Month: April 2008

Iran Goes to the U.N. Over Hillary Clinton’s Threats

Trish

Hillary Clinton is an idiot.

She recently said that as president, if Iran made a nuclear move against Israel, she would “totally obliterate” it.

Iran’s not happy.

How can anyone think this woman would make a good president?

Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council expressing Iran’s condemnation of “such a provocative, unwarranted and irresponsible statement.”

Clinton made the remarks last week while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

I’m so tired.

Haven’t we just come through enough of this ridiculous posturing and reckless talk by people who have never been to war to know when to stuff a sock in it?

Can you imagine what the Clinton camp would do if Obama made an irresponsible, ill-advised, bush league (literally) comment that caused a diplomatic incident in which our entire country was formally protested on the world stage?

How can anyone think this woman would make a good president?

Like John McCain? You’ll Love Hillary Clinton

Trish

The longer the campaign drags on, the more Hillary Clinton sounds like John McCain.

Sure, they are united in their derision of Barack Obama. Both have stated they — and each other — are better prepared to be president based upon their longer records holding office (except that Hillary’s record is shorter than Obama’s — whoops!). They also both label the son raised by a single mom who became a shining example of the American success story an “elistist.”

But the parallels don’t end with what they don’t like about Obama. Their policies are amazingly similar as well.

  • Iran: McCain would bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Clinton would “totally obliterate” the country and all its inhabitants. Obama favors direct diplomacy with Iran.
  • Health care: McCain bases his plan for health care reform around giving people tax cuts for buying health insurance. HRC bases her plan for health care reform around giving people tax cuts for buying health insurance. Obama models his plan for health care reform on his National Health Insurance Exchange, a watchdog group that will create rules and standards to ensure universal health care for all Americans, regardless of employment status or tax filings.
  • Economy: McCain proposes to turn around the economy by suspending gas taxes over the summer, allowing people to drive more and emit more greenhouse gases. Clinton proposes to turn around the economy by suspending gas taxes over the summer, allowing people to drive more and emit more greenhouse gases. Obama says suspending gas taxes is a politically motivated move and proposes developing secure, high-skill jobs based on green technologies that allow America to compete in the worldwide market.
    On almost every issue McCain and Clinton are two peas in a pod

    “It would last for three months and it would save you on average half a tank of gas, $25 to $30. That’s what Senator Clinton and Senator McCain are proposing to deal with the gas crisis,” [Obama] said on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

    “This isn’t an idea designed to get you through the summer, it’s an idea designed to get them through an election.”

  • Iraq: McCain voted to authorize Bush to invade. Clinton voted to authorize Bush to invade. Obama was not in the U.S. Senate in 2002 but he opposed the invasion from the Illinois senate.

On almost every issue — like taking big bucks and big favors from lobbyists — and all the non-issues — such as whether they like Obama’s former pastor, and whether Obama is “out of touch” with dumb white folk — McCain and Clinton are two peas in a pod.

In one important way they differ. McCain seems committed to keeping personal attacks out of his race. Clinton has based her campaign on them.

Tortured Logic: Scalia Says ‘Torture’ Is Not Unconstitutional Because It Is Not ‘Punishment’

Jon Ponder

The meaning of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution could not be clearer:
“When [a government interrogator is] hurting you in order to get information from you, you wouldn’t say he’s punishing you. What is he punishing you for?”
— U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

And yet, beginning in 2002, the most senior members of the Bush administration, including Dick Cheney, Sec. of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft and others, met dozens of times to draft a set of torture guidelines for use by CIA interrogators. It’s no wonder that Jonathan Turley, a strong advocate of impeaching Pres. Clinton, called their actions a war crime and compared their sessions to a meeting of gangster Tony Soprano’s Bada Bing Club.

On “60 Minutes” Last Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia offered a new and, well, tortured rationale for the legality of what Bush has euphemistically called “advanced interrogation techniques”:

STAHL: If someone’s in custody, as in Abu Ghraib, and they are brutalized, by a law enforcement person — if you listen to the expression “cruel and unusual punishment,” doesn’t that apply?

SCALIA: No. To the contrary. You think — Has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.

STAHL: Well I think if you’re in custody, and you have a policeman who’s taken you into custody–

SCALIA: And you say he’s punishing you? What’s he punishing you for? … When he’s hurting you in order to get information from you, you wouldn’t say he’s punishing you. What is he punishing you for?

As often happens, Keith Olbermann speaks for every sane American:

The second most senior associate justice on Mr. Bush‘s Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, on TV now repeating in essence what he said earlier, that torture is not really as the Constitution prohibits, cruel and unusual punishment…

So you can torture the innocent or not yet proved guilty but you can‘t punish the guilty with torture? You don‘t see any logical inconsistency in that idea? The concept of punishment being in and of itself, torture or vice versa, that isn’t very pretty obvious to you? You, still there, Justice buddy? OK. Not only do I want to see your diploma, now, I want to see your grade point average.

Media types and conservatives still deride Bill Clinton for saying in a deposition in a civil lawsuit a decade ago, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” And yet, here we have a Supreme Court justice playing semantics over the definition of torture — and the media has barely taken notice.

Florida Budget Cuts — More Prisons, Fewer Schools

Buck Banks

1889_legislature.jpgI say it every year, but I am soooo glad that Florida’s legislature only convenes for two months. Lord only knows what kind of mischief they could perpetrate if they were in Tallahassee any longer than that.

Already this year both the state house and senate passed separate “anti-evolution” bills that require teachers to apply “scientific critical analysis” when teaching evolution. It is, after all, just a theory. Like relativity. And gravity. That neither bill is likely to pass begs the question of why so many Florida lawmakers are so, er, unevolved.

But it’s the state’s budget mess where the bright lights of Florida government have shone their beams of brilliance most. Not to say they haven’t had a tough challenge to cut $4 billion (that’s with a B) from the state budget, but still, $160,000 for “alligator marketing and education?”

The biggest hit will be in education, with South Florida schools bearing the brunt of the reduction. Lawmakers slashed $2.3 billion (55 percent of the total budget cuts) from education, with $332 million coming out of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Having had two kids pass through, uh — warehoused in — the Miami-Dade public school system, I don’t see where the cuts can come from, except incidentals like textbooks, new classroom construction and teachers.

But while they were busy gutting the education budget, Florida lawmakers did demonstrate some unexpected foresight. Seeing that the schools are just going to turn out a new generation of ignorant ruffians, the legislature allocated $305 million to build one private and two public prisons. By June 30, 2009, Florida is expected to have 107,000 miscreants incarcerated statewide. Oh, and that allocation is $10 million more than will be spent on school construction in the new budget.

”Our priorities are upside down and backwards,” said Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach. “There’s a direct correlation between failure in schools and numbers of people going to prison. We’re funding what we’re causing by not funding education. We’re not investing money on the front end. We’re just spending it on the back end.”

But not to worry, a whole bunch of Democrats like Gibbons plan to vote against the budget on principle. That’s encouraging, considering last year they voted against moving the state’s presidential primary date, and look where that got us.

Schwarzennegger Says He Will Oppose Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Drive

Jon Ponder

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed two laws that would have legalized gay marriage in California but now he says he opposes a rightwing ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage:
During his 22-year marriage to Maria Shriver, he has allegedly consorted with prostitutes, fathered at least one out-of-wedlock child and has been accused of multiple incidents of groping female subordinates in the workplace, i.e. on movie sets.

“I will always be there to fight against that,” the governor said in San Diego at the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest gay Republican group, as the attendees erupted in loud applause.

The Austrian-born governor drew laughs from the crowd when he added:

“I think we need a constitutional amendment so that a foreign-born (person) can run for president, but not against gay marriage. That would be a total waste of time.”

While Schwarzenegger’s opposition is welcome it does not lessen the hypocrisy of his vetoes. During his 22-year marriage to Maria Shriver, he has allegedly consorted with prostitutes, fathered an out-of-wedlock child and has been accused of multiple incidents of groping female subordinates in the workplace, i.e. on movie sets. So much for the “sanctity of marriage.”

Reacting to the governor’s statement, Karen England, a spokesperson for the pro-homophobia group Capitol Resource Institute, compounded the Republican hypocrisy on this issue:

“He’s always shown to be a liberal … and it’s disappointing,” she said.

England acknowledged that Schwarzenegger’s opposition to the ballot measure is a strike against the campaign to ban same-sex marriage.

“You never want someone with high-profile, movie-star quality against you,” she said. “But it won’t change the fact that Californians want marriage to be between a man and a woman.”

There’s no record of anyone in the pro-homophobia lobby calling Schwarzenegger a liberal when he vetoed the marriage laws.

On Monday, sponsors of the anti-marriage initiative claimed to have gathered enough signatures to place the measure on the November ballot:

A coalition of religious groups called Protect Marriage collected more than 1.1 million signatures in support of the amendment, said Brian Brown, executive director of the California office of the National Organization for Marriage.

The initiative needs 694,354 signatures, or 8 percent of the votes cast in the last governor’s race, to make it onto the ballot.

“We have gone against tremendous odds to do this, and now the voters in California will have the chance to protect marriage,” Brown said.

Supporters of the Limit on Marriage initiative plan to deliver their signed petitions to county registrars this week, ahead of the April 28 submission deadline set by the California Secretary of State’s Office. The signatures must be verified before the amendment can be approved for the election.

The anti-gay group’s organizers spent $1.5 million on hiring workers to gather signatures, mostly in supermarket parking lots.

Schwarzenegger stood in at the national Log Cabin Club convention for John McCain, whose campaign claimed that a scheduling conflict prevented him from speaking in San Diego.

McCain — who has actively sought the endorsement of promoters of hatred toward gay people such as the late Jerry Falwell and John Hagee — does plan to speak with the leaders of the gay GOP group behind closed doors. (Maybe in a closet somewhere?)

Campaign Report from Our Guy in North Carolina

Buck Banks

Here’s the latest report from our friend in the Tarheel state:

O.K., so they announce on Friday night that Barack will be in Wilmington on Monday, speaking at University of North Carolina-Wilmington on Monday. In order to attend, you need to go to Democratic headquarters to pick up a ticket.
nc.jpg
I head out on Saturday morning. Long lines (good) extending two blocks to get the tickets. But the reason for the lines was people have to register their name, provide phone number, e-mail address, etc. What a pain in the ass. There’s no way they did this ticket thing earlier in his campaign or their campaign would never have gotten off the ground.

Tickets were already gobbled up (Democratic headquarters opened at 8:30; I arrived at 10 a.m.) by the time I made it to the door. That’s pretty impressive because Trask Arena holds 5,000 people. The local TV stations pick it up with a general theme of he’s like a rock star, actually using that phrase; people want to go see him and are very disappointed to find they can’t. “Just like a real rock concert!” says the newscaster.

Hillary quickly announces she’s having an open-air gathering on the riverfront Sunday night to get to know the people — “I just hope the people of Wilmington will want to see me as much as I want to see them!” Barack does cell-phone interview with the lead local news station (Fox affiliate) for late-night news and comes off good. “People are concerned about health care, the war, gas prices, not distractions from real issues.” Hmmm. What distractions?

Beautiful weather on Sunday, big turnout (5,000 people) for Hillary Sunday night. She speaks in front of the battleship and indicates she’ll be back next Saturday to mark the launching of a nuclear submarine called the U.S.S. Carolina in Wilmington (apparently giving us fair warning to lock up our valuables). Her talk is a real snooze, average age of the audience is about 69; average profession is retired schoolteacher. Many of them actually do doze off as she deals with controversies like end of grade testing to show her mastery of the issues we typical folk all discuss at the dinner table before paying our bills. Her moment of passion: “Come debate with me, Barack Obama! Anytime, anywhere!”

[…]

Racism Best Explanation for Wesley Snipes’ Sentence

Trish
Why isn’t this tax evader in jail?

I’m no great legal scholar but come on. Prosecutors in the Wesley Snipes tax evasion case are overstepping their bounds to make an example out of the actor.

Snipes was convicted in February on three misdemeanor counts. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges handed down the maximum sentence and said he felt it was important to create a general deterrent against tax defiance…

The judge said prison officials would notify Snipes when to begin serving his sentence. Snipes said he would appeal the verdict but prosecutors vowed to oppose any request to allow him to remain free on bond while the appeal is pending.

Prosecutors said Snipes had earned more than $38 million since 1999 but still had not filed tax returns for the years 1999 through 2007 or paid any taxes prior to Thursday…

They said the notoriety of the case presented a “singular opportunity” to deter tax crimes nationwide.

If this doesn’t boil down to being about black and white, I need someone to explain it to me

But what we have here are two separate things. One is Snipes’ crimes — three misdemeanors — of which he is guilty. The other is the government’s desire to discourage us from not paying our taxes. Because Snipes is guilty as charged does not give prosecutors the right to exploit his situation for their own aims. His sentence should be about his punishment for tax evasion, not about a government marketing message.

It’s too bad Snipes is the only famous person to owe the I.R.S. — and his lawyers say he does owe them $400,000. They could have made an example out of someone else, if only there had been someone earlier in a similar situation.

Oh yeah, Willie Nelson is walking around after leaving an original upaid bill of $17 million in back taxes. The I.R.S. worked out a settlement with the red-headed stranger, selling his ranch and taking an interest in one of his albums and other assets. They also agreed to take less, $12.6 million for the nearly $17 million debt. There was never any discussion of prison.

I don’t want to see Willie locked up but I’m really struggling to understand how this is fair. If it doesn’t boil down to being about black and white, then I need someone to explain it to me.

Maybe rapper Foxy Brown could. She was sentenced to one year in jail for a parole violation after having an altercation with a manicurist. While Brown served her sentence, the world watched the spectacle of Paris Hilton, tapped with a mere 45 days for violating parole with repeated drunk driving offenses, cry her way to serving less than half of even that lightweight punishment.

Craig Ferguson’s Lines at Correspondents’ Dinner

Trish

I confess to liking Craig Ferguson. He was the best part of the Drew Carey Show, but I guess that’s not necessarily high praise.

Having him as the host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year had to beat the crap out of last year’s pick — Rich Little. At least nobody has to consult DeadorAlive to see if Ferguson is still with us.

Here are some of his lines from the dinner.

Ferguson: “I’m a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn’t true then I say it on TV. I’m like Fox News.”
  • “I spoke to a lot of journalists about how I should speak up here. And all the journalists said ‘Craig, Your duty is to speak truth to power. That’s what you do, you hold the truth up for everyone to see, that’s your job.’ I’m sorry. I don’t see it that way. That’s your job. You’re journalists. I’m a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn’t true then I say it on TV. I’m like Fox News. I’m not a journalist.”
  • “It’s your task to watch the government, to make sure they don’t exceed their power. [Stops and looks over at Dick Cheney.] And well done with that, by the way, the last eight years.”
  • “The New York Times unfortunately did not buy a table. They felt, I just want to make sure I got this right, they felt this event undercut the credibility of the press. It’s funny. You see, I thought that Jayson Blair and Judi Miller took care of that.”
  • “Listen, I don’t envy the person who wins the Democratic nomination for the presidency because they, he or she will face the full force of the Republican attack machine come the election. Bill Kristol, Bob Novack, George Stephanapoulos.”
  • [Turning to Bush] “You’re retiring as a young man. What does a president do? You could look for a job with more vacation time.”
  • “During your administration there was not one single sex scandal in the White House except the time when Barney humped the Pope’s leg.” [That one had to be repeated to Bush, who didn’t get it the first time. The second time he laughed.]
  • “Tonight we mark the end of an era. George W. Bush leaves in eight months. The vice president is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon.”