Clipmarks | masbury's Comments

Wrong Woman; Wrong Message

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:12 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

John McCain Needs to Lay Off the POW Talk

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:13:40 GMT

clipped by: cptenaud
clipper's remarks: The fact is, John McCain's service during Vietnam was honorable and he sacrificed a great deal. But his service to the country carries no more weight than that of any other POW. Likewise, while McCain has given so much to his country, thousands of veterans--past and present--have given as much or more. In this war alone, thousands of troops have lost limbs, been paralyzed, and been burned beyond recognition. So to see McCain resort to playing the POW card when answering legitimate questions, in my mind, cheapens that experience. And by cheapening his own experience in war, he degrades all of our experiences in war. He turns the horrific incidents we've all seen, touched, smelled, and felt into a lame excuse to earn political points. And it dishonors us all.

And while Spencer Ackerman is not a veteran himself, I think he sums up what many combat vets are feeling today after hearing the campaign's statement:

Clip Source: www.vetvoice.com

by: Brandon Friedman

Thu Aug 21, 2008

When John McCain revealed that he didn't know how many houses he and his wife currently own (they have at least eight properties), the Obama campaign pounced. They accused him of being elitist and disconnected and launched an ad within hours. The McCain campaign--realizing this was trouble--retorted the only way they knew how: With a truly stupefying response from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers:

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

Yes, you read that right. McCain justified not knowing how many houses he has by saying he was a POW in Vietnam, four decades ago. I have some things to say about this:

1. Being a POW is not an excuse for everything.

The bottom line is that we're sick of hearing about this as a justification for everything John McCain does or doesn't do. This instance is only the latest example, as others have noted.

Tags: mccain, pow, status

Running Against Themselves

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:37:39 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "Mr. McCain says he is the candidate who will better protect the country from terrorism. But about all he has to offer is his pledge to continue the war in Iraq. We have yet to hear an explanation for how he plans to do that while also salvaging the war in Afghanistan — the real front line in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Three days into the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the G.O.P. has settled on a message: “Washington is not working.” The phrase is included in virtually every speech and every statement in St Paul.

We agree completely that Washington is in desperate need of renewal and reform. We’re not even going to quibble about the fact that Barack Obama said it first. The problem is that American voters have yet to hear — from John McCain or his warm-up acts — any serious ideas on what, exactly, is wrong with Washington, apart from the fact that a Democrat might win the White House, never mind how to truly fix it.

As hard as he tries, Mr. McCain cannot escape the burdensome shadow of President Bush because his policies offer no real change

Mr. McCain also has yet to explain to voters how he intends to go on paying for the war in Iraq — and also fix a dangerously stretched and overburdened military.

Ecuador Giving U.S. Air Base the Boot

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:34:21 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

Prevailing Nationalism, Investment From Elsewhere Make American Presence Obsolete

MANTA, Ecuador -- When U.S. officers stationed in this humid coastal city give reasons they should continue their decade-old airborne surveillance mission, they talk not only about fighting drug runners on the open seas but about the $71 million they've spent to renovate and maintain the city's airport, and the $6.5 million they inject each year into the local economy.

But the government of Ecuador has decided, and Washington has apparently agreed, that one of the most important foreign outposts in the United States' war on drugs will close. The 450 U.S. Air Force personnel and contractors stationed at a military base that shares the airport's runway will be leaving next year.

"This is a problem for us of sovereignty," Larrea said. "It's as if we had a base in New York. This would be incomprehensible for North Americans."

Birds do it, Bees do it, but humans don't!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:20:18 GMT

clipped by: thinkingblue
clipper's remarks: Of course, we should teach our teenage children good judgement, if that is at all possible when it comes to the powerful instinctual urges belonging to all life, the drive to BEGET. Try telling a teeny bobber about love and responsibility. They'll look at you, the same way you look at a dog chasing its tail, bewilderment of such a stupidity lag.
But, for most parents, the teen "eye roll" just slides off their back, down to the floor where it can be easily stepped on.
But all sarcasm aside, teaching this program alone is not just block-headed, its outrageously dangerous. By not equipping our young with knowledge on self preservation, we neglect the most basic fact of life, the instinctive teachings of fundamental survival techniques. Go and watch some wild life with their young and you will see such training.
Birds do it, Bees do it, even Monkeys in the trees do it. Also on http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Abstinence Only - Does Not Work! Duh!

[Video]

September 03, 2008

JUST TELLING OUR KIDS TO "DON'T DO IT" DOES NOT WORK!

Guess what folks, teaching abstinence-only to young adolescent teens fails in all the studies except the ones conducted by the abstinence-only advocates. Isn't that a shocker? Well, to anyone with a few brain cells, that was a given. From the very beginning, when Bush and his followers rejoiced and couldn't wait to hit us over the head with their abstinence-ONLY asinine program.

Tags: politics, abstinence, only, youtube, sex, education

Jesus was a Community Organizer, Pilate was a Governor

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:27:32 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks:

Thank you to my friend Daniel, who has done community organizing from Harlem to LA to Boston. Thank you to Biko Baker of League of Young Voters, who I once interviewed and was immediately impressed by. Thank you to Saul Alinsky, largely considered the father of community organizing (pictured above). Thank you to all of you I don't know, who every day, make the choice to listen to ordinary people's stories and help them link these stories into a template for honest-to-goodness social change.

And, yes, thank you to Barack Obama, for making the choice to be a community organizer so many years ago and for continuing to be proud and loud about the importance of the role of the community organizer for our nation's well-being.

Clip Source: www.feministing.com

Thank You Thursdays: Community Organizers

Thank you to all the community organizers, past and present, who have recognized the ways in which the personal is the political, hearing--in the individual stories of ordinary people--a common thread of struggle deserving of action and resolution. Thank you to those who jump started whole movements (feminism, civil rights, labor) with their audacity and daily, hourly, minute-by-minute courage to knock on doors, sit down with friends and strangers alike, educate, and most of all, listen. Thank you to the community organizers who have targeted environmental racism--making sure that folks aren't poisoned in their own neighborhoods just because they don't have the resources to fight back. Thank you to the community organizers who have targeted civil rights, educational failures, classism, racism, sexism, ableism etc. etc.

Tags: republicans hate poor powerless people

Palin's RNC speech bent the truth

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:16:12 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Details and examples in article.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

•PALIN: "[Obama] is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."

FACT: On July 15, in a speech in Washington, D.C., Obama twice used the word "victory" in reference to Iraq.

•PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate."

Tags: politics, palin, obama

A pit bull with lipstick is a good thing?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:42:18 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Why would anyone want to refer to themselves as a pit bull with lipstick? Is that some kind of endearing quality? Is that some kind of characteristic we want in our leadership? I just don't get it. Pit bulls are notorious for attacking innocent bystanders (often children) with fierce vengeance - that's certainly their stigma at least. So why in the world is it something that a potential President of the United States would be proud of comparing herself to? Personally, i find it very scary that she would say that and i honestly find it scary that a room full of people would stand up and cheer the idea.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

A Pit Bull With Lipstick

Tags: palin, pit bull, vice president, politics

Jon Stewart exposes Rove, Hannity, Morris, Palin hypocrisy

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:55:21 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898
clipper's remarks: Well worth the time to watch this short clip.

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

This is one of the best TDS segments I’ve seen in a long time. These people just make it too easy. Whether it’s Karl Rove decrying Tim Kaine’s lack of experience (while praising the clearly less experienced Sarah Palin), or Dick Morris and Hannity bashing the “sexist” media attacks on Palin (despite peddling real sexist attacks on Hillary themselves), Jon shows that these people have no shame nor ethical consistency.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather)

“Karl Rove appears bitterly divided on the experience issue.”

After BillO’s Jamie Lynn Spears/Bristol Palin hypocrisy: “You see what happens with opinions on teen pregnancies is that they gestate over a period of months.”

See this and more Daily Show / Colbert Report clips at Indecision 08.

Alaska Versus Kansas- The Governors

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:31:09 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Kansas Governor Sebelius takes on Palin of Alaska, anytime

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Sebelius Accuses Palin Of Deceiving Voters

In a Thursday morning conference call for reporters organized by the Democratic National Committee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius pushed back against the idea that Republicans have cornered the market on small-town American values.

"I live in the American heartland, and have been a governor [here] for six years," she said. "I don't know any mayor in any small town in Kansas -- and we have a lot of mayors of small towns -- who hires a lobbyist and goes after earmarks the way Sarah Palin did." On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that, as mayor of Wasilla, Palin secured more than $27 million in federal earmarks for a town with only 6,700 residents.

Palin made a not-so-subtle pitch to snatch the sympathies of small-town voters -- touting her own experience as a mayor, and contrasting her self-professed values with those of Barack Obama.

Chauvinism as Nationalism

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:03:04 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns
clipper's remarks: 1. Blind and absurd devotion to a fallen leader or an
obsolete cause; hence, absurdly vainglorious or
exaggerated patriotism.
[1913 Webster]
Note: To have a generous belief in the greatness of one's
country is not chauvinism. It is the character of the
latter quality to be wildly extravagant, to be fretful
and childish and silly, to resent a doubt as an insult,
and to offend by its very frankness. --Prof. H. Tuttle.
[1913 Webster]

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Chauvinism as nationalism

See also: white man's burden

In "Imperialism, Nationalism, Chauvinism", in The Review of Politics 7.4, (October 1945), p. 457, Hannah Arendt describes the concept:

Chauvinism is an almost natural product of the national concept insofar as it springs directly from the old idea of the "national mission." ... (A) nation's mission might be interpreted precisely as bringing its light to other, less fortunate peoples that, for whatever reason, have miraculously been left by history without a national mission. As long as this concept did not develop into the ideology of chauvinism and remained in the rather vague realm of national or even nationalistic pride, it frequently resulted in a high sense of responsibility for the welfare of backward peoples.

Why The Media Should Apologize To Sarah

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:58:36 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Clip Source: www.politico.com

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like

mooseburgers

we should have stuck to the press release stuff

we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like

Palin is under investigation

Why go there?

Tags: palin

Palin the polarizer

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:39:04 GMT

clipped by: lp97702
clipper's remarks: And this comment from a Republican no less. I think he's right. This time there are more D than R's.

Clip Source: www.bloglines.com

Republican political consultant Mike Murphy finds himself lonely among his fellow GOPers since he doesn't think Gov. Sarah Palin was a good choice as Sen. John McCain's running mate.

"I think she'll ultimately be a polarizer. After last night's smash, Republicans are in deep love. Nothing thrills 'em like a good 'us vs. them' speech. But I'd guess that most Democrats had the opposite reaction. In a year where the Democrat generic numbers are 10+ points better than the Republican, I don't like the math of a strategy that just polarized the election along party base lines. Among the vital sliver of voters in the middle, I think Palin's rock solid social conservatism will be a turn off. And while voters may value vision over experience, Palin's inexperience is a weakness, denying McCain an argument that has been helping him against Obama."

Tags: palin, mccain

Obama Answers Republican Ridicule

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:21:07 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

"You're hearing an awful lot about me, most of which is not true," he told a group of union workers at a hydro plant in York, Penn. "What you're not hearing about is you."

"You haven't heard a word about how we're going to deal with any aspect of the economy that is affecting you and your pocketbook."

In Virginia, running mate Joe Biden echoed that complaint.

"Not one time did I hear the phrase middle class pass their lips," he said.

Democrats noted the repeated attempts to ridicule Obama's work as a community organizer among unemployed steelworkers in Chicago as a way of questioning his experience.

"We're talking about being in touch with the homeless, being in touch with the under-educated, being in touch with the unemployed," said Medina. "A community organizer is that presence for hope when hope doesn't exist."

Though Obama caught only a small part of Palin's speech last night, his aides watched and were impressed. She is a skilled politician, they said, and deft at going on the attack.

Tags: obama, republican, palin, politics, community

Let's Be Honest Once And For All

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:51:15 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken

Clip Source: mwcnews.net

Let's be honest once and for all. We don't elect presidents, only commanders-in-chief.

at the end of the day the majority of Americans are essentially war-willing

Commander-in-Chief of this mythical "Free World" we have self-determined to lead.

we seem to go along with those in our midst who advocate world dominance. One gets the feeling at times that we might be afraid that our feast as glutton-consumers might cease without this predatory foreign policy.

If there is one thing that defines us as a people, as a nation, it is our unwillingness to impeach Bush.

Only a grass roots level denunciation and excommunication of the neocons,

will allow Washington to formulate a necessary policy of détente before our nation can be trusted by the world at large.

A new administration without the prior cleansing of the president's office

will be seen as more of the same – an unrepentant and unashamed continuation of empire

But that's not who we are. Or, at least, let's pray we are not.

Tags: who are you?