Author: Trish

Helicopter Ads Offend Moslems, All the Rest of Humanity, and God

Trish


The ad Boeing Co., Bell Helicopter Textron, and the National Journal were forced to apologize for recently isn’t the only one produced by the unholy three. One in particular, so far flying under the radar so to speak, could be worse. AdWeek:

[I]t’s enough to make you anxiously cast your eyes skyward in order to avoid the lightening strike God must surely be sending our way

The image in the Osprey ad is one of several provocative visuals TM has created for print ads that appear in defense industry trade publications. An ad for Bell’s AH-1Z attack helicopter shows the craft rising out of a flaming background heavily armed with missiles. The headline reads: “We made it beautiful. Because it’s the last thing some people will ever see.”

Man. That’s enough to make you anxiously cast your eyes skyward in order to avoid the lightening strike God must surely be sending our way.

The other ad, which was specifically disavowed, was bad enough:

The ad, created by Interpublic Group’s TM Advertising in Irving, Texas, depicted a CV-22 Osprey aircraft delivering troops to the roof of a mosque. The headline read: “It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell.”

…The ad for the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft depicted soldiers rappelling onto the roof of a building, labeled “Muhammad Mosque” in Arabic. The building has a dome, crescent moon and minaret, all common features of a mosque.

The galling thing is how much the parties involved don’t get it, even as the measured apologies and blame issue forth for a “clerical error” that allowed the ad to run after the proofs were supposedly destroyed.

“We recognize that some organizations and individuals may have been offended by its content and regret any concerns this advertisement may have raised,” the Bell statement read.

Concerns? These folks don’t seem concerned in the least. Wonder why they aren’t throwing roses at us in Iraq anymore.

Pentagon Spying Slush Fund Exposed in Florida

Trish

The Pentagon’s brazen diverting of tax dollars and hiding it from Congress is getting scrutiny. Florida Senator Bill Nelson, pitted against GOP orphan Katherine Harris in 2006, is exposing the slush fund and demanding an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which he is a member. St. Petersburg Times:

In her e-mail, Kingston coached colleagues on how to account for the additional money and avoid attracting attention to it in congressional briefings.

In a letter to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and ranking member Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, Nelson seemed incredulous…

“The fundamental issue appears that the Defense Department believes it is not only legal but accepted practice to operate using slush funds that deceive the Congress,” Nelson wrote. “Indications from the IG report are that the practice is widespread, condoned and even encouraged up and down the levels of management within the DOD.”

The Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, or SOCom, is run from Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base, and is in charge of all the really good spy stuff, according to its web site. The site also offers products, from calendars to SOCom watches, for sale. Doesn’t say where the proceeds go, but that’s along the lines of what Bill Nelson wants to know.

As usual, they’re trying to blame all wrongdoing on the flunkies:

[…]

Bush Message According to Borowitz: “I Look Like I Care”

Trish

If you missed this Borowitz Report, read it now:

In a televised speech to the nation last night, President George W. Bush praised the Federal government for responding swiftly to Hurricane Rita with well-crafted, high-quality photo opportunities showing him looking concerned, but said that the government needs to create the impression of concern even faster in the future.

Mr. Bush said the fact that the government provided the first images of him looking grave and engaged in the crisis even before Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas and Louisiana coastline showed that it had learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.

“After Hurricane Katrina, it was hours before the American people saw the first photos of me furrowing my brow and looking serious,” Mr. Bush said. “But with Rita, we had high-quality images of me looking worried right from the get-go.”

While praising the swiftness of the government’s photo-op response to Rita, the president said that “much work still needs to be done” to ensure that the government will produce high-quality post-disaster photo-ops even faster in the future.

To that end, he said he was creating a new government bureaucracy, the Federal Emergency Image Management Agency, which would provide the president with lighting, cameras, and dramatic backdrops within minutes of any national emergency.

“In times of crisis, the president needs to send the American people the following message,” the president concluded. “Message: I look like I care.”

Bush Dirty Tricks: ANWAR Vote Buried in Budget Resolution — Act Now!

Trish

This is it kids. They’re going to vote on a budget resolution that will have a hidden clause that will sneak in drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They’re going to do it tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 20. If you were waiting for the signal in order to act, here it is.

The Sierra Club is exposing the typical Bush shenanigans:

After decades of being told “no,” Big Oil and its allies in Congress — in the face of overwhelming public support for protecting this national treasure — have buried the controversial Arctic drilling measure deep in the budget. And in recent weeks they have exploited the Hurricane Katrina tragedy as an excuse to drill in the Arctic and off our coasts. Don’t let them get away with these tricks!

Go here to the Defenders of Wildlife, and all you have to do is click on “senators” or “representatives” and supply your info. An email will be sent to your particular people in Washington, both senators and representatives. How easy can this be? They’ve already written a message for you, but I redid it a little. Feel free to customize mine to your tastes:

Please don’t give in to anyone who tells you it would be politically unpopular to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Vote against the budget reconciliation package if it allows oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Demand a clean budget bill that doesn’t include a hidden raid on our nation’s wilderness.

We can’t drill our way out of our oil dependence. We consume 25% of the earth’s oil reserves, and if we drilled every last one of ours – in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska – we’d only have 3%.

It’s time to start living within our means in this country – that includes oil, other resources, and budget. It saddens me that under George Bush, America is no longer the great country it once was, but all of us alive today have an obligation to keep it from sliding further into selfish oblivion. Please do your job as a public servant, and do what’s right. Vote against the budget reconciliation package.

The site is being heavily trafficked tonight (thank you, Lord!), so it might time out a couple of times before you get in. Keep trying.

Do this. Do it now. It’s just too easy and what will happen if you don’t do it is too frickin’ hard. Come on, click.

Jeb Reveals That Imaginary Friend ‘Warrior Chang’ Guides His Every Move

Trish

This is too weird to make up. Jeb Bush has an imaginary friend. Gainesville Sun:

I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down.

Here are Bush’s words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians: ”Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society.

”I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down.”

It’s a scary place inside Jeb Bush’s head. This insight into his twisted psyche explains a lot.

In a 1989 Washington Post article on the politics of tennis, former President George Bush was quoted as threatening to ”unleash Chang” as a means of intimidating other players.

The saying was apparently quite popular with Gov. Bush’s father, and referred to a legendary warrior named Chang who was called upon to settle political disputes in Chinese dynasties of yore.

O.K. then. I’ve heard enough. How did these freaks of nature get here? And when will they be leaving?

Newspaper Uncovers Bush Conspiracy to Blame Environmentalists

Trish

The Sierra Club is directing people to this article in the Jackson, Miss. Clarion-Ledger:

Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn’t comment further.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys’ offices: “Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation.”

Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said Thursday she couldn’t comment “because it’s an internal e-mail.”

…Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn’t comment further.

The Sierra Club has been refuting the Rovevelian/FOX News stories that Katrina’s damage is somehow the fault of environmentalists. But as is so often the case in Bushworld, the spin on their side translates into easy sound bites (The environmentalists are at fault. State and local government is at fault. There’s not enough proof of global warming.), whereas the facts take a minute or two to understand. And most of Bush’s followers’ attention spans are almost as short as his.

Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted the Sept. 8 issue of National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps’ 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: “Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain.”

The problem with that conclusion? […]

The Iraqitization of Venezuela: Can the Search for WMDs Be Far Behind?

Trish

It’s sounding like deja vu all over again every time the White House mentions Venezuela. The spin sounds so much like the “sexing up” of the propaganda on Iraq before we invaded, it’s eerie. AP:

President Bush said Thursday that Venezuela “failed demonstrably” to make a concerted effort to block shipments of illicit narcotics to the United States and Europe last year.”

If all our bluster were really about drugs and not about oil, we’d be doing something constructive to wipe out drug use

Venezuela could have been subjected to a cutoff of U.S. assistance, but Bush decided to waive the provision because of national security interests.

Yeah, interests like the $1 million Venezuela donated to the Red Cross for Katrina relief. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot — the one million barrels of free oil they express-delivered.

A White House “statement of explanation” about Venezuela said 165 tons of cocaine moved through the country last year along with increasing quantities of heroin.

In early August, Chavez accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents in Venezuela for espionage, and said Venezuela was suspending cooperation with the agency. The Bush administration denied the espionage charge.

Chavez has said the U.S. government has been sticking its oil-sniffing nose in his country’s affairs for a long time, and I believe him. Where do we get off saying Venezuela isn’t democratic enough to suit us? Is Venezuela holding any “agents of interest” in offshore prisons without charges, indefinitely? Is Venezuela toppling foreign governments? Is Venezuela passing laws giving itself permission to break into its own citizens’ homes without their knowledge? No, that’s the land of the free and the home of the brave. […]

Speech Prediction: Tax Cuts to Build Cajun Disneyland

Trish

I will, regrettably, be unable to experience Bush’s speech tonight but I bet I know what he’ll say:

Tax cuts! Tax cuts! And more tax cuts!

Fareed Zakaria nailed it Sunday on ABC’s This Week. As Newt Gingrich floated the tax cut trial balloon as the only way to rebuild New Orleans, Fareed begged to differ. If you declare open season for private investors to come down and build quick-profit enterprises, he said, you’ll end up with Cajun Disneyland.

Right on, Fareed! Think about it: Katrina has done nothing if not prove there are appropriate roles for government – not just appropriate but vital – and restoration is one of them.

If we subsidize rich investors in building a new, bigger, better New Orleans (with more public rest rooms), we’ll end up with Anytown USA and some red beans thrown in for atmosphere. Not only that, we’ll lose the older, historic, authentic and possibly not immediately profitable places that make New Orleans special.

Save the tax cuts and use that money to do the job only government can.

As you listen to Georgie drone on tonight about how great it’s going to be with tax cuts for all his buds, picture Jackson Square’s tarot card readers replaced with mall kiosks of sunglasses. And just say no.

Florida Marriage Amendment Another Republican Dirty Trick

Trish

Nothing like anti-gay hysteria to get out the vote, said the Daytona News Journal in editorial exposing the real purpose of Florida’s so-called “marriage amendment.”

Florida law already prohibits same-sex couples from marrying. The state doesn’t need a constitutional amendment to do the same — unless, of course, the rationale is to stampede conservatives to the polls.

“The rationale is to stampede conservatives to the polls.”

… the group’s premise: Allowing gay men and lesbians to marry somehow threatens other Floridians. In support of that premise, they offer no data, no factual analysis, no case studies. Just rhetoric, often misleading rhetoric. For example, statements on the site speak to “establishing marriage” as if hundreds of Floridians aren’t already marrying every day.

The proposed amendment doesn’t stop at marriage. It also would prohibit state lawmakers from creating any “substantial equivalent” of marriage. In other words, the state could not pass a law legalizing civil unions…

A wiser, more compassionate move would take the state in the other direction, realizing that gay people — like any other Floridians — deserve the chance to formalize permanent bonds and create their own families.

Floridians may not be ready to go there. But this amendment tricks them, by also banning civil unions…

Unfortunately, it’s likely that Florida voters won’t understand how broad this proposed amendment is unless they realize how cynically they’re being played. Voters — and Florida’s substantial gay population — deserve better.

Bush Out of Step with Most on Iraq Timetable

Trish

Bush and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani reiterated today that there will no timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal (whatever happened to the very quaint phrase “coalition troops”?) from Iraq. Reuters:

“We will set no timetable for withdrawal, Mr. President. A timetable will help the terrorists, will encourage them that they could defeat the superpower of the world and the Iraqi people,” Talabani said in remarks that aligned him with Bush’s often-stated view that a timetable for withdrawal would embolden the insurgency in Iraq.

This puts them in step with less than 10 percent of Floridians, according to a poll that appeared yesterday in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. That paper, based in Sarasota (read: retirees), and the Florida Times-Union, based in Jacksonville (read: navy town), conducted the research.

Only 8 percent said troops should remain until “whenever the job is done.” Twenty-four percent said the withdrawal should come within six months, 25 percent said within one year and 23 percent said within two years. The rest were unsure.

P.S. More evidence that something bad has happened to Bush’s brain (his real one, and maybe Rove as well). When asked about Syria’s role in Iraq, here’s what the president, who will attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week, said:

“And this is a subject of conversation, of course, I’ll have with allies in places like New York and on the other times I communicate with our allies: that Syria must be a focus of getting them to change their behavior, particularly as it regards to democracy and trying to prevent democracies from emerging,” he said.

Just this side of incoherent, don’t you think?