what kind of mischief they've caused, is to try and throw up the mother of all cannonballs.

Think of the Conservative Think Tank system as a parody of the university system; a network of "institutes" all founded to support an ideology, whose "scholars" write "reports" and conduct "studies" which surprise! -- all re-affirm the correctness of their institute's ideological premise.

If you're thinking of "Creation Scientists" whose papers are "peer-reviewed" by other Creationists, you already understand how Think Tanks operate. It also helps to picture a crowd of lunatics clustered together, peeing down each others' legs.

 

http://pfarley.livejournal.com/104911.html

Satellite image of inauguration

This half-meter resolution image of the United States Capitol, Washington D.C. was collected by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Jan. 20, 2009 to commemorate the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken through high, whispy white clouds, shows the masses of people attending the Inaugural Celebration.

http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/gallery/detail.aspx?iid=220&gid=1

Lincoln Memorial

The Top 43 Appointees Who Helped Make Bush The Worst President Ever

1. Dick Cheney — The worst Dick since Nixon. The man who shot his friend while in office. The "most powerful and controversial vice president." Until he got the job, people used to actually think it was a bad thing that the vice presidency has historically been a do-nothing position. Asked by PBS's Jim Lehrer about why people hate him, Cheney rejected the premise, saying, "I don't buy that." His top placement in our survey says otherwise.

2. Karl Rove — There wasn't a scandal in the Bush administration that Rove didn't have his fingerprints all over — see Plame, Iraq war deception, Gov. Don Siegelman, U.S. Attorney firings, missing e-mails, and more. As senior political adviser and later as deputy chief of staff, "The Architect" was responsible for politicizing nearly every agency of the federal government.

3. Alberto Gonzales — Fundamentally dishonest and woefully incompetent, Gonzales was involved in a series of scandals, first as White House counsel and then as Attorney General. Some of the most notable: pressuring a "feeble" and "barely articulate" Attorney General Ashcroft at his hospital bedside to sign off on Bush's illegal wiretapping program; approving waterboarding and other torture techniques to be used against detainees; and leading the firing of U.S. Attorneys deemed not sufficiently loyal to Bush.

4. Donald Rumsfeld — After winning praise for leading the U.S. effort in ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001, the former Defense Secretary strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq and then grossly misjudged and mishandled its aftermath. Rumsfeld is also responsible for authorizing the use of torture against terror detainees in U.S. custody; according to a bipartisan Senate report, Rumsfeld "conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees."

5. Michael Brown — This former commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association was appointed by Bush to head FEMA in 2003. After Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Brownie promptly did a "heck of a job" bungling the government's relief efforts, and was sent back to Washington a few days later. He was forced to resign shortly thereafter.

6. Paul Wolfowitz — As Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2005, Wolfowitz was one of the primary architects of the Iraq war, arguing for the invasion as early as Sept. 15, 2001. Testifying before Congress in February 2003, Wolfowitz said that it was "hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself." Wolfowitz eventually admitted that "for bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction," as a justification for war, "because it was the one reason everyone [in the administration] could agree on."

7. David Addington — "Cheney's Cheney" was the "most powerful man you've never heard of." As the leader of Bush's legal team and Cheney's chief of staff, Addington was the biggest proponent of some of Bush's most notorious legal abuses, such as torture and warrantless surveillance, and is a loyal follower of the so-called unitary executive theory.

8. Stephen Johnson — The "Alberto Gonzales of the environment," EPA Administrator Johnson subverted the agency's mission at the behest of the White House and corporate interests, suppressing staff recommendations on pesticides, mercury, lead paint, smog, and global warming.

9. Douglas Feith — Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2001-2005, Feith headed up the notorious Office of Special Plans, an in-house Pentagon intelligence shop devised by Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz to produce intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. A subsequent investigation by the Pentagon's Inspector General found the OSP's work produced "conclusions that were not fully supported by the available intelligence."

10. John Bolton — As Undersecretary of State, Bolton offered a strong voice in favor of invading Iraq and pushed for the U.S. to disengage from the International Criminal Court and key international arms control agreements. A recess appointment landed Bolton the job of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, despite his stringent animosity toward the world body. Today, he spends his time calling for war with Iran.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/17/bush-43-worst/

I did not cut down the cherry tree

Seeger and Springsteen: "This Land Is Your Land" like Woody Wrote It

    Folk legend Pete Seeger (89) joined Bruce Springsteen at the conclusion of the "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial to lead a sing-along of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Seeger, who rode the rails with Guthrie during the Great Depression, led the 500,000 person audience on the mall in singing the song as it was originally written - including verses often left out that address worker's rights.

http://www.truthout.org/011909V

CHENEY'S ONE REGRET: I SHOULD HAVE TRIED CANNIBALISM

'I would have to choose more conservatively, and maybe look for someone with a little less gristle, perhaps Sarah Palin.'

by R J Shulman

NEW YORK – (PTSD News) – In a candid interview with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, outgoing Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney said that overall, his eight years in office were quite fulfilling. "I got to invade and decimate helpless countries, oversee torturing prisoners to death, funneled funds to Halliburton on no bid contracts, spied on citizens and outed spies, watched a whole city drown and witnessed millions thrown out of their homes. But I do have one regret," Cheney said, "and that is that I didn't eat anyone."

When asked by Hannity who would be at the top of his menu, Cheney said, "Michael Moore looks pretty juicy." But Cheney backtracked a bit. "If it is true that you are what you eat, I would have to choose more conservatively, and maybe look for someone with a little less gristle, perhaps Sarah Palin."

When a viewer called in and asked the vice president if killing and eating another human wasn't the most barbaric thing you could do, Cheney replied, "So?" Cheney then told Hannity, "They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. What could be closer than having your enemies inside your gut?"

http://www.legitgov.org/shulman_cheney_regret_170109.html

He saved me

200,000 war veterans homeless in US

Glantz: 'We're going to be looking at an increase in those statistics'

300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans file disability claims with US federal government.

PACIFICA – For six years of war in Iraq, the Bush administration has done absolutely nothing to take care of the hundreds of thousands of wounded veterans coming home, said Aaron Glantz, a journalist who has been covering the stories of US military vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We've had people brought into the VA, turned away, who have committed suicide after coming back from the war with post-traumatic stress disorder. We've had people redeployed to Iraq, even after they were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. We have 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans coming home with traumatic brain injury, physical brain damage. We have 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have filed disability claims with the federal government," Glantz told Democracy Now! on Thursday.

"In many cases, there is no medical services at all, because remember that many people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan come from rural communities where the VA doesn't even have a hospital," he explained.

There are 200,000 homeless war veterans in the United States.

"On every night, 200,000 people who have put on the uniform and served this country sleep homeless on the streets," said Glantz.

"Imagine that you come home from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental wound, or traumatic brain injury, physical brain damage often caused by a roadside bomb. The first thing that you have to do just to get in the door at the VA is to fill out a twenty-six-page form where you substantiate exactly how you were wounded, where you get letters of support from your battle buddies, from your commanders. You subpoena your own Army records, often with the help of your congressperson. And you present to the VA a gigantic claim folder, which they then sit on for an extended period of time. And that's just to get in the door. So we take our veterans when they're most wounded and most vulnerable and exploit them by making them fill out a mound of paperwork just to get in the door," noted Glantz.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=29803

Bolivia to take Israel to The Hague

Israel ignores international calls to end Gaza invasion.

Bolivia is seeking to take Tel Aviv to International Criminal Court over the brutal atrocities the Israeli forces have committed in Gaza.

The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible for the offensive on the Gaza Strip" and make it to stand trial at the international body in the Hague, said Sacha Llorenti, whose portfolio covers civil society.

Moves to begin the legal process will begin "probably next week," Bolivia's deputy justice and human rights minister Wilfredo Chavez told journalists during the visit to Geneva, AFP reported on Friday.

Bolivia followed in the steps of its ally Venezuela and severed diplomatic ties with Israel over its massacre of the Gazans and snubbing the international calls for an 'immediate' and 'durable' truce, said the Latin American governments.

The Bolivian president Evo Morales told a group of diplomats in the administrative capital of La Paz that he will request the International Criminal Court (ICC) to file genocide charges against Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The ICC is competent to adjudicate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after 2002.

 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82554&sectionid=351020202

History

The media myth about the cost of Obama's inauguration

by Eric Boehlert

Did you hear that "some are saying" Barack Obama's inauguration will cost "$160 million," which is $100 million more than George W. Bush's last swearing-in? That's the tale the crew at Fox & Friends was telling on January 15. "Why does the thing have to cost so much?" demanded co-host Gretchen Carlson. "I don't get it. George Bush spent $42.3 million and that was just four years ago." She wondered why Obama needed "another $100 million" for his celebration.

The Fox News crew wasn't alone. The Internet and cable news were filled with chatter about the jaw-dropping (and unsubstantiated) number suddenly attached to Obama's swearing-in. But the sloppy reporting and online gossip about the price tag illustrated what happens when journalists don't do their job and online partisans take advantage of that kind of work.

It also highlighted the type of news you can generate when making blatantly false comparisons. In this case, it was the cost of the Obama and Bush inaugurations. The connection was unfair because the Obama figure of $160 million that got repeated in the press included security costs associated with the massive event. But the Bush tab of $42 million left out those enormous costs. Talk about stacking the deck.

The misinformation first arrived in the form of an underreported newspaper article in America, and then one in London. Between them, and thanks to furious transatlantic online linking, the reports gave birth to the story that Obama's inauguration was going to cost nearly four times what the country spent on Bush's bash in 2005 -- that the Obama inauguration would cost almost $120 million more.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200901170003

At Long Last, Ready for the Real Deal

By Maya Angelou

In September 2008, I was invited to introduce Michelle Obama at an event in Greensboro, N.C. I had met her fleetingly during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, but I had no real sense of her personality.

I telephoned Oprah Winfrey, aware that she knew the Obamas, and asked, "What is your take on Michelle Obama?"

Oprah answered promptly and with conviction, "She is the real deal."

I waited backstage in the Carolina Theatre wings. Mrs. Obama arrived, and we sat and talked for 45 minutes. We spoke about family, the economy, youth obesity, television, music, cooking and men. I was completely won over. She neither postured nor preened. I sensed no subterfuge in her conversation. She said what she thought and said it clearly, without bombast. When I was cued to go onto the stage, I shook hands with her warmly and went to the microphone. The theater was packed, and there was no standing room. I told the audience of some of Mrs. Obama's accomplishments, and then I told them of the conversation that I had had with Oprah. I ended my introduction by saying, "Now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 'real deal.' "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011603640.html

Mission Accomplished

The President's Last Goodbye - Slate crashes Bush's farewell party.

By Christopher Beam

You can often tell a party by its parties. This week, Democrats are feting the incoming chief with top-shelf DJs, valet parking, and more coat checks than coats. Republicans, on the other hand, seem to be partying on a tight budget, if at all.

Such was the case Sunday night at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, where outgoing administration officials gathered for a final send-off. (Well, almost final: They'll see Bush off Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base.) Everyone from the lowliest White House aides to President Bush himself was there, many of them bundled in coats, chomping on barbecue, knocking back Buds, and dressed in the "very casual attire" the invitation called for.

The party, dubbed "Crossing the Finish Line" and held in the park's giant Spanish Ballroom, was organized by outgoing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and his predecessor, Andy Card.

The venue had been somewhat controversial, according to attendees. There was no heating, so a lot of bodies were needed. "Due to the historic nature of the venue, there are limitations on what can be done in terms of climate control," the hosts warned in an e-mail. "DO: Wear layers and coats. DON'T: Dress like you're going to Gold Cup or Smith Point."

Apparently some of the more climate-controlled venues had been taken. "There weren't a lot [of places] available," said Card. "There weren't a lot of bands available, either."

"Are these all white people—I mean White House people?" I asked someone in a genuine Freudian slip. Turned out the crowd was a mix of alumni from the White House, State Department, Treasury, and Justice and a few campaign workers. The mood felt more sweet than bitter. Many staffers had spent the weekend clearing out their offices. The question I kept hearing was "What's next?" Some were applying to grad schools, others were heading to D.C. law firms or think tanks, and others were returning to their home states or traveling. One outgoing Treasury employee had already landed a job as a manager at Abercrombie & Fitch.

As I stood in line for barbecue, Dana Perino came over to greet some friends. "I'm starting to breathe!" she said. I asked her for a comment on the party. "It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the outgoing administration and reminisce in casual clothes," she said.

Indeed, Bolten made the rounds in a bright-purple fleece, while Card sported a tweed blazer. Karl Rove, afloat in a gaggle of camera-toting staffers, rocked a cap from the 2004 Bush campaign.

http://www.slate.com/id/2209137/

Down to the wire, Murkowski wants pardon for Stevens

Former Sen. Ted Stevens, addressing the Senate for the final time in November, has adamantly insisted his innocence. (KTUU-TV)

During this joint press conference in December, both Sen. Lisa Murkowski and then-Sen.-elect Mark Begich said they had not thought about seeking a pardon for Stevens. (KTUU-TV)

Stevens was convicted by a Washington, D.C. jury on seven felony charges of lying on Senate disclosure forms. (KTUU-TV)

by Jill Burke

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to clarify statements made in December by Sen. Lisa Murkowski about pursuing a pardon for former Sen. Ted Stevens.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski has made a request with President George W. Bush to pardon former Sen. Ted Stevens, Channel 2 News learned Sunday.

Stevens was convicted in October on seven felony counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms. He lost a subsequent re-election bid to Sen. Mark Begich.

Murkowski's spokesperson, Mike Brumas, confirmed the request in an e-mail to Channel 2 News, writing, "In answer to you question, yes Sen. Murkowski has requested that President Bush pardon former Sen. Stevens. I can't provide any further details at this time due to the sensitive nature of the issue."

Outside of this statement from her office, Murkowski declined to comment.

It's unclear when the application may have been made. The Department of Justice says as of Friday no one had made an application for a pardon on the Senator's behalf with the Office of Pardon Attorney, according to Laura Sweeney in the department's Office of Public Affairs.

Sweeney went on to say that Murkowski could have made a direct appeal to Bush, bypassing the pardon attorney.

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=9694119

Countdown

The wide world of Obama kitsch

 

http://www.humorgazette.com/bh-obama1.htm

From Bush to Obama: On the eve of a “seamless transition”

By Patrick Martin

Three days before the inauguration of the 44^th president of the United States, the distinctions have largely been effaced between the outgoing and incoming administrations.

George W. Bush is, as even the corporate-controlled media admits, the most hated and despised president in American history. Barack Obama is, at least according to the opinion polls that measure popular moods, the beneficiary of a temporary honeymoon period in which hope outweighs experience and many are inclined to "give him a chance."

Far more decisive than these illusions are the policies of the Obama administration. There is ample reason to believe that popular opposition to Obama will grow rapidly, and that anger and outrage over the gross deception involved in the electoral process will add fuel to the fire. While millions voted for the Democratic candidate in a repudiation of the Bush administration's program of war, repression and favors to the wealthy, the actions of Obama demonstrate the fundamental unity of the two big business parties, which are both instruments of the same corporate ruling elite.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/obam-j17.shtml

Last chance to do nothing

How the Movies Made a President

By MANOHLA DARGIS and A. O. SCOTT

 

BARACK OBAMA'S victory in November demonstrated, to the surprise of many Americans and much of the world, that we were ready to see a black man as president. Of course, we had seen several black presidents already, not in the real White House but in the virtual America of movies and television. The presidencies of James Earl Jones in "The Man," Morgan Freeman in "Deep Impact," Chris Rock in "Head of State" and Dennis Haysbert in "24" helped us imagine Mr. Obama's transformative breakthrough before it occurred. In a modest way, they also hastened its arrival.

Make no mistake: Hollywood's historic refusal to embrace black artists and its insistence on racist caricatures and stereotypes linger to this day. Yet in the past 50 years — or, to be precise, in the 47 years since Mr. Obama was born — black men in the movies have traveled from the ghetto to the boardroom, from supporting roles in kitchens, liveries and social-problem movies to the rarefied summit of the Hollywood A-list. In those years the movies have helped images of black popular life emerge from behind what W. E. B. Du Bois called "a vast veil," creating public spaces in which we could glimpse who we are and what we might become.

Filmmakers as diverse as Charles Burnett, Spike Lee and John Singleton have helped tear away that veil, as have performers who have fought and transcended stereotypes of savagery and servility to create new, richer, truer images of black life. Along the way an archetype has emerged, that of the black male hero, who, like Will Smith in "Independence Day," rises from the ashes — in the case of that movie, the smoldering ashes of the White House — to save the day or just the family vacation. The movies of the past half-century hardly prophesy the present moment, but they offer intriguing premonitions, quick-sketch pictures and sometimes richly realized portraits of black men grappling with issues of identity and the possibilities of power. They have helped write the prehistory of the Obama presidency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/movies/18darg.html?_r=2&th&emc=th

Why Two Bush Appointees Are Refusing to Leave

by Scott Horton

Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national security affairs for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.

Two U.S. attorneys appointed by Dubya are refusing to leave the Justice Department when Obama takes office. Their explanation: they've got too many corrupt Democrats to prosecute!

An internal report issued this week by the Justice Department brought attention to the Bush Administration's efforts to "burrow" partisan ideologues deep in career civil service positions at the department. But even a few of Bush's political appointees at Justice are giving the new Obama administration trouble. Though their lease may technically run out on January 20, U.S. Attorneys Mary Beth Buchanan of Pittsburgh and Alice Martin of Birmingham are resolved to stay in their posts. The Daily Beast has learned that both are arguing to the Obama transition team that their efforts to convict Democrats should guarantee them an extended stay into the Obama presidency.

In their scathing report, Justice Department investigators concluded that former Civil Rights Division acting head Bradley Schlozman attempted to purge the division of those suspected of liberal sentiments and to replace them with fellow neoconservative ideologues, whom he called "comrades." During the Bush terms, nearly two-thirds of the professional staff of the Civil Rights Division left and new hires were—in violation of criminal statutes—carefully vetted for partisan political fidelity. Notwithstanding the Inspector General's recommendation that criminal action be brought, Schlozman will not be prosecuted. Bush Justice Department officials continue their perfect record of impunity, refusing to initiate criminal actions against partisan Republicans found to have broken the law by politicizing the Department.

The political appointees present Obama and his new attorney general, Eric Holder, with a different headache. By tradition, political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president, and when a new president comes to office those who held their commissions from his predecessor tender their resignations. This year, however, Buchanan and Martin appear girded to make a last stand like Japanese soldiers who never got word that the war was over.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-01-16/bushs-dead-enders/1/

Best president ever

Iraqi election candidate shot dead

 

Friday, gunmen shot to death a candidate belonging to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party, while campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for month-end.

Reports quoting police said the gunmen intercepted a convoy of Hashim al-Husseini, who was proceeding to the town of Jbela, south of Baghdad, for campaign.

Husseini was killed and four of his accomplices were injured in the shooting near Hillah.

He is the second candidate to be assassinated during election campaign in Iraq.

 

http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=827280

vosotros presents: ¡ YES WE PUEDE !

The times they are a changing, and we at vosotros are feeling it happen.  Living in Los Angeles, California, a bastion of America's beauty (and ugliness), excitement and tension are running high as Barack Obama prepares to take office on January 20. The potential for a positive change has never been more real than now, and we have chosen some of our closest friends to express their excitement by covering tunes from America's national songbook!  All songs are in the public domain and were recorded locally in under 2 weeks time.  So stick a feather in your cap, ride to the top of Mount Rushmore and scream ¡ YES WE PUEDE !  (And don't be afraid to sing along - we know you-all know the words)

Contributors
vosotros, Obi Best, Learning Music (feat. Readers), Dream Kids, weyou, B.R.A.M., and Mooey Moobau

Produced and Conceived By


© 2009
some rights reserved




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click to play
right click to download

art by Max Markowitz

• 1. Star Spangled Banner (vosotros)
• 2. Taps - America The Beautiful (Obi Best)
• 3. My Country 'Tis of Thee Pt. 1 (Learning Music)
• 4. My Country 'Tis of Thee Pt. 2 (Learning Music)
• 5. Yankee Doodle (Dream Kids)
• 6. You're A Grand Old Flag (weyou)
• 7. Anchors Aweigh (B.R.A.M.)
• 8. Swanee River (Mooey Moobau)

http://www.yeswepuede.com/

Keith Olbermann Sums Up the Bush Administration

The true history of the Bush years

Posted by Teresa

The Bush administration is ending. If Bush & Co. didn't entirely wreck the place, it was for no lack of trying. George himself achieved astonishing depths of failure. His most notable achievements were all unintentional, and he still doesn't know what they were.

Here's the biggest one: Although the American people have been fed a diet of cynical disinformation about government for the last half-century or more, the Bush years re-taught millions of them that voting is important, that established parties aren't identical, that primaries are a mechanism for assessing and refining candidates, and that campaign speeches don't have to consist entirely of hot air and patriotic-sounding generalities.

There will be histories written about the Bush administration. They'll be privy to information we don't have yet, because the future is like that. On the other hand, we have our own privileged knowledge: We know how the story looked like to people who didn't know how it was going to come out.

Now, in this moment before a changing world overwrites our memories of the era, let us pause to salute our constant companion of those years: The Onion. Other histories of the Bush years will doubtless be more factual, but none will ever be truer.

January 26, 2000: Bush Reaches Out To Hispanic Community With Generous Tip.
March 8, 2000: Bush 'Refuses To Dignify' Mass-Murder Allegations.
July, 26, 2000: Bush Reluctantly Accepts Donation From Parents.
August 9, 2000: Republicans' 'Diversity Through Imported Africans' Plan Criticized.
September 13, 2000: Bush Surges Ahead In Polls After Strong Showing On Pommel Horse.
October 4, 2000: Bush Vows To Do 'That Thing Gore Just Said, Only Better'.
October 18, 2000: Bush Horrified To Learn Presidential Salary.
November 15, 2000: Bush Executes 253 New Mexico Democrats.
November 15, 2000: Nation Plunges Into Chaos: Pro-Bush Rebels Seize Power In West; D.C. In Flames.
November 15, 2000: Serbia Deploys Peacekeeping Forces To U.S.
December 20, 2000: Bush Calls For End To 'Era Of Political Argument'.
January 17, 2001: Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'.
January 24, 2001: '80s Retro Craze Sweeps Executive Branch.
April 18, 2001: Bush Regales Dinner Guests With Impromptu Oratory On Virgil's Minor Works.
May 9, 2001: After Careful Consideration, Bush Recommends Oil Drilling.
May 30, 2001: Bush Actually President, Nation Suddenly Realizes.
June 20, 2001: Bush Trying To Decide How To Spend His Tax Refund"
July 18, 2001: Bush Vows To Remove Toxic Petroleum From National Parks.
August 1, 2001: Bush Finds Error In Fermilab Calculations.
August 22, 2001: Bush Vows To Wipe Out Prescription-Drug Addiction Among Seniors.
September 26, 2001: American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie.
September 26, 2001: Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell.
September 26, 2001: God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule.
September 26, 2001: Hugging Up 76,000 Percent.
September 26, 2001: Arab-American Third-Grader Returns From Recess Crying, Saying He Didn't Kill Anyone.
September 26, 2001: Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake.
September 26, 2001: Bush Sr. Apologizes To Son For Funding Bin Laden In '80s.
September 26, 2001: Report: Gen X Irony, Cynicism May Be Permanently Obsolete.
September 26, 2001: Jerry Falwell: Is That Guy A Dick Or What?
September 26, 2001: The U.S. Military Is Pondering Its Response Options.
September 26, 2001: Talking To Your Child About The WTC Attack.
September 26, 2001: U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With.
September 26, 2001: President Urges Calm, Restraint Among Nation's Ballad Singers.
September 26, 2001: Statshot: How Have We Spent the Last Two Weeks?
September 26, 2001: Dinty Moore Breaks Long Silence On Terrorism With Full-Page Ad.
September 26, 2001: Point/Counterpoint: We Must Retaliate With Blind Rage…
September 26, 2001: Infographic: Making America Safer.
October 3, 2001: U.S. Urges Bin Laden To Form Nation It Can Attack.
October 10, 2001: Freedoms Curtailed In Defense Of Liberty.
November 14, 2001: U.S. To Arab World: 'Stop Hating Us Or Suffer The Consequences'.
December 5, 2001: America Is Ready To Laugh At Me Again.
December 19, 2001: What Is Sexy In The Wake Of Sept. 11?

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010952.html#010952

The Most Ridiculous Speech of All

by William Rivers Pitt

President Bush walks away from the podium after addressing the nation for the last time. (Photo: Reuters)

    I don't think there's a punch-line scheduled, is there?
- Monty Python

    Two separate miracles were visited upon the Earth on Thursday.

    In the afternoon, an Airbus filled with more than 150 people took off from La Guardia Airport in New York. Ten minutes later, it was floating down the Hudson River with its passengers standing on the wings and huddled against the arctic cold. It seems a flock of geese hit two of the engines like ballistic feather pillows, and suddenly pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger found himself at the stick of a multi-ton paperweight.

    Somehow, Sullenberger managed to bring the plane down on the water like a stone skipped by God Herself, and finally landed it on the surface without damaging the fuselage. Harbor boats came boiling out of docks to aid in the rescue and every single living soul on that plane survived.

    The second miracle happened later that evening, when George W. Bush went on television to deliver the last major address of his time in the White House. Like it says in Psalms, this is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

    Of course, of course, of course, it was a ridiculous speech. Preposterous. The worst one of all, and boy howdy, that is saying something. This, after all, was the man who gave us "Bring it on" and "Mission Accomplished," and who once was unable to think of any mistakes he might have made. Each of these was a legitimate phenomenon in every respect, to be sure, but the spectacle on Thursday night bent the definition of "absurd" into bold new shapes.

    Let's take it from the top.

    Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence - a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together and the future of our nation.

    Translation: I like turtles.

    This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house - September 11, 2001.

    For the record, he went through exactly 240 words before bringing up 9/11.

    Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security [DHS] has been created. The military, the intelligence community and the FBI have been transformed. Our nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists' movements, freeze their finances and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them.

    Where to begin?

    The DHS is a hopelessly scrambled and hyper-politicized debacle. The military has been transformed into a shadow of its former self. The intelligence community is battered and discombobulated. The FBI works for a Justice Department that belongs in the script for a screwball comedy. The new tools include torture and indefinite detention, which don't work and are against the law. The only real ally we have left is Saudi Arabia, birthing bed of al-Qaeda-style Wahabbist terrorism. File this whole paragraph under "FAIL."

http://www.truthout.org/011609J

Obama to close Gitmo

Obama will end 'don't ask' policy, aide says

by Matthew B. Stannard

President Obama will end the 15-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that has prevented homosexual and bisexual men and women from serving openly within the U.S. military, a spokesman for the president-elect said.

Obama said during the campaign that he opposed the policy, but since his election in November he has made statements that have been interpreted as backpedaling. On Friday, however, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, responding on the transition team's Web site to a Michigan resident who asked if the new administration planned to get rid of the policy, said:

"You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it's 'Yes.' "

The little-noticed response, made in a video posted on change.gov, made barely a ripple outside blogs focused on the gay community, but that's not surprising, said those who have been pushing to overturn the ban. Not only was Obama's position expected, they said, but support for reviewing or repealing the policy has grown markedly in recent years, including some from unexpected quarters.

The end of "don't ask, don't tell" might not happen immediately, several critics of the policy said. Although they appreciate clarity from Obama on the issue, they anticipate that the demands of the economy and two wars are likely to trump a speedy policy reversal.

"The question isn't if we do it, and the question isn't when we do it, it's how we do it," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, whose 2006 bill to repeal the ban earned broad support among Democrats in Congress but did not move forward in the face of a near-certain veto by President Bush.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/13/MNTG159HHG.DTL

Bailout trickles up, not down

by Danny Westneat

"You're good for it."

That's what most everyone has been telling Pam Pentz lately. You can slide this month, Pam. We know you're good for it.

Everyone said that but her bank.

Pam's a horse trainer east of Woodinville. Last month the roof of her Olympic-sized horse-riding arena collapsed under the weight of the snow, all but shutting down her Derby Farms business.

The roof's insured so it will be fixed. But in the meantime she owes her hay man $1,300. The stall guy $2,000. The third-generation outfit that brings wood shavings for her 27 horses is due $1,800.

Don't worry, they all said. You're good for it.

It was nice to hear, but she fretted. How long can these others go without pay? So, to tide her over until her arena is back, Pam, 60, asked her longtime bank for a loan.

It was a pittance, really — a $15,000 line against a farm with at least a half-million dollars in equity. Where she's been in business for 30 years and has never missed a mortgage payment.

But the bank — Banner Bank, which likes to say that "you can take the bank out of the small town but you can't take the small town out of the bank" — said no.

You're not good for it, Pam.

The reason I'm telling you about a piddling $15,000 denied loan is that last fall Banner Bank got $124 million of your money as part of the bank bailout.

Yet Banner is not a troubled bank. It didn't need any rescue. The U.S. government gave the money on the theory Banner would turn around and lend it to people like Pam.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2008625047_danny14.html

Couple of days left

2001 - 2009

Homer's 'Eagle Lady' dead at 85

By TOM KIZZIA

HOMER -- Jean Keene, the 85-year-old "Eagle Lady" whose feeding program drew hundreds of bald eagles and scores of nature photographers to the Homer Spit each winter, died Tuesday evening in her Spit home.

Keene had been unwell but continued to feed fish scraps to the eagles this winter. In 2006, the city banned feeding of eagles, but allowed Keene to continue feeding until 2010. She had been at it for 30 years.

Keene's sudden passing leaves the city in an awkward fix. With several hundred eagles currently loitering on the Spit, a sudden halt to feeding could bring starvation or an invasion into local back yards, federal biologists say. It's probably too late in winter for them to go elsewhere.

"Some of the younger birds would probably not make it," said Vernon Byrd, a Homer-based biologist with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. "They'd have to forage around, start to get into more garbage and boats looking for food. People would come on the weak ones standing around."

City officials said Wednesday that an assistant who has been helping Keene with feeding will be allowed to keep going with existing food supplies, good for seven to 10 days.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/654023.html

The Man with No Morals