Day: June 30, 2008

Who is behind the recent vandalism of 60 city-owned cars in Orlando — spray-painted with anti-Obama and anti-McCain messages — is an interesting question. On the one hand, they could really be, as they claim, from a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Business-card-sized notes signed by “CR” were found that disparaged Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama on one side, while supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton on the other. The cards also had statements such as “Legalize Marijuana/Stop Building Prisons,” “Ladies I’m Single Some Girl Step Up” and “How About Them Gators.”

On the other hand, it could be a frame job.

The cars were parked across from city hall late Saturday night. Investigators say the culprits tagged notes such as “Obama smokes crack” and a racial epithet. They even left business cards on each vehicle.

Witness Mike Lowe first told police about the damage. He saw three cars with anti-Obama messages, while the others were just heavily painted.

“I’m driving by and every car I see has been hit with spray paint,” Lowe said told WKMG-TV. “There is so much damage to them. There is messages written on them and the vandals left their business card, which is crazy.”

Crazy or deliberate in implicating people like that lady who went off after the Florida and Michigan Democratic delegation seats were decided. Police are asking you to call 800-423-TIPS with clues, but they should probably start by checking that woman’s thumb to see if it’s blue.

A New Low in Republican Hypocrisy Has Been Reached

This is not a joke. A pair of Republican U.S. senators who disgraced themselves with extramarital affairs have signed on as sponsors of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would prohibit same sex marriage anywhere in the United States.

The senators are David Vitter of Louisiana, who admitted he consorted with prostitutes over a long period of time, and Larry Craig of Idaho, who pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting sex in a men’s room.

Both Vitter and Craig were 2007 nominees to Pensito Review’s GOP Adulterers Hall of Fame.

The amendment states, “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

In an interview posted on the website of the London Telegraph last week, John Bolton, one of the most belligerent of the neocon war hawks, predicted that Israel will attack Iran sometime after the U.S. presidential elections November 4 and January 21, the day George Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.
“An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy.”
— Bolton
Bombing Iran has long been a neocon objective. Last February, New Yorker reporter revealed that Dick Cheney had secret plans for creating an “open confrontation” with Iran and that the Pentagon was ready to start bombing within 24 hours of a signal from the White House. One supposedly non-neocon pol who was on board then was John McCain. During a campaign stop in South Carolina in April 2007, McCain made a joke of bombing Iran by singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys song, “Barbara Ann.”

But Bolton now believes Bush and his senior aides have succumbed to political reality and will not pursue the attack using U.S. forces. According to the Telegraph, Bolton said, “It’s clear that the administration has essentially given up that possibility… I don’t think it’s serious any more. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said I thought it was a real possibility. I just don’t think it’s in the cards.”

About his suggested timeframe of November to January, Bolton said, “The Israelis have one eye on the calendar because of the pace at which the Iranians are proceeding both to develop their nuclear weapons capability and to do things like increase their defenses by buying new Russian anti-aircraft systems and further harden the nuclear installations.

“They’re also obviously looking at the American election calendar. My judgment is they would not want to do anything before our election because there’s no telling what impact it could have on the election.”

Bolton suggests that Israel will attack Iran on Bush’s watch because they fear that if Barack Obama is elected, he would stand in the way of such of an attack, because Obama has signaled he would seek negotiations with Iran before bombing. “An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy,” he said.

About the approach of John McCain, Bolton said, “With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran’s side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development.” Bolton is a McCain supporter.

Bush named Bolton as his UN ambassador as a recess appointment in 2005, but he only served a year because Democrats in the Senate refused to confirm him.